Chapter 22
We head back to the dining room, where Matt and Josh stand looking at blueprints; Madison pulls Josh away as I sit down.
“Everything ok?” He asks.
“Perfect, what are you looking at?”
“These are the blueprint options for the new pack house. What do you think?”
I pull up the closest plan ahead of me; it almost looks like an apartment building, “Ugh, no to this one.” The second one was Victorian-style three floors with a full walk-around porch; it was beautifully designed. I put it on the maybe list. The third one I looked at and just stopped. It was perfect. It was a beautiful log cabin with four floors, a front porch, and a back porch. This house was beautiful, and I handed him the blueprints, “this one right here!”
He smiled. “Good, I was thinking the same thing. Four floors, we take the top, Josh and Maddy take the third, offices on the second, and general area in fourth.”
“Don’t forget to plan a nursery on the third floor,” I giggle as I hear Josh’s surprised squeal and see him pick up Maddy and spin her around.
“Ahh, that’s where you went.”
“Yup, I would like them to take Aiden, Allison, and the other pups from the cave back with them. We have a lot of pups here to worry about, and they have been through so much already.”
“Sounds good. Maybe you should go back too?”
I glare at him. “Nope, nuh uh, negative! I will not be leaving your side. So don’t even think about asking!”
He sighs in defeat and throws up his hands. As I glare at him, Josh walks back up and smirks at our expressions. “Oh man, you asked her to return with us, didn’t you?” Then, laughing at the glare he got from Matt, he asked which one we chose and grabbed the blueprints. “We will be on our way back then.”
“Josh, there are a few pups I’d like you to take back with you. Roberto can help you get them loaded in the car.”
He nodded and hugged me. “Be careful, Emmy; you’ve had a lot happen to you over the past week. And take it easy on the Alpha over there; he’s been insufferable since you’ve been gone.” He gave me a wink and walked over to Matt.
Maddy walked over to me and hugged me. “Good luck Mama,” I said to her.
She had a tear fall down her cheek. “Stupid hormones.” She said with a laugh pulling away and walking to Josh as they left the pack house.
As I watched them walk away, our food was placed on the table. Then, we discussed more on the new pack house. Josh is staying behind to help with construction. Once we return, we decide we’d like to perform the Luna and Beta ceremonies and the pack initiation. We also agreed to start taking pack members in groups to the pack house so they can start organizing their living spaces to make them inhabitable again. Once the pack house project is complete, we will have a mourning ceremony for all those we lost.
After lunch, we decide to go for a run. Garnet hadn’t been out since before I was kidnapped, and she was getting stir-crazy. We went only to the woods, and I removed my clothes behind a tree. Shifting, I walked back out to Matt, who looked at me in awe as he continuously petted Garnet. Finally, he went and shifted into Onyx. A beautiful black wolf with red eyes as well. We allowed time for our wolves to get familiar with each other’s scent, then we took off into the woods. We continued racing each other until we came across the back side of the lake. Sniffing out clothes, he shifted back and threw me a shirt. I shifted back, put it on, sat next to him, and put my arm around him and head on his shoulder. We sat there in silence and just relaxed.
“So, how are you holding up in all this?” I asked. “You’ve had one thing right after another since you woke up and haven’t had time to breathe either.”
“Well, you’ve made the transition extremely easy. Sitting in my little cell, I had no clue what I would be returning to or if I was coming back. But thankfully, you stepped up and prevented the pack from completely falling apart.” He said as he grabbed my hand.
“How did you get caught?”
“Chasing after you,” he sent me an incredibly sexy half smile that made my heart flutter. “A rogue took a cheap shot on me and knocked me out.”
“I’m sorry. Most of this could have been avoided if I had just stayed a few minutes longer.” I look down at my hands and sigh.
“Nah, I don’t think we would have avoided it. If anything, you would have been in the cage with me, and we probably wouldn’t have been found. So I don’t blame you, only the Rogues.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as I look at him with tears, and then I pull him in for a passionate kiss.
We eventually headed back to the pack house hand in hand; we decided to skip dinner and head up to our room. Lying in bed, we held each other, knowing the war was upon us and we may not see each other again. I lean into him to kiss him.
Kissing me back, he stops and puts his hand on both sides of my face. “I love you,” and kisses my lips and neck down to my mark.
“I love you too,” I whispered through the moans.
Knowing this may be our only chance, we surrendered ourselves, officially claiming each other many times through the night.