“MacKenzie, come with me, please. I’d like to show you something.”
I ached, but that wasn’t going to be better or worse for going with him, so I quickly followed him to his car. “Where are we going?”
He winked at me as Anton had done the day before, and then he grinned. Had he known that had happened? I wouldn’t have been surprised. Rainer did seem to know things that were going on, even if he didn’t comment on them. I loved learning things about them every day.
“You’ll find out.”
It was the first time I’d been in the car since we’d gotten back. It was much nicer than being in the RV, and I much preferred it. Rainer rolled down the window, and we let the wind strike at us as he drove us to some unknown destination he had yet to tell me about. I chewed on my lip. It wasn’t possible my brother would get there in the time we were away. It was going to take them a bit to locate him, and they’d call on their way back.
I was allowed to do this. I had to remember that. Much as I was going to live for others, there had to be moments for me.
Chapter 11
We left town and drove several miles more, until he pulled off the road to an empty building that had seen better days. But then again, every building I looked at lately had that same situation. Everything needed someone to take the time to fix it. And I supposed we had nothing but time right now, which was a gift but felt off after running for so long.
Did it ever feel natural to slow down?
We were wolves, we liked to run, but we also craved pack, home, family. The dichotomy of our lives never ceased to amaze me.
“What am I looking at?
The bones of the building were pretty, like a log cabin.
“I think I’m going to fix this place up and open a restaurant.”
I gasped. “Rainer, really?”
“Good idea or bad idea? I’m not doing it without your approval.”
Well, that was a heavy thing to take on. “I don’t know if I’m the person to tell you what to do. I have no future plans except, I guess, being the Omega. But this is a great spot. It’s right off the highway. I don’t know the area that well yet, but if we’re going to revitalize it by becoming a wolf area, then I imagine people will come to eat.”
He was talented, made delicious food. Plus, he loved it. And it wouldn’t hurt he was Alpha. It probably was a good thing for business.
Rainer leaned against one of the poles outside. “You have a good eye. Can you see a restaurant here?”
I stepped inside the building and looked around. There was a kitchen, albeit not much of one at the moment, in the back. This place had been a restaurant before. I spun around. Yes, I could see people seated, I could see this functioning. Laughter. Good food. The occasional glare at a human who found their way here, since it was a wolf place, even if they didn’t know it. Rainer’s stories at the end of the night. A real look of satisfaction on his face when he came home from doing it.
“Yes, it could work. It should. This is your place.”
He stepped toward me, taking a strand of my hair in his fingers. “Ours.”
My cheeks warmed. “That will take some getting used to.”
Rainer drew me to him. He was warm, solid, and strong. “I know.” He kissed my neck. “It’s hard. Like it’s going to irk me to ask Preston for the loan. He’ll probably try to just give it to me. We’ll have a thing. But at the end of the day, I’ll take it and be grateful. He won’t understand what the big deal is, because what is his is mine. And eventually, we’ll all settle into the idea that it works that way.”
I leaned against him. “Look at you being all wise. Is it an Alpha thing?”
“You know how you changed when you really started to feel like the Omega you already were? It’s happening to me. I saw one of the wolves who stayed today. He was downtown opening a bank account, and I thought…I should really tell him about the hardware store two towns from here. Like I am suddenly consumed with the happiness of the people who are staying.”
That made sense. They were his now. Like