Page 18 of Chasing Dawn

Alexander nodded. “Well, congratulations. I don’t think the path you will travel will be easy.” He slid his eyes to Talbot, who stood so ramrod straight, I was worried he’d snap his spine. “But if you want my advice…”

Well, not really, but you didn’t say no to Alexander. “Yes, sir.”

“I’ve seen a lot of abused shifters in my centuries, Alpha. Omegas have had it the worst of all. It will take time, gentleness, and many hands to help her heal. Given her injuries, I’m not sure your sleuth will accept her as your mate. Your line would end, so there’d be no successor.”

I didn’t really care. My bear honestly couldn’t care less as long as she was happy. “With all due respect, sir, my sleuth isn’t like that. They’ll accept her because she’s broken and hold me accountable for her happiness. We don’t hold to the old beliefs of lineage. It sends you down the road of the lions, and no one wants that. When my time comes, I’ll pick a new Alpha from the bears in the den, who will in turn choose their own betas, and then I’ll retire to the mountains somewhere with my mate and betas and their mates, and we’ll be happy.”

Alexander smiled. “Sounds idyllic, but things rarely work out how they are supposed to, Vance. I wish you all the best though.”

He signed off, and I was forced to acknowledge the dueling scents of anger and hurt that permeated the room. I looked at Talbot, and his face was hard.

“What the actual fuck?”

CHAPTER 11

FRANKLIN

From an outsider’s point of view, the dining hall would appear kind of intense. We cooked a lot of our food from scratch, and most of it was kept in the stores down at the very back of the dens. Once a month, we’d haul a refrigerated truck down the mountain and collect everything from surrounding towns. They were used to it now, and no one really asked questions. The sleuth had been here for a long time. Whatever weird community they thought we had up here, no one really made inquiries.

In the days after the food run, the kitchen crew would bake up a storm, salt and store some of the meat, ensure the fruits and vegetables lasted all month, and somehow create the magic that was the dining hall.

I was forced to really look at it, though, when Dawn’s feet stuttered to a stop in the middle of the dining hall. Her jaw unhinged as she gaped at the long tables of food that sat out for most of the day.

At dinner time, everyone would gather together, and we’d have a sit down meal as a sleuth, but lunchtimes were a serve yourself kind of deal, which meant there were rows of freshly baked breads, rolls, and muffins, fruits, salads, and cold cuts lining the walls. There was also a breakfast bar with cereals and refrigerated dispensers that contained milk and juice in case you were a breakfast for lunch kind of person.

There was also the ice cream bar that got way too much use, with a soft serve machine and every topping available. Sometimes it was an ice cream for breakfast kind of day too.

“Take whatever you want. Grab some of the packaged stuff to take back to your room too, if you’d like. Then you won’t have to venture out into the ogling crowd unless you need to.” I said the last bit with a growl, scattering the gathering crowd who’d come to gawk at my girl, although she didn’t seem to notice.

She gazed at me with wide eyes. “And it just sits out here, all the time? You can come and eat whenever you want to?”

The wonder on her face hurt my heart. “Yep, whenever you like, however much you like. I highly doubt a tiny little thing like you could eat even half as much as Vance, so eat until you’re stuffed.”

She walked over to the muffin basket, which had white chocolate chip and raspberry muffins in it today. I was a double chocolate man through and through, but when Dawn picked it up and took a bite, she made it look like a heavenly experience, so I grabbed one as well and ate half of it in one mouthful. Not bad at all.

“Want me to make you a plate?” I asked as she hesitated to pick up a cookie. There was a war inside Dawn right now, and I knew it was from starvation related trauma. What the fuck was happening in her pack that she couldn’t look at a cookie without being overcome with guilt? “Sit down. I’ll get you a little bit of everything.”

She seemed relieved and sat down at the end of the long bench. I set about making the best plate a bear could bring his… uh, love interest. I really did get her a little bit of everything, so I could find out what she liked. I grabbed myself some as well, stacking it high on the plate so we could share, because if I knew anything about this, she’d eat something even if she hated it, since she wouldn’t want it to go to waste. Trauma ran deep, so we’d share, and I’d clean up the plate, and maybe together we could chase away that haunted look in her eyes when she saw a damn container of Cheerios.

Finally, with a plate piled high, I sat down opposite her. “Thought we might share a plate. Save on the washing for the kitchen crew.”

Dawn nodded eagerly, and I noticed that she’d consumed her muffin. Good. She picked at the cured meats and the fruit. I slathered butter on a crunchy dinner roll and handed it to her, and she nibbled it too.

While we ate, we talked. “How do you feel about being betas now? Is it everything you hoped for?”

I stuffed some salami into my mouth and let out a soft sigh of happiness. There was a provedore two towns over that made his own salami, and that shit was amazing. I held a piece out to her between my fingers. “Try this. It’s a revelation.” As she moved her lips to my fingers, gently taking the food from my hand, I hoped she couldn’t hear the thundering of my heart or feel my pulse from my fingertips.

Instead, I cleared my throat and pretended feeding her with my own hands wasn’t something special. “Being beta is a good life. My den mates are the best people I know, and I love every single one of them. I’m proud to protect them every day.”

“Even me?” someone yelled from the back of the room.

I rolled my eyes at Dawn before yelling, “Even you, Jeff, you damn weirdo.”

I could hear the other bear chuckle as he moved out of the room. Dawn grinned and picked up an olive and some cheese, placing them in her mouth reverently. I spotted the moment the guilt came back. Her whole body curled in on itself.

Unable to help myself, I shifted around to her side of the table and pulled her onto my lap. I held her close to my body and continued on like this was entirely normal. “After, um, you stopped writing” —and broke our hearts— “Vance insisted we find something to hone our skills and keep us occupied, so he sent us to bootcamp, but not for the army. It was a mercenary camp. Talbot used to call it Camp Killer. It was basically a rip-off of the special ops training undertaken in the army, but without all the human paperwork. We were there for two years.”

“Even Vance?”