Chapter 14 #2
Seconds turned into minutes. No one said anything. Levi was on his third scan of the clearing, and I was getting impatient. Obviously, this wasn’t working the way the two mages had hoped it would.
But then suddenly, Levi stopped and opened his eyes, zeroing in on a spot of… nothing but snow on the other side of the clearing, a little to the right and close to the thick underbrush that was currently a bare mess of twigs and thorns covered in plush white snow.
I tried to see what Levi obviously did, but there wasn’t anything.
“Found it,” he breathed, then started walking, Rhett hot on his heels as if he feared that the tent would attack his mate.
Nix grinned, giving me a wide smile. “He did it,” he said, sounding like a proud parent, eyes sparkling. “I have no idea how to teach magic, but he did it, Gray.”
If I thought hearing him call me Alpha was special, having my name roll off his tongue, his voice filled with joy…? Yeah, that warmed up my whole body.
However, when Levi reached the spot of nothing he’d zeroed in on and his fingers hit something solid, my stomach plummeted.
Within seconds, I was looking into Nix’s hiding spot.
A tent made of white canvas, the inside a mess of sleeping bags, blankets, and clothes layered on a thin mattress.
Next to his makeshift bed was a camping cooker, a couple of cans of beans, and…
“Wait… did you steal that stuff in town?” Nix’s face turned pale, his hands going up, the air between us sizzling as he carefully took a couple of steps back, his eyes never leaving me as if I were about to attack him. “What the hell?”
I’d just asked a question. And yeah, I might’ve raised my voice a little, but then again, I’d just found all the stolen property that’d made my life hell the past two weeks. Right in my mate’s tent.
“I’m sorry,” he said, still creeping backwards. “I didn’t know what to do… I was hungry and cold and I’d run out of food and…”
“So you stole stuff?”
He flinched, eyes darting between me and Levi, lip wobbling.
He had driven me mad, sending me on wild goose chases trying to find a thief without a scent.
But that wasn’t what made my blood boil. Not really. It was the way this place reeked of desperation. The way his clothes were piled up on the mattress as if he’d slept under them because the sleeping bags weren’t cutting it.
“Gray,” Rhett called out, jogging over to me. “Calm down, man.”
Calm down? Had he seen the way my mate had been roughing it? He hadn’t been out camping for fun. He’d been living here for months. Suffering for months—and I’d never known. Had never known that just miles from where I was living, my mate was slowly starving to death.
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
“Sorry,” I said, closing my eyes, shame swallowing me as I scented Nix’s fear. “That was uncalled for. I’m not angry at you.”
“You sounded angry,” he accused, voice wobbly. “I really, really didn’t want to hurt anyone by stealing.”
I grimaced. “I’m not angry at you.”
Rhett raised his brows at me. “Dude…”
“I’m angry that you were forced to stay in this tent that’s wholly unsuited for this kind of climate. The stolen stuff was… an outlet to deal with my emotions.”
Talk about putting my foot in my mouth.
Fuck, I needed to be more careful with my mate. Because the way he was looking at me now, distrust written all over his face and pain radiating off him… I didn’t want to see him like that.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
Nix gave a short nod, but he didn’t relax, his stance still rigid. “It’s okay. I’ll… reimburse everyone for what I took.”
My wolf huffed. He didn’t need to pay anyone. I’d take care of it. Once my pack found out exactly why he’d stolen from them, I imagined most would be sympathetic. And even if they weren’t, I’d take care of it. Discreetly.
I sighed.
“What do you want to bring to the packhouse?”
Nix bit his lip, then shook his head.
“You know what? Just leave it here for now. I don’t need any of it.” Nix crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes zeroed in on the tent, carefully avoiding my gaze. I wanted to go over and hug him, apologize properly, but his whole stance screamed for me to keep my distance.
So I did. I kept my distance as Nix turned around and started trudging back to the ATV, pace brisk, tension radiating off him.
Levi gave me a long look, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Go with him. We’ll pack his things. He’ll want them later.”
I gave him a grateful smile and trailed after Nix, keenly aware that I’d just fucked up royally.
Nix had gone up to his room without even so much as looking at me, his shoulders hiking up further and further with every step he’d taken toward the packhouse. His scent had spiked, fear rolling off him in waves, mingling with his natural scent, and then it’d just… stopped. It was gone. Completely.
My wolf howled, thrashing in my chest, the loss of Nix’s scent a visceral pain to him.
And to me.
“Is now a bad time?” Oakley asked, his round cheeks bright red from the cold. He must’ve run here.
“No, not at all,” I reassured him and forced myself to take my eyes off the staircase. Nix wouldn’t come down anytime soon.
Because I’d spooked him.
Fuck.
“Okay. Paul and I talked to Nick and Connie and reviewed the documents Nick’s parents provided.
They were thorough. Paul is no lawyer, but he says everything looks good.
Then again, from what Nick told me, his parents are fully on board with him living here, so I can’t imagine we’re gonna have problems on that front. Conrad, on the other hand…”
I sighed, raking a hand through my hair.
“Let’s go to my office.”
Oakley snorted. “Paul will be with us shortly, he has to take care of a runaway cat first. Of course he does. What else would a Mountie do in a place like this? It’s not like we have much crime here.”