the truck in front of the big house.
“What is that?” Maris murmured, prompting Summer to lean forward between the seats to stare at an old piece of scrap metal she’d never thought she’d see again.
“Oh, my gosh,” she whispered. Wes and Hunter were setting out some old, ratty bag chairs, and Sam was standing near the grill, a beer in his hand, looking off in the distance blankly, just like always.
“I don’t understand,” Sadey said softly. “We already have a big stone firepit. Why would they replace it with that one? It’s nearly rusted straight through.”
“Because…” Summer choked on the word. She tried again. “Because that’s the firepit I found my family with. We sat around that old thing every Thursday for years. Me and the Kaid Brothers. Me and Wes.” His name dipped to a whisper as her throat tightened with emotion.
She pushed open her door and got out. Wes had on work gloves, but took them off just in time to catch her. She barreled into his hug without abandon, wrapped her legs around him, and reveled in the deep vibration of his chuckle against her chest.
“What have you done?” she asked. “Did you steal that?”
“No. I told you I’m a changed man. I traded the owner of our old house.”
“You bartered that old, shitty firepit? For me?”
“Yep. Gave him a fifth of mediocre whiskey and left him smiling on his front porch, thinkin’ I was an idiot for taking that off his lawn.” He eased back and dropped his gloves on the ground beside them, smoothed back her hair, and kissed her lips softly. “That ain’t all. Guess what we’re having for dinner.”
“Spam!” Hunter yelled. “Sorry. Wes was supposed to tell you that part. I couldn’t help it. I got excited.”
“About Spam?” Sadey said, scrunching up her nose as she melted into the side of her mate.
Hunter kissed the side of her head and said, “Yeah, baby, you ain’t tasted Spam the way we learned to cook it. Prepare your taste buds. They’re about to have their first orgasms.”
Bryson came jogging down the stairs of the big house with a blue cooler in his big-ass, tattooed hand. “I got y’all some of them nasty, canned margaritas.”
“You mispronounced ‘delicious,’” Maris enlightened her mate.
Wes lowered Summer to her feet and gripped the back of her neck gently, brought her attention back to him. “You told me how much it meant to you, and I listened. You’re a good woman. You didn’t connect with material things, didn’t ever ask me to buy you anything to show you how much I cared. All you wanted was my time.” He jerked his head toward the rest of the pack. “Time with us just to relax and let our worries go for a few hours. So okay. Let’s make that tradition together again. And someday it won’t just be us. It’ll be some rowdy kids chasin’ the cows through that front pasture and us yelling’ at them to leave ’em alone.”
“Kids,” she whispered, her eyes burning with tears.
“Yeah. You want a ring? A wedding? Cubs?” He waggled his eyebrows. “My name tattooed on you?”
She huffed out an emotional laugh.
His eyes swam with seriousness again. “Summer? What do you say we build a life together, okay?”
When she nodded, the first tear streaked down her cheek. He didn’t let it stay there long, though. He brushed it away with his knuckle and kissed her deep. “I know it felt like I left you, but I never really did. I had some work to do before I was ready to give you what you deserve. You needed better. I’m ready now. I ain’t running anymore from the things I’m afraid of.”
“I’m not scary at all,” she said, lifting her chin higher, clenching his white T-shirt in her fists, right at his hip muscles.
“Woman, you’re terrifying.”
Summer scoffed. “Not me! Wolf is scary, but not me.”
“No, Summer. Wolf I can handle. Feeling this deeply about someone else scared me.” A crooked smirk took over his face. “Now I’m okay with that. No more holding back.”
Click.
Summer looked over at Maris taking pictures with her camera phone.
“Moment ruiner,” Wes accused her, pointing his finger. He leaned down and kissed Summer deep. She threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him up. His arms around her made her feel soooo safe. When he ended the kiss, he set a navy blue bag chair behind her and told her to, “Relax. The boys are making dinner tonight.”
Bryson tossed her a canned margarita from across the firepit and then to Sadey and Maris who were taking seats beside her and chattering. Hunter was finding a station on an old radio, twisting a dial from static to country songs, searching for one he liked. Wes started hauling logs to the firepit from a stack of wood on the side of the house, and Sam fired up the grill.
“These were good memories,” Sam said so softly the others missed it.
But not Summer and Wes.
Wes made his way to his brother and clapped him on the back. “They sure were. We’ll make a hundred more just like ’em. Trust me, brother.” He squeezed his shoulder.
Summer saw the shift in Sam’s eyes as he watched Wes walk to the fire and throw a few logs in the pit. The emptiness had left, and she could see it—a glimpse of the old Sam.
Her man was good, strong, steady…alpha. Her boys were okay. Her pack…was okay.
She was okay.
They were having a family night she never thought would exist again, on a huge ranch, watched over by the bawling cows along the fence, and her heart felt lighter than it had in her entire life.
Wes looked over at her from where he was kneeling by the firepit, and he winked at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Handsome mate, built just for her. Strong, caring, protective man who knew just how to lift her up.
For the first time in a long time, she knew without a shadow of a doubt…
She fit in.
She belonged.
She was home.
Everything was going to be okay.