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Wild poked his head around the corner, bowl heaped with ice cream held in his hands. “If you two want brownies a la mode, you’d better get in here while they’re still hot.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Logan said, catching Rusty’s hand again and tugging him into the kitchen.
Wren was already seated at the table, bowl in front of them, a smear of ice cream on their nose as they dug in.
“Mmm, so good,” Wren announced in between bites.
“There was no way I was going to pass up the chance to get freshly churned ice cream,” Lysander said as he happily plopped a scoop on top of a steaming hunk of brownie.
“In every flavor they had at the market,” Ridge announced, chuckling. “It’s a good thing the pantry has a deep freezer, or we’d have no place to put the meat.”
“You exaggerate, as usual,” Lysander said.
“Your ice cream had its own wagon.”
“It was the smallest size.”
“And only contained ice cream.”
“Bah,” Lysander grumbled, “there were one or two other things in there.”
Laughter filled the kitchen as Logan filled his bowl. The brownie had chunks of oozing chocolate in it, while the ice cream was flecked with vanilla beans. He’d learned from a young age that family was the people who loved you regardless of whether you shared blood ties or not. The size of his had tripled since coming to Comet Lake. Glancing over at Wren happily popping another spoonful of ice cream in their mouth, Logan sent up a silent thank you to the Goddess for answering the pup’s wish.
They had a home they never had to move out of. Friends, family, and a community they could be a part of for more than a season. The whole time he’d anxiously awaited Tate, Lysander, and Ridge’s arrival, he’d worried that something would happen on that road to pull him back into the life he’d been desperate to get himself and his pup out of. Even after he’d been told they’d reached pack grounds, a part of himself had refused to believe it until he’d seen them with his own eyes. Now he could finally breathe, relax, and enjoy the gift the Goddess had given him when she’d put him on the path to Comet Lake.
It truly was a magical place filled with light and love.
Chapter Twenty
(Rusty)
“Is there a reason Flame pulled a no-show this morning?” Cage asked.
“To tell you the truth, I’ve been so deep in this snowmobile’s guts that I didn’t notice that he wasn’t here.”
“I noticed two hours ago, and I’ve been getting more pissed by the minute,” Cage said. “If something came up, then the least I expect is a fucking text telling me why he’s not over in bay 2 doing his fucking job.”
“Sorry, man,” Rusty replied. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s beaten me here for the past month or so and gotten straight to work. I guess that new leaf he was supposed to be turning over was just a temporary one. Should have known he wouldn’t stick to it.”
“I noticed a change in his efforts too,” Cage admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced over at the clock again. “Was just waiting to see if he started backsliding again before I praised him for it. Guess I have my answer.”
“If I could offer any explanation at all for why he’s not here that didn’t involve being hungover or passed out on top of another wolf, I’d give it, but I’ve never known him to be late for any other reason.”
“Which is exactly why I’m pissed,” Cage muttered.
“Yeah, well, now I am too and worried that he’s decided to sabotage any chance at making his mate change his mind about him,” I admitted. “We both know what happens when he gets impatient and convinces himself that he’s out of options.”
“What mate? He never mentioned a mate to me.”
“Because it ended in rejection,” Rusty said. “I suggested that he work on personal improvements and show his mate that he was capable of growth.”
“So, he started coming in earlier and staying later,” Cage surmised. “Volunteering instead of waiting to be asked. Shocked the hell out of me the first time he did it too.”
“He’s more than he’s shown the rest of you what he can be,” Rusty admitted. “That asshole routine of his took a lot of practice to perfect. I knew it was going to take time for him to shed it, but I thought he’d finally been shaken up enough by the fallout of his own behavior that he’d try harder to turn over a new leaf.”
Cage’s fingers drummed restlessly along the seam of his pants while Rusty pulled out his phone and shot his brother a message asking where the fuck he was and why he wasn’t at work. Then he repeated the message mind to mind, waiting for the inevitable disappointment when the answer came.
Only there wasn’t one.
