Page 87 of Fire Bound

I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you this in person. I know we had a playdate planned, but did you know they’ve found another tribe deep in the amazon that’s never been contacted by the outside world? I think I may take a little jaunt down there and check it out. Hell, I just might resurrect their elders. I always thought being a god would be fun. I’ll be sure to let you know if they build a shrine in my honor.

So, for the time being, I’m going to need a rain check on our plans.

I pinky promise not to get into bed with any more deplorable people in the meantime. I’ll be on my best behavior, but I truly hope you’ll be at your worst.

-Kaius.

After Jax got his fill of telling meI told you so, we’d taken the addresses to our newpermanentresident hacker who verified that all the addresses were real places.

After multiple recon trips and an exhausting amount of planning, as a pack and as a family, we’d cleared out each and every one of the buildings. We saved every soul we could that was locked inside. Some of the staff fought back and protected the buildings like they were the last strongholds in the war, but many of them looked almost relieved to have been forced out of a job. They dropped their guns and walked out of the building with their white flags raised.

Whisper had been there the whole time, helping us through the high-tech security systems. He became just as invested in the cause as the rest of us. From what I’ve learned from being around him and the stories Winslow has told us, a lot of his hacker skills are used to right the wrongs of corrupt government officials or corporations. He likes to refer to himself as a cyber vigilante. He tells us that the Montana air has been good for his soul and plans on sticking around for a while. I hope he does. I’ve grown to really enjoy his company.

After the buildings were clear and free of any people, Jax had used his hellfire to burn them and everything inside them to the ground. There was nothing left that the humans could stumble across and begin to ask questions. Sterling may have been ready to let them know of our existence, but the rest of us aren’t. We’re content with how things are.

And yes, after all these months, Jax has retained the ability to control the flames. He says that night on the cliff, it was like the dam that was holding his power at bay broke and they’ve been free ever since. He doesn’t know if it’s a permanent change, but we’re using them for as long as we can.

So many of the captives were women that were taken from their homes or right out of parking lots when they were walking to their cars. The ones that were mentally and physically ready to leave were reunited with their families as quickly as possible.

Many of the women took the children they had mothered with them as well. It was something that was never expected of them. They were given options and were promised the children would be well taken care of if they didn’t have the ability to do it themselves. We had coordinated with packs across the country that had mated couples that were hit hard by the low fertility rates and were looking to adopt these special children.

In the end, we had less than twenty children that needed to find homes, the rest went home with their mothers.

There were a good handful of people that weren’t ready to be reintegrated back into society or people who were still struggling with medical problems inflicted on them from Sterling’s cruel experiments. There were also a few pregnant mothers that had elected to spend the remainder of their pregnancies with us.

All of my siblings had chipped in on a large Victorian-style home in town. Its tall hedges and big trees offer ample privacy. Winslow calls it a halfway house, and, in a way, I guess she’s right. It was never intended to be a permanent option for the rescued people but a place they healed and recuperated.

We knew when we bought the property that it would eventually be empty once we were able to rehabilitate everyone. Five months later, we’re so close to having everyone ready to leave the nest. We’re still waiting for a couple of babies to be born, and a few of the women have such bad post-traumatic stress, they’re afraid to leave their rooms. Winslow spends a lot of time working with them as she’s healed from her own trauma. Plus, she’s a really good listener and somehow always knows what to say. She’s so weird, but she’s also so wise.

Our pack doctor, Dr. V, put her private practice on hold to work with us as we get these souls back on their feet. She’s helped us endlessly to help nurse all of them back to health. Even though I hadn’t graduated from nursing school, she gave me lots of hands-on experience and even offered me a job at her practice if I ever want it.

I don’t know if I’ll take her up on her offer, maybe one day when I’m ready to settle down.

After traveling to the beach with Jax, I realized just how much of the world I wanted to see. While I no longer feel suffocated by my family or my home, the desire to leave and explore the world with my mate is strong.

The pack environment also isn’t a conducive place for Jax’s wolf. He doesn’t like or understand a pack’s structure. For the sake of Pruitt and his relationship, Pruitt can never be Jax’s alpha, and therefore, being a true member of the pack isn’t likely. It’s a fact that we’re both at peace with. He’s not a pack member officially, but he’s a member of our family which is even better.

We’ve been living at the loft in town and over the past few months, we’ve slowly been making it our own. It’s small and needs some TLC in places, but that’s okay. I’d live anywhere if I got to live with him. Soon it’s going to be a place we just stay at when we’re in town.

Tomorrow we’re leaving the only state I’ve ever known and we’re going to take a page out of Kaius’s book and go on an adventure. We don’t know exactly where we’re going or when we’ll be back, but the not knowing is what makes it exciting. We’re going to figure it all out together just like we do everything else.

Giddiness fills my chest like a swarm of cheerful butterflies as I tip my head back and allow the autumn sun to warm my face. I want to savor this moment because it’s perfect. We’ve been having a lot more of those kinds of moments now that things are finally starting to settle. Without the looming threats and monsters lurking in the shadows, we’ve been able to truly enjoy the small moments like this.

Opening my eyes, I scan them over what used to be a lush forest. Months later, the ground is still black, and the trees are still gone. But like my pack and my family, it’s starting to heal. To grow again. Bright green sprouts are peeking out of the burned soil. Soon this part of the territory will be good as new. Better even.

I’m shifting the blanket on my lap when I sense him. After five months of being mated, I can sense his power when he uses it to travel. I can feel the shift in the air, the slight humming energy before the faint scent of smoke appears.

He sits down behind me, his legs on either side of mine. Closing my eyes once again, I lean back and nestle up against his warm chest. My lips tip up when I feel his lips skim across the mark he left on my neck. Touching, kissing, or just looking at his mark is his favorite thing to do. It soothes him, I find.

Jax has nightmares and more times than not, he flies awake next to me, gasping for breath and his eyes glowing as his wolf pushes forward to protect him. He doesn’t admit it, but I know he’s dreaming about watching me fall. After he catches his breath and settles a bit, he always reaches for me, pulling me tight against his chest where he then caresses the mark on my neck until we both fall asleep again.

I wish there was more I could do to help him heal from that night, but if this is what he needs, I can live with it.

Jax’s arms snake around my waist as he asks, “Are you happy, love?”

He asks me this every day, usually when we have a quiet moment alone like now. Jax promised to make me happy, and he takes his promise very seriously. Every day for five months I’ve given him the same answer. Even when we were in the thick of rescuing all those people, it was the same. “Happy and so, so in love.”

And his answer is always the same too. “Tomorrow is going to be even better,” he vows, and then he kisses my cheek.

---