Page 70 of Virtually Guarded

“I said I’ll be getting them tomorrow.” He shoved me onto my back and threw one leg over me. “And yes, we can definitely find other things to do. Like this.”

He nipped my shoulder just enough to hit the perfect line between pain and pleasure and moved his hand down my side to my hip. Where he stopped with an evil little smile. He’d discovered that tormenting me by not touching where I wanted him to touch could be fun. At least until I started tormenting him right back. I was better at it.

Tonight, though, I didn’t want to torment him. I didn’t care if we did anything besides lying there together. He would sleep beside me; we hadn’t slept apart since Friday. The bed wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for two people who slept wrapped up in each other.

I had a home here. I had Xavier. Eventually, I might stop being astonished every time the reality hit me. Now, as I lay with my mate teasing me, all I could think was that my life was nowhere near what it had been. I was thankful as hell for that.

Chapter Sixteen: Xavier

The next few weeks passed faster than I would have believed possible. Ren and I shared a bed almost every night, except for the one night he banned me without giving a reason why. Not that he needed to tell me when I could smell the menstrual blood, but I very carefully held back from letting him know I was aware of his period. If he wasn’t comfortable mentioning it, I wouldn’t either. For a couple of nights after that, he let me sleep beside him, but we kept our clothes on and simply cuddled, which I was totally fine with.

He spent days with Kyle and sometimes Trey and Jamie in the den working on the support groups. I spent days with the Anax, who met with some of the newer arkhons and alphas, the nearer ones in person and the more geographically distant ones online. We also made multiple trips to Connecticut Pack territory so the Anax could continue rebuilding and rearranging that pack with leadership that would protect and support all of the pack’s members.

One evening in late July, just before the full moon, Kyle called a meeting of the admin team of Virtual Haven Pack. Including me. I’d declined to label my orientation, but evidently the fact that I was in a relationship with a trans man was enough to categorize me somewhere under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, and I didn’t mind it. I wasn’t straight; I’d known that much for years.

Quinn and Russ joined us by video, and to my surprise the Anax walked into the den and sat beside Kyle. “I’m not here to interfere,” he said. “I have a few thoughts beyond the online group that I wanted to bring up with all of you. But first, I’d love to hear where you are with all of this. I’ve deliberately not been checking in with Kyle about it.”

“We’re planning a soft launch tomorrow,” Kyle said. “I’ve sent out word to some of the packs, but all I can do is hope the word reaches the right ears.”

“I set up an email account,” Ren said. “Some people might not be able to get onto the video chat system, but just about everyone can access email.” He sighed. “Not all, unfortunately. Before I was changed, I didn’t have an email. I barely had any way to get online. There might be others like me, living on the street or whatever, but it’s less likely with werewolves, I think. Right?”

“Most werewolves belong to packs,” I said. “Some might be packless. We might have trouble getting word to them.”

“We have to start somewhere,” Russ said.

“Exactly.” Jamie leaned back. “It isn’t possible to reach out to everyone, I don’t think, but we have as many ways as we can. We’re talking about a phone hotline, too.”

“That’s something we’ll get to once the online stuff is up and running,” Ren said. “As far as the email, Jamie and I’ll be responsible for monitoring the account for the most part, but all of us have access.”

“I’ve reached out to some of the packs up here,” Quinn said, his voice slightly tinny through the laptop speakers. “Same thing Kyle did, just sending out word that this is going to exist and there’ll be a soft launch tomorrow. Yves Diamond is interested in being a moderator, by the way. He’s a friend of Malachi’s and mine. With a human partner who also wants to be involved if we’re allowing that.”

“Jeremiah’s part of it,” Trey said. “He’s traveling with Joel right now so couldn’t join us for this meeting, but he’s one of the admins. If he can, Yves’s partner probably can.” He glanced at the Anax and Kyle. “Not that it’s my place to make that decision.”

“It kind of is,” Kyle said. “I’m just IT.”

“I trust all of you to make the decisions about how the group is run, or I wouldn’t have asked you to participate,” the Anax said.

Kyle rested his hand on the Anax’s. “So it’s up to the group of you whether to let Yves and his partner join and whether either or both of them are made admins, but I would recommend it. I trust Quinn’s judgment, and if we’re letting Canadian werewolves join, it would probably be a good idea to have more than one Canadian on the admin team.”

“We’ll talk about it,” Ren said. He had taken on more of a leadership role than he’d intended, which made sense since he was the one who’d worked most closely with Kyle on getting everything established. I was proud of him, and of how far he’d come in the past few weeks. Not that I told him that. He was still getting the hang of hearing positive things without deflecting them. “I think it’s a good idea, but the team needs to meet without the Anax and Kyle present to make some plans. Yes?”

“Yes,” Quinn, Jamie, and I said. Trey and Russ echoed us.

“You’re absolutely right, Ren.” The look of approval the Anax gave Ren warmed me, and turned Ren’s face red. “Just a little longer with us, and then we’ll leave and let you finish.”

“You’ll leave.” Kyle looked apologetic. “Sorry, guys, but I still have some tweaks to make.”

“Then bring your laptop into my office and keep me company,” the Anax said. “Laptops are portable, last I knew.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kyle stuck out his tongue. Everyone laughed.

“Back to the discussion.” The Anax folded his arms. “Virtual Haven Pack. It isn’t a real pack, of course. It can’t be.”

“But in a way it is,” Quinn said. “Pack is family, and we want to become a family for those who are afraid their packs will reject them.”

“Family is heavy for some of us.” Ren reached for my hand.

His was clammy, and I gave it a gentle squeeze. You’re doing great.