Page 19 of Reclaiming Home

She smiled sadly and squeezed my fingers. “I believe you.”

“I did everything I could. Joined every group on social media, called the police departments, homeless shelters, I….” The tears were back, great. “I dropped out of school because my grades tanked, and I couldn’t be bothered to finish. Not when….” I shook my head, the tears rolling down every which way.

Carys moved closer, right against my side, and then pulled me into her arms. Again, we cried together, this time she was the one holding me. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first or last time this would happen, either. One of us would always be there for the other, for both of us, when needed.

“I know you,” she said after long minutes of us weeping. “You wouldn’t have given up. If it was the other way around, I wouldn’t have, either.”

“Yeah.” I did know that. She was my rock, as much as I was hers.

“I don’t know what I want to do next.” She picked on the frayed knee of my jeans. “I mean, eventually. Right now I just want to… be, you know? Be safe.”

“I get that. I don’t have any plans. Everything I own is in my piece of shit car. Wherever you want to go, I’ll go with you.”

Her breath hitched, as if she was about to say something but changed her mind. I waited her out again.

“What if it was here?” she asked finally.

I lifted my head and leaned back. “Here?”

“I don’t want to go anywhere near Dad and Theresa. I don’t have anywhere to go, Kye. If Brodie… if he’s building a pack here?” She looked at with such fierceness in her gaze, that it startled me a little. She wasn’t the girl she’d been two years ago. This was my sister, the adult woman who knew what she wanted, no matter that she was only nineteen. “If he’ll let me stay, I want to do that. I feel safe around him. I love this house. What if I could be good for his pack? I enjoyed some aspects of it all. I liked to cook and clean a lot.”

I hummed, my emotions rolling about inside me. “Let’s ask him. I don’t have anywhere to be, like I said. If he’ll let us stay, then I’m all for that. I’m not sure what I’d do for money, but I’m sure I can figure out something.”

I didn’t tell her about how I hadn't been able to find a job in ages. How useless I felt in the face of the world as it was with my partial degree and very few real skills.

“Okay.”

“Okay.” I smiled.

She chuckled tiredly. “Can we nap until he comes back. Maybe call Dad once Brodie is here? I… I don’t know how I’ll feel talking to Dad especially if Theresa is there.”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah. He offered to be here for our conversation, too. For emotional support.”

She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve waited.”

“Nah, it was okay. Well, not okay, but you know what I mean.” I felt tired all of a sudden, too. “We’ll wait for our emotional support wolf.”

Carys laughed. “Maybe let’s not call him that to his face?”

“Deal.”

We curled up in our nest and fell asleep.

Chapter Five

Brodie

That fucking sandwich. My wolf was ecstatic about one fucking sandwich.

Holden and the guy from the company who did the cleaning job had basically decided that the barn was toast. It needed to come down before any remnants of the chemicals met a random spark or hell, a lightning struck or something and exploded the whole building.

Holden gave me the number of a local company who would gladly come in to dismantle it in a way that wouldn’t risk anyone. Apparently it wasn’t the first meth lab that had been found around here.

I could imagine taking it down with heavy machinery was out of the question, especially with the chemicals still lingering. Like they’d said, one spark might be all it needed to cause damage we couldn’t really foresee. I didn’t want anyone at risk. Not the workers, not my pack, nor the house and the woods around it.

Having needed some time alone, I went to do a grocery run. Well, that, and a bunch of other stuff. There was a WalmartSuperCenter about half an hour outside of town, so I drove there to get what I needed.

The morning call from Rian still made me both smile and feel exasperated.

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