2 Meg
Meg
Morning rays of sun danced on the crystal-clear water that rushed over the river stones, glossing them like jewels underneath my bare feet.
The line grew taut as I reeled in. A rainbow trout broke the surface, its smooth underbelly slicing through the water and silver scales reflecting the rising sun.
I unhooked it and added the fish to my stringer with the others, knowing I should be heading back to the house instead.
Just one more. Even my wolf agreed as she paced within my mind.
I re-baited the hook.
Honestly, I didn’t need to be doing this. My dad could fish for the family. He was the one who’d taught me how to fish and had stumbled onto this honey-hole I’d officially claimed as mine when I was just a pup.
But I was restless. I hadn’t been able to sleep last night, and no books could hold my attention.
I’d read the same paragraph ten times over before ending up at Kera’s office in the middle of the night, trying to anticipate what needs she’d have in the coming days.
Then I’d made some plans for Three Sisters’ Cleaning that I knew Alec would throw away.
My business would go under while I was gone. It already struggled with three sisters down to two. And I thought of every other project I’d started that might go unfinished.
It’s only temporary, my wolf refused to think any other way. We’ll be back.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything I knew was about to change.
“There you are.” Mom’s soft voice stirred the birds above. She wasn’t quiet. I’d heard her a mile away, but I let her believe she’d snuck up on me.
“What are you doing out here?” I focused on the fishing line and the current that pulled it downstream.
“I could ask you the same.” Exhaustion laced Mom’s tone.
I smiled to myself, imagining what they’d been up to after I left the family dinner and how late that must’ve gone. “Did Dad survive his fight with the goddess?”
“He’s licking his wounds now.” Mom choked a bit on those last words. I glanced over my shoulder. Her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she’d been crying all night.
You did this. My wolf growled at me.
I hurried to reel in my line. “Mom, no. Don’t be sad. It’ll be okay.”
“I can’t help it.” She sniffled. “This isn’t the future I wanted for you.”
“It’s not like I’m dying.” I set down my pole and wrapped my arms around her. Despite how short she was, I could still feel her power. Mom was strong for a human. Even stronger as a witch. But it made my wolf whine to hear her break down this way.
“The humans are worse than you think.” Her voice took on a frantic edge. “I don’t want you going there. If I’d have known…”
“You’d have what?” I teased. “Not had kids?”
“Don’t play about that. You and your sisters are the best things I’ve ever created,” she said. “I would’ve moved us further away from the purist city if I thought you’d ever have to go there.”
“Maybe it’s fate.” I shrugged.
“A chosen mate isn’t fate. Don’t you remember anything about our pack’s history? Your uncle died because of a situation like this. What if your fated mate shows up one day?” Mom begged me with her eyes to listen.
Gods, how I wanted that to be true.
Not that I’d ever admit it out loud, but I loved my romance stories. My guilty pleasure was imagining the life I’d probably never have, complete with the passionate meet-cute and ending in the white picket fence with my Happily-Ever-After.
But this was the real world.
As an alpha wolf, things weren’t ever going to be that simple for me anyway.
“This isn’t the same,” I told her. “And it’s not like Trish’s story. We always knew Jaxon was the one for her. Alec and I probably won’t be so lucky.”
I hated breaking her heart like this, but it was best she finally admitted the truth. Sigma wolves like Alec rarely mated, and alpha females like me weren’t the easiest to pair off. We were already nearing our mid-twenties. If fate was sending us mates, it would’ve happened by now.
My only true loves would forever remain in their books.
“You’ll never know that if you throw away your own happiness for this crazy woman!” Mom stomped her foot, refusing to see reason.
I always smiled when she got this way. The last few years and menopause had been a roller-coaster for her. But she’d come out of it like I hoped to one day, with more fire in her blood and passion in her eyes—not afraid to say what she wanted.
“I can’t risk anything happening to you all,” I said. “This is my destiny.”
Mom sniffled again. “Where did I go wrong? Why are my daughters all so self-sacrificing?”
I laughed as I hugged her tighter, trying to keep things light for both our sakes.
The crunch of leaves underfoot drew my attention.
Unlike Mom, Trish could sneak up on me, but she made herself known so as not to startle us. I let Mom go just as Trish and Jaxon walked up to the creek.
“We’re leaving,” Trish said.
“So soon?” Mom cried.
Trish smiled sadly, hating to hear Mom so miserable too.
“This is my fault, but I’m going to try and find a way to fix it.
Alpha Uki and Calla have the temple of witches in Amarok Territory.
They might have older records on how to deal with a situation like this, but we have to go deal with the archives team in person. ”
“It’ll be too late,” I told her. “Morrigan wants to make the marriage happen now.”
“We’ll be fast.” Trish pulled me close. Her voice was in my head, using our familial link now that her pack link had been broken since she’d mated an Alpha from another territory. “Stall as long as you can. I won’t stop until I find a way to fix this.”
I held her close a moment longer, breathing in my sister’s scent. “None of this is your fault. That warlock would’ve completed the ritual had you not killed him, and who knows how many more witches would’ve died in his quest.”
“Maybe, but I still have to try and do something to get you out of this mess.” Trish let me go. “You’d do the same for me.”
“Take care of her,” I told Jaxon.
“Always,” he promised.
Mom was trying real hard not to cry again.
“Alpha.” Trish nodded at Aunt Kera as she stepped out from the woods.
Sighing, I packed up the rest of my fishing gear. So much for trying to clear my head this morning alone.
“I need a minute with her,” Kera said gently.
Mom nodded and kissed me on the cheek before hurrying away. I knelt by the river and grabbed the first fish from the stringer that was still in the cool water, lifting it out to slice the underbelly and clean the guts.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” Kera stood on the bank.
Don’t do it. She never listens.
But she’s asking…
I cleared out the fish guts and moved to the next, being careful to keep my tone relaxed. “I know Alpha Jareth built you the hydropower station, but I really think we should revisit the merger with Jaxon and Cadejo’s biodiesel. Relying on the river—”
“The river will be fine,” Kera said.
“Will it, though?” I snapped, fed up of her dismissal every time I said something that challenged the way she ran the pack. “Nature is unpredictable.”
“Life is unpredictable.” Kera started to growl.
It took an abnormal amount of willpower to return my attention to the fish. Kera was my Alpha. I’d sworn allegiance to her just like every other wolf in Cerberus Pack. But there was a reason most packs didn’t have many alpha-born wolves within them.
“That’s not what I was asking.” Kera sighed as the fight drained from her. She was better at that than I was. Her age gave her an advantage in controlling her beast.
“What were you asking?” I mumbled, feeling like a petulant pup. It was always like this. The back and forth. The tension.
Why did it have to be so hard?
I loved my aunt. Really, I did.
When she didn’t answer, I glanced up and saw her watching me with a sad expression.
“I want to know if you volunteered,” she said.
Oh, that.
Oops.
“To go with the humans?” I scoffed. “No. I’m not insane. But if it were between me and anyone else, I’d always be the one to go.”
Kera sighed as she squatted down beside me and dug her fingers through the rocky shoreline. If I hadn’t been studying her like I always did, I might’ve missed the slight wince as she leaned forward.
She’s hurt, my wolf growled.
I shook my head. “Assuming you tried to take on the goddess, too.”
“She doesn’t even bleed.” Kera chuckled.
Alpha wolves.
We never listen.
“And I think she’s right.” Kera turned the smooth rock between her fingers.
Kera never admitted that about anyone.
I tried not to be jealous. “Why?”
“Least amount of bloodshed,” Kera said. “If what she says is true about the gods loving sacrifices and offerings, and if they’re all as strong as she is, then I think a simple marriage to stop them from coming here is worth trying.”
“You’re not going to lecture me about giving up on fate?” It should’ve hurt that she didn’t care about my future happiness, but she wasn’t Mom. Kera and I had a different relationship. One forged by our personalities and roles. She expected more from me. I didn’t blame her.
“Maybe this is fate.” She held up the stone to the sunlight. “Your gram always said you three girls were destined for great things.”
Didn’t I know it.
I couldn’t help the slight twitch of my eye.
She’d drilled that thought into us all our lives. I still remembered getting busted for breaking the rules as a pup and having to run ten miles carrying a sack of bricks while chanting the phrase:
We are destined for greatness. Not stupidity.
It was Alec’s fault we got in trouble, by the way.
“I’m serious.” Kera must’ve read my thoughts. “I know I push you harder than your sisters, but I want you to be prepared for your role. Whatever one that may be…”
Kera’s voice never trailed off like it did now.
She’s worried.
“Don’t worry.” I smiled at my aunt. “You trained me well. I’m ready for whatever comes.”
Kera’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Did Coral get you into historical romance novels yet? Sometimes those human marriages are little more than political arrangements where the partners are free to sleep with whoever they’d like.”
I threw up a little in my mouth. “Please don’t give me a sex talk. I’m not a pup anymore, and I can handle this.”
She nodded. “I thought I was training you to be my heir, not some plaything for the gods.”
I straightened my back. “My duty has always been to my pack. If this saves them, I accept the role willingly.”
“I figured you’d say that.” Her voice sounded throaty and she coughed to clear it. “That’s a nice stack of fish.”
“Just wanted to make sure the freezer was full before I left.” I finished cleaning the last one. “Dad’s only catching minnows lately.”
Kera coughed again. “Damn, this is hard.”
Is she… sad we’re leaving?
Some cottonwood or dust must be blowing around and gotten into her eyes.
“How do we do this?” I made my voice light. “Do I just go kidnap a human male and make him marry me?”
Even as I said it, I realized that would never work. Most purist humans didn’t belong out here. They liked their creature comforts and the city they built to keep us out.
Such fragile beings. My wolf huffed.
But I wasn’t like some shifters who hated the humans, and for that I was grateful.
There’s no way Alec could do something like this without murdering whatever human she’d marry in his sleep.
“Something like that.” Kera laughed. “Morrigan says that we’ll need a big ceremony where the gods can bear witness, and we’ll have to declare our intentions to live more like we did in the days of old, where humans and shifters shared the land.
I’m not sure she has her history right, but I already tried arguing once and she didn’t listen.
I sent a message to Ethica this morning.
We’ll meet with them soon. In the meantime, I’d see if your Mom and Aunt Coral can give you a crash course on all things human. ”
Of course she would be moving this fast.
Alphas didn’t say “When.” We said “Go.”
“I’ll be ready.” I gathered up the fish.
“You will be,” Kera agreed.
“The pack…” I started.
“They’ll be fine without you.” Kera tensed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“No, I know,” I was quick to say.
She was their Alpha. I was training for a position that might not ever come, depending on how long she lived. We were in a strange situation. Alpha-born wolves didn’t normally happen in packs this small unless there was a need.
At the end of the day, it was a cold reminder that no one here truly needed me.
Kera must’ve sensed where my thoughts were heading. “One day, it will be your time.”
“Until then, I’ll do my best to take care of them,” I said.
Kera nodded.
And that was that. The Alpha made her decision. Things were set in motion. I’d do the bidding of the gods, and hopefully save us all with this sacrifice.
Kera sent the stone skipping downstream, heading toward our packs’ homes and the town I’d lived in my whole life.
The one I hoped I’d be able to come back to someday when this was all said and done.
I didn’t bother praying for that outcome, though. The gods already had enough power over my future.