Chapter 9
Wolfe
“Rowen?”
I approached my mate, looking over at Diesel, who was suddenly studiously looking elsewhere.
“What’s happened? Is there something wrong?” I came to a stop beside her, but she was glaring at her two companions. “Someone talk.”
“Have you seen the new wards I placed at the eastern ridge?” the druid asked Diesel, almost pleasantly.
If that wasn’t enough to shock me, my beta, the most abrasive male I knew, shook his head and started towards the path. “I have not. Come, you can show me.”
I watched them leave, pretty sure my mouth was open. “Rowen?” I couldn’t take my eyes off them, waiting for one or both to stab each other in the back. “What in the name of the Goddess is happening?”
“I think you’d better sit down,” she said with a sigh.
She sat down on the grass, and I was still half-waiting for the scream for help from one of the two shifters who had just left us very quickly. When I heard nothing, I joined her.
She pointed behind me to the Heartwood. “Diesel found the spot he thinks I was born in. On?” She looked thoughtful. “It’s right over there, under that raised bit of grass.”
I turned and looked at the slightly disrupted earth. “Okay?” I turned back to her. “That’s weird even for him.”
She nodded. “Yes. He is weird.” She studied me. “Thank you for confirming that.”
“Confirming what?” I asked, feeling more confused than ever. “That my beta is odd?”
“Yes.” She looked…validated.
“Rowen, all my betas are weird. I’m not that normal either,” I said with a laugh. “Haven’t you noticed?”
She gave a little shrug. Her gaze kept going back to the tree.
“What did he say about the tree? Why was he even talking about your birth?” I looked over my shoulder at the tree again. “Why do I sense this isn’t what you want to talk to me about?”
“You sense it?” Her voice was soft. Curious. Maybe a little sad.
“Princess?” I leaned forward, pulling her closer. “The bond feels…different. What is it? Did he upset you? Did the druid? What is it?”
“We’re going to war with the Pack Council.”
I blinked. Not what I was expecting. “I know. I got the summons today. The decree that our pack was to be no more the day before that.” I thought about her hesitation to talk to me.
“Are you scared? You don’t need to be. No one will take you from Blueridge Hollow, Rowen.
This is your home.” I took a deep breath.
“I have two territories, and I will split my time between them, but I don’t expect you to.
The druid has a new apprentice. You’ll be busy, and when I’m not here, you will lead the pack—”
Her kiss silenced me. I kissed her back. When she pulled back, I stared down at her.
“What was that for?”
“You said I would lead the pack. Not your betas.”
I stroked her hair off her face. “You think I would take that from you? After everything?” I asked her. “You are the heart of this Hollow, Rowen. You are my heart. When I am not here, my mate is my voice.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she dipped her head, resting on my chest. “I love you, Wolfe. I’m sorry I didn’t say it a thousand times before I said it for the first time.”
My arms wrapped around her. “Well, you’re saying it now,” I whispered. “Now, why are the druid and Diesel and you all smelling guilty?” I looked toward the path they had gone down. “I don’t trust them together, and you may as well just tell me what they convinced you to do.”
Rowen giggled. She pushed off me and sat up, her eyes meeting mine, hers still bright with emotion. “You shouldn’t be listening to the summons of trees. You’re the alpha.”
I grunted. “Tell the tree.”
She reached out, her fingers trailing down my face, her eyes soft. “Yesterday…I reached for the power of an alpha.”
I frowned. “Are you okay? Are there side effects?” I sat back. “Are you hurt?”
“I thought I reached for the power of an alpha,” she said again. “I didn’t.”
“I’m not following.” I glanced toward the path. “You think it was one of them?” What the fuck was going on?
Rowen shook her head. “No.” She inhaled deeply and blew out the breath slowly. Her tongue flicked out, wetting her bottom lip. “I…um.” She blew out another breath. “I don’t know how to say this out loud.”
“Then say it here,” I told her.
“I’m sorry you’re not the first to know.” Rowen picked up my hand. “If it helps, I wasn’t either.” She frowned. “I think I might have been third. Maybe?”
“Rowen…” My growl was low, patience waning. “What did they know before you?”
“I’m pregnant.”
I stared at her. She looked back at me steadily. I sucked air through my teeth. I got to my feet. I walked over to the tree. I leaned against it, my head meeting the rough bark.
“Say it again.”
“I’m preg—"
“Out loud.”
I turned and looked at my mate, who had gotten to her feet, the smile on her face wide. Joy danced along the bond. “I’m pregnant.”
I pounced on her, gathering her in my arms and swinging her around and around. “Say it again,” I whispered, kissing her soundly.
“I’m pregnant.”
I set her back down on the ground, gently lowering us down to our knees, then onto her back.
My mouth moved over hers hungrily. Her clothes came off, then mine, her thighs parted, and I slid inside her, relishing the sigh of pleasure as she accepted me into her body.
Rowen’s arms wrapped around my neck, her hips moving with mine, her teeth nipping at my ear.
“You knew?” she accused me as I made love to her.
“Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. Not at all. I was sorry the Goddess knew before me, but I’d let that one slide. “I didn’t think you’d appreciate me telling you.”
“I’d rather you told me than Diesel.”
She hissed in protest when I bit her. “We’ve spoken about this, princess. Only my name on your lips when I fuck you.”
“I thought we were making love,” she teased, looking up at me, her legs tightening against my hips.
“We are,” I murmured. The heat between us grew until she was arching and murmuring for me not to stop.
I had no intention of stopping. I tilted my head to the side, exposing the point between my collarbone and my neck. “Our binding mark is on my back because the only thing on my neck should be my mate’s mark.” I looked down at her, her pleasure intensifying. “Make me yours, mate. Mark me.”
Her teeth sank into my flesh as her orgasm ripped through her body, and mine followed with a roar. The mate bond hummed with contentment as we marked our bond in blood and flesh. When it was over, we lay at the base of the Heartwood, trying to catch our breath.
“This is why some packs think we’re wild,” Rowen murmured, her fingers interlocked with mine.
I laughed. “I don’t give a fuck what they think, as long as you and our pack are happy.”
“And our son?”
My breath caught. I turned to look at her. “A boy?”
Rowen nodded, rolling her eyes. “According to Diesel, the midwife.”
It felt good to laugh under the shelter of the Heartwood.
I became solemn once more. “I need to go to Stonefang. If you want, I’ll stay.”
“No, you’ll be back quickly, right?” She sat up, reaching for her clothes. I stopped her, changing swiftly to my wolf.
“Let us run instead.”
Rowen smiled. “You’ll never catch me.”
Didn’t she know? I’d already caught her.
Rowen followed us to the edge of the territory. The others were guarding the perimeter, just in case an attack struck. Diesel was beside me, not at all happy that I had convinced him to stay behind.
Thalia and Cody were already in their wolf form.
“You’ll be careful?” Rowen asked again, maybe for the tenth time.
“No, I plan to be completely reckless.” Her scowl and the two angry growls beside me made me grin. “I’m checking my pack, and then I’ll be right back. They’re all gathered at the closest point,” I reminded her.
“Those old ones moved?” Rowen asked doubtfully.
No, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “I’ll be back before daybreak.” I kissed, undressed, handed my clothes to my mate, shifted, and then the three of us took off.
I felt the barrier spell lift as soon as I crossed. I reached for my betas as I ran.
“I’ll be back in twenty-four hours.”
“We’ll hold.” Brand’s voice was sure, “If they come.”
That was the unknown. Not if they made their move. When.
The three of us ran straight to Stonefang. Thalia and Cody were fast, and neither needed to slow or stop for breaks. I was lucky to have such loyal soldiers.
Friends.
We stayed alert, but nothing came at us.
And as the clear path to Stonefang opened in front of me, my mind filled with the thought of my child.
My son. Rowen pregnant…changed everything.
Not in a bad way, not at all. But the timing.
The timing could be better. But was there ever a safe time?
Didn’t every parent in the world, either shifter or human, want there to be something better for their child to be born into?
I’d have to tell her she couldn’t fight. I wasn’t looking forward to that argument. There was no way she would come with me to the Council summons now. Not when she carried our pack’s future within her. There was so much danger to them both. How did I fight against it all?
I cleared my mind of all the what-ifs and concentrated on the feeling of joy instead. My mate, my beautiful, fierce, proud mate, was going to give me a son. And I’d kill anyone who thought they could take that from me.
We ran across the mountains, the Hollow behind us, Stonefang in front, when I felt the first prickle of awareness. I searched for it and fought the sigh. I slowed, Cody and Thalia slowing with me. Thalia’s questions went unanswered in my head as I walked back the way we had come.
He came around the corner of the trail, his wolf panting, breathing heavily, and looked ready to drop at any second.
“Change.”
Lake hit the ground with a thump, his body curling in on itself as he panted, his lungs greedily sucking in oxygen. I turned to look at Cody and Thalia over my shoulder.
“We worried who was trying to get in; we forgot some may want to come out.”
Cody snorted. “He could have left at any time. He just wants to be where you are.”
I looked down at the small boy. “Change.”
His wolf looked steadier when he rose onto four paws.
“Do you want to explain?”
Lake shook his head stubbornly.
“Go back.”
He bared his teeth. I scoffed in response. “Fine, if you can keep up, you can stay.”
I turned away, and the three of us set off again.
Thalia glanced over her shoulder, then lowered her head and set the pace.
None of us acknowledged that we slowed down.
None of us looked at each other when we stopped for a water break, even though we didn’t need one.
None of us looked behind us when the sound of small paws on hard ground skittered across the path, and none of us batted an eyelash when I stopped, gathered the smaller wolf in my muzzle, and carried him the rest of the way.
At the edge of Stonefang, we didn’t stop to change, we made no announcement, and when we crossed the barrier, the seal dropped as I passed through it.
Two dozen of my pack waited. Cale stood when we approached, curious eyes on the young one I carried. After I set Lake down, the three of us changed form. Thalia handed us clothing from the pack Cody carried on his back.
“Good to see you,” Cale welcomed us.
I wish I could say the same, I thought to myself.
“Yeah, you too,” I lied. Lake tried to stand, and I sighed, scooping him up. I searched the pack. “Darla? Can you help my little stalker?”
Darla smiled, coming forward and taking the young wolf off me. “Let’s let him sleep it off,” she told me. “He’ll change form in his sleep. He’s exhausted.”
Cody grunted. “He must be; he slept a good part of it.”
“Tell me everything,” I instructed Cale.
“We have them under house arrest,” he reported.
“Her children, we’ve taken from her. The girl was scared, the brother volatile but innocent.
I think.” He nodded when Cody joined us, pulling on a T-shirt.
“The others that came, the ones who felt vulnerable”—his eye twitched when he said it—“they’re also under house arrest. We don’t know who to trust.”
“That’s why I’m here.” I walked through my pack, seeing faces I hadn’t seen for weeks, feeling my pack take comfort from me being here. I greeted them, hugged them, and heard them.
“They want to be where you are,” Cody commented.
“I know.” I looked around as I spoke to the pack. “But they don’t want to be at the Hollow. They want to be here.”
“Use your Will,” Cody encouraged. “Like at Blueridge, you need to be sure.”
“Cody…”
“No, Alpha. If they aren’t with you, let’s find out now. We have enough to fight.”
I hated that he was right.
“When we’re at the shelters.”
“No, Alpha. Now. There are too many to have at your back. And I’m no Diesel. Or Killian.”
I looked over at my friend. Trusted and loyal but not a beta. He looked back at me and jerked his head to the pack. I sighed.
“You nag worse than your wife cooks.”
Cody laughed.
I turned to my pack and sighed. “I need to do something,” I told them quietly. “I need you to kneel.”
Would I be a petty man if I admitted, only to myself, that I was disappointed that Cale didn’t refuse? He was one of the first to kneel. Was I ashamed that I wanted him to be one who rejected me? The answer to both questions was yes. It didn’t make me feel better that I acknowledged it.
When it was over, I gave them the same promise I had given at the Hollow. I would never subject them to it again. Unless they acted against me.
I saw Cody’s glance when I added that. I felt the unspoken rebuke. He knew exactly why I’d done it.
The weariness was less than when I’d done this at the Hollow, but it was a smaller number of people to hold under my Will.
The pack and I made our way to the shelters.
I hadn’t been home in a long time, and it saddened me that I didn’t feel the same sense of home here when I approached as I did at the Hollow.
A few more of the pack surrounded the first three shelters.
I nodded in greeting, but the sense to check the Grumps was strong.
Pushing their door open, I saw one sitting with her knitting needles, the other rubbing his neck, as a reminder of what had almost happened.
Grandfather looked up, his sightless eyes meeting mine. “So, a son. On her first heat with you? You were always an ambitious wolf.”
Grandmother giggled. It was an unsettling thing to hear. “Cat’s out of the bag now,” she said. “Smelled wrong, that one. She’ll smell better now.”
“Good, you bedded her properly.” Grandfather nodded as he continued. “Needed it, she did.” He tapped at his neck absently. “Was a bit high-strung, if you don’t mind me saying so. The magic needed out.”
I turned around and closed the door to their shelter, seriously wondering if I could get back to the Hollow before the break of midnight if I left now. Instead, I crossed the floor and sat opposite the Grumps.
“Tell me everything you know.”