Chapter 6 - Poppy
“The corruption in Nightclaw has spread.”
Diane’s statement stops me in my tracks, and I turn around slowly. Mother and son have their backs turned to the door; I sneak behind it and eavesdrop on their conversation.
Damian has his hand clenched at his sides, shoulders tight as he responds to his mother, “I know about the strange occurrence in Nightclaw, Mother. We had a meeting about it with the council yesterday. Simon assured us—”
Diane shakes her head and clicks her tongue.
“Didn’t you hear me, Damian? The corruption has spread through the forest, with new signals of activity.
Whatever is happening is slowly progressing, and now they’ve found more dead vegetation, and even animals lying dead in the woods. Not mauled. Just dead.”
I gasp, a hand flying to my mouth to cover the sound from escaping.
Dead vegetation and dead animals…?
Is that what Connor was talking about when he warned me not to leave the pack area?
That’s the very same reason Daniel and I left our cottage in Roland and sought refuge in Nightclaw.
Something about this doesn’t feel coincidental, and my mind instantly goes to Daniel.
A lump forms in my throat as tears gather in my eyes. I hope my son is safe. I trust Connor and Ingrid to keep him out of danger, but I still need to go home and make sure he’s alright. Hold him in my tight embrace and find a way out of this mess.
The mark on my neck throbs, a warm pulse radiating beneath my skin. It doesn’t hurt. Somehow, that’s worse.
He wasn’t like this ten years ago. Somewhere along the way, something inside Damian Walker had broken. And now he has this irrational idea that we’re fated mates, and will stop at nothing for me to acknowledge it.
There’s no way I can trust his word when I don’t feel what he claims I should.
All I feel is anger. Betrayal. And resentment at the man keeping me from my son.
Whatever I felt for him in the past is long gone, thanks to his hesitation to claim me as his mate back when he had a chance. Back when I wanted it.
As my heart pounds with panic and I clutch my pendant tightly, I continue listening to their conversation behind the door.
“... Dorian has called for another meeting with the council. He’s concerned about the pack’s safety, and what this means for Amelia and Damita.”
“Not everything is about Dorian,” Damian says as he grunts, sounding more furious than ever. “I also have a pack to protect. I have a mate to protect.”
My brows furrow. It’s almost as if Damian is avoiding going to Fort Smit again. But he promised…
He even said he’d take me there himself.
So why is he looking for an excuse not to go?
“Are you going to tell me about this mate bond you’ve decided on?” his mother asks, and Damian chuckles sardonically.
“What do you want to know, Mother? Do you want to know how I found my fated mate in Dorian’s pack? How she left Valley Walker a decade ago, and ended up in his pack?”
“You’re not making any sense, Damian,” his mother says. “Are you saying Poppy Barnes left Valley Walker to follow your brother?”
“No!” he responds quickly. “It’s not that simple, but it still angers me, okay? Dorian left Valley Walker, and because of him, I—I—” Damian growls and doesn’t say anything else, and I can hear him pacing the porch.
“This isn’t like you, Damian. Whatever is going on with you, you need to figure yourself out. Your brother is not the enemy. I thought you two got over the past.”
“Got over the past? How can I get over it when it walked right into my life again?”
My heart skips a beat when I realize he’s talking about me.
What do I have to do with his relationship with his brother?
“I need to go,” Damian says, and I hear him climb down the porch steps.
“Go blow off some steam, and come back. Your mate must be waiting for you.”
“Oh, I don’t think so!” Damian laughs maliciously. “She hates my guts, and it’s all because of Dorian!”
The wind outside rustles violently as Damian shifts into wolf form, a treacherous howl slicing through the air before thick paws pound into the distance.
I bolt upstairs to the bedroom I’d been locked in last night, just to pretend that I didn’t hear their conversation in case Diane comes inside. But once I’m inside the room, panic sets in again, and all I can think about is Daniel.
Tears roll down my cheeks, and they’re out of control, forcing me to the bed, where I take a seat on the edge and sob into my hands.
Whatever happens, I need to get to Fort Smit. I need to get out of here and back to my son.
My body trembles inconsolably, my sobs become so loud that they drum in my ears, and I don’t hear anything around me until it’s too late. I’m jolted from my sorrows when a warm hand touches my shoulder, and that’s when I find Diane towering over me, worry etched in her furrowed brows.
“I see you haven’t found the right bedroom,” she comments with a hesitant smile.
I sniffle and try to gather my composure as I straighten my spine. “I—I was lost,” I lie, not wanting to explain how I got here in the first place.
I can hear the worry lingering in her voice from the conversation outside. I can see it in her eyes, and I heard it in her voice when she spoke to Damian. The last thing she needs to learn is that her son kidnapped me and forced me into a mating ritual.
I know what it’s like to be a mother concerned about her child.
“That’s okay. Would you like me to show you to Damian’s bedroom? I’m sure you’ll be sharing the same bed.”
“It’s a lot more complicated than that, Luna Diane…” I sigh, hanging my head when she takes a seat beside me.
“My son won’t tell me anything, so are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
I shake my head slowly, lips pursed for a beat. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you, Luna Diane. I—”
“Please, you do not need to refer to me as ‘Luna.’ I haven’t been this pack’s luna for a decade. You are the luna now.”
My heart drops in an instant, a heavy weight settling on my shoulders.
This is suddenly becoming real. Serious.
And I want no part of it.
“I don’t really feel like the luna of this pack,” I say, shaking my head slowly. “Everything is happening so fast…”
“I know it’s overwhelming, Poppy. Is that why you were crying?”
I nod tersely, and Diane offers me a warm smile.
“I just want to go back home…to Fort Smit…” I whisper, teary-eyed as I stare at her. “I left something…something very important to me there. I have to go back for it.”
She nods thoughtfully. “Why did you leave Cedar Valley ten years ago, Poppy? I am a mother, and I knew something was going on between you and my son.”
My breath catches in my throat, and my eyes widen with shock. “You knew…?”
She nods. “Yes, I knew, but I never said a word about it. I waited for my son to tell me himself. But he never did. And then you left, and he was torn up. But he never spoke a word about you. And now he brings you here, and he’s mated you…
” She reaches out and touches my neck where Damian had bitten me in the ritual.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m worried about Damian.
He’s behaving out of character, saying things he normally wouldn’t. And if he’s hurt you…”
I shake my head, not wanting to add to this woman’s distress or alarm her. “He hasn’t hurt me,” I lie, gulping on the lump in my throat. “I just really need to get back to Nightclaw. I’m worried…” My voice tapers off when I’m unable to tell her the truth of the situation.
But she sees the weight of it in my eyes, and sighs.
“Damian needs to go to Nightclaw for a meeting tomorrow morning,” she says, and I shake my head.
“He’s not gonna—”
“He will listen to me eventually,” Diane assures me. “I will convince him to go to Nightclaw. And you can accompany him. Whatever you’ve left behind must matter a great deal. No one cries like that over something unimportant.”
I gulp hard, but nod slowly. “Thank you, Diane.”
Diane stands up and looks around the bedroom, and it’s evident when her gaze lingers on the bed that she suspects I’ve already been here last night. She purses her lips as if she’s holding back her questions, and steps back.
“Are you comfortable here?” she asks, and I nod. She takes a deep breath and says, “I’ll make dinner. You should come down and join me. Damian is… Damian won’t be back for a while, so it’ll just be the two of us.”
“I’m not very hungry, Diane,” I say, as I glance at the bed behind me. “I’d like to go to bed.”
Diane nods hesitantly this time. “If you need to talk, Poppy, I will be right here. Damian is my son, but I won’t stand by him if he’s doing anything to hurt you. You must know that.”
I stare at the older woman for a long moment, unable to bring myself to tell her the truth. Truthfully, a pang of guilt tugs at my chest at the mere thought that she might never know she has a grandson from Damian.
But it’s better to keep Daniel away, even if it’s only to protect him from Damian. It’s like his own mother said; he’s acting out of character.
And I have no idea why he’s being this way.
What do I have to do with Dorian leaving the pack? Does he think that this forced mate bond is a way to get back at his brother simply because I’ve been living in Nightclaw for a year?
Dorian doesn’t even know about our history, and surely doesn’t even care about my absence from the pack now.
Damian’s strange behavior is even more reason to get as far away from him as possible with my son.
Peeling the white gown off my body, I slip into the pajama set I find in the closet before slipping into bed. As I lie there, staring at the ceiling, my chest continues to fill with more panic and dread.
I close my eyes and whisper a gentle prayer to the Moon Goddess to place a protective hand over my son. At least for one night, until I can return to Fort Smit in the morning.