Page 19 of Break The Ice

“We’ll tell them we’re a pack when I retire. It’s at the end of the year. We’re almost there.”

The truth is, I’m not sure if he even will anymore. There is always a reason to delay it. I know why, and I understand it, but I’m not even surprised when he stretches it out anymore. We all do it. The fact we are a pack has become a secret we guard viciously.

“It’s not because of that at all, Raider,” I soothe. “She’s just very much our kind of people.”

“Like Wren,” Kit adds.

“Wren doesn’t want to be with us,” Raider says sulkily.

I lean across and kiss his forehead. “Go to sleep. You have practice tomorrow.”

“If I even getto play.”

“Sleep, Raider,” I murmur.

Once I know he’s asleep, I say the words Kit’s been waiting for.

“Yes, we try.”

I feel his tension leave our bedroom and wonder how I got so used to it. Why are we all used to the tension and stress?

Kit falls asleep, but I lay awake for a while thinking about Raider, Kit, and Wren, and wondering about the whispered conversation I had with Kit earlier. The question is layered in mystery and an unease that won’t let me settle.

Why does the sound of a phone ringing make Ryann so terrified?

Raider and Wren aregone, and, without them, the house feels empty. I’ve done the dishes, cleaned the floors, and sorted out a few clients. Three hours of the comfort of numbers, and I’m feeling much more myself.

There’s a tap at the door, and I spin in my office chair as it opens. Kit pokes his head in and purses his lips.

“What’s wrong?”

“Raider left his keys here. I was going to run them down to him.”

I lean back in the chair, trying not to smirk at the obvious excuse. “Raider doesn’t need his keys. He’s with Wren.”

Kit looks away from me, his cheeks turning red. “I want to go watch.”

I stand up and reach for his shirt, slowly doing up the top two buttons. I kiss him gently. “Have fun.”

“But Ryann?”

I smile. “I think I can handle Ryann.”

Kit leaves, and I get changed, turning on the yoga music track I like and unroll my yoga mat.

It’s my stress relief. I breathe in and out and go through the motions, trying to calm my mind and let it all go away. At some point, I realise that Ryann has joined me.

We don’t speak, we simply follow the instructions of the monotonous voice.

By the end, I feel nice and loose and a little bit less stressed, but highly aware of the beta who smells like brownies beside me.

“So, yoga, huh?”

“Raider likes to bash people on the ice, Kit sticks pins in people, and I play with numbers until I need to come here and stretch.”

She lies on her back in the middle of the floor and closes her eyes.

“Numbers? Accountant?”

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