Page 21 of Curvy Alpha Bride (Wolfshade Brides-for-Hire #4)

For the first few days, our only focus is survival. There is only a little food left over from the gift baskets and in Xavier’s pantry. We ration it out so it will last as long as possible.

“What are we going to do when the food runs out?” I ask Finnah as we sit by the fire, finishing cakes from the last gift basket.

“We’ll be able to go out for short periods of time,” she answers. “Did you see the little covered shed towards the pump house out the back? That’s a garden, and it won’t take much to get it going again. We’ll be able to get wood for the fire, too.”

“It’s still not going to be enough,” I say, looking at the other girls as they chat, knitting or working on needlepoint.

I feel so responsible for them. I couldn’t stand it if someone else got hurt.

“I had a look at Allan’s journals last night,” Finnah replies, looking into the flames. “He ran out of wood because he couldn’t go into the woods to bring back more. He couldn’t go out to hunt, and the garden eventually failed. He could leave the cabin occasionally, but he wasn’t able to go far.”

“That means we can’t, either,” I reply.

Finnah shakes her head. “Back then was different. The witch had more power and could probably attack in the daylight, even though she’d still be weak around noon. That’s why he couldn’t go far from the cabin. Because if he was exposed at the wrong time, she’d be able to get him.”

“And she’s not as strong now?”

“No,” Finnah answers, her eyes flicking over to the other girls. “She hasn’t… had enough sustenance.”

I look down at my hands, swallowing hard. I can tell she doesn’t want to upset the others by mentioning what happened to Dove, and I don’t really want to hear it, either.

“She’ll weaken, then?” I ask. “This time won’t take twenty years?”

“It shouldn’t,” Finnah says. “We just have to take every precaution right now, especially with you.”

Alarm bells ring in my mind, like a series of dots connecting together, and the truth hits me like a sledgehammer.

“She wants the blood of a luna!” I gasp, feeling so stupid that the clues have been stacking up and I missed every single one of them.

Not surprising. It’s not as if this is information I’d want to hear.

Finnah grimaces. “Yes, dear. If she feeds on a luna, she can attain full strength. If she harvests an alpha at the same time, she’s unbeatable. It’s only through my brother’s bravery that we managed to stop her before.”

The fear that rises in me then is a truly terrible feeling, far worse than any I’ve had up to now. It’s not just that the threat is more personal—it’s that I have more than myself to worry about. I almost wrap my arm around my belly in a protective gesture, but stop myself just in time.

I don’t want anyone to know yet. What can any of us do? Nothing. Maybe if I keep denying it, all these symptoms will just go away… but I think that would break my heart even more.

“So, we can’t take any chances,” I say. “Not with any of the others, or with me,” I answer, trying to focus on the conversation.

“It’s okay,” Lyssa says, putting down her knitting to come over to me. “We won’t let her get you.”

“We can’t let her get you, either,” I answer, giving Lyssa a hug. She leans into me, and we sit for a moment with our arms linked around each other.

I had good friends back in Cyan Lock. I’ve known Cass for as long as I can remember, but this is different. It’s like suddenly having a whole bunch of sisters.

“Back to the issue at hand,” I say. “That was the last gift basket. Do you think it will be safe to go outside tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” Finnah answers. “I haven’t felt that aura of dread that usually hangs over the place, and Xavier has been here at noon almost every day. I think if the witch was able to come down, she would have.”

I ignore her comment about Xavier, not wanting to acknowledge that he’s been trying to talk to me, and I’ve refused to answer him.

And now it has very little to do with my reaction to his decision to stay. I understand that completely. But I don’t know how to tell him about this… I’m afraid that the second he looks at me, he’ll know, and instead of feeling joy, all he’ll know is fear.

“She might be saving up all her strength for me,” I consider, and Finnah nods.

“She might be.”

“There’s no way to contact the town, is there? To tell them to bring supplies?”

“No,” Finnah says, shaking her head. “But I think they’ll bring some tomorrow. Serra is good at planning these things. Either way, next time Xavier visits, we can tell him through the door if it doesn’t feel safe to go out.”

Even though Finnah didn’t mean anything by her comment, a sick feeling of guilt rises in my guts, making me feel like I’m about to vomit. Angrily, I shove the feeling away.

I shouldn’t have to feel guilty. He screwed me over not once, but twice! Now I’m trapped here, and I don’t know how to tell him he doomed more than one life by making that decision.

“Are you alright, dear?” Finnah asks. “You’ve gone terribly pale.”

“I’m fine,” I reply. “We still have plenty of tea, don’t we? I’ll make some. It will settle my stomach.”

“I’ll make it,” Lyssa offers, stroking my hair as she gets up. “You stay off your feet.”

Finnah is giving me an intense look, and I turn my eyes back to the fire. Whatever questions she has, I’m not ready to answer them.

***

Over the next few days, the girls venture out of the cabin at noon to bring in more wood, tend the garden, and bring in supplies others have brought from the village.

Even though it seems safe, I don’t dare venture outside, and instead of feeling more confident when the witch doesn’t show, I actually feel worse.

Does my condition make a difference to the witch? I can only assume it makes me more attractive. Even at noon, I wouldn’t dare tempt her.

“How is it in town, Finnah?” I ask as she helps bring in boxes of supplies from Hector’s truck.

“It’s interesting,” she replies. “Apparently, they are being stalked by the witch every night.”

“What do you mean?”

“She rattles the doors and locks, screams and laughs, destroys things in town. She’s tormenting them.”

“But we’ve heard nothing!”

“That’s exactly my point. Have you felt anything in the evenings, especially at midnight?”

“Not even a whisper of a bad dream,” I answer.

“This is disturbing,” Finnah muses. “I thought she was getting weaker, and that’s why she stopped looming over us. But if she’s going all the way into town to taunt them, that can’t be the case.”

“She knows all the young women are here, doesn’t she?” I ask.

“Yes,” Finnah says, nodding. “She will be able to sense them, especially you. I’d even go so far as to say she’s gone quiet up here to trick us into letting our guard down so she can get to you, but she must know we’re communicating with the town. I just don’t know why she’s doing this.”

A faint thrill runs through me as I realize that the witch’s absence in my dreams aligns perfectly with the change in my condition.

Could it be…?

I shut that thought down before I can even begin to entertain it. Speculation can’t help any of us, and we need to minimize risks, not invite them.

“She’s taunting us in her own sick way,” I consider. “I don’t think it has to make sense. We’ll never understand her motive in these games. All we need to know is how to keep everyone safe.”

“Well, we know how to do that. I never forgot, even when I was living in Cyan Lock all those years. But I never had to deal with the isolation, and being in lockdown.”

“I never thought about that,” I say, following her to the kitchen to help her unload the boxes. “I’ve been sitting here wrapped up in my own issues, and I completely forgot you left town before things got really bad.”

“It was a terrible night,” she says softly.

“The night Triss was taken. Xavier was only a couple of days old. None of us really knows what happened—maybe Allan did. The witch’s power increased so sharply that everyone felt it.

As soon as we were able, Serra and I came out here to see what had happened to our brother.

He was distraught, begging us to take Xavier. ”

“It must have been horrible,” I say.

“Worse,” Finnah says, wiping her eyes as the memory brings fresh tears.

“We wanted to argue with him, but we knew he was right, and there wasn’t time.

Even though it was midday, we could feel the witch coming.

Allan gave Xavier to us, then locked down the cabin and forbade us from returning.

He said the witch was counting on being able to lure him out, and that would never happen.

He told us to stock the bunkers and stay underground for at least a week, and after that, take it day by day.

He made it clear no one should go near the woods. ”

“And you took Xavier out of here that same day?”

“I did,” she answers, closing the cupboard doors and putting the box aside.

“We had a small collection of magical trinkets—there had been other witches among our first settlers, not evil ones like Ivarra. I was terrified when I left the town lines to head for the Pass, but the spell did its work. We were invisible.”

“And the town was left in lockdown,” I say, returning to the fire. “How awful.”

“No worse than now, I’d say,” Finnah replies.

I stoke up the fire while Finnah calls to the others, telling them to come inside. Hector has packed up his truck and left already, and we all scramble to get our jobs done before the sun moves past its zenith.

Watching the flames brings on a slight trance, and I sink into it, letting my mind wander into a place somewhere between dreams and reality.

Since I came here, my instincts are keener. If I focus on them, maybe I’ll get stronger, and I can use these dreams, visions, and spooky feelings to guard against the witch.

The place in my mind where I lock up the most frightening thoughts is now overflowing with the experiences I’ve had with the witch, and the stories I’ve been told. I focus on the feelings, tuning my senses into them instead of pushing them away.

I hear an icy cackle of laughter, and a sound like nails scraping on cold stone. Between the specter of the witch and us, I see a barrier of golden light.

She really is trapped beyond the valley at noon. The light would weaken her too much, and she’d lose her chance. It shouldn’t take much longer to starve her enough that we can move around again.

Letting my thoughts linger on the faint connection, I try to explore it a little. I wouldn’t dare to do this at night, but at midday, with the bright sun suppressing the witch, I feel safe enough to open myself up to the strange, mystical powers that have manifested in me since I became luna.

Keeping my eyes closed, I try to picture the witch and get an understanding of how strong she is.

If she can reach me and Xavier in dreams, can I reach her? Does it work both ways? Can I find out why she has withdrawn from the cabin?

Even though I can picture the witch and sense her presence, a barrier still exists between us. The longer I linger on it, the more I feel that Ivarra has lost her psychic link with me.

And there has only been one real change, one possible cause.

I leave the fire and go to the front window, looking down the dirt track that leads to town.

I’m truly and utterly trapped here now, and it doesn’t even bother me.

Before, I was seeing everything from a purely selfish standpoint, but now I know being a luna means putting your pack before your own wants and desires.

I’ve fallen in love with this valley, and these people. I understand Xavier’s decision now. I really do, and I wish I could tell him.

Xavier has not come with the others over the last two days. Even though I’ve been ignoring him, when he didn’t show, I felt a stab of disappointment. And painfully guilty.

What if something happens, and I never get to tell him how I feel? I have so many things I need to say, and there could be a catastrophe any day now. I feel like such a fool.

I realize I’ll have to get up the courage to give one of the others a message for Xavier, asking him to come out if he doesn’t visit.

I put my fingers lightly on the glass, my heart aching fiercely as I remember the time we spent together, right here in this cabin. Back then, I thought it was torture. Now, I’d do anything to have it back.

I need you, Xavier. I need you like I’ve never needed you before.

I’m still afraid to see him. I have no idea how I’m going to tell him all the things I need to say. But I understand that he didn’t mean to betray me.

I just have to try. Please, give me that chance!

Sighing, I look down and stroke my belly. On top of everything else that’s changed, there has been a major change in me. Even though the circumstances aren’t perfect, I can’t hold back my joy. All I want to do is share it with the man I can’t stop myself from loving.

In my mind, I summon the moment again, trying to imagine it in detail—what I’ll say if the universe lets me see him again.

Xavier, my love. I’m pregnant.