Chapter 13
Kole towered over me, his body pressing into mine as his dominance seeped into me. I could feel it, as if his DNA was weaving with my own. I gritted my teeth, fighting hard to keep him out. My body trembled, I felt so close to the edge of breaking.
There was a knock at the door and the tension between us fizzled out like a dying firework. I closed my eyes, taking a breath as his power lifted. The outside world came rushing back so fast it made my head spin.
“Come in.” Kole’s voice was harsh, his eyes blazing down at me.
The door opened and Marcus and Carrick entered. They were positively glowing. It must be all that mate-baked bread.
“Luna.” Marcus nodded. He paused, clearly noticing my distress. He looked at Kole. “Should we do this another time?”
“No, my mate just needs a moment to calm herself.”
“I’d like to go for a walk,” I said again, anything to get me out of this room.
“You’ll stay,” Kole said but I ignored him. I needed to get out. I side stepped him and made for the door, only to be yanked back by my chain. Kole wound it slowly around his hand, giving me no choice but to step closer to him until I was a mere foot away. “You will stay.”
Rage churned inside, but I was powerless…for now.
He turned back to his Beta and Gamma. Without a word, they cleared the papers he’d been working on off the desk, and suddenly, all thoughts of getting out of this room disappeared. I almost squealed in excitement at what lay in front of me.
“Are you interested in pack life?” Carrick asked, picking up my obvious curiosity in what I was looking at.
I’m interested in maps.
I stared at the giant map before me, wondering if they had any idea what they’d given to me or if, like with my backpack, they didn’t think it mattered. Pushing all anxieties from my conversation with Kole to the side, I focused on this opportunity. I couldn’t waste it. Time to put my game face on.
“I suppose I ought to be. I promised Dinah – Luna Dinah, I mean – that I would try.” Kole looked at me with approval but there was suspicion there too.
I was going to have to work harder to make this believable now that I knew how much Kole’s presence was affecting my behaviour.
Grudging acceptance. That’s what I needed to show.
“What are these?” I pointed at a series of red pins stuck to the map.
“These are attack points,” Carrick answered. “Places where the Gulf pack have tried to weaken us.”
Unlike Marcus, Carrick had a gentle demeanour.
His hair was cut short, his eyes were honey coloured, and the white scar of his mate mark stood out against his dark skin.
I didn’t like Carrick’s mate, but I preferred him over Marcus, who looked like he was constantly on the verge of punching a hole in the wall.
“We’re tracking where the Gulfs have attacked from so that we can try and predict where they will try next,” Marcus continued. “They’re testing for weak spots, so they won't try the same place more than once or twice.”
I swallowed. This was more serious than I’d realised. I looked up at Kole.
“This is why you had to leave last night?”
“Yes,” Kole nodded. “Last night's attack was stronger. They’re getting bolder.”
“Or more desperate,” Carrick muttered. Kole grunted in agreement.
I stepped closer as they discussed strategy, using their distraction to quickly find us on the map.
The surrounding area for miles in all directions was dense forest and wilderness.
I searched for the road that had led me to their show house and after a minute I found it.
We were about 10 miles away. I could run there in an hour or two if I didn’t get lost. That was without my gear, taking it would slow me down, but still, now I had a location.
The town I’d stayed in was an hour’s drive away from there.
Six hours. I needed at least six hours altogether to make it. Probably more. It seemed like an impossible mountain to climb but I had a shot.
“Luna?” Carrick said. I looked up to find three sets of eyes on me. “I asked if you had any questions? You seemed quite engrossed in our plans.”
“She was engrossed in figuring out an escape route.” The wolf behind Kole’s eyes fixed on me, unwavering. “Did you find the road to the show house yet?”
Lie, Iona.
“Yes,” I answered instead. There was no point in lying.
If I managed to escape, that route to the show house would be the first place he’d check which put it firmly out of bounds to me now. Damn.
“Why the increase in attacks?” I asked, changing the subject.
Carrick looked between Kole and I before taking my hint to move on. “We believe they know of your existence now.”
“How?”
“That is a very good question,” he replied.
The three of them shared a look. A ‘don't tell her what we know’ look. But they didn’t need to.
I could guess. They had a mole, someone within the pack who was working against them.
I wanted to find that person. Though, I got the feeling I already had.
Moira and Philip Tourke were the only enemies that I knew Kole had so far. I said nothing, playing dumb.
“So, the Gulfs want to kill me off?”
“That won’t happen.” Marcus stared at me, shoulders squared. “You don’t need to be afraid.”
“She’s not afraid, she’s curious. War creates chaos, chaos creates opportunity for her.” Kole didn’t even look up this time as he read me like a book, his focus on the map.
“Yes, they want to kill you,” Marcus answered me.
“Once your bond is completed, attempting an attack would be suicide. They’re running out of time.
” He glanced at Kole. Silent communication passed between them, communication I got the gist of.
If Kole had marked and mated me the first day we met, they wouldn’t be having to worry about this now.
Giving me two weeks to accept him had put all of them at risk.
Maybe that ought to have warmed me to Kole but it didn’t.
“Why don’t you just kill him?” That got their attention. “Their Alpha. Why haven’t you just killed him before now?”
“You mean, issue an Alpha challenge?” Kole asked.
“Sure,” I shrugged, “whatever that is.”
“An Alpha challenge is a fight to the death. Winner takes the loser's pack, lands, and everything else they own.”
“So, why haven’t you done that?”
“It’s complicated. I didn’t want to kill unless I had to.”
“Maybe you were scared he’d kill you.”
“Maybe I was. The Gulf Alpha is an older wolf so strength and stamina would be on my side, but he’s a seasoned fighter. I’d be an idiot to underestimate him. So yes, there was a chance I could lose. But that doesn’t matter now, the stakes have changed.” The humility in his answer surprised me.
“Changed how?”
“Now I have more to fight for.” His eyes warmed on mine. “Now I may have to kill him. He’s leaving me no choice.”
“It might not come to that. We can keep him at bay,” Carrick said. “We’ve done it for years, we can make it nine more days.”
“As long as he lives, he and his family pose a threat to us.”
“He has children?”
“Yes, he – Carson, is his name – he has five sons. Two of them are children but the older males, they’re formidable. Which is why we have to end this one way or another.”
“He’s right,” Marcus said. “If we don’t end this, we’ll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives and I don’t want my children raised with the Gulfs’ teeth at their throats the same way we were.” Marcus rested a hand on Kole’s shoulder. “You’ll make it quick.”
I frowned. “Why do you care about making it quick for the man that’s been picking your pack off for the last decade?”
Kole opened his mouth to speak but Marcus cut him off before he could. “We’d make it quick for his family, is what I meant. The children anyway, not his Luna. You can drag that bitches death out for as long as you like.”
I stared at him, shocked. Kole glared at his Beta.
“Wait, you mean?—”
“Enough,” Kole snapped, but I didn’t stop. I had to know.
“You’re going to kill his family? Children?”
A grim silence fell over them. Marcus and Carrick’s heads bent slightly as their Alpha glared, expressing his anger at them for sharing something I clearly wasn’t supposed to know.
“It’s our way,” he said, finally turning to me. “When an Alpha takes over a pack they have to get rid of those connected with the old Alpha – the Luna, their children, his family, his Beta, Gamma, and their mates and children – to create room for his own.”
All three stared at me as they waited for my reaction. “That’s awful…but it makes sense.” I wasn’t lying, it really did make sense. Despite how brutal it was, I understood it. “This is why you never issued the challenge?”
“Believe it or not, I don’t actually like the idea of killing children. But, they’re grown now…most of them, anyway. And he leaves me no choice.” Silence fell once more as it dawned on me what he was saying.
“Because of me? You’re going to wipe out his entire family because of me?”
“Because of you and our future young, yes. Besides, a debt is owed. They’ve caused a lot of pain to my people.
” I winced at his words, at the very idea of being pregnant with his child.
It sickened me. My disgust must have shown on my face because Kole lifted his chin, his jaw ticking.
“I know that you hate me but my job is to keep you safe, no matter the cost.”
I resisted the urge to tell him that running me off the road, starving me and planning to rape me, was a weird way of trying to keep me safe. “If you kill him, that will make you the Alpha of his pack as well?”