Baked goods in general had turned out to be a powerful weapon in Xander’s fight to civilize Ensign; offering Pack members a gooey brownie while Xander scowled at them over my shoulder was apparently the exact right mix of positive and negative reinforcement to keep the shifters of Ensign in order. There were still discontented rumblings every now and then, but they’d been growing less and less frequent as the weeks passed.
“You know,” I said as the ground beneath us changed and the lush fields gave way to crashing waves, “I’m not so sure that the First Pack has it all right.”
“Sacrilege,” Xander replied easily. “How come?”
“They just—they haven’t changed for so many years. Sure, I know that some things are important to preserve, but others are outdated. Better to leave them behind than hold them up as sacred.”
Xander hummed thoughtfully. He didn’t offer a response because we both already knew what I meant. I reached over to put a hand on his thigh as he drove, squeezing gently and pouring my appreciation for him through the bond. He lifted my hand to his mouth, pressing a quick kiss to the back of it before returning his grip to the steering wheel.
The rest of the journey was spent in comfortable silence. As I watched the waves crash in the sea beneath us, I thought wistfully of everything that awaited us back on Ensign. Lenise had promised to come over and light our fires this afternoon so the house would be warm when we arrived, and I knew she’d leave us a crock pot of something delicious, too. It would bea quiet evening for me and Xander, curled up on the couch together. Maybe I would take a bath to get the chill out of my bones, with Xander perched on the side of the tub to trace my body beneath the water line.
It was a relief to see the now-familiar shape of Ensign town when it appeared in the distance. A few of the new family buildings were still unfinished, but no one was at work now that the sun had dipped below the horizon. It was quiet when we pulled up in front of our house, and Xander hopped out of the truck quickly, ready to help me down from the high cab. I didn’t really need him to, but I wasn’t about to turn down his hands on my waist and the brief feeling of weightlessness as he lifted me.
This time, I wrapped my legs around his hips as he did so, clinging to him like a baby koala. Xander huffed out a laugh, nudging the truck door closed with his hip.
“You’re affectionate this evening,” he commented, pressing a kiss against the thick material of my scarf where it covered my still-fresh claiming bite. I nuzzled his neck in return, sighing sleepily.
“It’s good to be home.”
*****
THE END
