Page 48 of Holiday Surprise

He nodded. “This is all still so new to me, but I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

I kissed his chest. “That’s all I ask. Thank you for coming to find me last night.”

“I told you, I will always find you.”

There was an awkward shift between us. At first, I thought I was about to get lucky, but then he stiffened in my arms.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I need to fill you in on what’s happening. It’s not good.”

I could tell it was killing him to confess that, but I needed to know.

“Tell me.”

“The insurance policy is old from Jedidiah’s days. I never even thought to update it. I knew he cut corners and shammed basically everything, but I guess I never thought he’d lowball something so important. I should have checked. This is all my fault,” he said.

“How bad is it?” I asked him numbly.

“It’s really bad. They’re cashing out the policy at the maximum amount, but it won’t cover the costs to rebuild even half of the homes.”

“Oh no,” I gasped.

“Yeah. I’ve had three inspectors out trying to get one of them to help, but there’s nothing more they can do. We can’t just live at Oliver’s forever and it would take months for us to even put a dent in the place. The insurance company did offer to just level it for us, but that was at the cost of giving up the policy money. I can’t do that. Whatever bit they’re offering I need to rebuild our Pack home.”

“It won’t be easy, but we can do this. Peyton and Oliver will make it work,” I said optimistically.

He shook his head. “I won’t ask them to do that, Sydney. It’s too much and we’d be displaced for a year or more. I have to find a place to move us.”

I gulped. “Move us? Like away from here?”

“I’m afraid so. I’m so sorry Sydney. I’ve been going over every possible scenario and it’s the best for the majority. Of course, I’ll talk to Thomas about taking on anyone refusing to relocate, but they’ll have to officially change their pack allegiance. This is for the best for the pack. I’m just so sorry to have to do this to you. I wish we had waited to seal our bond so I could offer you a better option.”

“Don’t you dare say that, Luke Larken!” I fussed. “You are my mate, my true mate. I don’t like it, but we’ll figure it out, together.”

“If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them,” he said genuinely, and I knew this was eating him up inside.

“What happened to merging the packs? I heard rumors you and Thomas were in negotiations. At the time I was completely against it, but why did that fall through?”

“Rumors, huh?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, more than rumors. Lily told me about it.”

He chuckled. “It wasn’t a bad idea. I mean ultimately that’s where we came from, it would just be like putting things back in order that Jedidiah disrupted, but...”

“There’s always a but,” I interrupted.

“But,” he continued, “We could never come to terms with how to do it. Thomas was pushing for a battle for Alpha and I refused.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t see what good it would do for either of us to die in the process of merging the packs. Maybe that’s too forward thinking but there’s also the fact that I don’t want to die, especially now that I’ve found you, and I don’t want to kill him either. Thomas Collier is a good man and a good and fair Alpha, but a pack can’t have two Alphas, Sydney. And even before you came along, I was too selfish to turn over my pack and spend my days as a lone wolf, even if maybe that would have been best for them in the long run. I mean what kind of Alpha am I really when I couldn’t even protect my own territory?”

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for all of this,” I told him. “None of this is your fault. We’ll figure it out and we’ll get through it, together and for the greater good of the pack.”

He surprised me when he kissed me. I wanted to lose myself entirely in his lips, but he pulled back and smiled at me. “Thank you.”

He yawned and I realized that while I had slept much of the day, it was only two in the morning and he probably hadn’t gotten much sleep yet.

---