Chapter 2 - Nicholas #2
But Dominic shakes his head. “Considering we’re supposed to behave tonight, I didn’t bring any with me. Ty…what about you?”
Tyler shakes his head. “Nope. Besides, the best strain grows in Nightmist.”
“Nah, we have the best strain up in Stowe,” Sean argues, then shrugs. “I would have brought some with me, but Dom said we’re behaving tonight.”
“You can’t blame me,” Dominic protests. “We all know the dark lord is still out there, and until we find him and put an end to him, we have to be careful.”
“If you guys are gonna talk shop, we’re gonna head to the hot tubs,” Cecelia says with a hint of humor in her voice.
“You guys can find us there later when you’re done catching up,” Arianna adds as she kisses Tyler.
Dominic seems to calm down as he presses a kiss on his mate’s lips before she leaves with Lily, Arianna, and Emily. He turns back to us with a sigh, his shoulders drooping.
“I guess I need a hit as much as you do, Nick,” he says as he pats my shoulder half-heartedly, then heads to the bench overlooking the fire pit, where only a thin spiral of smoke coils in the air. “I’ve been stressed as fuck, and I can imagine you guys have been, too.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, joining him on the bench. Santo, his beta, takes a seat on Dominic’s left, while Sean and Tyler take the opposite bench. “That’s why I, er—asked. Taking over as alpha was worse than I thought it would be.”
I gnaw on my bottom lip when the lie is out, and my friends offer me sympathetic assurances that I have every reason to be exhausted from my newly established duties.
Well, it’s not altogether a lie, but rather an excuse that holds some weight of truth.
I’ve only been the alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack for a few months—ever since the Shadow Fang Pack was targeted by the dark lord, and a witch infiltrated Delilah’s pack and nearly claimed her life.
The witch, Gwen, turned out to be innocent, her mind poisoned by a group of witches who work for an evil warlock.
We’d found her in Oakland and taken her to Scarborough, only for the unexpected poison to bleed into Delilah.
Luckily, Delilah’s mother and Arianna worked together to combat the dark magic that consumed both Delilah and Gwen.
Delilah came out unscathed, but Gwen had been in a coma for three months. That whole incident sparked everyone’s concern, and we’ve all been on high alert since then.
That’s why my father finally retired and passed the mantle to me without giving me too much hassle about it.
First, Tyler’s pack was targeted, then Delilah’s.
We know the dark warlock is after the witches who are linked to the coven that defeated him decades ago—the Golden Tree Sisters.
Both Arianna and Delilah are linked to that coven, and they’re our friends.
Tyler and Delilah were a part of our black ops squad, performing missions across the States to uncover enemy circles and keep our packs safe.
Father realized the extent of the trouble on home soil after the incident in Scarborough, along with the previous one in Portland, when the dark lord sent mutated rogue werewolves after Tyler’s pack.
It became a priority for me to take over as alpha of Crescent Moon, even though he’d been putting it off until I turned thirty.
There’s still a month to go before I do, and I’ve been the alpha of my pack for six months. In those six months, the dark lord has been missing.
We haven’t heard a breath about him, and we’re all on high alert.
I’m just a little more scattered because I saw Donna today.
“It’s a waiting game for now. Who knows what his next move will be?” Dominic shivers.
“Arianna hasn’t had a vision for months,” Tyler sighs. “And there’s been nothing from Delilah.”
“Or Gwen, for that matter,” Sean adds with a nervous gulp.
Santo clears his throat. “What if he just decided to disappear?”
“It’s highly unlikely,” Tyler says. “The dark lord is cunning. We have to watch our backs. No one can be trusted.”
We all nod slowly, and the weight of the evening hangs on my shoulders, as well as in my pocket. I slip my hand inside, pressing my palm to the box, wondering if Donna is asleep yet.
“You guys going to the hot tubs?”
“Yeah,” Dominic concedes, getting to his feet. “The girls are waiting for us. You coming?”
“Nah,” I shake my head. “I think I’m gonna head to bed for the night.”
Tyler pats my shoulder. “You are looking a little rough around the edges. Get some rest, bud. We’re hunting tomorrow, when Tobias leaves.”
I nod and watch the guys leave the fire pit area toward the hot tubs before heading in the opposite direction toward the luxury tents. Dragging my feet despondently, I barely lift my head or take stock of my surroundings when my airways become filled with the familiar scent of lavender.
Slowing down, I look up to realize I’m standing between two tents, as if I’m standing between two worlds.
Tobias’s tent is on the right.
Donna’s tent is on the left.
Turning slowly toward the left, the scent spreads around the log and tempered-glass tent like a protective shield. Or is it meant to entice me, meant to beckon me forward, like a mating call that signals my inner wolf?
That’s the only explanation for walking toward the wooden door, the lace curtains on the windows on either side closed, the lights out in Donna’s tent. She must be asleep already, but her scent exudes life that can only ever be found when I stare deeply into her eyes.
I’m already pulling out the box from my pocket, contemplating if I should go ahead and knock on the door and give her the graduation gift I was supposed to give her if I wasn’t such a coward.
If my head wasn’t so messed up from seeing her with Tobias tonight….
I shove the box back into my pocket and pause on my way there, raking a hand through my hair, silently cursing myself.
Don’t do it, Nick…don’t make it worse….
The night air is cool against my heated skin, the forest surrounding the resort thick with the scent of pine and earth, and traces of smoke.
It should calm me, but it doesn’t. My wolf is prowling restlessly beneath the surface of my being, stirred by Donna’s scent clinging to the wind—lavender and something sweeter, something hers.
It wraps around me like an invisible chain, tugging me toward her tent until I can almost see her in my mind; curled beneath her blankets, breathing softly, unaware that I’m fighting every primal instinct that wants to tear down that wooden door and check up on her.
I turn around, away from her tent, before I do something stupid, something so impulsive that I’ll regret it later.
That’s when I catch movement at the edge of the resort, behind the tents—a faint shuffle near the communal bathroom.
My wolf instantly becomes alert.
Someone’s out there….
I pad across the stone path toward the soft lawn, quietly following the faint sound of footsteps across the gravel until the air shifts again, and I leave Donna’s scent behind. What hits my airways sharply this time is familiar. I know that scent.
I’ve been growing an aversion to it all night, becoming irritable every time I caught a whiff of that smell, so of course I recognize it now.
Tobias.
My stomach twists as I follow him through the path leading toward the forest, my boots crunching lightly on dry leaves. What is he doing out here, going in the opposite direction from his tent?
It’s my instincts that soar now, the goosebumps pebbling my arms compelling me to follow him as he enters the woods. It’s unnecessary, and highly suspicious.
That’s when he stops beside a tree, turning his face to the side. I still my body and hide myself behind a thick tree trunk, peeking out to spy on him.
He’s not alone, and my breath catches. There’s a figure cloaked in black beside him, moving too smoothly, too deliberately to be human.
A low growl rumbles in my chest as I duck behind the tree, watching them disappear deeper into the shadows. My pulse quickens, my inner wolf ready to burst out.
What the hell is Tobias doing?
And who, or what, the fuck is that cloaked thing?