The broken Alpha - Healed by innocence

She can’t hate him

*Chase*

“Ain’t never seen a prairie dog on a leash before,” Wade says.

I slam a nail into the fresh lumber, hoping my brother chokes on his strangled laughter.

"A man of vision would open himself up a*****e in Moonshadowville that sold leashes especially designed for prairie dogs," Blaise adds, grinning.

I stop my hammering and glare at my youngest brother. "If you don't want your vision hampered by two swollen eyes, you will discuss something else."

"I think Blaise has a valid point," Wade says. "With all the prairie dogs around here, selling leashes could be a booming business, particularly for a man interested in building empires."

"No doubt about that," Blaise says, "and it doesn't take him long to put a leash together. The one he made for Callie only took about ten minutes, and he wouldn't have needed that much time if he hadn't carved the dog's name into it."

Wade starts to chuckle. "You gotta have the dog's name on it just in case he loses it. How else would you know who it belongs to?" The laughter he has been holding in explodes around us.

Blaise's guffaws fill what little space remains for noise. I fail to see the humor in the situation.

"Thought you wanted to add onto your house?" I ask.

I can see Wade struggling to stifle his laughter. I have a strong desire to come to my brother's aid and hit him upside the head with my hammer.

"I do," Wade finally manages to say.

"Then we need to stop jawing and get the frame up." I growl.

"You're right," Wade admits, his face growing serious a brief moment before his laughter erupts again. "Good Goddess, Chase, a prairie dog on a leash. I never thought you would let a She-wolf wrap you around her finger like that."

"I'm not wrapped around her finger, and I liked you a lot better when you never laughed." I huff at him.

Wade's laughter dwindles. "But I didn't like me. Didn't like me at all."

I know Wade had held himself in low esteem until Briony had wrapped herself around his heart. I also know no wrapping will take place between me and Callista... not around my heart, not around her finger. It isn't my way.

I unfold my body. "Let's get this frame up."

*Callista*

“It’s so good to hear them laughing, to know they’re enjoying each other’s company,” Briony says.

I glance at the she-wolf standing beside me, her fingers splayed across her stomach, a contented smile on her face.

“When I first came here, they seldom spoke to each other and they never laughed,” Briony confides quietly.

“Why?” I ask.

“Guilt and misunderstandings mostly.” As though drawn to painful memories of another time, Briony releases a long, slow sigh before walking to the open mesquite fire where the beef is cooking.

I watch as the men begin to raise the frame that will serve as the structure for the addition to Wade’s house. I'm rapidly discovering that Chase does everything as though he were on a quest for success.

Along with Blaise, we began our trek long before dawn and had arrived at Wade’s homestead just as dawn whispered over the horizon. Chase helped me dismount before taking the cup of coffee that Briony offered him as she stepped onto the porch.

“You know what you want?” he had asked Wade as his brother slipped his arm around Briony and kissed her cheek.

“Yep,” Wade said, handing Chase a scroll.

Chase unrolled the parchment and held it up so the day’s new light could shine on it. “Looks like you want to add two rooms to the back and put a loft above them.”

“That’s what Briony wants.” Wade said.

“Then let’s get to it.” Chase said.

And they do. The measuring, the sawing, the pounding of hammers against nails, nails into wood, echo over the prairie.

When they finish setting the frame in place, Chase takes his first break. I hold Precious more securely within my arms and watch as Chase jerks off his hat, pulls his sweat-soaked shirt over his head, and shakes like a dog that had just come out of a river. He tosses his shirt over a nearby bush, settles his hat into place, and returns to work. Although he has not spared me a glance since our arrival, I can't take my eyes off him.

His bronzed back glistens, his muscles bunching and stretching as he hefts a board. His long legs make short work of the distance between the pile of lumber and the newly erected frame. He lays the board against the frame and crouches, one hand holding the board in place while the other searches through the grass for his hammer. His trousers pull tight across his backside. I don’t think I have ever noticed how lean his hips are.

He reminds me of the top portion of an hourglass: his broad shoulders fanning out, his back tapering down to a narrow waist.

“I wish they hadn’t done that,” Briony says on a sigh.

My cheeks flush as I glance at Briony. "What?"

"Taken off their shirts. I'm trying to prepare dinner, and all I want to do now is watch them work." She says.

I turn my attention back to the men. I hadn’t noticed when Wade and Blaise had removed their shirts, but their backs don't draw my attention the way Chase's does, don't make me wonder if his skin is as warm as it looks.

I watch as Maggie runs toward the men, her blond curls bouncing as much as the ladle she carries. Water sloshes over the sides. I don't think more than a few drops could have remained in the ladle when the little girl comes to an abrupt stop beside Chase and holds it out to him.

A warm smile spreads beneath his beard as he takes the ladle, tips his head back, and takes a long, slow swallow. As Maggie clasps her hands together and widens her green eyes, I have a feeling Chase is putting on a show for his niece. When he moves the ladle from his mouth, he touches his finger to the tip of her nose and says something I can't hear. Maggie smiles brightly, grabs the ladle, and runs back to the bucket of water.

Breathless, she looks up at her mother. “Unca Cha said it was the sweetest water he ever had the pleasure of drinkin’. I’m gonna git him some more.” She dunks the dipper into the bucket before running back to her uncle, the water splashing over her skirt.

"Poor Chase. She adores him. He won't get any work done now," Briony says.

"The feeling seems to be mutual," I say, wishing he would bestow that warm smile on me.

Briony smiles, "You’re right. He spoils her. I shudder to think how he will spoil his own children."

The heat fans my cheeks at the reminder of my mately duties. "I... I meant to thank you earlier for the flowers you placed on my bed the day I was married."

Briony smiles. “I didn’t place any flowers on your bed.”

"Oh." I look back toward Chase. They have finished raising the frame and securing it in place. The men have begun to lay the wooden planks for the floor. Chase is holding a nail while Maggie taps it with a hammer. After a few gentle taps, Chase takes the hammer from her and slams the nail into place.

I don’t know what to make of Chase Moonshadow. He seems as hard as the nails protruding from his smiling mouth, hardly the type of man to pick flowers...

Knowing for certain that he was the one who had placed the flowers on my bed makes it difficult for me to dislike him, much less to hate him. Yet still I do not relish the thought of the whole mating act.

Maggie scrambles over the frame they had laid across the ground… the frame that would support the floor… and begins to hold nails for Blaise. Although he carries his arm in a sling, he is managing to pull his share of the load. Something I have to admit I’m not doing. "Briony, what can I do to help?"

“I left several quilts on the porch. Why don’t you place them around the tree so we can sit under the shade?” She suggest.

I set Precious on the ground, and with my pet tagging along on her leash, hurry to the porch, grateful to have a task, although I don’t think it will stop my mind from wandering to thoughts of my mate.