“That’s good news, Owen,” Hope said. “I’m happy for you both.”
Max had to agree with her. Felt like everything was falling into place. “Hope and I will be glad to help in any way we can. We’ll be taking a quick honeymoon after our wedding, but anything you need before or after, just ask.”
“The construction’s finished downstairs,” Eden said as she reached for Blade’s hand. “And we have our certificate of occupancy, so I think the first thing we need to do is get the pride settled down there. Tomorrow, movers are going to be putting their bunks down there. And we have some additional furniture being delivered then too.”
“We can all help with that,” Mandy said.
“Well, we will,” Rocco corrected her. “You and Ivy will have to settle for directing us. No heavy lifting for you. No going up and down the stairs a thousand times.”
“We can make beds and get things situated,” Ivy said. “We aren’t helpless.”
“Hope,” Eddie said, “let’s pick a date for your wedding.”
“I was thinking sometime between Christmas and New Year’s. I don’t want a big deal. Just us and the pride. It really wouldn’t be that different from a regular night.”
“Oh. Ha.” Ivy laughed. “Don’t you dare deprive Russ of the opportunity to cook a major feast. I’ll work with him on a menu. And Jim and I can help with the decorations. We made a good team working on the cabin.”
“You guys did amazing work,” Hope said. “That sounds like a plan. Just don’t go overboard. I’m more about the fun time with all of you than any elaborate affair for the wedding.”
“Sounds good,” Owen said, ending the meeting. “If anyone needs anything, let me know.”
“Hey, anyone hear from Selena this morning?” Ace asked. No one had. “I’ll go check on her.”
* * *
Selena jerked awake, then kept still as she took stock of her surroundings. There was daylight in her room, but she felt as if she’d just shut her eyes. She rolled over and looked at the clock. It was already nine a.m.
The knock sounded at her door again. She smiled, thinking the team had come to wake her up. She threw the covers off and stood, then stretched. Man, she felt great. Better than she had in a long time.
She opened the door. Ace was there, frowning. “So, um, you taking a sick day or what?”
Selena stood back and let Ace in. “No. I just overslept. Guess I needed it. I was out like the dead.”
“Huh.” In the bigger area of Selena’s room, Ace faced her. “You feel better?”
“Like a new person. I think Owen should have rolling days for each of us to sleep in.”
Ace pulled out a chair at the little table in the corner. “So, you missed the meeting this morning. Owen’s going to be sending Lion and Hawk to college.”
“Wow. Everyone cool with that? I thought Hope wanted some time with her brother.”
“She did, but she sees this as a good thing for him. And for Hawk. But that’s not all. The rest of the cubs are going to schools here in town.”
“Wow. Owen’s not worried about their security?”
Ace shook her head. “Looks like he’s not. He thinks the Omnis have gone to ground. For a little while, anyway.”
“Well, good. I think those are great things for the boys.”
“Yeah.” Ace gave her an appraising look. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Much better. Don’t know what happened yesterday. I swear I was hallucinating.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. I just felt like someone was there. I saw footprints that looked human but weren’t.” Selena looked at Ace, wondering if it was safe to say this next bit. “I blew on a pane of glass in one of the living room’s French doors—you know how you do when it’s cold outside.”
“Yeah?”
“I thought I saw someone’s breath on another pane in response. From the outside.”
“When was this?”
“When you all went downstairs during dinner. Before my headache got real bad.”
“That’s weird.”
Selena nodded. All of that was gone today. She felt normal. No pressure in her head. No paranoia. No extra voices. Maybe she really was losing it. “Ace, like I said, I feel good right now. But if I go crazy, will you tell me?”
Ace didn’t laugh—and that scared Selena.
“I’ve seen people lose their shit, Sel. I don’t think you are.”
“But if I do, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Better than that: I’ll take you to the doctor and hold your hand through your tests.”
“Okay. Let’s just hope it was the migraine that worked me over.”
“Yeah. I’m down with that. Could have been fatigue, too, the way you slept so long.”
“I hope so. Look, I’m going to shower. Ask Russ to keep a bit of breakfast aside for me.” Selena walked to the door and held it open for Ace.
“You bet.”
* * *
Ivy knocked on Casey’s door. She clutched a small stack of folded laundry, dreading the conversation she was about to have with her daughter.
Casey looked up from her homework. Ivy set the stack of clothes on her dresser. “Baby, we need to talk.”
Casey didn’t look up from her studies. “About what?”
Ivy sat next to her on the bed and silently waited for her attention. That worked. Casey frowned at her. “You look serious.”
“I am.”
“Bad news?”
“No. And maybe. Mostly good.”
Casey laughed. “Mom—”
“Your dad says it’s safe for you to go back to school after the holidays.”
Casey frowned. “You don’t agree?”
“I do. I’m happy that things can get back to normal for a bit. We’ll also be sending the cubs to schools in town.”
“Okay.” Casey was waiting for the bad news.
Ivy looked at her hands in her lap. “Lion and Hawk will be going to a community college in Fort Collins, then on to a university in the fall.”
Casey’s face was frozen.
“I wanted you to hear about it from me…and in private. I know you have feelings for Lion, even though he’s much, much older than you. This is a good thing for him—and for you. It gives him some time to join the mainstream world and do a little growing up.”
“College. Mom. I’ll be seventeen when he comes back.”
“And that’s still much too young to have an interest in an adult man.”
“He’ll forget all about me.”
“It will be what it will be. You both need time to grow up and become the people you were meant to be.”
“Why can’t he stay and work with Dad?”
“He’ll be back on holidays. Maybe for some summers.” Ivy reached for her hand. “First crushes are always the most devastating.”
“I don’t have a crush on him, Mom. I’m in love with him. It’s the real thing.”
“Well, when you’re twenty-one, you can re-evaluate your feelings.”
“He’ll be almost thirty. Our whole lives will be over.”
Ivy had the grace not to smile at that notion. “He’ll be about my age.”
“And you’re old. Why did Dad have to ruin everything? It was just perfect as it was. I hate him.”
“That’s not fair. Your father and Uncle Owen are doing what they think is best for Lion and Hawk. You can’t seriously want to hold Lion back, keep him from becoming all that he could be? That’s not how love works.”
Tears spilled over Casey’s eyes. “He’ll meet other girls. Women.”
“Yes, he will. And you’ll meet other boys.”
“I’ll be invisible to him.”
“Honey, I can understand your feelings for Lion—”
“No, you can’t. You never even tried to find Dad. He meant nothing to you.”
“Again, not fair. And not at all the same thing as what’s happening here.” Ivy reached for a tissue and ha
nded it to her daughter. “The truth is that I don’t think Lion shares your feelings. For one, it would be inappropriate for him. For the other, you’re half a generation younger than him. Let him go. Let him grow up. You grow up. If it’s meant that you’ll be together, then nothing is going to make that not happen. And if it’s not meant, then nothing will make it happen, either. Let it be what it will be. Focus on you. Be the best Casey you can be.”
Casey started to cry in deep, gut-wrenching gasps. Ivy pulled her close, so glad she’d gotten to Casey before she got the news in front of everyone.
Ivy rubbed her back. “Did you know that Aunt Mandy had a crush on Uncle Ty for a long time in high school?”
Casey drew a shaky breath and looked up at her. “She did?”
“Yup, but you know what? They weren’t meant to be. Ty thought of her as his little sister. When Mandy met Rocco, she found her soulmate. And Ty found his with Eddie. It was good that neither of them tried to force a relationship that wasn’t meant for them. They each found the perfect partner—exactly the right person for them.”
“I thought Lion was mine.” She started to cry again.
“And he may be. But you won’t know that until you’re both adults, on equal footing, with the maturity to know yourselves better than either of you do now.”
“I still love him.”
Ivy nodded and blinked away her tears. “And isn’t that feeling wonderful? One day, just the right man will love you back. It may be Lion, but it may not. Leave your options open and go experience the world.” They hugged again. “I can guarantee you one thing.”
Casey blew her nose. “What?”
“When it’s right, you’ll know it.”
“Did you?”
Ivy gave her a little smile. “Took me a little discovery time, but I did figure it out. And Dad was patient enough to wait for me.”
“Do you think Lion will wait for me?”
“I think you should set him free and let it be what it will be.” Ivy patted Casey’s leg. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you this without anyone else around. I love you, baby.”
Casey nodded and fresh tears spilled down her face. “I love you too. And I don’t hate Dad.”
Ivy smiled. “I’m glad.”
9
The pride’s furniture truck arrived midmorning. Eden took Tank all around the truck and its contents as things were unloaded. Ty never left her side. She knew he still had reservations about putting kids in the basement—he might never get over that.
When the movers left, she walked through the finished space with him. Somehow, she hoped he could overwrite his old memories with new ones.
The space was beautifully finished. Every room had an egress window with stepped access to the ground above should emergency evacuations be needed. The rooms were bright and airy; none of them felt like cages.
Jim and his assistant, Carla, had everything organized so that the finishing touches in all the rooms would be a simple step. Curtains and blinds were already mounted in each of the windows. Fiona had led a campaign during the construction to break the space in the basement into two equal but somewhat separated gender areas. Her argument was that while all of the prides Ace had so far discovered were male, there were also female Omni children who also needed rescuing, like the young girls she’d encountered in the tunnels or the ones locked away in the house out on plains. On her advice, Owen had Angel redesign the space so that there were three bunkrooms for each gender, as well as locker rooms and bathrooms for both.
For that reason, the females had the north half, the males the south half, with classrooms in between. And though the female half of the space was unpopulated at the moment, it was being fully furnished today as well. Each of the six bunkrooms had three sets of bunks, providing space for thirty-six kids.
Even with all the pre-setup work that had been done in the basement, there was still so much to do. Everyone pitched in to get beds made and the cubs’ stuff moved down.
* * *
Troy tried to help as he could, but he kept getting told to keep out of the way. He made several trips to bring clothes down for the bigger cubs who were doing some furniture arranging. Augie was messing around with a few of the boys.
“This will be my bunk when I have a sleepover with you,” Augie said, plopping down on one of the top bunks.
Squirrel pulled him off it and pushed him into the lower bunk. “Forget it, Beetle. Older cubs have first dibs.”
“Yeah? I’ll wrestle you for it,” Augie challenged. They fell to the floor and rolled around, laughing and grumbling as they struggled to best the other.
Troy slipped past them and climbed up to the bunk in question. “Get him, Augie!” he said. “Fight for our bunk!”
Those words might as well have been a bucket of cold water he threw over the two boys. They stopped their wrestling. Augie gave Troy a disgusted look. “Beat it, Troy. You don’t belong here. Only cubs do.”
“You’re not a cub,” Troy said.
Augie dragged him off the bunk and shoved him toward the door. “I am too. Once a cub, always a cub.”
Troy looked back at the room as he stood at the door, stubbornly refusing to leave. The boys turned their backs on him, showing solidarity with Augie. Troy sighed and went into the hall. Owen was there, his arms full of blankets and pillows. Troy took one look at his sad expression and realized he must have heard the whole thing. Ashamed, Troy took off to find Zavi. It wasn’t a quick search, but he found his friend—his only friend—curled up on one of the bunks in the girls’ side of the basement, sound asleep.
Troy went upstairs to the main floor, which was quiet, since so many people were downstairs helping the pride get settled. He went into his room, but nothing looked like much fun. He grabbed a couple of action figures and decided to go up to the attic where the boys had let him play with them. That had been fun. He went upstairs, then into the secret panel door. He closed it firmly behind him. If the boys downstairs didn’t want to play with him, then he didn’t want to play with them, either.
The day had been a snowy one. It was cold up in the attic. He should have brought a sweater to wear, but he sure wasn’t going back down to his room to get one. He sat on the old mattress the boys had dragged down to the floor in their last game. If no one wanted him around, then that was what he’d give them. They could look for him all they liked; they’d never find him.
It really was cold up there. He looked around for the old quilt the boys had used to make a fort with. It was draped over some chairs. He dragged it back to the bed and wrapped it around him. Things would be fun again when Zavi woke up. He lay down, and looked up at the snow-covered skylights, then shut his eyes.
* * *
Addy tried to keep her panic at bay, but she was losing the battle. It was getting dark outside. She’d looked for Troy everywhere; he was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t seen him in hours. They’d all been so busy getting the cubs settled that she’d lost track of him.
She asked the boys in the pride if they’d seen him—they had, but it had been a while ago. They volunteered to help her look for him. In fact, everyone in the main part of the house went searching for him too.
She realized she hadn’t searched the gym building. God—the pool room. What if he got in there? That was usually locked up tight, so the kids needed an adult to let them in, but what if he’d found a way in?
She hurried out to that wing. It was strange passing the empty basketball court. The bunks and classroom had been moved downstairs. Jim had even come through and cleaned it up already. She went to the pool room and looked through the window in the door, but the entire space was dark. Her hands shook as she tried to enter her code. It didn’t work. Maybe she had the code wrong. She tried it again, paying careful attention to what she entered. She tried another code. And another one, and then fisted her hand against the door. She had to get Owen.
As soon as she thought of him, his arms went around her. “Hey, I heard about Troy. We
’ll find him. No one’s left the property. He’s here somewhere.”
Addy turned in his arms. She couldn’t keep herself from crying—just the relief of having Owen there, ready to help and not blame her for letting him out of her sight. She took strength from him and straightened. “I can’t remember my pool combination.”
Owen reached over and entered his code. He flipped the lights on, then drew her inside. The pool was absolutely still. They walked through the pool room over to the hot tub. No Troy. They went through the locker rooms next, and then into the weight and exercise equipment room.
No Troy.
Owen faced her. He looked worried as he caught her shoulders. “Why don’t you go back to our suite and wait there in case he shows up? I’ve got the whole team searching for him. We’ll find him.”
“What about his security necklace? Isn’t he wearing it?”
“Possibly, but it’s not online.”
“Can you turn those things off?”
“We can. He can’t. I don’t know why it’s malfunctioning.” He led her into their suite, then gave her a tight hug and held her a long moment. “Sit tight. Dinner’s coming up. I bet he’ll show up when he gets hungry.”
Addy nodded. “I will.” She watched him leave their sitting area with big strides from his long legs. She did another sweep of the three bedrooms in their suite. Other than the fact that his two favorite action figures were missing, nothing was out of place in the boys’ room.
She crossed her arms and went back to the sitting room. She paced until she couldn’t fight her tears any longer, as all the worst scenarios rose to her mind.
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