Page 98 of Found Objects

“If anyone thinks they can come in here and hurt Mere,” Gaia began, finger raised, clearly speaking for the group, “they have another fuckin’ thing coming.”

He glanced at me.

“God,” I groaned, and they were all looking at me then. “Are you all prepared in case something happens?”

I was shown various canisters of pepper spray, they promised to carpool or walk together, and, as always, they all had White Sulphur Springs PD on speed dial on all the cordless handsets for when drunks inevitably passed out in the courtyard.

I was actually only worried about the structure of The Bower, not my employees. Wolves didn’t want scrutiny, and attacking humans always brought so very much of that. But I wanted everyone to be on alert. I didn’t want anyone hurt if Tuss Haviland came back to Coille with arson on his mind. Not that he could get close enough to get a fire started with my boundary in place, but there were the trees to consider. It would have been more of a concern if we’d been having a dry fall, but we were in fact having a very wet one, with lots of rain that would soon be transitioning to snow.

“Don’t worry,” Abbey told me when the meeting broke up. “We’ll watch each other and you, boss.”

When Cole kissed me goodbye, there was lots of clapping. His smile with the dimples and how red his face got were, I was told at length, adorable. I ordered everyone to get to work. It was a really good start to a Wednesday.

That evening, Reggie came by to say that since he supported Cole’s challenge to become alpha, he had been thrown off the pack land. He and his fiancée, Helene Williams, were on their way to White Sulphur Springs to get a hotel room, but I insisted they stay.

When they were both in my kitchen, having maple scones and coffee, I noticed her shaking her head at him.

“What did he do?” I asked her.

“He thought I would stay behind without him,” she said irritably, scowling at the man she loved. “That’s insane. Who lets the love of their life leave them?”

“I certainly have no idea.”

She huffed out a frustrated breath, glared at him for good measure, and then turned and smiled at me. “This is the best scone I’ve ever had, Mr. Baker.”

“Merritt, please.”

Helene camped out on the sectional, in front of the fire, and even though Evan offered them his room, they both actually really loved the space where they were. It was both cozy and roomy. Once Helene was curled up and napping, having first announced that she was just closing her eyes for a minute, Reggie explained to Cole that many others also supported his claim, and they would stand with him and be counted without hesitation the following day.

Cole excused himself after that, going to our room. When Evan wanted to check on him, Ondine reminded him that the two of them had bought the fixings for tacos at the store after she picked him up from school, as he had promised to make them for her. Reggie sat at the kitchen island, having a beer, talking to both of them, as he too was interested in tacos.

“You also have to bake pies for tomorrow for the feast,” Ondine reminded Evan.

“I thought you were going to bake.”

“I made cookies, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. And they were awesome. So you could make the pies.”

She glanced at me.

“You probably could,” I said.

“But on the off chance they come out tainted, is it worth it, because then someone has to make them all over again.”

“True,” I agreed.

“Tainted?” Reggie sounded concerned.

“Poisoned,” Evan clarified.

“Poisoned?” Reggie repeated, his eyebrows lifting.

“I’m making the tacos,” Evan assured the man. “Don’t worry about it.”

Leaving the kitchen, I went to my bedroom and knocked on the door, not wanting to just intrude on him.

“Yeah?” Cole called out.