Chapter 4
Valens
Istared at the empty doorway long after she’d left, the room seeming colder, emptier without her fire. My bones ached with it.
“Yo, V.” Lucien came around the corner, brows furrowed as he squinted at a tattered piece of paper, not even noticing the way I stood like a shadow in the other doorway. “This mean anything to you?”
“Vee’s my sister,” I grumbled as I turned and took the paper, the jumble of numbers on the financial statement making less than no sense to me.
It had a ragged edge, as if he’d torn it from a book.
“No. The pack used to have an accountant who handled all this, but I’m pretty sure Kane stole him away at the elder Varga’s trial. ”
Lucien sighed. “Yep. You’re right. I’ll see if Reed can get me his contact info. These transactions seem to go nowhere, which means they probably go somewhere they shouldn’t.”
“Fantastic.” I dropped back down in the chair, ignoring the flimsy wood’s groans of protest.
“You tired? We should probably call it quits. It was a late night and an early morning.” His grin told me he wanted to get back to his mate, not necessarily his bed.
“I’ve had longer days, but I’ll take any excuse to get out of this hellhole.”
He laughed. “Come on. I’m starving.”
My stomach rumbled approval at the idea of dinner, and I followed him happily out of the pack archives.
When I opened the door to my house, the scent of burnt toast and something unpleasantly sour hit me immediately.
“Savvy, are you cooking?”
An angry slam of some kind of metal cooking implement rang out as the only response. I laughed, because that was my sister. She was a tornado in high heels, and she had a temper.
But if I didn’t get her out of that kitchen soon, I wouldn’t have one left. She also had the wolf’s strength to destroy my poor cookware.
“I’m coming,” I called, quickly shucking my boots and striding across the carpet. I paused in the doorway, aghast at the amount of mess one small she-wolf had managed to make in a formerly pristine room.
“Don’t stare like that, you jerk. Come help me!
” She glared, hands on her hips and red sauce splattered over her…
apron? Her hair was darker than mine, and her olive-toned skin reminded me fondly of my mother, just like her eyes.
But she didn’t like to hear that, so I kept the memories to myself so they couldn’t hurt her.
“Care to tell me why you’ve suddenly turned into Hungarian Ina Garten, when the closest I’ve ever seen you come to making dinner is ordering delivery?
” I asked, shoving a bubbling cauldron of pungently sour red sauce off the burner and clicking it off.
I turned to study her, from her long, dark hair to her guilt-ridden expression, and I knew something was up.
Not that she was keen to chat. My sister kept things close to the vest most of the time.
She shrugged, looking away. “You’ve had a long day. I just wanted to do something nice for my big brother.”
I bit back a grin. She would not appreciate it if I laughed. “By making…”
“Spaghetti and garlic bread. Your favorite.”
“Ahh. Well, it looks… intriguing.” That was all I could think of. Besides, it could definitely be studied as a science experiment on E. coli.
“You can just say it looks like shit. I know I fucked it up.”
Wow, something was really riding her.
“Language, Savvy. How are you going to ever catch a man like that?” I mimicked our aunt’s shrill tone, and she threw a rubber spoon at my head. After that, we both laughed and started cleaning up the disastrous attempt at dinner. She’d share when she was ready, and pushing wasn’t our dynamic.
When we were elbow-deep in the sink, me washing and her rinsing, it seemed like as good a time as any to tell her the news.
“I think I found my mate.”
My sister went still, whatever was eating her shoved to the side. “What? Really?”
“Really. My wolf insists.”
“One of the outsiders?” I could hear the sneer even without looking sideways to confirm it.
“Savannah. They’re not outsiders anymore. We’re putting all the old drama behind us. Lucien won the challenge. He is our Alpha now. The Blackwater pack are strong allies, and we need to band together for what’s coming.”
She slammed a glass pot lid against the bottom of the sink so hard, it cracked.
“It wouldn’t be coming at all if they hadn’t broken the laws!
” Savvy spun toward me with all the fury of a cobra poised to strike.
“Why do you condone them breaking the old laws when they’re only hurting us!
You think the ODL is going to stop with them?
Hmm? What happens when they come for me next? All the women?”
I shook my head, sadness at the division in my own home—which was reflective of the rest of the pack, as well—making me take my time to find the right words.
“You know that healer and her Goddess-touched pack aren’t going to hurt anyone. Why should wolves suffer, losing our women and children, if the Goddess herself has blessed them to change that? We could have more, be more.”
“We’re going to be nothing once the ODL comes and murders us all.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
She scoffed, elbowing me hard in the ribs. “You still feel like flesh and blood to me. You’re just planning to magically stop us from getting wiped off the map… how?”
I dropped the pot I’d been scrubbing back into the soapy water, turning to face her more fully. “I don’t know, honestly. But we’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not willing to trade your life for theirs. And you’re too… good. You’ll throw yourself on a blade to save someone else. It’s only a miracle you didn’t for Petró.” Her bottom lip trembled, and I thought now we were working our way back around to what was actually bothering her.
“Petró was challenged fairly and defeated the same. I was honor bound to protect Lucien’s mate and ensure a fair fight as second. You know pack law as well as I do, maybe better.” I dried my hands on a towel, waiting.
“Is it bad that I’m glad he’s dead? We were set to be bonded, and all I felt was dread because he was a terrible male.
I didn’t want to bond him. I wanted to rip out his throat.
Always with other she-wolves, always flaunting his wealth while our neighbors suffered…
But I shouldn’t be glad that someone is dead. I’m a terrible person.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and I wrapped her in a hug, burying my nose in her hair, the familiar scent of her coconut shampoo the same she’d been using forever.
She’d never once admitted she hadn’t wanted to marry him before now, or I would have insisted she call it off.
“You could never be a terrible person. A terrible cook, for sure. But I’m glad he’s gone too.
It galled me to think of him laying a finger on you. ”
She sniffled, hugging me back for a few moments before pulling away, swiping carefully under her eyes so as not to smudge her mascara. “Tell me about this new mate of yours. Which one is she?”
I smiled just thinking of Elodie’s beautiful face. “One of the maidens. Elodie.”
Savvy nearly dropped the lid she’d already cracked. “What? She can’t be your mate, can she? They’re practically nuns.”
I shook my head, turning back to the task at hand. I liked to keep my hands busy. It let my thoughts roam free.
It was impossible to hold back my sarcasm when I asked, “Do they look like nuns to you? Technically, no, she hasn’t agreed that our wolves are a match.
But I’m sure. I’ve just got to give her some time and space to come around.
So don’t say anything, all right? Nobody knows yet. I want to take things at her pace.”
My sister nodded, carefully setting the cracked lid aside. “Well, she’s an idiot if she doesn’t want to bond with you. You’re the best man in the pack. Probably the whole world.”
“You’re a little biased, given I raised you and didn’t give you a curfew. Looked the other way on quite a few term papers too.”
Her grin was wicked when she turned it my way. “True. Best big brother around. Want to go grab a pizza? My treat. For all those term papers.”
“Absolutely.” I threw the towel on the counter, leaving the rest of the mess for later. It would keep.