Chapter 15
SEBASTIAN
This was the longest vacation I had ever taken as an adult.
I loved spending time with Gunnar and getting to know him, but the worries of real life were only a Lock Screen away.
Even when I should have been relaxing, I checked my phone, often glaring at the texts on my screen.
I hadn't mentioned my dad to Gunnar since we arrived, but the texts from random unknown numbers hadn't stopped coming.
At this point, I assumed Ivan had a number generator.
I'd blocked too many. There was no way he had an astronomical number of burner phones in his possession, but I could see him buying a call center just to send me harassing texts.
"We will find you."
They would, eventually. We couldn't stay here much longer, but I didn't know where to go. Returning to the States seemed impossible, but we couldn't continue to run around Europe, either.
Gunnar froze every time I mentioned leaving, which was also a problem. My wolf could smell his fear, and my first instinct was to protect him, but he refused to tell me what was wrong.
Thankfully, the weather cleared up. When Bettina returned on Friday morning, she asked if we would meet with her opa on Monday. "He still really wants to meet you."
"That would be wonderful," I said, though I still felt something strange coming through my bond with Gunnar.
Later that morning, when Gunnar and I went outside to check for storm damage, I asked, "What's up? You seem … twitchy."
"Nothing. It's fine."
"I feel what you're feeling," I reminded him. "You are not fine."
He shook his head and walked along the path we'd cleared with our shovels, staring up at the eaves. "I'm looking forward to meeting Bettina's grandfather," he said over his shoulder.
I was glad to hear it. Though I wouldn't force him to go anywhere or do anything he didn't want, I couldn't leave him alone at the resort. The thought of my dad lurking in the shadows had made me extra cautious.
Still, I wanted to know what was wrong. Why wouldn't he talk to me? My wolf wanted to comfort his wolf, but without an opening, I would only sound like the know-it-all jerk he always thought I was.
Monday morning, I woke up alone in our bed. When I finally found Gunnar sipping tea with Bettina, he shoved something into his mouth and crinkled up the packaging before I could see it. He smelled sweeter, but when I leaned down to kiss the top of his head, I caught a whiff of vomit.
"Ready to go?" Bettina asked.
Gunnar flashed me a weak smile and shoved the wrapper into his pocket. "I am."
"Yeah, okay," I said as I tentatively sniffed his hair.
Bettina frowned at Gunnar as though she wanted to reprimand him. I knew that look well. Instead, she led the way to the main doors and pointed to her car beneath the resort's awning. "I'll wait outside while you get your coats."
I sat in the front seat, and Gunnar took the back while Bettina strapped herself in behind the wheel. The high-end car deodorizer clipped to the main air vents kept me from smelling anything but pine. Thanks to Gunnar's silence, the ride to the train station seemed to take twice as long as usual.
When we parked, Gunnar hung back with Bettina while I purchased three tickets to Lausanne. I heard them arguing and glanced over my shoulder to see them gesturing wildly while still whispering too low for me to hear.
Tickets in hand, I approached their bench. They stopped whispering and looked at me with innocent expressions.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I wasn't feeling the best this morning," Gunnar said. "It's fine, though. Bettina's ginger tea worked wonders." He removed the plastic wrapper from his pocket and tossed it into the trash bin beside the bench. "And saltines."
"I'm sorry you weren't feeling well." I sat beside him and placed my hand on his knee. Frowning at Bettina, I asked, "Stomach bug?"
She squinted with schoolteacher disapproval. "What did the two of you eat over the weekend?"
"Nothing spoiled, I swear." She kept the kitchen so tidy, it would be impossible for anything to go bad on her watch. "We don't eat outside."
She patted Gunnar's other knee. "Nothing to worry about, then."
Gunnar tensed. "What if Bunting did something to us? Or we came across something in space? Radiation sickness sometimes takes a few weeks to manifest."
"You got the same treatment as I did," I reminded him. "If it's something Bunting did, we would both be sick."
He didn't look convinced, but he buried his hands in his pockets and leaned forward over his knees.
Bettina frowned at me over his back. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Never better." I couldn't resist smoothing my palm over the bumps and ripples of Gunnar's puffy coat.
She snorted. "I don't believe you."
"I mean it. I haven't had a vacation this relaxing since … ever." Our trip to Ukraine was the only one to come close, but I'd wasted the first weeks as a sickly child, and then I'd learned my mother was dying, so not the best comparison.
"I'm glad you're enjoying your stay," she said. "It has been nice to have the hotel open for once."
"Next January, I promise." The construction crew would be back to finish the lodge renovations in the spring. Weather permitting, another crew would repair the lifts and gondolas. "We'll have our grand opening on New Year's Day."
The conversation spurred me to write a to-do list for my friend Lonnie to handle during his resort's off season.
I typed out the bullet points on the train and sent it to him as we pulled into the station in Lausanne.
It was early morning in Hawaii, but knowing Lonnie, he would have a status report to me by the time we arrived back at the resort.
The back of my neck prickled when I hit send. It was a harmless work email, but in the wrong hands, my father would know exactly where to find us if he intercepted it.
I swore I felt someone watching me, and the hair raised at my nape. I shook it off and talked my wolf down from high alert. We still had several hours before we had to run.
When we stepped out of our rideshare at the address Bettina gave me, I couldn't believe my eyes. The place was a castle with spires on all four corners of the keep and battlements atop every outside wall between them. In the snow, it looked like the perfect home for an ice princess.
"What is this place?" I asked Bettina.
"It's been in our family for generations. We call it Wulfenzheim."
"It's beautiful." Gunnar stared up at the bulwark with eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth open.
"Thank you." Bettina looked pleased. "Shall we go inside?"
We followed her through a massive door, into a wide stone entrance, and down hall after hall until we found a gorgeous sitting room at the back of the building.
A cheery fire crackled opposite a bank of windows.
A spry man with only a few wispy gray hairs on top of his head sat to one side of a chessboard, enjoying the view.
"Opa! It's so good to see you!"
"Bettina!" He turned and smiled at the sound of her voice.
"You made it this time. I was so disappointed when you couldn't join us last week.
" His eyes had a warm golden shine to them as he spoke to her in German.
Despite his age, which Bettina had said was well over 200 years old, his gaze still held the curiosity of youth.
"Look at you," he said in English as he gave us a once-over.
"Aren't you both fine specimens of wolves. Can you shift?"
"You can tell just by looking at us?" Gunnar asked.
"Well, Bettina told me you are wolves, but I could smell you the moment you entered the building. The shifter smell is strong. Are there three of you?" He looked behind us, as though expecting to see another wolf shifter.
"No, Opa." Bettina frowned. "It's as I said, only the two."
He looked confused for a moment, but then he smiled and shook our hands. "I apologize. Sometimes my nose plays tricks on me. I'm Nor Bertholf." He released my hand immediately, but his hold lingered on Gunnar's, raising the hackles at my nape. "You're a true omega. I've never met one before."
"I'm a … what now?" Gunnar shook his head. "They disproved that theory. Wolf packs in the wild are family groups led by parents. Betas and omegas only exist among captive wolves."
The old man shook his head. "They exist in shifters, though we haven't had any among us for a long time. It's been thirty years since my oma passed away. She was a beta who could shift, and her omega father gave birth to her."
I blinked. "He what?"
"Omegas are special." Still holding Gunnar's hand, he rose from his chair and led us to the furniture arranged around the giant fireplace. "My English isn't as good as it once was. Bettina, would you translate?"
She nodded, and he began to speak.
"Once upon a time." She laughed and said in German, "Oh, Opa, they will think this is a fairy tale!"
"Tell the story," he chided. He began again, and so did she.
"Once upon a time, men lived alongside wolves during the darkest era.
There was no food. Water was scarce, and everything was frozen.
Giant bears came down from the north, killing man and wolf indiscriminately.
Together, men and wolves made it through the dark night.
Some say they crossed a line from which they could not return.
"The wolves marked their chosen humans with bites, forging a bond of shared destiny.
The wolves shared their dens to keep the humans warm.
In return, the humans built fires to keep the bears away.
Both wolves and humans contributed to their food stores with hunting and foraging.
Soon, the marked humans gave birth to a new kind of person, neither man nor wolf.
"At first, the elders thought their young would die out, the last of their species.
No female children had been born. As the boys matured, it became clear there were three types.
Alphas craved dominance and demanded submission from their peers.
Betas worked hard and did whatever the family needed done.
"Omegas looked like betas at first, but when the children first shifted into wolves, after puberty, their differences became apparent.
Alphas were drawn to omegas like bears to honey.
When the first omega went into heat, the family couldn't keep one alpha away from him.
That alpha fought the others, and then he and the omega ran away together.
"The family thought all was lost until the two returned days later, carrying fresh bear meat with them.
The two had stumbled into a bear cave while the omega's heat rode him, and they'd killed the bear hibernating there.
Once the omega's heat broke, they returned home with their heads hung low, offering the feast in return for rejoining their family.
"The humans were quick to accept them, but the wolves noticed the omega's scent had changed. They howled and ran with the moon, asking the goddess what it meant. Her only response was to shine down on them with her silvery light.
"On their run, they found the cave where the two shifters had killed the bear. They gathered the rest of the carcass and brought it back to their home. Most importantly, they took it as a sign of good fortune and let the alpha and omega stay.
"The omega put on some weight, and the family rejoiced.
He had been the smallest, the runt of the litter, and finally with the feast of the bear, he thrived.
Six months later, they thought it was all for naught.
He writhed on the ground and whined anxiously, sure the horrible wracking pains would kill him.
"The wolves encouraged him to shift into his wolf form. A few hours later, he gave birth to two wolf cubs. Soon after, they shifted into healthy baby boys. That was when our people understood the purpose of the omega."
The old man stared intently, letting his words settle over us like a wet blanket. Bettina rose from her wingback chair to pour herself a glass of water from the pitcher on a side table. "Would anyone else like some?"
I started to shake my head but glanced at Gunnar. He looked completely shellshocked. "Yes, please." I motioned her over and helped Gunnar take a drink.
Mr. Bertholf had moved from the couch opposite ours with the speed and dexterity of someone much younger. He took Gunnar's hand again and brought it to his nose. "It's as I thought. You are schwangerschaft." The word was more advanced than my German, though I was fluent.
Even Bettina frowned at him. "Like the omega in the story?" The old man nodded. "Pregnant," she said. "He says you're pregnant."
Gunnar blinked up at him, but my wolf was doing summersaults inside my head. He was ecstatic, while I froze with fear. What had we done?