Mind Blowing, page 21
The pack had come to visit too, although not all at once. They wouldn’t’ve been able to fit in their small two-bedroom home, and all of them at the same time was too much for Callie right now.
Jace had been right. The house was a good investment. Once they were done with it, it’d be easy enough to rent to some college kids. They’d stay in Greenly only long enough for both of them to graduate.
When they’d left Haxton and his family, Callie sobbed the whole three-hour car ride back. She told him that was where she was supposed to be, the only place she’d ever felt at home, at peace.
He’d move anywhere for her. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to make her happy.
If that meant posting up beside his surly brother and living in the mountains for the rest of his life, he’d do it. When Callie had decided on a degree path, so had he. He wanted to coach. He wanted to mentor the next round of young shifters, give them a safe space the way his coaches had given him, his twin, and his best friend.
He wasn’t sure if he liked his family that much, or if it was the underlying pull of the pack. Either way, he was content with the idea of moving back to a small town to raise his son.
“Hey, little family.” Blake tiptoed into the room, and her face lit up at the sight of her nephew. “I missed him. I used my key.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “Once the doc clears my girl for more than kisses, you’ll need to start knocking.”
Callie finished feeding the baby, then passed him to Blake. She and Riley were over pretty much every day. Jasper didn’t mind, and as long as Callie didn’t either, they could come and go as they pleased. It was nice to have the extra hands, and it helped him and Callie get a couple hours of alone time each day.
“I’m done with classes around three,” Blake said. “After your parents leave next week, I can come by on my way home to take a feeding or whatever you need.”
His mate curled up in the glider. “Packs are the way to go. I don’t know how people survive without one.”
He stood, scooping her into his arms. “Good thing you’ll never have to find out.” Blake took her place, rocking West back to sleep and singing him a lullaby completely off key. “I’m taking her back to bed for an hour, you good?”
“I’m good until Riley finishes making us all breakfast and comes to steal him.”
Jasper laid his mate in their bed, chuckling when he saw she was already asleep.
He climbed in next to her, pulling her into his arms.
He took a deep breath, completely in love and at peace with the way his life had turned out.
***
And the pack kept growing…
“You two are beyond annoying.” Wren turned her back on the twins, Bhodi and Riot. Giving attention to their antics only tended to escalate the situation. “If Uncle Keller finds out about this, you’ll be grounded for a month.” She sipped the mixed drink Oliver handed her when she reached the top of their mountain. Her father, Jace, owned it, but it belonged to all of them, to their pack.
She’d been raised at the base of it, staring up at its peak from her bedroom window. She’d been raised with the kids around her too. The last sixteen years of her life she’d spent in the middle of overprotective wolves and the mates who loved them.
Haxton, Colorado was a sanctuary for her family, and life beyond its borders was as terrifying to her as it was alluring.
“What Dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Bhodi rolled his glacier blue eyes. “So don’t be a snitch.” He tossed a rope up to his brother Riot, missing the connection the first time, but got it the second.
Their names needed to be reversed. Aunt Molly said she should’ve taken a few weeks to get to know them before she assigned the monikers. Riot was peaceful and easygoing, where Bhodi was loud and in constant motion.
Wren scrunched up her nose. “Have I ever told on you before? Why would I start now?”
She stalked farther into the clearing, joining the rest of her family where they lounged around their campsite.
They’d been coming into the mountains on their last weekend of summer freedom for as long as she could remember. As the kids got older, the parents agreed to stay home.
Hadley had turned twenty that summer, and tomorrow she’d head back to college in Denver, taking Allison with her. Those two had been best friends since birth.
Oliver, Uncle Baze and Aunt Pen’s son, had been Wren’s neighbor her entire life. This would be her first year without him. He was officially a college freshman, leaving in a matter of days. Wren wouldn’t be alone though: Riot and Bhodi were seniors at St. Leasing, West a junior, Cooper and Chloe freshmen. They were all spaced out more or less a year apart.
“Those two going to survive whatever they’re planning, or do I need to step in?” Oliver held his arm out, tucking her into his side. They were close. Not brother and sister, more like best friends. Objectively she knew he was gorgeous, so gorgeous she certainly couldn’t look at him like a sibling. He had dark hair like his dad, and he was broody like Uncle Baze. Brilliant like Aunt Pen, though.
She twisted her lips, staring up at the mountain peak. “Not sure to be honest.”
West laughed, waving away their concern. “They’ll be fine. They always are.”
“Not true. Remember when Bhodi broke his femur rappelling down the stone turret on campus?” Cooper had blond curls like his mother, blue eyes to match as well. He was helping West as they got tents set up for everyone. They’d drawn the short straws that year. “He was in that cast for weeks.”
Weeks, instead of months. He was a shifter, after all.
“Aunt Molly was so worried until she found out it was nothing more than a dare. Remember that?” Chloe, Cooper’s twin, who mirrored their fiery-haired father. “She made the doctor wrap his cast in bright pink. Then she drew hearts and flowers all over it.”
“He used it to his advantage though.” Allison giggled, turning to watch both boys as they worked together. “He told all the girls at public school parties that he chose pink for his little cousin and then let her draw all over it.”
Chloe snorted. “When in truth, he wouldn’t let me near it with a pen because he said I’d mess up the aesthetic.”
Wren sipped her drink and watched as the people she loved laughed and talked, sharing memories of days gone by. She knew a lot of kids would feel trapped inside the boundaries of a small town and the mountains that formed it.
Not her.
She felt safe and protected.
She wasn’t naïve, and her father had never tried to hide who he was and what he did. He was a powerful man, respected and feared.
To her though, he was simply Dad. He tucked her in at night, he came to her dance recitals, he brought her flowers on Valentine’s Day, and checked her closet for monsters every night for a solid month after West convinced her to sneak into a scary movie.
She was happy where she was.
Her family, though, they were slowly leaving, one by one.
First Hadley, then Allison, now Oliver.
Riot and Bhodi would be next. She had one year left with them.
She wasn’t sure what she would do when it was her turn. She couldn’t imagine a life outside of Haxton, Colorado.
“I’ll miss this.” Oliver sighed against her side, drawing her attention back to the now. “This mountain, these nights under the stars. You.”
His words made her heart soar and ache at the same time. “I’ll miss you too.” She turned to face him, draping her legs over his thighs. “You’ll come home though, right? For breaks and the holidays? And then you’ll be back next summer.”
He shrugged. “I guess so.” He gestured to Hadley and Allie where they sat across the fire huddled together and laughing at some story West was telling. “They seem removed though, don’t they? More distant with every year that passes. Their life isn’t here anymore, only their family.”
“Okay, you guys ready?” Riot came into the clearing, clapping his hands together.
They all stopped, turning to the barest face of their mountain. They’d been talking about doing this for years, but hadn’t figured out how to accomplish it until Bhodi and Riot got old enough to put their wicked minds together. Riot had a rope wrapped around his waist and gloves on his hands as he lowered his twin carefully down from the peak.
They watched as Bhodi hung, suspended in the air, a can of black spray paint in his hands. When he was finished, his brother lowered him to the ground and they stood in a line, admiring his work. “I don’t think I did half bad.”
“I agree. Good job, bro.” Riot and Bhodi high-fived, congratulating each other.
“What do you think, Wren? Your dad going to be beyond pissed?”
Oliver wrapped his arm around her shoulders while West took her hand. The connections continued down the line. Arms linking, and bodies snuggled together until they stood in a united, unified line.
“Probably.” She couldn’t help but smile, her eyes getting a little misty.
Claimed in large black letters on their mountain for the world to see.
It belonged to them, and them to each other.
“It’s perfect.”
PLAYLIST
I love College by Asher Roth
Night Changes by One Direction
Don’t Blame Me by Taylor Swift
I’m Not In Love by Ber
Nothing’s All The Time by Ashley Kutcher
Flight Risk by Tommy Lefroy
Dirty Thoughts by Chloe Adams
Plot Line by Emlyn
Upside Down by Mothica
Maybe, I by Dec Rocs
Keep It To Myself by Ellise
Okay by Chase Atlantic
Chance with You by Sky on Fire
Baby by Elvis Drew
Pub Feed by The Chats
Bad Kids by TTRRUUCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L.P. lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, and a plant-killing cat.
Writer, business owner, and office manager, L.P. says she loves to read as much as she loves to write. Reading a good book is her reward after writing one. In her spare time—ha!—she fosters puppies for a rescue organization based in Austin.
Connect with L.P.:
Website: www.lpmaxa.com
IG: @lpmaxa_author
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L.P. Maxa, Mind Blowing
