Lessons in Love

Chapter 70: Cave Dwellers

POV: Beta Ben Westlake

Sunday morning, the plan had been for Riley and Sam to join Rick and I on patrol. I wasn’t sure if he’d be up for it after the night he’d had. I rang his doorbell at 7 a.m., only 3 hours after he’d fallen asleep last night. Emma answered the door, with a bright smile. She put her finger to her mouth and waved me in.

“Uncle Ben,” she whispered. “I need you to help me with something.” She said, taking my hand and leading me to the kitchen. She had all the ingredients for pancakes out on the counter near a stool she had no doubt been standing on to reach everything.

“I want to surprise Uncle Rick with breakfast before he goes on patrol.” She whispered loudly. “I mixed the pancakes, but I don’t know how to use the stove. I was never allowed to do that part.” She said, a little disappointed. I quietly found the frying pan and turned the stove on. She poured the batter in, and I was in charge of flipping them.

“This is really nice of you, Emma.” I said.

“Uncle Rick gave me a special nightlight last night. It makes bad dreams less scary, and sometimes, it stops them from happening.” She smiled. She happily started describing it to me, and I knew instantly the one she was talking about. “Uncle Rick was using it for his bad dreams, but he gave it to me anyway because he’s so brave.” Emma was smiling ear to ear.

I forced a smile to my face despite the new knowledge that Rick still slept with that nightlight on. “That is very brave of him.” I managed, remembering the panic in his voice last night when he’d linked me to talk.

“What’s all this?” Rick asked.

“Uncle Ben is helping me make you breakfast.” She smiled excitedly, wobbling a little on the stool. Rick came into the kitchen and plucked her off the stool, nuzzling her with his beard. She made the most elated squeal, and I understood why he’d kept it. The sound of her laughter made your heart lighter. “I mixed the batter all by myself!” She said proudly.

“You did? You’re amazing!” He rubbed the beard on her cheek this time and got another giggle. He set her back on the stool so she could finish helping me and turned to the coffee maker. “You want one?” He asked, waving a mug in my direction.

“That would be great.” I smiled a little awkwardly.

“Uncle Rick, I didn’t have a single bad dream after you gave me the nightlight. It worked like magic! I was telling Uncle Ben how brave you are to let me have it when you still have bad dreams, too.” She said happily, pouring more batter into the pan. Rick looked up at me from the coffee maker, his face turning bright red, absolute horror in his eyes before he looked away.

“He thinks you’re brave too, right Uncle Ben?” She boasted.

“Yeah,” I smiled at her, watching Rick as he industriously studied his coffee maker. “I’m glad it still works.” I added. Rick didn’t look at me. He scratched the side of his head to hide his face. He finished up making the coffee and sat at the island. “Why don’t you ask Riley to join us?” He said as I set the stack of pancakes in front of him.

“Yeah, can you?!” Emma got all excited. I mind-linked Riley. She was over in a heartbeat. Emma had mixed some pretty good pancakes and ate them almost as happily as she ate up our praise.

“Well boys, I’m going to get a quick jog in before patrol.” Riley smiled at us. “Emma, thank you so much for breakfast. It was delicious!” She gave Emma a hug and headed out.

“Okay Little Miss Chef, you better get cleaned up and dressed before we head over to Sarah’s.” Rick said, lifting Emma off the stool and lowering her to her feet. She ran off quickly.

I started clearing the dishes. Rick stared at her closed bedroom door. “Since you gave it to me.” He said quietly.

“What?”

“The nightlight,” he looked at me, mortified. “I’ve had it plugged in since you gave it to me.”

I covered my watch with my hand and looked down at my wrist. “I understand.” I said, meeting his eyes over the island. “Some gifts are like that.” I gave him a weak smile. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he shook his head.

I walked with him to drop off Emma, and we headed for the trail head near the lake. We’d go up the northern border, wrap around by the cave, and come back on the south side of the lake. I stripped down before Riley and Sam got there and shifted. Rick shifted into his fur as Sam and Riley approached us as wolves. I hadn’t seen Riley in her fur. She was huge, light grey; absolutely stunning.

I had expected her to be slender and lithe, but instead, she was solid and muscular, an absolute powerhouse of a wolf. She was as big as I was, and as we started to run, I realized she was as fast and sturdy on her feet as both Rick and me. My mate was a beast, and it was hot as hell.

There was plenty of lighthearted conversation as we made our way across the beach. The northern border had been a bit of a hot spot lately, but we encountered no one. It wasn’t until we were cresting the ridge that Rick and I stopped our crew.

“We got foreigners camped by the cave.” Rick said, sniffing the air.

“Spread out,” I ordered. “You two take the left. There’s a narrow path there, but you should be able to get up it quietly.” I said to Sam and Riley. “Lay low until we know if there’s danger. I don’t want to spook them by sending us all in.” Sam and Riley nodded and headed to the other path. Rick and I went up the path on the right.

“I’ll do the talking.” Rick said as we reached the last discreet place on the narrow path, and he shifted out. “Hello,” Rick said with a smile, popping up from the bushes. There were four teenagers huddled in the cave. They looked scared and filthy. “Do you know where you are?”

“Not entirely,” a young man spoke up. “I’m thinking this is Sapphire Lake.” He said, pointing to the water behind Rick. But we were aiming for Ridgeline.” He added. He held Rick’s eye and spoke clearly. He showed no fear or simply wasn’t afraid of him. Rick gave a slight nod and walked forward. I followed him. Everyone in the cave pulled back, a girl in particular, with a nasty looking scar on her upper arm. The kid talking to Rick didn’t look at me, didn’t seem to care that I was there.

“Where are you from?” Rick asked.

“What does it matter?” The kid replied quickly.

“It matters because you’re not from here.” Rick said simply. “We have no interest in hurting a group of kids, but we’ve had some bad luck around here with strangers lately. We’re just being cautious. Same as you are. You got a name?”

The kid looked at his friends. The girl with scar was visibly shaking. The other two, a pair of boys who looked to be related, sat quietly hushing the girl. “My name is Brian. I was turned out of Flain River almost a year ago. I’ve been helping some of the people who get turned out, Abby, Devin, and Chris among them.” He nodded.

“I’m the Delta Rick.” Brian’s eyes rounded for a second, realizing that he had an audience with an officer. “What have you been helping them with Brian?”

“I’m trying to get them to other packs without getting recruited or mauled by the Rogues.” He said, sparring a glance for Abby.

“You’re all from Flain River?” He asked.

They all nodded as Brian spoke up. “Ridgeline will sometimes take them, but it’s been hard to get around to their front gates lately. Something’s happened there. They’ve been patrolling the northern ridges heavily, and slipping out of Flain River to the east is nearly impossible right now.”

“That’s why you ended up here.” Rick said. “You came down the west face of the ridge in the dark and are hiding here for the day.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rick nodded, then turned his attention on the other three. “Abby, right?” He said to the girl. She shivered and moved closer to the boys. “How long since you left Flain River?” He asked.

“It’s been a week since I found her.” Brian said. “Some Rogues did that to her. It’s been slow to heal.” He added.

I stifled a growl. If her injury was slow to heal, then either her aura was damaged, suggesting a severe trauma, or she had been badly injured before the Rogues attacked her. Rick looked to the other two.

“How long since you left Flain River?”

“We didn’t leave.” The bigger of the two boys growled. “We were turned out for defending our cousin against the Alpha’s b***h daughter.”

Brian growled at him. “Watch your mouth Chris, you’re speaking with an officer.”

“Sorry sir,” Chris blushed.

“It’s alright,” Rick reassured them. “What happened?”

“Our cousin found out she was mated to one of the officer’s sons. The Alpha’s daughter is one of those snotty rich kids, popular and pure evil. She convinced the guy to reject our cousin. We stood up for her and she went running back to daddy saying we hurt her.” Chris said.

“You’re brothers?”

“Yes, sir. I’m 17, Dev is 16.”

“What about you, Brian? You’ve been out here a year and still haven’t turned feral. That’s impressive. Were you a warrior?” Rick asked him.

“No more than any other teenage boy in a pack.” He shrugged. “My father ran off. I couldn’t pay both the tuition for school and the taxes on the house.” He shrugged. “I was a drain on the pack. The Alpha seized my family home and put me to work. I should have gone to Crystal Lake last fall on a full ride, but I was told I couldn’t attend because I owed the pack money. Just after the new school year started, I was turfed. No explanation other than my debt was paid and I was no longer welcome.” He summarized.

“What about Abby?” Rick asked.

Brian turned to her. “Can you tell the Delta what happened?” He asked her gently.

She started breathing faster and shook her head. I recognized the look on her face. The sheer panic as you relived the worst day of your life. “It’s okay.” He said getting down lower. “You don’t have to tell us right now. We have people that you can talk to in the village. No one is going to hurt you here.” Rick said firmly, looking to each of them.

Rick mind-linked me. “So, what do you want to do?”

“Bring them in. We’ll clean them up, feed them, and maybe they’ll tell us a bit more.” I replied.

Rick nodded and turned to Brian. “Marshal your troops, Brian. We’ll take you down to our village. We’ll get you rooms so you can clean up and then we’ll all have dinner together. Get to know each other a bit more.” He said.

Chris and Devin exchanged relieved looks. Abby was rocking herself back and forth, seemingly unaware of the conversation. Brian looked close to tears. After a year out in the cold, the kid probably never thought he’d see the inside of a packhouse again.

“Thank you, sir.” He managed.

Rick started to turn his back before he mentioned Sam and Riley. “Sorry, I should warn you, just so it doesn’t startle you. We have two warriors hiding on the left trail.” Rick called them out. “The four of us will escort you down.”