Bearing It All

by Tl Reeve

  After giving Annabelle her phone number she went back to looking around. She mentally made a list and promised to write everything down as they drove to their next location.

  “The full moon is coming,” Bell said as they all came together in the store. “Christoph, Jackson, and I are abstaining.”

  “Nico and I might go through with it,” Hayden said.

  “Whoa,” Zoe muttered. “You’re going to try your luck?”

  “We both want to experience, it,” she said. “We lost a lot of time, and we want to make up for it.”

  “Did they really put the kids in one place during the full moon?” Emma had overheard snippets of conversations the night before. People were already making plans.

  Zoe laughed before becoming stone-cold serious. “Yeah, they did. If we believe the urban legends, Aiden came from a rape. A pack named Quincy had members on Raferty land, and the bitch who birthed him, knotted with a teen in Raferty pack. She killed the kid when he knotted her, and well ... she tried to kill Aiden, after suffocating his littermates.”

  Cassidy whimpered. “No.”

  Emma wrapped her arm around her sister. “He’s okay.”

  “Danielle raise him from a broken pup. He is her son, through and through,” Bell added after giving her sister a look.

  “So, they’d put us all away, so nothing like that happened again,” Hayden said.

  “And, nothing happened between you and Nico when you were there?” Raquel asked.

  “He didn’t have to go,” she mumbled.

  “Because he was older,” Joy said.

  Hayden nodded.

  “Sucks,” Shelly grumbled.

  “What about you and Bodhi,” Terri urged, changing the focus to Emma. “You gonna do it? Finally, give into the hunka-hunka wolf?”

  “Ew, can we not talk about my twin as a hunka-hunka wolf?” Hayden scrunched up her nose and made a gagging noise.

  Heat filled Emma’s cheeks. “Oh, I don’t think ... I mean, we’ve barely had time to talk.”

  Terri rolled her eyes. “He's had it bad for you since the Greek Shifter Games.”

  She hadn't wanted to think about it then. Laney had been a real bitch to her, and she couldn't even look at her dresses without getting embarrassed. “He's busy. Besides, this is all about Hayden and Bodhi coming home for the birth of their siblings.”

  Terri snorted. “Girl, take him. He’s so adorable when he stares at you. He gets this lost-puppy look. It’s sweet.”

  She glanced at Cassidy who watched her intently. “We’ll see what happens. It’s not only me in this relationship. It’s Cass too. She’s my priority. He has to accept us both before we even talk about anything else.” She gave her sister a small, reassuring grin. “Besides, Bodhi and I have time. Cassidy and I have a small announcement to make.” She took her sister’s hand. “When I’m done with school, we’re moving here.”

  “Seriously?” Hayden exclaimed.

  Emma laughed. “Yeah. As long as your uncles will accept us onto your pack and pride lands.”

  Hayden pfft her. “You’re already family. We saw the dishes in the sink this morning. Kalkin made you breakfast, didn’t he?”

  Emma nodded.

  “He’s claimed you,” Bell said. “It’s how you know he likes you. He cooks for you.”

  Emma reared back. “How did he know when I’d be up, or if I liked breakfast?”

  Zoe snickered. “Alpha senses. Our dad has them, too.”

  She didn’t know what to say.

  “Crazy,” Cassidy blurted. “I have so much to learn.”

  This is when Emma needed her parents around to guide them. Situations like these didn’t happen often, yet their guidance would’ve gone a long way in helping ease her new anxieties. “I think we both do.”

  “Take it a day at a time,” Raquel said. “It’s all you can do.”

  Says the human.

  After leaving the store, they walked across the road to the sheriff’s department where Kalkin had been waiting on them. He gave them a tour of the facility, then Royce showed them the gun range out back. She loved it. Not the part about being a deputy, but the way they worked as a well-oiled machine. Everyone had a job.

  Hayden introduced them to Lucas. “Lucas rescued me when I was five. Some bad people kidnapped me. He didn’t tell the Phoenix police department he was a shifter, so, when he found me, he did it all by sense.” She tapped the side of her nose.

  “She smelled like sunshine and happiness,” Lucas replied. “Hard to ever miss her.”

  “We were actually on our way back to Phoenix when our car broke down. My aunt thought if we could find Lucas again, he could help us.”

  The deputy smiled. “I’d been here three years when Holly and Hayden pushed through the door of the station. Kal saw them first, then I heard their voices, and I knew.”

  “Anyway,” Hayden continued. “My dad came out of an office to talk to Loraine about an incident. The folder in his hands dropped. His knees buckled and Kalkin had to grab him.”

  “Whoa,” Shelly whispered.

  “Yeah. Holly never showed me pictures of my mom. She didn’t even talk about her. When I was twelve she told me the story of how I came to be, and how she took me to protect me, while my dad took Bodhi to protect him.”

  “Twin power,” Joy stated. “I’m reading about twin shifters and how they share a stronger connection than regular siblings.”

  “Exactly,” Hayden answered. “Kalkin brought me and my aunt to his house, and my dad explained it all. That’s when I met Bodhi. Our dad held us for hours. He’d been so inconsolable.”

  “Until Blake and Loraine took things into their own hands,” Lucas added.

  Hayden rolled her eyes. “No parent sex talk.”

  Emma laughed. “I think you’re too late to make a new rule.”

  Bell snickered. “I swear the Dryers and the Rafertys were separated at birth. Our family is the same. They’re so open.”

  “At least, they’re honest,” Shelly stated.

  Emma agreed.

  After saying their goodbyes, they hopped back into the SUV. They had one more stop. Rapier and the guys were working on a couple of new homes, and they’d all decided, for Emma of course, with a little prodding from Bodhi, to go check out the sites. Plus, it was near another place Hayden wanted to take them.

  When they rolled up, the sound of saws and nail guns echoed around them. Three men were on the roof of one house, laying out the paper while the crew on the other house laid shingles.

  Emma spotted Bodhi right off. He was with Christoph and Jackson smoothing out the concrete driveway of the house on the left. His skin glistened with sweat. He had his school ball cap on backward, and a pair of black sunglasses covered his eyes. Every time he slid the floater over the wet slab, his bicep muscles flexed. The muscles of his stomach bunched. She followed the thin line of hair at the bottom of his abs to the hem of his pants, and she bit back a moan. Holy guacamole.

  She hesitated to get out. How could she even? He intimidated her. All of her insecurities reared their ugly faces. He was beautiful. She ... not so much. Bell knocked on the window and waved for her to get out. Already, the girls were whistling and acting obnoxious, except Raquel.

  The girl walked across the road, and right up to Utah. She raised her hands and began to sign. Whatever she said to him, the big tiger lowered his face to hers and kissed her. She glanced over at Nico and Hayden and saw the same display. All around her, those who were already mated, found their partner and embraced them.

  Girls just want to have fun ...

  She hadn't even noticed the earbuds in Bodhi's ear until Bell tapped him on the shoulder then hooked her thumb over her shoulder at Emma. He pushed his glasses up onto his head, and his gaze zeroed in on her. She felt like a deer caught in the headlights. She couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She couldn't even wave at him. He jogged over to where she stood, and she swore she panted like a dog in heat by the time he stood in fr
ont of her.

  “Pinky,” he growled. “Why are you all the way over here?”

  “Watching,” she croaked. “Hi.”

  He dipped his head and pressed his nose to her throat. “Mmm.” He groaned. “You smell good.”

  She shivered. “Thanks, I think.”

  He chuckled. “Have you had a good day, so far?”

  Oh, it got tons better after seeing him work. “Yeah.” She uttered the word a little breathier than she’d anticipated.

  “Perfect. Hey, we’re out of here in a few hours after the concrete starts to set up. Want to do something together?”

  She nodded, afraid of how she’d sound if she said, yes.

  “Great, I’ll see you at the house in a couple of hours.” Bodhi kissed her forehead again, then hustled back across the street.

  “He’s so pretty,” a girl who looked kind of familiar, said.

  “He is. Do I know you?”

  The girl smiled. “You’d remember me as Aislinn, last night you met me as Shelby Dryer.”

  “Aislinn!” Bell called as she hurried over. “Shit!” She covered her mouth. “Sorry, I’m not supposed to call you by your given name.”

  The girl shrugged. “I don’t think my father would ever think to check here. Besides, I’m a Dryer now.”

  When Emma learned of the fracas caused by Laney and her band of irritable banshees to tear Bell and Christoph apart, she'd been surprised Christoph and Bell survived it all. Those twits always tried to destroy so many peoples' lives, she'd cheered the day the moving van arrived to remove them from sorority row.

  A couple of weeks after the trial for Bell, admissions found someone hacked their system and changed grades, more specifically Laney and her squad. They were each expelled from the school. Everyone, including Bell, had been blindsided by it. However, later they learned Bell hadn’t been the only one targeted by the group of girls.

  “Are you coming over for dinner tonight?” Bell inquired.

  “Yeah, Melody said something about casserole or something,” Shelby answered.

  “Oh man,” Zoe put her hand on her stomach. “I have missed her cooking.”

  “Perfect,” Bell replied. “Are you helping at the orphanage today?”

  Shelby inclined her chin. “Yes. I'm getting my GED since none of my schooling had ever been recorded.” She sighed. “I didn't understand why my parents kept me home, until now. Being here with your family. I feel horrible for what happened.”

  Bell waved her off. “It’s never been your fault. We’re Dryers remember? We take care of our own.”

  Emma wrapped her arm around her sister. Yes, Cassidy and she would find their place in Arizona.

  Chapter Six

  Bodhi couldn’t wait to get home. The damn concrete took forever to spread out then smooth out, so there were no lumps or divots in it. Rapier, being Rapier, figured while some were working on the driveways and sidewalks, the rest of them would get a jump on the next day while they waited. So, instead of getting home early, Bodhi, along with everyone else, spent the next two hours building out frames and installing the roof on the finished house.

  It had been back-breaking work. He couldn't begin to fathom how the Dryers did it, day in and day out. Bodhi considered himself physically fit, thanks, in part, to being a wolf shifter and the workout sessions he put in at school, but this ... Being a wide receiver for TSU's football team required him to run up and down the field, on multiple downs, in full pads, while sometimes dragging the opponent with him. It also required stamina. Bodhi didn't like falling back on his shifter abilities to do his job. During the off-season, he was in the weight room every other day. On days not lifting, he ran the steps of the stadium, working to build and maintain his strength and endurance.

  Doing construction work made every single muscle in his back, shoulders, and arms ache worse than the first day of training camp, freshman year. On the flip side, it explained why all the Dryers were built like brick shit-houses.

  A shift, he suspected by all the groans in Jackson’s truck from the others were in all their futures.

  “Shit,” Nico mutter beside him, rolling his right shoulder. “I forgot how intense working on construction sites was. I think I’d prefer going back to strapping on my badge and gun, and pulling over drunk, belligerent assholes over at three a.m.”

  “Is that your game plan when you come back?” Before Nico took off to be with Hayden at TSU, he’d worked as a deputy with his uncles out at the Sheriff’s office. They had all assumed he’d go back to the doing the job he loved at some point, but he stayed at school with Hayden.

  “Yeah,” Nico sighed. “Whenever Hayden’s ready to come home, my job will be waiting for me.”

  Didn’t surprise him one damn bit that Nico had figured this all out. It also didn’t stop Bodhi from screwing with his best friend. “What are you going to do if she doesn’t want to come back to Window Rock?”

  Bodhi wasn’t sure what had been funnier, the look of shock on Nico’s face or how his jaw dropped.

  “Did she tell you something she hasn’t told me?”

  “Only when Hayden packed up her room before heading to college, she stated she’d never come back,” Bodhi teased, leaving out the reason why his twin decided she wouldn’t be coming back. Now, since they were mated, he was almost positive Hayden would demand to come back—especially with the arrival of their siblings almost imminent.

  “Stop busting his balls,” Christoph said from where he sat up front.

  “Yeah,” Jackson agreed. “Hayden finds out, she’ll kick your ass.”

  Bodhi leaned forward, pushing Jackson's shoulder. “I'm not afraid of her.”

  “You’re fucking with me?” Nico growled.

  “Yeah,” Bodhi admitted. “I am.”

  Nico punched him in the arm, hard. “Asshole.”

  “Couldn’t help myself. The guppy look you had going on was awesome. Wish I’d thought of having my phone out to show your mate.”

  “Dickhead,” Nico grumbled as Bodhi rubbed his already sore arm.

  “Listen,” Christoph said, turning in his seat to face them. His gaze flickered between Nico and Bodhi. “We got a question. Are dinners normally like last night?’

  Nico snorted.

  “Last night was tame,” Bodhi admitted.

  “Are you serious?” Jackson’s gaze finding Bodhi’s in the rearview mirror.

  “Dead serious. I bet the women told them to be on their best behavior while we're here. They'd want to make a good impression on visitors.”

  “You call what happened last night good behavior?” Christoph mumbled.

  Bodhi nodded. “Hell, yeah. No one left bleeding or with a broken bone. So, pretty calm where get-togethers are concerned.”

  Jackson pulled into the driveway and threw the truck into park before turning to lean against the seat. “Either of you have any advice on how to handle ourselves?”

  Bodhi and Nico looked at each other, before looking back at Jackson and Christoph who were staring at them with anxious looks on their faces.

  “Be yourself,” Bodhi suggested. “Someone, most likely a Dryer, is going to fuck with you. They’re going to want to see how you react, and how you, subsequently, handle yourself.” He considered his words before he asked his next question. “Is Rapier fully aware of scope of your mating with Bell?” It hadn’t surprised Bodhi, or their group of friends, to find out Bell, Christoph, and Jackson’s relationship mirrored his parents. He just wasn’t sure if Rapier had been aware.

  Jackson glanced at Christoph as they both swallowed hard. “No.” Christoph grimaced.

  “You might want to tell him, and I'd suggest showing no fear. He'll eat that shit up,” Nico added as he pushed open the door of the truck and stepped out.

  “Have to agree with Nico,” Bodhi said with a shrug. He popped open the door and got out, leaving them to twist in the wind.

  Nico smiled at Bodhi as he joined him at the back of the truck. Nico pitched his
voice low. “Kind of cold-blooded of you asking them if Rapier knew about their relationship. Do you think they're shitting their pants, yet?”

  They both glanced through the back window of the truck. Christoph and Jackson’s head were bent toward each other as if they were coming up with a game plan.

  “Oh yeah, they are.” Bodhi laughed.

  “Bell is going to kick your ass when she finds out.”

  “She’s a Dryer, part of this pack from the moment of her birth. She had to have a clue when we all came home, one of us was going to fuck with them. If she didn’t, shame on her.”

  Nico nodded in agreement. “Too true.”

  “Hey, Keeley will bust a gut if we trek through the front door, all dirty and covered in muck. There is a hose in the backyard, we should leave our shoes on the back porch,” Bodhi advised, not wanting to piss off his aunt, or, more importantly, his uncle.

  “Works for me,” Nico said. “Then I’m going to find my mate and see if I can talk her into going for a run in the woods.”

  Bodhi wasn’t stupid. It had been Nico’s way of getting in some sexy time with his mate outside of her family’s hearing.

  “You know where she is?” Bodhi pulled his shirt off and threw it on the railing before hosing off his boots.

  “Over at Cade’s,” Nico replied. “What about you?”

  “I’m going to go snag Emma and try to get in some one on one time with her,” he said. “Catch you later.” He bounded up the back steps and opened the back door. The house had been eerily quiet, which worried him.

  As he eased the screen door closed, so not to let it slam, he spotted Emma on the couch, her back to him and, apparently, totally unaware of his arrival. Not wanting to disturb her, he silently crossed the room to where she sat.

  It didn’t surprise him a damn bit to see her pink journal in her hand, or the pink pen with the fluff ball on top, she’d always written with.

  Bodhi peered over her shoulder, like a stalker, and read what Emma had jotted down at the top of the page. At first, it didn't make a lick of sense to him, then the list fell into place. Holy shit.