Page 38 of Chasing Dawn

I was more surprised he even made the offer. He didn’t usually care about the people we liberated beyond the act of execution itself. We usually got in and out, mission accomplished.

Dawn’s Aunt Vonn dipped her chin. “We appreciate the safety net.”

A tiny curl of his lips was the only sign he heard her. Did Vente have a crush on Dawn’s aunt? I tried to see her through his eyes. She looked like an older version of Dawn, her blond hair starting to streak with gray, and she had deep lines on her face from years of worry and tragedy, but there was also a lightness there now, something hopeful.

I raised an eyebrow at Dawn, and she grinned back at me. Maybe the healing of the Truckee-Reno Pack had already begun.

There was a sense of peacefulness to the pack land by the time we left. I’d spent the afternoon building outdoor benches and reinforcing the storage shed so it wouldn’t blow down in the next summer storm. Maxi had taken the previous Alpha’s possessions and sold them. Vente went with him to scare people into paying market price. I took some of the female wolves into town and stocked them with food, as well as a large industrial refrigerator. The wide eyes of the remaining children as we passed box after box of food into the storage rooms was heartbreaking.

When Dawn pulled out the industrial-sized tubs of ice cream and started handing out cones, their sheer joy was infectious.

Benson helped dish it out, stopping to speak to every single wolf who came up to the table. He smiled at the kids and spoke reassuringly to the adults. The old and the new blended together, but it would take more than ice cream to win their trust.

Buenaventura appeared beside me, and I looked over at my old friend. “I’m surprised you’re staying,” I told him, and he shrugged.

“I can do some good here.”

“And it has nothing to do with Vonn?” I teased softly, and he glared at me. I smirked in his direction. The old man had a crush, and it would be cute if he couldn’t smoosh me with a single chomp of his beast’s jaws. “As they are now unintentionally my in-laws, I feel I have to tell you that if you hurt her or any of them, you and I will have trouble. I don’t care if you could fuck me up, I’ll make it hurt first.”

Vente inclined his head. “Understood. I’ll even let the insinuation that I would ever hurt an innocent woman slide when I’d normally tear a person’s tongue from their mouth for even making the suggestion. You’re only doing your Alpha duties to your mate.”

I shook my head. “Benevolent of you.”

Dawn waved and started to walk toward us, and Vente huffed a soft noise. “I feel that you should also know that if you hurt a single hair on the little Omega’s head, I will crush your skull like a grape.”

“Duly noted,” I choked out.

Dawn smiled at me and wandered over with two ice creams in her hand. She stopped in front of Vente and gave him a double scoop.

“You look like a strawberry man,” she teased.

Vente bowed his head respectfully. “Thank you, Omega,” he rumbled.

She turned to me, and I fell in love all over again. I had a feeling that I’d fall in love with her with every single smile from now to eternity.

She handed me a chocolate double scoop. I held it out for her to take a lick first and then chased it with my own.

“I want to show you and the guys something before we leave,” she said and took my hand. I would follow her anywhere.

I whistled, and the guys looked up immediately. I lifted my chin at Dawn, and they both put down their tools. Franklin said something to the wolf he was working with, and then he trotted toward us.

Talbot didn’t even make an excuse, just putting his hammer down and moving toward us with a determined stride. When they saw each other on either side of the camp, they moved faster until they raced toward Dawn, trying to make it there first.

Dawn laughed, because everything was a competition with those two. Franklin made it first, but only because he was running from the beginning. I saved the ice cream before it could become a casualty of the steamroller that was Franklin. He grabbed Dawn in his arms, swinging her around and around in the sunshine, then he dipped her backwards and kissed her so deeply, I wondered if Talbot was right about tonsil injuries.

I could feel the eyes of her pack members, but no one had said anything about the fact she was shacked up with a bunch of bears. If they had a problem with it, they kept it to themselves. Wolves had never meant anything other than pain to her.

“Sunrise, you look so fucking beautiful today,” he said, passing her to his twin as Talbot joined us.

Clutching her to his chest, Talbot kissed her more gently. “I’ve missed you.”

She smiled up at him, love in her eyes. “You’ve been twenty feet from me all day.”

“Felt like twenty miles,” he crooned, and even Franklin screwed his nose up.

“And he calls me the lame one.” As we stepped into the tree line, he raised an eyebrow at me. “Where are we going?”

“I’d like to run here with you, just once, in our other skins.” She smiled sadly, and I’d do anything to remove that hurt. “Besides, I’d like to show you the place where I kept all your letters. My special place.” She looked us over. “Though none of you will fit.”