“We’re just trying to help everybody feel at home. We’re taking advantage of the bathrooms up here so everybody can get cleaned up and feel comfortable again.”
“Where’s Gwen?” Rance asked from behind Jack.
“She’s in one of the upstairs rooms with her boys. They’re taking showers and she’s going to try to get them down for a nap.”
“Paxton said there are five males here, too?” Jack asked.
“Yes, they jumped right in helping with security. They came in one at a time to get something to eat and went right back out,” Bonnie said.
“We can have the males bunk with some of our single males. Do you think some of the females would mind doubling up in some of the new homes Titus built?” Jack asked.
“I think right now they’re grateful for anything. They’re all traumatized and still unsure of how things are at home. All they know is they were told not to come back by their males. Alpha Grail told them if it was safe for them to come back they’d come after them.”
“Is he gone?”
“No one knows for sure, and Gwen didn’t see it with her own eyes, but from all she said, she knows he’s gone. She’s shattered, but doing a hell of a job of faking it.”
“My room is still available if you need me to find somewhere else to sleep for a while,” Niko said from behind Rance and Jack.
“Your room is still your room,” Bonnie said. “I think it’ll be good for the ladies to see that we have males all over the place keeping watch. They’ll feel a little safer.”
Niko nodded, then squeezed past Jack and Rance. “Going to put my shit away and see what I can do for anybody that needs it.” He reached the top of the stairs and announced his intention to walk down the hallway to his room. “Ladies! My name is Niko, I live here, and I’m walking down this hallway to get to my room. I am not looking or peeking, I promise!”
A few giggles could be heard from upstairs.
“I think they like the comic relief,” Bonnie said.
“I’m going to grab a few things out of my room,” Rance said, edging past Jack.
“There’s someone taking a shower in your bathroom, but they’ll be out right after.”
“Alright. I’m just going to take a look around up there and make sure everything is okay.”
Bonnie watched him go, then focused on her mate. “Isn’t there anything he’d need in his house since he hasn’t stayed in his room here in a while?”
“Yeah. But he’s got a need to see Gwen and make sure she’s okay.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Jack said quietly, dropping a kiss on her lips.
“Okay, but she’s in her bedroom with her boys. I’m pretty sure she’s trying to get them bathed. I don’t think he’s going to see her at the moment.”
“Is her room near his?”
“His is the first at the top of the stairs, and since we renovated up here for the girl’s rooms taking up the opposite end of the hall, and Niko and Draven being across the hall from Rance, I put Gwen next to Rance. That way she’s kind of surrounded. Is that okay?”
“Couldn’t have planned it better. You need me to do anything at all, baby?”
“Just make sure the women know who you are and watch for our girls when they get up. Most everybody down there sleeping has already had showers and gotten fresh clothes, and eaten and are just now lying down. The ones up here now are the last.”
“Where you’d get enough clothes for everybody?”
“Some are mine and Findley’s, then Jessica has been making the rounds asking people to donate, while Alison held down the kitchen with Findley here. We’ll make an order at the department store later and send somebody to get some more stuff for everybody.”
“Sounds good.”
“Oh! I wanted to grab my baby monitor for Gwen to use. We can get her another one when we order the clothes and all,” she said as she slid past Jack.
