Chapter 162

Chapter 162
Green:

After a few days of well-needed rest for everybody, we started repairing the walls as soon as possible.  

I watched as they took down the now thin, blackened timbers from the gate and its surrounding walls. The barricades that we had used as a makeshift wall were already burning on a heap. 

“It’ll only take a day or two, but they’ll be good as new,” Blue informed. 

“That’s good,” 

We hadn’t sustained any losses personally, and the loss of resources was minor. We could make more arrows and bullets, but they couldn’t. 

The clinic needed to be restocked as well, with the use of silver, our healing had been dulled and many needed care. Still, no one had been mortally wounded. 

Just one of the many things that made it hard for me to understand this attack. They weren’t trying to find anything, they didn’t try to gain access into our lands, and there was no surprise attack. I could only guess that they were trying to wear us out before they came at us with an even larger force, except why would they use up their bullets then? 

Why let us get our walls back up?

Allie was drowning in her own concerns and fears. I know she was desperate for answers, but we didn’t have them. It seemed the goddess wasn’t kind enough to give her another vision either.

I decided I was done sitting there watching the rest of the work. It's been a minute since I’ve gotten my hands dirty. In fact, it had been far too long. I walked over to them, taking off my shirt and helping them get started, unloading the timbers.

“Are you serious?” Blue looked at me as I took one of the massive timbers on my shoulders. 

“Come on, let’s help,” I told him. 

“Oh yeah, let me just take one of those massive trees and put it on my shoulder. I’ll see you in the afterlife,” Blue complained. 

He can complain all he wants about my new transformation. I know it unsettled him a little bit, but that wasn’t going to stop me from maintaining this new physique of mine. A day working out in the sun seems to be a good way of doing so. 

They hauled the scraps out, and we dug the small trench for the new timbers. Placing 2 feet of the timber down into the ground so that they were nice and sturdy. The walls we constructed were two timbers deep. One layer of whole tree, then filled in with rocks, then another tree. 

The main reconstruction today was the gate where they had been attacking and where we had driven a truck through. I scrunched my face, looking at the damage that we had done. If I had to do it all over again, I’d still let them truck run through. It had worked beautifully and kept us safe. 

I heaved up the timbers, and they dumped in a load of rocks between them. A crew started assembling the rampart on top of the rocks, meanwhile I set about taking boards and helping assemble the new gate. It had to be thick, and I wanted more braces for it. That way, it wouldn’t be so easy for them to break through. 

I know I had a dozen things to take care of today, but it felt nice to work with my hands again. To build something with a purpose and a function. This would protect people, and rather than focusing on the red tape, the dozens of reports, the debating, this made me feel like I was actually doing something. 

“I heard you were out here,” Allie called to me as I measured my cut again. 

“Yeah, I was overseeing everything…I felt like an idiot just standing there, so I thought I’d actually help,” I grunted, rolling my shoulders. 

“I get that,” she hummed and wrapped her hands around my arm, leaning on me as I worked. 

I don’t think it could get any better than this, her by my side and physical work in my hands. This was far more rewarding than any of the paperwork that I’ve been having to do the last couple of weeks. The last couple of months. 

Seeing the actual progress of what I was working on, having something in my hands, and making it into something new. Putting things together into something useful. 

“You really seem at ease,” she murmured into my ear. 

My whole body reacted. In a single second, the drill that I was using was down, and she was in my hands instead. 

“Green!” She shrieked, turning bright red. “People are staring!” She hissed. 

“Let them,” I kissed her, and she giggled into the kiss, not pulling away. 

“Do not start,” she pushed me away, wiggling out of my hands. “I only met. I'm glad you're happy. You deserve it,” she kept some distance between us. 

I squinted, ready to pull her back to me, but I knew better than to try that in front of all these men. 

“I am happy,” I replied, turning away from her to keep my mind busy with the work. Don’t focus on my mate standing next to me, hair blowing in the wind. 

“I didn’t know you enjoyed building things,” she said as she sat down next to me. 

“Well, to be fair, pretty soon after you got here, we had to go on a run,” I pointed out as I turned, looking back at her with a sarcastic smile. 

“Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?” She asked. It was true. It felt like ages ago that she had arrived here. Back when we thought this whole thing was gonna be wrapped up quick and easy.

Now here we were, the world was a mess. We were at the center of it, and the only thing that brought me joy currently was a woman sitting next to me and the fact that I was avoiding my duties. 

“You’re not avoiding your duties, you’re taking a break that’s more than allowed,” she pushed my shoulder, scolding me. 

“Feels like it. I’ve never hated being an alpha before, but lately I think I’d rather be anywhere else doing anything else,” I confessed. 

“You’ve got the rest of the world on your shoulders, it’s only natural,” she brushed it off. 

“You’re not any better, and yet you don’t seem to be running in the opposite direction,” I reminded her. 

“Notice how I’m standing right next to you, genius,” she chuckled. 

She did have a point there. I suppose we were both a little strung out. Not to mention the fact that we had just been attacked, and we both felt responsible. It would push anybody to their breaking point, and instead of running away, at least I was just here building something. 

“You’re more than allowed to take a break,” she said again, kissing my cheek and hopping off the work table to get back to her work. 

I should follow her and get some paperwork done, but the thought of setting foot into my office made my head hurt, so I stayed where I was, cutting wood. 

If she was right, and I knew she was, this would all be over soon. Afterwards, maybe life could start returning to normal a little bit. It might be slightly selfish, but I don’t know when the next time I'm going to have a moment like this to myself. So I stayed put and focused on working with my hands.