Chapter 19 - Wilf
The meeting at the hall is the first proper one I’ve been to since I brought Lara down off the mountain.
I’m glad to be there because I know I need to be back out on the ridge sooner rather than later.
Connor’s been carrying it between Dylan and James for nearly a fortnight, and while he hasn’t said a word about it, I know Dylan’s pulling longer shifts than he should, and James has had to swap his rota round, and that’s not something I’m leaving them with for another week.
I’m ready to be back at work as long as Lara is safe.
The cabin’s been quiet for days, the wards have held, the road’s been clean, and there’s plenty of folk lining up to keep an eye on Lara if needed.
There’s no reason I shouldn’t be back on it. Except maybe the nagging feeling my wolf keeps pushing that Lara is our responsibility, and only ours.
I walk into the pack hall, and it strikes me that I haven’t dealt with the inner workings of the pack so frequently before—I’m usually out on the ridge and only needed at these things once or twice a month, but I’ve been at Nick’s place, and they’ve all been at mine twice since we got back last week.
And now another meeting today. I brush off the slight feeling of awkwardness I always get before one of these things and make a beeline for Bryan, who’s dishing out the coffee.
Nick is already at the table with Connot and Thomas, and Ethan is sitting at the other end, nursing his own coffee.
He gives me a nod, which I return. Things seem back to normal between us now, as long as he doesn’t question Lara’s presence, that is.
I’m grateful when the meeting gets underway; the sooner it starts, the sooner it will finish.
WE cycle through the usual details, rotas, and road issues after the late snow; Thomas and Cade chip in about the new recruits, and it’s about thirty minutes in before we get to the issue of the rogues. I can tell Nick saved it for last.
“Nothing new on the borders,” Connor reports. “Patrols have been clear since the cabin attack. The two western wards Luna re-anchored have held. No tracks anywhere on the southern line, no scents, no movement. They’ve stood it down for now.”
“Stood it down to plan the next round,” Ethan says.
“Yeah,” Connor agrees. “The field’s quiet now, but I doubt they’ll just give it up.”
“Anya?” Nick asks Luna, who has just arrived and sat down next to him.
“Anya’s arriving in a couple of days,” Luna says. “She’s bringing one of her covens with her, who apparently knows more about the talismans, or at least the style they were made in. She wants to meet Lara properly and talk to her about her…abilities.”
“Does Lara know?” Nick asks.
“Not yet,” Luna says. “I’ll check in with her first.”
Nick looks at me. “Wilf?”
“That’s fine,” I tell him. “I’ll be there when they meet.”
“You don’t have to be,” Luna says.
“I’ll be there,” I tell her, and she nods, a small smile playing at the side of her mouth.
Nick doesn’t push it; he just moves on to the rota.
“Right, Wilf,” Nick says. “Ridge. You ready to be back on it?”
“Yeah,” I tell him. “Was going to ask you about that.”
“Good. Connor’s stretched on the south, and I’d rather have you back on your own line than have Dylan covering both. Same shifts as before. Two on, one off.”
“Suits me,” I tell him, my wolf protesting about leaving Lara, but I try to shove that down.
“Lara gonna be all right while you’re out?” Nick asks.
“She should be. The cabin’s secure. The road’s been clean. I’ll keep the runs to what they were before, nothing longer. The ridge is literally my backyard, so I won’t be far.” I tell him, more for my wolf’s sake than his.
“Anyone going to be with her?” Connor asks.
“Fern is there today, and I think some of the other women were saying they have plans to check on her during the week,” I reply, knowing that’s part of the reason I feel able to leave her at all.
“Sounds about right,” Connor laughs, and the conversation drifts back toward who’s covering the southern border again.
The meeting wraps up just after ten, and I’m one of the first out of my chair as usual, ready to head for the door.
I wave to Connor and Nick before rinsing my mug and setting it on the side.
Turning to leave, I almost run straight into Ethan, who seems as keen to head out as I am, as he’s already by the door.
“Wilf,” he says.
“Ethan,” I reply.
“I’m heading out. Let’s walk,” he says.
I’d rather not if he’s going to bring up last week, and I’d certainly rather not hear his thoughts about the threat he thinks Lara poses, but I’m not going to cause a scene.
“Sure,” I tell him.
We walk, and he doesn’t bring up Lara straight away but pauses by my truck. “I was going to ask, but I think you already know. She doing alright?”
“She is,” I tell him.
“Settled in ok?” He asks, and I give him a look which makes him laugh. “I’m not pushing, man, honestly. She’s not what I thought. You were right. She’s an innocent in all this.”
I realize he means it, and I feel my wolf drop down a fraction from where he’s been all but ready to get riled up.
“She’s as settled as she can be.” I tell him, “She’s only here until we get things sorted.”
“You sure about that?” he says, giving me a knowing look but not enough time to answer as he spins on his heel and goes off toward the patrol truck with a simple wave over his shoulder.
I shake my head. I know Lara’s scent will still be all over me even if we’ve kept some space since she came to town.
It’s not that I don’t want her again, goddess knows I do.
But we seem to be dancing around it, or perhaps reality was easier to ignore up in the mountains.
Here, there’s no denying who we really are, and I’m not sure Lara will ever think a shifter is someone she’ll want to admit wanting to fuck.
I’m about to climb into the truck when I spot Elder Amelia coming out of the small side door of the hall.
I haven’t seen her since the lottery because I never went back to see her, like she asked.
I kept telling myself it was a problem for another day, and then everything with Lara happened.
It appears today is the day I’m going to deal with that problem because I feel her eyes lock onto me like prey.
She’s standing on the step in her grey shawl with her hands folded in front of her, and she looks at me with the same patient look she usually reserves for naughty children.
“Wilf,” she says.
“Elder Amelia,” I reply, dipping my head.
She’s the oldest person in Silvercreek. Has been for as long as I’ve been alive. Small and white-haired, she always seems to look somehow ancient and yet youthful at the same time, and standing in front of her always makes me feel ten years old.
“Do you have a minute?” she asks.
“I was just heading back,” I say, knowing it’s useless.
“I can see that,” she says, and the smile she gives me has no give in it. “But I’m sure you have a minute.”
I nod because I know I have no choice and walk over to stand with her in the morning sun. “You haven’t been to see me, Wilf,” she says, eventually.
“No,” I tell her. “I’ve had a lot on.”
“So I hear,” she smiles, “but it’s been a long time to sit with an issue we should discuss.”
“I know. But I’m not sure there’s much to say really.” I tell her.
She turns to me. Her eyes are pale blue and crystal clear, and they have the same effect on me now as they did when I was a boy, meaning there’s no way to lie to her.
“The girl,” she says.
“What about her?” I reply, evenly, not sure I want to hear whatever’s coming.
“You’ve brought her into the pack, and she’s at your cabin.” She says, and neither is a question; she always knows everything that’s going on.
“Wilf,” she says, and her voice has gone softer, which I’d already learned years ago is worse than if it had gone harder, “I’m not here to tell you what to do about her.
That isn’t my business. What is my business is the lottery, and I’d be failing in my job not to say to you what I have to say.
Your bowl is still open. Your flame went up at the lottery and didn’t go down.
That hasn’t happened before, and I’ve seen so many lotteries.
It hasn’t gone down because the goddess hasn’t finished with it.
There is a mate for you. Whether she’s in the pack today, or in another pack we haven’t met yet, or yet to be born, I can’t tell you, but the bowl is still open, and the magic is working. ”
“Ok,” I say.
“And you’re carrying a connection to a woman who isn’t a wolf.” Again, not a question.
“You could put it like that,” I tell her.
“Wilf,” she says, after a moment, “do you mean to take her as a mate?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s what she’d want, and I’m used to being on my own.” I tell her, the honesty taking even me by surprise.
“That’s an honest answer. I’m not asking you to know today. I’m asking you to be careful, and I’ll tell you why.” She says.
I wait.
“A mating bond between two wolves runs through both of them the same way,” she says. “It anchors in both. It can break, and when it does, both of them feel it, and both are wounded by it the same way. The pain is even on both sides. They’re built for it.”
“Yeah. Well, Fern isn’t a wolf, and she and Connor are fine.” I say.
“They are,” she says, nodding, “But you have the open lottery magic, which I fear may… amplify things. If you bond and it breaks, your wolf could become unstable. It might be survivable, but I wouldn’t guarantee it.
Then there’s the mating itself, and I won’t be coy just for you.
Humans break far more easily, and for the mating bond to happen like this, it’s possible he won’t be as careful as he should.
It can be intense anyway, but this situation is unprecedented.
Humans don’t heal the way shifters do. I’m not telling you what to do about this girl, but I would be failing you both if I didn’t warn you about the sheer power of the lottery magic and my concerns. ”