Page 83 of Oakheart

Our families were near, and we were safe. It’d be silly for me to go back to Pa’s old place when I could have this.

I sighed, letting my eyes drift shut as I basked in Aleks’s warmth all around me.

It was a relief, to be in a house where I knew that he was safe. Anyone who meant him harm would have to get past Katya and Leo and Viktor. They’d have to get past me, and that wouldn’t be half as easy as it’d once been.

Still a hell of a lot easier than getting past Viktor though.

CHAPTER 40

Aleks

I slept betterthat night than I’d ever slept before in my life.

I knew that in the morning, some pack houses would be emptier, and that was fine. We didn’t need anyone who preferred what Grant had offered to an honest community, working together.

Cash was at my side, and the path to the future was clear in every way. No more major hurdles that might land us dead before we even got started.

Mama and my brothers were home and safe, and so was every pack member who mattered to me. Henry and Evie and all the people I’d come to know and love in the twelve years I’d been back. Even Tommy, I supposed.

Who knew, maybe he would surprise me and become more than he’d been, since there was no reason for him to side with someone like Grant or disappoint his daughter with cowardice anymore. All the future required was hard work and a willingness to show up and do what the pack needed to survive.

Anyone could manage that if they wanted to, and the people who couldn’t contribute to survival, well, that was why we werea community. Everyone did what they could, and when they couldn’t because of disability or illness or age, then it was our turn to care for them.

That was why we built communities to begin with, wasn’t it? So that people didn’t have to die when they got sick.

I stared across the pillow at Cash’s beautiful sleeping face, so angelic when he was unbothered by the stresses of his waking hours. He looked younger when he was asleep, which was a little odd. I liked the slight wrinkles in the corners of his eyes when he squinted, and handful of silver hairs growing in around his temples. I thought as he got older, they would multiply, a testament to all he’d survived. All the storms he’d weathered.

His eyes snapped open suddenly, as a shudder worked its way down my spine, but still, it took my conscious brain a moment to comprehend what the issue was. A low rumbling, getting louder from second to second.

Cars.

Multiple cars, headed toward us.

I sat up in bed, looking around, annoyed that my lovely morning was being interrupted. Even more when I dressed and went downstairs to find Mama in the kitchen, pancake batter half mixed in front of her.

She turned to me, a scowl on her face. “It’s those damned witches.”

Of course it was. No one else drove into pack lands regularly.

No one with access to that many cars knew where we were.

I finished sliding yesterday’s shirt over my head and toed on my shoes with no socks before heading out the front, marching back toward the old square. That was where they would arrive—where they’d always arrived.

Sure enough, by the time I got to the square, four shiny black SUVs were parked there in the middle, a bunch of witches in a group in front of them.

Wolves were there as well, mostly staying in their homes, watching from doorways and windows, slinking around the edges of the buildings to watch without getting attention on themselves.

But not me.

This was my job now. I was the one to stand in front of my people when danger arose. That was the point of an alpha.

So I marched right between two buildings and into the middle of the square, planting myself right between the witches and my people. I heard footsteps behind me and presumed it was Mama, maybe Cash, maybe Leo, and definitely Viktor, who was never far away when danger came for the pack.

I ignored that, and took my place opposite Ermengarde, drawing myself up to my full height in a way I rarely bothered with, crossing my arms over my chest. I remembered my father doing the same when I was very small, and how enormous it had made him look. How terrifying I’d found him.

I was now the age he’d been when I was born, and I’d put on the same muscle as him over the years of lifting and moving entire trees for Cash’s use. So while I didn’t think of myself as especially intimidating, I knew I could be.

For Ermengarde, I definitely could be.