down harder, illuminated by the headlights of Wes’s truck, guarded by the grizzly, but something incredible happened.
A hand touched her back. Hunter’s hand. And slowly, he wrapped his arms around Wes and Sam, too. She wasn’t strong enough to see the mixture of heartache and relief on that sweet man’s face, so she eased out of the embrace and kept her eyes on Wes instead.
He was her safety. He stood there hugging his brothers so tight as she gave the Kaids their moment. And when he looked over at her, all he mouthed were two words, and she understood exactly how deeply he meant them.
Thank you. He held out his hand for her to join them again, and when she melted into his side, he pressed a long kiss to the top of her head.
Silly, beautiful soul. Strong alpha who had grown from an unsteady boy to a good man in the years she’d been accepting the wolf. Didn’t he know? He was the one who had given her a family worth fighting for in the first place.
Nothing would be easy, but that part she’d accepted. Easier lives belonged to humans, but that was okay. This moment couldn’t have been this potent, or affected her heart this much, if she didn’t know how dire things could get.
So okay. She was getting on this roller coaster, and whatever happened now, she was going to face it with the Kaids and with the pack Wes was creating.
“I don’t like this,” Sam muttered, shoving everyone off him. “You don’t have any clothes on. I don’t want you to touch me with your dicks.”
Summer snorted, and Hunter jumped back, covered his nethers. “I would’ve never thought about that unless you made it weird.” Grumpily, he made his way back toward the truck. “Maybe you are Sam after all. Sam always ruined the moment. Wes!” he called louder without turning around. “I need the password to your phone. I seriously need to call Sadey. This all feels like a dream, and I just want to go home.”
Wes hooked his hand on one hip and threw the other arm around Summer’s shoulders. And there they stood, butt-naked—as Sam had made uncomfortably clear—in the rain, on a road peppered with the bodies of the Wichita Pack and its alpha, watching a mother freaking grizzly bear turn back into a giant, tattooed man. Hunter was still griping about something that was too mumbled for them to hear as he rifled through the front of the truck, and Sam hopped in the bed of the truck as though he wouldn’t ride home with them in the safety of the cab.
“Hmm,” Wes grunted, cocking his head at the scene before them. “This actually feels kind of normal.”
“You have a boner,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, well, before you make me feel weird about it, consider it from my point of view. I have a great angle of your tits, which are dripping with rain water, and I just watched you at war. You’re scary. It’s kind of hot.”
Summer giggled. “Just another night of long-lost brothers and pack wars and nudity. I can’t wait to get to know the pack you’ve put together.”
“Oh, if Bryson and Hunter’s mates were here? They would’ve made tonight even weirder. You’ll probably get along with them real well. Hooligans, all of y’all.”
“Hurry the fuck up,” Sam said from the bed of the truck.
“Is he supposed to be able to talk to you like that?” Hunter asked, looking offended.
“Well, this should be fun,” Wes muttered as they began to close the distance between them and the truck. “Ready to go home?”
Home.
She didn’t know the Kaid Ranch. Didn’t even have a connection to it other than the Kaid brothers, but with the warmth of safety on her shoulders being this close to Wes…to the man she loved…she thought that was plenty.
Sometimes home wasn’t a territory. It wasn’t a bed or the pillow you laid your head on at night. For her, home was a man. His bond to the ranch would build her bond to it. She was calling it now.
I’m gonna pee on everything there, Wolf enlightened her as they stepped over one of the still bodies of the Wichita wolves. Everything is mine.
Great. Well, Wolf was still her classy self.
Her life had turned out so strange.
Would she change it, though?
Summer pulled Wes to a stop. “Make me a promise?”
He smirked. “Only if I know I can keep it.”
“No more leaving me behind, even if you think it’s