A Pack of Vows and Tears

by Olivia Wildenstein

  “You are. Just like he’s your replacement dad. It’s not a bad thing to have someone care for you like that.”

  “I have Evelyn.”

  “But she’s not living with you anymore, is she?”

  “That wasn’t by choice.”

  “Hey.” She tapped my knuckles. “You have two people who would lay down their lives for yours. That’s a shitload more than most people.”

  I sighed deeply before side-eyeing her. “What you’re saying is that you wouldn’t lay down your life for me?”

  “To salvage my dress, possibly.”

  I grinned and smacked her upper arm, which was firm with lean muscle. I knew she never hit the gym and ate more than the average human guy, so I imagined she shifted into her wolf form often.

  At the thought of shifting, my body thrummed. “Want to run together sometime?”

  “I don’t own sneakers.” She cast a disgruntled look at my feet as though my shoes had somehow wronged her.

  I shifted them out of sight. “I meant in wolf form.”

  “Sure. I’ll even slow my pace so you can keep up.”

  I snorted, even though I didn’t doubt she could beat me. After all, she had years of training on me. She slowed at a red light, and a bunch of pedestrians crossed the street. Excitement that it was almost the weekend wafted off most. One girl didn’t seem as thrilled as the rest. She kept darting looks around her as though worried someone was following her. I checked the sidewalks but didn’t notice any stalker.

  As she passed in front of the Mini our eyes locked, and recognition hit me dead-center.

  Megan.

  Everest’s Megan.

  I powered my window down and called out her name.

  “You know this girl?” Sarah asked me.

  Megan quickened her pace.

  I unstrapped myself and leaped out just as a motorcycle swerved into the lane next to ours, almost bowling me over.

  The biker yelled at me, but I didn’t respond. I just took off running after Megan.

  “Megan! Wait up!”

  She didn’t wait up. Instead she sped up.

  So I did too. She turned a corner. Why wasn’t she stopping? When I rounded the corner, I found myself face-to-face with a giant wooden cross.

  “Don’t come any closer!” she screeched. “Or I’ll call the cops.”

  I backed up, frowning at the wood and the girl beyond it.

  “I know what you are!” she yelled.

  Obviously she didn’t if she thought a wooden cross could keep me away. But I let her think she had me figured out.

  “You don’t go to UCB,” I said, getting to the heart of the matter. “Everest told me you were a student there, but you’re not. Why’d you lie about it?”

  “I never claimed I was a student at UCB.” She pushed her shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair behind her ear, fingers trembling. “Your cousin’s a liar.”

  “Was.”

  “Huh?”

  “He’s dead.”

  The cross came down an inch, then another, as though it suddenly weighed too heavily in her hand.

  “Yes, and I’m sorry if I startled you back there.”

  A car squealed to a stop next to me. And then Sarah flung open her door and stalked toward me. “Ness?”

  Megan’s knuckles whitened on the wooden cross. “You’re that . . . that socialite deejay.”

  “And you are?” Sarah sniffed the air.

  “No one.” Megan took a step back. “I’m no one.”

  Sarah cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up with the giant cross?”

  Megan didn’t answer. She just kept backing away, gaze bouncing from me to Sarah. “I’m sorry for your loss, even though I’m not surprised. Everest was a creep.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “He tried to recruit me for his escort agency.” She made a grimace that contorted her heart-shaped face.

  “His escort agency?”

  “He said I wouldn’t have to sleep with anyone, just gather information.”

  I must not have blinked in a while, because my eyes started to prickle.

  She kept backing away. “Was he killed?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he was.”

  I couldn’t get my mouth to close or open. It just gaped like that striped bass Derek had been ogling.

  “Anyway, leave me alone. I was serious about calling the cops.” When she reached the end of the street, she spun on her heels and took off running.

  “Well, that was weird,” Sarah said after a beat.

  A car honked so shrilly I jumped.

  “Chill out, dude!”

  At first I thought Sarah was saying this to me, but she was staring daggers at the driver in the car behind hers.

  She grabbed my arm to unglue me from the pavement. “Come on.”

  The driver honked twice more. Sarah flipped him the finger.

  Once inside the car, she drove out of the small street and pulled onto a delivery parking spot. “What the hell was that about?”

  I told her everything. Every sordid detail.

  “Your cousin was a pimp who used girls to spy? Fuckin’ a. No wonder he’s dead.”

  I realized then that perhaps it wasn’t the Sillin that had gotten him killed. Perhaps it was the espionage.

  “What was he up to?” Sarah asked.

  “I don’t know, but at least I understand why he’s dead.” Or I assumed I’d come a little closer to understanding.

  He must’ve spied on the wrong Creek.

  “But what about the Sillin? How does that fit into the equation?” she asked.

  I squeezed my bare knees with my clammy hands. “Maybe it was a security measure. Maybe he needed some to give to the girls he hired.” I’d used my own stock on Heath.

  “Why would he drug human girls with it?”

  “No. He gave it to them to use on the customers.” The same way he’d told me to dose Heath’s drink.

  “So he was spying exclusively on the shifter community?”

  Sarah and I stared at each other a long moment. And then she whispered, “Fuck,” which pretty much summed up the situation.

  “Sarah, I think I need to talk to my Alpha. And I think you need to talk to Julian.”

  32

  Two cars, besides Liam’s black SUV, were parked in front of the sleek cabin: Matt’s Dodge silver sedan and a little blue BMW. I was sort of relieved Matt would be here. Even though I’d come to discuss a serious matter, a buffer was welcomed.

  As I got out of the Mini, I tugged on the hem of my white dress. “I’m sorry about the way tonight turned out,” I told Sarah.

  She shook her head. “Babe, I’m just sorry for what that calculating fucker put you through.”

  I shivered. Ever since my run-in with Megan, I couldn’t get my body to warm up.

  “You want me to wait for you?” Sarah asked.

  “No. I’ll be okay.”

  “Talk tomorrow?”

  I nodded, then closed the car door but heard the window power down. “By the way, why the hell did that girl have a wooden cross?”

  I smirked. “Because she knew what I was apparently.”

  “Apparently? Where’d she get her info from? Twilight?”

  I chuckled. “I guess.” But then, as Sarah backed out of Liam’s driveway, I stopped laughing. Whatever supernatural she thought I was, she deemed me dangerous. I now had my answer to how the world would react if word got out.

  “Ness?”

  I whirled around.

  Matt was standing by the front door. “What are you doing here?”

  Even though the door was only open a crack, a heady beat was pouring out through it.

  I circled around the cars. “I need to speak with Liam.”

  “Um.” He palmed his buzzed blond hair. “Yeah. Um.” His skin was getting increasingly red. “Why don’t you wait out here? I’ll go get him.”

  “You’re seriously going to make me wait out
side?” I asked, a little peeved.

  Okay, very peeved.

  “I’m chilly. And not in the mood to wait outside.” I pressed past him. Or at least, I tried to.

  Matt barred my way with his forearm.

  “What the hell, Hulk? I don’t fucking care if you’re having an orgy right now. I need to speak with Liam. This is a pack matter.”

  I pressed on his big arm. Matt sighed and finally let me through.

  They weren’t having an orgy. Just a small get-together that seemed very PG.

  “Ness!” Amanda squeaked from her spot on the couch next to Sienna. “Hey.”

  “Hi, Ness.” Sienna offered me a wispy smile that flickered off her pale face almost as quickly as it had appeared.

  Lucas was here too, as well as two other guys from the pack. One was definitely named Dexter—it was the sort of name that had stuck with me—but I wasn’t sure what the other one’s name was. Michael, maybe? They were sitting around a table in the corner of the living room, playing a card game. I guessed poker from the stacks of chips.

  “Nice dress,” Dexter said, leering a little.

  I wasn’t sure if he was making fun of me or paying me a compliment. I didn’t really care, though. “Where’s Liam?”

  Lucas tipped his chin into his neck and started distributing cards.

  No one spoke for so long that I asked, “Did no one hear me?”

  Lucas placed the deck on the table, evening it out until no card stuck out. “Matt, why don’t you grab Ness a beer from the kitchen? I’ll go get Liam.”

  “I don’t want beer. I just want—”

  Liam walked out of his bedroom then, buttoning up his shirt, hair tousled as though he’d just taken a nap. When his gaze landed on mine, he froze.

  And so did everything and everyone in the room. Even the air seemed to congeal into one thick, unbreathable mass.

  Liam shot Matt a look, and something passed between them—probably an order spoken through the mind link. Matt all but leaped toward his Alpha, skirting around him and into the bedroom. He shut the door so fast I guessed Liam had someone in there he didn’t want me to see.

  I pressed my lips together and swallowed. I had no right to be jealous, and yet . . . and yet I was. Or maybe I was just disappointed by how quickly I’d been replaced, especially after he’d told me he would wait for me.

  That I was worth waiting for.

  Apparently not.

  I swallowed again, but the lump grew larger and more jagged. Crap. I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose. Crap. Why did it have to hurt?

  I didn’t want back in his arms. I didn’t want back in his bed.

  So why did it have to hurt so damn much?

  His voice crashed into my mind: It didn’t mean anything to me.

  But, to me, it did.

  It meant that for all my insistence to the contrary, I’d still been hung up on Liam.

  I felt a hand cup my shoulder and then I smelled him—mint and musk—but I also smelled her.

  Whoever her was.

  I hoped Matt would keep her inside, because I didn’t want to see the girl’s face.

  “Ness?” This time Liam spoke out loud.

  His voice was like wind. It gusted over my skin, making goose bumps rise, making my heart shudder. I stepped back and opened my eyes. I was afraid to speak. Afraid of what my voice would sound like. But I did it anyway.

  “I need to—” I was right to be afraid. I sounded like I’d just spent the evening shouting at the top of my lungs. I swallowed again. “I need to talk to you about”—I glanced at the girls sitting on the couch, both of them jiggling their folded legs—“about something I found out tonight.”

  Liam followed my line of sight. “Hey, Amanda, can you and Sienna go into the kitchen a minute?”

  Amanda’s lips opened as though she were about to protest, but she must’ve sensed it wasn’t a suggestion. She got up and, towing Sienna, vanished into Liam’s kitchen.

  “What is it?” he asked, tracing the shape of my face with his dark eyes.

  “I ran into Everest’s ex-girlfriend.” I glanced at Lucas. “That Megan girl.”

  Lucas’s blue eyes flashed in interest.

  “She’s not a UCB student, and she’s not an escort, but Everest apparently tried to recruit her.” I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged my torso tight so I would stop trembling. “She claimed he ran the agency. Apparently he was using the girls to spy. I think—” I gulped, and my saliva went down like a dulled knife blade. “I think he must’ve spied on a Creek.”

  Dexter speared his fingers through his spiky brown hair. “Everest was a pimp?”

  Michael—or whatever his name was—placed his cards face down on the table.

  “My guess is Everest stole the Sillin to use on the people . . . on the wolves he sent the girls to,” I said.

  Lucas frowned. “Aidan Michaels keeping tabs on us is one thing—he’s a shifter-hater. But Everest? He’s . . . he was one of us.”

  “I know. Look, I think we should try to locate the woman he was working with.” I unknotted my arms to dig through my handbag for my phone. My fingers trembled so hard the slick device almost slipped out. “Uh. I’ll forward the Red Creek Escort contact to you.”

  “You already sent it to me, remember?” Lucas reminded me.

  Neither Dexter nor the other shifter asked what I was doing with the number of an escort agency, so I assumed they’d heard.

  I supposed all of Boulder had heard.

  It didn’t matter.

  Just like Liam sleeping with another girl didn’t matter.

  Who was I kidding? It did matter. So damn much.

  After I’d managed the impossible task of putting away my phone, I told them about Megan’s wooden cross. “I know we’re not a complete secret around these parts, but I just thought you’d want a head’s up.”

  “Were you alone when this happened?” Dexter asked, gaze running over my legs.

  I wished I’d had a pair of tights on. I felt so exposed in this dress.

  He winced suddenly, dropping his gaze to the poker chips. Liam was glaring at him. Had the Alpha barked at Dexter through the mind link?

  “I was with Sarah Matz. We were on our way to The Den.” I yanked on the hem of my dress. “She went to inform Julian about our run-in. Maybe you should call him, Liam.”

  Liam just stared at me, seemingly lost in thought. Was he thinking about his father? About Everest? About Julian? Or was he thinking about me?

  “Um, Lucas, can you give me a ride back to my place? I don’t really feel like walking.”

  “I’ll give you a ride home,” Dexter offered, already rising.

  “I’ll take her,” Liam snapped.

  “No,” I said softly but firmly. I couldn’t ride in a car with Liam. Not when he still smelled like her. Not when I was feeling so emotional. “No.”

  His Adam’s apple joggled in his throat. “Ness, please.”

  “No. Lucas?” I blinked. My eyes felt so hot, but the rest of me felt cold. It was as though every ounce of heat in my body had converged into my lids.

  Chair legs scraped, and then Lucas was next to me. “Let’s go.”

  I nodded and turned away from Liam, trailing Lucas out. I prayed my tears wouldn’t tumble out until I got home, but my prayers went unanswered, as my prayers usually did.

  “I thought you guys were over,” Lucas said after a long beat.

  “We are,” I whispered raucously. “Still hurts.”

  He touched my forearm. Briefly, but long enough to make me blink. “It sucks to walk in on someone.”

  My brow furrowed.

  “That’s what happened with Taryn. I found her with a Pine.” His blue eyes flashed to mine. “Justin Summix of all people.”

  My mouth rounded, and for a moment, I forgot how deeply my heart ached, because Liam and I, we hadn’t even been together when I caught him rolling out of bed. Lucas and Taryn though, they’d been a couple. I’d misju
dged him, I realized. I’d thought he’d wronged Taryn.

  “I really hate those Pines,” Lucas murmured.

  I didn’t try to argue that they weren’t all bad, didn’t try to console him either. Silence grew between us, a quiet, easygoing silence that bonded us in our misery.

  Once he slid the car in front of my house, I thanked him. He nodded but kept his eyes on the darkened street.

  “Just remember it takes half the time you were together to get over a person,” he said.

  I paused with my fingers on the door. Liam and I, we’d been together for all of four days. If Lucas’s logic was accurate, my grieving period should already have been over.

  “How long were you with Taryn?”

  Gaze sunk on the obscurity, he muttered, “Too long.”

  My heart went out to him. Which was crazy because I didn’t think my heart would ever have gone out to Lucas Mason. Then again, I never thought my cousin was a pimp, or that Liam would lead a girl to his bed so soon after almost kissing me.

  On my way up the staircase, keys jingling in my trembling fist, I worked on coming up with a good lie as to the reason I was home early. I hated deceiving my uncle, but I couldn’t share what I’d just learned with him. It would shatter what little good memories he had of his son. I palmed away my tears and stepped inside.

  33

  The next day, I went to work and pretended everything was great when I felt completely broken on the inside. August and I didn’t cross paths at least, so there was that.

  I spent Saturday in bed. On Sunday though, Evelyn called and said she was expecting us for brunch. Jeb made me drive to Frank’s house, and I did so without a single glitch, even though I hadn’t slept well and my eyes felt gummy. I’d believed my heart couldn’t possibly shatter more than it already had back at Tracy’s, but I’d been wrong. The shards had simply been crushed into finer ones. Just like the vase I’d knocked over in my house one of the first times I’d shifted. The glass had fragmented on our pine floor, and then the pieces had been ground to a powder under my father’s boots as he’d tried to corral me into his arms to calm me down.