Rainer’s arms. I sighed, not in exasperation but in adoration. How did he not know how strong and powerful he was? I loved being his. Finally, Anton drew me to him. He placed my hands over his heart. I smiled. Yes, I loved when he did this. The next second, he placed his own hand over my heart. We stood there for a second, and even though I could anticipate what he was about to do, I loved it just the same. He put his nose right on the spot on my shoulder where he’d marked me.
That had been his spot since the first night we’d met. He’d claimed it and known we were meant to be before I’d even understood what was going on.
“I heard you. In my mind. While I was there.” I was speaking in starts and stops, but that was okay. Some occasions didn’t need complete thoughts and sentences. This was one of them. I spun around to Jarret. “And I saw you.”
Preston put his arms around Jarret and Anton’s shoulders. “My little brothers, so talented, and they weren’t going to ever be their wolves. Look what the world would have missed out on.”
He didn’t understand his role. I tilted my head, letting the wolf come into my eyes. I preferred it like this. In fact, if I had a say, I’d spend the majority of my life letting my wolf share my vision. It was so much more natural. “You understand that you are the rope that ties us all together, don’t you? We all connected to you. At the end of the day, this wouldn’t be without you, Preston.”
“Absolutely.” Jarret agreed as Anton nodded.
Rainer put his arm around Preston. “She’s right.”
“Aw, fuck this noise.” Pres pulled away. “I don’t do sappy-dappy. You guys know that. So thank you, Mac. But I am perfectly fine being the one running the swamp tour that none of you understand.”
It was everything I could do not to crack up laughing. Okay, he wanted to seem mysterious and misunderstood. Fine. We’d let him think he was, when in reality, he was huge-hearted, family-oriented, and he’d only isolated himself because he couldn’t stand to watch his family fall apart. We were all together now, and if I had anything to do about it, we always would be. They were my guys, my pack. Everyone else could come and go. We were together. Period.
I didn’t push us on, didn’t make any of us go do what we had to do. As far as I was concerned, we could stay here all day.
Miranda looked like she’d swallowed a bad lemon. “I’ve never done such a thing.”
Well, she was no help. I smiled at her. Miranda had been a huge help to us, and her daughter was mated to my brother Agustin. The motorhome sped fast down the highway as my oldest brother, Isaac, hummed to himself in the driver’s seat. This was so strangely normal, it just indicated we’d been doing this too much.
I wanted the swamp. Quiet. And the life we were going to begin to build—minus violence and drama.
“That’s okay…”
Rainer held up his hand. “Hold on. You have a huge pack. A bunch of people who are connected to you. Are you sure that you aren’t connected to them on some other level? Some way that you can reach them?”
She shifted in her seat. “No. They obey and listen because I’m the strongest wolf. That’s how packs work. Your father Kevin was an Alpha before the Accords put them all aside. Was he connected psychically?”
Rainer shook his head. “Well, I’d ask him, but he’s dead.”
Miranda got to her feet. “You could ask your mother.”
“She’s grieving another husband. I think she has enough to go through without me bringing this up right now. It’s fine if you don’t know, Miranda. Perfectly all right. We don’t have to make a big thing about this.”
She hunched over, her voice going wolf when she spoke to him. “It’s not something I can do. It’s not something every Alpha can do. Most can’t. If that Loup can, then it’s very bad, but I am not going to be made to feel…”
Rainer held up his hands, but there was no surrender in his scent. “No one is telling you to feel anything at all.”
“Rainer…”
I stepped between them, putting my hands on both of them, one on each of their chests. “Okay, guys, let’s take a deep breath and stop this show. What’s going on here?” I