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“Thanks for the heads up,” I said quickly. I was already pulling up the group chat on my phone and ignoring the missed calls from her. I’d put it on silent when I got here, hoping to have a few moments of peace.
“See you later during my coffee run,” Grant said before she giggled and hung up. There was definitely something brewing there.
Ellie: Kat just called. The witch has landed and she brought her flying monkeys.
Atlas: Oh good, the whole shitshow is here.
Dean: Ugh, I’ve been dreading this. Can I just stay out of town?
Ellie: If I can’t run and hide, then you can’t either.
Bear: They seem to have short attention spans… maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll leave soon.
Collin: We can only hope.
Ezra: Where are you guys?
Atlas: Dean and I have open houses and showings until five.
Collin: Bear and I are at work on the packhouse again. We’re making some amazing progress.
Ellie: Still at Grant’s house.
Dean: Just tell dad we’re all meeting there for dinner.
“Apparently, we’re all meeting here for dinner. Is that alright?” I asked Grant, he just chuckled.
“You’re always welcome here,” he said. “I’ll go into town and grab some stuff to grill. You lay low here, I doubt she’ll bother looking for us here.”
“Okay, be careful,” I warned. “She’s a snake.”
“I’m not afraid,” he said with a wink. Grant actually looked excited, whistling as he walked out. It was probably lonely on his own most nights, so he probably looked forward to these moments. I couldn’t help but think he’d be an amazing grandpa and I was grateful our little bean would have him in their life.
My own parents would never meet our baby.
Not wanting to sit around and brood I went back out and got to work in the garden. The sun had started to dip when I heard a car pull into the drive. Then another followed. By the time I walked back inside Dean and Atlas were coming in, Ezra on their heels.
“Where’s Dad?” Atlas asked as he pressed a kiss to my lips. I breathed him in before responding. It was something I did on instinct now and they often did the same. Having mates was amazing… and a little strange. Before them, I never cared about scents.
“He ran for food,” I answered as I washed the dirt from my hands.
“Let me guess, I should fire up the grill?” Dean asked.
“Yup,” I laughed. “He said it the moment I told him. Honestly, I’m surprised he’s not back yet.”
“Dad’s a snob when it comes to grilling. Shopping takes the man twice as long,” Atlas agreed.
“I’m down for a cookout,” Ezra said as he came over and pulled me into a hug. “You holding up okay?”
His voice was a low rumble in my ear and he continued to let out a rumbling purr that had me breathing a bit easier. I hadn’t realized I’d tensed right back up thanks to Morgan’s untimely arrival.
“I’m alright,” I promised. “Just another log on the fire, right?”
“Unfortunately,” he agreed as he released me. I smiled up into his bright-blue eyes. Dean came up and leaned in next to us on one side, Atlas on the other. It was so hard to care about anything but them when we were standing like this.
A connection had truly formed between us all and I could feel their contentment mixing with mine. Making each other a priority when the world crumbled around us was the only way to stay a strong pack.
“Can we get some help out here?” Collin’s voice echoed in the house. We’d been so wrapped up in each other I hadn’t heard them pull up. We all joined them outside to find Grant handing out shopping bags, a new cooler, bags of ice, and packs of beer and soda cans to everyone to carry.
