Chapter 25 - Tessa
The woods smell different after the storm.
The soil is still darker, and the fallen branches have that deep, rich smell, pale and raw where they snapped.
I walk the trail without a particular destination, which is something I’m allowing myself to do again. The aimless walks through the woods because I can, rather than needing an escape from everything.
In ways, I still need to clear my head, but it’s lighter than it used to be.
It has been two days since the storm, and the conversation in our room that I’ve been turning over in my head carefully.
When I get distracted by the way he held me close and completed the purest form of the bond he possibly could, I have to force my mind back on course again. Back to the fact that he knew.
Ever since we were young, he knew, and he left instead of dealing with it.
The leaving and not doing anything about it part shaped a significant piece of my life that I lived inside for years without knowing how to properly handle it, or how to navigate my own inkling.
I felt that information settle in my chest like something falling into the place it was always supposed to be, and while it doesn’t fit easily and I can’t immediately forgive him, I don’t feel like I need to be furious with him either.
I can see the work that’s still ahead of us, which I’m not naive about, but I can see it differently now. Rather than something that was done to me, it’s an unfamiliar thing we both need to navigate, and have been before we even knew it.
The newness about our situation still feels tender and fragile, like we both need to handle it with gentle hands. As far as I can tell, Hunter is doing exactly that.
What isn’t new is the pack.
I felt it yesterday when I walked through town to see some of the damage myself, and to check in on Brooke and her family.
In some ways, I think that night helped.
When I saw other wolves, they didn’t look at me with the same disdain I navigated my whole life.
Instead, most seemed curious, as if they wanted to know more about what happened, or even more about me as a person, rather than as a concept or as the being who now stands next to their alpha.
They weren’t prepared to shower me in love and affection, but curiosity is easier to handle than open disgust. At the very least, it has brought me a flicker of hope that’s entirely new to me.
A few others still look at me the same way Hunter’s mother does, like she still hasn’t decided what I’m worth yet, regardless of what I mean to her son.
Many people knew Daniel Reed well. They loved him, and some of them will most likely look at me for the rest of my life like a byproduct of two despicable individuals.
I don’t know if that will ever be resolved, and as much as it bothers me not to know, I can’t spend the rest of my life worrying about it.
I’m Hunter’s mate, whether they like it or not, and with this faded mark on my neck, everyone will know just how far that attachment goes.
Luna.
Hearing that title in reference to me still hits me with a strange feeling I haven’t learned to contend with.
It implies that I belong here, and it’s something I’ve earned, not that I was born into it.
For the most part, it still feels and sounds foreign, but given how intense Hunter has been about our connection, I don’t feel the need to doubt it.
Instead, I have to learn how to embrace it, and not feel unsettled when someone calls me it.
Taking a deep breath, I follow the trail west and watch as the trees gently sway, allowing me to let go of everything else that I don’t need.
The trail opens up along the cliffside, as the tree line splits open to reveal the drop and the view. Right beneath me is a dense canopy of trees, and just beyond is the coastline. From here, the wind picks up a bit, forcing my hair back while it washes over me.
Standing at the edge, I breathe and look out over the woods Hunter calls his, and in a complicated way, are also mine. That thought stirs something in me, and now more than ever, I feel the responsibility of my role settling in.
Then I feel it before I hear it.
The air changes just enough for me to notice, the birds go quiet, and a wave of silence moves through the forest as if something is wrong.
My body registers it with an immediate, cold alertness, and every sense sharpens at once. The hair along my arms stands up before my conscious mind has fully processed what it’s responding to.
Then they come out through the trees, eyes focused completely on me.
Three wolves step out, fanned just enough to make me feel surrounded. They position themselves deliberately, as if they’ve done this before, covering the trail back down and closing the space between the rest of the pack and me.
Instinctively, I want to take a step back to put as much distance between us, but if I did, I would fall right over the cliff.
So I stand where I am, frozen while I glance between them and take in their scents.
Wraith Peak.
Hayes steps through last, hands in his pockets, while he looks me over.
I would say he feels like he did that night he tried to drag me back to his territory, but that wouldn’t be the full truth.
Instead, his presence feels even more oppressive, like it’s pressing down on me and I don’t have anywhere to go.
His eyes seem even darker than before, and his expression is set more seriously than it once was.
Everything about him feels cold, and I already know he’s still clinging to what happened that night.
Hayes looks at me with mild interest, like he found exactly what he was hoping for. He hums before his voice reaches me.
“Tessa Collins…” he says, and makes my name sound like mockery. His lips pull in dark amusement. “Wait, it’s Tessa Reed now. That’s right… the big bad alpha scooped you up and brought you into his bed. Let me guess, he already knocked you up, didn’t he?”
The other wolves chuckle to themselves, but I don’t say anything.
Every instinct I have tells me to make myself small and to find the submissive angle that will make the situation easier by making myself less. I have how many years of practice doing this, and I feel it tugging at me like an old habit.
But underneath that urge is something new and considerably less quiet. The part of me I’ve been learning to embrace more lately.
I think of the rain and the children running through it. Of the decision I made before I could truly understand what I was doing, and the moment I went through the door before the fear could talk me out of it.
With a harder expression, I stand a little straighter.
“You need to leave. You’re in Reed territory.”
Hayes smiles knowingly, and slightly to his left, one of his wolves leans against a tree with his arms crossed, in a comfortable posture that screams he expects to be entertained.
He’s tall and intimidating too, but with more scars and a cold gleam in his eyes. His somewhat longer hair makes him look older and more intense, but I have the feeling he’s closer to Hayes’ age.
“Cliff,” Hayes says, not looking away from me, but addressing the other coolly. “Did you see any signs on the way over here that mentioned something about ‘Reed territory’?”
Cliff, apparently, huffs a breath and tilts his head. “Nah… none that I saw.”
“Oh, good. Then we’re safe.”
Cliff and the others chuckle among themselves while Hayes’ grin spreads just enough to get under my skin.
Still, I bristle.
“Leave,” I say again, steadier than the first time.
Hayes tilts his head at that, and his smug look doesn’t waver. “You’re giving orders now, I see. That’s new. Didn’t you use to be invisible or something?”
When I clench my jaw and don’t respond, he only looks more satisfied.
“Ah, yes, you’re the one the pack didn’t want. You were the perfect target with the dead traitor parents.” He pauses, watching for the flinch or any other reaction. He gestures vaguely in my direction. “Look at you now… bearing a mate mark, and one from an alpha, no less. Impressive.”
“Be careful,” I warn him, feeling as frustration swells in me to the point where I can’t hide it. I feel as if it tangles with the underlying fear.
“Why, because your mate will come?”
I don’t say anything.
His smile broadens into something that lacks all warmth.
“That’s exactly what I want, Tessa. Go ahead, tell him I’m here.
Tell him I have his mate cornered by the cliffside, and if he wants her, he’ll have to come himself.
If he and his buddies want to be the authority on how to be an alpha around here, then he better show up. ”
As he says it, I sense more wolves gathering behind them, and soon enough, their faces peek through the trees in their shifted forms.
The sight of them all sends an anxious shiver down my spine, and it takes immense strength to keep it in.
Cliff pushes off the tree, still unhurried while he idles there, waiting for whatever cue Hayes might give.
There are too many of them. Far too many for just myself and Hunter.
But I know Hunter will have already felt the spike of adrenaline through the bond. Any slight disturbance will alert him, and he’ll be on me in minutes.
He’ll come just like Hayes wants him to, and the Wraith Peak wolves will already be here. With these numbers, they aren’t just here to watch. This is an ambush.
Standing at the edge of the cliff, my heart pounds while I try to keep myself together. I have to be strong now, given what I am, but it feels more like I’m a kid again, thrust back into the night that changed my life forever. The night that made me a bad omen.
Hayes wants Hunter, and he’s using me to get him.
He’s going to walk right into it.