Page 37 of Reclaiming Home

“We finally managed to get hold of her a few days ago. She’s clean. Found a pack that takes in strays. I think she’ll be happy.” Ben shrugged. “She feels like shit that her leaving made him do what he did to Carys, though.”

I shook my head vehemently. “It wasn’t her that made him do anything.” I turned away so they wouldn’t see my face as I grimaced. “He’s the reason Bella left the pack when we were kids.”

Ben had been walking next to me with Max at our back, but now they both stopped.

“No,” Max whispered.

Turning back to make eye contact with both of them, I nodded seriously. “I don’t know how long it went on, but it started at some point after our mom died. I don’t think Mickey knew, though. Or maybe she suspected when Bella ran away, but it’s all bygones now.”

Ben wrapped an arm around his brother, and they stood in silence for a while. Sometimes it felt like they communicated without words. They’d done it a lot when we were kids. I’d always assumed it boiled down to their wolves being intrinsically tied to their sibling while living in such an unsteady pack.

We continued to walk in silence for a while.

“Are Carys and Kye staying?” Ben asked when we jumped over the shallow creek that ran through the property.

“Yes.”

“Good.” After a moment, he added, “I always felt weird about not having humans in the pack.”

“We’ve met others who have mixed packs and they have seemed more… balanced,” Max piped up.

“They’re assets to the pack.” I cleared my throat, because this was the harder part of the conversation to me. “Are you guys willing to be my betas?”

Max tugged at my jacket sleeve and we halted on the barely there path.

They looked at me seriously, then exchanged a glance, and Ben nodded for Max to speak.

“We want to come back home, if you have us,” he started, then sought more encouragement from his brother again before continuing. “But we think we’re not ready. Not like this.”

He gestured at the slight gauntness of his face, the telltale unkempt appearance that, while nowhere near as bad as Rusty’s betas or the man himself, was still noticeable if you knew them.

I smiled. “I have a proposition for you guys. I have a friend, his name is Rian. He’s filthy rich and he’s basically bankrolling everything we need to get the pack running.” I lifted a hand before they could speak. “He insists. The guy has the energy of a Golden Retriever puppy even though he’s nearly two hundred years old and a vampire.”

Their eyes widened and they glanced at each other, then back at me.

“Okay?” Ben seemed dubious.

“He’s my best friend. I trust him with my life.”I’d trust him with my mate’s life.“He knows someone back in Seattle who runs a rehab clinic for non-humans. He wanted to offer you guys a chance to go there for a month or two. All expenses paid, including getting you there.”

Ben grimaced. “That’s….”

“A lot,” Max concluded.

“It is. All he wants in return is for you to get clean and come back to be my betas. Protect this property with all you got.” I knew that would make their wolves perk up.

“Is he going to come here?” Max asked.

“Yes. But he’ll stay in Seattle until you’re ready to head back, just so you guys have someone that I trust there if you need him. He’ll visit you when you’re allowed visitors and such.”

They did their silent conversation thing again, then Ben nodded for both of them. “Okay. When?”

“As soon as you can. He’s got spots for you in the program.”

“How quickly can you get us flights?” Ben asked, smiling, with a new kind of hope in his eyes.

I hugged them both, then asked, “How about I give you Rian’s number and you call him while I check on those flights, eh?”

I took Max’s phone and put Rian’s number in, then gave him a heads up that we were calling him. Max put him on speaker, and I chuckled quietly at Rian’s excitement.

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