Page 3

Four Years Later

Knock, knock, knock.

I had to leave for my shift at the elders’ cottages in five minutes, and Caleb knew that, so why my brother was currently knocking on my front door was a fun little mystery for the ten seconds it took me to open it.

When I did, he was standing twenty feet back, off my porch, and halfway down the path.

“Why are you so far away?” I yelled, and he visibly winced. On a second look, even I could see that his clothes were rumpled, his usually neat black hair in disarray, morning stubble decorating his chin. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.

“Emmy and Jack have the stomach flu,” Caleb said, his voice hollow and haunted in the manner of war veterans. Twin three-year-olds could do that to the strongest of men.

“Yikes. How’s that going?” I asked, although I feared I did not want to know.

“Well, Jack refuses to leave Alyssa’s side,” Caleb told me, “which makes him a little easier to manage, but Emmy decides she’s all better after every episode, so I’ve cleaned up throw-up off the floor in four different rooms.”

That made sense. Emmy was an absolute ball-buster on her best days, and I couldn’t imagine that changing a huge amount when she was at her worst.

“Disgusting. I’m so looking forward to motherhood.”

“You’ll have to find a guy who can put up with you first,” Caleb teased, the hint of a smile beginning to play at the corner of his mouth.

“Jackass,” I shot back instinctively. “What are you doing here, anyway? You shouldn’t leave Alyssa alone with them.” Caleb’s mate was the strongest woman I knew, but this would test even her resolve.

“I know,” Caleb said, glancing over his shoulder in the direction of the Alpha’s residence. No doubt he could feel her anxiety through their bond. “But it’s the Solstice tonight, and I need a favor.”

“I am not looking after your vomit-covered children while you and Alyssa go and party it up on Ferris,” I said immediately, and Caleb shook his head.

“It’s not that. It’s, uh, the opposite, actually. I was hoping you could go to Ferris in our place.”

“Actually, I’ll take the vomit-covered children,” I said quickly. “No problem.”

“Please, Julia. It’s just one night; you’ll barely even have to see him.”

We both knew that was a lie, but I appreciated him trying. The whole point of the event was to encourage friendship between the Packs. I couldn’t ignore the host all evening, and worse, Ethan couldn’t ignore me.

“Why do you need a stand-in at all?” I argued.

“It’s not like he’s some prickly Alpha who’ll take it as a slight if you don’t show.

He’s your best friend; he’ll understand if you have to stay home and look after the kids.

” Ethan was an asshole, but he wasn’t that kind of asshole.

Even I had to admit he’d always been a good friend to Caleb.

“But the other Alphas won’t,” Caleb replied. “No matter what Ethan tells them, it’ll start some rumor that we’re on the outs, and then they’ll be trying to pick up new alliances like vultures on a corpse and get pissed when they’re rejected.”

I hated that he was right. Caleb and his friends were the Alphas and Heirs to some of the most powerful Packs in the archipelago, and the lesser islands were keen-eyed in their search for any cracks in that alliance.

Someone from the Lapine Alpha family needed to make an appearance on Ferris this evening, and that person was going to be me.

“Fine,” I agreed, and Caleb sighed with relief.

“Thank you,” he said. “Ethan will meet you at the Ferris Bridge at seven.”

“You think I can’t walk by myself?”

“There have been rumors about Arbor snatching up females to sell to humans,” Caleb insisted.

“All we know about Lowell Axton is his name—he’s not exactly encouraging trust.” He wasn’t wrong; I’d heard the whispers as well; I simply didn’t put much stock in them.

Sure, Arbor was in disarray after having most of their high-ranking males taken out in the battle with Lapine the previous winter, and their new Alpha was being suspiciously cagey, but they surely weren’t going to risk more inter-Pack conflict by snatching up females from other Packs.

“Yeah,” I replied, “rumors. Just fear-mongering and scary stories around the bonfire.”

“Julia. This is not a negotiation.” Caleb had never and would never use his Alpha authority on me, never bend my will to his, but he would use his Big Brother voice. Reminding myself that he was only doing this because he cared, I held up my hands in surrender.

“You owe me big time,” I told him.

“I owe you big time for making you go to a nice party,” Caleb agreed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to my beautiful, vomit-covered family.”

I blew him a kiss, waving as he turned toward home.

“Give them my love,” I called after him, “and tell them not to come near me for at least five days!”

I was, predictably, late for work. Luckily, my first appointment was with Agnes Cunningham, who was easily distracted from her complaints about my tardiness with news of the twins’ illness.

She loved to give advice, particularly where children were concerned, and I made a show of writing down all the different remedies she suggested, promising to pass them on to Caleb and Alyssa.

While other females were designated to meal prep or cleaning for the elders, my responsibility was companionship.

Sure, if there was laundry that needed folding or dishes that needed doing, I’d do them happily, as long as I could chat while I did it.

As challenging as some of them could be, particularly the older males who had staunch opinions about a female’s place, I genuinely enjoyed my job.

Like me, the elders had more to offer than a lot of people thought.

Packs like Ensign might consider it a sign of weakness to even reach old age—death in battle was, according to them, the only honorable death—but they missed out on the wisdom the elders had to offer.

Sure, it wasn’t all wisdom. A lot of it was, in fact, bullshit, but I found that the more you took them seriously, the less bullshit there was.

The morning passed horrendously fast, and after sitting down for lunch with Gerald while he told me all about his granddaughter’s first shift, it was time to go home and get ready for the evening’s party.

I dragged my heels on the way home, regretting my earlier benevolence with every passing minute, arriving at the cottage with only a few minutes left before I had to leave.

I hadn’t been joking when I told Caleb I’d rather spend my evening with a pair of sick toddlers than attempt to be polite to Ethan.

Maybe it was petty of me to still be mad about something that happened four years ago, but Ethan hadn’t changed during that time either.

As I shoved my pajamas and a clean set of underwear into my duffel bag, I tried not to think about that condescending tone he would undoubtedly bring out just for me tonight.

Ethan still dismissed and patronized me and generally acted like my existence was a burden.

In the years since my father’s death, I’d managed to carve out a respectable life for myself; I had my own cottage, a job, and the grudging respect of at least a quarter of the Pack.

I wasn’t a burden to anyone, and yet he still made me feel that way every single time.

I took a little more care with my party dress, rolling it up so it wouldn’t crease as I slipped it into the bag beside the other stuff.

The methodical action calmed me a little, pulling me out of my angry spiral.

I wouldn’t have to see Ethan for at least another couple of hours—the run to the Ferris Bridge was pretty long, even for a wolf.

With my bag packed, there were no more excuses to dawdle, and I stripped before slipping out of the house and giving myself over to my wolf.

Shifting was a relief. My wolf had no space in her mind to worry about others’ opinions; there were too many smells, too many sounds, and too much energy coiled in her body for that.

Picking up the handles of my bag with my jaws, I set off running.

The stretch and pull of my muscles was exhilarating, and I gave in to the joy of the exercise, my mind blank as the landscape flew past me, the soft grass tickling my paws.

As I approached the bridge, I could make out the familiar shape of Ferris’s black truck.

Ethan was leaning against the driver’s door, arms crossed, glaring at me.

Stupidly, I had hoped that Ethan would simply forget to come get me or be delayed enough that I had an excuse to start making my own way.

I should have known better: Ethan was nothing if not punctual and reliable.

The bastard. Still in wolf form, I dropped my bag and sat down, tilting my head at him.

“Get in the car,” he said. “The other Alphas are gonna start arriving in half an hour.”

Of course, I was inconveniencing him. Irritated, I shifted to give him a piece of my mind, but the moment I became human again, he turned his face away, cleared his throat, yanked the driver’s door open, and all but fled into the car.

Right. I was naked. Crouching down to unzip my bag, I pulled out my party dress, thankfully not too ruffled from its rough transportation.

Pulling it over my head, I briefly questioned the wisdom of my choice.

It was pretty, certainly, and summery enough for a Solstice celebration, but as with all my clothing, it was short on me.

Reminding myself that I was supposed to be having fun and letting loose tonight, I zipped up my bag and threw it into the bed of the truck.

“You know you didn’t have to pick me up,” I said as I opened the passenger door, hopping up to reach the seat. Inside the cab, Ethan’s steel and leather scent was overpowering; it irritated my nose and made my skin hot. I rolled down the window.

“Hello to you, too,” said Ethan as he started up the truck, the pair of us bouncing in our seats as we moved from the gravel path and onto the bridge.

“Hello,” I said, already annoyed. “You know you didn’t have to pick me up.”

“You’re not as familiar with the Ferris paths. You could have gotten lost or hurt yourself.” From anyone else, this might have been a touching expression of concern, but from Ethan, it was a condemnation.

“I can run a few miles on my own,” I reminded him. “I’m not a child.”

“I never said you were,” he said, checking his mirrors. The casualness of the motion pissed me off in a way I could articulate even if I tried.

“You don’t need to say it,” I muttered, hoping that would be the end of it, but apparently, Ethan had more to say.

“Maybe I do. You’re acting like a child right now.

” Ah. So he was going for the cool and collected approach today, saying things he knew would make me mad in that even tone, and then acting shocked when I started a fight.

I should have ignored him, but inevitably, he made me so angry that I became stupid.

“Right. Sorry,” I snapped back. “I forgot you’d never done anything wrong in your life.”

Crossing my arms, I resolved to say nothing more, but Ethan wasn’t going to have that.

“No, please, carry on,” he said. “Get it all out of your system.”

“Get what out of my system?”

“You’re clearly in one of your moods, and I’m gonna need you to get over it by the time we reach town,” he said, still using that awful, calm tone. “If you want to yell at me this whole ride, that’s fine, as long as you shut up when we arrive and don’t make a scene.”

“I’m sorry, make a scene?” I hissed, but he continued as if I hadn’t spoken.

“Tonight is supposed to be about promoting positive relations. It doesn’t look good if you’re needlessly combative.”

“I am not needlessly combative,” I insisted, but Ethan only paused for a pointed moment before he replied,

“You’re arguing with me right now.”

“Because you’re insufferable! Have you ever noticed that I’m not like this with other people?”

That seemed to strike a nerve because his voice was quiet when he replied,

“I’m not blind.”

“Good for you,” I shot back, pleased to see him flinch as he realized his error. “Did you ever consider that maybe the problem is you?”

Ethan’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and I flushed with victory.

“I just came to pick you up instead of making you run through unfamiliar territory alone, and you ripped my throat out about it, but I’m the problem?” he said through gritted teeth, and I grinned.

“Yes.”

“Sure,” was the only reply I got. “Whatever.”

It was going to be a long drive.