*** Ethan’s POV ***As soon as Peter got off the phone, the relaxed feeling in the room dissipated. Heath was now up and pacing in front of the fireplace and at some point Lenard joined him, them going in opposite directions. Sam was sitting next to me still, her eyes staring at her phone. Putting my hand on her shoulder, I squeezed gently.“You couldn’t have known.”This jolted her out of whatever thoughts she was lost in because her eyes snapped to mine. “I knew…I…”I shook my head. “No, you didn’t. You felt something was wrong. You didn’t know. You couldn’t have.”From the brief conversation over the phone, the Silver Mountain pack was on shutdown. No one was supposed to leave. Apparently, a magic-made dome disappeared around the pack. Peter said he questioned other Alphas about it but they didn’t know what it was. I had the feeling my mom might but that would be a conversation for when we got back. It didn’t have any bearing now.Peter said a bunch of Alphas were trying to leave a
Peter was sitting in one of the large leather chairs that faced the couch I had originally been sitting on. Everyone has taken up their places and so I sat down on the couch. He looked up at me.“Good to see you guys. It’s been a while.”Lenard chortled. “Well, next time, maybe don’t make it so dramatic?”Peter smiled and nodded. “We’ll see. Honestly, I felt lucky just getting out of the damn pack. I’ve seen some angry Alphas before but Goddess…” He shook his head. “I’ve never really been afraid of Alpha Cross before. Yes, he rules his pack out of fear but it’s mostly the past things he’s done. Never current, not until now. Fuck. Even Valois told me to get the fuck out of there.”My eyes widened and I leaned in. “What happened?”Taking a deep breath, Peter leaned forward and rubbed his mouth with his hand. “It started out as a routine Alpha meeting. I met with a few other Alphas, managed to speak about some minor treaties and conveniences that would benefit us as allies. Everything se
I rubbed my eyes and opened up the third Dr. Pepper can. This was the last stop for gas before we got back to the pack. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat on her phone, engrossed in it and her bag of Doritos. The gas pump clicked and I shook the handle a bit before putting it back. We pulled out and headed down the road.“You going to talk to Luna?”“About the magic, you mean?”Sam nodded her head. “She might know. It is from her old pack after all.”I hummed, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. “Yeah, I will. I just need to figure out how. Mom’s been pretty cagey when it comes to talking about it. So, I’ll need to handle it delicately.”Going back to get phone, we took another two hours on the highway before turning off onto the main road. It was relatively quiet consider it was Sunday afternoon. We’d gone through most of the information, solidified our next steps as well a
Cursing, I slammed my fists down onto the desk. To hurt your own children. Trap them and then try and destroy them. It was unheard of in a family, even human. But a wolf? We were pack animals. Our pack was our family but then our blood? That was a sacred bond. That being broken could break a wolf.“It’s a wonder she didn’t run away sooner.” Sam mumbled, just about as disturbed as I was.“According to my friend, her and her brother planned on leaving next year, when their eldest brother took over. The treaty they signed forced their hand in moving quicker to get her free. Otherwise…” Mom’s words trailed off. Her eyes were haunted by her past and tears welled up again.Sighing, I ran my hands through my hair. “So, what now? What’s the plan?”“I’d…I’d like to formally request authorization for them to come over for dinner.” My mom swallowed her tears and looked
Panic seized me, as she stared at me. There was no way she knew I was here. The dream where she was caught up in the fire, she never saw me before. Even the times I tried to help.“Hush, little wolf. It’s only a dream. You’ve made it through this already.” I kept my voice soft, starting back up my petting.The entire forest started to waver, the understanding that this was only a dream started to weave its way into her mind. It rippled around me, the trees, the wolf, and her brother starting to disappear as her consciousness rejected the nightmare.“Who are you?” The voice was more mature this time but still that of a child’s.Her eyes searched mine, but they were grey and dull. Eyes of someone who had been through too much and seen too much. I could only shake my head and brush her cheek with the back of my hand.“One day it will make sense.”Her mouth thinned and her hands clenched. &ld
Slamming my truck door shut, I waved at a couple of the guys who were working on the remodel of the meeting house. With how far the pack house was from the main city, it was hard for people to take the trip. It was even longer from the smaller towns on the outside edges of my territory. The city was more central to the area and everyone could at least manage that trip. Originally, the building had been an old auditorium for the school but we long since converted the school into apartments and built an entirely brand new school a little further outside. We’d been doing a bit of updating since the city itself dated back to the 1800’s. “Salvador! Lovely to see you.” I held out my hand to one the man behind all the construction. Salvador used to be part of the warriors who guarded during my father’s time as Alpha. His size alone was enough to usually deter anyway from picking a fight with him, but the scar that ran down his face made him look more menacing than he was. In his so-called r
Jean’s place was further into the city and I drove down the street into the main square. There wasn’t too much foot traffic out this early and even the cars were half of what they normally were. I didn’t need to worry about the new kids recently getting their drivers license and wanting to show off before school. Not this early at least.Our pack was spilt. A lot of the wolves worked on territory. The majority of them got jobs or I found jobs for them. If they didn’t or their requests were too specific I would allow them to take jobs or go to school in the next major city over. It was a hell of a drive and I didn’t envy anyone who had to make that drive daily but I heard nothing but good things. I wasn’t going to dash someone’s dream just because I didn’t have their dream job on territory.Still, I made sure we had the best schools and even a community college on territory. Just in case any of the younger wolves wanted to start their education closer to home before deciding to move on
Sighing, I was opening my truck door to head out when August caught me.“Alpha! Wait!”I stopped and leaned up against the bed of my truck. “What’s up?”“I just…I wanted to thank you. Mom was kind of freaking out there for a second and I’m pretty sure she was going to go down swinging. They were talking like they would shut down the restaurant and…”“Auggie, it’s not a big deal. Sometimes you can talk things though. Otherwise, if you can’t, it doesn’t always need to end in a fist fight.” I looked him directly in the eyes. “Like Chase and the other guys.”His face went beat red. “You know…”“Auggie, I’m Alpha. There is very little that goes on in this pack that I don’t know about.”“They are bullies.”“I know.”“I just wanted to be able to help out