Chapter 33
Alison
The moonlight filtered through the forest canopy as Lucas and I walked hand in hand along the winding path toward the sacred grove. His fingers were warm between mine, a comforting presence that had somehow become essential to me over these past weeks.
"The grove is just beyond those trees," Lucas said, his voice gentle as a caress in the night air. "It's where our pack has celebrated the full moon for generations. I've never brought anyone here who wasn't a pack member before."
I squeezed his hand. "I'm honored."
The stars above us were brilliant pinpoints against the velvet sky, and the mountain air smelled of pine and wild herbs.
Leo was safe with my parents, the Blacks, enjoying a night of spoiling from his doting grandparents.
And I was here, with the man I had fought so hard not to love.
A fight I was so glad I lost. Lucas's body suddenly tensed up beside me, and I looked up to see his eyes glowing.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Someone is coming," he said, and immediately, I could hear the sound of leaves rustling and twigs breaking as someone dashed through the bushes and then stopped before us. They'd been running for a while, and they tried to speak as they tried to catch their breath.
"James… he…" the boy was saying as Lucas walked over to him and put his hands on the boy.
"Calm down, Richard. Speak to me. What is it?"
Richard nodded, but he couldn't stay calm. "Leo… they got him."
My body vibrated with terror.
"Who? Wolves from Victor's pack. They came with Victoria.
They were so fast, so coordinated, we didn't have time to stage a defense.
They got and took him away. They left a lot of people injured.
James has started chasing after them. But he sent me to inform you.
And to give you this." Richard passed Lucas a note, which he read, and his eyes glowed in anger. He passed it to me.
Victoria wanted us to come to her alone. If we didn't, she promised to hurt Leo.
"Go, Richard. Thank you. I'll deal with this," Lucas said with a reassuring calm that I wished I could share, but I was terrified. He was just a boy, getting caught up in feuds. So, Victor was working with Victoria. I thought we had an understanding. I thought we separated amicably.
My throat was so tight I could barely speak. "Lucas, if she hurts him—"
"She won't." His voice was steel. "She wants something, and Leo is her leverage. This is about you and me, not him." He cupped my face in his hands. "I will find our son, Alison. I swear it on my life."
Our son. The words that had once terrified me now anchored me. I nodded, forcing down the panic that threatened to drown me.
"Come on," I know where she must be waiting for us," Lucas said as we continued through the woods. "James will surround the area, but he knows not to approach. Leo will be fine. Leo is strong. He has my blood. He knows how to fight, to survive."
"He's five years old," I whispered.
"He's my son," Lucas answered, as if that explained everything. And somehow, it did.
After a couple of minutes, we came to a cabin at the far eastern end of the woods. It stood against the night like a silhouette. There was an SUV in front of the cabin, so Victoria must be in there.
"Stay behind me," he ordered as we approached. "If I tell you to run, you run. No arguments. James will pick you up."
I would have laughed at the absurdity of that command if fear hadn't hollowed out my chest. There was no power on earth that could make me leave my son.
The cabin door creaked open as we approached. Victoria stood in the doorway, her blonde hair gleaming in the moonlight, a sick smile twisting her perfect features.
"The happy little family, reunited at last," she called out. "Come in, come in. Your precious bastard is waiting."
Lucas let out a low growl that raised the hair on my arms. I placed a restraining hand on his arm, feeling the coiled tension in his muscles. Victoria might be human, but she was cunning and desperate—a dangerous combination.
As we approached the cabin, I noticed movement in the shadows to our right. Lucas must have sensed it, too, because his hand tightened around mine in warning. Someone was circling behind us.
"Don't react," Lucas whispered, his lips barely moving. "We expected this. James has people in position."
Victoria's smile widened as we reached the porch steps. "Alone, as requested. How touching that you follow instructions so well, Alpha." The title dripped with mockery from her lips.
"Where is our son?" I demanded, scanning the dark windows for any sign of Leo.
"Inside. Behaving himself. For now." Victoria's eyes flickered to something behind us, and she gave a slight nod.
The attack came without warning. A massive form burst from the undergrowth, slamming into Lucas with enough force to send him flying off the porch. A hulking man charged at Lucas, his face contorted in a snarl as he transformed mid-leap, clothes tearing as fur sprouted along his massive frame.
"Lucas!" I screamed, but Victoria had already seized my arm, yanking me roughly into the cabin and slamming the door.
"Men and their fighting," she sighed dramatically. "So primitive. But it keeps them occupied while we have our little chat."
Inside, the cabin was lit by a single lantern. Leo sat in a corner, his hands bound in front of him, his eyes wide with fear, but no visible injuries. Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly buckled.
"Mom!" he cried when he saw me. "Dad's outside! I can hear him fighting!"
"Shut up, brat," Victoria snapped, and my relief curdled into rage.
Outside, the sounds of combat echoed through the night—growls, the impact of bodies colliding, splintering wood. Lucas was powerful, but was he outnumbered? The thought sent ice through my veins.
"Let him go, Victoria," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "This is between us."
She laughed, a brittle sound like breaking glass. "Oh, it's between all of us. The perfect little Alison, who stole my life. The mighty Alpha, who humiliated me. And the bastard spawn who helped ruin everything."
"You ruined your own life," I said, taking a careful step forward, trying to position myself between her and Leo. "You chose greed and cruelty. You chose to hurt others."
"I chose to take what was rightfully mine!" she shrieked, her composure cracking. "I was raised a Black! I was supposed to marry Lucas! I was supposed to have everything!"
A thunderous crash shook the cabin walls.
Through the window, I caught a glimpse of Lucas in his wolf form—magnificent and terrible, his silver-gray fur gleaming in the moonlight—as he threw one of Victor's wolves against the SUV, shattering the windshield.
Blood matted the fur around his shoulder, but he moved with lethal precision, seemingly unfazed by the injury.
"And yet here you are," I said, drawing Victoria's attention back to me, away from Leo. "With nothing."
Victoria's face contorted. "I still have your son. And you're going to listen to me now."
"We're listening," I said, my eyes fixed on Leo. He was watching us intently, and I realized with a surge of pride that my brave boy wasn't scared.
"I want what she took from me," Victoria said, pointing at me. "The Black fortune. My position in society. Everything."
Another crash from outside, followed by a pained yelp. I fought to keep my expression neutral, though my heart pounded with fear for Lucas.
"You know that's not possible," I said, echoing what I knew Lucas would say.
"Then I'll settle for watching you suffer." She pulled a small revolver from her pocket, and my heart stopped. "Kneel. Kneel before me, or I'll put a bullet in your precious heir."
I didn't hesitate. I lowered myself to my knees, my eyes never leaving Victoria's face. The gun in her hand trembled slightly—nervousness or excitement, I couldn't tell.
"You set fire to the Black estate, didn't you?" I asked, trying to keep her talking while I inched closer to Leo.
Victoria's smile was all the confirmation I needed.
"They deserved it," she hissed. "Those stupid people who raised me, who couldn't even tell I wasn't their real daughter, and who threw me out when they learned the truth."
"They loved you for twenty-five years," I said. "They gave you everything."
"They gave me nothing! It was all a lie!" Her hand trembled, the gun wavering. "Everything in my life has been a lie. And it's all because of you."
The door behind Victoria splintered with a deafening crack. She whirled, the gun swinging wildly in her hand, and fired off a shot that embedded itself in the doorframe. Lucas stood there, human again but barely dressed, blood streaming from a gash across his chest, his eyes burning gold with rage.
"Victoria," he growled, his voice unnaturally calm despite his appearance. "Think about what you're doing. Harming a pack heir is punishable by death. There is no territory you could run to where my wolves wouldn't find you."
She laughed again, a sound edged with hysteria. "You think I care? My life is already over. But I can still make you pay." She moved closer to Leo, the gun now pointed at his head. "Say goodbye to your son, Alpha."
I didn't think. I moved.
As Victoria's attention was fixed on Lucas, I lunged, striking the pressure point in her wrist that made her fingers spasm.
The gun clattered to the floor as she screamed in rage.
She was fast, but not as fast as the motherly instinct that was suddenly driving me.
I dashed at her and forced her to the ground, using my knees to hold her down.
She tried to break free and swung her arms, one of them catching me in the face.
The pain barely registered. All I could think about was Leo, about getting to my son before Victoria could recover. I turned around and saw that Lucas was already attending to Leo.
"It's over, Victoria," I panted, pressing my knee into the small of her back to keep her pinned. "You've lost."
Lucas had already reached Leo, tearing through the ropes binding him as if they were tissue paper. He gathered our son in his arms, checking him for injuries with frantic hands.
"Are you hurt?" I heard him asking, his voice rough with emotion. "Did she hurt you?"
"No," Leo whispered, clinging to his father. "But I was scared. She said she was going to make me like her, Dad. That she'd take me away forever."
A low growl rumbled from Lucas's chest, and for a moment, I saw the wolf in his eyes, thirsting for retribution.
"Lucas," I warned, still struggling to hold Victoria down. "Not in front of Leo."
Victoria sagged beneath me, all the fight draining out of her. "It doesn't matter," she whispered. "It's all over. You won. But it won't last. He won't love you forever, Alison. Humans are toys to them. Temporary amusements."
"Shut up," I hissed, tightening my grip.
"You think you're special? You're nothing. A phase. And when he tires of you—"
I slapped her hard across the face, and the sting of the hit shocked her into silence. Before she could gather again to continue her babble, the cabin door burst open again. Three of Lucas's pack members rushed in, alerted by the gunshot and the sounds of fighting.
"Take her," Lucas ordered, still cradling Leo protectively. "Lock her in the pack holding cell until the human authorities can take her. Make sure she understands the consequences if she ever speaks of our kind."
As they dragged Victoria's semi-conscious form away, I became aware of my own injuries—the burning scratches on my face, the throbbing in my temple, the ache in my ribs where she'd kneed me.
But none of it mattered. I rushed to Leo's side, and he threw himself into my arms, his small body trembling.
"You were so brave," I murmured into his hair, breathing in his scent, reassuring myself that he was real, he was safe. "So, so brave."
"I wasn't scared," he said, his voice muffled against my shoulder. "Well, maybe a little. But I knew you and Dad would come. I heard him fighting outside. He sounded scary."
"He was protecting us," I said, meeting Lucas's eyes over Leo's head.
His wounds were already beginning to heal, the supernatural metabolism of his kind working its magic.
But the blood that had dried on his skin, the fierce protectiveness in his gaze as he looked at us—those things were viscerally real.
"Dad was awesome," Leo said, pulling back to look at Lucas with undisguised hero worship. "There were three bad wolves, and he beat them all! I saw through the window."
Dad. There it was again, that word that made my heart squeeze.
Lucas knelt beside us, his hand gentle on Leo's back. "Of course we came. We will always come for you, pup. Always." He touched my face gently, his fingers coming away with my blood. His expression darkened. "She hurt you."
"I'm fine," I assured him, though my head was pounding.
"Can we go home now?" Leo asked, and Lucas and I exchanged a glance over his head.
Home. Where was that, exactly? The Black estate was still under repair after the fire. Lucas's villa? The pack territory?
"Yes," Lucas said firmly, as if reading my thoughts. "We're going home."
Outside the cabin, the night was eerily quiet.
The wrecked SUV stood testament to the violence that had occurred, its windshield shattered, deep gouges in its metal skin.
Two of Lucas's pack members were binding the wounds of a third, while Victor's wolves were nowhere to be seen.
I didn't ask what had happened to them. Some questions were better left unasked.
Leo's head drooped against Lucas's shoulder, the adrenaline of the night finally catching up to him. As we walked away from the cabin, leaving behind Victoria's schemes and the violence she had brought into our lives, I felt something shift and settle within me.
This was my family now. Unconventional, complicated, dangerous at times—but mine. And I would fight for them, just as fiercely as Lucas had fought for us tonight, for as long as I drew breath.