Page 74 of Scars of the Sun
While I kept them occupied, more members arrived, but the atmosphere was noticeably more somber, like the last meeting I’d gone to. This was the second meeting since the Wolf named Jasper had been killed by the Serafim Group. The pack members paid special attention to the murdered Wolf’s parents, and even I mustered small, encouraging smiles whenever they glanced my way.
As the time for the meeting drew nearer, I caught the creamsicle scent of my friend before he made his way onto the porch, and my shoulders perked up while his surprisingly quiet gait headed straight toward me.
“Hey Ramona!” His blond hair was damp and looked more brown today. The t-shirt, shorts, and converse were all colorcoordinated, and he didn’t hesitate to plop down cross-legged beside me.
I accepted his request of outstretched arms, our side hug quick but warm. “Mr. Delaney!” Dahlia screamed, to which Delaney chuckled and waved. Ollie and the other pup grinned gummy smiles and happily returned to taking Dahlia’s lead in their play around the pond.
“What’s up with you?” I asked, itching at my sleeves but keeping them pulled down. My mind kept warring between the safe yet stifled sense I got while wearing them.
Before I’d… tried to kill myself, I largely felt comfortable in my own skin. Especially in the summer time, I wore tank tops like a uniform. Back when I competed, shorts and sports bras were the norm.
And, I thought tentatively,maybe I can get back to that. Now that my Jaguar and closest family knew, it didn’t seem so impossible. The last time I’d seen Delaney, shortly after I started coming over here to Vera’s, I purposely pushed my sleeves to my elbows during one of me and my friend’s regular coffee excursions. He was the sweet spot of familiar enough to where I felt I could be a smidge more vulnerable, but also new to my life enough that I wasn’t frozen in terror at the idea of him rejecting me.
Just as I’d predicted—other than him just not noticing, which would have been fine, too—he eyed them for a stilted moment, and I tracked the subsequent comprehension that swept his features. I was kinda used to him being very easily reduced to tears, now, so when his eyes shimmered, and he grabbed my hands, I was prepared for that, too. He’d held them for nearly the whole time we sat together, but the benefit to him knowing was far greater than the apprehension I’d trembled with beforehand. Number Eight was no longer a hug from a stranger but the support from a true friend.
Now, Delaney sighed a fulfilled noise, brown eyes sparkling. “I’m good! My grades this past semester were good, and I’m excited to start the next one in a few weeks. I think having such a nicer pack to lean on has helped. Working for Lauren has been so amazing. Remind me to thank Sylvie and Leader for connecting us again!” He’d needed a summer job with his scholarship stipends only depositing during the school year. Luckily, Lauren needed barista help at the coffee shop she owned downtown.
Now, the scent of coffee beans also trailed along with him, but it was a homey smell. I snickered a little, “Not so afraid of him now, I hope?”
Delaney shook his head, still smiling sweetly. “No! You were right, he’s not scary! I’ll admit, I was shakin’ in my boots when he wanted to ask me about my old pack, but he said it was really helpful information, and he got me a job!”
Dahlia proved to have the ears of a true Wolf pup, because she interrupted her directing of her baby pup followers to giggle over at us. “Daddy’s not scary!”
We both chuckled at that, and I didn’t miss the flush on Delaney’s face from being called out by a toddler. I nudged his arm with my elbow, “So, what’s this about your other pack?” He’d alluded to it a little bit. But nothing more than it becoming a really bad situation. “Where are they?”
“Were,” he chewed on the edge of a fingernail. “I was born near Huntsville, but stuff with Howl’s Fury got really,” he glanced toward the kids and lowered his voice, “scary. I don’t like to think about it, but your brother said what I’d told him was really helpful. Bad memories.”
“Shit,” I muttered in sympathy. He looked truly afraid even saying that much, so I couldn’t imagine what he’d witnessed to cause such a reaction. “Well, I’m glad you’re here, then.”
That quick, his face changed to a beaming grin, and he gave me another side hug, “Me too!”
We chatted a little more until the meeting started with the general updates around the fire pit. Harrison, the adolescent pup that always seemed in a cheery mood, volunteered to watch the pups as they wandered about the yard, so I was able to pay full attention to O and the elders leading the meeting.
They still didn’t have any concrete news about the fucking shifter mafia trying to move in, but I also knew how much my brother was agonizing over it. He hid his emotions fairly well, but I knew him and knew how to track the nuance of his scent. I’d never seen him this stressed in all my life.
But, as Leader, he kept his posture and appearance strong while being honest about the danger we all faced with a promise to lead us to the best of his ability. He’d increased sweeps of the land perimeter, directing none of us to travel alone for the time being. The Mountain’s Peak pack to the north had agreed to lend assistance whenever we needed, and he and the elders were continuing to meet and discuss ways to covertly attack the Serafim Group. They’d already gotten their business licenses rejected and were working on taking the bureaurocratic way to kick them out of town, though I could tell that some were itching for blood. When a few members asked about staging an all-out attack, O calmly stated his reasonings, wary of the size of their retaliation should we avenge Jasper in such a way.
The elders and most of the pack backed him up with head nods and relaxing back in their seats, but the whole thing had everyone on edge. Even me. It wasn’t like there was too much I could do, but I would help as much as I could. And if that meant making other areas of my brother’s life easier, I’d continue trying my damndest.
An hour and a half later, the formal part of the meeting came to an end, and one or two Wolves hung back to speak moreprivately with Orion. Sylvie made her rounds as his mate, with Dahlia and Ollie now hanging onto her. Bugs buzzed around the lights set around Vera and Lauren’s yard, the smoke of the fire trailed up toward the black sky that was churning with collecting storm clouds. A few pack members were gathering stuff, feeling the rain coming on, but I wasn’t super concerned.
I checked my phone, expecting a text from Río but seeing none so far. I fought back the anxiety since we’d already planned for me to spend the night after the pack meeting and sent a quick heads up that I’d be leaving for his apartment soon.
“All right, I’m ‘bout to head out. I’ll see you later,” I said to Delaney who’d just finished a round of small talk with the mate of one of the Wolves.
He glanced toward my brother and sister-in-law. “Do you need a ride?”
I shrugged, “Nah, I was gonna grab my stuff from O’s car and walk. I’m going to…” I took a breath and remembered that last time I was there, he’d given me a key to his apartment, for god’s sake. “My boyfriend’s house.”
Delaney sputtered and did a little dance of excitement. I’d mentioned I was seeing someone, but this was the first time I’d called him anything specific. Even though the label didn’t feel whole enough. “I’ll drive you!”
“Oh, ah, no, it’s?—”
“Please, let me do this for you! You heard Leader—I can’t let you go alone!” He gasped, “And do you think your boyfriend can introduce me to someone?”
“Um, well, I can as?—”
“Even if he can’t! I can’t let youwalkwhen it’s about to downpour, and I know you don’t wanna wait around for Leader and Sylvie. But anyone worthyourtime must have some friends that’d be worthmytime, right? Ugh, what I wouldn’t give for a nice boy for once.”