After dinner, I head upstairs. As the packhouse winds down for the night, I shower and put on my pajamas. Then I turn off my lights and go sit beside the window, thinking that once again, my life has changed in the blink of an eye. Christian has been in our pack less than twenty–four hours and already the feeling in the pack is different, better.
I look up into the night sky and finally let the tears fall. As grief once again overtakes me, I cover my mouth with my hands, trying to quiet the sobs that I can’t hold back any longer.
Suddenly, warm arms are lifting me from my chair. I jolt, looking into Christian’s intense blue–grey eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you,” I say, trying to force the sobs back down.
“You didn’t, Enya. I’m here for you. You shouldn’t be alone right now. Let it out. I’m here. You’re safe,” he says softly, sitting down in my chair and holding me in his arms like I’m a precious child.
I curl up against his chest, fisting his shirt in my hands as my grief overtakes me.
Christian
After dinner, Shane and I went to his father’s office. When we stepped in, he stopped. Through the Alpha link, I could feel him struggling with his emotions.
I put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze. “We can do this another time if it’s easier to wait,” I say.
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‘No. Let’s do this,” he says, taking a deep breath. “Can we leave the set up like it is for now though?”
“Of course, I don’t want to cause any unnecessary burden to you or Enya. I’m here to help, not make things harder,” I say, keeping my tone gentle.
He nods, looking around the room before looking back at me. “Having you here is already making things easier. I’m not sure how you did that so quickly, but I can feel the difference in the pack already. They’re settling. It’s helping me to feel more settled too.”
“Good. Then I’m doing something right,” I say, smiling at him. “So, what do you know about how your father organized things in this office?”
“Not much. He was just starting to involve me in things,” he says.
“Do you know things like what bank he used, passwords, anything like that?” I ask.
“No.”
“It’s possible that Dorian knows them, so we’ll want to change them. Why don’t you link Beta Braden and ask him if he knows any of that information and I’ll start looking through the desk.
A few minutes later, Beta Braden comes in, showing us where the bank book is and where the safe is that supposedly has the passwords to all the accounts.
“Any idea what the passcode would be?” I ask, looking at the safe.
Both men shake their heads.
“Okay, Shane, why don’t you try to get the safe open. Start with
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birthdays, anniversaries, a mix of all of those and see if you can figure out how to get that safe open. Keep track of which one you’re using so when it finally opens, you know which one it was,” I tell him.
Two hours and a lot of paperwork later, Shane shouts his excitement as the safe opens.
“What was the code?” I ask him, standing from the desk and walking over to see what’s in the safe.
“Enya’s birthday month, my birthday day, and mom’s birth year, Seven- twenty–eighty–seven.”
“Well done! How about we call it a night? Now that we know the code, we can go through the safe tomorrow after we go through the kitchen process with Enya.”
“Sounds good. It’s later than I realized,” he says. I reach out my hand and help him off the floor where he’s been sitting.
“Are you too tired to sit and talk for a bit?” I ask him.
“No. I mean, I’m tired, but sleep doesn’t come easy for me anyway,” he
says.
I grab the bottle of whiskey that I brought with me, my father’s favorite, and lift it up to show Shane. “Do you drink whiskey?”
“Dad never did, or if he did, I never had any,” he says.
I pour a glass, sniff it, then pass it to him. “See if you like it. It s strong, but it’s my father’s favorite. I’ve been drinking it for a couple of years. It’s a nice way to unwind at the end of the day. If you don’t like it, I’ll drink it.”
“It smells strong,” he says, sniffing the glass. Then he takes a sip and
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chokes a little. “Yep, that’s strong,” he says, his voice choked.
I chuckle. “Are you keeping it or not? My mom prefers hers on ice. It takes the edge off a bit.”
