“Let’s just get out of here,” she murmured when he reached her, turning and opening the back door to the truck. “We can talk later. But you’ve kept your family waiting long enough.”
Chapter 5
Carla knew, from her phone conversations with Wyatt, that extreme changes had been taking place both up in Shadow Peak, as well as in the Alley, since she’d left to find Eli. Fully aware that war was coming, the Runners had made the young and the elderly their first priority. They’d initially thought to bring everyone into the Alley itself, but when it became clear that there simply wasn’t enough room, they’d used one of the nearby glades as a sort of base camp they were calling Alpha One.
Mobile accommodations had been purchased and brought up the mountainside with rented big rigs, and the security was top notch, thanks to the volunteer scouting patrols. Every willing Lycan was going through combat training with the Runners, as well as working the patrols in the woods, with extra patrols being run around the clock for Alpha One. In her mind, she pictured the clearing looking like some kind of survivalist camp from an apocalyptic zombie film, but knew that Wyatt and the guys would have created something that was not only safe, but also comfortable.
As for their loved ones, the Runners had brought them closer to home. In fact, many of the couples now had parents or grandparents staying with them, in addition to their siblings.
She’d explained all this to Eli and his men over one of their meals, as well as the fact that two of the empty cabins in the Alley had been set up for their use. Carla herself would be staying with Elise and Wyatt, in their spare bedroom, since she’d agreed to let the soon-to-be mothers from town, three of who were due any day now, to use her place. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea of people she didn’t know that well staying there, but their safety was more important than her feelings. The four Lycan females with newborns were already staying in the last free cabin, so there’d been nowhere else for the women to go.
To say that things were going to be damn crowded was a serious understatement. But since they expected the brunt of the attack to come in Shadow Peak, no one was willing to risk leaving anyone there who couldn’t fight.
A few minutes later, they reached the Alley, which had gotten its name from a pure-blooded Lycan who’d once referred to the Bloodrunners as nothing more than a bunch of “back-alley mongrels.” But despite the negative connotations of its name, Bloodrunner Alley was a stunning place, built in a secluded, slightly sloping glade and surrounded by the wild, natural beauty of the forest. And thanks to some hard work, they had all the modern amenities, from power to hot water and high-speed Internet access, just like they did up in Shadow Peak. The mercenaries would be comfortable there, and accepted, though she wasn’t holding her breath on how things would go for them with the pack up in town until she saw it for herself. Wyatt had told her that public opinion had started to take a dramatic swing in the Runners’ favor since she’d been gone, and she was looking forward to witnessing the change.
Carla had called Wyatt when they’d finally climbed back into the trucks, debriefing him on the ambush so that no one would be shocked by their fresh-from-a-fight appearance. The mercs had all pulled on clean shirts before driving up, but they still looked like serious badasses who had just been in a brutal battle. Make that gorgeous badasses, and she almost snorted at the thought of so much testosterone descending upon the Alley as they parked and exited the vehicles. God only knew the place was already drenched in it, thanks to Wyatt and the guys. Now it would be practically swimming in the stuff, and she was thankful as hell to have the other women there with her. Carla knew she might not be the girliest of girls, but she treasured her female friends as dearly as she did her Bloodrunning brothers.
Standing back a little so that she could watch Eli’s reunion with his family, her stomach tight with nerves, her eyes actually watered when she spotted Elise hurrying toward the group, the female Lycan’s bright blue eyes focused on her brother.
“Eli!” she cried, running toward him, her red hair streaming behind her. She threw herself into his arms, burying her face against his shoulder. “You’re home,” she cried, hugging him tight as he wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t believe it. I’ve missed you so much!”
“Hey, baby girl,” he murmured against her hair, holding her with one arm so that he could throw the other around Eric, who had just joined them. He gave his brother a hard hug, slapping him on the back in that way that guys did.
Eric’s deep voice was gruff with emotion. “It’s great to see you, man, but I hate that you had to come back to this shit.”
“I’m just glad to be home,” he said in a low voice. “I stayed away for too damn long.”
Though Elise was a redhead, and Eric and Eli were both dark-haired, there was no mistaking that they were all related. She’d never seen the three dark wolves together before in the same place, and it was a stunning sight to behold, if not a little intimidating. Created when two exceptionally pure-blooded Lycans produced offspring, a dark wolf bloodline was the most powerful that there was within their world. As well as the most deadly.
The Drake siblings were like werewolf royalty, their blood as blue as the original werewolf king himself. A fact that only solidified her belief that Eli had never planned on revealing their relationship to the pack. Royalty didn’t marry from the lower classes. The partial bond between them was no doubt a result of lust and too much alcohol, and she was surprised he hadn’t shown more enthusiasm about breaking it. When his fangs had touched her throat the night before in her motel room, he’d certainly run fast enough, as if the idea of completing the bond was something he abhorred.
Yeah, like I didn’t see that one coming, she thought bitterly, trying to keep her emotions from showing on her face. If Wyatt was watching her from the growing crowd, he’d see right through her, and there were some things she’d rather keep to herself.
When Jillian came forward, pulling Carla into a crushing hug, she took a shocked breath as the happy news she’d just gleaned from her friend’s scent crashed into her. “Jilly, you’re pregnant!” she squealed, her troubles momentarily forgotten in the excitement.
“I know!” the beautiful blonde said with a bright smile as she pulled back to see Carla’s face. “Don’t be mad, but I made Wyatt promise not to tell you over the phone. I wanted it to be a surprise.”
Carla knew that Jillian and Jeremy had started trying to conceive before she’d left, and had even started converting the spare room in their cabin into a nursery, and she couldn’t have been happier for the couple. If anyone deserved to get everything they wanted out of life, it was those two. Their past had been as pain-filled as her and Eli’s, but on a public scale, and there’d been a time when no one had believed they would ever reconcile. But all of the doubters had been proven wrong.
Jillian came from an extraordinary line of witches called Spirit Walkers, who had long-served the Silvercrest Lycans as their holy women, or healers. As witches, Jillian, her mother and her sister, Sayre, couldn’t shape-shift like the rest of their pack. But they were formidable in other ways, their powers growing stronger as they aged. Which meant that if Jillian and Jeremy had a daughter, she was going to grow up to be a serious little ass-kicker, and Carla couldn’t help but love that idea.
“I’m so excited for you, Jilly. You and Jeremy are going to be the best parents ever, and we’re all going to spoil that little hellion like crazy.”
Jillian laughed, obviously of the same mind that any child of Jeremy Burns would be a troublemaker. But an adorable one, without doubt.
Introductions were still being made all around them, thanks to Eli, and Carla figured she should make her way over to Wyatt, who she’d finally spotted standing near Brody. Her partner looked as if he was still trying to decide whether he wanted to hug her for making it back or strangle her for taking off without him in the first place. She couldn’t even work up any attitude to throw back in his face because she knew
she’d feel the same if the situation had been reversed. Wyatt wasn’t upset because she was a woman and he didn’t think she could handle herself. After all the years they’d worked together, he knew she was as capable as any of the male Runners. But they were like family to each other, and she hated that she’d worried him.
Jeremy came up and wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, and Carla was about to murmur that she needed to go and talk to Wyatt, when Jeremy muttered, “Well, this should be interesting.”
“What should be?” Jillian asked, but Carla had already seen what had caught Jeremy’s attention. Lev had come to stand on Carla’s other side, his heavy-lidded gaze focused on Jillian’s younger sister, Sayre, who was talking to her mother and Brody’s wife, Michaela. The mercenary was eyeing Sayre like he’d just found something good he needed to taste, and Cian—a badass, gorgeous, womanizing Irishman and the only single Runner left besides herself—looked ready to kill.
Lev’s interest she could understand. Sayre was an incredibly beautiful eighteen-year-old witch with blue-gray eyes and curly, strawberry-blond hair. So, yeah, it was understandable for men to get a little lust-eyed in her presence. What everyone in the Alley was still trying to figure out was why the Irishman kept getting so pissed off about it. And he was definitely pissed.
“What’s his problem?” Lev murmured to their small group, when he noticed how Cian was watching him.
“He’s a little, um, protective where she’s concerned,” Jillian explained a bit awkwardly, as if she didn’t really know what to say.
Lev looked Cian over with a careful eye, then frowned. “Isn’t he a little old for her?”
Jeremy snorted. “And you’re not, Slivkoff?”
“I’m young where it counts,” the merc rumbled, which made the women who’d heard him laugh. Lev smirked while Jeremy just shook his head.
“You’re gonna be trouble, aren’t you?” Jeremy muttered.
“Naw,” Lev drawled, his blue-green eyes twinkling with mischief. “I’ve promised the boss man to be on my best behavior.”
Carla snickered under her breath, thinking Lev’s “best” was probably a far cry from anything that could be considered good.
“So what the hell happened down on the road?” The question came from Mason, who had walked over to join them just as Eli slipped in between her and Lev, the warm breeze whipping Mason’s reddish-brown hair around the rugged angles of his handsome face. “I know Wyatt got a phone call, but I’d like to hear exactly how it went down.”
While Eli gave a detailed account of the ambush, Carla stepped away from the group, needing to put some distance between her and the sexy merc. Wyatt must have been waiting for her to separate from the group, because he headed right for her, hugging her so tight that he lifted her clear off the ground. “So glad you made it back in one piece,” he rumbled, ruffling her hair when he set her back on her feet.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she teased, trying not to let him see how emotional she was. But he always had been able to read her like a book.
His voice dropped, and his gaze sharpened. “I know you didn’t want to get into it over the phone, but now that you’re back, we’re having that talk.”
“Sure thing, Dad,” she drawled, rolling her eyes.
Wyatt shook his head and snorted. “It’s good to see that your little road trip didn’t kill your smart-ass streak.”
“As if anything ever could.”
He laughed, then snagged Elise’s hand as she walked by him, pulling her into his side. The next thing Carla knew, they were surrounded by everyone, and Wyatt was shaking hands with Eli, who had resumed his place beside her. Jillian started talking to her again, and Carla turned to give her friend her full attention. She was still busily chatting away with Jillian a few minutes later, when she heard something off to her right that caught her attention.
“I’ll stay with Carla,” Lev had drawled, sliding her a sexy smile and a wink when she quickly turned her head to look at him. “She needs someone watching out for her.”
The group had obviously started talking about the sleeping arrangements, and she wondered what Lev was up to, seeing as how she’d already told them where they would be staying.
“The hell you will,” Eli muttered, looking ready to take Lev’s head off.
“No one’s staying with Carla because Carla’s staying with me and Elise,” Wyatt pointed out in a dry tone, shaking his head in a way that said he clearly thought they were all acting like children. “And until I know what’s going on, neither of you are setting foot in our place.”
Eli frowned, glaring at Wyatt, which just made her partner smirk. Pall, as she often called him, knew damn well he’d just made it more difficult for Eli to get her alone.
“Eli, come on,” Eric murmured. “I’ll show you and your men down to your cabins.”
Eli turned his head, watching her with a hooded, smoldering gaze, and she sucked in a sharp breath, stunned that he was being so obvious. It was clear to everyone there that he didn’t want to leave her. Idiot male wasn’t even trying to hide that scalding burn of possession in his incredible, thick-lashed eyes. She could feel the curiosity and confusion among her friends ramping up until she wanted to scream.
“Come on,” Eric repeated, placing his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This is not the time or place, man, to get into it.” Confusion creased Eric’s brow. “Whatever the hell it is,” he added under his breath.
Though Eli remained silent, the other mercs told her they’d see her soon, their grins knowing and full of mischief, as if they were loving the tension between her and their friend. Then they headed toward the opposite end of the Alley, following along behind the Drake brothers. Carla wondered if the other women thought it was as impressive a sight as she did, the six tall, powerfully built men moving in ways that made it clear they were anything but human. The tense set of Eli’s broad shoulders as he spoke with his brother drew her attention, and she bit her lip, wishing she could read his thoughts.
The moment they were out of earshot, all eyes turned to her. Her closest friends, the ones Carla considered her family, were waiting for an explanation. And they weren’t exactly patient, their low voices crashing into each other like storm-tossed waves as they gathered around her, demanding to know what was going on. Only Jillian stayed silent, the look of concern in her brown eyes letting Carla know that her friend was worried about how she was handling everything.
Not well, Jilly, she tried to say with her eyes. Not well at all.
“Everyone be quiet,” Wyatt finally cut in, placing his hand on her shoulder as he looked over the group. “This is between Carla and Eli. When she’s ready to spill the story, she’ll let you know. Until then, leave her alone about it.”
She blinked, amazed by his loyalty, even though she should have become accustomed to it by now. They might fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but he’d always had her back when it counted.
“Yeah, I guess we should probably head home for the night,” Jeremy drawled with a sheepish grin, after Jillian nudged him. “But it’s good to have you back, Reyes.”
“It’s good to be home,” she replied, knowing she’d never meant it more than she did in that moment.
“I’d like to say good-night to Eli,” Elise said, squeezing Wyatt’s hand and giving Carla a brief smile before she headed toward the cabins at the far end of the glade. God only knew what Elise was making of this thing between her and Eli, but Carla trusted El not to go blabbing to him about the questions everyone had just bombarded her with.
There were hugs and murmurs of good-night as the others headed back to their respective cabins, and then Carla pulled her bag, which James had brought over for her, onto her shoulder. Listening to the crickets chirping all around them, while an owl hooted in the distance, she walked with Wyatt over to the cabin he shared with Elise. “If it’s okay with you,” she said around a yawn, after he’d shut the door behind them, “I’m going to head
on back to your guest room and crash.”
“The room is all set up for you,” he murmured, “but you’re not running off just yet.”
Carla lifted her brows. “I’m not?”
Shaking his head, Wyatt folded his arms over his chest and sat on an arm of the brown leather sofa that was placed perpendicular to the fireplace. “I might not make you talk to the others right now, but you’re not getting off that easy.”
“Meaning you want the story tonight,” she said dully.
His expression was concerned, but kind. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on, Carla. You’re going to have to trust me. We’ve been through too much together not to rely on each other when we need to.”
She shot him a disgruntled look as she let her heavy bag slip to the floor. “You didn’t trust me with the truth about Elise.”
“Because I didn’t think I could have her.” His dark eyes were piercing as they studied the strain on her face. “The situation isn’t the same.”
“It doesn’t matter whether I can have Eli or not. I don’t want him.”
With a snort, he said, “Come on, Reyes. Lying is just wasting our time.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets and scowled. “Lie? Truth? None of it matters, Pall. We would be a disaster just waiting to happen.”
“You sure that isn’t your mother talking?”
Wyatt knew the story of how a sixteen-year-old Nicole Cates had been seduced by an older male who’d sold her lies about how he could feel a bond building between them, while maintaining she was still too young for him to claim with a mating bite. Too naïve to know any better, she’d fallen for his deception and had given him her virginity, only to learn that he’d been using her. And her luck hadn’t improved as she moved on from one abusive Lycan lover to another, until she’d finally sworn off pack males for good, drowning her sorrows in cheap booze and clueless human lovers. A weekend-long affair in Annapolis had resulted in Nicole’s pregnancy, though Nicole and the man were virtual strangers. All her mother could tell her was that he was Spanish and his name was Antonio Reyes. Carla had taken the name Reyes for herself once Nicole had made it clear that she cared more about her alcohol than her daughter.
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