Page 51 of Holiday Surprise

“Nah. It’s still my parents’ home as far as I’m concerned. I just maintain my office there.”

“Oh, okay,” I said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

I hit end and then hurried to take a quick shower and redress in the clothes I wore yesterday since that was all I had here. I hadn’t been able to make myself go through my trailer to see if there was anything salvageable. It was the least damaged, so there was hope. Lily and Thomas had dropped off bags of clothes from a donation center in Collier, so I had managed to snag a few things and I still had the new jeans and shirt Sydney had giving me for Christmas since I was wearing it when the fire started.

I pulled out my list and added another line.

Check trailer for anything salvageable.

I folded up the piece of paper and stuck it in my back pocket, then I headed outside, got into my truck and followed the GPS instructions to Thomas’s house. It wasn’t what I expected. It was a cozy home, small for an Alpha or at least compared to the Alpha House in town. It sat off by itself, but as I got out, I realized he had some extraordinary views in his backyard.

The door opened and Thomas walked out. We shook hands.

“It’s nice out here,” I admitted.

“Thanks. We like it. It’s home. How about a walk while we talk? I often get sick of being cooped up indoors all the time.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed. I tried not to make a habit of staying indoors too often, not even during these cold winter months of Wyoming.

“How bad is it?” he asked me.

“What?”

“The fire, the insurance, being cooped up at Peyton’s. All of it.”

I sighed. I liked that about Thomas though. When it was important, he cut the crap and dug deep to find the problem so he could deal with it.

“Pretty bad. We lost everything,” I confessed.

“Damn. I’m so sorry. Will the insurance be enough to cover it all?”

I shook my head sadly. “Not even close. Turns out our policy was one Jedidiah orchestrated a long time ago. It was never updated and wasn’t even full coverage. It’s all my fault. I should have known better, and I should have checked the policy.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Luke. Who would have thought to do that? I doubt I would have. I certainly haven’t checked any of our policies since taking over as Alpha. Guess maybe I should,” he admitted.

“Especially if they are older policies. I’d strongly agree having someone you trust look over them to insure all your properties are covered.

“Are you getting something from them at least?”

I nodded. “Yeah, just not enough to rebuild even half of the trailer park.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“I’m looking into properties further south with a place big enough to house us all for the time being. We can build on later. Heck, maybe we’ll even find some land to run on. It’ll be a fresh start,” I said trying to look at it with a positive perspective.

“You don’t sound very happy about that.”

“This is the only home any of us has ever known. There are ties to this place and the people here, but I have to do what’s best for the majority of my pack. Mostly I hate that I let Sydney down. Her family and friends are all here. I know she doesn’t want to turn her back on it all and move, but she’ll do what needs to be done.”

“Have you already talked to her about all this?”

“Yeah, this morning.”

“Lily told me you two sealed the bond. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Though it feels like I’m doing a pretty shitty job at this mate stuff. I failed her in our first week together. I wish we hadn’t jumped into it so quickly. Then she’d have had a choice whether to come with us or not. I can’t really offer her that now.”

“I really hope you didn’t admit that to her.”

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