“Yes, sir, I agree. When my dad figured out how many people in our area were suffering, he couldn’t look the other way. That was the birth of the shelter he and everybody in the clan created. I’m going to miss the shelter, but I actually belong here. Some of the family might be calling looking for me, though. I didn’t really say goodbye to everybody, I was anxious to get here and didn’t really want to make a big drawn out deal of it so I just said my goodbyes to my immediate family, really.”
“You tell Brandt?” Riley asked.
“I did. In fact, he insisted on buying my house back so I could make a start here without having to worry about money for a while.”
Riley kind of looked at him funny. “You always had savings to fall back on. Why’d he think you needed to sell your house back to the shifter clan?”
“For one, everyone knows that Cristie is most likely going to take over this Pride one day and has no intentions of leaving it. If I want to be with her, I have to be willing to relocate. Two, I blew everything I had saved. I had nothing left, though I’d started to build it back a little in the last few months it would only have carried me a month or two. I was not in a good place when Cristie found me. I tried to tell Brandt to just keep it. I’m not afraid of working and I can do a lot of things, so I’m not worried about money, but he insisted. Said it would eat him up wondering if I was in need and was too proud to reach out for help.”
“Brandt is a good Alpha.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of son. The thing is that you pick yourself up, you learn from them and don’t let it happen again. Sometimes hitting rock bottom shows you just how much you have to lose once you get it back.”
“I’m not ashamed to admit I put myself in that position. I just kept digging that hole deeper and deeper. I learned a lot of things about myself, one of them being that I will not be having another drink in this lifetime. I apparently have a propensity for it.”
“And being a Dragon, it keeps taking more and more and more alcohol to keep yourself drunk.”
“And it’s definitely not pretty,” Remi admitted.
“Sounds like you have it under control, though,” Riley said.
“Yes, sir. I do. And I know the mistakes I’ve made. I’m holding myself accountable. But none of that had to do with letting Cristie down. I got so tied up in where my loyalties lay at that time that I felt trapped without a right thing to do. No matter what I did I was hurting someone that I cared about. There was no way someone wasn’t going to pay for me committing to someone that I knew good and well wasn’t mymate. Like I said, I created this situation and I’m prepared to do whatever I have to to fix it.”
“I’m proud of you, Remi. And I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how you’ll do it, but I do have faith that it can be fixed. Just maybe push slowly. She’s raw. She’s upset and she’s angry, but a lot of that anger is now aimed at me. Doesn’t mean she won’t take it out on you, though. But make no mistake about it, she’s my daughter and if push comes to shove, I’ll have to consider her first in all things. This is her home.”
“I fully understand.”
“Good, thank you for that. But for now, let’s just take things slow and see how they progress. Maia wants you to stop by and say hi, and to let you know we have dinner every night and make enough for anybody that might stop by. Sometimes it’s just us, other times you’ll find any number of the Pride there with us. Whoever wants to come can come, but if you have other plans, you don’t have to.”
“I asked Cristie to dinner but she turned me down,” Remi said with a laugh.
“Oh, it’s not going to be that easy,” Riley said.
“Where is he staying?” Richie asked.
“One of the guest trailers,” Riley said. “I was thinking you could maybe just stay with us, but with Cristie’s attitude, I’m not sure that would be wise. Like I said, this is her home. I’m helping you be close to her, but I don’t want to drive her away from all of us.”
“I understand, Uncle Riley. You tell me where and that’s where I’ll stay, or I could just go find somewhere in town, too.”
“No, you’re part of us while you’re here, and hopefully longer than that. Choose one of the guest trailers and it’s yours. Whichever you want is fine. Just pick one.”
“I’ll show him where they are later today and he can choose one,” Richie said.
“Sounds good. And Remi, it sounds like you don’t have to work for a while if you don’t want to, and that’s fine with me. But if you want to, you can work construction with the guys, or you can work here, or you can look for something in town. I wouldn’t suggest you apply at the animal hospital, though. Leave Cristie somewhere to escape you.”
“I’ll just help out around here for now if you don’t mind,” Remi said. “If you need another hand in construction let me know, I worked it for years with Brandt, and during high school with Uncle Kaid and my dad. I also worked the accounting side of the business, so if you need or want a hand with that, I can do that, too. Just point me and I’ll do whatever it is.”
“Oh don’t think we won’t. We’re definitely going to take advantage of your expertise in a lot of things while you’re here,” Riley said.
“You just leave him where he is. He’s helping me. I got finished with morning prep and was able to open the store and the restaurant about thirty minutes early this morning,” Richie said.
“Yeah, but you got help later in the day. He can help you early in the mornings, and do other things later on if needed,” Riley said.
“Yeah, okay, that much is true. But I claim his mornings.”
Remi laughed and shook his head. “It’s good to be needed.”
