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“Your daughter,” he says looking around. “If she finds out I came here first…”
He doesn’t need to say anymore. “I assume your father ambushed you and told you to come hang with the men?” River nods, and I continue, “Go to the pack house. Save Dawsyn. She doesn’t want to be stuck decorating any more than the rest of us do.”
“No, I don’t assume she does.” He finally grins, and I see so much of his father. He has the same wide smile and that red hair, only darker, is just like Vaughn’s.
“You’ll tell my father…”
“I’ll tell him I sent you to get food.”
His green eyes go bright with mischief. “He’ll be good with that, but only for so long. Maybe I’ll send Mom out here.”
I lean closer to whisper. “He’ll make you pay for that, you know.”
“Hey, he asked to retire,” River says quietly yet with a trace of wickedness. “It’s not my fault he’s already going stir crazy with only one person to keep him company as he spends his days fishing.”
The boy isn’t wrong, but my best friend won’t be alone for long.
“Go on,” I tell River. “I’ll cover for you.”
He offers me another thanks and then steps away to shift. His wolf races toward the pack house, kicking up snow as he does, and I can’t help watching with an immense amount of gratitude.
While the supernatural communities have done a lot of good since they were created and things are less chaotic than they had been years ago, knowing that Dawsyn has so many people in her life who would die for her makes me proud.
I won’t lie, I was slightly disappointed when we found out she was a girl. I didn’t know how I could possibly relate to her, but life showed me how wrong I was, and it’s been one hell of a ride since then.
Vaughn comes storming out. “Where the hell is my son?”
His frown makes me grin and I shove him back inside the cabin. “I sent him on an errand. He’ll be back.”
“He’s supposed to be spending time with family.” Vaughn pouts like a child.
“And he is,” I say, because Dawsyn is family and everyone damned well knows it. We’d even hoped those two would be bonded, but life seems to be working out even better than we could have imagined.
We walk into the cabin to find Foster raiding my cabinets. “This isn’t a man cave. There’s nothing to eat here.”
I nod toward the river outside the window. “I catch what I eat out here.”
Vaughn is already shaking his head. “I’ve eaten enough fish these last few months to last me a lifetime. If I don’t get a steak in me next, I’m going to murder someone.”
“Do you want a steak badly enough to chance being put to work?” Maciah says, seeming perfectly content to stay in the recliner he’s lounging in.
I sensed Beatrix arrive and then Cait’s calm, so there might not be anything left to do, which I tell them.
“What the fuck are we still doing out here then?” Foster grumbles. “I’m going back for the cookies I was promised.”
“See you dogs there when you arrive,” Maciah says, somehow managing to be the first out of the cabin.
Damn vampire speed.
The rest of us are out the door and shifting without another word.
Don’t let them beat us, I tell my wolf, knowing that if we’re last, the jokes about my “retirement” will only get worse.
Not a chance in hell, he replies, digging his claws deeper into the earth and propelling us forward. Snow falls all around us, and our paws sting from running over the frozen ground, but we don’t slow.
Knowing the territory best, we cut through the trees and forego the path, but Vaughn catches on and is right on our tail.
We push harder, and it’s less than a minute later that we arrive at the pack house, Vaughn right by our side.
