Chapter 32

Journee watched Asher walk out. She wanted him to stay. Everything seemed better when he was close. It wasn’t better, it just felt that way. She turned and glanced at the women, not sure of their names.

“Journee,” the tall one with the short brown hair smiled at her. “I’m Pasha.” She motioned to the tables, “pick a table. The more of us doing this means, the faster we get it done.”

Journee looked to see there were boxes sitting on the tables. “I’m not sure of what we’re doing.”

“It’s fine. We have a list and put whatever it says in each tote.” Pasha motioned to the bins on the floor.

Nodding, Journee went over and stood beside one of the tables. She looked in the open box and wasn’t sure what was in it.

“You probably don’t remember me, but we’re from the same clan.” Pasha went around the table and opened another box. She stopped and looked at her, “I would have been there that day, but I was grounded and stuck in the house.” Journee watched a pained look go through her brown eyes. “I’m glad you made it back.”

“Are we supposed to put the medical things in the tote or separate them?” The one with the dark orange hair asked. “I wasn’t listening.” She came over and stood at the end of the table, “I’m Fallan,” she smiled at her. “How’s your leg? Do you need a chair?

“Hi,” Journee wasn’t sure what clan she was from or if the dark orange hair with black tips was natural or not, but combined with her pale blue eyes, she was very pretty.

“I think we’re supposed to keep the medical things separate.” The one with the baby blue eyes, she thought her name was Sloane, said. Journee watched her drag a stack of plastic bins over and start putting them on the table. “So, is it better if we leave the totes here and bring the items, or should we take the tote from table to table?” She slipped her long brown hair over her shoulder.

“What do you think, McKenna? Best way to do this?”

The short woman with strawberry blonde hair shoved her sunglasses up on top of her head and waved a few papers around. “This is a long list,” she glanced around, “we need some carts with wheels, then we can wheel them from table to table.”

Fallan nodded and pulled out her phone, “I know just the one to whine to for that.” She started tapping the screen.

Pasha motioned to the chair along the side, “Do you need to sit?”

Journee shook her head, “I’m fine standing.” Looking down at her leg, she said, “Shaelan says I can maybe shift later today or tomorrow, so I want to stay moving with it.”

“That was something, what you did outside with the rogue.” She grinned, “Some of us were watching from inside.”

“I overreacted.” Journee frowned; it hadn’t felt like it at the time. “I didn’t know all the facts.” She said it slowly, still having trouble talking to someone. Most of her life now had been just her, so conversing felt strange now.

“Regardless, that move was something.” Pasha motioned to herself, “You need to teach me that.” She looked at her leg. “When you’re fully healed.”

Journee smiled, “I can do that.”

Pasha watched McKenna drag more totes over to the other side of the room. “You know, you and Asher are the only ones left from that day,” She scowled at the items on the table for a moment. “He’s never recovered from it. Losing his family.”

Journee blew out a shaky breath. She couldn’t talk about it, not that part of it. The trip she could speak of without issue, but watching what had happened to the others, that she couldn’t do.

“He went away to some cousins or something, and when he came back, he was able to shift and spent all his time out tracking, and when he wasn’t in cat form, all he did was workout.” She shrugged, “I think he needed the physical activity, so he didn’t think.”

“It’s,” Journee nodded, “hard to keep it out of your mind.”

The door opened, and a tall, heavier man with black hair came in. She didn’t know his name, but he was always smiling. He was pushing a cart with wheels and pulling another one. “Will this work, ladies?” He smiled at Fallan. “If Illias comes asking, you have no idea where they came from.”

McKenna brought over a tote and set it on it. “We can fit two on this,” she turned and looked at Sloane, “this should speed it up.”

Fallan saluted the man, “Thanks, Webb.”

“Anytime.” He bowed his head and walked out of the room, humming to himself.

“Okay,” McKenna walked to the first table and looked in the boxes. “One full case from each of these.” She nodded and went to the next table, “one each of these.” When she reached the next table, she glanced at the paper in her hand, “these are medical, so,” she looked over at Pasha, “we should pack these separately after the other tote.”

Pasha nodded and went over and shoved the table back against the wall.

The mood in the room was relaxed. Journee was glad about that. She’d been in some tense rooms since coming here. So much had happened that she couldn’t focus on just one part of it. Now, she was lost in the knowledge that her cat and Asher’s cat were mates. She didn’t understand what that meant, not really. She knew her parents had been, but still wasn’t sure if something was expected from her.

“Okay,” McKenna stood beside her and looked in the boxes in front of her, “your table, Journee,” she looked at the paper, “it doesn’t have amounts,” she looked in the boxes again and turned and looked at Sloane, “I’m not sure what you’d need out of this.”

Sloane put the tote on the cart and then came over and looked in the boxes, “munchies.” She grinned. “Lots of munchies.”

“Two of each?”

Sloane shook her head, “I’d do three. When we hit a location lately, we’re pulling a lot of young teens out, and it’s like they’re starved.” She shook her head, “they cleaned me out the last time when I was transporting them.”

McKenna looked in one box and held up a package of something. “There are several cases in the warehouse, so we’re good.” She nodded to Journee. “We’ll do three of each of these on your table.” She flipped open the furthest box and pointed. “Four of these.” With a smile, she moved to the next table.

“I’ll start wheeling around,” Pasha went over and took the first cart that Sloane had put totes on.

Journee watched her for a moment as she grabbed items and put them in the tote, “these go with teams?” She didn’t know what the teams were.

Sloane paused and rolled her shoulder, making a face like it hurt. “Yes, we split up into several vehicles, and when we hit a location, everyone takes the survivors found and heads in different directions,” she moved her head from side to side and then opened one of the boxes on the table in front of her, “so we can’t be followed.”

Journee blinked, hitting locations, survivors, the words registered in her mind. “You’re rescuing those that were taken.”

Sloane nodded. “We’ve gotten a lot in the last six months, as opposed to before when it was five or six a year.” She gave her a wide grin. “Now, thanks to you, we’re going to find the kids and put a stop to where they’ve been hiding them for so long.”

McKenna paused and looked back at her. “I hope they set the island on fire after they get everyone off it.”

Journee’s eyes widened.

McKenna shrugged, “It’s an island surrounded by water, a little fire will be harmless.” She frowned, “unless there’s land close. Is there?”

Journee shook her head, “No. It’s not close to any land. That’s why I almost didn’t make it back so many times when I tried to hide alongside the boat leaving.”

“Damn glad you survived and got back.” Pasha patted her chest, “makes me proud one of my clan did that.”

Her clan. Journee had a clan. With a jerky motion, she swiped at her eye when it started to fill with tears. “I’m sorry,” she looked at the box on the table, “everything is happening, I don’t understand some—” she chuffed, “most of it.”

“Hey,” she heard footsteps come up behind her, “I didn’t mean to drag anything up on you.” Pasha put her hand on her shoulder, “I can’t imagine the hell you’ve been through, and I hope,” she offered her an understanding smile, “I hope you find your peace once we’ve close down that island.” She nodded.

Journee sucked in a shaky breath. “Thank you.” She blew it out. “I don’t know about finding peace. There’s just so much happening. So much I’ve missed and,” she looked down at her hands and clasped them together, “so much I don’t understand.”

Pasha squeezed her shoulder and then dropped her hand. “We’re here to help. If you don’t understand something, just ask. We get it. It’s not like you had a village to raise you and show you the way of things.”

“Oh, for sure.” Sloane agreed.

McKenna put her hands on her hips and nodded. “I didn’t have a stable environment, but I’m happy to help you if possible.”

“You didn’t?” Journee looked around at them. They seemed so at ease with everything. She had just assumed their lives had been normal.

“Nope.” McKenna set the papers down and grabbed the other cart. “Lindon kept us on the move and isolated, and it was not a fun time,” she picked up a few items from the table and set them in the tote, “but Blair came blazing in and shut all that down, and now my clan has a home.”

“Lindon?” Journee looked around, “Blair’s brother.” She “Blair said he was dead now.”

McKenna stopped. “You knew Lindon?”

Shaking her head, she selected three packages from the first box and put them in the tote that Pasha brought over. “I didn’t know him. I saw him on the island.” She did the same with the next item. “I thought Blair was him.”

Fallan walked out the other door.

Mckenna snorted. “He resembles him, but Blair, he is nothing like Lindon.”

Journee added four of the packages of small boxes of juice. She was amazed they were filled with juice. So many things had changed while she was gone. “I’m glad.” She looked around at the others. “That Lindon is dead. He wasn’t nice to the girls.”

McKenna stopped and exhaled a long breath. “No, he wasn’t.”

Pasha nodded and pushed the cart to the next table, “so what don’t you understand? Maybe we can start knocking things off that list for you.”

Journee stepped over to the other table and picked up items in the same quantity she’d just watched Pasha do and put them in the totes Sloane was wheeling around, and then she came back to the table of munchies and started to put the items in. “There is a lot.” She glanced at Pasha. “Things have changed so much.”

Pasha tilted her head to the side. “I guess there wasn’t much technology on that island.”

Journee shook her head. “There was none.”

“That is insanity.” Fallan stood in the doorway and lifted a box up she was carrying, “I just went and got the backups and their backups for the kits.” She nodded to Journee. “If you have any questions on tech, you come to me, and I’ll train you up right for that.”

“Thank you.” It was nice of her but knowing how to use a phone or one of the other things with the bigger screen, a tablet, she thought she’d heard someone say, wasn’t high on her list. Who was she going to call?

“We’re just trying to help Journee with things she doesn’t understand.” McKenna offered.

“Oh, for sure. Shout it out, and we’ll explain whatever you need.” She took some items out of the box and set them in the totes that Pasha had set on the table at the end.

Journee focused for a minute as she set things into the next totes. Now that she had others to answer the questions, she didn’t know what to ask. She wondered if any of them had mates. Clearing her throat, she kept her head down and put the munchies in the totes. “Do any of you have a mate?”

The room was quiet for a moment. “Not yet,” Fallan answered.

“I don’t think I’ll ever have one,” Pasha grinned as she wheeled the totes away.

“Why?” Journee wondered how she could know that. Was there something she had missed growing up alone?

“You could someday.” Fallan smiled at Pasha.

Pasha snorted, “I don’t think fate knew about same-sex couples.” She shrugged, “I’m okay with it. I have my calling, so it’s good.”

Same-sex couples. Journee had to process that for a moment to understand what that meant. “Your cat’s mate is a girl.”

Pasha grinned. “Fate willing, yes.” She shrugged. “We’re both hoping.”

“Both?” Journee moved back to the other table to put the items in the next totes.

“My cat and I,” Pasha waited for Fallan to add her items and take the tote off the cart, so she put empty ones on it.

“Oh.” Journee turned around and looked at the table, unsure what to think. Was that unusual? She wasn’t sure. “My cat has a mate.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Who?”

She turned to see all of the women looking at her. “Asher told me our cats were mates.”

“Ash—oh,” Pasha looked over at Sloane for a moment and then Fallan, “he said that?”

Journee nodded, “Yes.”

“Um,” Pasha left the cart there and came over, “you know…”

“I don’t think she does,” Sloane said quietly.

Pasha turned back to her, “Oh.” She ran her hand through her hair, leaving it messy, “uh, you and your cat have one mate.” She said it slowly and then just stood there and looked at her.

Journee looked from her to Sloane and then Fallan. Each of them nodded.

“Wait,” McKenna came over and stood beside the table, “he told you that your cats were?”

Journee nodded, “Yes. I told him I feel better around him, and I guess it is because of our cats.”

“You and your cat are one, Journee.” McKenna glanced at Pasha.

“Yes. He said that too.”

Pasha looked amused, “classic Asher. I don’t think he’s had a full conversation with someone in his life.”

“This is, um,” McKenna waved her hand around, “out of my scope of knowledge.” She shrugged. “If you need to sneak somewhere, cause a distraction or lift something without being caught—I’m your girl, but couple stuff…”

“Yeah.” Fallan put a tote on the cart and then came over, “I don’t think I’m qualified to explain the workings of mates.”

Pasha chortled. “I’m not even qualified to explain a relationship with a man. That I do know.” She looked at Sloane. “Should I talk to Asher and tell him he needs to clarify things?”

“He kissed me,” Journee blurted out, touching her mouth, “on my mouth.”

Pasha looked amused. “Or just let him figure it out.”

“I’m all for that, but—” Sloane looked at Journee with indecision on her face. “I think someone should explain,” she waved her hand in the air, “intimacy to Journee.”

“Oh.” Pasha frowned, “that.” She rubbed her hand over her forehead, “I guess she missed that talk, huh?”

Journee looked from one to the next for a few moments. “What talk?”

“Birds and the bees,” Pasha answered, then rolled her eyes. “Sex.” She shrugged.

Journee felt her face heat.

“I’d say she knows some of it if her red face is any indication,” Fallan said quietly.

Journee was trying to puzzle it out inside her head, and her eyes widened. “Oh, our cats will have sex.” She’d seen more than enough of that in the wild.

“Uh, sure, if that’s,” Sloane motioned in the air, “what you’re into, but we’re talking about you and Asher.”

Journee knew her eyes went even wider as what she was saying registered. “Asher and I will have sex.”

Pasha crossed her arms over her chest, nodded, and then pointed at her suddenly. “Only if you want to.”

“Yeah,” Sloane agreed.

“What—” McKenna rolled her eyes, “I don’t mean to pry, but what did you do when your cycle hit? Out there, before you came back.”

Journee felt like she knew nothing. “My cycle?”

Fallan put her hand over her mouth and then moved it. “She may not of had one because…”

“She wasn’t around any of her own.” Pasha nodded.

“Yeah.” Sloan nodded.

“Guys,” McKenna waited for them to look at her. “I think we’re making this worse.”

Pasha turned and looked at Journee again. “Are we? Are you getting any of this?”

Journee bit her lip and tried to pick out the pieces of what they’d been saying. “I don’t get the cycle thing at all, but,” her face felt hot, so she put her cool hands against her cheeks for a moment, “I understand that Asher and I will have sex because our cats are mates.”

Fallan nodded, stopped, and put her finger in the air. “You and Asher are mates, just the same as your cats.”

“Right.” Journee shook her head. “I need to think about this.”

“Yeah,” Pasha nodded and stepped back, “it’s something like nothing else from what I hear.”

Sloane gave her a look, and Fallan shook her head.

“If you have questions, just come and find one of us,” Sloane said with an awkward smile on her face.

“Or,” they turned to look at McKenna, “ask Shaelan. She can probably explain it all because she has a mate of her own.”

“She does?”

“Calum,” Sloane answered.

“Oh.” Journee thought about them. “That makes sense. They are good together.”

“Yeah.”

Something made a strange noise; Fallan pulled her phone out and answered it. “Yeah.” She looked from one woman to the next, “I’ll be right there.” Tapping the screen, she waved it toward the others. “The rogue has given us a starting point.” She smiled and then looked at Journee. “You’ll be going on a trip soon.”

Journee looked down at her leg, “I can’t until I can shift.”

“Right after that.” Fallan backed toward the door. “I could hear them in the background, planning.”

“I’m not big on water, but I’ll go to that island just to shut it down.” Sloane smiled at her.

“Get the kits ready, ladies, we’re going to be busy.” Fallan left the room.

Journee’s stomach was tense, and she didn’t know if it was because of what they’d told her about Asher or because she was going to see that island again. A shiver went through her, and she decided it was the island.

The idea that she’d spent so long trying to get off the island, to know she was returning to it made everything, even the idea of sex, not matter. She took a slow, deep breath, something she and her cat had learned to do when things overwhelmed them. She just had to remember that the green-eyed lady had told her to tell the King and bring everyone back to save them. For her, she’d go back to that island.