Chapter 5 Lina
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Lina
You’re going to pay for every single second of suffering you’ve caused me, Luna.
I stared at my phone screen, the words burning into my brain while my heart hammered against my ribs. The message had come from a different unknown number this time, which meant whoever was sending these threats had more than one phone. More than one way to reach me.
My fingers trembled slightly as I gripped the device. Two messages now. Two threats. Both specifically aimed at me and my baby. Both written by someone who clearly wanted me to suffer.
Who the hell was doing this?
I tried to think through the possibilities, tried to make my brain work through the panic that wanted to claw its way up my throat.
Mary was on house arrest. Alderic was in prison.
The rogues who had threatened us before were either dead or scattered.
There shouldn’t be anyone left who hated me enough to send messages like this.
But clearly there was.
I forced myself to take a deep breath, to push the fear down into that locked box in my chest where I kept all the things I couldn’t deal with right now, hoping it was enough to not alert Knox through the bond.
I was seven months pregnant. I was exhausted.
I had two children waiting for me and employees who needed to go home and a mate who would absolutely lose his mind if he found out about these messages.
Knox would burn down half the territory trying to find whoever was threatening me. He’d double my security, triple it, lock me in the pack house and never let me leave. He’d go feral with protective rage and I wasn’t sure I could handle that on top of everything else.
So I’d keep it to myself. For now. Until I figured out what was going on.
I quickly locked the screen and shoved the phone into my pocket, forcing a smile onto my face as I turned to look at my employees finishing up their closing tasks.
Vivi was showing Darcy, our newest hire, how to properly clean the espresso machine.
Darcy had only been with us for a couple weeks and was still learning the ropes.
Our other two baristas, Jamie and Oscar, were wiping down tables and restocking supplies.
Mika was handling the Pine Valley branch today, which meant Vivi had taken charge here.
“Goodnight!” I called out, my voice steady despite the anxiety churning in my stomach. “Great job today. See you tomorrow.”
They waved back, calling out their own goodnights as I gathered the twins from the corner booth where they’d been coloring while waiting for me. Rowan immediately grabbed my left hand while Thea claimed my right, both of them bouncing with the energy of children who’d been stuck inside too long.
It had been a busy day. Way busier than I’d expected, actually.
Some kind of tour group had come through town and decided our shop was the perfect place to stop for coffee.
Forty people ordering drinks at once. Vivi had nearly cried.
I’d stayed hours longer than usual just to help them get through the rush.
Now I was exhausted and sore and just wanted to go home and put my feet up.
“Mama, did you know that Hunt says wolves can run for hours without getting tired?” Rowan asked as we walked out the front door.
“Is that so?”
“He said he once ran from here to the mountains without stopping,” Thea added, bouncing on her feet. “I want to do that when I’m bigger.”
Hunt fell into step beside us, having been waiting outside like the good little bodyguard Knox had assigned him to be. His red hair caught the fading sunlight and his tattooed arms crossed over his chest as he grinned down at the twins.
“I also told them about the time I caught a rabbit with my bare hands,” Hunt added. “And ate it raw.”
“Ewww!” Thea screeched with delight.
“That’s disgusting,” Rowan said, but his eyes were wide with fascination.
“That’s survival, little man. Out in the wild, you eat what you can catch.”
“Did it taste good?” Thea asked.
“Tasted better than your mom’s cooking.”
“Hey!” I smacked his arm. “My cooking is excellent.”
“Your cooking is edible,” Hunt corrected. “There’s a difference.”
“I’ll remember that next time you beg me for seconds.”
The twins giggled at our bickering, which only encouraged Hunt to keep going. He started describing in graphic detail the various animals he’d caught and consumed over the years, each story more outlandish than the last.
“And then there was the time I wrestled a bear for a fish,” Hunt said, his voice dropping dramatically. “Huge bear. Biggest one I’ve ever seen. Claws this long.” He held his hands about a foot apart.
“That’s not possible,” Rowan said, his brow furrowing.
“It absolutely is. I looked that bear right in the eyes and said, this fish is mine.”
“Bears don’t negotiate,” Thea pointed out skeptically. “They just eat you.”
“This one negotiated. Because he knew I was the bigger predator.”
Rowan and Thea exchanged looks. The kind of look that said they were starting to catch on to Hunt’s bullshit.
“Wait,” Rowan said slowly. “You also said you caught a mountain lion last week. And that you swam across the ocean. And that you once ate a whole deer by yourself.”
“All true.”
“None of that is true!” Thea accused, her little face scrunching up with indignation. “You’re lying to us!”
Hunt burst out laughing, the sound echoing down the street. “Took you two long enough to figure it out. I’ve been making stuff up for the last ten minutes and you just believed all of it.”
“That’s not fair!” Rowan protested.
“That’s mean!” Thea added.
“That’s called being gullible, pups. You should always question what people tell you. Even if they’re family. Especially if they’re family.”
“We’re going to tell Mama you were being mean,” Thea threatened.
“I’m standing right here,” I pointed out.
“Mama, Hunt was being mean!”
“I heard.”
Hunt was still laughing, clearly delighted with himself for having tricked two five-year-olds. The twins’ faces had gone red with embarrassment and anger, their little fists clenching at their sides.
And then, without any warning, they both launched themselves at Hunt.
Thea went for his legs while Rowan tried to climb his back, both of them yelling about revenge and liars and how they were going to make him pay. Hunt made a big show of being overwhelmed, staggering around the sidewalk with children hanging off him.
“Help! I’m being attacked by tiny wolves!” Hunt wailed dramatically.
“We’re not tiny!” Thea shrieked, trying to bite his ankle.
“We’re fierce!” Rowan added, yanking on Hunt’s hair.
“In my defense, I was teaching them a valuable life lesson about trust and skepticism!”
They were causing a scene. Right in the middle of the street, with humans walking by and staring.
Hunt was making wolf references and the twins were growling and snapping their teeth and basically announcing their heritage to anyone paying attention.
I loved them. I loved all three of these idiots with my whole heart.
But my head was already pounding and my feet ached and I really, really didn’t have the patience for this right now.
My mood had been changing so much lately, swinging from happy to furious in seconds, and the threatening messages weren’t making anything better.
Right this second, watching them wrestle on the sidewalk while pedestrians gave us concerned looks, I just snapped.
“Are you a kid too, Sinclair?” I grunted, glaring at Hunt with all the pregnant Luna fury I could muster. “Behave!”
All three of them froze. The twins dropped off Hunt’s body instantly. Hunt straightened up, his face shifting from playful to sheepish.
“Sorry,” Hunt mumbled.
“Sorry, Mama,” Rowan added quietly.
“Sorry,” Thea echoed, though she looked less sorry and more annoyed that her revenge had been interrupted.
I almost snorted at how quickly they’d all fallen in line. Almost. But I managed to keep my face cool and stern as I pointed toward the car parked at the curb.
“In. Now. All of you.”
They scrambled to obey. Hunt opened the back door and the twins climbed in, sitting in their car seats and looking appropriately chastised. I followed, leaning in to buckle their seatbelts and make sure they were secure before closing the door and moving to the front passenger seat.
Hunt slid into the driver’s seat, still looking sheepish.
“Stay for dinner,” I said as he started the engine. It wasn’t a question.
His whole demeanor shifted instantly, eyebrows wiggling and a grin spreading across his face. “Yes ma’am, I love your food. Best cooking in the pack.”
“You literally just said my cooking was only edible.”
“I said that to mess with you. Obviously your cooking is amazing. Five stars. Would recommend to everyone.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“But I’m a great dinner guest.”
From the backseat, both twins groaned loudly.
“Mommy, but he’s being annoying,” Thea whined.
“He’s your uncle, baby. It’s part of his job being annoying.” I twisted in my seat to look at them, noting their matching pouts. “You can annoy him back. But after dinner.”
The twins’ faces lit up with identical expressions of gleeful anticipation. Hunt caught their looks in the rearview mirror and his smugness faded slightly.
“Wait, what kind of annoying are we talking about here?”
“That’s between them and whatever revenge they’re planning. You started it.”
“I regret all my life choices.”
“You should.”
The drive to the pack house was short, the familiar roads of Ravenshollow passing by in a blur of trees and houses and pack members going about their evening routines. I leaned my head against the window and tried not to think about the message still burning a hole in my pocket.
Who would send something like that? Who blamed me for their suffering? The words had been personal. Pointed. Whoever wrote them genuinely believed I’d wronged them in some way.