Protector (Wolves of Winter Creek Book 4)

5. The blame game

Iwish I could blame Fallon.

When we were growing up, maturing together, I had fun doing just that to the halfling. I’m sorry. There’s that darkness inside of me again because, holy shit, it was always so much fun. I didn’t even care that she had witch-blood or that she believed she was human. She just made it so easy to screw with, and even if I was on an assignment given to me and Lorelei by the Luna herself, I was still a young she-wolf.

I needed to get my kicks while I could.

Luna-touched shifters age differently than regular wolves. It’s another gift, though Lorelei and I had many whispered arguments over whether it was a blessing or a curse. As her guardians, all thanks to a quirk of fate and our familial history, we basically get twice the lifespan. For every year on earth, we only age about six months. So when the Luna sent me and my twin to New Jersey to watch over Fallon, we looked like sixteen, but we were technically thirty-two.

Now she thinks I’m twenty-five, but I’m pushing forty—though you’d never tell from looking at me.

Thank you, supe genes. I’m a fucking knock-out, and I know it.

I thought, at first, that the age thing was freaking Tristan out. Like me, he looks like he’s in his mid-to-late twenties, but tack on the seventy years he was living in the stasis spill, and he’s closer to a hundred. I’m not as young as he probably thinks I am, and he’s not as old as the years make him.

Maybe that’s true, but when he chose to completely act like I didn’t exist instead of, you know, talking to me, I gave up on worrying about it. Especially when, after I sourly told Fallon that Tristan is my mate and she winced.

That’s how I found out that, for a couple of weeks after her arrival in Winter Creek, Tristan made a move on her. He asked her out on a date, and even after she was betrayed by her grandmother and reunited with Lucas, he tried his best to convince her to give him a shot.

My last boyfriend ended up being my twin sister’s one true mate. Why wouldn’t my mate end up having a thing for the only other close friend that I have?

Fallon calls me a shit liar. She’s the gullible one, I’m the one whose face gives her away, and Lorelei is… well, Lorelei. She told me all about her brief history with Tristan, obviously prepared for me to lie and say that it didn’t bother me, but when I did say that, I meant it—and she could tell.

It’s not her fault that, for some reason, he was drawn to her. I don’t think he actually thought she was his fated mate—not when our first meeting was as magnetic as it was—but he was an option for my old friend up until the moment she took Lucas’s bite and she was officially off the market.

I’d love to blame Fallon, but that would be ridiculous. That would be like Lorelei getting ticked off at me for fooling around with Cal before she met him and recognized he was meant for her, or my future mate being jealous that I had plenty of lovers before finding him.

Some shifters stay virgins until they find their mate. Others prefer to sow their wild oats, trying out as many partners as they can before they settle down. Because I honestly never believed I’d have a fated mate of my own, I’m firmly in the second camp.

I wonder which one Tristan falls into.

Not like it matters. Anything that happened before I got here belongs in the past.

It’s only what happened after that has my claws unleashing, digging into my palms as I tighten my hands into fists whenever I think about it...

I don’t have the timelines right because it makes the glass shards digging into my skin ache just a little more when I thought of Tristan washing my scent off so that he could go straight to Fallon’s side and moon over her. Fallon, on the other paw, insisted on figuring it out.

Based on my confession to her and the events that led up to her confronting her grandmother at the Coven House and then murdering her, she insists that Tristan might have abandoned me by the creek, but as soon as he had the chance, he played pool with Fallon.

Yeah. I didn’t get that, either.

I gave her a look, waiting for her to explain. The gist of it was that, around the time I arrived in the sanctuary, she finalized her bond with Lucas. I know that, because my nosy ass heard her shrieking, went to make sure the beast wasn’t devouring Fallon, and found him doing something to her that my old friend was definitely enjoying.

I backed off, giving them privacy, though I stayed close enough to ward off any threats to them during their mating night. After that, she kinda went feral for a bit there right around the same time that I got nabbed by that murderous witch. It was a rough couple of weeks for both of us, but while I was doing intel on the inside of the coven house as a distraction, Fal and Tristan had a heart to heart over a game of pool. Fallon made it clear that she was going to bond to Lucas, and Tristan was happy just to be friends.

Because he finally knew who his fated mate was?

If so, then what the hell, dude?

I mean, Fate has a way of working out. Look at Fallon and her Alpha. Jolie was Lucas’s fated mate. She was slaughtered by a charmed wolf seventy years ago, then brought back as Fallon—who fell for Lucas right away. Working in tandem with Fate, the Luna rarely gets it wrong when she nudges and guides her shifters in a certain direction.

But there’s still free will?—

Yeah. Like Tristan purposely cutting off our bond on his side.

I shake my head, ducking under a low-hanging branch weighed down by ice. There was a cold snap the other day that I ignored by cozying up as my wolf, lounging in front of a lit fire in the pack house. It’s warmer than it was, but the sleet and snow that fell ices over the forest and only just began to melt a little.

I need the cold. It’s bracing, and helps my fiery temper freeze over to a more manageable level. Plus, with it being this nasty out, it’s nice knowing I have all of the pack land outdoors to myself.

I’m a twin. I spent so many years as a unit. I never minded. Lorelei and me were a team. Adding Fallon in as our assignment, watching over her as her human mother grew sick and died all those years ago… we became a trio. A pack of our own.

Fallon has her mate now. So does my twin.

And then there was one—and I’m taking advantage of a newfound need for solitude.

Besides, Tristan seems to have made his choice, and pretty clearly, too. Maybe it’s my turn to figure out what it is that I want, and what my next move is going to be.

Right now? I just need a little ‘me’ time. That’s all. And because I don’t want to hear Lucas bitch and moan later, I purposely stuck to pack territory. The longer I’m in Winter Creek, the easier I can sense the invisible barriers that separate the land the wolves claim as theirs from the witch-owned spaces. At first, the small buzz was more like a warning. A signal to my wolf that we weren’t the only shifters around. Over time, it’s like a gentle caress and a welcome home in one.

I try not to think about what that means…

Breaking through the trees, I tiptoe as close to the line as I can while edging near the creek. Something about the rapids crashing against the boulders, plus the hypnotic sway of the rope bridge over my head is soothing to my and my wolf. I don’t plan on leaving the sanctuary—not yet, at least—but the empty train station and the quiet train tracks remind me that I can whenever I want to.

Out of the trees, the sun streams brightly down on a patch of grass calling my name. I don’t sense anyone around. Taking a deep breath, there’s no scent on the breeze that tells me I have company. I’m alone, and I quickly strip off my clothes.

I fold my jeans and my shirt and place them on the ground. My panties and my bra go on top of that pile, plus my discarded sneakers and socks. I only went back to my apartment to let Lorelei know that the Luna was sending me to watch over Fallon in Winter Creek. If I packed too much of my shit, I’d worry her, and worrying my sweet twin was the last thing I’d ever do.

She’s the good one for a reason. Kind and selfless, she instantly offered to go. Either in my place or with me, she would’ve said goodbye to her fated mate so soon after finding him just to soothe my heartache.

For fuck’s sake, I knew the human for, like, six weeks. Maybe we were meant for a fling, maybe I would’ve banged him for a year before moving on, but I never did commitment for a reason: my duty to the Luna came first. It was the same with Lorelei, but if there’s one thing ingrained into every shifter, it’s that a mate comes before all else.

So, no. I couldn’t let her do that. Instead, I kissed her cheek, gave her a hug, and said I’d be back as soon as I could. The few outfits I tossed in my duffel sold that, and my twin reluctantly hung back as I left our apartment for the last time.

I’m not ready to go back. Not yet. Besides, before the Luna went quiet on me, she assured me that Lorelei and Cal finalized their bond during the first full moon that passed. She’s happy. All I’ve ever wanted in this world was to see Lorelei happy.

Know what makes me happy? When I can let down my guard and, for a few moments, not be the hard-ass my job makes me be.

I’ve been on this assignment for nine years. Handpicked because we were her guardians and the right age to infiltrate our way into Fallon’s life, Lorelei and I were on constant duty because that’s what the Luna expected of us.

I’m the bad twin. The tough guy. The Luna’s enforcer. Lorelei’s job was to support Fallon, watching over her until it was time for her to go to Winter Creek and do what she was reborn to do. Me? I helped, but I never once forgot that my task was to find out who was responsible for Jolie Bordeaux’s murder in the first place—and eliminate them.

Remy Gauthier confessed and was immediately executed. That might’ve shocked the hell out of Fallon—especially due to her hemophobia—but that witch… he’s not the only blood I have on my claws.

I did it, though. And without the Luna giving me another assignment just yet, I don’t have to be that hard-ass. Fuck it. I can shift to my fur, roll around in the grass, splash in the creek, chase any prey that’s not currently hibernating, and Luna-damn frolic if I want to.

Why not? I’m on vacation.

About a half an hour after I hunkered down by the creek, my fur twitches all over, standing on end. The first time that happened, I found myself chasing my tail, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with my wolf. Living amongst humans, pretending to be one myself… it’s been a long, long time since I’ve been around other shifters except for my twin. That spark, the jolt of static electricity that puffs up my fur? That was the land reacting to the Alpha leaving it.

To get to the Coven House, Fallon and Lucas have to cross the woods of Winter Creek. That slight zap tells me that they have, already on their way to their meeting with Armand, the elder witch who’s acting like the conduit between Fallon and the rest of the witches.

I notice it, then disregard it just as easily. The Alpha couple will be back for dinner, and since I left Tristan at the house alone, I’d rather starve than eat anything he cooked for the rest of the pack. I don’t want to confuse my poor wolf anymore than she is, and eating a meal made by Tristan when he couldn’t make it any more obvious that he’s not interested in being our mate? That’ll push her one step closer to breaking.

I’m the dark Lipton twin, but I’m still padding along the right side of not being feral. I’d rather not cross the line if I can help it.

Knowing that Fallon and Lucas are gone doesn’t change anything about my plans for a lazy day outside. My fur coat keeps me warm despite the weather, and after I chow down on a vole that scampered too close to the creek for a mid-morning snack, I lie down on my belly, drop my muzzle to my paws, and relax.

And, okay, maybe that relaxation goes a little farther than I expect. In no time, I’m completely passed out, and if you never hear a shifter in their wolf form snoring, count yourself lucky. On the plus side, it keeps any other predators away.

Well. Except for one…

“What do you think you’re doing?”