Page 71 of Same One
He pulled her in closer and wrapped both arms around her. Tru closed her eyes and settled into the steady sound of his heartbeat against her cheek.
“Are you happy?” he asked.
“I really am,” she said easily.
“So am I,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“Thank you for helping me with Bay,” she murmured.
Tabian’s eyes softened. “He’s a fun kid. I like being around him.”
Relief washed through her. She’d seen Bayen’s heart from the get-go, and knew there was so much good in him, but she’d been having to defend him for the last year, in school, with peers, in public when people stared at him or said rude things to him. Having someone see the good in him with her was top tier.
Tabian patted her butt and told her, “Come on. Let’s help these idiots.”
She belted out a laugh and followed him back to camp, where it was a flurry of slightly organized chaos. She jumped in where she could. Bridger had shown up, but he was across the whole river making his own camp. No worries though, because Vic had apparently brought a bullhorn to converse with him and was currently using it to tell dad jokes. From here, Bridger looked like he was already regretting staking his tent into the ground.
Dodger got bored halfway through setting up his and Destiny’s tent, tossed Bayen a hacky sack, and suddenly everyone was done making camp. Tabian, Vic and Liam joined them within thirty seconds. Nathan stood to the side eating a sandwich and coaching. Delta jumped in and immediately dropped the hacky sack, absorbed a few good-natured jabs, and then started them off again.
Tru even tried it. She’d never done this in her life, but she kicked it into the air a few times with their encouragement. She was pretty bad the first few times, but werewolves were fast, and they bailed her out of bad maneuvers. She found herself cracking up with them and counting how many times they all kept it in the air with the others.
After they wound down, Vic, Dodger and Tabian made what they called “breakfast dessert” which was just an exorbitant amount of bacon that everyone chowed down on.
The camp was a flurry of motion as the boys finished building their tents, and the ladies drifted one by one toward the fire with Tru. Vic was inflating a blow-up doll and calling it a water floatie, Tabian was reaming him for being inappropriate in front of Bayen while he organized a box of fireworks, Bayen was cracking up as he inflated a giant watermelon floatie Nory had brought him. Lyric, Nory, Destiny and Delta were sitting around Tru at the fire with steaming cups of coffee, giggling at the guys antics while they chatted. Liam and Nathan were currently swimming across the river to visit Bridger, who looked annoyed that other living creatures even existed in these woods with him.
She was beginning to see their personalities, and they were all so different, but meshed well. She could understand why Liam had decided to keep their Pack together.
“Was it like this in your ex’s Pack?” Nory asked from the camp chair beside her.
The wind shifted and Tru waved campfire smoke from her eyes before the breeze shifted again. “I never met any of them. This is the first time I’ve really hung out with more than one werewolf at a time. I mean other than meeting you guys the other day.”
“It’s strange at first,” Nory said softly as she watched Bayen, Tabian, Vic and Dodger line up to race to the water.
Dodger was holding a huge swan floatie, Tabian had a purple-tailed mermaid, Bayen had the watermelon, and Vic had his blow-up doll.” Tru lifted her phone up and snapped a picture, mostly to capture the giant grin on Bayen’s face as he anticipated the countdown to the race starting. The kid was competitive, and now he didn’t have to hide what he could do. Those grown werewolves weren’t going to let him win.
Nory rested her feet on a log. “When I was first hanging with them, I felt this sense of belonging, sure, but it was mixed with this feeling of not being able to keep up. They were so chaotic and powerful and even the way they close doors is too hard, you know? It made me realize how gentle most humans are in their day-to-day lives. With werewolves, it’s big, startling gestures, and loud voices, and not understanding their own strength, and at times abrasiveness. Even figuring out how to move around them was different. Now I drift from my human life around other humans in town and at work to life with the Pack more fluidly, but it does take some getting used to.
“Any regrets?” Tru asked honestly.
Nory smiled at Liam, who waved to her from across the river. “Not a damn one.”
And that was answer enough for Tru. She felt a kindred spirit with Nory. Like her, Tru was navigating a world she had only dipped her toe in before, and it was so different than her everyday life. Even the way they argued or jabbed at each otherbut went straight back to being friendly was something she was watching and would have to get used to.
The boys had raced into the water. She couldn’t tell who had one, but Tabian’s booming laugh filled her heart as he scrambled up onto the mermaid floatie. It was glittering in the late morning sunlight. His arms and abs flexed with the movement, and she thought in this moment that she had never seen a more powerful, striking, handsome man in all of her life. God, she couldn’t wait to sneak some alone time with him.
“You?” Nory asked.
“Huh?”
“Do you have any regrets bonding to Tabian?”
Tru frowned and forced her attention to Nory. “Bonding? What does that mean?”
Nory glanced at Lyric. “Oh.”
Lyric glanced back at the guys and leaned forward in her chair. “We can feel it.”
“Feel…what?”
