Olivia tried to listen. But she didn’t focus well under pressure.
Gianna snapped her fingers. “Try and keep up here, little princess.”
“My name’s Olivia,” she spat.
Gianna waved her off.
“Well Ethan had been sneaking over the border—you know that big ravine you crossed—thinking he and dear sis were going to solve the whole family drama thing. She got pregnant, and in typical Heather fashion, she found a way to use everything to her advantage. She’s my dad through and through. Hates being tied down has everyone fooled until the last second. Long story short, dad goes after Ethan’s dad to challenge him for the right to his pack out of retribution for ruining Heather.”
Olivia knew she was gawking at this point. Poor Ethan. He didn’t seem vulnerable, but this story didn’t sound like the confident man he was around her.
“Believe me, Heather ruined herself long before. Hell, she ran off the second she could give that kid to Ethan. Or rather as soon as she could figure out how to use Pike blood for her own advantage.”
Some crash course. “What’s Pike blood?”
Gianna rolled her eyes and sniffed her. “You’re not from around here, are you? Are you even a born wolf? Pike blood. The Pike Valley pack.”
”Sorry.”
“Yeah. You’re some upgrade from Heather. Whatever. Alphas have to beat the existing Alphato lay claim. His dad lost to my dad, then he beat my dad. The asshole that was in here though?”
“Kurt?”
“Yeah him. He bends the rules. There was no way for him to beat Ethan. So instead of following pack law, Kurt thought he could barter his way into the alpha position. Ethan’s daughter for Kurt to get the Ashburn pack.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
Gianna shrugged. “I’m tired. My father was an abusive asshole and Kurt isn’t any better. Until our alpha steps up, nothing will change. I hate Ethan for walking away, but I hate Kurt even more.”
Ethan might be exactly what she’d thought. He was a good man. A little misguided. A little impulsive, but he was what you saw. He never claimed to be any different.
Once she got out of this, Olivia vowed to let go of the notion that all men would let you down.
“If what all you say is true, why am I here? I haven’t done anything to you. I don’t see why you’re being so rude.” Olivia said, trying to relax her muscles.
Gianna settled in, her torn jean shorts showing a lot of skin, but not nearly as much as Olivia. She eyed Gianna and assumed the woman was one of those natural super-models.“Kurt wasn’t lying. You’re bait. The tent is the best way we could think of to make sure Ethan finds you. Well, the tent was my idea. He wanted to tie you to a tree. I’m at the point that one of them needs to kill the other. I either want to be free from Kurt or at least have him stop acting like we’re fighting a war. Our pack is a bunch of morons, and I’m tired of it.”
“You’re okay with him dying?”
Olivia knew she was poking at Gianna.
“Don’t you ever say that. I take care of mine. Kurt has a vendetta. He wants to be the alpha. I suppose he thinks you are the advantage he needs to beat Ethan. I just want this pack to survive. Kurt couldn’t love anyone if he tried.”
Olivia chewed her lower lip. “Is that how this all works? Kill or be killed? Ethan’s brother said something about how a pack needs balance and I was it. Or they implied that. Can’t someone just balance out Kurt?”
Instant regret had her shying away.
“Two minutes in our world and you think you know it all? Is that what you think mating is? Marriage? Just finding someone?”
“Well, no.”
“Marriage anyone can do at any time to anyone. Marriage is some stupid thing humans do to feel a connection deeper than lust. Mating is what your soul deep need is. The answer to your deepest darkest desires and fears. And you can’t just choose it. Animals know by instinct who they are meant to be with. It’s in our blood, in our souls, an ancient magic to control the rage and passion that fuels us.”
Gianna got up to leave. “You better hope for your sake that this bond is strong and that mate of yours is stronger. Tonight, you walked right in and gave Kurt the opportunity he needed.”
As Gianna walked out, Olivia sat in darkness, a paralyzing regret gnawing at her. What had she done?
Chapter 14
“We have to go get her,” Ethan said.
“Yeah. We got that. The question is where is she? No one can track her,” said Wes.
Ethan paced the kitchen. He froze and raised his head. Finally, something. She was calling him.
“She’s on Ashburn lands. Let’s go,” Ethan said to those in the room with him and bolted to the door.
Before Ethan could head outside, little hands found their way around his waist.
“Daddy, what’s all the yelling for?” Amelia rubbed her face against his pants.
“Sorry baby girl. I’m just worried. Sometimes when I worry, I get angry. Sorry, I woke you.”
His heart sank. Amelia deserved a mom. Deserved a childhood and a real life. Olivia would do right by her, there was no doubt in his mind. Except for the fact that she’d bolted the second he mentioned Amelia. Maybe Olivia didn’t know her potential, but he did. She was kind and caring. Her soul was pure, like the white of her wolf.
Damn though, if her running off didn’t hit him right in the chest.
Amelia smiled. “The new wolf, she’s in trouble.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighed. Of course, she knew about Olivia. The entire pack did. Amelia was simply too young to understand it all.
“Yes. She’s a little lost, and we need to go find her.”
His mother came up behind Amelia.
“Why don’t we go watch from the front windows while Daddy and the rest of the pack figure out what to do? Does that sound good?”
“I dreamed of her, you know. She’s beautiful. Daddy. She’s probably in the caves.”
He froze.
“Sweetie? How do you know about the caves?”
She shrugged. “Mommy. I don’t feel her anymore, but she used to dream about caves. And that lady, I can see her sometimes in my sleep. Tonight, that’s what I saw.”
The good was that Amelia wasn’t wandering off into Ashburn Pack territory. The bad was that Olivia had already connected to his little one and she hadn’t even met her yet. That and Olivia was in enemy land. They now had the confirmation needed to break the treaty, and cross the lines. Why he’d ever agreed to such a one-sided agreement he'd never know, but then again he looked at his reason as she gazed up to him rubbing at her eyes again.
“Alright, baby. You go ahead and help grandma. Maybe she will lie down with you.”
“Okay, daddy.”
As they walked away into the other room, his heart broke a little more. He’d screwed up and given into his needs instead of his daughter’s. How could he have been so irresponsible? Then again, he wouldn’t have his baby if he’d always been the smart one. Too much heart, that’s what his father always said.
Right now though, without his heart, he’d question everything more than he already did.
He understood why Olivia spooked. It wasn’t Amelia. It was a threat of another female. Hell, he’d had all the same irrational anger at the mention of an old fiancé. Ethan supposed he was stronger since he didn’t run and kill the guy. It was that, or he had too much other stuff to scare Olivia off with, being all testosterone and male wasn’t going to help.
Alright, enough with the feels for now.
Once Amelia had left the kitchen he looked at everyone in the kitchen.
“Here’s the plan. Brody and Wes, you take the pack and spread out. I can feel her, she’s deep into their territory. It’s time to take back what is mine. No more living like watch-dogs.”
He took long strides, getting to the door quickly. Kurt was a loose cannon. The odds were he was waiting for Ethan.
Breathing in
the night air, the fresh pine a natural energy boost, he shed his clothes with the rest of the pack. They’d stash them at the wood’s edge.
“We split up. Stay in pairs, start at the caves from the east and west. I’m still not able to figure out her exact location.”
One last nod, as their human forms were replaced by wolves.
Ethan could hear her, but he still couldn’t get a read on her location. He tried to reach out to Gianna, anyone in that pack. He couldn’t track Kurt except for smell.
Something blocked him from knowing the exact information he craved. Ethan thought back. Olivia had the connection, but something about her magic changed the rules.
If she heard what he’d said, maybe she was trying to keep herself separate from the Ashburns, and a side effect was that she wasn’t fully accessible to him.
He pushed harder and sprinted through the undergrowth towards where he knew some of their camp to be. Kurt didn’t believe in luxury. A few rustic buildings were all that separated their pack from the forest.
Howls sounded in the night as several of the teams reached the cave. A barrage of visions came to him from the scouts. She wasn’t there.
He corrected his path slightly as a gust of wind carried a hint of her scent. Calling out to the others, he changed course.
Approaching the cleared area, Ethan knew Olivia was there. He crouched at the forest edge and studied the camp. Not much going on.
The scouts flanked him as they sat in wait near the edge of the brush. They tried to hide their thoughts from the traitors, talking as little as possible between them.
They sat in wait for several minutes until one of them flashed an image, the message clear.
There’s an old tent in the clearing. Her scent is strong from that direction.
All eyes focused on where he nodded. The problem was, within a matter of seconds the tent was gone and the entire center of the camp.
What is that? asked Wes.
Ethan shook his head. Fog?
It spread out quickly, eating up one foot at a time. If you blinked, you lost the next building.
The Pike Valley wolves backed up. Do we go in?
No. It’s Olivia. Her thoughts are broken, but it’s her. Stay here.
He crept along, meeting the dense white fog. This shit was creepy.
Within the fog, he couldn’t make heads or tails of where he was. It drowned out sound, sight, and as he sniffed, scent too.
Shit.
He called out to her with his mind. Her voice came through to him. Don’t move. I’m heading to the ravine.
You’re what? I’m not there. He responded.
Nothing. He moved as best he could in a cloud covered world. His sense of direction scrambled and his wolf roiled in frustration. The ravine. It wasn’t that far, but which direction?
He closed his eyes and felt for her. One foot in front of the other, he walked to an invisible beacon.
Olivia?
Nothing.
Twenty more steps.
The fog thinned as he moved, and he couldn’t decide if it was a good or bad sign until he heard her.
“Stop. Don’t you come any closer.”
Ethan started to sprint, he could see again. Nothing was perfect, but he could see. Her walls were down enough he could track her.
As he came around a large boulder formation, Olivia came into plain sight. Opposite her was a gray wolf. Kurt.
Ethan charged.
He rammed the wolf with his head, knocking him off balance.
Kurt corrected himself and charged back. They reared up on hind legs as they crashed together, teeth bared, looking for a place to sink in.
Ethan pushed back furiously, knocking Kurt on his back. He went in for the kill and stopped as he heard Olivia scream.
A split second is all it took for Kurt to take control.
Ethan caught site of Gianna leading Olivia somewhere, and from the fear radiating from her it wasn’t good. His wolf shoved at Kurt and sped after them. Olivia wasn’t trying to control the fog any longer, but some still lingered. He shifted as he got closer to them. He needed to talk some sense into them, he needed Olivia safe.
“Gianna, stop. What are you doing?”
She held a knife to Olivia’s throat.
“Put down the knife, Gianna. She’s innocent.”
Gianna laughed. “I don’t care. She’s one more thing distracting Kurt. As long as she’s around, you have one more weakness, and he’ll exploit it. You need to be our Alpha and decide what to do. I can’t live like this anymore. Either take control or die. I can’t live split any longer. None of us can. Kurt is no leader, but at least he’s consistent.”
Ethan slowed as if approaching a scared bird.
“I’m sorry, Gianna. You know the politics. I’m doing the best I can.”
She cackled and continued to pull Olivia towards the border of the ravine. Gianna’s eyes, wild and angry, scared him far more than Kurt.
A freight train of a man rammed Ethan from the side. He sucked in a sharp breath as pain radiated from his ribs.
Biting back the pain, Ethan grappled for dominance. He rolled out of Kurt’s reach and popped up on his feet. He winced at the first painful breath. He backed up, the fog around them growing thick again. A scream, not Olivia’s, broke through the quickly thickening fog.
“I want my pack back Ethan. You took it from me,” said Kurt.
“I didn’t take anything from you. Your alpha killed my father. I avenged him. I never wanted this.”
They circled an invisible center, posturing, remaining low to the ground.
“Because you're weak.”
Ethan roared out at that. “I’m not weak. I’ve been too forgiving, but never weak.”
Ethan lashed out with his foot and tripped Kurt who scrambled up and back.
“I will take you and your pack. I’ll then take your mate and your daughter. You’re weak. You should have killed me when you had the chance. You’re too soft, just like your old man.”
Ethan snarled, looking for the opportunity to strike. They kept moving backward.
“Some alpha you’d make, Kurt. Engage already.”
Kurt curled his upper lip. “Nothing like making you uneasy.”
Olivia’s voice echoed around them within the dense white.
“Kurt. Kurt.”
The words of her disembodied voice within the air had Kurt spinning around.
“What the hell?”
Ethan chuckled. “Full of surprises, isn’t she?”
“You broke pack law. No one will accept her,” Kurt said, still spinning, still ducking an invisible enemy.
“They will accept my mate. My pack will accept change. You’re not what they need to lead them into a new era. Stand down Kurt. Accept you’ve lost.”
Before Ethan could hear anything else, the fog cleared right as Kurt took a step back. Ethan knew that the wide-eyed fear on Kurt’s face as he started the descent to his death would haunt his memories.
Ethan ran to the edge and reached out, but it was too late.
Olivia caught up with him, wrapping her arms around his waist, as he crouched on the edge.
Chapter 15
Something small climbed up on Olivia and settled on her chest. She blinked twice and stared into tiny blue orbs.
“Tea?”
“What?”
Ethan chuckled and then hissed in a breath.
“She wants to know if you want to have a tea party.”
“You must be Amelia?”
“Yes. That me. Come, tea. Grandma made it.”
“Amelia, you’ll have a lot of time to have tea. Can you go bug grandma for a few more minutes? Daddy and Olivia had a really rough night.”
The little girl groaned and slid off the bed. “Fine. I count to ten and then you come.”
Olivia sat up as she watched tiny brown curls bobbing out the door.
”Do we really have to the count of ten?”
“She doesn’t
get time yet. She’ll be fine until we come down.”
Olivia yawned. “Honestly, I’m starving.” She looked over at Ethan and winced at the bruising around his ribs.
“That looks worse. You said you healed fast. Or well, we healed fast.”
She liked the way he looked in the early sunlight, even with a gross blue-greenish bruise.
“We do. He broke my ribs last night. A bruise is far less painful than broken ribs.”
Gently, her fingers traced the skin.
“I’m sorry this happened. I never should have left.”
“You shouldn’t have. I never got to tell you that Amelia’s mom is out of the picture. She left.”
Olivia nodded. “I know. And you’re right. My emotions are all over the place. Everything is hyper-aware.”
He slowly pushed himself up and sat. “I think that’s normal. Your body is going crazy with the power. Plus, mating makes us more territorial about our soul mates.”
She smiled. “I figured that out. Last night when they said you were the one they wanted to kill, my wolf wanted out for a fight and boy did I want her to. That being said, I realized I’m still not adept at being a wolf yet. So, she and I compromised.”
“Fog?”
“Fog seemed like the best distraction for me to escape.”
He nodded. “Yeah. So we saw.”
Ethan paused.
“Did you hear that?”
She shifted on the bed. “Yes. The pack. They’re outside waiting. Waiting for what?”
He looked around the room.“There. See those clothes? Put them on. It’s time for you to be presented to the pack.”
“Are these from your mom?”
He nodded. “We have a surplus of clothes. One never knows when a wolf drops buy.”
A few minutes later they both walked out into the field behind the house. Both packs, Ashburn and Pike Valley waited.
An uneasy line seemed to exist between the two. The Ashburns never looked up.
“I’m glad everyone’s here.” Ethan gave a questioning look to his brothers.
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