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“There’s nothing wrong with pack taking care of pack. He was doing that for you, and whatever this is, he’s doing it again. Just like you did for him. It’s a give and take,” Drew reminded him.
“Just like I had to let go of that guilt, so do you,” I said. “You don’t deserve to carry that on your shoulders. He would have never wanted you to feel bad for any of this. But knowing that he took care of us even when he was gone, that was what kept him going as long as he did.”
In the end, Everett lived a few weeks past where they thought he would. We’d spent that time sticking by his side, both of us watching movies, watching him sleep, not daring to speak a word at times because we didn’t want to disturb him and we didn’t know what to say.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Drew said. “It was never your fault, Lake.”
“I needed to hear that,” he said, letting out a shaky breath, wincing with pain. “Fuck, Mom’s going to kill me. And I ruined your hoodie.”
“It wasn’t mine, it was one of yours,” I said. He took a better look and shook his head. “It’s mine.”
He let out a laugh that had the tension breaking and I grinned back before leading him out of the woods.
Riven’s eyes narrowed at the sight of Lake clutching the hoodie to his arm.
“You got a first aid kit in all that stuff?” I asked.
Riven huffed. “Of course, I do.”
He got up to get it and came back over, taking the hoodie off and glaring at Lake before heading over for the shower. He made Lake hold his hand in the spray before pouring alcohol on it, cleaning the wound. It wasn’t as deep once the blood had been washed away, so he wrapped it in a roll of gauze.
“Are we heading out?” Riven asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “We have to go see Linda and Chad.”
“I’ll come back later for all of this. Nobody’s going to mess with it out here,” Riven said.
He ushered us to the cars, and we didn’t waste time, climbing into one vehicle and heading out of town. Even Mia seemed to sense the mood in the car, curling up with Lake this time.
He patted her gently, his eyes straight ahead. He was working through his own inner demons now.
This must have been what it was like for them to see me suffering. I hated every second of it. I wanted to chase the shadows from his eyes more than anything. But as someone who had gone through it herself, I knew that no one could do that but him.
Chad was waiting on the front porch when we got there, swinging lazily on the porch swing. He didn’t stop until we were standing in front of him.
“It’s not as bad as you think, son,” he promised. “I know you never liked when Everett took charge, but he did right by you.”
Chad didn’t sound defensive, more matter-of-fact. He knew his kids well. “Come on in. For once, your mother ordered in.”
“What?” Lake and I both asked, shocked.
“What, they don’t eat pizza around here?” Drew joked.
“My mom is the queen of ‘we can make that at home,’” Lake said. “I don’t think we ever ordered out even when we went to the cabins. They always cooked.”
“Tonight is the exception,” Chad said as he headed inside.
We followed him, and some of Lake’s anxiety started to wear off on me. I was nervous about what they were going to reveal, even though I knew it was nothing bad.
“There you are,” Linda said, coming over and giving Lake a huge hug, squeezing him tight before moving on to me. She continued down the line, giving every single one of my pack a hug like we were her own. In her eyes, we were.
Then she was snatching Mia up off the floor and unhooking her leash.
“There’s my girl,” she cooed. “Did you tell your mommy and daddies how we shared popcorn and watched movies every night, how you patrolled the backyard and taught the whole neighborhood who was boss?”
“It sounds like she had a good time,” I said, shaking my head.
“She did,” Linda said, not letting go of my puppy as she led us into the den.
