“We’ll need to seal it a bit better to stop the draft if we want to spend a night up here every once in a while,” I said. “And add some blankets and pillows. I thought of hanging a screen across there—” I pointed to a tree a distance away. “For movie nights.”
“It’s beautiful…” She trailed off, her eyes narrowing. I looked from her, to the small space, trying to figure out what it was she was staring at. “Did you say pillows and blankets?” There was a deep smugness radiating from her in the bond, a smile tugging on her lips as she looked back at me.
What?
Again, I looked from her, to the cozy wooden space. Perfectly sized. Good for cuddling, big enough for the whole pack if they wanted to come up?—
I…Ah.
Okay. Imighthave been wrong about my instincts not needing what Crescent did.
Because this wasdefinitelya nest.
PHANTOM
The breeze was cool against my sweat-dampened skin, and I wiped my brow with a cloth as I exited the courtyard, Karma at my side. There was a basketball under my arm, and it was sprinkling with rain, though that hadn’t stopped us from going for hours. It was a small town, but the court had a few regulars.
They were all friendly, and I was still shaking myself that they looked at me like I was… normal.
And they were helping teach basketball to Karma, who was loving it.
Some of them were even into the Premier League trading cards I’d been drooling over. I didn’t have the money to buy many yet, but some had come in the mail. A little gift from the Kingsman pack—who were apparently tracking our internet search history, otherwise how would they have known?
When we got to the car, he tried to get to the driver’s side.
“No—!” I grabbed him back.
“But it’s?—”
“Your test’s coming up,” I snapped.
“Exactly, I need to practice!”
“You are not going to kill me right as I get my second chance—” I shook his shirt in my fists.
I’dseenhim pull the car around in the long driveway.
He was grinning. “It’s a straight line.”
“No!”
I’d been licensed since I was a teenager, so all we’d had to do was apply for another one. The Kingsman pack had lent us a car, but I was working on getting us actually… functional in society—which meant jobs.
Well, the others could do what they wanted, but I wanted a job. I didn’t care if it was a desk job. I wanted all the normal things, stupid or not.
Summer barbecues.
Hating tax season.
Folding laundry.
Christmas decorating with family.
Fighting over the thermostat.
I shoved Karma out of the way. No way was I dying before I got all the normal shit in the world.
And I had a pack to share it with.