Page 24

Holding Clara in my arms, rocking her against my chest, I’m almost shattered by the emotions surging through me. Relief, rage, resolution, and regret—I feel all of them in equal measure.

I’m trying my best to comfort her, but I know I’m holding her too tightly. I’m so wound up that snarls keep slipping out between my teeth. When one of my betas kneels beside me, I almost bite his face off.

“Easy, Alpha,” he says gently. “It’s just me.”

“Rick,” I say. “What is it?”

“The area is clear, sir. It was only these two. No evidence of other wolves.”

“Good,” I growl. “Get moving then, and make sure there is a doctor ready when we get back to town.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Rick moves away from me, calling out to the rest of the pack. Clara trembles in my arms, and I feel regret thudding through my chest.

After all she’s been through today, the last thing she needs is more violence. What the hell am I doing?

“Galen,” she murmurs, reaching up to stroke my face.

I pull back a little and hold her up so I can look into her eyes. “Yes, my love? I’m so sorry, I’m holding you too tight, aren’t I?”

“A bit,” she admits. “But it’s okay. I don’t mind all that much.”

Tears well behind my eyes as I gather her against my chest again and squeeze, rocking back and forth. I know for sure now, I’m comforting myself more than I am her.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Not just for smothering you right now, but because this happened. I let this happen.”

“Galen, no—”

“Yes! I let those drifters stay. I’m too lenient. I should have been more like my father and chased them off right away.”

“Galen, my love, if you were more like your father, you wouldn’t love me.”

I pull back again, looking down at her. Through the bruises and smears of dirt, her face is more beautiful than ever, and her liquid gold eyes shine with some deep inner magic.

A heritage of the supernatural might have been denied to her, but Clara has a magic all her own. She’s different. Not a wolf, a witch, or a human, really.

Finally, her words sink in, and I blink hard, shaking my head.

Did she just say ‘my love’?

Don’t question it… Maybe I imagined it.

“I’m so sorry,” I say again, for like the fifth time. “I’ll back off a bit.”

With great difficulty, I loosen my grip and ease Clara onto the ground. I support her back with one hand as she sits up.

“There you go. Don’t try to stand up yet,” I warn.

“Copy that,” she mutters, touching her ribs. “I’m wrecked. They kicked me around a bit before you got here.”

“And my only regret right now is that I personally did not tear their throats out,” I snarl.

“Looks like your pack did a pretty good job there,” Clara remarks, looking over my shoulder at the blood-splattered ground.

“Yeah. It was hard to stay in place and draw their attention. I wanted to rush right in and crush their skulls with my bare hands!”

The rage that floods me then is so powerful, I need to turn away. Red waves pulse behind my eyes, and my fists clench so hard my knuckles crack.

“Galen?” Clara reaches out, stroking my cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“Clara, I…” My voice sticks in my throat, and I have to force the words out. “When I realized you were gone, I lost it. Winnie and Mother were there to take Nico, thankfully, because I was completely out of my head.”

Clara smiles, stroking my cheek again.

“As soon as I saw you, I knew Nico had to be safe. You wouldn’t have left him to come and find me if anything had happened to him.”

“That’s true,” I mutter, trying to keep my voice even. “But if something had happened to Nico as well—I don’t know what I would have done, Clara. I went crazy, blindly attacking my own pack. Mother and Winnie took Nico away, and some of the others had to wrestle me down so I could get control over my wolf again. I would have killed anyone to get to you, Clara.”

When I meet her eyes, she’s staring steadily at me with a small smile on her face. She blinks, and her eyes shimmer with more tears.

I’ve frightened her. Now I’m the big, bad wolf for real.

“Galen—”

“I lost myself to the wolf,” I answer. “To rage and pain. I know I’m not good enough for you—”

“Galen!” she says sharply. “Will you listen to me?”

I stop talking abruptly, feeling like I’ve been digging a big hole, and now I’m in it all the way up to the neck.

I’ve fucked this up, for sure. She will never forgive me.

“Galen, I love you,” she says, wrapping her hands around my neck. “This isn’t the adrenaline talking, or relief at being rescued. I really mean it. I love you, and you can always be honest with me. I love you exactly as you are.”

“Clara,” I murmur, cupping her jaw and feeling painfully overwhelmed. “Exactly as I am? Steel-cold exterior and a goddamn fucking emotional wreck underneath?”

“You aren’t a wreck, my love,” she says. “That’s just the negative self-talk your father put in your head. Any sign of softness, and he berated you, made you hide it. But now you know, love is the strongest force of all.”

I lower my head, struggling with my emotions. I know she’s right, and the words ring through me with the power of truth.

“I love you, Galen. I really, really do, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

I look up at her and I see her beautiful, soft brown eyes, looking at me without fear, with complete faith and trust. The bittersweetness of the moment makes emotion well up in me again, until it feels like my chest is going to burst.

“I love you, too, Clara,” I whisper. “I am yours, now and forever.”

I kiss her gently, careful not to hurt her cut lip and bruised cheek. When I put my arms around her to help her up, she winces, grabbing her side.

“Fucking mongrels!” I swear. “I wish I could kill them twice!”

“I don’t disagree,” Clara says, struggling to breathe. “But for now, can you help me up? I want to get home and see Nico.”

I reach down and wrap my arms around her, lifting her easily and snuggling her against my chest. I make sure I’m holding her knees and shoulders firmly, then set off for home.

“I’m not holding you too tight?” I ask.

“No, my love,” she answers. “It doesn’t hurt.”

I nuzzle her hair, loving the feel of her hands loosely gripping my shoulders and her head bumping gently against my chest. We’ve barely gone a mile when I realize she’s fallen asleep, and after a quick check to make sure she’s still breathing, I pick up the pace a little.

Nico needs his mom. I didn’t register much before I lit out of there, but I know he was crying.

I can only hope that Mother and Winnie were able to give him the support he needed. My failure to care for Nico this morning is just another one to add to my long list.

The sun is setting by the time I reach the front garden. Lights are burning in all the front windows, and the second I take a step into the driveway, I hear running footsteps inside the house.

“Nico!” Winnie shouts from inside. “Hey, stop!”

My son barrels out through the front door, paying his aunt absolutely no heed. He charges right at us, and Clara stirs, flailing to get down.

“Nico!” she screams, holding out her arms.

“Mom!” Nico cries, tears flooding down his face. When he propels himself into her, I wince in sympathy as she groans over her broken ribs, but she doesn’t let him go.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Nico says, pulling back. “Are you hurt?”

“Yeah, kiddo. A few bruises, but I’ll be okay.”

“Dad,” Nico says, looking up at me. He opens his arms, and I reach down and pick him up, hugging him and spinning him around.

“I’m sorry I left you, Nico. I really am.”

“It’s okay, Dad. You had to go get Mom. Aunt Winnie and Grandma took real good care of me.”

“We tried!” Winnie snaps, standing in the middle of the driveway with her hands on her hips. “You don’t make it easy! What the hell were you thinking, to come running out here like that? It could have been dangerous.”

“I could smell Dad and Mom,” Nico protests. “So I knew it was okay.”

“Winnie’s right, Nico,” I say, tapping his chin. “These things can be faked for just this reason—to separate you from the pack. You should always have others with you if you don’t know exactly what you’re walking into.”

“Okay, Dad,” Nico says, nodding. “I’ll remember that.”

“Come on, kiddo, let’s go inside,” Clara says. “I need to lie down for a bit.”

“Winnie, did you get a doctor?” I ask as we head inside.

“We had Doc Hemsley here for a bit, but he got called away. I can get him back, if you like.”

“It’s okay,” Clara says. “I can deal with that tomorrow. For now, I just want to rest and be with my family.”

When we get inside, I’m shocked to see that Mother has spent the afternoon baking. Cinnamon cakes, chocolate muffins, and jam tarts are laid out across the table, as well as sweet herbal tea.

“Come on, Mother,” I say, sitting down on the couch. “Come clean and tell me. You got a special order from the bakery, didn’t you?”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she says, chuckling. “But my nervous energy had to go somewhere. Nico said he was hungry for sweets, and something just came over me.”

“This isn’t all, either,” Nico says with delight, his face covered in chocolate crumbs as he stuffs a muffin into his mouth. “She also made pizza and fried chicken.”

I look up at my mother with wide eyes. “Excuse me, I’d like to know what you’ve done with Macy Ramses? She looks like you, but she hasn’t spent a day in the kitchen since I was six.”

Mother laughs softly. “Let’s just say I’ve found new inspiration. Don’t expect it to last, though. I can’t get this wound up every day—it’s not good for the heart.”

“Yours?” Clara asks, worried.

“Everyone else’s,” Mother says, toasting the comment with a teacup.

After we eat, Mother and Winnie head home, promising to be back the next day. I curl up on the couch with Clara and Nico, listening to their breathing and the soft throb of their hearts. For a while, everything is peaceful, but when Nico turns over, Clara wakes immediately, wincing in pain.

“Are you okay, my love?”

“He got my bad rib. Hold on, just let me wriggle over.”

I get up and pick Nico up very gently, putting him on a nearby sofa with a blanket wrapped around him. Clara opens her arms, encouraging me to snuggle beside her again.

“Thanks. I’m glad you didn’t take him to his room. I don’t want to be too far away from him tonight.”

“I understand. We can stay here as long as you like. Can I get you anything?”

“A nip of that sweet brandy would be nice.”

“You got it.”

I go over to the cabinet and pour us both a drink. When I sit down next to Clara, her eyes are dark and troubled.

“What’s wrong, my love? We got those guys—they aren’t coming back.”

“They might be,” she says softly. “Well, if not them, whoever they were working for.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, panic surging in my guts.

“They were talking about getting paid. That someone had given them money to kill me, and once I was dead, they’d get more money.”

“What the fuck?” I mutter, astonished.

“They were obviously going to double-cross them, too. I think the plan was just to break in and kill me—to make it look like a really unfortunate robbery or something. But at the last minute, they decided to go for Nico as well and try to ransom us back to you.”

“Scum!” I hiss, keeping my voice down so I don’t disturb Nico. “Did they say anything else?”

“They said plenty, but nothing specific. They definitely had a pass from other powerful wolves, and Dan, the one that you met here, was acting weird with me in town. You know, that day you found me running around the side streets.”

“Yes, I do remember,” I answer. “You thought he was chasing you.”

“Yeah, I felt silly when I saw it was you, but Dan was still weird to me. I should have trusted my instincts right then and there.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. Enough people already did that today.”

Clara chuckles as she takes a sip of brandy. “I’m sorry, my love, but there’s no easy way to say this. The day that Dan bailed me up in town, he made me feel like he knew a lot about me. It was really threatening.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all this?”

“By the time I ran into you, I convinced myself it was nothing. But that’s not what I’m getting at, Galen.”

“What then?”

“That’s the same day Kit was in town, wasn’t it?”

I get Clara’s meaning immediately, and I shake my head. “It can’t be.”

“I’m just saying, I heard them talking, and it sounded like they had a pass from a very powerful wolf—one who has lots of money.”

I think about Kit’s massive estate, the generational wealth that practically drips off him everywhere he goes.

All of us are rich, but Kit’s in another category entirely.

“And he was in town when Dan bailed me up,” Clara presses gently. “We can’t ignore that.”

“You’re right. We can’t,” I concede, an idea beginning to form in my head. “But I still don’t think it’s Kit.”

“We have to investigate,” she urges. “We can’t just leave this.”

“I don’t intend to,” I answer, the beginnings of an idea beginning to form in my mind. “I’ve got a plan, Clara, to draw the bad guys out. But I’m going to need your help to do it.”