Page 117 of Claimed

“Good,” Grey says, “When I get back, I want as much face time with you all as you can spare. I need to be up to speed as soon as possible. Everything in my body and mind tell me this.”

“Got it. Whatever you need,” Vivica says.

“However we can help,” Erica echoes.

The call ends and we’re almost to Silver Hills. Even if I didn’t see where we are, I think I’d feel it, sense it in the air – the echoes of my life here. The pain. The abuse. The hunger, fear, and longing.

I’ve always felt like I’m mostly alone in the world, the people closest to me relying on me even if I don’t know how to fix things for them. I’ve always felt like I’ve got nothing but hard, uphill battles to look forward to.

Dealing with the business. Trying to pay all the bills with limited means or begging for extensions from bill collectors. Ordering supplies in a way that will give us enough without my brother blowing a gasket that I’ve spent too much. Helping people in the pack with whatever their problems are. Coping with Wyatt’s moods and demands. Coping with all he doles out. Dealing with all the punishments, the demands.

I never had the capacity to imagine this much more for myself, just how vastly different the life I had could be from the life Grey had laid out for the future.

But this feels like another hill to climb first. Climb the hill, look at my life and my roots, and find a way to help my people find their own way forward before I get to move on with Greyson.

***

We turn off onto a dead-end road only half a mile from where my people are. In the clearing by a pond, there’s a truck, two cars, and a van alongside a shiny mid-size silver Airstream camper attached to a black pickup truck. Several pack members watch us get out of Grey’s car.

I recognize all of them other than one, from either last night at the party or because they’ve been at Grey’s house.

Tyson’s mom Catrina is standing with Dr. Blakely from The Collective. There’s also Lincoln, Jase, six other men, two of which I recognize because they’ve taken turns with surveillance outside Grey’s house. I’m pretty sure the other four are pack betas I met or at least saw yesterday, plus the one I don’t know, a large chiseled blond guy I surmise must be Jared. But something about him strikes me as unusual, though I can’t pinpoint what it is.

All eyes are on me as greetings are exchanged, and it feels like the overall vibe is all warmth and concern.

A green SUV pulls in just as we get out of the car and the guy who gets out is like a combination of Riley and Tyson Savage. He’s tall. Built. 100% alpha. This must be Brody. He’s got hair longer than Riley’s, shorter than Tyson’s. And he has warm chocolate brown eyes and thick, well-groomed dark facial hair.

Immediately, people are all about greeting him excitedly.

He and Lincoln do a belly bop greeting, he messes up Jase’s hair while Jase threatens to give him a wedgie, then the three of them throw their heads back and let out howls at the same time beforehe turns and picks up Catrina Savage and swings her around, making her giggle before he blows a raspberry on her neck, then sets her down.

When his eyes hit Grey, who has a hint of a smile for the first time since we left his house, he approaches with a twinkle lighting in them. He and Grey hug with hearty backslaps.

“So good to see you, bro,” Grey says. “Appreciate that you came.”

“Needed to be here, brother. Serious. Woke up last night knowing I needed to head home and not knowing why. Called my folks, got their update, hit the road before dawn. Called Rye this morning to tell him I was on the way and he filled me in on the latest pack happenings. I knew I needed to come help.”

His eyes bounce to me and the warmth in his gaze vanishes as he asks, “This her?”

The way Brody looks at me makes my belly lurch. Maybe he’s holding a grudge after hearing what I did.

“This is my wife. Stacy,” Grey replies.

Brody sizes me up with an unreadable expression and then his face splits into a blinding white smile as he puts his hand to his chest. “Ah. Of course Grey would rate earning a beauty such as this. Look at you!” He grabs my hand and is about to kiss it. “You bring those cookies I hear tell of?”

“Oy!” Grey grabs him and puts him in a headlock. “Your mouth doesn’t touch my mate, and all her cookies are for me.”

Brody laughs uproariously and digs his fingers into Grey’s ribs.

“Fuck sakes,” Grey mutters, shoving him away. “How’d you hear about her cookies.”

Brody laughs harder and then they hug one another again with more back slaps.

“I have spies. Great to meet ya, Stacy,” Brody says belatedly.

“You, too,” I say. “I appreciate that you came.”

“Congrats, Grey. Truly,” Brody puts his hand to his heart.

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