Chapter 39

Griffin couldn’t believe he’d done it. His entire life he’d waited to speak however he wanted, to Aiden especially and he’d finally done it.

The door opened behind him, he turned to see Blair and Calum coming out, with big grins on their faces. The call must have gone well after he left for some air. Both smiled at him as they went down the steps. Genuine grins, not stiff, polite ones. How often had anyone ever smiled at him—without malice intent? Never that he could recall.

Blaise and Kobie came outside. “We’re going for a quick run before we all head out.” Kobie informed him.

Blaise paused and glanced back at the house.

“I’ll stay with him.” Noah came walking across the yard.

“Thanks.” Blaise glanced briefly at Griffin and then ran down the steps to catch up to Kobie.

Griffin motioned to the path everyone was taking. “You can go, I don’t…”

“No.” Noah kicked the snow off the step, “You’re not going to be left alone at this point,” he looked over at his shoulder in the direction they went, “and I’m good.” He shrugged and turned back to him. “Sometimes it’s better if I don’t let my cat out,” he tapped the side of his head. “If things are bad up here, it’s best if I stay on two feet.”

Griffin crossed his arms over his chest, sighed at their bulkiness, and jammed his hands in his pockets instead. “I don’t know how any of that works.” He rolled his eyes. “my inside animal and I still aren’t communicating well.”

Noah smirked, then sobered quickly. “You know, the collar,” he tugged at the collar of his jacket, “when you’re in it for so long, your animal is—” He scowled at the ground, “unsure if they can trust coming out or not.”

Griffin nodded but didn’t actually understand. “But you shift now.”

Noah nodded slowly. “I do, not even completely sometimes, just,” he motioned to his arms, “parts of me like you do.” His gaze connected with him, and Griffin could see the anxiety in the man’s eyes. “But if I’m having internal struggles,” Noah snorted, “which is every minute of every day really, its best if I stay in this form. My cat has never yet taken complete control, and I’m afraid to see what happens if he does.”

Griffin blew out a loud breath. “Oddly that makes me feel better.” He sent him an apologetic look, “that I don’t shift. I have enough issues controlling the part that does happen.”

“It will get better with time,” he turned his head suddenly just as a large black jaguar came out of the trees. “Or so I’m told.”

Griffin could only look at the animal; with his predatory movement, he knew without question it was Calum. Before he could process that, a huge white tiger came bounding out of the trees and lept over him. Griffin smirked; it could only be Blair. Right on his tail was a gorgeous black tiger, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t in awe of being this close to ‘free’ shifters in their animal forms.

Noah leaned on the railing and pointed, “There were some rabbits in the field by the machinery this morning.”

Blaise came out of the trees as the others bolted in another direction.

“Rabbits.” Noah said.

Blaise turned and took off after them.

“That was—” he had no words to describe it.

“Yeah, I’d say you get used to it, but I don’t know if you ever do.” He jerked his chin toward the direction they had gone. “Most of them have known and been around shifters since birth, so this is just normal to them.”

“I don’t think it will ever feel normal.” He rubbed his hand over his head. “I can’t even get used to having this upsized body.”

Noah blew out a breath. “Yeah at least I didn’t have to contend with that.” He looked at him for a second longer. “How’s your shoulder?”

Griffin rolled it slowly and couldn’t help but grimace. “A little better.”

“At least your bear is helping with the healing; otherwise, you’d still be in a sling.”

“I think the pros outweigh the cons.” Griffin smiled, “but I’m still assessing the situation fully.”

“The strength must be nice.”

Griffin chuckled. “I could have used it over the years.”

“Hey, thanks.” He gave him a serious look.

“For?”

“Calling him, stirring it all up so we can get moving again.”

Griffin could see the haunting look back in Noah’s eyes. “Is that what you do when it gets to be too much? Go out and hunt down Aiden’s sins?”

“Something like that.” Noah pulled out his phone he looked at it. “Gage and Kelsey will be back over here shortly.

“Are they part of the teams?” Griffin grinned, “Kelsey is a fireball and Gage is a very big man.”

Noah smiled. “I don’t know if the teams could handle Kelsey.” He shook his head. “They’re not; with Blair and I going out so much, they stay here and watch over all three places.” He shrugged. “Gage is one of Devin’s seconds, along with Calum, so I guess having one in the action all the time means the other one has to stay where it’s safe just in case.”

“Seconds?” Griffin hadn’t heard that before.

Noah nodded. “When Devin is King, they’ll basically be his personal bodyguards or something similar.”

“That’s interesting, they’re not the same clan.”

“I think that’s the idea; having it be different clans assures that one big event doesn’t take it all down.” He lifted his hands and let them drop. “I’m still learning all the bits that go with this life.”

“You’re miles ahead of me there. I’m still working on the fact that I’m a bear. I haven’t even considered the hierarchy and monarchy parts.”

Noah rolled his head from side to side, making Griffin wonder if he was lying about needing to go for a run and had just hung back with him so no one else had to. “When you figure it out, let me know.”

A truck pulled in and Griffin followed Noah’s nonchalant stance and didn’t panic. When it stopped, Kelsey hopped out of the driver’s seat. From around the other side came Gage, that was something else he had to adjust to, the fact that females could do whatever they wanted. Right behind Gage was the little one, Daisy, he thought her name was. She skipped along in the snow like it wasn’t even there. She saw Noah and ran faster, sliding right into him.

“I asked Mom if I could go over and play with your kids and she said yes, but Kelsey has some things to do here first. Is that okay, that I wait here until she is done?”

Noah squatted down to her level and it amazed Griffin that he wasn’t guarded at all as he looked at the girl, “It’s fine. When you go over, what’s the rule?”

Daisy’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t go down the slide face first anymore, it’s too slippery with the snow.”

Noah smirked. “That’s right.” He tapped her nose gently with the tip of his finger. “We don’t want this cute face all marked up.”

Daisy smiled and then turned to him. “I’m Daisy. I heard you are a bear.”

Griffin glanced at Kelsey for a second, then back to the child and nodded.

“That’s cool. We could use a bear at home.”

Kelsey chuckled. “His bear is not a pet, Daisy.”

Daisy turned to her. “But I can’t have a dog because they don’t like the cats, and Thera hasn’t come back to visit.” She looked up at Noah. “The cats wouldn’t care about a bear.”

Noah tried not to smile, but Griffin could see it in his eyes anyway. “Griffin has to come to help us with some things.

She spun back toward him. “I think with a name like Griffin, you should have been a griffon, not a bear.” She shrugged. “But it doesn’t work that way because Bear is really a lion.” Before anyone could say a thing, she bound back off the porch and slid through the snow.

Griffin glanced from Noah to Kelsey and then Gage. “I’m not uh,” he waved his hand in her direction, “equipped to deal with that.”

Kelsey laughed. “I don’t think any of us are equipped to take on Daisy most days.”

Calum came walking out of the trees, fully clothed and back in his man’s body. “That was fun.”

“You cheated.” Blair came out behind him.

“He did.” Kobie caught up to them.

“If I’d known there was vendetta to settle, I might have wandered in the other direction.” Blaise looked happy as well.

Calum shrugged. “There were no base rules.”

“What did he do this time?” Gage even looked entertained.

“He scared any animal that might be nearby.”

Calum gave Gage a wide-eyed look. “Blame my cat. He had something to say.”

Gage started laughing. “He does that when he’s not in the mood to defend his ‘title’.” He made marks in the air.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe he holds the best tracker anymore.” Blair put his arm around Kobie’s shoulder. “That title belongs to my amazing mate now.”

Calum rolled his eyes. “We’ll do a rematch next year when Tomas’ goons aren’t closing in on us.” He glanced at Griffin for a second. “By spring he shouldn’t ever be a problem again.”

“Deal.” Kobie smiled and went toward the house. “We’re going home for a few to round up some clothes, text us when you’re heading out.”

Blaise glanced at her truck. “Can I gas up here? Once we’re moving, I don’t want to stop until we have to meet up with Leyton for our supply package.”

Gage nodded. “Take what you need.” He pointed to the large buildings. “There are some gas cans in the shop if you want to take some backup fuel.”

Blaise nodded her head. “Not a bad idea.” She smirked. “My truck gets very thirsty.”

“Do you need anything else?” Kelsey motioned to the stairs. “We have quite a few packs that Zain sent here for emergencies, with so many arriving in the area.” She went up the steps and opened the door, “come take a look.”

Griffin watched Blaise go into the house after her and then turned to Blair. “So the plan is to stay on the move?”

Blair nodded and gave Calum a brief look. “For now.”

“No one will know where you and Blaise are going, just Blaise.” Calum motioned to the house, “It can’t leak if no one knows.”

Griffin turned to go in. “Am I being foolish to hope this is all over in a week?”

Noah walked by him. “At least you get to see the country.”

“That’s true.” Griffin went in after him, he hadn’t seen much of anywhere in his life, but it would be more enjoyable if he didn’t have to worry about a bullet finding his head every second of every day.