Page 61 of Reclaiming Home

Iwoke up energized on Monday morning. Normally, I liked to get seven hours of sleep every night, but the barely five I got on this full moon seemed fine.

The mate bond anchored me to Kye, and the moon run to the pack lands. I felt… settled.

Carys woke up at the same time with me, and I let her use the bathroom first. While she was in there, I watched her brother sleep.

We needed to change the bandage on his wrist, and I wanted to take a look at the cut on his head. I knew it had healed well, I’d checked it every night, but he was still human and humans got infections much too easily for my liking.

“You watchin’ me sleep?” he mumbled without opening his eyes.

I smiled. “I am.”

“Weirdo.”

“I am.”

That made him crack open one eye. “What time is it?”

“Time for me to go make breakfast!” Carys said brightly as she walked past us.

“No need to be so chipper,” Kye groused and burrowed back into the bedding.

“You can sleep. The breakfast won’t go anywhere and there’s really not much for us to do until I get the Keller crew started. I’ll start on the indoors stuff after.”

“M’kay,” he replied, and I could tell he was falling asleep again.

I kissed his forehead and went to the bathroom to start my day. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Mr. Keller was a no-nonsense kind of man. He was efficient, spoke with a slight German accent, and organized the job and his crew like a General.

His daughter Lina gave my house longing glances that told me exactly how much she wanted to work on it.

Once everyone but Mr. Keller himself had started on the demolition, I sidled up to him.

“So, would you happen to have anyone to spare for a few months? Paid job, of course.”

“Renovations?” He made an educated guess and took a pull from his eCig.

“Yeah. I’ve worked construction, electrics and plumbing for years, so I can do most of that myself. I have Kye helping me where he can, but he doesn’t have experience. I would love to have someone who has basic knowledge at least. I can teach them whatever they’d need if something new comes up.” I kept my tone neutral throughout. “It would speed things up if Kyehad someone to work with when he starts to paint and do the wallpapers and such, but I need help with some things, too.”

He looked at the house and chuckled. “I can see that.”

“I grew up here, like I told you when we talked on the phone. I’d love to make this a home for a healthy pack once again.”

Being local, Mr. Keller knew about Rusty and what kind of man he’d been.

“If you don’t mind taking someone on an apprentice level, my daughter would love to work on a house like this. She’s been apprenticing for me, but I have almost pure construction lined up for the winter months and then starting in spring it’ll be decks and such again. I think she wants to do renovation. She sees more value in repairing the old than building new.”

I hummed. “I can understand that.”

“Lina!” he bellowed suddenly, making me jolt.

The girl with the thick blonde braid walked out of the barn, her whole being swallowed by different safety equipment from overalls to respirator, protective glasses, and a hard hat.

“Yeah?” she asked, holding onto a good-sized sledgehammer like it weighed nothing.

“Alpha McRae had a question for you,” Mr. Keller said evenly, taking a pull of his sweet aerosol.

She turned to me, still a bit intimidated like she’d been when they arrived, but relaxed enough that I knew she’d get over it soon.

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