Page 45 of Breathe Again

“Lily, did you ever stop to think that maybe you couldn't commit to any of those jobs because none of them were your job? That maybe you've just always been preparing to be Collier Pack Mother and that each little job you've held has given you a new tool towards that? I think you're going to do a wonderful job,” I told her, sincerely.

“I've always been the screwed up one in the family. No single point of failure here. I think we're all screwed up in our own ways, and that's okay, but the point is, we're sisters. We should be able to share these screwups openly and not try to hide them from each other. What happened to sister power?” Ruby asked.

We all laughed, remembering a stupid little super-hero style thing we used to do as children where we all put our arms into the air, loosely connected at the wrists and yelled, “Sister power!”

I raised my hand in the air and the others started to join us just as the door opened and Thomas and Cole walked in. I felt his unease and fear when he saw my tears, but I turned and smiled brightly at him and he started to relax. My sisters each joined in with their fists in the air, even Lily.

“Sister power!” we yelled in unison before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

“Oh God, not this again,” Thomas complained.

Cole

Chapter 19

I had no clue what we were walking in on.

After the initial drama we were able to get down to work and I was happy to see Liam had everything in order for Kyle's arrival. It made my day a whole lot easier. Thomas seemed to have chilled out a lot and even invited me back to his place, where we knew the girls had retreated.

Seeing them all huddled together with fists in the air and yelling “Sister power!” while falling back laughing like a pack of hyenas was not at all what I expected to find. As soon as my wolf and I registered that our mate was happy, I relaxed and just shook my head at their silliness.

Thomas, however, didn't find it quite as endearing and grabbed my arm, slowly nudging me back out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Shit, they've corrupted Lily with that crap now, too.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked him.

“That sister power madness. They used to torture me with it as a kid. Telling me I couldn't be part of their club because I wasn't a girl. Other times dressing me up as one, so I'd fit in and join them. Do you have any idea what it's like being the youngest and only boy with six big sisters?”

I shook my head, trying to keep the image of little Thomas in a skirt out of my head.

“It was a nightmare! My only saving grace was when they all started falling apart. It started with Lizzy and given the timing and what we now know, I probably should thank you for that. When the sister power thing stopped, they all went their own ways. They weren't close like they had been, and they started to fight a lot, but at least they stopped trying to put me in dresses and pigtails.”

I cracked a laugh I was trying to keep in. “Man, you're going to be Alpha in just a few days. Don't say stuff like that aloud. Seriously. Keep those memories to yourself unless you're telling me so I can give Lily the heads-up to start planning your outfit for the ceremony.”

He punched me in the arm and looked horrified. “It was a moment of bad memories that we will never speak of again.”

Just as he said that, Elizabeth pushed an image into my mind of Thomas as a little boy in a dress, complete with bow in his hair. I started truly laughing, the full body kind and it felt really good. “You were one ugly little girl, Thomas.”

“She didn't!”

“Oh, yes, she did.”

“Lizzy, I burned every last one of those photos, now keep your memories to yourself,” he yelled, and I warmed at the tinkling laughter coming from my mate in the next room.

“No good can come of this. I blame you,” Thomas complained. “Let’s get out of here.”

He walked straight to the front door without a word to the girls, but I wanted to say goodbye to my mate, so I detoured into foreign territory. It warmed my heart to see Elizabeth looking relaxed and happy.

I leaned down and kissed her. “Thomas and I are heading back out. I’ll see you at home later.” She beamed up at me. My mate was so beautiful. I still couldn’t believe she was finally mine. “Love you,” I added, planting one last kiss on her forehead.

“Aww,” her sisters said in unison.

“Love you too,” she said boldly as I left the room and they continued their giggles.

Thomas just shook his head at me. “Didn’t peg you for a sap.”

“Shut up,” I said, punching him in his bicep. “Where are we going?”

---