Breaking New Grounds Read online

  Book Seven

  The Dancing Wolf Series

  Breaking New Grounds

  By: Amy DeMeritt

  Breaking New Grounds

  Book Seven of The Dancing Wolf Series

  Copyright © 2019 Amy DeMeritt

  All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN: 9781092642712

  This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Cover art by Amy DeMeritt

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Other works by Amy DeMeritt

  Chapter One

  Normally, I’d be going outside with Aura, my wolf for my morning run, but it’s too damn cold today. We have a few of inches of snow on the ground, which isn’t too bad, but the temperature is only twelve degrees. Anything below thirty-five is too low to be worth it for me. I open the back door, and Aura shivers as she steps outside. She shakes her fur like she’s shaking water off after a bath then takes off running for the woods to relieve herself. Aura is trained to use one specific spot in the woods to do her business so we don’t have to clean up piles out of the yard, and even in this cold weather, she doesn’t try to deviate from her training to pick a closer location.

  As she’s about to pass the barn, she stops and tilts her head. She leaps forward and releases a whining bark as she paws against the door. Panic surges in my chest and I take off running across the lawn. The cold fills my lungs, choking me and wraps my body in an invisible frozen net that tries to slow my pace, which is already too slow because of the slippery snow. I rip the door open grasping my chest, coughing and choking on the cold air that is attempting to make my lungs seize.

  “Maddi, what’s wrong?”

  I leap forward and wrap my arms around her. She buries her face against my chest and tightly wraps her arms around me, sniffling and taking short panting breaths. She wipes her eyes and slowly lifts her head to look up at me. I run my hand through her hair and kiss her lips.

  “What’s going on? Why are you crying?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’m just sad this is ending.”

  She motions around the room, where for the past couple of years she and our wives have worked with our friends on filling merchandise orders for mine and the dance squad’s online businesses. Madison started and primarily manages both businesses while double majoring in college. She has been a phenomenal force for the past four years.

  “Are you changing your mind about using the merchandise fulfillment center?”

  Madison shakes her head and looks around the room. “No, it’s time. The only reason we didn’t do it sooner is because it gave us an opportunity to help our friends with some easy income while they were in school. But now that we’re graduating, they’ll be moving away and getting real jobs. Our lives are getting too busy to keep up with this.”

  “I’m really proud of you. While maintaining honors in your music and psychology degrees, you have built and managed two multi-million-dollar businesses. You’re a genius, you know that?”

  Madison laughs in a happy emotionally overwhelmed way and wipes her eyes as fresh tears fill her bottom lids. “Thanks. This is kind of how everything started, you know? When Awenasa first came to live with us, when we were still in the apartment, launching the business and working on it together was the big common mission that brought us closer together. Then, when your career took off, and we needed more help to keep up with the orders, it brought us closer to our friends. I know you didn’t get to help that often to understand what I mean, but it was actually really fun working on filling boxes together. While we worked, we just stood around talking about everything. We could be in here for four hours and not even realize it had been that long.”

  “Are you worried about us drifting apart from our friends if you don’t have this anymore?”

  Madison’s bottom lip quivers for a moment, and she swallows hard as she lays her head on my chest again. “I know we will. Everyone is leaving to start their own lives somewhere else.”

  “Carmen and Candi will still be here. And just because Josh and Whitney are leaving doesn’t mean we’ll lose them. We’ll just have to try to include them in our trips when we can so we can still see them. I know we’re not into sports, but when Josh starts playing professional hockey, we’ll have to get to his games sometimes to support him like he has supported us.”

  “Yeah, he would like that. Do you think this company is going to work out?”

  “Probably not as flawlessly as when you were running things, but I think you found a good company to take over filling the orders for us. You put a ton of research into this and did a very thorough audit of their processes. Do you have doubts about using them?”

  She shrugs a shoulder as her lips and chin quiver again. “I don’t know. This is my baby, you know? It’s a little scary handing it off to someone else to do. I’m worried about losing trust with the fans if orders get messed up.”

  “Maddi, I don’t want you to feel like you’re giving up your baby. You built this, all of it. If you still want to be in charge and want to be able to oversee operations, we’ll keep it private. We’ll get a small warehouse, hire some additional staff and management, then you’ll be able to keep a closer eye on things.”

  Madison lifts her head off of my chest to look in my eyes with her gorgeous bright green eyes. She bites her bottom lip as she looks around at the mini-warehouse she created in our barn. As her eyes meet mine again, she smiles and places her hands on the top of my chest.

  “You would be ok with that?”

  I laugh a little and kiss her lips. “Yeah, of course. This is your business. You should run it however you think is best.”

  “I haven’t signed the contract with the fulfillment center yet, so we still have time to change our plans.”

  She hops in place as she spins to look around again. She lifts her arms, weaving her fingers together to rest behind her neck. She releases a long deep breath and spins on her heels to face me.

  “Ok, I want to do it. I want to find a new location, hire a few more people to replace our friends, and hire and train someone to manage things. I’ll do regular audits to make sure things are being done right, but I shouldn’t have to do much more than that.”

  “Come here.”

  Madison leaps back into my arms with a brilliant smile and firmly presses her lips to mine. She gives me a slow soft kiss, and as she pulls back, she playfully bites my chin.

  “Do you remember that first day we met? You came back to my dorm so I could ice your back after you ju
mped in front of a hockey puck to save my face. We sat there talking about our college majors and what we want to do with them. You asked me if psychology was my backup option if I decide not to pursue singing, insisting that we don’t fail at achieving our dreams; we just give up on them. I knew right then that I didn’t want to let you go. I knew right then that you would never allow me to give up on what I want and would always help me figure out a way to make my dreams reality. The first time I saw you dance, I knew our dreams were going to change. Something in the way you moved and the look on your face told me to be open and ready for anything. It was exciting.”

  “I wonder what ever happened to that amazing hockey puck that brought us together. I should hunt it down, have it dipped in gold, and mount it in an air tight, bullet proof display case protected by laser beams and attack dogs.”

  Madison laughs hard and firmly grips my ass, pulling me in hard against her. “It would be cool if we could track it down, but I think the rest of that is a bit much. I’m actually surprised you didn’t already do that. You used to be such a sentimental person with collecting little things that remind you of happy moments.”

  I smile and take her hand to pull her out of the barn.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just follow me.”

  “You do not have that puck.”

  She laughs and skips after me with a brilliant smile on her face. We close and lock the barn and I whistle for Aura. A moment later, my gorgeous white wolf comes running out of the woods, nearly perfectly blending in with the snow, and leads the way back to the house.

  Our wives and babies are sitting around the informal dining room talking and drinking tea and coffee when we walk inside. All of them look up and their faces twist into adorable curious grins.

  “What are those smiles about?”

  Madison giggles at Sam and hops forward, shaking the cold out of her bones. “I don’t know. Kayla is being mysterious.”

  I laugh and pull her out of the kitchen. I hear the chairs scrape back and feet patter after us as our wives jump up to follow us upstairs.

  “Ok, wait here.”

  I pull the hall linen closet open and my wives huddle in behind me. I pull a few boxes off of the top shelf, and as I grab the small hook for the attic entry, all of my wives make groaning sounds, so I stop and look back.

  “Why did all of you back up like that?”

  Sam makes a scrunched face of disgust and says, “Because, we haven’t opened that once since we bought the house. Attics are gross with dust and spiders and probably ghosts or something.”

  We laugh a little at Sam and I lean forward to kiss her. “You’re adorable. I’ve opened it a few times. It’s not that bad.” They give me incredulous looks and tilt their heads in curiosity, but before they can drill me on why I have been in the attic, I add, “Ok, don’t look at me like that. I have a very good reason. Actually, a couple of good reasons. Ok, wait a minute. I need to get something.”

  I pull the retractable ladder down and climb up into the attic. As I pull the chain for the single lightbulb that’s just off center of the small rectangular hole in the floor, Madison is popping her head up out of the floor, looking around with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

  “Wow, it’s huge up here.” She finishes climbing up and looks around with her hands on her hips and a calculating grin. “I don’t remember it being this big when we came for the inspection before we bought the place. Is the whole thing finished with this plywood floor? It’s hard to see the farther ends with just this one lightbulb.”

  “Yeah, I brought a flashlight up here. it’s finished wall to wall.”

  Sam and Symone ascend the ladder to join us. While gripping Symone’s hand, as if she’s still scared to be up here, Sam walks away a few paces to inspect the space better.

  “Wow, this is great. The ceiling is so high. I’ve never been able to stand fully upright in an attic.”

  Symone nods, and adds, “We should have a contractor finish it and turn it into more bedrooms.”

  “That’s one of the reasons I came up here before – to check out the space to see how we can put it to use.”

  “So, is the attic why you brought me inside, or is that box in your hands the real surprise?”

  Madison is grinning at me in a knowing way, making me laugh a little. I rub the back of my neck and clear my throat.

  “Ok, well, I guess the box is the reason I brought you back inside. I wasn’t going to show you guys the attic till I had it all swept and dusted and added more lights. I wanted it to be sparkly to make it more exciting.”

  They smile and Madison leans in to kiss my lips. “Give me that box, baby.”

  I laugh and shake my head. “Downstairs.”

  Madison spins around and quickly starts climbing down the ladder. Sam and Symone laugh at her excitement and follow her. I turn the light out and carefully balance the box on my head as I climb down after them.

  “What is that? Has that always been here?”

  I smile at Shannon and nod. “It’s been here since we moved in. I’ve been moving it around the house, trying to keep it hidden.”

  “Why were you trying to keep an entire box hidden from us for so long? What’s in there?”

  “Memories. Come on.”

  Sam gives me a grumpy pout and crosses her arms on her chest, as she asks, “Wait, why couldn’t we see it before?”

  “Because. Just come on.”

  My wives give me confused curious looks, but they follow me back downstairs. I have them sit on the couch in the family room and I set the box on the floor as I sit on the coffee table in front of them.

  “I was planning on waiting till Sam and Maddi graduate to show this to all of you – I guess because leaving home to start college is what started all of this.” I motion to all of us and my wives smile at me. I clear my throat and take a deep breath. “Ok, so when Sam and I were dating, before college, I had this box of memories of us.”

  I open the large carboard box and pull out a shoebox. Sam smiles really big and snatches it from my hands.

  “You kept this?”

  I blush as I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah, I couldn’t get rid of it.” I reach back into the cardboard box. “And since I was a kid, I’ve had this box for Awenasa.”

  I pull out a large wooden box about the size of two shoeboxes. It has a wolf and hawk facing each other with a mountain scene behind them. Awenasa and I made the box together shortly after we discovered our totems when we were kids. Awenasa gasps and places a hand on the box.

  “I haven’t seen this is in so long. I thought you had lost it or parted with it when you moved all of your stuff out of your old room at your parents.”

  Her eyes pool with tears as she leans forward with Malana in her arms to give me a kiss on my lips.

  “I had no idea you had a box for Awenasa.” Sam doesn’t look mad as she stares at the box. She looks excited and like she is dying to pull the box out of my hands. “Can we see what’s in it?”

  “Yeah, in a minute.”

  Sam pouts as I set the box down next to me on the table. One by one, I pull out boxes for Shannon, Symone, and Jaime, stating whose they are before stacking them on top of Awenasa’s. As I reach in the larger cardboard box for the next shoe box, I glance up at my wives. All of them look a little emotional and like they are barely containing their desire to jump forward and take the boxes.

  “This is Madison’s.” I leave it on my lap and pull one more box out. “And this is our family box.”

  I set the family box back in the cardboard box and clear my throat as emotion starts to fill my chest and choke me.

  “I, uh, have always been very sentimental and I have a habit of hording things that bring back happy memories for me. I used to plaster my walls with a lot of those memories or have things on my desk and dresser top. But I had to grow up and stop being cluttered and messy. So, I added to my boxes in secret instead.”

  “Oh, my god, Kay
la, please give me my box.” All of us laugh at Madison’s excited bursting.

  “Not yet. You know how when you line up dominos in a pattern and pushing just one domino over will send all of the others crashing down right after the other? Well, in the case of dominos, it’s usually a finger that pushes the first block over. In our case, I was the first block to get knocked over into Madison’s lap, and as one block, we continued to tumble into the rest of you. After I left you in your dorm that day, I went to seek out that force that made us collide.”

  Madison hops forward with a giggle and tries to grab the box from me. I laugh and scoot back, holding it to my chest so she can’t get it.

  “Wait, baby.”

  All of us laugh again and Madison bites her bottom lip and bounces her legs on the balls of her feet.

  “Oh, my god, hurry.”

  “I didn’t know back then that this hard disc of rubber that gave me a monster of a bruise would end up being the force needed to create so much beauty and happiness, but it still felt important back then.” I open the box and pull out the hockey puck. Madison releases a laughing sob as tears streak down her cheeks. “This is the same hockey puck I jumped in front of to protect a girl I had never met before I landed in her lap. This is the very catalyst that started all of this just over four years ago.”

  I hand the puck to Madison and she turns it over in her hands with a giant smile.

  “I can’t believe you were able to keep this a secret for so long, especially when we lived in the apartment. How did you hide all of this when we lived in the apartment?”

  “That’s a secret.”

  Sam scoffs and playfully smacks my arm. “You’re not supposed to have secrets from us.”

  “I only have nice surprise secrets from you.”

  “Can I please have the rest of my box now?”

  “Oh, yeah, here.”

  Madison quickly takes the box with a giant smile and starts looking through it.

  “I thought you threw this out when we moved in with Shannon.” She’s holding up the empty glass root beer bottle from our junk food binge and 3am adventure – the morning I knew for sure that I love Madison. “Chicago Pie. This is the first time we ate lunch together. Oh, my god, are these from the first time we made daytime fireworks?” She gasps and pulls out a long rectangular black velvet jewelry box. “What is this?”