––––––––
As soon as they were alone in the room, Cole picked Lacey up in his arms and laid her back down on the bed. He sat down beside her and lifted her shirt to examine her side. The playfulness he’d had a moment ago with Lacey and her father vanished in the blink of an eye as he stared at the scars he’d inflicted on her. He ran his hand over her side with a pained expression on his face.
“I’m so sorry, Lacey. I shouldn’t have hurt you like this. I should have found another way.”
She took his hand away from her side and placed it over her heart. “You have nothing to apologize for. You saved my life. And since you already own my heart all I have to offer in return is a lifetime of doing everything I can to make you the happiest man in the world.”
Cole crushed his mouth to hers in a heated kiss as he moved his body to lay over hers with his weight supported by his arms. He desperately needed to feel the warmth of her body against his to ease the overwhelming fear that still lingered inside him at how close he came to losing her. But more than that, he needed her tenderness and love to remind him of the decent man he had become because of her. He needed to replace the horrible images in his head of the awful things he’d done over the last week with new memories of Lacey.
She reached for the buttons on her pajama top and Cole placed his hand over hers to stop her. Anguish flashed in his eyes as he moved his body to lay down beside her. “I just need to hold you” he whispered and eased one arm under her head and the other around her body.
Now that the threat to his family and pack was over, the magnitude of what he’d done to keep them safe hit him like a freight train and made him question whether or not he could ever go back to being the man he was before Branson came into their lives.
He needed to believe that he could. But he wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to ever be the same again. He’d unleashed the beast that lived inside him and now he feared he wouldn’t be able to lock him up again. It wasn’t just the brutality he was capable of that worried him. It was the feelings from his past that accompanied it and stuck around long after his rage had subsided.
“Cole” Lacey said his name softly as she rubbed her back against his chest. “Are you alright?” she asked without turning her head to look at him. She didn’t need to see his face to know that he was struggling on the inside. She could feel it in the way he held her. And hear it in the erratic beating of his heart.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing her scent to wash over him and fill his mind. He tightened his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck. “I will be. As long as I have you and the kids...I’ll be okay” Cole said and rubbed his head against hers.
He held her in his arms for the rest of the day and all night long. They didn’t speak again or change positions. Lacey stayed exactly where he needed her to be...right next to his heart.
*****
When she woke up the next morning, Lacey was pleased to see a smile on Cole’s face when she rolled over in his arms. It wasn’t one of the genuinely happy smiles she had grown used to seeing on his face over the last few years but it was a start in the right direction. “Good morning, handsome” she said and brushed his black hair back from his face so she could see the green eyes that she loved. “It’s a new day. A new beginning. Let’s make the best of it and get out of bed before Doc Sims comes in here and kicks us out.”
She knew something was wrong before Cole even had a chance to open his mouth. She saw it in his eyes the second she mentioned the Doc. A sense of dread settled over her as Cole pushed himself up on the bed. “Doc Sims didn’t make it, Lacey. Neither did Lee. And seven of the unmated males.”
Tears stung her eyes as she looked away. She hated to hear about the deaths of her pack mates. But the one that bothered her the most was Doc Sims. He had been a good friend to her and was someone she truly cared about and was going to miss dearly. She opened her mouth to speak but snapped it closed as several tears escaped her hold on them and rolled down her cheeks as she thought about the old man. Cole wrapped his arm around her shoulder to console her.
Lacey only allowed herself a few minutes to grieve over her friend then she forced her tears back and wiped her face as determination to move on and be a symbol of strength for the rest of her pack filled her chest. She looked at Cole as she got out of the bed. “Our pack needs us to lead them into a new day. To show them that our lives haven’t been destroyed by what happened here yesterday.”
“And how do we do that?” Cole asked as he watched her pull her long hair up into a ponytail.
“First, I think we should go home. Take a shower and change clothes. Then we walk out there in the middle of the village and treat the day as we would any other” Lacey said with confidence. “We love and play with our children. Talk and laugh with our friends and family. Fire up the grill to feed our hungry bellies. Fill the air with beautiful music. And never give another thought to the people who tried to take it all away from us...because they’re not worth being remembered.”
Cole got out of bed and stood in front of her. “Do you have any idea how much damage your words just healed inside my heart and mind?” he asked and stared into her eyes. “You truly are one-of-a-kind, Lacey. You grow stronger every day. After everything you’ve been through...nothing can keep you down. You always find the light at the end of a pitch black tunnel.” He paused with admiration in his eyes, “I don’t know what I’d do without you here to keep my head straight. And my heart open.”
She rested her hand on the side of his face and smiled. “Lucky for you, you never have to find out. Because you’re stuck with me for eternity, buddy. Like it or not, I’m all yours.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way” Cole whispered and pulled her into his arms.
Just as he was about to kiss her, the door of the room opened and Mira stepped into the room with Claire and Cody right behind her.
“Okay” Mira said and gave Lacey and Cole a look that said she was about to lose her mind. “You know I love these little monsters like they were my own...but I need a break. It’s good to see that you two are up and about...so here you go. I release your children back into your care.”
Mira sighed as Cody and Claire ran over to their parents and hugged their legs. “I hope you two got enough sleep over the last couple of hours because I’m pretty sure you won’t be getting any more for a while. Those two have been so hyped up that they were literally climbing the walls at Maggie’s.”
Cole laughed out loud and picked Cody up while Lacey bent down and hugged Claire. “What did they eat?” he asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine” Mira replied. “I’m sure you know that things have been a little chaotic around here” she said and raised her brows. “All I know, is that Kindal took them to her place for a while yesterday during the clean-up. And when she brought them back to me last night, it was like they were on drugs or something. They’ve been going nonstop with their playing and talking. And Cody kept shifting all night long into his wolf and marking his territory all over the floor.” She threw her hands up in the air and walked out of the room, mumbling to herself.
Lacey locked eyes with Cole and they both spoke at the same time, “Kindal.”
Cole put Cody down on the floor beside Claire. “Did Kindal give you two chocolate yesterday?” he asked.
“She didn’t give it to us, Daddy” Claire said with an innocent smile. “We found it. Kindal has a whole toy box full of different kinds of chocolate.”
“And how much of it did you two eat?” Lacey asked as she looked down at her children with curiosity.
“All of it” Cody said without shame. “It took a long time too. My tummy hurt when we were finished.”
Lacey covered her mouth with her hand to hold in her laughter. No wonder Mira looked like she was about to freak out. Her children could be amped for hours off of just one tiny piece of chocolate. She couldn’t even imagine what an unlimited supply would have done to them. She forced her smile away and tried to appear stern, but failed miserably as she spoke, “You two owe your Auntie Mira an apology for giving her such a hard time. And I want you both to stay away from Kindal’s chocolate stash from now on. Understand?”
“Yes, Mommy” Cody and Claire spoke in unison.
“Can we go home now” Claire asked. “I want to sleep in my bed.”
“Absolutely” Cole said and scooped both of his children up in his arms and carried them out of Doc Sims cabin with Lacey right beside him.
Once on the porch, they spared a brief glance around the village. Instead of seeing hundreds of bodies on the ground the way Lacey had remembered seeing the last time she was in the village, she saw clean, fresh sand that had been hauled up the mountain and poured all throughout the village to cover the blood stains. She glanced over to the tree line and saw three heavy-duty four wheelers with trailers filled with more sand attached to the backs of them.
Cole saw her looking at the sand and immediately called her attention away from the work that was still being done to hide the evidence of what had happened. “Looks nice, doesn’t it?” he asked and pointed over to the school cabins where there was now a huge, raised sandbox outlined with wooden logs for the kids to play in. “I thought the kids might want to try their luck at building a sandcastle.”
Lacey smiled and nodded. “I’m sure they’d love that.”
They stepped from the porch and crossed the village on their way home. Cole caught sight of Dean and yelled for him.
“What’s up?” He asked as he ran over to them.
Cole glanced over at Lacey to make sure she really meant what she’d said at the Doc’s cabin. In response to the unspoken question in his eyes, she smiled at Dean and said, “Can you send someone to the city for supplies? I want to have a huge party tonight in the village and we’re going to need a lot of food.”
A confused look flitted across Dean’s face as he stared at her. “What are we celebrating?”
“Life. Family. Love. It’s doesn’t matter as long as we’re all together, right?” Lacey said and looked over at her mate and her children – who were already asleep even though it was only a little after ten in the morning.
Dean nodded in understanding. “I’ll get right on it and pass word around to the others.”
He ran off to do what he was asked while Lacey, Cole and the twins continued on their way home.