Chapter 15 - Rhys
I’m deep in conversation with Owen and some of the women from his pack when I start to get a weird feeling. I look around for the disturbance, expecting to see a fight.
All my instincts are telling me I’m under attack.
I take a step back, noticing the girls crowding closer to Owen to fill the gap. I shake my head and smile as I turn away.
It’s his birthday. He deserves to have a good time. At least he knows he’s in high demand.
I’ve taken two steps back when I see Rachel jogging towards me.
“Rhys!” she says, pushing through the crowd. “It’s Sadie.”
“What?” I almost yell, adrenaline flooding my veins.
“It’s okay—I think. There’s a guy from another pack hassling her. I think it’s—”
I don’t stay to hear the end of her sentence; I just turn my nose up and follow Sadie’s scent. In a pack full of wolves, her human scent is easy to pick out and track, and it leads me to the side of the courtyard where the bar is set out.
Where is this fucker that messed with my wife?
There are plenty of people around, but since I can’t just randomly accuse anyone, I decide to find Sadie first. To my dismay, the scent leads me out into the field, then towards the woods.
She must be mad as hell, or scared out of her mind, to come all the way out here!
The sounds of the party fade behind me, and I sigh with resignation as I realize I’ll be leaving the car behind.
Sadie’s scent is rich and hot ahead of me, telling me that her heart rate is high and she’s moving at a swift pace.
I can’t smell fear or detect any predators, so I can be fairly certain she’s running from an uncomfortable situation, not danger.
Pulling off my clothes, I shift into my wolf and break into a run, my nose to the ground to follow her steps.
I am eternally grateful that the ability to shift is with me when I really need it—but how long will this last?
It doesn’t take long to catch up to her, and I see her striding along, her head held high and her arms moving at the same pace as her quick, decisive steps.
When I increase my speed to catch up to her, she whirls around to face me, and for a moment, it looks like the dirt and leaves on the ground rise up in a little tornado around her feet.
What the fuck was that?
“Back off,” Sadie says. “I’m warning you.”
“It’s okay,” I say, shifting back and holding out my arms to her. “It’s just me.”
“Oh, Rhys,” she says, her eyes wide and almost frightened.
She looks more shocked than scared… and somehow guilty?
“What are you doing out here?” I ask.
Sadie looks puzzled for a second, then shakes her head. “I wasn’t having a good time. I just want to go home.”
“You couldn’t have told me? It’s dangerous to be out here by yourself.”
Sadie gives me a strange look, her face almost blank as her dark eyes widen. “I’m fine,” she says softly, and there’s a certainty behind it that leaves a trace of anxiety down my spine.
“You look upset.”
“I’m okay.”
“Stop saying that!” I snap. “Rachel told me there was some kind of trouble?”
“Just a guy,” she says, turning away from me to resume walking. “He was a bit rude. Nothing major.”
“You should have told me,” I say, hurrying to catch up to her.
“Just leave me alone, Rhys.”
“It’s a long walk home.”
“I need the exercise.”
I keep pace with her, wondering what I should say.
Maybe nothing. Maybe just being here with her is all I need to do.
We walk in silence for a bit longer, and I notice that Sadie is walking straight towards home as if she’s being pulled by an invisible thread.
I didn’t know she had such a great sense of direction. The manor isn’t that far from Silver Valley, but cutting through the woods isn’t an easy path.
By the time we reach the road, Sadie has relaxed a little, so I try talking to her again.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yes,” she says tersely, but much softer than before.
Maybe it’s really no big deal. She might have just gotten overwhelmed. Surely no one would really give her trouble when I was so close by?
“Okay,” I say. “You don’t have to explain if you really don’t want to, but I’m here for you. I just want you to know that.”
Sadie nods but doesn’t answer. Even though I can tell she’s settled down a lot, she’s still showing signs of tension, and it doesn’t start to lift until we reach the house. Sadie runs eagerly up the lawn, right up to the front door, and rushes inside.
I follow quickly behind her, throwing on a spare coat hanging by the front door since I left my clothes in the woods, then follow Sadie into the living room.
When I get there, she’s sitting on the floor hugging Cassie, who’s surrounded by coloring books and crayons.
Jean waves from the couch, and I nod back to her.
Sadie smiles, the first real smile since we left the party. Cassie giggles and pats her mom’s cheeks, hugging her back.
“I’d better get going,” Jean says. “You guys are back a bit earlier than I thought.”
“Yeah,” I answer. “Got tired of the scene, I guess.”
Jean seems to note that we didn’t drive home and I’ve shifted at least once, but doesn’t comment on it.
I wave goodbye to her and shut the front door, turning back to join Cassie and Sadie in the living room.
When I get there, Cassie is excitedly telling her mom all about her day and how much fun she had with the other kids.
After Cassie settles, Sadie takes her for a bath while I get changed and make a snack for my little girl. For the first time, Sadie and I put Cassie to bed together, reading her a story while she has a cup of warm milk.
Cassie slowly drops off to sleep before we can even finish the book, her little head dropping to my shoulder as she snuggles down between us. Sadie smiles as she strokes Cassie’s blond hair back, and the moment is so tender and sweet it almost breaks my heart.
I want to tell her. I want Cassie to know I’m her father, but I can’t tell her unless Sadie wants me to.
I feel like it would be far worse for Cassie to find out by accident, like she did about shifters, and every day that passes makes it more likely it could happen. But the choice is still Sadie’s, and I won’t go against it.
Once she’s sure Cassie’s comfortable, Sadie goes to take a shower, and I try to calm my restlessness by going to the kitchen to make some tea.
Something happened tonight. I can tell Sadie still isn’t feeling right, and I don’t know what to do. How can I prove to her that she means something to me beyond the ritual?
I can’t deny that saving my pack dominates my mind, and pressure from the elders is increasing by the day. I don’t know how long I can protect Sadie from them, or what I’ll do if they decide to get rid of her as they threatened to from the start.
Was what happened tonight anything to do with that? I don’t care how powerful the elders think they are—I’m the alpha here, and they can’t go against me!
“Oh, hi,” Sadie says, startling me. I turn around and see her standing in the doorway, wearing a light robe. Her hair is in damp tendrils around her face.
“Hi,” I reply. “Why don’t you sit down? I’ve made some tea.”
“Thank you,” she says, taking a cup. “What is it?” she asks, breathing in the steam rising from the warm liquid.
“It’s a blend my mother used to make when I was sick. Very soothing and refreshing.”
“Hmm,” she mumbles, taking a sip. “It’s nice—kind of like chamomile, but sweeter.”
“Sadie—” I start to ask more about what happened tonight, but I remember that I told her she didn’t have to tell me if she wasn’t ready, so I reel my questions back in.
“Yes?” she asks.
I sigh, shaking my head a little. “I don’t want you to sleep alone tonight,” I say finally.
This is what’s really in my heart. I can’t stand to see her so upset, and I just want to hold her and try to heal that hurt in her any way I can.
Sadie looks up at me, her eyes wide, and with her cheeks flushed pink from the warm shower and her hair slowly drying into a light, fluffy halo around her face, she looks more beautiful than I’ve ever seen her.
“I—” she starts, and I hold up my hand, shaking my head.
“It’s okay. I don’t want sex, I promise. I just want to lie beside you and keep you safe.”
Sadie looks down into her teacup, taking another sip. She frowns a little, and I know that she doesn’t want to be alone, either.
“I promise,” I say again. “All I want is to protect you.”
Sadie nods, looking like she might be about to cry. My heart goes out to her, and I have to get up and crouch at her feet, gently putting my hand on her arm.
“Do you trust me?” I ask.
She looks at me, her dark eyes huge and deep. She nods a little hesitantly.
“Then let me prove it to you,” I say, standing up and holding out my hand to her.
She takes it, leaving her empty cup on the table as she lets me lead her upstairs.
When we get to my room, I desperately want to touch her, but I hold back, making a spot for her under the covers. When she gets under the blanket, she snuggles close to me and takes my hand, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Rhys?” she asks, softly.
“Yes?”
“Tell me about your childhood. Did you grow up here?”
“In this house? Yes. It was given to me after my parents died.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was. But I’d been trained from the moment I was born to be alpha. Everyone knew it was my path in life, and I didn’t have much time for grief.”
“That sounds just awful,” she says, squeezing my hand.
I sigh, not wanting to go into the details of the disease and the lengths the pack has gone to trying to cure it.
I don’t want to disturb her more. She’s finally relaxing with me, and the last thing I want to do is remind her of how she ended up here.
“Tell me about your childhood,” I say. “Where did you grow up?”
“In a rural area, on the other side of the city,” she says in a dreamy voice.
“We didn’t have much money, but we didn’t need it.
Mom had a little garden, and we survived just fine.
She sold a bit of produce or made sweets to sell.
The thing I remember most is that she always had time for me. We were together all the time.”
Sadie snuggles a little closer to me with a happy little sigh.
“I hope to give Cassie the same. It was hard in the city. I had to work so much just to pay the rent. I was always so afraid I was neglecting her, but I had no choice.”
I want to ask how she ended up in college as a young adult if they were poor, but I don’t want to interrupt her, either, so I just stay curled around her, hoping that she feels safe.
“Cassie is happy here,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. “She has everything I always worried I could never give her…”
It seems like the perfect opening to ask Sadie about telling Cassie I’m really her father, but when I look down, Sadie’s eyes are closed and she’s fallen into a peaceful slumber on my chest.
I fold my arms gently around her, enjoying the closeness between us and beginning to really struggle with thoughts of what comes next.
I can’t keep living each day as if tomorrow will never come. The pack is in danger, and the council wants answers. Sadie isn’t safe here.