by Kamryn Hart
“Let’s just get all this shit over with,” he said, leaving the bathroom.
Nick led the way through the now empty mansion and found Christopher waiting for him and his sister outside. He was holding the keys to Ivan’s SUV.
“I’m glad you’re safe Willow,” he said, nodding curtly.
“Thanks,” she replied with a shrug.
Then he turned his attention to Nick. “Ready to finish this?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Nick replied.
The trio hopped into the SUV. Christopher drove them to the thicket where a measly fifty-six wolves were gathered. Unless some wolves had already fled, this pack was even smaller than Nick’s one hundred and eight.
All eyes were on Nick as he said, “On the next Full Moon, travel to Moonwatch and pledge to me as your Alpha.” He didn’t say he was giving them a choice, but he wasn’t going to chase down any wolves who didn’t want to be part of his pack. They could try to make it alone or find another pack, but he knew there were no other packs in Idaho. The likeliness of the few wolves that might leave would join together to form their own pack was small. Either way, his pack would be the most formidable around. He wasn’t worried.
The new wolves bowed before Nick, a promise to pledge to him on the next Full Moon. This action slightly strengthened his claim on them. He was an Alpha, so he could have forced them to bend to his will, especially since he killed their Alpha, but he preferred not to rely on brute force alone. Forcing wolves to follow him was not the kind of Alpha he was. It wasn’t the kind of Alpha his father was.
After every wolf there had bowed to him, showing their submission, he allowed them to disperse, to go back to their lives in Eastbrook with Howard in charge. Nick would have left Christopher, but he worked too closely with his Beta to be separated by that kind of distance. Christopher would have been the best suited, but he felt good about this arrangement. Howard could take care of things here until another arrangement was made.
For now, Nick was leaving Eastbrook to go back to Moonwatch. He had a human problem he couldn’t take care of on his own. He hoped Julie would have answers for him because he didn’t know how long he could hide his Lunas Sigil. Even if he somehow got rid of the mark, he worried he’d never forget the woman imprinted on his heart.
Chapter 5
GWEN WOKE UP LATE, which bothered her. She never overslept, but apparently her body needed the extra rest. She was rejuvenated and ready for action. There were no updates on the poachers. No one had found them, and so she set out to do whatever tracking she could on her own. She walked up and down the Twin River. She thoroughly inspected where the river divided into two winding bodies and joined again, but wherever the poachers got off, she could find no sign of them. There was a possibility they wouldn’t be back, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be causing trouble elsewhere.
She hated to think they were out there harming some poor innocent creatures, but all she could do now was keep an eye out. Sighing, she walked back through Blue Forest on her way to her cabin. She kept her eyes sharp, searching for any clues. She ended up finding some tracks, but they didn’t belong to poachers. They belonged to a wolf.
Frowning, she looked at the moon-like mark on her right hand. It wasn’t itching anymore, but her skin was still odd and pearly, almost like that texture left by an old scar. It had a slightly different shape than it did yesterday. It was fuller, not as defined of a crescent. Her thoughts led her back to the wolfman she met yesterday in all his naked glory. He had to be a wolfman. She was convinced he was the same as the wolf she saw. Really convinced. Or maybe it was more like she wanted to believe they were the same. A world where something like that was possible would be fascinating. More than fascinating. It felt right. Her chest grew warm at the thought. What she wouldn’t give to be a wolf. It was a childhood fantasy that had never died. She had grown up and accepted it as impossible, but it never died. Now she knew things like that were possible, and it brought back a spark of wonder that had been buried.
She wanted to understand what was going on. It wasn’t like she saw him change into a wolf or a human, but what other conclusion could she come to? They had the same exact wounds, and he was bare-ass naked in her cabin. She smiled to herself at the memory. At least she could revisit his gorgeous body in her mind whenever she wanted.
She wondered how he was doing. He was pretty beat up the last time she saw him—though it didn’t seem to bother him.
She bent down to get a better look at the wolf tracks she found. She thought about following them. She hoped they belonged to him, but there was no way she could know that based on the tracks alone. There was no telling what kind of wolf she’d run into if she followed them. It stood to reason that there would be others like her wolfman. Tracking wolves might not get her anywhere at all if they could change at will, but if she looked at the cities closest to Blue Forest, that might tell her something. If there were humans that could turn into wolves, they’d probably want a nice open space where they could… be their wolf. That was what she would want.
That was it. She made a decision. One way or another, she was going to meet him again. She was going to learn what this wolf thing was all about and what the deal was with the mark on her hand. A part of her hoped he’d come back to see her, but she wasn’t going to wait on that possibility. She was never the type to wait for something she wanted. This situation called for action. It wasn’t just about the wolf thing, even though that was a huge factor. She needed to see him again. There was an anxious squeeze in her chest when she thought about him, when she remembered the heat in her core, the weakness in her legs, her wet underwear. She remembered the electric feel of his skin when she touched him.
She needed to know what it all meant.
Moonwatch was buzzing with impatience when Nick returned with his wolves and his liberated sister late in the morning. The energy started to die down when he and the others got out of their trucks, and Willow’s scent became easily detectable. Nick would have preferred leaving all explanations to his Beta so he could go straight to Julie, but that would have raised questions. Blue Pack more or less gathered itself together. That meant he didn’t have to call an actual meeting and was able to get everything out of the way in a timely manner. It wasn’t until he was sure he wouldn’t be missed that he sought Julie out among the wolves crowding Willow. He knew his sister was loved by the pack, but she was also one last shred of hope they had for reviving the Wolf—along with himself.
He wondered if his pack resented him for not trying harder.
He touched the fifty-eight-year-old history keeper’s arm. Though wolf shifters aged like humans, they retained their looks and strength for much longer. If not for the gray streaks in her hair, she probably could have passed for being in her forties still.
“I need to speak with you,” Nick said quietly.
Julie turned to face him and replied, “Certainly, Alpha.”
Nick led the way out of the group of Blue Wolves occupied with Willow to the Alpha Den. He let Julie inside the woodsy mansion and wasted no time leading the way to the sitting room, bypassing the grand foyer. Julie had seen it all before and wasted no time gawking at anything. She sat down on a comfy velvety sofa and looked at her Alpha expectantly. Nick took an equally cushy chair positioned across from hers.
“You got your sister back without a single scratch,” Julie noted.
“A good thing, too. I would have had to bring Ivan back to life so I could kill the bastard all over again,” Nick replied with some bite in his words.
Julie regarded him with a subtle blink. “It seems you didn’t come out so lucky though.”
“Willow treated my wounds. I’m fine.”
“And you seem to be healing very quickly. Your wounds were deep, but they’ve healed a great amount. I can tell that much. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wolf heal so quickly.”
Nick didn’t bother asking if other shifters healed this quickly. He knew that Julie, like most
wolves who lived in packs, didn’t know any shifters besides other wolves.
“Is that why you needed to speak with me?” Julie asked.
Her light brown eyes etched with green spots seemed to glow as she inspected him more thoroughly. Those eyes along with Julie’s fair skin were traits her son inherited. Nick didn’t blame Julie for what happened with Casey, but it was impossible not to be reminded of him when he looked at her. He wondered if she had to deal with that exact thing every time she looked in a mirror.
Julie’s eyes rested on Nick’s left hand. He involuntarily placed his right hand on top of his left, making sure his Lunas Sigil was still covered with gauze. It was. He knew Julie wasn’t psychic or anything. He was getting jumpy for no reason. She was probably wondering why the “wound” on his hand was the only wound he bothered dressing. He hoped everyone else overlooked this oddity, but of course, it wouldn’t get past Julie. She was too observant.
He started to sweat. How was he going to explain this? How much would he say? He wouldn’t tell her about his overwhelming attraction to some human woman. He knew that much.
“It’s good the Storm Wolves will become a part of Blue Pack. We should all stand together. Fighting packs and claiming territory seems pointless considering everything,” Julie changed the subject as if sensing her Alpha’s discomfort, which she probably could. Though pack bonds weren’t soul binding, they still existed. And she was a wolf shifter. Her senses were acute.
“Yes, well, I wasn’t going to chance another Ivan. Willow isn’t some savior for the Wolf,” Nick replied. He had never chanced saying that to any of his packmates before, but if anyone would understand, he felt Julie would. The other wolves probably had their suspicions anyway. Nick wasn’t forcing his sister to mate with a wolf in another pack and they must have known he wasn’t looking. His excuse was that all the wolves they knew didn’t fit the criteria. They were either infertile or had wolfless children. He reasoned and told his pack that any child Willow had by any one of those wolves wouldn’t work. What he didn’t tell anyone was the fact he would never force his sister to become any wolf’s mate, no matter what it meant for the Wolf.
He was probably a terrible Alpha.
“Perhaps,” Julie replied quietly. Her eyes focused downward, on her hands. She was probably thinking about her son. If he hadn’t betrayed them, maybe he and Willow would have had pups. Nick could sense the history keeper’s sorrow.
He was about to say something to her when she brought her eyes back up to his and said, “Or perhaps she is. Or maybe it’s you.”
Nick cringed. Julie wanted him and Willow to save the Wolf as badly as the rest of the pack.
“You misunderstand,” she added. “I’m not saying you should force your sister to mate with some wolf from another pack. I don’t think that at all. But I do think the two of you have a bigger role to play than you seem to want to accept.”
Nick shook his head.
Julie zeroed in on him. “It seems like just yesterday you were a pup coming to my home to hear another story. Not so much these days.”
“When I was a naive pup I didn’t understand that the Moon has abandoned us. Maybe Casey figured that out the day he left us.” Nick hadn’t meant to let his bitterness show in that last line. He didn’t mean to bring up Casey, but the truth was, he hated and envied the ass-hat. He was free to do whatever the hell he wanted.
Julie frowned. “You’ve become so callused, Nick.”
“Because stories of a time when the Moon actually cared and when there were Fated Mates are too depressing to think about anymore. Julie, we’re in a situation I can’t fix. An Alpha is supposed to take care of their pack. I can’t do that.”
He couldn’t believe he just admitted that out loud. The one he should have been confiding in was his Beta, but he often forgot to keep himself in check around Julie. It might have had something to do with all of her knowledge of the past. It most likely had something to do with her being like a second mother to him. Howard was like a father. Casey was like a brother. Nick, Casey, and Willow were very close at one point. It made Casey’s decision to leave sting even more. Nick grew as distant as he could from Julie and Howard because it hurt too much to see them. He grew more distant from everyone after that. The rest of the pack did the same, becoming a ghost of the close family it was before. Just last month, Nick’s parents died in a fucking car accident and he became Alpha of a depressed pack. In the time he had been Alpha, he noticed the pack mood become even worse. Nick’s father had been actively looking for suitable mates for Nick and Willow while Nick was not.
“Nickolas Sipe,” Julie said in her mom voice. She leaned over and placed her hand on his knee, urging him to look into her wise eyes. “Those stories are about hope.”
Sighing, Nick leaned back and touched the gauze on his left hand. When he had Julie’s attention, he ripped it off. Her eyes flashed a brighter green, but her expression stayed neutral when she caught sight of the sheen on the back of his hand.
“What does this mean?” he asked in a flat tone.
She replied, “I think you know exactly what it means. You used to know my stories as well as Willow.”
“Humor me, Julie.”
She caught his hand and tilted it back and forth to catch the neutral electric light above them, studying the sheen of his skin. “This is a Lunas Sigil. A Mark of the Moon. Have you noticed if it changes shape with the Moon?”
“I just got it, but it does look a little different today,” Nick said quietly.
“You got it last night,” Julie deduced.
“Yeah, long story short, I got attacked by some Storm Wolves when I went out for a run and caught Willow’s scent. They wasted my time, and then I ran into some fucking poachers who got a good hit on me. I should have died from the wound, but this ranger found me. She got close to me. For some reason, she wanted to help me, and then my wolf took control. I bit her right hand, and a while later, my left hand got this mark.”
“A mirror image,” Julie commented. Then she smiled, brighter than Nick could remember her smiling since her son left her. “This is a good sign! You accessed the power of the Moon. You and this ranger woman have entered into a contract. She was willing to save you, and so the Moon was able to save your life, seal a contract between the two of you, through her.”
Nick’s mouth hung ajar. He almost let it slip that there was more to the story than accessing Lunas. He reacted to that human woman in a way that terrified him. In a way that was wrong. He didn’t see how any of this was a good sign. He knew his packmates wouldn’t approve if they knew. The Moon was mocking him and the Wolf. It was the only explanation for any of this.
The Moon had forsaken them, and perhaps Nick would be the key to bring the other wolves down. Julie was wrong. He wasn’t a savior. He was a destroyer.
“But the contract wasn’t fulfilled,” Nick stated as he reclaimed his hand and wagged it in front of his face, showing Julie the obvious scar-like sheen of a crescent moon on his skin. “The mark is still there.”
“So it is,” Julie noted.
Nick sighed. “So how do I get rid of it?”
“You must fulfill your end of the contract.”
“By doing what? Saving her life?”
“Most likely. Unless you consciously made a contract with certain stipulations.”
Nick shook his head. He didn’t lay the ground for any kind of contract. It all happened in a state of delirium. He wasn’t in control when it happened.
“Then yes, I’d say saving her life is the safest bet,” Julie concluded.
Nick growled. “I can’t stick around and wait for some damn human’s life to be in peril so I can get rid of this contract. I need a way to get rid of it now.”
Julie studied him quietly. “That human saved your life,” she pointed out.
Taken aback, Nick replied, “You don’t see this as a problem? A human, Julie. You didn’t miss that part, right?”
Nick was raised to ne
ver associate with humans unless necessary. Julie’s son snuck out and met with humans, and they were probably a big reason why he freaked out and left like he did. The pack already didn’t like humans, but wolves like Casey, lone wolves, painted humans in an even worse light. Nick’s father forbid the pack to associate with humans. After Casey left, it got even worse. Nick was upholding his father’s legacy to the best of his ability, trying to run everything the way he did. But he was constantly falling short between not punishing Willow for spending her nights with humans and not actively looking for mates to save the Wolf. He also never planned for this. He never thought he would have become Alpha under such unfortunate circumstances, and he certainly never expected the powerful, regal wolves that were his mother and father, would have ever died in something like a car accident. But wolf shifters weren’t invincible. Neither were his parents.
“I heard you,” Julie informed. She pursed her lips. “Maybe you could break the contract if this human woman agrees to release you from upholding your end of the contract. Maybe.”
“A maybe is all I need,” Nick said as he stood from his seat.
Julie stood with him and grabbed his arm. “Think about this, Nick,” she said as if he had another choice.
“I have thought about it,” he growled. “Humans have been a problem for us for a long time. I can’t have a contract with one. Think of what that would do to the pack. It would look like their Alpha has left them for a human like how those fucking selfish lone wolves have abandoned pack life for humans. Like Casey. For all we know, the humans are the reason behind children being born wolfless. The Moon doesn’t want us anymore, so instead of turning us Berserker, it’s letting us die out quietly.”
Nick felt sick over the words slipping out of his mouth. He was spilling the same poison he had been fed his entire life even though he wasn’t sure he entirely believed it.
Julie whispered, “Maybe your father, Alpha John, and the other wolves are wrong.”
Growling, Nick pulled his arm away from her. “You better keep that thought to yourself because you’re probably the only one besides Willow who feels that way.”