Chapter 139: Rhys
I stared at the door instead of working for longer than I cared to admit. Sawyer was plopped in the chair in the corner, and Maizie and Michael were sprawled out near the printer with a laptop between them. I had knocked on Leon’s door several times, but he wasn’t there, and I was beginning to worry a bit, but I knew he was tired. He deserved some time off.
The familiar sound of Grace’s gentle knock made me smile as she slipped into the room. I scanned her from head to toe, but she looked no worse for wear. She just looked a little tired, and her hair was a little messy.
“Sorry,” She apologized. “That took longer than I expected.”
Maizie, who was now laying on her back with the laptop on her chest, gave her a wave, but no one else responded to her, and I waved her over.
“Give us 5 more minutes, and we’ll be ready to present.” Maizie called out as Gracie made her way over to me.
“Same.” Sawyer responded, irritation in his voice for some reason. He hadn’t said anything, but the way he sounded, made me wonder if he was mad at Grace too.
“Present what?” Grace asked looking back and forth between me, Maizie and Sawyer.
“You’ll see in a minute. How’s Alana?”
Grace hesitated a moment as I pulled her onto my lap as if trying to see how much to tell me.
“She’s okay.” She answered finally. “She was really shaken. I didn’t know my choices would affect her so much.”
“Hey, don’t go feeling guilty,” I told her brushing the loose strands of hair out of her face. “You were just doing what you thought you needed to.”
“No, it’s not that.” She explained, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I mean, I do feel guilty for worrying everyone, and running, but no. I meant that, I didn’t know what I meant to her. Like I’m not used to people actually caring about me and my well-being. I didn’t know it would hurt anyone if I left.”
“I think you have a bigger impact than you think on those around you.” I answered finally. I hated that she felt that way. I hated that I couldn’t make her see how loved she was and how much more loved she would be in time as she let people get to know her as she had allowed those in this room.
“Yea,” She whispered with a slight smile. “Yea, I’m starting to see that.”
I pecked her lips and pulled her closer to me.
“Should we be working on something?” She asked after a moment of reveling in my embrace.
“No. They said they were almost done.” I answered as I looked at my computer screen which was black from my lack of work, even though there was so much to be done.
“Okay!” Maizie exclaimed as she stood up and shook her body out. “We are ready. Sawyer?’
“Let me finish this sentence.” Sawyer responded as he typed away on his laptop.
We all sat in silence as we waited for Sawyer to finish. Sawyer looked up when he was done to us all staring at him and rolled his eyes. “Jeez, what’s a guy gotta do to work in peace around here? Don’t you people have anything better to do than stare at me?” He grumbled.
“Not at this moment, no,” Maizie answered, her sass causing me to stifle chuckle and Grace to pretend not to laugh by burying her head in my chest.
“Okay, someone tell me what’s going on, please,” Grace said when she had composed herself.
“I’ll go first.” Maizie said, sticking her tongue out at Sawyer, and bringing a bin of small cards over to the desk.
Michael didn’t move, but he was watching Maizie’s every movement.
"Whatcha got?” I asked.
“There’s are profile cards for each of the kids from the Red Blood pack that are here. They can be passed out or organized in a way for people to get to know the kids that are coming into this pack. We have a few young ones, and in most cases, the younger kids tend to get adopted first. Michael and I put together to the best of our knowledge if parents were alive and wanting them, alive and dangerous, or dead. Kids have been put in our program earlier and earlier, so not everyone remembers their parents, but I did what I could. I also added in if they have siblings in the program because as much as we are grateful for anyone who will willingly take us in, we want our siblings with us if possible. We figured we’d do this in phases, and the cards are organized in that way, the first group we’re looking to send out are mostly younger kids with only a few teenagers in the mix.”
“Do you have family back in the program?” Grace asked gently, her attention stuck on that portion of the conversation.
“I have a sister... They were threatening to kill her if I didn’t do this mission.” Maizie said softly.
“Michael?”
“I have 2 brothers and a sister in the program.” He mumbled.
“I never thought about you guys having family there.” Grace said softly. “I’m so sorry We’ll figure this out.”
Maizie gave her a small smile, and I appreciated my mate’s kind heart. Taking down the Red Blood pack was all that mattered. The problem was we had to do it in a way that didn’t just wipe out the pack... We could do that no problem. But help free the innocent. The ones who didn’t want their lives to be changed. We needed to do this right or not do it at all.
“Sawyer, what do you have?” I asked, putting the meeting back on track.
“I created a list of families who have fostered before. I sent an email out to anyone who has previously fostered asking if there was any interest, and I will be sending a pack-wide email as well. Hopefully, this will help us identify at least a few different places for kids to go, and the pressures won’t be on the older kids and Caleb, quite as much.”
Grace nodded; her face thoughtful.
“Great start everyone, I hope-”
My words were cut off by an unfamiliar knock at the door.
“Who is it?” I called out.
“It’s Alana and Caleb!” A small voice responded.
Grace and I exchanged a look, and I couldn’t help but wonder what nonsense was this and why now?”