Chapter 26
DAWN
Alexander had personally escorted me to Canada on his private jet. Vance had come with me, and I held his hand as we crossed the tarmac. The whole way, he’d told me more about how the pups had come to be in Dark River.
They’d been sold and transported to New York.
No wonder Talbot hadn’t been able to find them.
They’d crossed the country without anything even remotely identifiable.
From there, Lucius—a literal ancient vampire with a dose of crazy so bad that even my tiny pack had known to fear him—had purchased Enit for his new girlfriend.
Alexander said that Raine, who’d only been turned a year or two before, had been horrified and promptly sent him back for Carmen and Christopher.
Unfortunately, Christopher had already been sold, so he’d collected Carmen, and then murdered the man who had been my old Alpha’s contact.
That was why Stephen had been patrolling pack land when we’d taken out my old Alpha.
They were worried Lucius would turn up and murder them.
I kind of wished he had.
From there, Lucius had tracked down Christopher in a fight ring, and when negotiations for his purchase had fallen through, Lucius had killed them all too. He’d delivered Christopher and Carmen back to their sister.
They’d been there for months. Alexander assured me they were happy, but I needed to see it for myself.
He’d warned me that when they’d first came into Raine’s care, she’d wanted to reunite them with their family, but the little wolves had rebelled.
They wanted nothing to do with wolves or the pack, and that had broken my heart, but I understood. Hadn’t I done the same thing myself?
I didn’t want to talk to them or scrape the scab off healing wounds. I just needed to know they were okay and happy.
A convocation guard appeared with a long, tactical vehicle, which had bench seats that faced each other.
I climbed in, and Vance slid in next to me, while Alexander sat opposite.
“I haven’t informed any of them that we’re coming.
Fortunately, I believe they are in the shapeshifter town of N?so at the moment, so we won’t have to cross into Dark River and deal with all the politics of that minefield.
N?so is a shifter domain, and that means it’s open to me, but we’ll still try to keep our distance.
No need to cause a stir unless we have to.
There is a school opening up here, or perhaps a refuge.
Possibly both. I let them think I was in the area to talk to their founders. ”
I was only half listening, my heart thundering in my chest. What if Alexander was wrong? What if they were miserable? How would I extract them from an entire territory of vampires and shapeshifters?
Vance squeezed my hand reassuringly. He didn’t say the words, but I knew he was with me. He had my back.
The ride was long and quiet, but as we drove deeper into the wooded wildlands of Canada, my wolf howled inside me.
These mountains were perfect for young wolves to run and be free, away from the harsh lights of Reno, the constant worry of being discovered, and the brutality of living hand-to-mouth in a poor pack.
This was shifter paradise.
The driver pulled over to the side of the road, and Alexander nodded. “We will run from here. I told their Alpha I’m in town, but not the purpose.”
I climbed out and shifted into my wolf, and Vance shifted into his bear.
Fortunately for us, Alexander stayed in his human form, because there was nothing inconspicuous about a dragon.
We ran into the heavy foliage, and my tongue lolled out of my mouth.
Despite my human worries, the wolf was glad to be stretching its legs among the towering trees of Canada’s wilderness.
New smells and old smells had me darting around, and Vance huffed a laugh, nudging me with his snout as he bounded behind me.
Luckily a bear out here wouldn’t be such an odd sight either.
I felt it when we stepped across the border to the pack land. It was like a ripple over my skin. My wolf shook out her fur, though Alexander seemed immune. We followed the sound of voices and small, happy laughter.
We stopped on a rise and looked down into someone’s backyard. It was filled with pups laughing and playing some kind of game of tag. They ranged in age from tiny toddlers to older kids who were obviously tasked with watching the younger ones.
When I saw them, my heart stopped beating in my chest. Carmen was smiling.
I’d never seen her smile. She didn’t speak, smile, or laugh.
She was a shell of a child that had seen too much in too short an amount of time, but here, she was chasing after a boy who couldn’t be much older and grinning wildly.
Off to the side was Enit, who was getting her hair braided unsuccessfully by a girl not much older than she was.
Christopher stood off to the other side, still too old for his age, too responsible.
He watched his sisters, but he also watched the others, and a small smile played across his face.
A man stood beside him, covered in tattoos.
He was saying something to Christopher, and the boy grinned up at him.
They really were happy here, and much happier than I’d ever seen them at home. Could I leave them here to grow up without me? A clean break healed the best. I’d had enough broken bones to know that.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I realized I was whining softly.
Christopher’s nose tipped up, and his eyes darted around the backyard. He could scent my sadness. I was a scent that shouldn’t be here, and I could already see the smile slip from his face, the swell of old memories.
“We should go,” I told Vance and Alexander. I turned and fled the scene of happiness, pain and joy warring in my chest, but I knew what had to happen. I had to go home and let them live a life where the horrors of their past would eventually become faded nightmares.
When we stepped over the pack land boundary, I let out a long breath, shifted back to human form, and cried. I cried because I’d have to do one more painful thing for the welfare of my pack. Leaving behind the last of my past would be hard, but they deserved it.
Vance nuzzled me, still in his bear form, and I sunk my fingers into his fur.
I looked up at Alexander, wiping my cheeks with angry swipes of my hand. “They’ll be safe here, right? Happy?”
Alexander bowed low. “I swear on my immortal life. They will be safe and happy for the rest of their lives. They’ll never know the suffering of their early years ever again.
” He gave me a crooked grin filled with pride.
“The man the little Alpha was talking to is my grandson. He’s blind, an unenviable quality in a shifter.
” I nodded curtly. Some types of shifters were brutal when we were born anything less than perfect.
“But even blind, he traveled across North America to find his mate. Although they said she was dead, he didn’t give up.
” There was pride in Alexander’s voice. “He already loves those pups as his own. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for them. ”
I nodded tightly. This was the right thing to do. I shifted back to my wolf, and her sadness almost overwhelmed me. She tilted her head back and howled her pain, but then we left.
Sometimes the right choice was the one that hurt the most.