Eyeing the table, Willa decided there’d be no harm in letting the dinner dishes wait. Accepting the beer, she preceded him out the front door and waited at the top step. Barron laced his fingers with hers as if it were the most natural thing in the world before he led her toward the woods.
Because they were away from the city, the crickets’ chirping seemed louder, the stars seemed brighter, the moon fuller. Willa could feel anticipation flaring within. Her wolf was anxious. The she-wolf wanted to play with her mate, but Willa had to keep reminding them both that Barron wasn’t really theirs.
Barron broke into her reverie. “Dinner was…sensational.”
She smiled warmly. “I’m glad you liked you.”
“Why weren’t you mated, Willa?”
The smile left her eyes so suddenly that he wanted to punch himself in the nuts.
“I…” she shrugged. “I didn’t have time. I was helping Garner bring kids in, and then he got sick. It left me caring for him and the pack while still trying to work to pay the bills.”
“Did you have offers?” He felt like an ass when her cheeks flushed with the tell-tale sign that no males had been interested. “Fucking fools!” he hissed, squeezing her hand tighter. “You’re a phenomenal cook, an outstanding den mother, an exceptional Alpha, and an exquisite mate.” He grinned down at her and winked. “Stupid bastards, but lucky me.”
“Lucky you,” she mimicked, then tacked on more quietly, “for now.”
He stopped suddenly and bent in front of her. She watched his shoulders bunch and flex as he knelt in the moonlight to pick her a wildflower that was growing near the path they were walking. Still kneeling, he turned and held it up to her with a smile. Willa’s heart soared. He was the perfect mate. Considerate, patient, strong. Hell, she’d never met a more impressive man or wolf in her whole life. With him kneeling before her, she thought of his wolf. The magnificent beast was large and intimidating, yet beautiful. For a moment, she envisioned his wolf stalking prey under a full moon and knew instantly that he was a creature of the night, born for hunting under the veil of darkness.
Barron rose to his full height. “We should talk.”
Willa’s belly dropped. Here it comes.
“It’s been several weeks and there have been no more challenges.”
Willa nodded numbly, trying to brace herself for the impact.
“And I think we should address where we’re going from here.”
No! Pasting on a steely façade Willa forced herself to stay put, to keep from flinging herself into Barron’s arms and begging him to stay.
When Barron’s head snapped to the side, Willa realized she hadn’t even heard the rapidly approaching slap of feet on packed earth until they were nearly face-to-face with a puffing Cortez.
“S-Stranger!” He exclaimed, bending over to rest his hands on his knees and huffing again, “Stranger!”
Barron snarled and took off at a breakneck pace toward the house, and for the first time since the whole mess had started, Willa was glad that a challenger had come.
***
Willa shifted and raced for the house, her white wolf a blur in the darkness of the woods. Following her lead, Cortez shifted as well and raced to catch up.
When Willa hit the edge of the tree line, she was startled to find Barron embracing another, slightly smaller, male. Three other shifters were with the male, and all were smiling and talking excitedly. Cautiously, Willa approached.
“Willa,” Barron boomed happily. “This is my brother, Evander.”
Evander bowed his head in a show of respect. “Pleasure to see you again, Alpha Hutchinson.”
Barron motioned toward the male he’d just been embracing then gestured toward the others. “This is his mate, Bethany, his Beta, Weston, and Weston’s mate, Charin.”
The elation at the prospect of a few more weeks with Barron vanished. There would be no more challengers, and his brother had come to collect him.
Unwilling to shift in front of strangers, Willa nodded by way of introduction and then motioned with her head toward the house. Barron nodded once, showing he understood that she was going inside to shift and dress. It was widely known to shifters in the south and the east that wolves of the northwest had the ability to regenerate clothing with their shifts. It was a gift that was lost the further from the source a shifter lived.
Cortez had none of Willa’s modesty and shifted where he stood.
As Willa entered the house she heard Evander laugh. “Christ, brother. Teach your pack to generate clothing. What are you doing out here? Living like barbarians?”
Everyone laughed, but Willa’s hackles rose. She shifted just inside the door, just out of sight of their guests. Keryn, Sarya, Becca, and Jase were standing behind Arden who had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “Challengers?” he all but growled.
Willa smiled, seized by a moment of pride in her little Alpha-in-training. “No. Barron’s pack.”
They were the wrong words. Sarya instantly burst into tears. “Is he going home?”
Jase teared up too, and Willa had nothing to offer in way of comfort. She had no doubt that Evander and his pack had come to take Barron home. “Wait here,” she commanded as she hurried up the stairs to change. It only took a few moments to pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. When she came back downstairs, her brave little pack were all clearly fighting to hold back their emotions. She smiled reassuringly, feeling none of it herself. “Be strong, babies. Let’s be grateful for what we had.” Then she led the pack outside.
Descending the front steps, Barron and his packs conversation halted. Willa saw Barron tense before he quickly crossed to her, eyeing the pack behind her.
“What’s wrong?”
Willa shook her head once, unable to put voice to her and the pack’s fears. Instead, she side-stepped Barron. “Alpha Kane,” she addressed Evander. “Let me introduce you to my pack.” She turned to Cortez. “I assume you’ve already met my Beta.”
Evander chuffed a laugh. “That we have.”
“Good.” Willa lowered her voice, even though everyone could hear as she directed Cortez to go inside and get dressed. “This is the rest of my pack.” She turned. “This is Arden.” She watched as the boy scowled up at the Alpha. “He’s just coming into his Alphahood. Please, take no offense.”
Evander smiled and nodded to Arden. “I know what it’s like. I’m sure he’ll make a fine Alpha one day.”
Barron appeared at her side and placed both hands on her shoulders, taking over introductions. “The blond bombshell is Keryn. The fiery little redhead is Sarya, and the brunette beauty is Becca. And this,” he released Willa and crossed to hoist a still-sad Jase up into his arms. “Is my little man, Jase.”
“Pleasure to meet you all.” Evander turned to introduce his pack, but didn’t get the chance when Jase suddenly bellowed, “We don’t want you here. Leave!”
“Jase!” Willa’s eyes rounded in shock as embarrassment flooded her. It was no way to treat visiting Alphas, and certainly not ones who’d sent them aid.
“Hey,” Barron chuckled as he bounced the boy up and down soothingly. “They’re not challengers, buddy. No one’s here to hurt the pack or Willa.”
“THEY ARE!” Jase shouted, and began kicking his legs wildly until Barron placed him on the ground and dropped to a knee.
“Buddy, what’s wrong?”
By this time, Jase was all-out crying and Sarya followed suit.
“Barron…” Willa began, hoping to explain, but Jase wouldn’t be stopped.
“They’re gonna ruin our pack!” Then he turned and raced for the house with Sarya and Becca fast on his heels.
“My apologies.” Willa offered, turning to Barron to whisper, “I’m sorry.” As she turned to go after the kids she stopped and looked at Keryn and Cortez. “Get our guests fed and situated.”
When she went to take a step, Barron gripped her arm. “Willa? What in the hell is going on?”
She didn’t w
ant to have to explain in front of Evander and his pack, and it wasn’t out of embarrassment at her pack’s antics. No, she was worried that she too would burst into tears and cause a scene. “Later,” she whispered, thankful that her voice didn’t break as she pulled from Barron’s grip and hurried into the house.
Chapter 22
Hours later, Willa had her pack settled. Everyone was distraught, and she had nothing to offer them except that they should be grateful for the time they’d had with Barron. To her shock, all of the children were taking the arrival of Evander exceptionally hard. Jase and Sarya were practically inconsolable, and she understood just how they felt.
When she finally joined Barron and Evander’s pack in the kitchen, she felt wiped. It was late, and to her relief Cortez and Keryn had done their part. The kitchen had been cleaned, and empty plates and half-filled glasses now sat on the table in front of their guests.
“Did everyone get enough to eat?” she asked by way of greeting. As she approached, Barron, Evander, and Weston all stood.
Evander’s mate, Bethany, was the first to respond. “It was delicious, Alpha Hutchinson. I haven’t had barbecue that good in ages.”
“Please, call me Willa.” She took a seat beside Barron and when she sat, the males around the table followed suit.
“So good in fact,” Barron slung an arm around her shoulders, “that we’re doing it again tomorrow.” He turned to her. “If that’s okay. Tonight they’ll sleep in the woods, and then I figured we’d have a feast before everyone hits the road late tomorrow night.”
Willa nodded, trying to swallow down her dismay. ‘Before everyone hits the road.’ How could he be so casual about leaving? Like nothing had happened between them, like she wasn’t madly in love with him, and like her heart wasn’t breaking into a million pieces. “Sounds fine.” She knew her voice sounded brittle, but there was nothing for it.
Barron squeezed her shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat and lifted a hand to her forehead. “Just wiped.”
“It must be exhausting,” the beautiful, dark-skinned Charin spoke up. “I’ve never seen a pack with so many young ones. Barron says none of them are yours?”
“No.” Willa smiled sadly.
“Well.” Charin huffed out an exaggerated breath. “You’re doing a phenomenal job.”
“Thanks.” Slowly Willa stood, and again the males followed suit. “Alpha Kane,” she focused on Evander. “I can never thank you enough for all that you’ve done for my pack.”
“Speak nothing of it,” he offered. “Garner and I were friends. I was glad we could help.”
“My apologies for Jase’s outburst.”
“No apology needed for that. Barron says you’ve had several challengers. It’s understandable that your pack’s on edge, especially the little ones.”
If you only knew. “Well, accept my apologies then for the early night. Let’s do breakfast at eight?”
“Eight sounds perfect.”
She made to step away, but Barron caught her arm and bent his head to hers. “Hey.” His concern was evident. “You okay?”
“Fine,” she murmured. “Just tired.”
He cupped her cheeks and kissed her long and soft before pulling back. “I’ll be up soon, beautiful.”
Quickly she nodded, then turned away as tears flooded her eyes. God, I’m going to miss him!
As she made her way to their room, she vowed to feign sleep when he finally came up to bed. She knew there’d be no hope for any real rest tonight; regardless, she refused to torture herself with one last night of ecstasy. Part of her wanted to enjoy one last night with her faux-mate, but she knew it’d only hurt more to watch him go tomorrow if she did. No, she’d shared her last bit intimacy with Barron when he’d kissed her goodnight.
***
The next day Barron was on edge. Something was wrong with his pack and his mate. She’d pretended to be asleep when he’d finally gone to bed last night, and knowing she was beat from dealing with Sarya, Becca, and Jase, he’d permitted it. Breakfast was odd as well. Willa barely looked at him, and none of the kids really ate. The distraction of Evander and the other guests was the only thing that kept Barron from calling a pack meeting to find out what in the hell was going on.
By the time evening came, Barron’s nerves were razor fucking thin. Willa had openly avoided him all day, and part of him couldn’t help but wonder if Evander’s arrival didn’t have something to do with it. Did she have feelings for his brother?
He was just about to step away from the grill and the steaks he was supposed to be cooking when Evander approached and clapped him on the back. “It’s good to see you alive again brother.”
Barron rolled his shoulder, removing Evander’s hand without looking at him. “It’s good to be alive.”
“Any word on Delano?” Evander asked, voice filled with humor.
Barron growled. “He came through.”
Evander didn’t even bother to hide his glee. “Just came through?”
“I had only just mated her.” Barron jerked his head toward Willa. “He came through, and I made sure he kept going.” His eyes stayed fixed on Willa, and he wondered what she was thinking when she cast a glance his way and he saw sorrow flash in her expression as she watched him with his brother. He didn’t even bother excusing himself as he crossed to her.
“And it’s been good talking to you,” Evander shouted at his back sarcastically.
Stepping up to Willa, Barron waited for Evander’s mate, Bethany, to finish speaking before he snagged Willa’s hand and offered a polite, “Excuse us.”
“Uh, sure.” Bethany waved. “It was nice talking to you, Willa.”
Willa threw a wave over her shoulder as she tried to brace herself for what she knew was coming. She was rehearsing her goodbye in her head as Barron tugged her into the woods, stopping where they could still see the rest of the packs milling around the back yard.
She tried to sound flippant. “What’s up?”
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?” She pulled her hand from his and crossed to a tree, turning to lean a shoulder into it as she eyed the barbecue and her pack as they chatted good-naturedly with Evander’s. Taking a long draw from her beer, she had to grip the bottle hard to keep her hand from trembling.
“You and the pack have been off since Evander arrived. I know something’s wrong, beautiful.”
She snorted. “You should probably stop calling me that now.”
“And why would I do that?”
“You’re leaving, right?”
If he wasn’t mistaken, her eyes flooded with tears before she looked down and quickly blinked them away. Realization slammed into him like a freight train. They thought he was leaving with Evander.
“I...” She couldn’t look at him. The thought of letting him go was crushing. “I appreciate all you’ve done. And I fully understand that it was something Evander sent you to do…”
He cut her off. “First off, Evander is my younger brother. He doesn’t send me anywhere. And second.” He stepped closer, reclaiming her hand. “Stop.” His brows speared down. “I know what you’re doing, beautiful.”
Willa shrugged in an attempt at casualness. “I’m thanking you.” She licked her lips. “And I’m letting you go. I’m not going to try to keep you here out of some misguided sense of duty, Barron. On your part or mine.”
“I’m not leaving.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“I’m. Not. Leaving.” His scowl broke, forming into a smile when his suspicions were confirmed by the scent of her relief. “I like the idea of two Alphas, ready to claim their rightful territory and decimate anyone that stands in our way. You don’t think I could walk away from this do you?”
“This?” She looked at the pack. “You mean being Alpha?” How embarrassing. For a moment, she thought he’d been about to profess his undying love for her. Idiot!
>
“Fuck the pack! I’m talking about this.” He lifted a hand and laid it gently over her heart. “I didn’t know it could actually exist.”
Confused, Willa shook her head as she stared up at him, barely breathing.
His smile turned serious as he pinned her with dark, almost sad eyes. “You’re the most loyal being on the face of the Earth, Willa Hutchinson. Those under your protection, in your pack, are blessed with such fucking steadfast devotion that sometimes it’s hard for me to witness. I know the weight of it, but I’ve never had the courage to grant it, and I’ve certainly never had the hope to believe in it…until you.” He leaned forward, placing his forehead against hers and closing his eyes as he cupped the back of her neck. “You’d kill for them, and you’d die for them. And that’s something I want.” He opened his eyes to look at her with such pleading that her heart actually clenched with the need to give him whatever it was he sought.
“I want you to covet me as you do them. I want you to grace me with the same loyalty you’ve bestowed upon them. And…I want you to love me, as you love them. They’re blind to your sacrifices, and the honor of your faithfulness, but I’m not. I’d never take it for granted, Willa. I vow to never take you for granted. If you could find it in your heart to accept me, I will spend the rest of my days proving my worth.” He took a knee in front of her, and when Willa heard a gasp, she glanced over her shoulder to find both her and Evander’s packs had stopped what they were doing to watch as her Alpha did what he would do before no one else.
His next words were spoken with ferocity. “Willa Hutchinson, you are my mate, and I am never letting you go.” His expression softened as he gazed up at her. “But it’d honor me more than you know if you’d agree to become Willa Kane without me having to hog-tie you and drag you through the ceremony.”
Willa’s mouth slowly fell open. “Are…are you asking me to marry you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m telling you that you are going to marry me. I’m just asking you to accept it.”
The smile that spread across his face was devilish and had Willa’s knees buckling. Barron caught her and pulled her onto his knee.
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