CHAPTER SEVEN
Ibreathed a sigh of relief as the tourist centre door swung shut behind the latest group of visitors. They hadn’t been difficult, quite the opposite. They were a lovely group of students on a backpacking trip for spring break who were working on conservation or ecology degrees, and we’d had a good chat about some of the better and quieter spots on the island, but people had been in and out all day, and I was ready for a break. I got up from the desk and flipped the closed sign on the door.
Eleanor was not in the office today. She was running errands and working from home this afternoon, though I had her number if I needed her and she only lived a couple of minutes away. I hadn’t felt the need to call. Yes, I’d been run off my feet, but I did love this job, and it was nice chatting to people.
With spring in full force, the island was getting more and more visitors. The busy summer season hadn’t quite started, but people were getting in early to avoid higher prices and crowds, and the tour companies were already starting to book up. I was feeling the change myself, a lightening of the spirit that came when the days grew longer and warmer and there was more sunshine in the air. The island was coming alive around me, and I’d started going for walks in the forest with Maverick and sometimes Lucas. Maverick liked to shift and run, and I’d watch him as he changed from his commanding alpha human to a playful pup as he bounded through the trees. I felt sad that I couldn’t shift and join him, but it was still nice to watch. Lucas tended to stay in human form, and we would walk in silence together, just enjoying each other’s presence. If he was feeling chatty, he’d take me to a new place and tell me about its history or the wildlife that lived around there. He was my walking encyclopaedia. I loved hearing him talk about the island. He spoke with such passion and energy that he never showed at any other time, and I felt joy at the idea that he was comfortable enough to share this part of himself with me.
We hadn’t talked about the day at the Devil’s Chimney since, and I hadn’t raised the subject of his dad’s death again, though I felt like I understood him a little better. I had always wondered how he could be so different from his brothers when they’d had the same upbringing, and now I knew. Trauma changed people fundamentally on the inside, and Lucas was becoming less of a mystery every day.
I needed to think about Devil’s Chimney though. I hadn’t managed to get any time alone in the last few days to check the map. Between being at work with Eleanor, Lucas and Maverick being so protective, and all the time we were still spending in bed, this was the first time I had to myself.
I sat down at my desk and pulled the map sketch out of my pocket. It was getting rumpled, and I smoothed it out over the desk, searching for the symbol. I had been right. It did look like a whale. It was in a spot surrounded by islands, and I studied them, trying to work out if we’d passed them. I thought we had, though it was difficult to reconcile what I saw in a map with what I had seen speeding through the water, especially since I hadn’t been paying much attention part of the time. I grinned, and my face heated at the memory of Lucas’s talented fingers.
I had thought my crazy sex drive would calm down after Maverick, Lucas, and I were mated. We’d accepted the bond, so it had done its job, but I still felt a strong pull to them, and I couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t right.
Something was missing. Probably my integrity, I thought with a grimace. My little secret wriggled away in my belly, more active than ever. I’d been so paranoid over the last few days that I’d been making sure the lights were always off when I went to bed with my two mates, but I knew I couldn’t conceal it much longer, and then everything would come spilling out.
My mind drifted back to the cave and the water, and I remembered standing at the entrance with Lucas, glancing down into the darkness between spurts of water. I blinked and looked back at the symbol—a whale symbol. Something clicked in my mind.
It was just a matter of perspective. Devil’s Chimney was a relatively modern name, and it made sense looking at it from the cliffs, as if you were on a rooftop with the water spraying out above you, but what if the cave hadn’t been found from the cliffs? What if it had been spotted from the sea at low tide? From the open sea, the spurting water could easily look like the blowhole of a whale.
I smiled and folded up the map. I was right. Devil’s Chimney was the last map location I needed to find. Maybe Lucas had been right as a child. Maybe the treasure was hidden inside that cave, and they just hadn’t found it. I needed to get into that cave, but I wasn’t stupid. It was clear how risky the whole thing was, so I would have to plan carefully.
Bringing up my browser, I looked up the date and time of the next lowest tides. A normal low tide wouldn’t do, since the water wouldn’t drop low enough for me to get in, search, and get out. I gazed at the screen, my heart sinking. It would have been too easy to be anytime soon. The next tide that would be low enough wouldn’t happen for another week. I would have to wait until then to search the cave. I rested my chin on my hands and rubbed my eyes. I just had to buy myself enough time to find the gold, but if the lowest tide wasn’t for another month, I was out of time. There was no way I could hide the baby for much longer. I was going to have to come clean. I just needed to decide how much I needed to tell them.
“Working hard, or hardly working?” The familiar drawl interrupted my thoughts, and my head flew up as Ethan sat down opposite my desk.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying not to show how on edge I was at his presence. He’d kept his word, not coming near me since the claiming, but I hadn’t forgotten that he’d tried to kill me to cover his tracks, and now I was alone with him in the centre. He wouldn’t go for me here though, surely.
He reached out, grabbed a small wooden carving of a sea lion, and twirled it around his fingers. I’d seen it in the gift shop and bought it the day after the boat tour. It reminded me of Lucas.
“I just came for a chat. How’s mated life treating you, Nova?”
“Fine. Is that all?”
“Not very friendly service for a tourist advisor, Nova. Perhaps you’re in the wrong job.”
“What do you want, Ethan?”
“What I said I wanted on the night of the claiming. I want to know what Jaxon told you about this island and his journal.”
I sighed in frustration. “Like I said, he didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t even know he came from here until I got here, and I don’t... The journal, you keep calling it a journal...”
“So you admit you have it then?” His eyes narrowed. “Give it to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a journal, Ethan. I don’t know what secrets you’re trying to protect, but that book? It’s a little history project Jaxon was working on, that’s all. There’s no mention of you inside. You have my word.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said simply. “Jaxon possessed... important information that could cause me a lot of trouble if it got into the wrong hands. That information was not at the apartment where you resided with him, therefore, it must be contained in that book, and I want it.”
I stared at him. “What do you mean, it wasn’t at the apartment? How do you...” My eyes widened. “Declan.” I practically growled his name, and Ethan gave me a cold smile.
“He was going to throw you out anyway. I just got him to move it up to the day of the funeral so we could search the apartment while he emptied it.”
I frowned. “But I didn’t take the book to the funeral. It was with our stuff when I went back to the apartment. Why didn’t you take it then?”
Ethan’s face darkened. “An idiotic oversight by a beta. He thought he was looking for paperwork, so he discounted the book without looking inside. I was not happy when he told me he’d seen it and didn’t bring it to me.”
“What’s so important that you actually came to search our home, Ethan? What are you trying to hide?”
He stood up and leaned closer. “You can play the innocent all you like, Nova. You were his mate, you stuck by him all the time he was ill, and you were with him at the end. He knew he was dying. Do you really expect me to believe he didn’t tell you anything?”
“I guess he didn’t trust me as much as you think,” I retorted, pushing away the pain that burned deep inside at the truth of the words. Jaxon hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me what he was doing, not even when he was dying, and that hurt like hell.
Ethan’s alpha power radiated from him in a way that was nearly painful as he tried to compel me to submit. I nearly did out of habit, but then my mind suddenly flashed back to that afternoon on Maverick’s boat, when he’d told me never to submit to anyone again if it was not my choice. I met Ethan’s gaze head-on and fought him. He was strong, but I realised I was stronger, and so did he.
Anger flashed in his eyes as I stood up, facing him. “Get out.”
“Don’t give me commands, Omega. I am still the alpha of this pack.” He glared at me but didn’t press it.
“Not for long,” I said with a degree of snark in my voice. I felt pride in my wolf as I stood up to him, and I smiled her smile.
Ethan stared at me a moment longer, then his angry expression faded, and he gave me a cold smile. He stepped around the desk and his hand shot out, too quick for me to step back, before wrapping around my throat. My hands closed on his wrist, but he was too strong. He squeezed, and I struggled to no avail.
“No, not for long. One day soon, Maverick will become alpha. Sadly, you won’t be around to see that happen, Omega. I can promise you that, and I will personally enjoy ripping you apart and devouring your body piece by piece. Don’t worry, I’ll leave your pretty face intact and have someone deliver it to your mates.”
He released me, and I gasped for breath.
“Another time, Nova. Another time.”
“You won’t kill me,” I choked out. “Maverick would find out, and you wouldn’t want him finding out what you are.”
Ethan turned and gave me a cold smile. “You think I won’t? There are plenty of bodies in my past. I know what I want, and sometimes people have to be removed for me to get it. Whether that means taking you out, or even Maverick, it doesn’t bother me. Just hope I pick something quick for you, Nova. It could always be long and drawn out.”
He walked out of the shop, leaving me to rub at the skin on my throat, my chest still burning. My stomach turned with his threat to both me and Maverick. He’d calculated wrong, though, if he thought he could bully me anymore. I had grown up with bullies, and I was done letting people push me around.
Ethan was up to something, and I was going to find out what. Jaxon clearly had dirt on him, and proof too. I wish he’d told me what was going on. I could have helped somehow or just... I let out a growl of frustration. Okay, going back over that pain and trying to recall that part of my life wasn’t going to help now. I had partitioned that time off nicely, and every time the grief tried to come back, I forced it down into its little box. I had to think about this logically.
Jaxon had something on Ethan, which meant Ethan was up to something he didn’t want anyone finding out about, especially Maverick. Jaxon had proof, paperwork, that Ethan was trying to retrieve, and his comments to me on the night of the claiming indicated it was some kind of business deal. But if Jaxon had proof, then why hadn’t he already told Maverick?
“Because Maverick wasn’t involved with pack politics back then,” I said out loud to myself. “Jaxon was supposed to be alpha, so this was on him. He didn’t want to involve his brothers. Maverick was off sailing, Lucas rarely got involved, and Asher... maybe he thought Asher was too young or... or maybe he thought he’d be putting him in danger.”
Ethan had threatened me and tried to kill me to protect his secret. Maybe that was why Jaxon had kept everything tight to his chest. He knew Ethan was dangerous, and he left the island without telling anyone.
“But why? If he had something on Ethan, why not tell someone? And why leave suddenly? And how on earth does the gold tie into all of this?” I shook my head. “No, Nova, focus on the paperwork. It’s real, it exists somewhere. It’s proof of something shady, though maybe it’s not enough proof. Maybe Jaxon needed something more, and that’s why he came to the city, but he didn’t bring the paperwork with him because Ethan’s beta didn’t find it in the apartment, which must mean he left it here.”
I thought about the cabin, about Lucas’s, Asher’s, and Maverick’s rooms—mainly Maverick’s. The three of us had been spending a lot of time in there, and Maverick had commented about needing a bigger space and moving into a bigger bedroom, but he’d never done anything about it. There was only one other bedroom in the cabin, and it was kept locked—Jaxon’s room. They’d left it as it was when he’d taken off, and even the cleaner wasn’t allowed inside.
I had a strong suspicion that Jaxon had left the paperwork behind on the island, hidden somewhere, and I would bet anything it would be in that room. Somehow, I had to get inside and search it. I had to get the keys from Maverick too, and I’d have to face the personal space of the man I’d loved. A man, it seemed, who had more secrets than me. Did I even know Jaxon at all? I was starting to think I hadn’t, and the fear of that hurt me more than I could have imagined.