Page 20 of Reclaiming Home

The thing about being friends with someone who had been around for over a century and a half was that they didn’t view money the same way.

Rian came from absolute poverty, and by the time he’d realized he really did have as much time as he wanted, he’d begun to save and invest every penny he could. Not all of it had been successful, of course, but he had been smart about it all.

When he’d asked me if I still had the emergency credit card he’d given me, I knew what was coming.

“You use it, Brodie. For anything you need. For whatever the pack needs. There’s a reason I keep giving you a renewed one every few years. It’s not to sit pretty in your wallet.”

When I’d tried to interject, he’d told me he didn’t need to do any more investing, he donated about two million dollars every year to good causes and still made more money than that yearly.

So, there I was, with Rian’s credit card, about to go buy things that would make our lives more tolerable. I would also make Kye and Carys tell me what furniture they wanted because—shit.

I hadn’t asked them to stay yet. I wouldn’t ask, if I was honest. I doubted they wanted to. Who would? Staying in a shitty house in the middle of nowhere with a new Alpha who had pretty much no pack and could be contested by the old betas at any moment.

Not that I thought those two idiots would be in any shape to come back anytime soon, but they might. Weirder things had happened. Everyone knew addicts didn’t necessarily act logically.

I got everything but the groceries first. Blankets, comforters, pillows, sheets. I didn’t know anything about the Rossi siblings, so I couldn’t buy them anything I’d know they’d like, but I got anew coffee maker and a selection of pods for it. I got a toaster—damn that sandwich—and a waffle maker.

I went into a nesting mode, and I tried my best not to think about that at all, because it was borderline embarrassing. I wasn’t even sure why I felt embarrassed in the first place. Maybe because it was so new to me? Alphas were providers, after all. Nesting was supposed to feel natural to an Alpha. Except… I’d never been this kind of person toward anyone but my very nearest and dearest.

It was the mate bond combined with the Alpha power, probably.

I lugged all the stuff into my rental and then realized I might as well go and return the rental car and buy a new one while I was at it. Rian wouldn’t mind. In fact, he would likely celebrate the purchase.

So, my couple of hours turned into five and a half, and by the time I was back in Luxton, my wolf was restless as fuck, a bit on the edge.

The thought of Holden catching me speeding made me snort. At least he’d understand. Hopefully.

When I got home, the cleaning crew was still working on the barn. They were really serious about it, which I could appreciate. I wanted my land, my pack, safe.

The new vehicle was a truck. Not a flashy one, because I didn’t want or need one like that. It was meant for lugging building materials and groceries.

I snapped a photo of it, filled with bags, and sent it to Rian.

“You just bought me a car and all of this stuff.”

I gathered as much of the groceries I could carry in one go and went up the porch steps. Except, the door was still locked and the key was inside.

I knocked on the window next to the door, but nothing happened. I couldn’t hear anything, either.

Placing the bags by the door, I made an educated guess and walked to the family room windows. I could see a tuft of dark hair peeking out from the end of the couch and smiled.

I knocked on the window carefully, so I wouldn’t startle them too badly.

Eventually, Kye sat up, blinking and pushing his hair out of his face. He frowned, trying to figure out what had woken him up. I knocked again, then waved at him.

He startled, then rolled his eyes and climbed out of the nest, then picked up his cell phone off the coffee table.

He unlocked the door and peered out. “Sorry, we’ve been asleep for a while.” He glanced at his phone and grimaced. “Over two hours. You were gone for a while.”

I frowned. “Yeah, sorry about that. I went and bought a car and half of Walmart.”

“You did what?” He peered past me and blinked, sleep still clinging to his features. “Well okay, then.”

“If you take those to the kitchen, I’ll go grab some more stuff.” I nodded at the bags by the wall.

“Yeah, of course.”

When I went back to the truck, the head of the cleaning crew walked out of the barn and came to me.

---