Page 52 of Fixer
“And good riddance,” Alice snapped.She seemed like the softer of the two and she was the one to go to for hugs and comfort, but she could hate anyone who hurt her people long and hard.
“Their loss, that they don’t get to be here or know the amazing kid they discarded.”Nola glanced past me at Wade.“Enough sad stuff.Introduce us to Shawn’s brother.”
Fear of the Chicago pack’s surveillance had kept us close to home the past year, so our hoped-for trips to Canada had never happened.Wade, currently a little wide-eyed behind me, was meeting his brother’s guardian angels for the first time.“Wade, these are Alice and Nola, whom I took Shawn to back when.Ladies, Shawn’s brother and my boyfriend, Wade.”
The wordboyfriendslipped past my lips unintended, but I didn’t want to take it back.Alice and Nola probably already knew.While I rarely called them, and then only to make sure they were well, Shawn stayed in touch.He’d no doubt mentioned me and Wade enough for them to read between the lines.Now I realized I wanted to be the one to say “boyfriend” out loud to these two whose relationship I’d envied.I wanted to show that I was proud of what Wade and I were to each other.With zero connection to other wolves, they were a safe audience.
Nola held out her work-worn hand.“Wade.Shawn missed the hell out of you.I’m so glad Dustin found you.”
“Sorry.”He shook her hand, looking bashful.“I wish I could’ve trusted Dustin—”
“Nah,” I cut in, not wanting that nonsense back on the table.“I told you, Shawn needed you to really believe he was dead.It probably saved his life from the cult we all escaped.Maybe mine too.”Religious cult was still my go-to for explaining wolf packs to the women.
“It must’ve been so hard on you, son.”Alice took Wade’s hand, pressing it between both of hers.“Shawn had Dustin and the two of us, and then Zay.Who did you have?”
I was pretty certain the answer was no one, until my search finally paid off.Perhaps Alice saw that in Wade’s eyes, because she went on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.“Well, any brother of Shawn’s is a child of ours, even if you’ve left childhood far behind.You’ll always be welcome with us.”
“Thank you.”Wade’s eyes glistened.
“And now,” Nola said, “we’re here to see a wedding.What can we do to help get this show on the road?”
Half an hour later, Wade and I sat on metal folding chairs under the blue sky while Shawn and Zay said their vows.About a dozen people surrounded us, all human.There was no best man or wedding party, just two young men who’d faced the worst life could throw at them, and survived, and thrived, together.Their cheap suits and simple floral arrangements were outshone by the joy on their faces.Shawn and Zay spoke simple words, threaded gold rings on each other’s hands, and kissed.
Alice sniffed.
I glanced at Wade.He was watching his brother, and I saw him sit straighter, his shoulders relaxing as if a weight had come off him.I couldn’t promise Shawn would have a long, risk-free, uncomplicated life, but I understood that relief.The rejected boy was home at last, safe in his lover’s arms.And his older brother— after all the fear and loss, the anger and rebirth— got to see this moment happen.
A local friend of the boys’ played a cheerful tune on a guitar.Shawn and Zay walked hand in hand between the chairs while we threw orchard-friendly rice at them.They had another friend taking wedding photos, but I raised my camera to snap some pictures, hoping to capture the joy on their faces.Along the way, I took a shot or two of Wade with the spring sunbeams lighting his hair and a shine in his blue eyes.
We talked and drank cider and ate the spread Zay had prepared.Again and again, I saw Shawn and Zay gaze adoringly at each other and smile.Left hand would meet left hand, bringing their rings together.Wade raised an eyebrow at me once and pretended to gag.Yeah, they were so sweet, and that wasn’t us.
Despite their love of romance, Shawn and Zay weren’t going on a honeymoon.The orchard wouldn’t run itself, and neither of them wanted to travel.So by evening, it was just the four of us, down to jeans and flannel shirts, in front of a fire flickering in their living room hearth.
“I’m going to try for a mate bond,” Shawn said.He sat on the couch with Zay stretched out, head in his lap.Shawn stroked his husband’s red hair.“It should work, right?I mean, wolf and human, married, love and sex, what’s not to work?”
The fact that Zay can’t bear you children?Except a lot of pack wives had difficulty conceiving.Being childless didn’t mean they weren’t bonded to their husband and the pack.“I guess.Let me know how it goes.”
“Maybe not right away.”Shawn twirled Zay’s auburn strands around his fingers and glanced over at me.“You got any pointers?”
“Me?No.Mate-bonding never seemed like something I’d need to worry about.”
“What about now?”Shawn turned to Wade.“You think you might ever?”
I waited to see what Wade would say.He turned his pale-blue gaze on me.“Nah.We’re good.Not saying you shouldn’t have a wedding and rings and hell, a bond, if you can swing it, but Dustin and me know who we are to each other.We don’t need to make it official.”
Mates,my wolf noted with satisfaction.
Shawn looked down at Zay.“I want the bond for the closeness, but even more I want to always know where he is.So no one can take him away from me somewhere I can’t follow.”
“Oh.Well, yeah.”The boy who’d lost track of his brother for so long couldn’t be blamed for that wish.I raised an eyebrow at Wade, who’d had his brother taken and just as long lost, but he shook his head.
“Makes sense,” Wade noted.“But we’re good.”
Zay asked, “Are you going to run in fur tonight?”
“Yeah,” I told him.“We’ve gotta take advantage of all this open wild space.”
He rolled his head to peer up at Shawn.“You want to run with them?”
