161, Coming home

161, Coming home
Tite

Seeing the clubhouse again felt like coming home. It gave me the feeling I thought I would have when seeing the pack house. As we stepped off our bikes, the club was there to say, "Welcome home," and I loved how right it felt. The ride home had been uneventful, which was a blessing.

“I’m so happy you are back. I can’t wait to get started on what is coming,” Essme told me as she hugged me. I hugged her back and was surprised that I didn’t hate it.

“You and me both. We have some ideas we need to run by all of you, but I think we need food and rest first. At least some of us,” I said. Bones was walking past us, and he grunted.

“Fuck if I’m not getting too old to sleep on the ground. Soon, I have to plan my rides so I can stay in fucking motels along the way,” he grumbled. Hilda, who walked next to him, rolled her eyes.

“Or you can listen to the woman in your bed who is offering you her healing ointment,” she pointed out.

“I’m not that fucking old,” he complained. Both Essme and I laughed.

“Don’t knock that shit. It works miracles,” Nash called out after him. Hilda blew him a kiss, and Bones flipped him the finger. Nash put his arm around my shoulders. “I see the place is still standing. Nothing is on fire. No new bullet holes. I would say Shadow has been good,” he said to us.

“I like how low our standards are. Nothing on fire? It’s a good day,” I remarked, and Essme gave me a huge grin.

“Well, it is a good day when nothing is on fire around here,” she said. We all laughed as we went inside to have some food.

An hour later, we were back in our room, and I felt myself relax in a way I hadn’t since we left. There was no Mara here, no Kendra. Nash dumped our saddlebags by the foot of the bed and pulled me down into it.

“I will miss the larger bed,” he said before kissing me.

“Let’s be honest, I sleep halfway on top of you every night. It’s not like we need a large bed,” I pointed out. He chuckled.

“Not for the sleeping part, but it did make some of the fun activities we do less risky,” he told me. I couldn’t argue with that.

“We will make sure we have a nice large bed in our new apartment,” I said. We had an hour to relax, and then we met up with everyone again in the meeting room. It was a mix of the old church group and the new top-tier group.

“We have a plan on how to move forward,” Bones told everyone. “Wolf, Tite, I’m giving the floor to you.” We presented our plan and how to encourage the members we didn’t trust to leave on their own.

“What do we do if people we do trust choose to leave because of the new rules?” Shadow asked.

“Do we want them to stay if they are so against these changes?” Lizzi wondered.

“Good point,” Shadow agreed.

“No, we don’t,” Nash said, just to make it clear.

“These things will be mandatory once we become a pack. It’s better they leave now before we tell them our secrets,” I told them. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“We cleared out the top floor when you were gone,” Beridan informed us.

“Do you want to move in?” Nash asked Bones.

“Fuck no. I would have to move out in a couple of weeks again. It can be empty for now, and you two can renovate it and move in when it suits you,” he told Nash and me.

“Maybe we can start the renovations there?” I suggested.

“What else is going to go on the list of things to do?” Essme asked.

“If my old lady gets to decide, and she does, the whole clubhouse will undergo beautification,” Nash told her. I shared my plans.

“I like it,” Maya said.

“Do we have anyone in the club or the coven who can help out?” I asked.

“Francesca has her own construction company,” Beridan said.

“Perfect!” We agreed to invite Francesca over to discuss the beginning of the renovation. We would start with the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma apartments, then tackle floor 2, and lastly floor 1 and the ground floor. As we renovated, we would ask around to see how many were interested in living in the new apartments in the future pack house. Based on that, we would decide if we needed to build an extension or not.

“I will call a general meeting after dinner, and we will let everyone know about the new rules,” Bones informed us.

“Would you mind coming over to the coven to chat?” Beridan asked Nash and me. I looked at him, and he nodded.

“Will you come with us?” I asked my aunt.

“Is that okay?” she asked Beridan.

“We would be happy to have you,” he said with a smile. We took my aunt’s rental car, and she let Nash drive it, to his immense joy.

“This thing is almost as much fun as a bike,” he told my aunt as he helped her out of the car when we arrived.

“Thinking about buying one instead of a bike?” she teased him.

“Not that much fun,” he replied, and we all laughed. The coven had gathered in the garden. Benches, chairs, and tables were arranged in the open space in the middle. The days were becoming hotter as spring was staking its claim on the desert. Nash and I sat down on a bench while Beridan and my aunt each took a chair.

“Thank you for talking to us,” Bertie said.

“Of course, we are planning on becoming one pack. We will always have time for you,” I said, with Nash nodding along.

“We wanted to make sure you didn’t feel like you had to accept our suggestion,” Margaret told us. We both smiled at her and then looked over the coven.

“If we didn’t feel this was the right thing to do, we would have said no,” Nash said.

“He is right,” I agreed. “Both Nash and I think this is an amazing idea.”

“We do. You had my back when Tite went missing. I’m really grateful for your help back then, and it shows me I can trust you. Tite is part witch, and I know she is looking forward to having other witches as part of the pack,” my mate told them, and I had to smile at him.

“We have some ideas that we want to start working on for the community, like we used to,” Arula said.

“I like that,” I replied. “Both within the pack and towards the humans. As witches, we thrive when we get to boost nature and be a part of the bigger picture.” Everyone in the coven nodded. “We have plans as well. We want to create a town around the future pack house, and we aim to establish a community. Shops, entertainment, and all the things found in a small town need to be set up and run. If you are interested, just let us know. And if you want to continue living here, that works too. It’s not that far from the pack house, and even in a traditional pack, not everyone lives in the same part of the pack land,” I added. This sparked a lively discussion in the coven. Some of the younger members were interested in moving to the pack house, while others were eager to start their own businesses, and the ideas were flowing. I enjoyed it; it showed there was passion and commitment. I hoped the club would be just as enthusiastic when we shared the news with them. First, we just needed to weed out the ones we didn’t trust.