Page 46 of Meeting Her Mate

“Maliha taught me how to record all outgoing and incoming calls on that phone. We’ll see what he’s been up to,” Alexis said. She got up and started putting her clothes back on. “I’ll let you know if there’s a new development. Okay? In the meantime, you are not to go looking for danger.”

“Oh, things have changed now that I have my ship. I’m going to start repairing it so I can take it out to the sea. And don’t worry, I’ll keep out of danger,” I said, half-heartedly putting my clothes back on.

“All right, then, you better go now. I work here, and if the wharf manager drops by, she’s going to have a fit if she sees me and you in the warehouse,” Alexis said.

That was my cue to leave. It was better that we didn’t stick around to talk about the implications of our love-making. It was a completely unexpected thing, and we needed some time before we could talk about it or what all of this meant for us, if it meant anything at all.

I watched her climb up the stairs and exit the ship, and although I didn’t call out to her, I wished I had.

I wanted her to stay.

But this, this was good enough too. I had my ship back. If this didn’t give me a new lease on life, I didn’t know what would. All it needed was a little bit of paint, some grease in the gears and joints, a nice polish on the wood, and a new set of sails.

For one glorious moment, there was not a single thought of the horrors that I had been through, the vampires that were looming around town, the treachery that Maurice had performed, and the impending danger in the form of Blair Beckett.

For one glorious moment, it was just me, my ship, and the memory of the time I had spent with Alexis.

***

The boat came as a blessing in my life. It brought back knowledge that had been buried deep within the recesses of my mind. In another life, I had a strong tie to ships. I would engineer them, work on their engines, maintain their bodies, and when all was said and done, I would sail them. A time before the war had broken out. I earned enough money to buy my own ship.

I wanted to restore the Grimm Reaper to its original splendor.

I sailed it out of the warehouse and moored it near the harbor, far enough from the main wharf so that it would not disturb other ships but close enough that I could run back and forth to the maintenance department and get all the supplies I needed.

Even back in Germany, whenever I was working on a ship, people would gather around to watch, chime in with their advice, and talk to each other. Just men being men. There was something woven into our DNA that when a man worked, others were drawn to him. Thus what would have been a rather boring ordeal became a communal effort, all the men talking, helping around, drinking beers, and smoking cigarettes.

As soon as I had moored my boat and started working on it, the same thing happened. Idle men from the wharf, workers on their breaks, sailors, and fishermen saw me from afar and gradually huddled around, offering to help, handing me paintbrushes, buckets of paint, a cold beer, and a funny-smelling cigarette that I refused.

Only some of them were my pack members. The rest of them were complete strangers treating me as if I had always been one of them.

I worked on my ship, painting over the chipped paint, replacing worn wooden boards, and nailing in loose pieces. Those who were around me kept helping, asking me all sorts of questions about the ship and where I had gotten such a fine specimen. I knew better than to tell them the plain old truth, so I just led them on with a far-fetched story.

This routine repeated itself the next day and the day after that. I was glad that I got a chance to work on the Grimm Reaper, not just because of the communal nature of the activity but also because I was quite close to Alexis. Even if I didn’t see her, I knew that she was in the warehouse, safe.

By the fourth day, not only was I finished with the reparations, but I also knew everyone who gathered around by their first names, which was saying something, considering there were almost a dozen men.

“You’re gonna have to keep up with tradition,” Tony, a mechanic who worked on engines, said. “You finished the job; now you gotta buy us all beers at the bar.”

“Is that so? Is that why you louts have been standing around here for four days?” I said, wiping off the sweat from my face with a dirty cloth. Then I slapped Tony on the shoulder and laughed loudly. “What the hell! Why not?”

“Ah, good man you are, Will Grimm. A good man,” Tony said and clapped me on the back. Ronny, Marty, Sid, Simon, Albert, and Theo, who were all independent fishermen, cheered loudly and lifted their fists in the air.

“To the Grimm Reaper and her captain!” Martel, a janitor at the wharf, exclaimed, making the others join in. Soon they were all chanting “Grimm Reaper!” over and over again.

“Come now, fella, it’s gonna be curfew in a couple of hours,” Hanson, a security guard who made rounds around the wharf during the day, said impatiently.

“As if you need another beer, Hanson, you old drunk. I bet you can’t tell how many fingers I’m holding up,” I said, holding up two fingers in front of him, giggling as he squinted in concentration.

“Come on, man. I painted the starboard!” Hanson said.

“All right, all right. Let’s go to the bar. I’m buying,” I said, finally giving in. At this, the men cheered louder than ever. I felt so at peace here, with my work on the ship finished, around friendly folk who humored me and told me tales from their lives. Above everything, I felt normal. These men were simpler, more my pace, and did not talk in terms I did not understand. Their faces were creased with lines, their heads mostly bald thanks to the salty sea air, and their hands bore calluses—all of which were signs of hard work.

So we went to the bar, and I ordered a round of drinks for the folks. We sang old sea shanties, told each other dirty jokes, talked about women, and bet each other how many shots we could drink without throwing up. I had fun, to say the least. So much fun that I lost track of time. When I looked at the clock again, it was nine at night.

I excused myself from the company, bidding goodbye to them and making a superfluous promise that we’ll do it again sometime. It was late enough as it was, and I had promised Alexis that I would stay out of danger.

If experience told me anything, it was that danger lurked around at night.