Chapter 34 Mona
The drive seems endless, landscape changing every dozen miles as we wind through quiet highways and forgotten back roads.
It’s taken us a day and a half to reach Shenandoah Valley in northern Virginia, and I’m almost irate at Deidre for bringing us here for such nefarious reasons.
The rolling Blue Ridge Mountains shimmer against the sun in the distance, beautifully cruel and mocking.
I wish I could see it for the first time without knowing they’re the backdrop to my death march.
Perhaps that’s better, too, though. They’ll be among the last things I see before we reach our destination. Wherever Deidre’s underground silo is, we’re getting closer.
She slipped into my dreams last night. Her nostrils flared when she saw Andrea at my side, those blood-red lips pressing into a thin line.
“Andrea stays with me,” I said, bracing for the explosion.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“You said no mates. And she’s my bodyguard—slipping away without her noticing would’ve been impossible. This was the only way.”
She paused, studying Andrea with calculating eyes.
“I suppose it’s alright,” she replied, her anger dissolving entirely too quickly, as if Andrea’s presence didn’t bother her at all.
Deidre’s sudden compliance only deepened my suspicion that I was walking into a trap, but I listened carefully as she outlined the remaining route, ensuring we’d see her by nightfall today.
Andrea and I haven’t talked much, but we need to.
We need to face what’s coming. The reality of the situation, of what we signed up for.
Reluctantly, I clear my throat, as it’s been over an hour since I’ve said a word. “When we get there, you’ll need to get everyone out.”
“I’m not leaving you, Mona.”
“Ingrid will need you.” My throat threatens to close, but I keep talking through it, hoping the knot will lessen.
I need to be brave. “They’ll all need you.
You have no idea what condition they’re in.
The alphas are healing, and fortunately, none of them are in rut, but all the deltas are omegas now and… ” I swallow. “One is pregnant.”
Andrea grits her teeth. The steering wheel cracks. “If the alphas aren’t in rut then how the fuck—”
“Do not judge them. Don’t you dare. You have no idea how much it hurts to be in heat without help.
The alphas—it’s not consent, we both know that.
They know that. But they’re helping the omegas through it.
Locked in a cell together, one at a time, after those women are spelled, naked and screaming for dick.
And when their scent changes, when the heat hits and the omega turn happens, the alphas—they try to hold back.
Trust me. But they were throwing themselves at them, and… ”
And I know what it’s like, because I did it to Silas. He held back with Lily, but with me… the second he entered that cabin, I was on him. He had no more choice than I did.
It all sucks. And it’s all wrong.
But I’ve seen the alphas in my vision, too, and they are just as fucked up over all this, if not more so, than the deltas—omegas, now, I guess.
We’ll get them out of there, but it will be a long while before they’re okay. Lily only just left the hospital, and she’d been in there for weeks.
“Okay, well, since the alphas are slightly better off,” she says, still with some judgement in her tone, “and they heal faster, they should at least be able to help. Did Deidre say what would happen when we arrive? We’re not going near her if the wolves aren’t already outside waiting for us.”
I sigh and look out at the passing landscape, the quiet highway cutting into jagged rock.
The sun is setting, streaking the sky with yellow and vibrant purple.
A full day away from my mates. I alternate between gut-wrenching pain and numbness.
Beep helps, actually, keeping me calm and focused.
I’m surprised she’s as on board with saving the omegas as she is, considering her dogged insistence that our mates not only know best, but should be by our side at all times, protecting us.
But we are not selfish, and we cannot watch others suffer, she interjects.
I wish I were.
Just as that thought threatens to drag me down to another dark place of missing home, something slams into the truck bed with enough force to make the metal frame shake.
Andrea shouts, jerking the wheel so hard I’m thrown against the door.
The tires squeal against the asphalt as we careen toward the shoulder.
Cars blast their horns as we skid off the highway, and Andrea regains control as she pulls over.
My pulse explodes in my ears, alarm rattling my bones as I turn in my seat.
My heart leaps.
I curse under my breath. Relief, panic, and sweet fucking joy. “Fuck,” I mutter.
Andrea stops the truck, and we both climb out as the giant falcon leaps from the bed and shifts. Ghost’s multi-colored feathers give way to golden-brown skin, the texture smoothing into long, corded arms and toned legs. I force my gaze up to meet his swirling, amber eyes, glowing with rage.
“What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His alpha pheromones are so potent I have to take a step back.
I’ve never heard Ghost sound so angry. I’ve never seen him with this much emotion at all, in fact.
He’s practically vibrating with it. He steps closer, and with the anger radiating off of him, pouring with the potency of his magic, I should be scared.
But I take a step closer, meeting him halfway, my mouth watering.
He’s here. He came for me.
Shit.
“What are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?” He looks at me, open-mouthed and incredulous. Then he turns to Andrea. “You are supposed to be watching out for her!”
“She is not my keeper!” I yell back, taking a step in front of Andrea.
“And neither are you!” I stab my finger into his naked chest, heaving with rage.
It shouldn’t make me hot. Goddamn, what a mess.
“Look, this isn’t—you have to go back. You can’t be here.
” I press my palms into his hard pecs, feeling the heat spill out of him, making my thighs clench.
But Deidre will know he’s here, and panic distracts me, so I give a little shove. He doesn't move.
“What was that?” he asks, brows furrowing. He tilts his head, leans in close, sniffs my neck. “You panicked just now. Why? What’s happened?”
“Ghost, you can’t be here. You have to go. Please. I’m begging you.”
His eyes glow, then narrow, before dismissing me and moving on to Andrea for answers. She’s an impressive woman and alpha. But Ghost has always been a little different. His alpha is strong, yes, but he’s also a witch. And his power is unsettling. She withers slightly beneath his gaze.
“The witch will know you’re with us. And she will slaughter the entire silo of shifters. She’ll kill my mate,” her voice cracks.
“Andrea,” I hiss, with no heat behind it.
Ghost contemplates her, questions and answers mounting behind his eyes. Then he steps back and looks me over. Inspects me, and as his shield drops, and I practically inhale his oceanic scent, the wisps of sulfuric magic tell me he’s using magic on me.
“Ghost?”
“She’s contacted you. In your visions?”
There’s no point in lying, so I nod.
“What did she tell you? Exactly.”
I debate stalling, but the truth is, Andrea and I are both barely hanging on by a thread. And we’re obviously caught. So, I tell him about my dream the other night, what Deidre said. Threatened, more like. And I tell him she visited me again last night.
Finally, after hearing the entire story, he lets out an exasperated sigh. “I can smell her on you. The blood magic—she’s got her claws in you. It’ll burn off, but in the meantime, she can keep coming to you in your dreams—in the astral realm.”
“What do we do?” Andrea asks.
Ghost swings his gaze back to me. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to come home?”
I figure it’s not the time or place to point out he called Silent Peak home, like maybe it’s becoming his, too. I shake my head no. Then a thought strikes me. “You’re giving me a choice?”
He lets out a dark laugh. “No. Yes... I don’t want to see what the regret will do to your soul if I drag you out of here.
I know what that kind of regret does to a person.
When you make a decision that gets people killed.
I won’t do that to you. And besides, I won’t force you to leave by magic.
But I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself, either. Deidre said you’re close?”
Andrea answers. “Some town called Venus, deep in the valley. It’s this tiny place tucked away. There’s an old silo there. She claims she’ll sense when we enter the town limits and will contact Mona again. That’s when we’ll get the rest of the details.”
Ghost listens thoughtfully, coming up with his own plan. I have no idea what comes next, but just being beside him, his quiet confidence and control, is making some of the worry and anxiety melt off.
“Alright,” he concludes. “Looking at you, I don’t think she has any way to listen in right now, she isn’t watching you that closely.”
“She doesn’t have the power?”
“She does, but it would take time and planning. She’s got too many pans in the fire, so to speak.
She can’t focus that much energy on you.
But she will be able to when she checks in again.
So, I’m tracking you, and I’ll be following along,” he points to the sky, “while you follow her directions. After you arrive, Mona, you will get in this fucking truck and you will turn around and leave. I’ll handle the rest. Do you understand me? ”
“I-uh, but what about—”
“No. I’m not risking you. Not any further than that, and only then, because I’ll still be with you and will make sure no harm comes to you. But I can’t fight a coven of witches and keep you safe. You must leave.”
“But the other shifters—”
“Andrea and I will get them out.”
“Why Andrea? Why should she sacrifice—”
Andrea cuts me off. “My mate is in that silo, Mona. And besides, you promised me when we started that when it came to strength and speed, you would defer to me. For what you have done—I can never thank you enough for getting us this far. But Ghost is right. You will only get yourself killed. I am an alpha, I am damn fucking strong. Trust that. Trust us.”
“When you get to the silo, Andrea will stay, and you will leave. Promise me,” Ghost insists.
Perhaps he is right, Beep says. We have done our duty.
We haven’t. But Andrea is right, for sure. I’ll just get myself killed. I’m not a fighter. I swallow. “Okay. Fine. I promise I’ll get in the truck and leave.”
His shoulders drop with visible relief. “Thank you. Gray and the others are about a day’s drive behind us, maybe less. They’re tracking me, while I’m tracking you.” He points to a small white disc stuck to his shoulder, like the ones you stick to your phone or car keys.
I let out a disbelieving laugh. “Who’s using a smartphone?”
He huffs and shakes his head. “Kendrick, thank god. You’d think, being the oldest, he’d be the least tech-savvy. Your mates barely know which end to talk into.”
I smirk at that. Shifters—or maybe just wolves—have an aversion to technology.
They’re more comfortable with nature; the tech somehow interferes with their lives and heightened senses.
They prefer flip phones since they're cheaper—wolves break and lose things easily.
Grayson has a smartphone, but he rarely uses it for more than texting.
“We should get going,” Andrea says, hooking her thumb toward the truck. She climbs back in to give us some privacy.
“Okay. Well…”
He nods. “Well.”
But neither of us move.
I want to hug him. Desperately, I want to jump forward and—
Ghost wraps his muscular forearm around the back of my neck, yanking me close.
My heart thumps in my chest, my omega preening as we breathe him in, feel his warmth, the weight, the strength of him.
It’s an awkward, sharp hug, like he doesn’t know how to do it right, but I throw both my arms around his waist and hold him closer.
His lips are buried in my hair, but I could swear he kisses the side of my head before releasing me just as abruptly. His eyes don’t meet mine, and he turns away, but before shifting, he says, “Be safe, mi vidita.”
And then he’s off.