by R K Knightly
"I'll take it into consideration," Liam said and pecked Elle on the lips one last time before his gaze went back to the screen. The game was back on.
"Jesus…come on, guys!" Blake yelled at the TV. "Luckily our boys in blue are a second-half team."
The others – with the exception of Elle – all muttered their agreement, though they all knew that was wishful thinking. The Giants were ready to get their asses kicked. Again.
∞∞∞
"I need to go Christmas shopping!" Elle whined as Liam stood firm against her demand to be let out of their home. She wanted to go to the mall, to Target, to...just about anywhere, just so long as she got her holiday shopping done.
"You can order on Amazon," Liam told her.
"It's too late for that! Everything says it will be shipped after Christmas!"
"Give me a list. I'll have Colleen pick up the stuff you need," he countered.
"Some of it's for Colleen and Blake!" she exclaimed.
"Then I'll pick up their gifts. Just tell me what they are." The man had an answer for everything. It was truly maddening.
"I need to get out of this house," she told him. "Haven't you ever seen that movie, The Shining? The main character went crazytown and tried to kill his entire family when he got cabin fever from staying indoors for too long!"
"You've been stuck inside here for less than a month," Liam told her. "I doubt you'll turn into an ax-wielding maniac if you’re cooped up inside for a little while longer."
"I'll find a way to sneak out if you don't let me go," she threatened, narrowing her eyes on him. "You know I can do it, too."
That was the problem. She would find a way. Elle was too resourceful for her own good at times and had a way of bending or completely breaking the rules to suit her needs. It didn't help that she looked so damned innocent while conning her way out of – or into – something. It was those damned baby blue eyes of hers.
She felt Liam's will crumbling and poured it on real thick.
"I'll take as many guards as you like," she said, feeling him starting to cave. "I'll go with Colleen and stick to her like glue!"
"I..." Liam started.
"Please," she begged softly.
He found he couldn't say no.
"Fine," he groaned out, utterly at her feet when it came to things she really wanted. "But I'm giving you a fucking entourage of men and you can't go into any stores without Colleen and at least four of my men following behind."
"You mean our men," she said and gave him a giddy smile in return.
∞∞∞
"Wow, I'm surprised he let you off house arrest." Colleen joked, seemingly impressed when Elle had told her she was allowed to do some shopping.
"I think he's concerned I'll be seen by wolves from Blackriver," Elle told him.
"Is that why you're wearing your hair up under that big, stupid, floppy hat and are hiding your eyes behind those sunglasses?" Colleen asked.
"Yep," Elle said without shame. “I also wanted to grab some baby things as well. Not much. Cute clothing that says things like Daddy's Little Cutie and It's all Shits and Giggles Until Someone Giggles and Shits.”
Colleen laughed, loving that last one.
"I think I've seen that one before online," she said, chuckling as they made their way onto the highway. They had two guards in their SUV, and another SUV with four more men trailing behind them. "Is the whole crowd coming into the mall with us?"
"Yeah, but they'll be following from a distance," Elle explained. "If they're right up on us it'll bring more attention to the two of us."
"Yeah, and then we'll have half the mall following after us thinking you're a celebrity of some sort," Colleen said, snickering.
"Ugh, don't even kid about that," Elle said as she rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "It's bad enough being Luna. I can't imagine how people like the Kardashians and such can handle the constant scrutiny."
"Well, if they didn't want the attention they wouldn't have signed up for that ridiculous reality show they have. Or had. I don’t honestly know if it's still on the air anymore."
"Who cares?" Elle asked. "My life's hectic enough if you ask me."
They were quiet for a while as they thought about that. They said no news was good news, and that seemed to be true enough. But no news was also nerve-wracking as hell. Elle was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"No word yet, huh?" Colleen asked in an uncommonly low voice.
"None," Elle admitted.
"That's good though, right?" Colleen asked, not sounding altogether certain.
"I don't know. I can't imagine that if he...he knew, " she said and gestured to her stomach. "He...well, I think he'd blow his stack. The man's unbalanced to the extreme."
"Still, you're making an announcement at New Year's, right?"
"That's the plan."
"Then there's no telling what will happen afterward if Jackson was right about him having a spy within Plumbrook."
Neither of them could imagine anyone trying to oust Elle as Luna except for a handful of interested females. All social climbers as far as Liam and his inner circle were concerned. A wolf had to be mad not to wait for their true mate unless they had some other agenda.
"Well," Elle said as she sighed. "I'm just hoping to make it through the holidays without any blood being shed."
That wasn't too much to ask for the holidays, was it?
God, she hoped not.
Chapter 42
Elle was just unpacking the car when Liam came out of the house to help.
"I'll get those!" he called out as he watched Elle pull out a large, unwieldy bag.
"It's not heavy," she protested. "I'm a wolf. I can get it."
But Liam wasn't having any of that. Every one of his instincts urged him to go to her and help and you couldn't have stopped him from bringing the bags in any more than you could have stopped him from pulling oxygen into his lungs by breathing.
"Where do you want them?" he asked when he pulled up to Elle and wound an arm around her waist.
Knowing better than to fight him about it, Elle thought about the question. "Your sister's bedroom. Do we have wrapping paper anywhere in the house? And when can we get a tree? I want to decorate."
"A real one?" Elle nodded her head at him and Colleen came over as well, bouncing up and down.
"Ohhhh! can I help decorate? I've already done my house and you should see it. It's like Christmas threw up all over it!"
Liam wrinkled his nose in disgust as he decided to ignore her holiday vomit comment.
"Sure, I'll let you know when I get one so we can play Christmas music and drink eggnog and decorate and stuff," Elle said, smiling happily.
"Great! You'll need to come over tomorrow and check out our house as well," Colleen replied and wandered back to the truck so she could get back home. "Text me later!"
Liam and Elle carried bags into the house and placed them in Arden's old room in the closet. It also happened to be where he kept things in storage, and Elle eyed a long red plastic container that looked like it could be used for Christmas items.
"Are you going to wrap right away or wait until later?" Liam asked.
"I'm a little tired," she mentioned. "I was thinking of taking a nap. Can we go get a tree afterward?"
"I can have the enforcers cut one down for you. There are plenty in the woods," Liam told her.
"But I want to pick one out," Elle said.
"What's the difference? A tree's a tree."
"I like one that's very fragrant and the perfect shape and size."
"And what is the perfect shape and size?" Liam raised a brow.
"It's...well, it's…it’s tree shaped, like in a Claymation movie," she told him. He shook his head at her, amused.
"Right, well why don't you take a nap and I'll rope Blake into helping me later on with a tree," he said. "Lord knows you'll probably want one that almost reaches the ceilings downstairs. I'll need the manpower." The ceilings were ten fee
t high since Liam was quite a tall man. He didn't feel like scraping his head on the ceiling fans every other time he walked through the rooms in his house.
"Okay." She got up on her tiptoes and pulled his head down with her arms so she could peck his lips before pulling back a bit. But Liam surprised her by scooping her up and carrying her bridal style into their bedroom before placing her down on the bed.
He climbed in after her and scooted up behind her so he could spoon her.
"Are you napping, too?" she asked, her voice sleepy as her eyes closed.
"No. I'm just resting a bit."
He settled himself into her body, curving around it almost protectively until he felt a jolt in his solar plexus and his anxiety rose.
Opening his mind, he heard a voice in his head coming through. It was loud, heavy, and hit hard as bricks.
Alpha, we believe we've found the conspirator trying to oust Elle as Luna, Blake's voice came through.
Who? Who dares defy me and my mate? Liam stood up carefully from the bed so as not to wake Elle in her near-slumber.
Sheila. She's down in the cells right now. We found her sneaking back onto the property while Elle and Colleen were away. She was coming from the direction of Blackriver.
Fucking figures, Liam muttered as he shoved on a heavy jacket and started to walk towards the front door. I'll be there soon. I need to know what she's been doing and who she's been speaking with. How do you know she's the one?
She's been acting a bit shifty lately and she smelled of foreigners when we caught up with her. Blackriver, if I'm not mistaken, though I've only met with a few of them once. I could be wrong.
Fuck, Liam grumbled. He hoped to God that the bitch hadn't been meeting with Jeremiah. He hoped she had simply found her mate at Blackriver and had been secretly rendezvousing with him. I'll be there in a few.
He ended the conversation and started to lace up his winter boots for the trek into the woods. There wasn't a clear path to the cells as it would give their location away, and only the guards and higher ranked wolves knew the exact locale. And Colleen. She seemed to know pretty much everything. Well, everything but who the traitor was in their midst.
Liam crunched through several feet of snow for a while until he came to the area where it was clearer and looked down to see several footprints in the snow before disappearing seemingly into nothing.
He walked over to the area and searched for the knob of the door and pulled. Bits of fluffy snow tumbled down the steps and made traversing the first few iffy, but Liam eventually made it to the ground without breaking his damned neck in the process.
Blake was waiting at the end of the hallway for him just before it veered to the right.
"Where's the bitch?" Liam growled out as he cut cold, cobalt eyes in the direction of the cells.
"Last cell on the right," Blake told him. "We were actually lucky that some of patrol had a hard time getting through the snow. If it had been shallower in places they might have never seen her passing back onto the territory."
Liam didn't want to think about not having found Sheila and he was certain now that she was the one Jackson had warned them of. She was a sneaky, manipulative bitch who cared nothing for anyone but herself. And treason was a damned good reason to lop a wolf's head off. She had some explaining to do.
Liam walked the length of the hallway of the cells. Fortunately, Sheila was the only one in them at this time and there was no one else but the two guards posted there. Liam motioned for them to leave in the direction of Blake.
Sheila sat in a corner of the dingy cell, her head resting on her knees where they were pulled up to her body.
"What the fuck have you done, Sheila?" Liam asked, watching her flinch at his gruff tone. It was laced with his Alpha command and she couldn't not answer it.
"She isn't fit to be Luna," the little she-wolf said. "She's not strong enough."
"She is stronger than most," Liam argued coldly. "She has been dealt a shit hand in life since she was small – not that you would know – and she escaped a cruel man who would have killed her before seeing her happy and mated to another."
"She's his," Sheila said. "And he will get her back. He'll rid her of the fetus and-"
Liam's resounding snarl sent a shockwave all the way down to Blake and the guards, who winced at the deep, feral sound.
"That baby is my son or daughter – not just a fetus!" Liam growled out. "And how did you know about it? Did someone tell you?"
"I heard Colleen speaking to Blake about it sometime after Thanksgiving. They were saying how it was secret until the New Year's celebration. But he knows. I told him."
"You told Jeremiah of the pregnancy?" Fuck! Liam thought fast. He needed more surveillance on his house immediately and he linked with Trace to inform him.
I need more enforcers at the house, pronto.
Li- I mean, Alpha? Trace's voice was far away, as if he had awoken from a deep sleep or otherwise not completely involved in the link.
Now, Trace. We've found the leak and she's told Jeremiah of Elle's pregnancy. My child's life is at stake here. I want at least ten wolves surrounding the house at all times.
Got it and I'll take care of it in a moment.
You'll take care of it now. You can get your rocks off another time. Your damn nuts won't fall off from a mere bout of blue balls.
Trace was silent for a moment. How did you kn-
I didn't – at least not for certain. Not get to it Trace, before I cut your junk off and feed it to the coyotes.
The link was cut off as Trace confirmed he was moving now, and Liam went back to questioning Sheila.
"You've told Jeremiah that Elle is pregnant," he concluded, voice dripping disdain. "And what else have you said to him?"
"The location of your home within the pack," Sheila said, smiling grimly at him. "The times patrols come and go. Pretty much anything that will help him get his mate back so you can be free of the useless female."
Liam was about to burst through the silver-coated bars to get to the woman. His whole body vibrated with rage, and Blake started walking towards him before Liam held up a hand to stop him from coming closer.
"I want to gut this bitch, Blake," he told him, voice frigid. "I don't need you getting in the way and hurt you by mistake. Leave it. I'll be fine when this she-wolf is dead and gone."
"You're going to kill me?" Sheila acted surprised. As if she didn't know that treason was a punishable-by-death offense.
"What you've done is considered treason," Blake told her. "Pack law states that treason is a crime punishable by death. We cannot let you go with a warning or exile you as a rogue. You know our secrets, secrets you swore to protect upon your adulthood. If you betrayed us once, what will keep you from betraying us again?"
Sheila's head sank to her knees again with a whimper and her shoulders trembled in fear.
"But what of my family? My future mate? They will miss me." The words were made almost unintelligible by her sobs and the long blond waves of hair falling into her mouth.
"When they hear of your betrayal, your family will surely disown you," Liam told her. "Your future mate is better off without a scheming little cunt like you. You should have thought about all this before you betrayed your leaders and your pack. We are family. When you betray one of us, you betray us all. You are no longer considered Pack."
Liam looked over to Blake who was standing mid-way between the guards and the last jail cell.
"I think Elle should be the one to dole out the sentence on this one," Liam said coldly. "She's always been imaginative when it comes to punishments. Perhaps she will want to cut out Sheila's womb first to show her the pain of losing a child and then gut her for the wild animals of the forest to feast upon." He looked back over at Sheila whose shaking had increased twofold. He spoke to her again. "Pray that Elle is feeling generous and grants you a swift death. Lord knows you don't deserve one."
Liam started moving toward the exit as he heard Sheila's
wracking sobs intensify.
"I have a mate to get back to," he told Blake. "No food or water for the bitch. We will execute her tonight."
∞∞∞
Elle couldn't get comfortable. The bed was just as it always was, supremely plush and begging for a body to lie in it to snooze, but Liam was nowhere around so she was not finding it easy to sleep.
Punching a pillow and rolling onto her other side, she tried for sleep again.
Ten minutes. Twenty.
She was just about to give up entirely when a noise from outside caught her attention. It was soft thud – like a sack of potatoes had been dropped onto the wood of the front porch.
Or a body.
The rogue thought made her uneasy and she made her way downstairs, traversing the steps as silently as she could and skipping the next to last one that always creaked coming down.
She was at the bottom when another something hit the wood out front. There was no peephole and the only thing that kept her from investigating was the fact that the windows in the front were enormous. If someone was out there, they would be able to see her immediately.
So, she went to the back door and decided to have the enforcers out there check up on what was going on out front.
But no wolves were there. All was still and silent except for the sound of wind whipping through the trees and the creak or two of branches as snow and ice weighed them down.
Elle was not clothed to go outside, so she grabbed a big bulky jacket and the snow boots she had set in the kitchen to dry and walked out in her sweats, t-shirt, jacket, and boots.
The crunch of snow beneath her feet made her wince with the noise at every step before she switched to wading through it like water. She heard no footfalls beside hers, and that relaxed her the tiniest bit. She was still on guard though, and peeked around the edge of the house to see two bodies lying on the front porch, unconscious.
She gasped slightly and reached out with her mind, searching for Liam in the link. Before she could get to him, a hand clamped down around her throat and cut off the air supply to her lungs and brain.
"Good to see you again, mate."