Chapter 44
Valens
It took the rest of that day and the two after to get those of the pack who could answer the high alpha’s call on the road. Fully half of it was battening down the hatches for those who would stay behind: the elderly, the children, the caregivers who couldn’t fight.
As I moved through my little town, going from home to home and business to business, the hours ran together in a stream of preparations.
The pizza place was going to keep running with a skeleton crew of grandparents, so the family members staying behind had somewhere to gather.
Some of the families were leaving the country, saying tearful goodbyes, to go to distant family members for support they wouldn’t have while Mom or Dad fought for our freedom.
It was a time fraught with emotion and tears, but with strength too.
Goddess, I wondered a hundred times a day how long would my people have to bear up under this strain?
How long would our superhuman strength have to hold before something irreparable crumbled?
What would our pack—all the packs—look like when this was done?
I didn’t know.
But in the end, our busy little hamlet had turned into a near-ghost town. The few who remained lined the road, waving with tears in their eyes as our caravan pulled out.
I drove a heavy truck with a quarter of the Hungarian armory packed in the back. Many of us would fight with tooth and claw and sheer muscle, but not all. The less skilled fighters would have options that might save their lives.
Elodie rode with the other women, serving in her maiden’s capacity, even though she was technically on leave until after her heat. It was too ingrained in her to change, and I didn’t begrudge the time to think as I drove.
When our Hungarian convoy arrived back at the Pack Caelestis castle several hours later, it looked little different from when I’d seen it the week before.
Still burned, still broken. But now it teemed with activity.
Everywhere I looked, wolves worked in concert.
There were no fewer than six on the roof, closing up the massive hole up there.
Priceless stained glass was still gone, but new, plain glass was going in to weatherproof more rooms. Overseeing it all was the harried butler, Cristian, with Gael at his side.
Gael didn’t look very happy, but it was surprising to see him at all given the plan when we’d left was that he was going to take Leigh and run.
Yet there he stood, barking orders and trying to calm the older shifter.
Knowing it would take a while to get everyone settled, I secured my SUV with the weapons and crossed the overpacked driveway to where Gael and Cristian stood.
“Hello again, Cristian. Gael, I’m surprised to see you still here.”
Cristian greeted me with a curt nod, then turned and strode off to yell with ear-piercing volume at one of the men installing a third-floor window.
Gael and I both winced as the pane he’d been trying unsuccessfully to install fell, shattering against the flagstones below with a brilliant smashing sound.
“Fiona had another seizure. She saw me there, at the final battle.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t think of a single valuable thing to say as that sank in.
It meant the whole fate of the omegas of the future was riding on this war. There was no one last holdout, no one left to carry the torch if we lost.
Fuck.
He shook his head sadly. “It’s probably for the best. Leigh was beside herself.
Didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to abandon her pack.
She said we’d win or lose together.” He sighed wearily, running a hand over his tired expression.
“It’s the alpha in her, and I do understand it.
But the baby…” His eyes were haunted when they met mine.
“I know. I know.” I gripped his shoulder, leaning on physical contact when my words failed. “It’s going to work out. I don’t know how, but it is. Goddess help us.”
“Goddess help us.”
Another crash, and he sighed. “I’ve got to go rein Cristian back in. Kane gave strict orders—sealed and functional, not pretty. This is a war camp, not a beauty pageant. Cristian’s having a little bit of a tough time letting go of the way things have always been done.”
“Good luck, man.”
“Thanks.”
He strode off, calling for the butler, who turned around red-faced and furious to lay into Gael next.
I headed back to our convoy, ready to put myself to work for the pack, only to be struck still by the sight of Elodie exchanging a laugh in the circle of giggling ladies as they pulled luggage out of the back of their own car.
It was innocent, a simple moment of friendship and camaraderie among pack mates.
But it was also a light moment in a sea of gravity, a reminder of why we were fighting.
We were really off to the races now. I clenched my fist as a buzz of energy lit me from the inside out, the guardian’s mark over my breast heating slightly as if to remind me it was there for better or worse. I intended to make it for the better.
Hours later, I was dog-tired and bone weary, dragging myself back to the family wing of the castle. But when I went to walk into my old bedroom, a screech from the inside froze me in my tracks.
“Who’s there?” I asked, the door barely cracked.
Dakota’s face appeared at the door, wide-eyed. “Oh, it’s you. Umm… They gave me and Galyna this room because they assumed you’d want to be moved into Elodie’s room,” she stammered. “If that’s wrong, well, I can grab my stuff and we can both go bunk with her, I guess?”
I sighed. Of course they’d consolidated. There were already three additional packs here besides Blackwater and Caelestis, and very few livable rooms.
“No, I should have checked before letting myself in. Sorry to startle you.”
“No problem.”
She hastily shut the door back in my face, and I turned to the hall, letting my nose pick up the soft, lingering scent of my mate.
I found her door with ease, that perfume of hers calling to me even though I could tell it had been some time since she’d been in the hallway or had touched the door.
Just in case, though, I knocked this time.
After a few moments, I heard soft footsteps, and she opened the door, a vision of perfect softness wrapped in a simple blue bathrobe.
“Hey,” she said, pulling the door open wider so I could come in.
“I hope you don’t mind, they asked me if you would be sharing a room, since your sister is rooming with the single Hungarian women.
I said it would be fine, but I’m second-guessing that now because you look exhausted, and we haven’t discussed—”
I pulled her into my chest, burying my nose in her soft hair, enjoying the feeling of just holding her, after the long, exhausting day. She was everything. My rock, my safe place, the softness I needed after endless hard decisions, hard days. She completed me.
“You made the right call. And you don’t have to stress about it.” I pulled back to press a slow, deep kiss to her lips. Her eyes were a little dazed when we separated. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you, as long as you’re willing to have me.”
She smiled softly, a rare moment of shyness for my warrior woman. “Thank you. I just finished with my shower if you’d like to wash up?”
“More than just about anything,” I admitted, looking down at my grime-coated arms. It had taken hours to get all the weapons added to the armory here, organize and catalog everything, and then I jumped straight into the construction with the crews already working.
We’d sealed up another two dozen rooms and cleared out most of the knights’ hall to make more room for people to work and sleep.
The castle was absolutely crawling with people, and so many more were still on the way.
That was a problem to grapple with tomorrow, though. Tonight, I was going to shower and hold my mate through the night.
I paused with my hand on the bathroom doorway, though. “How are you feeling? Any more pain cropping up? We haven’t been as physically close today, and I don’t want you to suffer. If you need me tomorrow—”
She shook her head, cutting me off with a pretty blush on her cheeks. “I had a rough moment or two, but it passed quickly enough. I think as long as we spend the nights in physical contact, we can both be useful during the day. Our packs need us.”
I studied her intently, searching for any sign she was hiding distress, but found none. “Okay. But you have to promise you’ll tell me if that changes.”
“I promise.” She smiled and shooed me into the bathroom, so I went.