Chapter Six
Being the Honorable Man Sucks Sometimes
LIAM O’CONNOR
The moon is high over my head, bathing me in soft white light. The wind gusts every few moments, bringing the scent of pine and living whispers of the forest that surrounds me on all sides. The stillness mixed with unseen chaos is fitting, reflecting the turmoil in my mind.
I lean back against the side of the truck and wait for Bast. The video of Gen naked plays on a loop in my head. Breathtaking. Then her wolf. Beautiful. Then her fleeing back up the mountain runs in my head on a loop. Pain. It mixes with the memory of tasting and touching her. Fuck.
Bast is going to be pissed. Hell, my whole family is going to be madder than a bull being strapped to ride. The weight of their expectations and the future of our pack press down on me, making it hard to breathe.
After we talk to Aiden, I’m packing my shit and leaving. I won’t make it here, not another day. The temptation to sneak up that mountain and steal her away is too great.
My heart races, adrenaline still courses through my veins like wildfire. I clench my fists, digging my nails into my palms to anchor myself to reality. I can’t give in to my desires.
Once she’s married to Aiden and living in our territory, it will be too hard. I don’t want to hate my cousin.
Fuck.
I won’t be that man. I won’t be the one who looks jealously at another man’s wife. Their marriage will be hard enough with Aiden’s grieving heart and Gen’s broken one.
The image of them together, trying to build something out of this messed-up situation, haunts me. I can’t be the storm that destroys everything Aiden has built to keep the pack safe.
I won’t be that selfish. If there’s any chance of this working out and our pack’s independence being saved, I have to go.
I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with cool mountain air, and steady myself. The decision to leave is a stone settling in my gut, heavy and immovable. A raw ache claws at my chest, each breath an effort, each step a defiance against the torment.
But I will press on.
For the pack. For Gen. For a future that has no place for me.
Tomorrow I’ll disappear. And then it will get easier.
I hear my brother before I see him. The trees loom over his head, their branches reaching out like skeletal hands, grasping at the air.
His golden gaze reflects in the moonlight, looking for me. Shadows dance across his face, hinting at the turmoil within. He senses the change in me, the dark cloud that’s settled over my soul.
I push off the side of the parked truck. “Everything good?”
He nods, strolling up to the side of the truck. “We got to them all. She did her voodoo shit and those guys looked right past me like I wasn’t there. It was seriously unsettling and fascinating at the same time.”
I climb up and unlock the toolbox stretching across the bed behind the cab. Bast hands me the rifles and then lifts the top shelf of the toolbox out. The cold metal of the guns chills me to the bone, as if they can sense the sorrow that courses through my veins.
I check the rifles. Make sure the safeties are on and then slide them into the foam slots where they sit hidden from the world, but available whenever we need them.
Bast puts the tool rack back over top of them, closes the heavy steel lid, and rolls the number combos. “So you and Gen?”
I don’t look at my brother.
“Is it... Fate?”
I hop down from the bed and walk to the driver’s side and get in. He mirrors my actions. The air inside the cab is suffocating, tainted with the weight of my unspoken choices.
“Liam.” His tone says it all. He knows how bad this is. Sorrow and anger twist his voice the same way they’re wrenching my heart. Anger that this is happening. How unfair it is. And sorrow that I’m losing someone I’ll never be able to replace.
“You can’t say anything. To anyone.” I grind out the words. “I’m leaving, Bast. After tonight. After we talk to Aiden, I’m going to quietly go see Mom and tell her goodbye.” Except I can’t tell them the whole truth. I’ll have to hide what’s really going on.
“Fuck.” The single word is heavy with the weight of his acknowledgment.
I start the truck and it roars to life, the growl of the engine echoing through the darkness. We’re silent the whole way back home, the tension still so thick it’s like a living, breathing entity. When I park in front of Aiden’s house, Bast grabs my arm before I can get out. “Where will you go?”
The fight leaves me. All the tension bleeds out and I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’ll find a pack—somewhere.”
“Aiden is going to find out. He’s going to feel you leave.”
“It will be too late. Everything will be done. They’ll be married. The pack will be safe. There won’t be anything to do, Bast. I can’t stay here and live near her. I can’t.”
He releases my arm. We get out of the truck and walk to Aiden’s door.
The house looms before me, the dark windows reflecting my fears back at me like a mirror. I don’t want to leave my family. My home. My whole life is here, but I know if I stay it will slowly turn me into a person I won’t be proud of.
The big oak door opens before I reach a hand to knock.
“Come in,” Aiden says, his voice tired. His face is drawn and dark circles hang beneath his eyes. “I assume there’s something wrong.”
We both give a slight inclination of a nod. Bast speaks first, which I’m glad for.
“Meredith’s got some trouble.”
Aiden takes a long, noisy breath and points us toward the couch. The dimly lit room is oppressive, the shadows on the walls pulsing in time with my racing heart. A half-empty box of framed pictures and knickknacks sits in the center of his coffee table. A stack of old newspapers lie beside it. A pretty silver-framed picture of him and his late wife is only half wrapped in tissue paper.
We interrupted him.
He finishes tucking the paper around the silver frame and places it carefully into the box. “I know Meredith’s up at Oliver’s because of the situation with her daughter and Finn. Rachel has kept me up to date when possible, but so far it hasn’t been anything Meredith can’t handle. Has that changed?”
“There were wolves in town from Oklahoma. They tried to take Meredith.”
A loud snarl rips through Aiden and his eyes flash gold. “Is she safe? How the fucking hell did they know where to find Meredith? Do we have a leak?”
“Not from us. Maybe Oliver’s side. No one in our pack would ever betray the coven. They’re family, Aiden. All of them.”
He breathes out a heavy sigh.
“Meredith’s good. We stopped them. They’ve apparently got this little girl who’s been hurt back home. The witches near their pack told them Meredith was their only option for saving her. The abductors were professionals. Probably ex-military. They got her out of Oliver’s place without raising a single alarm.”
“Oliver will break shit when he realizes. Fuck. She’s trying to figure out how loyal Finn is to Oliver,” he tells us. “She won’t go back to the court until she’s sure Emma is safe. Until she’s sure Finn can and will protect her. She doesn’t think it’s safe to tell Finn about the court.”
Bast and I sit quietly. We’re processing. This information about Meredith testing Finn’s loyalty is new. Meredith didn’t mention it. We definitely don’t know everything that’s going on or what Meredith’s larger game plan is in the situation.
“Meredith told all the witches to stay out of town except for work. I think there’s two or three who work in White Fork and then at least two besides Rachel that live and work in Ash Hollow. Banfield Court has been on lockdown for months for everyone else.”
I knew I’d seen fewer witches around, but this explains the unusually low activity.
“Meredith fixed it,” Bast speaks up. “I got her back to the house. The guards don’t remember her being taken. We don’t think anything is left that would make Oliver suspicious.”
“Except those outsiders messing in our business. Where are they?”
“At the inn outside Ash Hollow. Meredith said she’d write the spell they need to heal the girl. Gen’s supposed to deliver it there tomorrow.” Bast continues to speak and I continue to pray Aiden doesn’t notice the way my heart speeds up when he mentions Gen’s name.
“I want both of you at the inn twenty-four-seven until you watch them drive out of town. And I want you to follow them for a hundred miles after they get the spell and make sure they actually leave. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Bast replies, sitting a little straighter.
“Liam?”
I look up, meeting my alpha’s gaze. “Yes, sir.” I manage to get the words out without choking on them. This assignment means I can’t leave yet. It also means I have to make it through another encounter with my mate—my cousin’s fiancée—and walk away yet again. “We’ll make sure.”