Felix

Everett and I went out to the living room to find it empty. The air was still thick with Mel's scent, so I knew she had to be close.

Everett opened the front door and peeked out. "Hi, Meleri," he said. He stepped back to let Mel enter. Her eyes were wide as they darted between the two of us. Finally, she leaned in and sniffed at me, then gasped, her eyes locked on the scar left from Everett's bite on my neck.

"You're mated!" she gasped. "You guys... oh my goodness, congrats!" Mel flung her arms around the two of us, dragging us closer together with surprising strength.

I patted at her back and laughed. "Thanks, Mel."

Everett withdrew and stepped back, but Mel didn't let me go right away. "I'm so, so happy for you," she said.

"Me too," I answered. I caught Everett's gaze over Mel's shoulder to see how he was taking our first reveal, but he looked relaxed. It eased the knot of tension that had gripped me ever since Everett suggested we seal our bond.

"I can't wait to see Magnus' reaction," Mel gushed. It was fun to see her this excited, and even more fun to be the cause of that excitement. Mel pulled out her phone and started tapping at it.

"Don't tell him," I warned her. I wanted to see his reaction, too.

"What do you take me for?" Mel scoffed. She finished typing her message and tucked her phone away in her pocket, then turned to Everett. She appraised him, her expression inscrutable, for a long moment. Everett was shifting on his feet by the time she was done. What was she looking for? Finally, Mel said, "Welcome to the family."

I frowned. That couldn't be it.

Then Mel added, "It feels a little obvious at this point, but you do know that if you do anything to hurt my brother, I'll skin you, right?"

Everett didn't seem phased by her threat. "Felix can take care of himself," he said. "But you don't need to worry. I wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt him." His words were for Meleri, but his eyes were fixed on mine as he spoke.

I shivered at the promise he was making me. The simple fact was, even though we had waited much longer than most did before sealing our mate bond, we still didn't know that much about each other. I knew he was incredibly smart, that he was passionate in the bedroom and logic-driven everywhere else, that he had a deep bond with his mother... but I didn't fool myself into believing I really knew him yet – that would come with time. But I trusted Everett when he said he wouldn't intentionally hurt me. He had made a commitment to me today, and he was standing by it. The knot of tension loosened further, almost completely gone now.

While I stared in Everett's direction, Mel marched further into the living room and pulled Everett down onto the couch next to her. I caught the glint in her eyes too late.

"So, what does this mean?" she asked. "Are you taking my brother away?"

I winced. Mel was direct to the point of abrasiveness sometimes, a trait that had been with her since she could talk. I had always hoped she would grow out of it, but no luck so far. Maybe when she found her mate, some of these rough edges would be smoothed. Until then, I hurried to my mate's side so I could help him field the many questions I knew Mel would throw at him.

Everett handled his own just fine, though. For a quiet, studious type who didn't like violence, he had a strong backbone. While Everett and Mel talked, I reached out hesitantly to take his hand in mine. He had told me I didn't need permission to touch him, but I still had this instinctive fear he'd rebuff me. If I reached out to him and he pushed me away, it could do serious damage to our fragile relationship. When my fingers brushed the back of his hand, he flipped it palm-side-up and wove our fingers together. I grasped his hand and let out a relieved breath, trying to calm my racing heart.

Everett and I had a long way to go, but it felt good to finally be making progress.

Magnus burst in the door a few minutes later, his eyes wild and worried. When they landed on me, he flung himself at me and wrapped me tightly in his arms. "You know I love you, right? And everything's going to be okay."

I frowned at Mel and asked, "What did you tell him to get him over here?" Because clearly, he thought something bad had happened.

"Just that you needed both of us today," she said.

Magnus pulled a little away from me and studied me closely. "Wait... you're okay?" he asked.

I rubbed my cheek against his and smiled fondly at my little brother. He had such a big heart. "I'm great. Better than ever."

Magnus' eyes widened and he pressed his nose against my cheek. His mouth dropped open and he jumped back, his eyes darting around the room until they landed on Everett. Magnus, the sweetheart, hadn't realized Everett was here since all of his focus had been trained on me. Magnus' eyes watered and he threw himself into Everett's arms. "I knew you would come back!" he said in a trembling voice. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Yeah, yeah, we're all happy. Let the poor guy breathe," Mel said, but her eyes were a little watery too. I knew how worried they had been about me, but something about seeing their relief now that Everett was back made it seem more real.

Magnus pulled back and cast a concerned look over Everett. "Sorry," he said.

Everett just smiled at him and hugged him again. "It's okay, Magnus. Thank you for taking care of Felix while I was gone." Everett looked up and added, "You too, Mel."

Mel coughed uncomfortably and said, "Enough of this. Let's figure out what to do for dinner. I'm hungry."

"And we need to celebrate," Magnus added.

I looked to Everett. Do you want me to send them home? I offered through our mind link.

He smiled softly. No, this is nice. But we're sending them home after dinner. His amber eyes grew heated and I nodded eagerly at the unspoken promise in them.

"Everett made chili," I said proudly.

Magnus grinned at each other. Mel took Magnus by the hand and tugged him into the kitchen, too impatient to just ask him to follow her. Magnus had been dragged around by Mel for his whole life and it didn't bother him at all. When he was born, she was so excited. She would help Mom dress him up like he was a new doll to play with and she'd get fussy if he wasn't by her side. Finally, Mom and Dad moved Magnus' crib into her room, which they shared until Mel hit puberty and insisted she get some space.

Everett smiled sweetly at me and laced our fingers together. Before we could head for the kitchen, my phone buzzed in my pocket and the ringtone that was set for Spencer rang out. I pulled reluctantly away from Everett. "I need to take this."

I waved Everett toward the kitchen when he hesitated. "Hello?"

"Felix, hi. I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm calling a meeting of the security team. Be here tonight at six."

I bit back a sigh. Spencer wasn't a tyrant – he wouldn't be calling a meeting so last-minute like this unless he had good reason. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine, but we're going to be hosting some refugees for the next few weeks, so we need to reassess our defense."

"Okay, see you at six." Spencer and I said our goodbyes and I looked at the time on my phone screen. It was a little after five already.

I glanced up and found my siblings and Everett watching me from the kitchen doorway. "Everything okay?" Mel asked.

"Yeah. I have to go into the office for a meeting tonight. I'll have to leave in half an hour." I crossed the room so I was with Everett again. "Sorry, we'll have to postpone that celebration dinner."

He took my hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry about it. Is it anything we should be worried about?"

"No, nothing like that."

Everett relaxed and nodded. "You should eat before the meeting."

"We'll handle it," Mel said. While she and Magnus headed into the kitchen, soon accompanied by the sound of clattering dishes, Everett and I sat down on the couch.

"I don't know when I'll be back. Spencer said we're taking some refugees in for a few weeks, which is going to make my job a little more complicated. We need to set up extra patrols, so I might not be home as much."

"I understand. How do you know this isn't some kind of trap? Maybe they're just pretending to need help so you let them in and drop your guard."

I smiled, but the situation wasn't funny. Everett was still settling in and already a situation came up that had him feeling threatened. "That's possible," I admitted – lying to him to make him feel better wouldn't help the situation. "We've hosted refugees before and we've never had a problem with them, but we'll be cautious. That's what this meeting is about – making sure our pack stays safe."

He scooted closer to me and leaned his head against my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around him and tugged him closer. Everett burrowed into me and I shut my eyes, relishing the feeling of being with him like this. "If it takes more than a couple of hours, could you send me a text so I don't worry?" Everett asked.

"You have no reason to worry, but I'll keep you updated," I promised.

We stayed like that until Mel and Magnus brought out bowls of chili coated in cheese. We ate in the living room with Everett still at my side and Magnus on the floor at Mel's feet, leaning against her leg. It wasn't the celebration dinner I had expected, but it was perfect. I had my family with me and we were together – that was all I needed.

--

I had a hard time convincing myself to leave Everett, especially since he was so obviously worried. Mel and Magnus left when I did since Everett said he had some work to get done, so at least I didn't have to worry about Mel pestering him and Magnus smothering him. Still, I ended up leaving a few minutes later than I had planned to and I was the last person to arrive at the meeting.

The meeting had been called with those of us who worked full-time as pack defenders. There were fifteen of us in the core group, with many others who worked part-time as trainers or patrollers or enforcers. Part-timers didn't come to meetings like these – they weren't part of strategizing. They just filled in schedule gaps. So, there were seventeen people in the room once I arrived, counting Spencer, Molly, and myself. The room went quiet and thirty-two eyes fixed on me as sixteen noses flared.

Molly broke the silence first. "Congratulations!" she said, hurrying across the room to hug me. That broke the freeze the room had been under and everyone got out of their seats to clap my back or hug me. Even Spencer gave me a tight squeeze.

We migrated to our usual seats – me between Molly and Elspeth, with our good friend Patrick on Elspeth's other side. My three closest friends leaned in, crowding into my space and each other's.

"I should have expected this," Molly said. "I can't believe you guys lasted this long without sealing your bond."

Patrick scowled. "How long did they last? And why did no one tell me you found your mate?"

"Two weeks," Elspeth answered him. "Maybe if you hadn't been on vacation, you wouldn't have been out of the loop."

"I was on vacation to make up for covering for his comatose ass while he was in the hospital," Patrick said, shooting an accusatory look my way that was mostly, but not entirely, joking.

I held up my hands. "Woah, calm down. I've been keeping my mate kind of quiet, but I was going to tell you next time I saw you."

"You have a phone. I have a phone," Patrick said. He wasn't one to let a subject drop before he felt he'd gotten his point across.

"It's not that simple," Molly cut in.

"I wouldn't know, since no one told me what was going on!" Patrick fired back.

Elspeth patted him on his thigh and said, "Seriously, you need to consider anger management therapy."

Spencer banged on the table to get everyone's attention. "Let's be respectful of everyone's time and get started. I don't want to keep you here any later than I have to."

The room hushed as we all focused on him. Spencer sat down and passed a stack of file folders to Molly. She took one and passed it to me. Once the stack had made it around the table and everyone had a folder, Spencer spoke again. "We will be taking in members of the Neruda pack in California. Forest fires are raging in their territory and they've requested aid. We aren't trained in firefighting, but we can at least offer their displaced pack members safety until their homes are safe to return to."

"How many are coming?" Argo asked. He was in his fifties and had been protecting our pack for longer than I'd been alive.

"Sixty-two. Neruda is splitting the pack members who aren't staying behind to combat the fire between us, Foley, and Potomac."

"Foley?" Alexa scoffed. She had been in my first class of trainees and was still learning to think before she spoke. "They can hardly take care of themselves. They can't handle more people."

Spencer shrugged. "We simply can't take all of them, and Foley volunteered. While the Neruda pack members are here, we will be more vulnerable. Our people will be distracted taking care of them and we'll have a lower warrior-to-civilian ratio. I wanted to cap at fifty, but we have an excellent reputation for defense and Neruda's alpha badly wanted as many of his people with us as possible. They're sending most of their children to us."

I sagged under the load of that. Children made us more vulnerable than anything else. When we were attacked, the day care was often targeted because our warriors had a harder time thinking objectively when children were involved. We had excellent security and several escape tunnels underneath the day care center, and there was a full-time guard stationed there, but taking in a lot of additional children would be a huge burden.

I glanced around the room and saw that everyone had grown quiet while they absorbed the weight of our responsibility. Even Molly looked subdued and worried, and she was only here as Spencer's heir. Defending the refugees wouldn't fall to her; rather, she would be coordinating their accommodations. It would be difficult to find places for all of them to stay and to feed them for however long they were here.

"How bad is the fire?" Elspeth asked. "Do we have any idea how long it will last?"

Spencer just shook his head. "It's a bad one. They're saying it could take weeks, maybe a month."

Weeks. Weeks of defending the weaker members of another pack without any additional defensive support. I was hardly going to see Everett at all, I realized with a sinking heart. Why was it so impossible to just have two days together without anything driving us apart?

Molly patted my knee sympathetically and I knew she understood how I was feeling.

Spencer turned the discussion to where they would be staying. Since there were so many of them, we weren't able to house them all. After the last time we'd taken in refugees, Spencer had installed RV hookups. It was expensive, but Spencer didn't care about money. He just wanted to be able to take care of the people who needed him. It was part of the reason he was such a good alpha. The hookups were a blessing now. Neruda was renting RVs for their pack members. They would have electricity and plumbing without us having to find lodging for them. Spencer would receive a stipend from Neruda to help pay for the resources they used, but I expected he wouldn't charge what these people would cost us. They were in need, so we would help. End of story.

Spencer had drawn up new patrol routes, which would keep several defenders within a minute's run of the refugees at all times. We couldn't just have one person there since any attack made on them or by them would require more man-power, and fast. We were also doubling our border security and keeping four guards stationed at the day care. All told, we needed almost triple the working hours to follow Spencer's plan.

"Most of our reserve defenders will be able to work full-time until this is over. I'll need each of you to take on about three and a half extra shifts per week. Molly will draw up schedules for the next month. If you have any scheduling needs let her know by midnight. The schedules will be ready by eight AM tomorrow," Spencer continued.

He looked around the room, waiting for a response to this. He received none. "Those of you who are trainers, class time will be cut in half. You will use the extra time to patrol. This will be worked into your schedule. Are any of your students ready to work as defenders?"

I frowned, considering this. "Leo Browning can do it," I said. "I wouldn't have him patrol alone or around the refugee camp. He would do well as a stationary guard or in a border patrol team." My other students simply weren't ready. Ursula might shape up to be a good fighter, but she still had a long way to go. Thomas was still struggling with maturity and focus. Lissa... I didn't see her ever becoming a defender, not even on our reserve team. She would know basic self-defense after my class was over, but that was all.

Spencer nodded and Molly wrote Leo's name down. "I'll call him after we're done here to see whether he'd be willing to help out," Molly said.

"He will be," I told her. I had no doubt.

Elspeth offered up one of her students. The third trainer, Bryant, shook his head when we looked at him. "My students aren't ready," he said.

Spencer nodded and moved on. "Review the defense plans in your folders tonight. See if you can find any holes, or if you can find somewhere that needs more defenders than we're planning for. Text me immediately if you think of anything. The refugees will be here tomorrow sometime in the late morning. We will start the new patrol schedule at nine. If any adjustments need made, I will let you know as soon as possible. Any questions or concerns?"

Spencer eyed each of us individually and we all shook our head in turn. After the last person shook his head, Spencer stood. "You're dismissed."

I stood and hurried for the door, eager to get back to Everett, but someone grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. "You can't just leave," Molly said, glancing pointedly over her shoulder at Patrick, who was still sulking.

I rolled my eyes. He was such a tough guy until his feelings were hurt, and then he was like a moping thirteen-year-old. Molly was right, I couldn't leave things like this. I turned around and walked back to where Patrick and Elspeth were waiting with Molly. "Sorry," I said. "I wasn't thinking about anything but getting back to Everett. You guys are important to me, though, and I want to make sure we're still good."

Elspeth wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Of course we're good, pup. I'm just happy to see you so happy."

"Thanks, Elspeth." I looked at Patrick, who rolled his eyes at Elspeth and finally uncrossed his arms.

"I'm happy for you too, you jerk," he said.

"So, when can we meet him?" Elspeth asked eagerly.

"Can we figure this out after we have our work schedules? None of us know when we're going to be free."

Elspeth pulled a face. "Oh, right. I guess that's fine."

"Let's have a barbeque," Molly suggested. "I'll get my dad to do the ribs."

Spencer was the rib king. He had a secret barbeque sauce recipe he wouldn't pass along to anyone but Molly, who was hopeless in the kitchen. It was a crying shame. Hopefully her mate would be into cooking – that recipe couldn't die with Spencer.

"Isn't it a little cold out for barbeque?" Patrick asked.

"We don't have to eat outside," Elspeth pointed out.

Patrick just sighed, which was as good as agreement.

"Okay, now that we have that figured out, can I please go home to my mate?" I asked. I tried fighting back a smile – it was incredible to finally have a mate to go home to – and Molly laughed at me.

Elspeth pinched my cheek and said, "Aw, what a good little mate you are. Send him our love."

Patrick held up his hands, palms-out. "I don't think Felix's mate needs any love from me," he said, but his eyes were lit with amusement.

"Okay, from me and Molly, then. He's gay, so it won't be weird."

I shook my head at her. No way was I getting into the mess that was Everett's sexuality right now. "I'll tell him you guys said hi," I compromised.

"Fine. Don't let him tire you out too much tonight!" Molly said. "I have it on good authority you'll be on patrol in the morning. We need our strongest people working while we get our bearings."

"Thanks for the warning. Have a good night, guys." I left them to chat and hurried to my car. Everett was waiting for me.