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One half of the wide-open space had a large platform that looked like they were starting to build something, but it never made it that far.
Everything about this place was honestly a mess, yet with the sound of the river rushing over the rocks, the chirps of birds in the trees, and the sunlight filtering through the trees and warming the space, it was beautiful.
As I turned in a circle and stared around, I couldn’t help but fall in love. The location was amazing, only fifteen minutes outside of Lockwood, yet I couldn’t see anything but nature surrounding us.
The entire campground had potential. If we replaced a lot of the broken equipment, repaired the cabins, and got some lighting running through the campsite, it would come back to life.
“Imagine,” I said, pointing to the platform. “If we cleared the area around this and expanded it back into the trees a little bit, this would make one hell of a cabin. Not just a small one, but big enough for a pack.”
“What are you thinking, baby girl?” Riven questioned, but I could see excitement sparkling in his green eyes. He had said how much he enjoyed camping and staying at the cabin, this was taking it to another level.
Micah was already standing behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in and placing a kiss on my head.
“Are you trying to turn me into a country boy?” His fake southern accent had me cracking up. It was downright awful.
“I might be,” I said, unable to hide my smile as I turned to Lake. This wasn’t even why we were here. We were here to listen to Everett’s message, but this abandoned spot had stolen my attention.
The guys listened as I started to paint the picture for them.
“I don’t want this to be a business. The last thing I want is to invite people into a personal space. But imagine building a home here, cleaning all this up, spending our summers on the river, Mia running free through the campground. We could even extend the fences so she couldn’t get loose chasing wildlife. Winter might be a little tough, but I have a feeling we’d be able to make it through. Plus, you guys probably don’t do a whole lot of house building during the winter. Maybe that will be our hibernation season.”
They were all staring around as they soaked in my words. I hoped they were seeing what I was… potential.
“We can turn this place into our own personal haven,” I finished.
“They even have some abandoned canoes,” Drew said as he pointed to the riverbank. “That’d be so cool.”
“We can invite the families out,” Micah agreed. “Have the packs over for certain weekends, and that could be the extent of sharing the space.” He glanced around with a wistful expression. His parent pack was awful and he valued family more than anything. I wanted to make sure he had that here.
“I would love that,” I agreed. “I don’t know if Kat and Serenity are the rustic type, but if we make the bathhouse into something really nice, I bet they wouldn’t be able to say no.”
“I’m not even opposed to taking those tents out completely and putting up some guest cabins,” Riven said. “We could have open floor plans. There’s already bathrooms right next to them, so we wouldn’t have to put them in each individual cabin. In the front area, we could build up that dining tent and put a full kitchen in.”
“I always wanted to be one of those dads that sat outside and barbecued and watched his kids run around,” Lake said with a soft smile. “I always wanted a big family. I feel like this would be perfect for that.” He looked sad as he finished it was the same lingering sadness that clung to me when I had to picture a future without Everett.
Everyone stopped talking as we thought over all of the ideas.
“A big family sounds kind of nice,” I admitted. My parents didn’t give a shit, but Lake’s family did. Even though I was new to town I was already building a makeshift family in Lockwood. Add a couple kids of our own to the mix, maybe a few more dogs, and I’d be happy.
I could even build a small office somewhere here or inside the cabin we’d build so I could work on my games. The guys could do their work while I did mine, then the nights would be ours.
Now that I could see it, I wanted nothing else.
Drew turned and focused all of his attention on me. His moss-green eyes were curious and a bit guarded.
“You really want a life like that? Babies, dogs, living how we want to out here?”
I took a deep breath before letting it out. “More than anything. I may have been guarded even after I agreed to give it a shot, but then we shared a heat together, and it wasn’t just how amazing you guys made me feel but how well you took care of me. You’ve been amazing through this entire journey. I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.”
I glanced around at them, taking in my pack. They were all watching me with matching looks of hope and something close to love. It was crazy how fast you could fall for your scent match, but that was why we were destined to be together.
It was supposed to be easy. You were supposed to fall headfirst with people who were designed to be compatible with you.
Now I knew it was true.
Losing a mate was torture. I’ve lived through it, and I never wanted to feel that way again.
But finding mates was incredible. My time with Everett was nothing short of magical. My time with them was different but just as all-consuming and perfect.
