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Sam was looking at the building behind us with a critical eye as I spoke. I knew it wasn’t ideal, but it was the best option we had, and Lexie had been smart to think of it. It was one of the few buildings we had made out of stone, rather than timber.
“We’ll have a community meeting in an hour and let the people know what’s happened and introduce your men so they can move around more freely. Does that work for you?”
Sam nodded in agreement. “That all makes sense.”
He looked at me with begrudging respect. Then he dipped his head at his men and one circled his hand in the air before they silently filtered out, without needing orders. They were a well-oiled team that had obviously been working together for a while.
None of this was what I really wanted to be talking about, but there were too many ears listening to every word we said.
I sighed, looked towards the kitchen briefly, then got to work issuing instructions over the radio and marching alphas into our new dungeon.
six
Isatintheempty dining room while Ava checked me over. Cary sat, half slumped over a table next to me, waiting his turn. He was absentmindedly running his finger over an old scratch on the wooden surface.
Ava and Cary had insisted on going with me to meet up with Luis. He’d taken Bear to the barn to give him fluids and monitor him after assuring me he thought he’d be fine. I knew Bear was in excellent hands.
Luis had tried to get Cary and me to come with him, so he could look us over too, but I’d told him to focus on Bear. We were fine with Ava and I didn’t want to disappear right now, with so much going on.
Luis was our in-house vet, but our people had been quietly going to him with minor cuts and scrapes for years, rather than heading into town. He was the only medical help we had now.
I’d tried to stop and talk to the girls in the kitchen on our way back, but they’d all insisted they were okay and shooed me into the dining room. Some of the newer girls had looked a little shaken, but the others had their backs.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to center myself amongst the swirling emotions threatening to capsize me, but opened them quickly when I heard the door from the kitchen swing open with a creak.
“There you are,” Nick’s great grandma said as she pushed through the door. “I heard what happened with Maia. I wanted to let you know the elder women will take the day shifts watching over her cabin.”
“GG, you don’t have to do that. It’s too much.” Nick’s great grandma was ancient. Nobody really knew how old she was, as she had no birth records. I’d heard that GG had grown up living in a remote community that held to the old ways and lived in harmony with the earth. She was the inspiration behind much of our sustainable initiatives around the farm. She’d been a good friend of Damon’s grandfather and she’d always had a positive influence on Damon growing up, too.
GG often helped Isabella settle the new girls in as well. She had a calm wisdom about her and a no-nonsense approach to life that people gravitated towards. She was the adopted great grandma to most of the kids on the farm, many of the adults too. Anyone who lived on the farm and needed family found themselves mothered by GG at some point.
I didn’t know what her actual name was. Nick hadn’t been able to say great grandma when he was little, so he had called her GG for short and the name had stuck. She had the most beautiful long gray hair, usually woven into a braid hanging down her back. I’d once watched her great granddaughter brushing it reverently while sitting in the morning sun with her. GG’s face showed her years, yet she wore every one of her wrinkles with pride. She’d earned them, she liked to tell me.
“Nonsense,” she scolded me. “The younger women have too much to do all day. All we do is sit around and gossip. We can do that sitting outside Maia’s cabin as well as we can sitting outside our own. And believe me, I still have some fight in me if any of those alphas come sniffing around.”
I bit my lip, trying to hide my smile.
“It’s already done. Nick will bring some comfortable chairs down and a cooler with some drinks. We’ll be fine.”
There was no use arguing with GG. She always got her way. GG ambled over to me. She didn’t move fast, but it wasn’t because she couldn’t. GG was sprightly for her age. She’d just lived a long time and didn’t see the point in hurrying anymore.
“Nick told me Damon wants to know about packs. Tell him to come find me when things calm down. No rush. I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon.” GG laughed at her own joke, which made me smile.
“Now, let’s see to you.” Ava looked at me with wide eyes when GG started poking and prodding at me. “You’ve done a good job, girly, but she could do with some arnica cream. She’s going to bruise badly. I’ve got some I made. I’ll get Nick to bring it up to you later when he takes a break from the security room. That boy needs to get outside more.”
“I can come down and get it from Nick, to save him from running around all over the farm on his break. I don’t mind,” Ava said.
“GG, this is Ava and Cary. They’re friends of Maia’s and they’ll be staying with us for a while. Hopefully, for good.” I shot them both a warm smile.
“I know that. I know all the gossip before you do, young lady.”
She turned her gaze on Ava and searched her face as Ava froze. I didn’t know about other people, but when GG stared at me like that, it was as if she was seeing past the image you carefully crafted of yourself and directly into your heart. “You’re a dark horse, but you’ve also got a pure, strong heart, you’re going to be just fine. You’re a watcher, but you’ll act when needed.”
Ava blinked rapidly, looking stunned. “Um, thank you?”
I knew how she felt. The first time GG did that to me, I’d felt like a bunny rabbit in the open, nervously twitching like mad. She turned her gaze to Cary next. He’d sat up when GG had come in, out of respect, I imagined.
“You look like you put up one hell of a fight, boy.” Cary tried to straighten his shoulders under her gaze, but winced as he moved. The adrenaline rush was wearing off, and I bet he was in a world of pain. “You need to speak up and fight when it really counts though, fight for what you want. Or you’re going to end up a shadow.”
