Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
S erafina
She hasn’t been back.
My wolf.
It’s been two weeks since that night in the woods and I’ve made multiple attempts to get her to come out and play again. My hope is that spending more time with my wolf would somehow help me figure out what I am and where I truly come from.
Yet, all of my attempts have failed. Even spending time with my three mates in their wolf forms hasn’t done the trick.
“She’s as stubborn as your human,” Noah told me after another failed attempt. He said it the morning after I insisted they all sleep in their wolf forms with me, outside, to coax her to come out.
“Let’s see if I can fuck her out of you,” he said before throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me to our shared bedroom where he definitely fucked me into a deep sleep.
Yet, my wolf didn’t budge. She is indeed stubborn. Maybe even more than my human.
“Maybe you three should just go to this,” I tell all three of my mates one final time before we head out of the door.
Montgomery, Ronan, and Noah all pin me with their glares. All three of them towering over me and staring down at me with arms folded across their broad chests causes my nipples to harden.
“I told you the next time you make a comment suggesting you are not a part of this pack, you were going to walk away with a stinging ass and in need of one of Montgomery’s baths for you, did I not?” Ronan cups my face.
All three sniff the air.
I couldn’t hide my damn arousal even if I wanted to from these three.
Ronan’s lips form that half-smile that drives me crazy. I have to force myself to pull away from his hold. I can’t have his hands on me and think rationally.
“It was merely a suggestion.”
“One you’ve made and we’ve rejected twice already,” Noah reminds me. “Look forward to having that ass spanked after this pack meeting,” he promises.
I scrunch my face before sticking my tongue out at him. The gruff, rough sound of his laugh eases the tension coursing through me.
“Let’s go. We’re going to drive,” Ronan says.
Tonight is the night of the pack meeting. This will be the second meeting I’ve attended since coming to the Blackclaw pack. And the second time where I feel like all eyes will be on me, inspecting me, trying to figure out if I belong here.
I hate to say I’m insecure about how it will all play out, but I can’t lie. I’m uneasy. Mostly, because I don’t have any answers to give. I can’t explain to the Blackclaw pack who I am or where I come from.
How am I supposed to tell them I have a wolf that literally scorches the ground it walks on? I don’t even understand it myself?
“Stop worrying,” Montgomery says, pulling me into him in the backseat of Montgomery’s truck and kissing my temple. He doesn’t let me go throughout the short duration of our drive.
Such a contrast to the first time I found myself in the backseat of this truck with him. When he looked like he was on the verge of jumping out of the damn backdoor just to get away from me.
Unfortunately, I still have as many unanswered questions now as I did then, almost two and a half months later.
By the time we arrive, though we’re a few minutes early, just about the entire pack is here at Margareet's Coffee Shop .
“Alpha Ronan, Alpha Noah, Alpha Montgomery,” various pack members call out and greet as we enter the shop.
I don’t miss the fact that hardly anyone greets me. They’re not rude, but I can see distrustful eyes on me. A few of the schoolchildren, who I haven’t seen in two weeks, wave, smile, and giggle in happiness at me.
Those greetings, from the children I’ve missed so much in the past few weeks, is what propels me forward. That and the grip Montgomery has around my hand, as if nothing could break his hold on me.
I didn’t realize how much I needed his nonverbal but very blatant display of support until this moment.
“We’re all busy, so we won’t keep you long by beating around the bush,” Ronan says, looking out at the fifty or so pack members surrounding us. “You’ve all likely seen that email.”
“Is it true?” a male voice yells from the back.
All eyes go to me. I don’t lower my eyes, namely because I refuse to cower in front of anyone. But also, Montgomery’s squeeze of my hand serves to give me the confidence I need.
“Yes,” Ronan answers.
“The images weren’t faked?” a woman asks.
“No. Those images are real,” Ronan answers. He looks over at me. “Serafina’s wolf left the burn marks in the dirt.”
A chorus of voices sound around the room.
“What is she?”
“What does that mean?”
“Is she really a threat to us?”
Before I realize what’s happening, Noah’s moved me behind his broad body, Montgomery easing in front of me as well. It’s only thanks to my height that I can see in between their shoulders.
Again, though, I refuse to bow down and cower. I push them aside with my elbows until they make room for me to stand in between them.
“I can speak for myself,” I say, causing all eyes to shift toward me. All three of my mates glare at me. Yet, it’s Ronan’s stare I feel the most intensely. He’s used to doing the talking and being the representative.
From inside of me, I can feel, for almost the first time since that night, my wolf. She rises to her feet. The sensation of her movement ripples throughout my entire body.
I blink a couple of times and hold my breath, waiting to see what she might do, hoping she doesn’t cause a scene.
But then, just like that, she relaxes. It’s as if she disappeared. Though, not completely. Unlike before that shift a couple of weeks ago, I can sense her, lurking.
You’re strange, I tell her silently.
She has the nerve to respond with a huff before fading into the background. As if she’s fallen asleep or something.
“My wolf made those marks,” I announce to everyone. “Though I don’t remember it.”
A number of surprised sounds and questions go up around the shop.
“Calm down, everyone,” Ronan says, but his voice sounds as if it’s on the verge of threatening.
That’s the last thing I want. I don’t wish for my mates to scare and frighten their pack into accepting me. That’s no way to lead anyone.
I take Ronan’s hand, squeezing it. He looks over at me. I give him a nod, silently asking him to relax. For the first time, I wish he and I could do that silent communication thing he does with Noah.
Otherwise known as the mate bond.
I look away because I don’t want him to see the longing in my eyes. And I have to remind myself that I shouldn’t wish for things out of my control, and likely threatening to my mates.
“My wolf …” I continue, looking out at the members surrounding us. “She’s different.”
“How?” someone from the back asks.
“Is she a threat to us, like that email said?”
More people insert their version of the same question.
“No,” Ronan, Montgomery, and Noah say in unison.
“I don’t know,” I confess, unable to stop myself.
“Serafina!” Ronan insists.
“No,” I refute him trying to silence me. “They should know the truth. If … if I’m your mate, they should know about me, right? They have a right.”
“A right to know what?” That question comes from Ms. Barbara.
I look at her. “My wolf … she and I don’t know each other very well. That night, the night those tracks were made, was the first time I ever shifted.”
A collective, stunned silence falls over the crowd.
“I don’t shift normally like you all. It seems I have little control over my wolf.”
“So, she could hurt us. Is she feral?” a guy from the back asks.
“Even feral wolves don’t burn the ground they walk on,” another guy says. “What the hell is she? No Alpha Queen of mine is a damn freak!”
“Don’t!” I wrap both arms around Ronan’s as he takes a threatening step toward the man. “Please,” I whisper.
“I … the truth is I’ve searched for years to find out the truth about my wolf,” I tell them. “For a long time, I didn’t believe she existed.”
“You’re dangerous!” The voice from the past comes back to mind. I flinch but do my best to shake it off when I feel Montgomery and Noah’s eyes on me. Ronan is busy glaring down at the man seated in the back.
“This is why you kicked Peter out of the pack?” the guy challenges. “Because he knew the truth about your mate. Isn’t that right?”
“No, Ronan!” I call out but it’s too late.
Within the blink of an eye, he’s towering over the man with his hand wrapped around his throat.
“Say another word and I will snap your neck.”
The threat comes out just as controlled and calm as if he’s making a comment about the weather. Which is the most frightening part.
I move to Ronan’s side even as Noah and Montgomery try to hold me back.
“Ronan, don’t do this,” I beg while running my hand over his arm.
Tension courses through his body, spilling out to everyone else in the room. We all can feel he’s on the verge of losing it.
I can’t let him kill a pack member, especially for doing something as simple as asking logical questions.
“Let him go.”
It takes a few seconds and more of my pleading, but eventually, Ronan releases the man’s throat.
He slides back into his chair, holding his throat as he fearfully stares up at Ronan.
“Peter was kicked out of the pack because he betrayed our trust,” Ronan announces, looking around the room.
“What?” a few people whisper.
“Is that true?”
“What about Linda?”
Heads turn toward the brunette woman seated at the table with Raymond. My eyes fall to the boy with his head down. The urge to go to him and wrap him in my arms overwhelms me.
When Raymond lifts his head, his eyes meeting mine, I give him a smile and wave. He smiles back before dipping his head again.
Linda rises to her feet, speaking for the first time. “Alpha Ronan is being kind,” she says in a soft voice. But the room quiets to listen to her.
“Peter was …” She looks at me, swallowing. “Well, he was a terrible mate. He hurt me and Raymond.”
My heart aches for the pain in her voice. My feet move before I can think about it. One moment, I’m standing by Ronan, and the next, I’m at Raymond and his mother’s table, hugging the young boy who buries his face into my hip.
Linda looks at me, granting me a grateful smile before she continues.
“Our Alpha Queen saved me and my son from that … from a man who wasn’t fit to be a mate or a father,” she continues. “And I had no knowledge of the scheming he did against the Blackclaw pack.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to protect my son sooner,” she says with tears streaming down her cheeks.
I wrap my free arm around her, some sort of instinct to protect her overcoming me. “You’re safe. You both are,” I whisper only loud enough for her to hear.
“Alpha Queen, will we have to leave our home because of what my dad did?” Raymond asks.
“Never,” I promise as I stoop down and cup his face. “This is your home and always will be. Okay?”
He nods.
“I will leave before anyone who’s loyal to the Blackclaw pack is forced out,” I say, looking around at the onlookers.
“What the hell did you just say?” Noah demands.
Even his powerful, and yes savage glare doesn’t weaken my resolve. Everyone here needs assurance that their pack is safe. That the home they’ve always known still belongs to them.
I won’t be the one to disrupt that.
“Your pack is safe. Even if—” I stop, finding it difficult to get the words out. “Even if my wolf isn’t safe for you. I will leave before I allow her to harm any of you.”
With that, I head for the door. I can’t look at any of them.
But a hand around my arm stops me before I can leave. At first, I think it’s one of my mates, but I look up to see Teacher Sheila. She smiles at me with tears in her eyes.
“I see how you are with our pups,” she whispers. “I know you’re not a threat to us,” she says while squeezing my hand before releasing it.
I swallow the lump in my throat and give her a nod before exiting the café.
The center of my chest feels as if it just took a bullet. The pain forces its way through my entire body. This time it’s not the pain of not knowing who or what I am.
A crushing thought almost cripples me to the ground, once I’m outside.
The idea of leaving them. My mates: Ronan, Noah, and Montgomery.
Of course, all three of them are on my heels in a matter of seconds.
“Where the hell are you going?” Ronan asks, grabbing my arm and spinning me to face the three of them.
“I …” I don’t finish because I don’t have a clue as to where I’m going. “I’m sorry for running out of there like a coward.”
“Don’t give us that bullshit,” Noah growls. “Where the fuck do you get off making that sort of announcement?”
“Why would you say something like that? You’ll leave us? After everything?” Montgomery’s questions cause another wave of pain to course through my chest.
“You are not going anywhere.”
I look away from Ronan as he makes this declaration.
“It’s not too late, you know,” I say, not looking at any of them. “We haven’t completed the mate bond, yet. We’re not officially mated.”
I try to ignore the rippling pain in my heart that causes a sudden weakness. The thought alone of leaving them, of not being with them, is enough to break my heart into pieces.
But I won’t be the cause of the destruction of their pack or any of them.
“You are starting to piss me off,” Ronan’s voice booms. He pulls me into his chest. “There is no us without you. Do you understand that?”
I open and close my mouth a few times, trying to force the words I know I should say to come out, but they’re locked away.
All I can do is turn my head. I can’t look him or any of them in the eye. It hurts too much to know that I might not be able to look at them for much longer.
“Your pack needs you,” is all I can manage to get out. “Your responsibility is to the?—”
I’m cut off by my phone ringing.
I’d forgotten that I’d brought my cell phone with me. Aside from a few calls to Ms. Elsie to check in with the Nightwolf pack, I haven’t used it much in the past few weeks.
“Serafina,” Ronan calls my name as I pull away.
I don’t look at him. Though, it’s likely not the most appropriate time, I use my phone as the distraction I need from this conversation.
I blink at the name on the screen.
“Ms. Elsie,” I answer, turning away from my mates.
“Oh, Sera! I know it’s late.”
“What’s wrong?” I can hear the worry in her voice.
“It’s our Alpha Queen. Reese,” she says. “She’s in labor.”
“I-Is she okay?” My heart starts pounding in my chest. Though the time I’ve spent with Reese has been short over the past few months, I’ve come to love the Nightwolf Alpha Queen.
It would be devastating if something happened to her while giving birth to Alpha Chael’s son.
“Well … she’s asking for you.”