The Vampire, The Witch and the Werewolf: The Wolfe Pack

by Louisa Bacio

  “If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to now kiss the bride-to-be.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hard to believe more than two months had passed since Silver left the truck parked and hiked into the campground. Where they were located, there was no cell service or Wifi. In order to send her brother a message, she needed to charge her temporary phone and kick it to the nearest location where she’d get a signal. Being un-tethered to the world in general came with its bennies, and its bad points, too.

  Viktor accompanied her out. As they walked, they held hands, like a high school couple in love for the first time. Gone were any feelings of apprehension. It was as if when Sheba left, all the negativity vaporized with her. A new day, a new future, and it was going to be all right. Silver hummed her version of the familiar song along the way.

  Up ahead, at the branch-off of the main path, rested a ranger’s station. She’d thought about the messages that would probably pop up once she turned on the phone. Although she left in search of her father, she also was partially running away from all she had left behind. Her life in New Orleans had grown more distant than the miles between there and here. Gone was the manic energy surging through the city. She’d replaced it with natural beauty, the tranquility of running streams and more space to run than she could ever have imagined. Wide, open spaces with plenty of life.

  Viktor led her to an outcropping, a secluded gazebo with ivy-curled trellis and a carved wooden bench—for two.

  “Would you like some privacy to make your call?”

  “No, I’d like you to stay nearby. I’m not quite sure how Trevor is going to take my news, and I might need some moral support.”

  She slid the power button on and waited for the screen to light up. Within moments, the text message screen flashed and updated. She scrolled down.

  “Did you make it there?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Lowell sends wet kisses.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Did you find him?”

  “We’re worried.”

  “Please respond.”

  “If I don’t hear from you.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “I made it back.”

  “Nick told us …”

  She didn’t bother to listen to any of the voice mails, which probably said more of the same thing. The tone of the messages shifted over time. Since Nick had returned, the phone remained silent. No more messages had come through. Either that meant they understand her decision, or they were pissed at her and had nothing to say. She didn’t want to gain one part of her family while losing the other.

  She thumbed down her contacts, and hit “Trevor.”

  The phone rang one, twice.

  “So when’s the wedding?” he answered.

  Silver let out a laugh, startling Viktor next to her. “I guess Nick told you?”

  “No, Lily. She saw you hooking up with some big, monster werewolf. Deciding to keep it in the same gene pool, I guess?”

  “It seems like it. I’ve missed hearing your voice, Trev.”

  “Me, too, little sister. Does he treat you well? Are you happy?”

  “Yes, I am. More than I ever thought I would be. For some reason, I feel complete. Well, I know part of that reason here, but the other part is the relationship with our father. He’s really changed since you met him.”

  “Good, good to hear.”

  “How’s my nephew? There are some kids in the Pack. I’m not sure how old they are in comparison to Lowell, but they’re big. I’ve been checking them out.”

  “You know, growing, smart and into everything. He’s a handful. So, are you avoiding my question? When are you getting married?”

  “When can you be out here to give me away?”

  Trevor got quiet on the other side, and ambient noise of cars, a light sprinkling of music, and chatter came though.

  “Are you in the store?” Silver asked.

  “Yep. It’s my shift time. You know how things pick up around Halloween, and when we head into the winter holidays. Now that hurricane season is behind us, life gets back to normal. We only had a bit of clean up this year. Some areas got hit bad.”

  “You should see the garden set up here. All the fresh veggies anyone could want, and the herbs—better than at the farmer’s market, that’s for sure. The compost pile also isn’t quite as stinky as it is in urban areas.”

  She filled up the quiet space as Trevor made up his mind about the ceremony.

  “Aren’t you going to ask how he’s doing?” Trev asked, a hint of weariness in his voice.

  Now it was Silver’s time to grow pensive. “Nick? How’s he holding up?”

  “You want a glossed-over truth, or the real deal?” Trevor asked.

  She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, hugging herself. “I want to know.”

  “He came back an absolute mess. He’d obviously hadn’t been eating right, not wanting to take anyone really out here, then on the road. More so than that, though, it’s like some chunk of his soul is missing, gone.”

  Without Trevor saying it, she knew he meant her. Without her in his life, Nick was wandering purposeless. He lost being a vampire hunter. Oh, he could go all Blade and still slay the rogue vamps, but she knew he’d also questioned some of his past kills. Now that he’d become a vampire, and he knew not all were evil, it was kind of hard to play that final judge. So those undeserved deaths haunted him.

  Had he told Trevor and Lawrence of the events that had happened in the forest? Of the two Others Nick had killed in order to protect Silver? She thought it better not to mention the incident. Maybe it would make Nick look even worse than he was.

  “What does Lawrence say? Does he think Nick’s going to be all right in the long run?”

  “We all hope so. He’s looking for a place to move out, by himself.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea? What does Lawrence say?”

  “We don’t have much say. Lawrence would rather him stay here, so he can keep a closer eye on him, but with you gone … there’s nothing to hold him here.”

  “But he’s part of the family.”

  “No, Sil, you are part of the family. He was your boyfriend. It doesn’t matter if we’d like him to stay here. He doesn’t feel comfortable, and I understand that. I respect it.”

  “Where’s he moving to?”

  “Not too far away. He hasn’t found a place, yet, but the target date will be after the holidays, maybe the first of the year.”

  “That’s good, and you’ll make sure that it’s someplace safe?”

  “We all will,” Trevor said. “With no bad influences, either.”

  “As if that’s possible in the French Quarter,” she laughed. “You know, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him.”

  “I get it. At the same time, though, you two … it’s hard for me to see you with anyone else.”

  “Well, is he at least still working at Pages?” she asked.

  Trevor’s moment of pause told her the answer. It seemed like once Nick had left the forest, he’d severed all ties with his former life with Silver.

  “He’s back at working at Club Blood as a bouncer, on the night shift.”

  “What? Probably biting lots of skanks in the back room.” Familiar jealousy boiled in her belly. How bizarre. Here she was getting mated, and she was fuming over the possibility of Nick eating from the neck of another woman. It didn’t make sense. The silence on the other end of the phone spoke loudly.

  “What?” she asked. “Can’t I be worried about him? It’s like he’s slipping back into all his old bad habits, and I don’t want to see him get hurt, or go rogue.”

  “We’re going to ensure that won’t happen. So … about that wedding.”

  She blew out air she hadn’
t realized she’d been holding in. “It’s not an easy decision to make, you know, but it feels right. For so much of my life, I did what others wanted me to do, or what I thought I should do.” She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to explain it all perfectly. “Now, though, I’m doing what I want, and I’m not too worried about the implications.”

  “Why don’t I plan to come up in two weeks? Does that work with your schedule?”

  She gulped down the lump of happiness lodged in her throat. “That’s perfect. And the family?”

  “Probably not Lawrence. It’s still too hard for him to travel, but I’ll see if Lily and Lowell will make the trip. Although a toddler in a car for that many hours…we’ll probably all need the running space after that. Oh, and I don’t see Nick making that trek again anytime soon.”

  “Thank you, Trevor.”

  “For what?”

  “For being you, and for understanding, and for allowing me to have this, to be myself.”

  “We all choose our paths. I may not be able to understand your decision, but I can accept it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  After planning for the wedding, Silver could barely imagine the time had come. Over the next few days, there would be several activities, and Trevor was supposed to be arriving shortly.

  “Have you decided what you want to do with your hair yet?” Jana asked, fiddling with Silver’s straight locks. “You want to try curling it?”

  “You have no idea how long that would take, and then how disappointed you would be afterward,” she said. “Even in civilization with the best hair products in the world, my hair refused to hold a curl for long.”

  Her friend grabbed a few handfuls and started twisting it upward, until it sat on top of Silver’s head. “Beehive?” she asked.

  “In this forest? I’d be liable to actually attract a hive to inhabit my hair-nest. Or maybe some chipmunks would be interested in moving in.”

  In the mirror’s reflection, Silver could see Jana standing there, hands on her hips, observing her and their options. Her face lit up as another idea must have struck.

  “How about Rapunzel braids? You know, a few thick braids on the side, and I can do maybe a thin crown braid in the front.” Jana’s hands started to move, picking up strands of hair, and starting to weave them, as she talked. “Ooh, ooh, and we can put flowers in your hair.”

  “Sounds magnificent,” Silver said.

  “Tell me what it feels like,” she asked.

  Silver spun around in the chair, taking in her friend’s wistful look. “What? Getting mated?”

  “Being loved. Being made love to.”

  “It comes with a lot of responsibility,” Silver said.

  “What? I’m asking about being loved, and you talk about responsibility?”

  Silver took Jana’s hands into her own. “After meeting you a few months ago, I feel like I’ve known you forever. You’ve become my best friend, like I never had before, and I would never want anything bad to happen to you.”

  Tears sprung up in Jana’s eyes. “I feel the same way, you know. I grew up here with the tribe, but I never felt like I fit in until you came along and made me realize I wasn’t such an outcast. When Sheba threatened you … I could have killed her myself, and I don’t consider myself a violent person.”

  “You? Who took years and years of mistreatment from that awful woman, and never said or did anything about it?”

  A blush crept up the other woman’s face, and she hung her hair down. “Well, what she was saying was true. I haven’t shifted, and perhaps that trait would be passed down to my children. With you, though, there was no reason why she should have tried to have you killed.”

  “I was in her way.” Silver shrugged her shoulders. “She thought having me around would somehow sabotage her place within the Pack. It’s like my father couldn’t love me and her at the same time. Or, maybe I was just the continued representation of the relationship he had with my mother.”

  “Either way, I’m glad she’s gone. So …?”

  “Being with Viktor is one of the most magnificent feelings in the world. I can’t even begin to describe it.” Silver almost compared it to the moment after shifting and running free through the forest, at one with her own being and nature. That sense of freedom, and also contentment. Knowing she had found her place within the world. Then she thought of her friend again, and how she probably wouldn’t be able to relate to that description. “I am sure you will experience something similar very soon.”

  At the wedding—mating ceremony, she kept reminding herself—she’d paired Jana and Dominick. It was only natural they be together as the best man and maid of honor.

  “You are obviously not going to tell me anything.”

  “Okay, let me ask you something personal then. Have you ever had sex?”

  Jana’s cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red. “I can’t believe you just asked me that! Here you won’t tell me a thing about your relationship with Viktor, or even a smidgen about what it was like to be bitten by a vampire, and you want to know my sexual history?”

  Silver raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Well?”

  A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Dominick ducked his head in. Jana glanced at Silver quickly, as if to warn her against saying a word. Through miming gestures, she zipped her mouth.

  “Someone’s approaching the encampment on the trail, and I’m thinking it’s probably your brother,” Dom said. “I thought you might want to be out there to great him.”

  At first, after Dom’s mother had been vanquished from the Pack, Silver thought it might be awkward for him to stay. But quite the opposite had happened. Her stepbrother had matured and grown into quite a fine man, and contributor to the Pack as a whole. If something happened to her father, he still would be one of the natural leaders to take over. As her mate, the other responsibility would fall to Viktor. All that would be void, though, if Trevor ever wanted to join them. Silver couldn’t imagine that happening.

  “Most definitely,” she said.

  She couldn’t believe how excited she was to see Trevor. Here she’d gone most of her life living within a family that wasn’t her own—adopted. Oh, they treated her fine but she never fully belonged, and for good reason, too. She wasn’t human! Now, she had more family than she knew what to do with.

  She rushed out of the cabin, with Jana and Dom slowly following behind. She glanced back. They were talking, her hand touching his chest. She didn’t need the young lovebirds to greet her brother.

  She passed through the commons area without stopping to say hello, and headed for the trail. A whistling and singing echoed through the forest, and around the bend came Trevor, holding the hand of a boy who looked to be around five years old. Draped over his other arm lay a puffy cloud of white.

  “Auntie Sil!” The boy dropped his father’s hand and ran to her.

  “Lowell?” She caught him in her arms, and lifted him up. “How you’ve grown …”

  She made eye contact with her brother, lifting her eyebrows up in question.

  “I know. We’re hoping the Wolfe Pack may be able to shine a little light on our super-boy.”

  “What’s in the bag?” Silver asked, eyeing the misplaced package Trevor carried.

  “Oh, this old thing,” he teased, unfurling the material until the sunlight shimmered on a thousand pearls and sequins. “It’s just your wedding dress.”

  She squealed, reaching out for the delicacies.

  Her brother moved it out of her reach. “No touching unless you’re absolutely clean. You don’t think Lily and Lawrence would let me come all the way out here for your ceremony without sending a divine dress, did you?”

  “I hoped,” she said. “I was resigned to wearing my best jeans, or a gown fashioned from leaves.”

  “That would never do. And
I’m instructed to take tons of photos. After we get settled, I’ll need some strong werewolves to hike back to the car with me and bring all the treasures that we brought from New Orleans. Hope you’re in the mood for some candied pecans, because we’ve got a trunkful of them.”

  “But no more beneigts,” Lowell said seriously. “We ate all of those on the long drive.”

  “Shhh, remember that was supposed to be our little secret.” Trevor held his finger up in front of his lips. “Let’s put this dress away before your beau accidentally sees it—we don’t want to invite bad luck—then we’ll go meet everyone.”

  * * * *

  Viktor wasn’t sure what to expect from Silver’s brother Trevor, but the slender, muscular man resembled his mate-to-be so much that he immediately felt comfortable with him. Soon they would be kin.

  “I thought you said his son was only born this past year. He looks much older than that.”

  Silver hushed him, and said under her breath. “We were hoping maybe it was his wolf genes accelerated that was making him grow so quickly.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. There’s the shorter gestation period for pregnancy, and a slightly faster growth rate, but nothing like him, and I don’t know if you’ve analyzed his scent at all, but he’s got a different odor.” He looked toward the boy. “A little vampire.”

  He realized he had said the last word, almost as if it was a bad word. Before he could apologize, Silver interrupted. “Well, his other father is a vampire, and there were some complications during birth, and Lily had to take some of Law’s blood. Could that have done it?”

  “I don’t know. The intermingling between the Others doesn’t happen all that often.” He didn’t want to bring up her relationship with Nick. Way too soon for that, and neither one of them needed that memory hanging over their heads during their mating ceremony.

  Quiet settled over the gathered Pack as Nathaniel entered the common area. Without hesitation, he approached Trevor.