by R. E. Butler
Chapter 18
Kismet woke suddenly, a startled gasp in her throat.
“Whoa, sweetheart,” Ren said. “You’re at the healer’s and you’re safe now.”
She turned her head and let out a deep sigh. “Oh, Ren. You’re safe.”
He chuckled. “You bet.”
“What happened?”
“What do you remember?”
She thought back over what she knew. “The other pack showed up, and that bitch blocked the way into the house. She knocked me off the porch with a board and I fell on my wing. I knew I needed help for my wing before it got too bad, so I opened a portal and she followed me.”
“Your dad said you killed her. I’m so sorry you had to do that.”
Her eyes stung but she blinked away the tears. That female wasn’t deserving of her pity. “Me too. I’d do anything to keep you safe, though.”
His brows rose. “You know that’s my line, right?”
“Well, it’s true for me, too.” Her mind flitted to their babies. “Are Rune and Lily okay?”
“Yes. Broderik had one of other healers check on them and they’re fine.”
She blew out a breath and smiled. “That’s good. So much could have gone wrong, I’m thankful we’re all okay.”
“Trust me, sweetheart, I’m very grateful, too.” Ren called for Broderik, who appeared quickly.
“You’re awake!” the healer said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Not bad. Glad to be alive.”
“That’s always a good sign,” Broderik said with a smile. “If your mate will help, we’ll get you sitting upright and check out your wing.”
She blew out a breath and reached for Ren, who, along with the healer’s guiding hands, helped her to a seated position. Broderik hummed as he removed the bandages.
“The break was clean, Kismet. I don’t foresee you having any problems with the wing’s function, but you’ll need to take it easy with it and not try to fly for a few weeks until it’s completely healed.”
At the healer’s request, she wiggled the fingers of both hands and moved her arms and legs to prove that the pain and numbness were gone. Ren helped her to her feet and she extended her wings carefully, the left one twinging slightly as she moved it.
“Is there wing physical therapy?” Ren asked.
Broderik chuckled. “Of a sort. Mostly stretching them daily and slowly working up to actual flying. Wings are resilient because of the magic, they just need time to strengthen.”
“I’ll make sure she’s careful,” Ren said.
“Oh?” she asked with an arched brow.
“Yep. That’s what truemates are for.”
“Let me know if you have any residual issues,” Broderik said. “But you should be good to go.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Ren shook his hand. “Yes, thanks for everything.”
“Of course. Be well, you two.”
“I don’t suppose there are any clothes here?” she asked, looking down at the plain, cotton dressing gown someone had put on her.
“They had to cut off your top because of your wing.”
“Dang, I liked that top.”
“Well,” he said, drawing her gently to him with his arm around her waist. “I like you better.”
“Right, right. Better a torn shirt than a dead truemate.”
“You could embroider that on a pillow.”
She snorted. “How long was I out?”
“A day.”
“What’s going on with the house?”
“The omegas are helping to clear it out. Once it’s empty, they’ll start on the repairs. Malachi packed some clothes for us and took them to the shop apartment. If you open a portal there, we can get you some clothes to wear and then we can stop by the house if you want.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. Ren used his thumb to gently extract it from her teeth.
“What’s the matter?”
“Is everyone dead?”
His gaze softened. “Yeah, sweetheart. Her entire pack came at me, Caleb, and Zander. There was just enough time to call Acksel, and he brought in a lot of help. Every single male is dead.”
It was a sad thing to hear, but also a relief.
“Did you find out what the deal was?”
“One of her wolves said she was obsessed with using me as her alpha mate to get revenge on the alpha of another pack. Did she say anything to you?”
“That I was usurping her mate. I gave her a chance to leave, but she wouldn’t. She wanted me dead.”
“I’m certain your dad wouldn’t have allowed that.”
“Yeah. I knew he’d step in if I needed help, but I didn’t.”
“Your dad burned all the bodies. It was hella freaky.”
“He has a spectacular power.”
Ren kissed her forehead. “So do you.”
“I’m ready to go home.”
“Me too.”
Kismet opened a portal to the shop’s apartment and walked through with Ren. She put her wings away, hissing at the sting of the left wing as it disappeared into her back.
“You okay?” Ren asked.
“It hurt a bit, but it’ll get better.”
“Does putting the wings away help them to heal? Like if shifters get injured, they can change forms and accelerate their healing.”
“No, wings don’t work like that. They heal quickly in general, but nothing makes the healing go faster except for spells like Broderik used.”
She looked around the main room of the apartment. It was small but clean, with a couch and flat-screen television on the wall.
“For ages, this place was a dump,” Ren said. “I never cleaned it or bothered with anything in it. I never used it, or even gave it much thought.”
“It doesn’t look like that now. What changed?”
“A she-wolf was stranded in town when her car broke down. Brynn asked me to let her stay here, so I did. I felt bad that the place wasn’t clean, but it was short notice and she said she didn’t mind. One of the omegas, a female named Kammie, cleaned it for me after Honey met her mate in the pack. I decided a while back to get rid of all the old stuff and put in nicer furniture so it was livable. It’ll do until the house is ready.”
She followed him to the kitchenette, which had white countertops and appliances, and light wood cabinets. There was a small table with two chairs, and a vase of what looked like real flowers, but were upon inspection made of silk.
He showed her the bathroom. She eyed the shower and then her mate, and he grinned.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll fit too well in there.”
“Well, that’s what you get for being so irresistibly muscular.”
The couch, which Ren explained pulled out into a full-sized bed, held two bags, one containing her clothes and one containing his.
“How long will we be here?” she asked as she looked to see what had been packed.
“A few weeks at least. We don’t have to stay here. We could go to your home instead.”
“But you have work and the pack to tend to.”
He shrugged. “It’s not as if we can’t make it work. If you’d be happier in your house instead of here in this apartment, which – fair warning – the shop gets loud during work hours – I understand.”
She mused on that for a moment but decided it didn’t really matter where they were as long as they were together. “I want to be here. We chose Wilde Creek for our home, and besides, I can help in the house during the day.”
“Just as long as you take it easy,” he said, glancing at her belly.
“I’m barely pregnant, I don’t have to take it too easy.”
He hummed. “Just looking out for my favorite girl and our little ones.”
“I know, and I love you for it. But I’ll go buggy if I’m not doing anything.”
He nodded. “I understand completely.”
After she used the shower and got dressed, she found him at the
kitchen table with a half-dozen wrapped packages of breakfast pastries and two mugs.
“There was only black tea in the customer lounge,” he said apologetically.
“I don’t mind,” she said.
From the offerings, she chose a glazed donut and dipped the tea bag into the steaming water. Ren drank coffee and ate the remaining pastries. He had a huge appetite, which he said came from his shifter genetics.
“I suppose my appetite will grow as the babies develop.”
“From what the pregnant females in the pack say, the answer is yes, and you’ll crave red meat more, too.”
“Good thing I’m not a vegetarian.”
He laughed. “That’s very true. Acksel and his sister Eveny argue about vegetables all the time. It’s pretty funny.”
“I love the pack.”
“Do you?” he asked, his eyes bright with humor.
“In my realm, we’ve got our families and friends, but it’s not like the pack. Even though you have your family groups, it’s like everyone is one big family. How many people are helping with the house?”
He shrugged. “Whoever can. The pack always steps up when someone needs help. When I was a kid, my mom was injured during a hunt. She was out of commission for a few days, and the pack rallied around us right away. Acksel’s dad brought me home to stay with him so my mom could rest, and the omegas in the pack cooked and cleaned while she recuperated, and my dad had to work. I’ll never forget when Dade brought me home, that my dad told me how special the pack was, that we never let a member struggle if we could help.”
“That’s really sweet.”
“It’s not my people anymore, you know. You’re my mate and that makes you my family and part of the pack. We’ll be there for pack members when they need us, and they’ll be there for us. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Her eyes stung, but the tears that threatened were sweet ones.
“Oh, babe,” Ren said, reaching across the table to give her hand a squeeze. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good, really. Just a little overwhelmed still, I guess. We could have lost everything yesterday, including each other. But we didn’t, and I’m trying to keep the focus on that. The pack’s sweet helpfulness just makes me want to cry a little, but not sad tears.”
“I understand.” She arched a brow. He amended, “I get the emotional feeling. When I couldn’t find you, I didn’t know what to think. I mean I have zero way to get to your realm without you or your father.”
“In a worst-case scenario, you could always call Rich. He can get ahold of my mother, who knows fae who would open a portal for you. But let’s just try to not ever get separated in dangerous situations again, okay?”
With a laugh, he leaned across the table and kissed her. “You got it.”
After finishing their breakfast, they headed down into the shop and she met the pack members who worked for Ren.
“We’ll be staying in the apartment until the house is fixed up,” Ren said.
“Sucks what happened to you, but glad you’re both okay,” Kevin said. “My mate Beth, is a whiz with fixing up walls, so she’s on the team to help with that.”
“Is she into home remodeling?” Kismet asked.
Kevin laughed. “Well, she wasn’t until our boys started to get rambunctious and knocked holes in the walls rough-housing. After we paid to have a wall repaired one time, Beth said she could do it better and cheaper herself. She’s made a little business for herself fixing up interior walls and painting. Our sons help when they can and she uses other omegas when the job is big. She’ll make it look like new.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
They said goodbye and walked outside, where Kismet opened a portal to their home. A huge dumpster had been set on the front lawn and appeared to be half full of broken furniture. A few males and females were inside the house working, and Ren introduced her to everyone.
“We can pack up our clothes and keep them at the apartment,” Ren said. “We don’t want them to get messed up during the remodel.”
Kismet agreed.
Ren looked at his watch. “I have to check in on the training class. You okay here?”
Kismet put her hands on her hips and looked around the bedroom. The closet door had been ripped off and smashed, but they’d left the clothes intact, for which she was thankful. “I think it’s safe to say that I have plenty to keep me busy.”
“I’ll bring lunch around noon.”
“Don’t forget the workers, too.”
“You got it.” He gave her a kiss and left.
He spoke to the workers on the way out, thanking them for their help and hard work. The family room was empty, and they were in the process of pulling up the carpet and padding, because the wolves had torn it up as well.
She opened a trash bag and headed into the closet. It would be a long day, but she’d rather be busy than sitting around the apartment twiddling her thumbs while others worked. By the time several hours had passed, she’d emptied the master bedroom closet as well as the bathroom. The bedding and the bed itself had been torn up, so she helped strip the bed and carry things out to the dumpster.
“Heya,” Noah said as she tossed a trash bag of torn curtains into the dumpster.
She gave him a hug, then hugged her mom and Rich. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Ren called me,” Rich said, “and said you were here working on clearing the house, so I called for some backup.”
“How are you feeling? Is your wing okay?” her mother asked.
“I’m good. It aches a little, but the healer said I should take it easy and not try to fly for a few weeks.”
“I’m glad you went home when you hurt it,” her mother said.
“Me, too.”
With her family helping, she could get the other bedrooms clear and the kitchen cabinets emptied.
Her mother surveyed the appliances. Every single door had been ripped off, making them useless. “Boy, they really took it to heart to ruin everything in here.”
“Yeah. They left the clothes alone, though, which I think is kind of weird,” Kismet said.
“They were probably going for maximum damage,” Noah said, sliding a broken plate into a trash bag. “Ripping up clothes would take too long, but for a wolf, it wouldn’t be hard to break a door off something.”
She nodded. She smelled pizza a moment before Ren walked through the front door with a stack of boxes. Her stomach growled loudly, and she said, “You have great timing.”
“One of my many charms.”
“We can sit on the patio,” Kismet said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Noah said. He and Rich ran out to Ren’s truck for the cold drinks he’d brought along, and then called in the pack members to grab a paper plate and help themselves.
Ren carried two pizza boxes out to the patio and Kismet and her family sat on the rickety chairs and ate. She was so hungry the pizza tasted like the best thing she’d eaten in years, all gooey melted cheese and chunky tomato sauce, topped with every meat known to man. While they ate, they talked about the remodeling.
“It’s a chance to redo it all,” Ren said between bites of pizza. “It was all my furniture, but now we can buy new things together.”
“That’s one way to look on the bright side,” Rich said with a nod.
“What are you going to do out here?” her mother asked, gesturing to the yard.
“A garden, of course,” Kismet said. “And a big tree for the kids to play on.”
Her mother had been tickled to hear that she and Ren were having twins.
“That sounds perfect. Once the house is back to normal, Noah and I will perform a blessing.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Have you set a date for the wedding yet?” Noah asked.
“Not yet, but I think June would be nice. The king and queen are coming.”
Her mother’s brows rose. “Really? Here to this realm?”
“I
s that a big deal?” Ren asked.
“I can’t remember ever hearing about them coming to this realm for anything. Of course, the king and your father are very close, so I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. When it’s time to plan, let me know. I’m happy to help.”
Kismet nodded.
Before long, Ren had to get back to his training class. Rich, Noah, and their mother stayed for a few more hours to continue to help, and then she opened a portal to the apartment and they helped her carry the bags of their clothing and toiletries inside.
“Take care of yourself and the babies,” her mother said, giving her a hug.
“You bet.”
“You’re coming for lunch on Sunday, right? It’s our new family tradition,” Noah said.
“Are you cooking?” Kismet asked, thinking back to all those times her brother had nearly burned down the house attempting to cook.
“Mom’s cooking.”
“Then we’ll definitely be there,” Kismet said with a laugh.
“Hey! I’m getting better.”
“No, he’s really not,” their mother said.
With a wave, her family stepped back through the portal into the Wilde Creek house. She closed the portal and yawned, grabbing her cell and texting Ren that she was at the apartment.
I’ll be there in an hour.
See you soon, she texted back.
Love you.
Love you too.
She looked at the bags in the family room. It was tempting to get right to work again and empty the bags, but then she thought about Ren coming to the apartment to see her, and suddenly, the only thing she wanted to do was be with him.
She walked into the bedroom and took a picture of the bed, sending it to him in a text.
I’ll be here waiting.
Vixen, he texted back. I’ll hurry.
She sent him a winking smiley face and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Then she climbed onto the bed and picked up the tablet Ren said she could use anytime. While she waited for her mate, she looked up summer wedding ideas, and began a list of possible wedding dates and themes. She couldn’t wait to marry her mate and take his last name.