Chapter 2 Day Drinking
2377 Words
UNCLE CALVIN
“I move to accept Gen’s invitation to remain here in the guest house until we know if we’re evacuating or not,” my oldest son and namesake offered. “Who wants to build in two f*****g realms at the same time?”
The guest house was formerly a barracks for the Guard Unit.
“You’ve got a point, Cal,” I agreed. “I second the motion.”
“All in favor, say Aye,” Cal initiated the vote.
My Beta, Leland, my daughter, Ama, and her husband, Matt, all voted Aye.
“What’s next on the agenda, son?”
“I think I’ve chosen Betas for myself and Gracie. Conrad has twin brothers, who luckily aren’t identical. We’ve hit it off really well with them.”
“Oh, Bryan and Brady. We’ve met,” I nod my approval. “Have you offered yet?”
AUTHOR NOTE: The names of Beta Conrad’s brothers were changed from Book I, in case you were one of my first readers. The edits didn’t come through when I uploaded *facepalm* I also didn’t leave my brain turned on when naming the Protectors *double facepalm*
“Not yet. We need to see if Gen is planning to offer roles to them since she’s looking, too. We really wanted your thoughts first.”
“I approve of your choices if they’re not spoken for. Have you chosen runners up?”
“I’m ok with any one of the Guard members, but Gracie hasn’t met any of them yet.”
I assume you need a couple of new swords, either way?”
“Since I didn’t inherit the gene, do you mind?”
“Of course not! Anything else?”
“Are the visitors still arriving later this month?”
“As of our last conversation, yes. The Kellers may arrive sooner than the O’Cleirighs—which reminds me, O’Clery is a derivative of O’Cleirigh, so that answers the confusion we had there.
When word traveled that a group of seven more survivors from the former Silver Moon pack had been found, descendants naturally wanted to connect. Alpha Khane had preserved the few surviving artifacts, mostly from Luna Allyson’s vault, that were now displayed in the Crown Museum.
We had been contacted by at least twenty one families representing over eighty descendants and the letters were still trickling in.
Death Moon Historian, Anne Simons, did an excellent job of managing everything—from collecting information and writing books to generating family trees. Silver Moon would live on in that manner.
The seven of us that had been traveling the day of the m******e that destroyed everything and snuffed thousands of lives weren’t sure we wanted to carry on the name. We were a part of the Death Moon Kingdom now, but we were encouraged to govern ourselves as a pack within the Kingdom—within the fair laws and equal rights of the land, that is.
Despite the name, Death Moon was a civilized Kingdom. It was believed that there had once been two moons and that one had either died out or followed the Fey when they decided to create their own realm. One never knew with Legends, as Gen and Phoenix’s experiences proved.
We finalized as much of our plans as possible. Once Cal and Gracie had chosen their personal security, they and their kids would travel to the new realm to begin building. The others were playing everything by ear.
{~>*•**•*WHAT THE f**k WAS WRONG WITH ME? I passed out when Al yanked my leg. It was only a moment or two, but I was so disoriented. I blinked to get my eyes to focus.
The sound of bone popping triggered—a flashback, or something. In the deepest recesses of my mind, I was once again strapped to a chair and a broken woman lay twisted in a pool of blood on the floor.
Now I was getting pins and needles from my left hip down my leg. My medic training told me that could be from having a nerve unpinched and now blood was circulating. I lay there, practically frozen, waiting for—something. I didn’t know what, but it seemed something bad should happen next.
I needed to distract myself. Whatever had been triggered by the pop in my pelvic area was something dark and I didn’t want to know what it was.
Not if it involved that broken body. If my last nightmare was any indication, I had a feeling I already knew.
I scrubbed my good hand over my face.
“Good thing that wasn’t your head up there,” Ben attempted to joke.
“I can treat that affliction,” Al said knowingly. “I call it a Cranialrectalectomy.”
A what? And then it clicked. To cut my head from my ass. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.
Laughter was always good medicine. I wouldn’t let a suppressed memory hold me back. I welcomed the pins and needles sensation. It trumped being completely numb!
{~>*•**•*<~}
GENEVIEVE
The suite was peaceful while the staff had their first lunch meeting with Stella.
Phoenix had been typing, albeit with one hand, for the last hour. I sat next to him reading. There were drafts from Anne, the book Al had gifted me along with a couple others he recommended on pioneers of psychology.
It had taken a few days to figure out how to set up the electronic journal and then how to use it. Phoenix wrote for the first time yesterday, but wouldn’t let me see it yet. I respected his privacy and promised not to read anything he didn’t personally give me.
From time to time, Phoenix would type a message for me.
“Have you eaten?” He wanted to know this time.
I didn’t eat in front of him. He was still on a liquid diet and I refused to rub food in his face.
“Yes, I ate before everyone left.”
“Good,” he typed. “Don’t be starving our firstborn! You don’t have to sneak, you know. I don’t have an appetite.”
“You don’t think that would be rude?”
“No. I want to watch you get nice and fat!” Devil emoji. Sideways laughing emoji.
I playfully swatted him with the draft from Anne. He snatched my wrist. Wow, good reflex! I started to say so, but noticed his eyes darken.
“I love you,” he slowly rasped without stuttering. His speech had improved a little the last few days.
Though I still sent Healing vibes to my mate, I credited the Moon Goddess, Ben and Al. I had wheeled Phoenix out into the Moonlight the last few nights. Ben worked tirelessly on physical therapy while also learning from Al as Al worked on getting Phoenix’s bones in alignment. He had improved more in three days than he had in three weeks. I couldn’t take much credit for that.
Our Moonlight make out sessions were a little less clumsy each night. Just yesterday, he’d felt the urge to urinate and had since been mostly relieving his bladder on his own. Wolfie was trying really hard to function.
“I love you, too.” I couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him.
The kiss turned into the most passionate one we had shared since—since then. I didn’t like thinking about the night Phoenix was injured.
“Wanna have a nooner?” I was only partially teasing.
He looked down at his swim trunks he was still wearing from his water therapy session. “f**k yeah.”
Wolfie must’ve heard me thinking about him and was attempting to make his presence known. “Mmmm. Let me move you back into bed. There’s not enough room in that chair to suit me.”
Phoenix grabbed my wrist again. He looked at me intently. I gave him time to get out what he wanted to say.
“Our bed,” he managed.
“Oh, baby. I know what you mean, but just so you know, they’re both ‘our’ bed.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “You’ll never have your own bed again.”
“G-good,” he laughed. I hoped the return of the stutter was because he was excited.
“Do you mind the adjustable one? Because I have a plan…I can move it to our private suite so we’re not interrupted.” I winked.
“Ok.” Phoenix raised his eyebrows up and down.
- Writer
