Chapter 102

#Chapter 102 – To stay or to go?

I walk slowly up to the house, surveying the scene, not wanting to run into members of his family. I meet a few Betas in the woods between houses, but they merely nod and smile as I pass. I return the gesture, glad to know that they’re there.

The house itself is quiet, though. Lights are on in various spaces, but there’s no sign of life in the kitchen or anywhere on the first floor.

Frowning, I come around the pool and stand by the edge of the back porch, trying to see if Victor is sitting somewhere close, maybe reading –

“Looking for someone?”

I jump at the voice, panic flooding me. But when I look in that direction, I just see Victor, sitting in an Adirondack chair in a dark corner of his porch.

“No, I just came up here looking for someone to scare the hell out of me. So, thanks for that little jolt to my nervous system, so kind of you.”

He gives me a low chuckle. I climb up the three short steps to the porch and walk over to him. He’s got a warm blanket spread over his knees, a glass of whiskey resting on the floor next to his chair.

“What are you doing out here?” I ask, wrapping my arms around my body for warmth. “It’s getting cold.”

He shrugs. “It will be too cold to come get fresh air at all soon, so I thought I’d take advantage of what could be my last night. Plus, I wanted to get away from them.” He uses his head to indicate his family inside of the house.

“Are they so bad?” I ask.

He rolls his eyes at me, just a little. “It feels like I’ve gone back to high school. I’m the Alpha of this pack, but somehow I find myself taking the trash out for mom, listening to my dad lecture me on the fact that my tie is too loose.”

He heaves a sigh and shakes his head. I purse my lips, hearing again the frustration that he expressed over the phone.

“They’ll be gone soon,” I say softly, trying to be encouraging. “You’ll find a new normal.”

He nods and leans down to pick up his glass of whiskey. “But when they’re gone, what will it look like?”

He says, thinking aloud. “They’ll be gone, and so will you, off to your new house, wherever that is.

Suddenly I’ll be in this big house, all alone.” He sips his whiskey, thoughtful, and my heart goes out to him.

I open my mouth to respond when the back door opens. I grimace, anticipating disruption from his mother or worse, but am surprised to see a man emerge. A man I recognize –

Suddenly, my face breaks into a smile. “Burton!” I say, laughing. “What are you doing here?”

He bows his head slightly, smiling at me, and comes over to us with a glass of wine on his tray and my favorite blanket draped over his arm. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Madame,” he says softly. “I took the liberty of fetching you this glass of wine, so that Alpha Kensington is not drinking alone.”

I accept the glass of wine and the blanket, thanking him. He gives a short bow, and then heads back into the house.

“How did he get here?” I say, laughing again and turning back to Victor.

He shrugs again. “I liked him. He seems to have a rare talent for intuiting people’s needs. So I offered him a job.”

I take a sip of my wine, happy, and wrap the blanket around my shoulders. “Good, I really liked him. I was sorry to have to say goodbye to him.”

“Well I’m glad that we agree,” Victor says, turning up the corners of his mouth just slightly. “I guess I was wrong before, I will at least have Burton here when you all leave.”

“Quite the bachelor pad,” I say, raising my eyebrows and lowering myself into the chair next to Victor’s.

“You two are going to get up to some crazy times.”

He huffs a small laugh and then closes his eyes.

I purse my lips, studying him as he sits still in the darkness of the porch. The lines of his face are cut as finely as glass, but I can see the sleepless nights, the anxiety, the weight of his increasingly heavy world pressing on him in the darkness of the skin beneath his eyes.

It breaks my heart to see him strained so. I want to reach out my hands and smooth away the frown I see pulling at the corners of his mouth. I want to whisper comforting nothings in his ear. I want to run my hands through his hair and say sardonic things; I want to hear him laugh.

I grip my wine glass tighter to further avoid the impulse to reach out and touch him. Then, I clear my throat.

“You know, Victor, I’ve been thinking a lot about the boy’s schoolwork.”

Slowly, he opens his eyes and looks at me. He doesn’t say a word, just lets me continue.

“I don’t really want to send them back to a human school,” I say, “Not after my father took them away so easily. But there are so few schools we can send them to, and nothing close by.”

He nods, considering. “And it will be several months, at least, until Prath Academy is ready to open its doors.”

“Yes,” I say. “So, what do you think about homeschooling for the spring? And then summer off, and then Prath in the fall.”

He considers me and thinks about it. “We could certainly find a tutor easily enough. I’m sure Annabeth could recommend someone suitable. But your next house – will it be spacious enough to have both a home office for you, and accommodations for the boys’ schooling, and whatever….whatever Beta stuff Edgar brings?”

I laugh lightly. “Wait, what’s Beta stuff?”

He shrugs and chuckles too. “I don’t know. I still think of them all as living in the barracks. A locker full of weapons and bullet-proof vests, I guess,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know.”

“Well, considering the bulk of all this Beta stuff,” I say, laughing again, “I wonder if it would be too crowded. But your house,” I look up at it, his sprawling modern mansion, “is certainly big enough.”

“What are you getting at, Evelyln?” He narrows his eyes, studying me closely.

I shrug. “Just that…we could stay, perhaps. A little bit longer. In the cottage.”

I pause, giving him space to respond, but he just stares at me.

“Just for a little longer,” I continue, feeling awkward under his silent gaze. “Just until the academy opens…and perhaps until your family is gone. Until we all feel a little more…settled. But we don’t want to be a burden. If having us back there,” I gesture towards my little cottage, “Is any trouble…we can go.”

He is silent for a moment longer and I bite my lip.

“You are never a burden, Evelyn. Neither you nor the boys.” His voice is low, but happy. I think he is pleased. “You can stay as long as you wish – the house is yours, at your disposal. And I think it’s a good plan, for their education.”

“Good,” I say, giving him a broad smile. “Then it’s settled.” I take another long sip from my wine glass and then set it down on the arm of my chair.

“Okay,” I say, rising. “I’ll go tell the boys. They’ll be thrilled, I’m sure.”

He nods and I head towards the stairs, feeling a lightness in my step. I made the right choice, I am sure.

“Evelyn,” he says, calling after me. I pause at the top step. “You can stay forever, if you want.”

I bite my lip and smile, nodding once, and then skip down the stairs, blushing. I don’t know precisely what he meant by that, but…

Well. Perhaps a question for another day.

With that, I cross the yard and head back into my happy little cottage. My home. For now, at least – but maybe…maybe forever? Is that too long a time?