Chapter Twenty-Three

Kian

I watch Bridger as he loads bags into the bed of Char's truck. I was shocked when I found out that Char had a truck since she didn't look like someone who would drive such a big vehicle. But then I saw her standing next to it and realized that it suited her very well.

The omegas had given us many things to take on the trip like clothes and such. Currently, they all surround Jenna, each of them trying to get their last goodbyes with her pup.

Dr. Edkard – or Mint as he's been trying to get me to call him – sits down beside me. He huffs as he wipes sweat from his bushy brow. I talked to him yesterday about joining us and it took absolutely no convincing. He had said that he was planning to travel to the coast which I didn't understand what that had to do with anything until he explained that Alpha's Corzo's land is on the coast. I may have forgotten that detail when Bridger was explaining it to me. Dr. Edkard was also very excited after I explained to him exactly what I was doing and why I wanted him to come. He had said that he thought the rest of his "old" life was going to be "lackluster" until now. He said he's willing to come out of retirement until I can find someone to replace him.

I've never been to the coast. I know that when I lived in my old pack, Jason's dad would go there a lot. He really liked the coast. He had pictures of himself and his mate hanging up on their walls from their trips to the beach and islands. I remember seeing tall trees with odd leaves, water that goes on forever, and dirt that didn't really look like dirt at all – sand and Palm Trees as I was later told. I've only ever known thick woods, so I'm nervous but also excited for my new home and change of scenery.

But I'm also sad.

I stare at Bridger. He loads the last box onto Char's truck before pushing the tailgate up. He hits it two times and looks down at Char. Katie is hanging off of Char's back like a monkey but the older girl doesn't seem to mind. She and Bridger talk briefly before Bridger turns and starts walking towards me.

I stand up and stare at him. Something heavy settles over my chest when I realize that today might be the last time we see each other. Last night, we talked about this. He told me he didn't want to lose me; I felt the same way. I've grown greatly attached to Bridger over the last few months that the idea of losing him is like being punched in the chest. I've already lost Peyton and now it feels like I'm losing him too.

But Bridger said that we can work; that our relationship can stay alive, it'll just require more work. He explained Long Distance Relationships – we'd mostly be communicating through our phones. Afterwards, he asked if I'd be willing to do that, to talk to him through a glass box for a long time.

"It'll just be a year, but I'll work hard to make sure that I can come back to you."

His words made my stomach flutter. He really wanted to be with me and he's willing to quit the job he's trained all of his life to do it. I couldn't refuse to try this Long-Distance thing. He desperately tried to sell me on the idea, not knowing that I was already going to agree to do it without his lengthy explanation with examples. I chuckle a little, remembering how he kept rambling about phones, social media, and relationships. At some point, it stopped making sense to me.

"Why are you laughing?" Bridger asks.

"You're just funny," I say only for Char to add,

"Yeah! Funny looking."

Bridger turns to look at her, no doubt glaring. She laughs loudly as she opens the door for Katie and helps her climb into the truck. Char gets in and waves at us before starting the engine. They leave first. I watch Jenna say her final goodbyes to the omegas before putting her pup into the car seat in Dr. Edkard's car.

"Guess that's my cue," the old man says as he struggles to stand up. I search the area for Mika before finding him lingering further away from Dr. Edkard's car. He stands with one arm crossed tightly over his chest with the other resting on top while he chews his nails. Mika isn't usually a nail-biter unless he's overthinking something.

"I'm going to talk to Mika," I tell Bridger. He nods and I quickly make my way to Mika. He sees me walking towards him but doesn't move. I stand in front of him for a second before saying,

"Mika?"

He rushes towards me and hugs me close to him as if he was scared he'd lose me. He rests his cheek against my chest. Surprised, I wrap my arms around him too, and pat the back of his head, petting down strands that stick out.

"Kian, I'm scared," he whispers in my chest, "I don't want things to go wrong."

"We'll be okay," I reassure him. "Bridger told me that Alpha Corzo is nice, he also won't be in charge of us. You'll be safe especially with me, okay? And Jenna and Katie, we have each other's backs. Always, right?"

It was something Peyton made us promise when he began planning our escape. The others were too scared to even talk to him in case he got caught, but we weren't. We had each other's backs no matter what. We are family.

He nods but doesn't pull away. I know this change is hard for him. He's been passed around from pack to pack since he was born. He's still just a pup, yet he's never had a permanent home. None of us have had a real home, to be honest. It's about time we change that. I give him a tight squeeze before moving him away from me.

"I promise you that this will be your last time moving," I say, "we're going to build an amazing and safe home and you never have to leave it, I promise."

He looks at me with teary eyes. I smile at him, moving strands of thick, black hair from his face. Mika is like my baby brother whom I love taking care of. Of course, he's not a baby as he is fourteen, but I love when he allows me to care for him the way so many of us needed when we were his age. For me, it was Peyton despite us being close in age.

"Okay?"

"Okay, but...will Peyton be with us?"

I try to ignore the heavy feeling that comes with that question. I've been asking myself this ever since Bridger told me about his plan. I want to tell Mika of course, he will but I don't know if that's the truth. I want it to be...Goddess knows how bad I want it to be true. But Goddess has a reputation of making sure my life is a living hell.

"I hope so," I say, "now hurry up and get in the car with Jenna and Dr. Edkard."

Mika nods, running off to Dr. Edkard's car. He waves at me and I wave back, laughing when Dr. Edkard blows the horn.

"Is he worried?" Bridger asks me as we walk to his car.

I nod. "Mhm, but I told him everything will be okay."

We get into Bridger's car and he starts the engine. I inhale deeply, his scent crawling out from every part this spacious, white car. I don't know what kind it is and I don't really care either, I just like that it smells like him and the weird figure sitting atop the flat area of the car.

"What is that?" I ask, flicking it and watching it bobble around.

"That's a bobblehead, I don't remember where I got it."

When the car starts moving, I sit back in my seat. I see Bridger's hand move onto the armrest in the corner of my eye and I look down to see it palm up. I smile at him and place my hand into his. He closes his fingers between mine and we stay like this for a while, just riding in silence. My fingers are long and skinny, but his hand is still much bigger than mine. It's warm and he rubs his thumb against my hand.

With my free hand, I read a book that Bridger gave me. It's about the Meri and their cultures in different tribes, languages, symbols – everything I need to know about the species who are apparently our mortal enemies.

There are thousands of Meri tribes which is crazy to me but then again, there may be thousands of packs too. Are the oceans really that big to be the home to thousands of tribes though? If so, then the oceans must be very scary... Nonetheless, I find everything about the Meri so fascinating. The book explains that Meri people have a strong connection with each other despite different cultures and are required to learn the basics of all of the major languages for their people. That is so crazy because I only know one language and not very good.

"Bridger, there are like hundreds of languages and di...dialects spoken by Meri," I say, "I can't learn them all – how will I have time to learn the languages on the land?"

"Just learn a major language," Bridger laughs, "Goddess forbid, but if you ever run into a Meri, you can speak...ah...what's that language– Kyuoi! You can speak Oikyu and they'll understand even if that's not the language of their tribe."

I quickly flip the pages to find a section that describes Kyuoi. "Can you speak Kyuoi?"

He laughs and makes a face. I stare at him expectantly and he glances at me before laughing again and shaking his head.

"No, my pronunciation is bad and I feel that they'll somehow hear me and start the war up again."

I laugh at him. "I want to hear it."

"No way."

I pout but I don't pressure him. It must be so great to be able to speak different languages. I flip through the book until I get to a picture section. My eyes go wide when I see different Meri with tattoos all across their bodies. Symbols mean a lot to Meri and some tattoo their entire body to represent their tribes. Some of the women don't even wear shirts! Well, of course, they don't wear shirts but I would expect that they covered themselves some other way. Then I remember that Chapter One said that Meri people are naked all the time. Some use jewelry or sea items to cover their chests, but they are basically just one big fish.

The Meri find nothing disturbing about a Lei's chest; her breasts are meant for feeding her young and however else she chooses to use them.

The Meri are so fascinating!

"Bridger, do you have tattoos?"

"Not yet, my pack frowns upon tattoos. I want some, though. One day."

I look at him with a smile. "Well, when you move into mine, you can get as many as you want!"

He takes his eyes off the road and looks at me, a smile creeping onto his lips. He doesn't say anything but he doesn't have to. I want my back to embrace everything. Of course there will be rules and I don't think I would want someone walking around naked like the Meri, but I want people to be happy and feel safe to express themselves. They will feel safe walking around at night and can get tattoos and will never worry about some higher-rank abusing them.

I close the book and stare out the window. I imagine a beautiful home for omegas – it'll have everything we need but first I have to figure out what exactly we need. And then I'll find Peyton because I refuse to believe that he's dead. He'll come home and live the life he deserves. I'll build this pack for him.

Bridger's voice breaks into my thoughts. "You're squeezing my hand, penny for your thoughts?"

"I'm just...I'm really excited for this."

"And I'm really excited for you."

_____ _____ _____ _____

Alpha Corzo is a very big man. He even somehow towers over Bridger! He's scary and buff with golden brown skin and medium-length...are those braids. I don't think those are braids because they look like thick cords. Nonetheless, he has long brownish-blackish-blondish hair with a stubble on his chin. His eyes are sharp and a light brown color that makes them look gold. He has piercings: one long earring on his left ear and a small one on his right.

I try not to be intimidated by him but it's hard. He softens his gaze but he still looks annoyed.

"Good afternoon," he greets us. "I'm Corzo, the alpha of the Blue Palm pack. This is my beta Vivienne and a zeta, Fernanda."

We're meeting just thirty minutes from the entrance of his pack – or well, my land. We are in his pack and I'm mesmerized by the beauty of it. Instead of thick forest, we're surrounded by open land dotted with the tall trees as well other trees that I've never seen. There are more buildings and houses than in Arron's pack but there's also so much more color and brightness here. It almost hurts my eyes.

We sit in a big meeting room. Alpha Corzo sits across from us instead of at the head of the table. Everyone is with me: Bridger, Jenna, Dr. Edkard – everyone.

I glance at Bridger who makes no move to introduce us. I guess he's putting it on me and my face heats as I clear my throat.

"Erm– I-I'm Kian," I shift in the seat and try to straighten my back to become a bit taller. 'Confidence. Be confident. Be assertive. Get shit done'

"I'm Kian," I try again, "you already know Bridger...this is Jenna, her pup Hailey, Katie a-and her mate Charlise, Mika, and then Theta Edkard – Minton Edkard."

"I thought there five omegas?" Vivienne asks.

"Y-Yes, we're missing Peyton. We hope to have him back soon."

Corzo nods as he leans forward in his seat. "Nice to meet everyone. Let's get business started then shall we?"

Corzo jumps straight into the happenings of his pack. He explains that Blue Palm loves peace and so he expects me to stay out of conflict as much as possible. He also understands that with running an "omega-dominant" pack is problematic within itself because it will certainly attract unwelcome people.

"No fault of yours, it's just the way things are," he adds.

He also explains that his pack is rather unusual too. He owns thousands if acres, even some human-occupied lands. There is another pack that operates on his lands independently because they were too weak to occupy their own land after being attacked by rogues. That made me feel a little better about this situation because he has experience with this already; so maybe he won't be overbearing or force me to submit to him since he already knows how to do all of this.

"Lastly, I require bi-monthly meetings," Corzo says, "my delta – his name is Vic, you will meet him shortly – will occasionally stop by to make sure things are running smoothly, but aside from that, if there are issues, I expect an immediate notification. This isn't me being your alpha, this is me wanting to protect my pack and the people in it. I understand that, for now, your pack will need extra protection so I expect respect for that extra protection by notifying me or Vic of any problems. Is that understood?"

"Yes," I reply with a nod.

"Excellent. Now let's discuss your training."

Corzo asks me about my strengths and weaknesses and it takes me off guard. I have a lot of weaknesses, but I can't really name any of my strengths. So I sit there like a fool as I try to come up with an even number of both.

"A good leader can name off their strengths and weaknesses," Vivienne says. I can't tell if she's judging me but Corzo shoots her a look. She just shrugs at him.

"Um...I'm bad at sparing – like hitting and–"

"Hand-to-hand combat?" Corzo asks.

"Yes, that. I'm not good at that. I also...I also can't shift." I figure I might as well get that out of the way to save me from embarrassment in the future.

"You can't shift?!" Vivienne exclaims, "you haven't got a wolf?"

Shamefully, I look down at my hands. Bridger's hands appear in my line of vision as he covers my balled fists with his hand. He gives my hands a squeeze but doesn't move away.

"Beta Vivienne, some of us weren't blessed with safety and security to shift freely," Bridger says calmly. When I look up, I see Corzo glaring at Vivienne who looks as though she said nothing wrong. She looks more confused and concerned than anything.

"I wasn't allowed to shift," I explain, "none of us were. I lost my wolf so I can't shift, that's my biggest weakness."

It feels weird telling this to a complete stranger. Vivienne doesn't say anything afterward, sitting back in her chair with a surprised look on her face. Bridger's hands remain in mine as Corzo speaks.

"Well, what are your strengths?" Corzo asks.

"I...I can run fast, I can run for very long periods too without being winded."

I try to think of more, but for some reason, my brain does a stupid flip and I can't bring any positives to the front. All I can think about are the things I can't do and why I can't be a good leader.

"He's adaptable!" Mika says. I look at him in shock and even he looks surprised that he spoke up. "A-And he's kind, and talks nice and soft. He makes people feel safe."

I can't help but beam at Mika who leans against Jenna after he finishes speaking. His face is red and he stares downwards, refusing to look up. Jenna hugs him to her side while smiling at me. I can't believe he spoke up. I would have never said that about myself. I couldn't think of anything else besides what I said about running. I would have never come up with the word adaptable or anything like that.

"High endurance, adaptability, compassionate...I can work with that," Corzo nods as he takes notes. "We'll work on your fighting skills as well, we'll figure something out about your wolf issue and see if there's anything that can be done. Do any of you others have the same issue?"

Jenna and Katie nod but Mika doesn't. Mika is too young to have lost his ability to shift – his wolf on the other hand, I'm not sure. He first shifted when he was twelve which is normal for werewolves. I'm not sure if he's shifted since, but I do know that he still has the ability.

Corzo starts to explain that everyone will take fighting classes. Of course, except for Dr. Edkard and Char who already know how to fight. He offers his training facilities to Char who happily accepts the offer, stating that she won't be an eta for Blue Palm, but she will happily attend training sessions and matches as a guest. Corzo also states that Bridger gave him information about mine and his training sessions. He explains that he's created a training plan based on Bridger's existing one. This one will be more intense, however, since we have "all the time in the world" to focus on my areas of weakness.

"I'll admit, I'll be a bit hard on you. But you can't just become a leader of a pack just because you feel like it one day. You'll be pushed beyond your limits and I don't accept complaints."

"Don't complain," Fernanda says as a smile creeps onto her face, "he'll make it worse. I would know."

"Please, Fernanda is worse than me," Corzo says with an eye roll, "but anyway, you will be expected to train six times a week, up to twelve hours. If you don't like that, then you–"

"I can handle it," I quickly say. If I can handle all the evils my old pack put me through for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, then I can handle intense training for 12 hours a day, six days a week. I want to and therefore, I'll be able to. Bridger trained me for roughly eight hours, what's another four?

Bridger squeezes my hand again. I glance at him and I see him smiling down at the table, trying to hide it.

"Good," Corzo nods. "Next is the contract."

"Contract?"

"It just states that you understand the terms and conditions of our situation. Alert me of any concerns, attend bi-monthly meetings, do not expand your pack without my permission because these are my lands, don't put my pack in any kind of danger, so on and so forth."

He slides a sheet of paper towards me. Bridger leans up and starts to look over it with me. I read everything despite not understanding some of the words on the page. Bridger nods at me and I trust that he finds the contract safe so I slowly sign my name. I don't add Calter, just Kian.

"Excellent. Do you have a name for your pack yet?" Corzo asks.

"I haven't thought of it."

"No rush. Let's go see your pack now. Vic, my delta, went to university for an architecture degree. He led a team of Xi's in building your packhouse. He's waiting for us there."

---

Word Count: 3621

So excited for the next chapter 🤩🥵🥵