Page 74 of Reclaiming Home

Rian rolled his eyes hard enough that it felt like a miracle they didn’t pop out of his head. “Fine.”

Ben left for the garage and Carys snatched Max for something she wanted to do in the pantry. Lina came in early, and we went to work on the roof for a while.

“At least the weather has been nice,” she said, then lifted her hand and tapped her skull. At my confused look, she grinned. “Oh, my grandma loves to ‘knock on wood’ on her head.”

I chuckled, and continued to pull out the rotten pieces of wood that needed replacing.

I could hear Rian and Kye in the other end of the hallway, prepping the spare room for storage. They laughed every now and then, and the good old playlist of randomness they were listening to carried over as well.

“Okay,” I said around one. “I think you can continue this until I come back. No going up on the roof without a harness and a spotter.” I squinted at her.

She grinned and lifted her hands up. “I promise.”

“You better.” I tried to sound stern but didn’t succeed. She was a good kid and would never take any unnecessary risks like that. “I’ll be back later. I’m going to go clean up and if there’s time, I’ll get some groceries in town before the appointment since I’m going to be a bit early.”

“Sounds good, boss!” She practically shooed me out the door.

I started down the hall, but something about Rian’s tone made me stop by the half-open door to the room they were in.

“You need to understand that everyone has left him, Kye. It took me literally years of convincing before he got that I wasn’t going to vanish.”

“I didn’t think about it like that. Jesus. Now that I do… you’re right.” Kye took in a deep breath and let it huff out. “Now I feel bad for getting a bit annoyed at him.”

“Hey, you guys are still new and don’t know each other inside and out. You’ll get there,” Rian said, his voice full of conviction.

I snuck past the doorway, my heart beating in my chest like a drum. Yeah, that was it, wasn’t it? I was afraid everyone was going to leave me, because that was all I’d known until I met Rian.

Dad, Mom, Bella, then the few partners I’d had over the years, some friends, too. Part of it was natural, just life—or death—but it still felt like a lot.

I needed to talk to someone, maybe a professional. Hell, maybe even one of my friends. That could wait, though. First, I needed to go see what these rumors were, exactly.

After getting some necessities from the bigger grocery store in town, I parked my truck at the tiny sheriff’s office. The parking lot for their vehicles was to the side of the building, and I spied the one Holden normally used. Next to it was a much fancier, newer one that must’ve been the Sheriff’s.

Snorting softly, I got out of the car and walked to the front door.

The office, not really a station, was sandwiched between an old closed shopfront and a mom and pop style grocery store that seemed to be owned by the same family that had owned it when I was little and went in to get ice cream with my pocket money.

The middle-aged woman manning the front desk brightened when the bell dinged as I opened the door to the station, then seemed grumpy again when it was just me. Why, I had no idea.

“Hey, I’m Alpha McRae, here to see—”

“Alpha McRae, come on through,” Holden called from the back.

He walked to the swinging gate and held it open for me.

I nodded to the woman and gave her a polite smile that thawed her a little.

I’d put on my best jeans and a henley under my leather jacket that was cleaner than the jacket I wore around the house.

“This way,” Holden instructed, showing me through the back of the room, past some desks, and then down a hall into an office.

The letters on the door spelled out Deputy Sheriff Holden Drumm, but the man sitting behind the desk immediately gave me the creeps.

“Ah, Alpha McRae,” he said, standing halfway up as he reached his hand for a shake.

“Sheriff Gerrell,” I replied, giving him the shake he tried to control by squeezing too hard. I didn’t react.

“Deputy Drumm here has brought me up to speed with the situation at the old Douglas pack house,” he started while gesturing for me to sit.

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