by Zoe Chant
“You’re here!”
“That we are.” Arlo sent them all a wave of support. Eric blinked, taken aback. Of course. I’ve only been doing that with the younger kids.
Then, to his surprise, he felt a tentative telepathic nudge from the teen.
*Thanks,* Eric said into his mind. *That means a lot. And… I guess Kenna was right about you. She said you’d come back.*
Tess was fussing behind the counter, which left the fourth side of the table free. Arlo pulled out a chair for Jacqueline, feeling Ma Sweets’ eyes on him, as he sat down.
“Morning, everyone,” Jacqueline said, bright and chirpy. “Did you four sleep okay?”
“Wee-e-e-e-ell—” Dylan began, stretching out the word.
“Did Tally have another nightmare?” Jacqueline reached across the Franken-table and Tally cooed and grabbed her finger.
“Not the same nightmare…” Kenna’s expression was drifting back towards sullen. Her eyes flicked towards the Sweets.
“What’s everyone doing here, anyway?”
Tess stormed out from behind the counter and plonked a tray of hot drinks on the table. “Coffee,” she said, at the same moment Lainie muttered: “Neutral ground?”
Arlo met Tess’s eyes. *All right, sis?*
She tugged on the cuffs of her long-sleeved shirt. *The usual.*
The problem was, Arlo didn’t know what Tess’s usual was anymore. Like him, she’d always been proud of Ma and Pa Sweets’ strong line on keeping Hideaway Cove safe. But ever since they’d discovered exactly how the Sweets had gone about keeping Hideaway “safe”, Tess’s relationship with their parents had become strained.
And now Lainie was calling her parlor neutral ground?
He raised one eyebrow at Tess, thinking, but not mindspeaking, Whose side are you on? She glared at him and stalked back behind the counter.
“Waffles?” she called out, and everyone in the room under the age of twenty called out some variant of “Yes, please, I’m starving.”
Tally’s version was more of a high-pitched eagle-screech. Ma Sweets took advantage of the noise to pretend she was brushing a mote of dust off her sleeve, and speak telepathically with Arlo.
*I’m glad you’re here. You know these children, and you of everyone knows what they need right now. Please, help me talk some sense into your poor friends.*
“Why don’t you talk out loud, Ma?” Arlo kept his voice light. “There’s two of us can’t hear a word you’re saying if you stick to telepathy.”
Ma Sweets frowned. “That was meant only for you, Arlo,” she said, pursing her lips.
“We’re talking about the kids.” Arlo nodded to them. “Seems rude to exclude them from the conversation, too.”
“Very well.” Ma Sweets sniffed. “Dear?”
Pa Sweets shuffled slightly in his seat. “My thoughts exactly, dear,” he mumbled, and appeared to fall back asleep. Ma Sweets frowned.
“What Dorothy is failing to say—sorry, Mrs. Sweets, I’m sure you were going to get to it in a minute—is that we caught them this morning convincing the kids they were being sent to live with them.” Harrison sounded all good manners and one hundred percent pissed off at the same time.
Arlo exchanged a look with Jacqueline. “I’m glad we didn’t leave any later,” Jacqueline murmured. Arlo squeezed her hand.
Ma opened her eyes wide. “Well, I don’t see what’s so bad about—”
“Kidnapping?” Lainie suggested, quick as a whip.
“Now I’m confused.” Ma Sweets tapped her pursed lips with one fingertip. “Surely you’re not complaining that we’re taking children in, now? It’s not like we’re sending them away. Isn’t that what you’ve had a bee in your bonnet about until now?”
“Grandma!”
Tess slammed down a plate on the counter. It cracked in two.
“You’re not even pretending anymore?” There was only a hint of pleading in Tess’s voice, but it was enough to make Ma Sweets’ eyes sharpen.
“Pretend what? That our community isn’t disintegrating around us?” She fixed Lainie with a knifelike stare.
Arlo tightened his grip on Jacqueline’s hand. How did it take me so long to see the Sweets for what they really are? I was so desperate for someone to take me in, I never questioned what being part of the Sweets’ pack actually meant.
Ma Sweets spoke slowly, as though she was explaining something to a child. “Seals are group animals. Seal shifters need a pack to thrive. These children have each other, but they’re a pack without a leader. Arlo knows how difficult that is, don’t you, dear?”
“I do.”
“See—”
“But they already have a pack leader.” Arlo raised his eyebrows at Jacqueline and she mock-glared at him.
“Two pack leaders,” she corrected him, and grinned at the kids. “If they want us.”
There was half a second of silence, and then the room exploded with noise.
It was something special, Arlo decided, that all four of the shifter kids met Jacqueline’s suggestion with even more enthusiasm than they’d shown for the waffles.
“Yes! Finally,” Kenna cried out. Dylan threw his head back and whooped. Tally banged her fists on the table, and Eric gave a shy smile.
Arlo braced himself for the wave of unguarded emotion. There was no way he was going to let any of the kids see him wince with the migraine that would no doubt come along with it. But the only thing that hit him was the kids’ joy.
His pack’s joy.
Everything slotted into place. All his headaches had been his body’s reaction to him rejecting the truth: that these kids filled a gap in his heart he hadn’t let himself admit even existed.
Ma Sweets’ eyes narrowed. “Have you really thought this through, Arlo? Where are you going to live? That boat of yours—”
“Lighthouse Hill.” Lainie’s eye gleamed. “I know the perfect section.”
Ma scoffed. “And how do you intend to afford that?”
“I’m selling my house.” Jacqueline sounded perfectly calm. “You can help me with that, can’t you, Lainie? Arlo tells me you’re a realtor.”
“That’s hardly instant money.” Ma leaned back in her seat and sniffed. “What are you going to do until then? Set up camp beds in your workshop? I thought you were more sensible than that, Arlo.”
And I thought you actually had shifters’ best interests at heart. Arlo ran his fingers through his hair.
“This is Hideaway we’re talking about. It’s like you always said, Dorothy. Shifters look after their own. Whether that’s other shifters, or the non-shifters we need to be whole.”
The warmth and love in Jacqueline’s face made his soul light up.
His own pack had let him down. The Sweets had let him down, too, tainting the true meaning of pack with their hatred.
But with Jacqueline at his side, that was going to change. Their pack would be what packs were meant to be.
Home.
23
Jacqueline
It worked. That was the strangest part. She and Arlo had marched into the tense confrontation between the Sweets and the other shifters, declared that, actually, they were going to look after the new kids, thank you very much, and everyone accepted it.
Even Mrs. Sweets had reluctantly agreed to support Arlo’s new pack before she left in a huff. Of course, that might have had something to do with Jacqueline’s ace up her sleeve. She’d put together the pieces and figured out how Mrs. Sweets knew so much about her that she could needle Jacqueline with barbs about her infertility.
Bridge. Deirdre must have told the Sweets everything about her. But Deirdre’s gossip was a two-way street, and Jacqueline had spent enough work days listening to her grumble about the Dorothy and Alan who won every single bridge tournament they attended. All it had taken was for Jacqueline to whisper—sweetly—in Dorothy Sweets’ ear that wouldn’t it be awful if everyone here in Hideaway who thought she was such an upstanding member of the community
—who would never do anything to risk their secret being found out by human outsiders—knew that she was using her shifter powers to cheat at cards, and she’d folded.
Jacqueline wasn’t sure if she’d folded because she didn’t want her neighbors to know about her cheating, or didn’t want them to know she stooped so low as to cheat at a game against humans, but either way, the Sweets were going to support Arlo’s pack.
Except… it’s not Arlo’s new pack. It’s mine, too. Ours.
Tess had timed the waffles perfectly for her parents’ exit. Across the table, Tally had wolfed hers down in a second flat. Jacqueline could guess what was coming next.
Tally slithered off her seat and ran under the table to hug Jacqueline’s legs. She bit back a smile and then, thinking better of it, let herself laugh out loud.
Perhaps that’s the strangest part, actually. Over one weekend, I’ve gone from being single to finding the love of my life and four children. A family.
She met Arlo’s eyes. They were full of a deep, contented happiness that made warmth spread through her entire body.
It was strange, but it was a good strange. She wasn’t scared; she was excited. Whatever came next, she was ready to greet it with open arms.
“Up you get,” she said, lifting Tally onto her knee. Tally giggled and reached for her half-eaten waffle.
Jacqueline glanced at Arlo. She knew Tally’s telepathic shrieks cut through his skull like a hot knife through butter. “Are you all right?” she whispered.
He kissed her hand. “Never better,” he said, and slid his plate with an extra waffle along to her.
Never better. He was right. This wasn’t the life Jacqueline had planned—it was so much more than that.
Forget two-point-five children and a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. She had a pack of seals and a sea wolf to sail into the sunset with.
And whatever Eric was. She grinned at him across the table as he spooned ice cream onto his waffles.
“You’re all right with all of this?” she asked. “The whole pack thing? We’ve hardly met yet, and it’s a big decision.”
He nodded fervently and Kenna answered for him. “Oh my God, yes. He’s so sick of having to be in charge.”
Eric gave an abashed smile. “Yeah. And it feels right, you know? Like Kenna said…”
“Hey!” Kenna smacked him on the arm. “I haven’t told them about that yet!”
“About what?” Arlo asked.
“I think I can guess.” Jacqueline put down her fork and carefully pushed the second plate Arlo had given her out of Tally’s reach. “You knew from the start that you wanted Arlo to be your pack leader, didn’t you?”
She remembered how the three of them had put their heads together and whispered conspiratorially back on the cold, windy beach that night. It felt like an eternity ago.
Kenna blushed. “Maybe.”
“And you too!” Dylan burst out. He waved his knife and fork. “But Kenna said we couldn’t just say that, because you’re a human and we might scare you off and then nothing would work, so we had to wait until you fell in love and Eric got back!” He beamed at them and then dove back into his waffles.
“Wait.” Jacqueline frowned. “Is that why you kept getting worried when you would argue, or when Tally stole my dinner?”
“I didn’t want anything to go wrong!” Kenna blurted out. “I thought, if we didn’t behave, you wouldn’t want us.”
A lump formed in Jacqueline’s throat. “Well, stop worrying about that right now.”
“That’s right,” Arlo rumbled. “Pack doesn’t mean never fighting, or never disagreeing. It means we’re there for you. Always.”
Kenna dropped her eyes and stabbed her fork into her waffle. “Well, I know that now,” she muttered.
“Good.” Arlo said, and Jacqueline echoed him.
“Because in a few years we’ll be a three-teenager household, and if that isn’t a recipe for scrapping then I don’t know what is,” she added.
Arlo raised his eyebrows. “There’s a thought.” He flashed a grin at Harrison. “We’d better get started on that house.”
“And selling mine. Good thing I have a buyer already lined up.” Jacqueline narrowed her eyes. “But you have to promise me you’ll squeeze him for everything he’s worth, Lainie.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.” Lainie pulled her phone out. “Now, about this house. What are you thinking? Open plan? How many bedrooms? The section closest to the water is still available. I’ll need to talk to the architect but I had some ideas about over-water rooms…”
“What do you reckon?” Arlo asked the kids. “You’ll be living there.”
Their faces glowed and they all leaned forward, ideas spilling from their lips.
“Bunk beds—”
“A trapdoor to jump in the water—”
“A REALLY big den—”
“Their plan seems to have all worked out.”
Jacqueline looked up to see Tess standing behind her. She smiled at her and Tess smiled back, crookedly.
“What about your plan?” Jacqueline asked, remembering what Tess had said before she ran away from the restaurant during her and Arlo’s date.
Tess frowned. “It’s… ongoing.” Her face cleared. “But I have a good idea of what to do next.” She nodded decisively.
“Okay, okay! That’s enough ideas for now,” Lainie laughed, putting away her phone. “Has everyone had enough to eat?”
There were nods all around. Arlo stood up and offered his arm to Jacqueline.
“I think we need to celebrate,” he announced. “Who wants to go for a swim?”
Jacqueline took his arm. “Sounds great,” she said.
The morning sun was high in the sky as they all picked their way down the concrete steps from the promenade onto the beach. Sunlight glittered in the waves. Jacqueline hesitated and then, seeing the kids tear their clothes off and run screaming into the water, she stripped down to her t-shirt and undies and tiptoed to the water’s edge.
“Ooh, that’s cold,” she whispered as the waves lapped over her feet.
“As cold as it was on Friday night?” Arlo came up beside her and wrapped one arm around her waist.
“I had other things on my mind then…” Jacqueline shivered and checked on the kids. That bigger seal had to be Kenna, with the tiny seal pup Tally bobbing at her side. Dylan was still in human form, up to his ribcage in the water. As Jacqueline watched, a big gray bird landed on his head, honked, and flapped its wings until Dylan toppled over, laughing.
The goose honked again and dove under the waves as Dylan chased it.
“Is that Eric?” Jacqueline twisted to look back at where she’d last seen the teenaged boy on the beach. “I didn’t realize he was a bird—hey!”
Arlo’s arm tightened around her waist. “I think he has the right idea,” he muttered into her hair, pulling her a step deeper into the water. Icy waves slapped against her shins.
Jacqueline squealed. “Not fair! Ooh, shoot, that’s cold…”
She feigned trying to back up, then darted forwards, dragging Arlo with her. When he was balanced on one leg, she struck.
“Argh!” Arlo yelled as she tickled his ribs. He stumbled forward, splashing, and Jacqueline ran into the waves.
She winced as the water passed her thighs, then took a deep breath and dove. The sea enveloped her like an old memory, cold and achy but instantly invigorating. She kicked, remembering how good it felt to swim underwater when she wasn’t afraid for her life. Sunlight sparkled through the water, reflecting off a million particles of sand suspended in the waves.
Jacqueline surfaced, gasping with the cold. She trod water, looking around. Kenna and Tally were ganging up on Eric, swimming up underneath him and bumping him out of the water with their heads. Dylan was racing in circles around them.
There was a splash and a rush of breath behind her, and then warm arms wrapped around Jacqueline’s waist. Arlo nuzzled her cheek.
“I know.” Jacqueline turned around and kissed him. “Our family. Our pack.”
“And you.” Arlo cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again, slow and tenderly. “My precious mate. My love. None of this would have happened without you.”
Jacqueline wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. The ocean stretched out around them, enveloped by the protective slopes of Hideaway Cove.
She’d been paralyzed with fear for so long, she’d forgotten what it was like to take action and ride the consequences through, whatever happened. But she’d finally done it. Everything could have gone wrong—but instead, it was going so, so right.
She kissed Arlo hard.
I know what I want. And this is it.
Not just a fresh start—a whole new world to explore.
With my mate.
Epilogue
Arlo
“You’ll get it all sweaty!” Kenna chided him.
“Ahh!” Tally added. “Yuck!”
Arlo clenched his fist around the small circle of metal. Kenna tsked at him.
“Give it to me!”
“Give what to you? Arlo, what—”
Jacqueline’s voice broke off in a gasp of amazement as she rounded the corner. Arlo spun around, clasping his hands together behind his back. Kenna immediately started prying his fingers apart.
Arlo was too distracted by the sight of his mate to care.
It was three months since Jacqueline had come to Hideaway Cove and Arlo’s solitary life had exploded. The bones of their house at the bottom of Lighthouse Hill had been built: a strong foundation for what would soon be the bustling home for their pack, half tucked into the hill, half stretching out over the water. Jacqueline had split her time between Dunston and Hideaway… until now.
Arlo drew in a deep breath. The white button-down shirt he’d borrowed off Harrison scratched at his throat. He’d told Jacqueline he had something important to talk to her about tonight. Had she guessed what he was planning?