10. Christopher
10
CHRISTOPHER
H er scent is everywhere. The sugary vanilla and tantalisingly fizzy orange is like ecstasy to my soul.
It’s on the sofa.
The blanket she used yesterday is saturated with it.
The bannister that she’s touched has little whiffs of her.
The washing basket with her dirty clothes that I want to steal and rub all over myself.
Fuck.
“Are you good?” Alex asks as I clench my jaw. “You can’t hold yourself this rigorously, Toph, or you will snap. It won’t be pretty—especially if you continue denying Orion what he needs.”
“I’ll handle myself, and you just worry about you.”
“We don’t have the luxury of only worrying about ourselves now, Toph,” he says far too softly for my liking. “We’ve got a mate and daughter now. They’re the first and second priority. Always.”
“Mhm.” His words are irking me because they’re right.
“You know he’s right,” Orion lectures. “Stop being a prick and go love on our mate. She’s so perfect, and she thinks you hate her. ”
“I don’t hate her.”
“You’re barely convincing me, and I can feel every emotion you do, I hear your thoughts, I am you.” Orion’s voice lacks any of the usual emotional inflictions. Somehow, that makes his words hurt me that much more.
Surely, she doesn’t think I hate her. I’ve protected her. I’ve given her space to come to terms with what we’ve done. I know I took a choice from her, but I explained why and how it kept her and Phoebe safe.
“You’re hopeless.”
“Did you bring the boxes over?” I ask, ignoring Orion and burying this doubt away. I don’t have the time to indulge in my feelings right now, not when we’re working against a clock.
Maia’s reasonable, and I know she will understand the lengths I’m going to.
She has to.
He nods, gesturing with his head to a box in the doorway that I missed.
I really am distracted.
Fuck.
“But we’ve got a problem,” Alex says, and I whirl around to face him. I furrow my brow, and he rubs the back of his neck. “She lied to me earlier.”
“About?”
“Someone was there, Toph. I was out front taking the box to the car and handling a call from Tate, and when I went back to her, she was standing in the garden with Phoebe. I could smell faint traces of an unfamiliar wolf on Phoebe’s dress, but nothing else. There was no trail, nothing to track. Just that one small scent.”
“Find mate! Go to mate! Protect mate and pup!” Orion roars in my head. “Someone touched our pup. She is unclaimed, Christopher. Our mate needs to bear our mark. She needs protecting .”
“What do you mean you scented nothing else? You couldn’t smell a trail at all?” I hiss, stepping closer to him. Alex rests back into a defensive position, crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes flicker between silver and hazel.
His wolf is feeling the danger of an angry Alpha and is both determined not to lose this fight and knows I’m angry with him.
“Danger, danger. Mate and child around a dangerous wolf.” Orion is losing control, and I can feel him pushing to try and take over. I can’t trust him right now, not when he’s this irrational. If we storm upstairs like he wants, we’ll scare Maia and Phoebe.
Maia won’t be impressed, and it’ll only make her more resentful towards us.
Alex shakes his head. “No. There was nothing. If there wasn’t that faint trace of it on Phoebe, I’d not have even realised someone was there. I got Phoebe and Maia out of there, despite her hesitance, and?—”
“You should have called Seb. He’s the best fucking tracker we have,” I snarl, unable to control the bite in my tone. “Your nose is fucking defective. Scents don’t just disappear, Alexander..”
“He should have called us,” Orion roars.
“I did call Seb,” Alex says, not rising to the heat of the argument. “He was there seconds after we left, and he found nothing, either. No scent, no track marks. Nothing. If it wasn’t for the fact that we could both smell the lingering scent on Phoebe, I’d have truly believed I made it up.”
“Seb! We need you downstairs. Without Phoebe or Maia.” I connect with my brother and call into his mind, bypassing the usual barrier he has in place. I can feel his frustration before he cuts the connection off, but he doesn’t argue.
He rarely does.
“Neither of you could find anything?” I ask, and Alex shakes his head. “Holy fucking Artemis. And she lied about it to you?”
“She told me she was there alone, despite me clearly knowing that it was a lie,” Alex says, shaking his head in annoyance. “But when I tried to push, she shut it down. What else was I meant to do?”
“Find mate. Ask mate. She won’t lie to us,” Orion says firmly. “We’ll protect her. We’ll keep her safe. Won’t let anyone touch her until she’s marked. Won’t let anyone see her until the world can recognise our claim.”
“No. She will lie to us, and unless I take the choice away from her and force an answer from her, then she’s going to stick with it,” I say, shaking my head. Seb comes storming down the stairs with Ben hot on his heels.
“What did you find at her house?” I demand the moment Seb is in my view. He’s got a pale green T-shirt on, that definitely belongs to Ben, and his usual tracksuit pants. There’s a faint scent of mud and wet clinging to his usual earthy vetiver and cedarwood.
There’s a scowl on his face, which is probably because I tore him away from Maia and the baby.
“Nothing.”
“Could you elaborate more?” I’m trying to not snap at him, since that makes him close off more, but, fuck me, this is one of the times I need my brother to use his words and actually communicate in an effective way.
“How can he elaborate on nothing?” Ben asks, grabbing my bowl of popcorn from the coffee table and plonking his ass down in the arm chair. He stuffs his mouth with a handful, thankfully, so I don’t need to stuff it with anything else.
“I think the best person to give us answers on who was there is Maia,” Alex says. “I didn’t push, but I think we need to.”
“Showering,” Seb says.
“What?” Ben asks, having barely swallowed that huge mouthful of popcorn. “Who is showering?”
“Let’s go see mate now. She can’t lie when her pretty body is on display for me to ? —”
“No.” I cut my wolf off and refuse to budge on that. She still feels like a guest in our home, and I refuse to go and interrupt her shower.
It has nothing to do with the fact that she’d be naked, and... I try to subtly adjust myself.
“Please?”
Rather than answer, I just shut our connection off. A temporary measure, but one I need whilst my erection fucks off.
“Maia, obviously,” Alex says, throwing a rolled up bit of paper at Ben, who retaliates by throwing it at Seb. As my brothers get into a brawl over the paper ball, I go over and grab one of the boxes containing Ryan’s life.
I can’t question my lying mate, so instead, I’ll look into her lying, dead… fling.
He doesn’t deserve the fiancé title.
He doesn’t even deserve the daddy title.
“That’s the spirit,” Orion says gleefully. “He tried to steal our mate. He’s lucky someone else got to him before I could. The fact that he thought he could touch what was ours sealed his fate. Me? I’d have torn his throat out like the wolf he denied being. I’d have shred him limb from ? —”
“I get it,” I say, shaking my head. I bat the paper ball away from my face, ignoring the multiple groans when I both refuse to participate in the game and end it so that they can’t play, either.
“No fair,” Ben whines. “You weren’t even playing, Topher. That was meant to hit Seb.”
“We’ll go speak with Maia after the shower,” I reassure Orion as I tune Ben’s whines out. “She owes us answers, and I will make sure she understands how not providing them will harm Phoebe.”
“Do not threaten my mate,” Orion snarls across our link, and I can feel his rage as he once more tries to push and take control.
“It’s not a threat if it’s the truth,” I argue. I let out a small growl, which my brothers notice but ignore. We’re all equal, all alphas, but I am the strongest of the four of us. Orion is a very strong spirit for a wolf, and my control over him is not always as good as the other’s.
Ben quite often has many issues but in a different way to me, and Seb and his wolf are always on the same page as far as I’m aware. Kane’s as quiet as Seb, not often coming out to speak. Alex’s relationship with Max is near perfect, and it’s something I’ve always been envious of.
I’d never trade Orion for another?—
“As you shouldn’t,” Orion says smugly. “I am perfection. You’re the asshole. You need to learn how to address our mate properly or I will help her tear you from limb to limb.”
“I don’t need pointers from you on how to deal with our mate. Or to waste my time explaining how tearing me apart would tear you apart.”
“The difference, human, is that I don’t see our mate as something that needs to be dealt with,” Orion says before he pulls away from the bond and leaves me feeling like shit.
It’s not like I meant she was a problem.
She’s just... unexpected.
We had plans. Carefully curated, outlined plans, and she shows up with a daughter in tow, and now everything has changed.
“Are you just going to stand there all day, Toph?” Ben asks, raising an eyebrow at me. “You don’t make a good decoration. Much too scowly, and well, we all know you’re the ugliest of the four of us. If we were going to commemorate us, we should use Seb.” He laughs to himself. “You’re right, Fluff. The statue would probably say more words.”
Seb just smirks, and I roll my eyes as I bring the box over to the group.
“What’s the present for?” Ben asks, his eyebrows raising. “Maia? Can I give it to her? She’s been pretty moody today, so, hopefully, this will cheer her up.”
“No, it’s the things that I’ve got from Maia regarding Ryan,” Alex says. “We’re going to go through them and see what we can find out about him.”
“Let us help then,” Ben says almost regretfully. “Or should one of us go up and stay with Maia?” Seb turns to leave, and I roll my eyes.
“No,” Alex says, shaking his head, and Seb sighs, returning to the group. “Leave her to enjoy her shower. We’ll go get her when it’s time for dinner.”
“Fine,” Ben says grumpily. I roll my eyes and open the box up. There’s a lot of paperwork in here, but on a quick inspection, I can’t see how helpful some of it will be.
Alex takes a diary, and I grab a folder with “Important Documents” written on it. Ben doesn’t move from eating the popcorn, and Seb reaches over to grab something, but he’s too busy straining his ears to hear for our mate that he’s not going to be much help.
The obsession is real.
“And yet, you continuously deny her,” Orion says.
“Fuck off. We’ve got more important shit to handle right now,” I protest.
“Nothing is ever going to be more important than our mate.”
That’s not what I meant, and the bastard knows it. I mean that my feelings aren’t important. I’m not important.
Not when we need to do what we can to protect Phoebe.
I start with his birth certificate and grab my work computer so that I can access our systems. My brothers and I are the founders of Wolfe Security, a private protection firm, and we’ve quickly become one of the most renowned in the country for our skills. We grew in popularity after my sister convinced two of her mates to sign with us and now have a full workforce.
Ryan’s birth certificate is fake, just like we thought. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s a rogue in hiding, I’d never have thought to look deeper at his life.
He’s got some skills, which is noteworthy, but we’re better.
His university degree—biochemistry—is under this fake name, but I can’t find any social media presence of him. He truly did leave the wolf life behind from what I can see, but that doesn’t explain why he took the risk he did with Maia.
Why would he knowingly impregnate a human when he knows she’s not his mate? It makes no sense.
Maybe we need to dig more into Maia, if we don’t find anything worthwhile on this Ryan. There might be a clue in her past why he chose her specifically—if he did.
“What have you found?” Ben asks, looking at me with interest.
“Birth certificate is fake. I’m going to keep digging to see what I can uncover,” I say. “Are you planning on helping?”
“I’ll swoop in at the end and find the answer,” Ben says, waving me off. “Once I’ve finished my popcorn, that is.”
“You’re such a lazy shit,” Alex says with a scoff.
“I put in more hours than you did last month,” Ben argues.
“I’d like to see that time card,” I say with a smirk. Alex snorts, and Ben rolls his eyes.
“Maybe the hours won’t be higher. But I absolutely made triple what he did, which is the most important thing,” Ben says, inhaling my popcorn. That argument I don’t protest, since it’s likely the truth.
I go back to my research, digging deeper and deeper to try and find out what I can. I can’t pull much more off it, so I toss it over to Ben, who sighs but starts digging. He’s more than capable when he applies himself.
“Wait,” Alex says with a frown. “This company, Fresh Fur Creations, comes up a lot in his journal.”
“Who the fuck keeps a journal these days?” Ben mutters as his eyes fly over the screen. “It’s not very smart, is it? Why bother hiding your identity if you’re just going to write it all down in your diary for anyone to find?”
“This isn’t a diary,” Alex says. “It’s his day planner.”
“Oh, yes, because that makes it better,” Ben says .
I laugh. “Let me see what we can pull up about this company then. What is he doing with them?”
“No idea,” Alex mutters. “He’s got it on his schedule for once a month?—”
“Once?” Seb asks, sitting forward. Alex nods, and Seb crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Pack meeting.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Alex shakes his head and turns the page in Ryan’s journal. “The date is the same every single month.”
“And?” I ask.
Alex shrugs. “We don’t host pack meetings on the same date every month, but we do have business meetings on the same day every month.”
“That doesn’t mean other packs don’t,” Ben says. “But the point is null, anyway. I found the company. It’s a small start-up, with roots in biochemistry?—”
“Which is what his degree is in,” I say, sitting back in my seat. “That’s coincidental.”
“Was he maybe working on something for them?” Alex asks.
“Oh, I don’t know, why don’t I locate a clairvoyant and ask them?” Ben says, sneering at Alex.
“Where would you find a clairvoyant?” Alex asks with a smirk. Ben shrugs and clicks down on the trackpad.
“The only information on here is a contact for one of the lead management staff—Melody McDonald. She’s human and married and has four kids. Boring. They’re all too young to kidnap one and hold it ransom.”
“Oh, yes, morals,” I mutter, causing Seb to snort. I reach over for the journal, and Alex hands it over as Ben continues reading random tidbits out about the company. I’m not sure if it’s the breakthrough we think it is.
We still barely know anything about the man.
Maia very unhelpfully took all the photos of him? —
“Do not insult my mate that way,” Orion snarls. “There may not have been photos.”
“Yes, right. A three year relationship and no photos? We’ve seen her take hundreds of Phoebe per day.”
“My pup is the cutest little wolf in the entire world. Why wouldn’t we have all of the photos we could?” Orion snaps. The amount of fucking hostility from a presence inside my mind is very draining.
I turn the page and finally see a true clue. I pull the scrap of paper out and smooth it out to rid it of the creases, and I’m very fucking grateful Maia didn’t show Alex any photos earlier.
She was smart to take them out.
But not smart enough.
“Fuck,” I whisper, looking at a photo of a man I know only too well wrapped around my mate. His lips are touching her cheek, and if he were alive, I’d carve him to pieces for even breathing on her.
“Dirty Wolfe,” Orion roars. “How fucking dare he. It’s a good thing he’s dead. Maia deserves better than him.”
“She does,” I say softly as I take in the genuine happiness in her face. Her baby blue eyes are wide and glistening in the snowy backdrop. She’s wearing a big coat that hides her figure, but her hair is healthy and shiny underneath a bright pink hat. Her rosy red lips are in the biggest, authentic smile I’ve ever seen.
She looks so young, so carefree.
Maia is gorgeous.
And I fucking hate that he recognised that, too.
“What’s going on?” Alex asks.
“We’ve got a very big problem.” Alex’s hands still, and he looks up at me. Seb leans over and sees the photo, letting out a loud growl that has Ben shoving his computer away and snatching the photo from me.
“Fucking hell,” Ben says, shaking his head. “Well, I did always say I was the more attractive version of us. At least Maia has traded up now.”
“Don’t say that in front of her,” Alex says, leaning in closer to Ben so he can see why we’re all reacting this way. Seb’s still growling, and I hope that it doesn’t disturb the mother and babe. We cannot have their presence here right now. “Holy fuck.”
“Why?” Ben demands. “I’m the one who should be upset. Maia fucked my cousin.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, closing my eyes to pray to Artemis that when I open them, this will all have been a joke.
“Our cousin. She fucked our cousin. Our enemy. She had a baby with our enemy.”
“Is he our enemy?” I ask, but it’s more of a rhetorical question than anything.
Ryan is not Ryan Tartan, not even a little bit.
Ryan Grey is practically our brother. You know, if you take into account the way genetics work with children of identical siblings. He was a Wolfe, no matter the surname that he’s claimed, until they destroyed our family.
Now, he and the rest of the Grey’s are nothing to me. They’re worthless, they’re spineless, and they deserve losing their son—their heir .
Ryan’s father—my Uncle—had fallen in love with another woman and broke away from the harem with my dads. When my mum came along, he rejected her place in his life, refusing to mate with anyone but my auntie.
The only reason it was permitted by my grandparents, despite breaking the spiritual bond that fate herself put into place, was because the woman he fell in love with was a female born wolf with no living mate. They’ve made a very formidable couple.
It was too painful for my parents to be around them, though—for my mum in particular—so he split from our pack and took over hers .
After a while, they managed to have an almost civil relationship as children were born. I grew up with my cousins, I knew them, I loved them. They were our family.
But they’ve since made themselves into our enemy. Anything we do, my uncle tries to do better. Any move we make, he tries to undercut and act like he and his pack are better than ours. He’s moulded Ryan into his image, and it’s one of the biggest reasons I won’t mindlessly obey my own fathers.
I am my own man, and I know how to fight for what is right. Ryan didn’t.
And when my uncle let her die… he solidified his fate and that of all his offspring.
They failed to protect her.
I won’t make that same mistake. Not with my mate. Not with my child.
Phoebe and Maia are everything, and I won’t let another Wolfe female fall to the same fate.
“Not now. Not ever,” Orion echoes.
“What the fuck do we do now?” Alex hisses, his eyes flickering colours as he holds Max back. “How do we explain this to Maia? How do we…” He trails off glancing at the photo.
Seb’s jaw is clenched, and I can smell the anger pouring from my usually reserved brother. Ben isn’t even hiding his, but I can also sense some curiosity from him.
We’re not impressed, and I just know this will be the final straw for Maia.
She already struggles with us and the bond… but to know we’re related to the man who… to know we’re related to Phoebe’s father, to her fiancé…
“We don’t,” I decide, sitting up straight.
“We don’t?” Seb echoes, his voice low and dangerous. He doesn’t agree.
“Nobody can know about Ryan being Ryan ,” I say, looking at each of my brothers in turn. Ben’s nod is quick, Seb doesn’t react, and Alex purses his lips but dips his head ever so slightly. “We’ve always vowed that we would protect ourselves—that vow includes our mate and our child. We cannot share who he is.”
But worse than acknowledging it to Maia is acknowledging it to my parents and sisters. This changes the game completely, and we can’t let Phoebe fall prey to the wishes of the elders who have already run this family into the ground.
Nobody can know the truth, or we will have a fight on our hands. They’ll try to take her, I just know it.
“She still won’t let us call ourselves the dad,” Ben says with a frown.
“Just because she can’t understand the depth of our connection doesn’t mean we’re as ignorant. We know that Phoebe is ours, that she’s our pup ,” I say gently. “Maia needs more time to get to know us, and to come to terms with our place in her life. But, in the meantime, that doesn’t mean we’re going to let them get their hands on another female wolf—on our pup. They harmed one Wolfe. They won’t harm another.”
“They won’t harm another,” my brothers echo.
How the fuck fate thought this would work out is beyond me.