Page 3 of Finding Forever with the Alpha Pack (Return to Wolf Creek #4)
Chapter 3
Nicolai
Griffin sends the message out, and I respond quickly: I’m available whenever. The replies from everyone else trickle in, almost identical.
“I’ll set a day and time; everyone seems to have an open evening schedule,” Griffin says, striding over to grab the tablet. His movements are calm, but I can already feel the tension building inside me. “Enjoy your session with Grace.” He leaves, and it feels like I’ve been dropped into hell.
“Let’s start with your first official date, shall we?” Mark’s voice cuts through the room, too cheerful for what’s about to unfold. Grace growls immediately, a low, dangerous sound rumbling from her chest.
“No,” she snaps, turning her head toward the door, her whole body radiating defiance.
I can feel the heaviness settle over us like a thick fog. “I’m okay with it starting there, Grace,” I say softly, trying to get into her line of sight, but all I see is the pain and anger flickering in her eyes.
“No...” Her voice is softer this time, almost broken. “I don’t want to think about it.” She lowers her gaze, biting her bottom lip, her posture shifting from fiery resistance to quiet vulnerability.
But we need to go through this. I know it, and so does she. I curl my index finger under her chin, gently lifting her face so her eyes meet mine. “I have zero regrets about what happened, Grace. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.” I search her face, watching as the fire in her eyes slowly dims, replaced by sadness. She drops her gaze once more.
“Okay,” she whispers, her tone so defeated it nearly breaks me. This conversation is going to be brutal, but it’s necessary.
“Ready when you are, Doc,” I say, drawing in a deep breath, already bracing myself for the storm that’s about to hit.
“So, the first date. Were you two alone, or did you have company?” Mark tilts his head, studying us like we’re part of some experiment.
“Ethan and Griffin were there,” I reply, pulling Grace against my side, needing the connection as much as I want to offer her comfort. “Considering everything, I didn’t mind. She was uneasy, and there was also the threat of her crazy ex, so having them around made sense.”
Mark nods, leaning forward a bit. “So, is it safe to say you’ve never had a date off pack lands, just the two of you?”
Grace growls low, and I can feel her tension spike. She hates when anyone pries into her personal life, especially him.
“That’s correct,” I say, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, giving her a gentle squeeze. “With everything that’s happened in the last year, we haven’t had time.”
Mark shifts his focus to Grace. “Have you gone on any dates with your other mates alone?” She turns her head away, refusing to answer, her body going stiff.
“If I had to guess, maybe Ethan. Possibly Griffin.” I say, and at the mention of Ethan, her entire body tenses, like a wire pulled too tight.
Mark sighs, leaning back. “It would make sense. Her sire is the one she’d cling to the most. His wolf created hers, after all. Their bond apparently started when she was five. No wonder his wolf is the most unstable out of the brothers. He’s spent the longest without his mate.”
Before I can react, Grace leaps from the couch, fury propelling her across the room as her claws extend. “Leave Ethan alone!” she roars, lunging at Mark. Her raw, primal anger fills the space like a thunderstorm about to break.
I barely grab her around the waist, catching her just before she clears the desk. She struggles in my arms, her growl vibrating through me, and I know she’s seconds away from shifting.
Griffin comes barreling back into the room, eyes wide as he sees Grace thrashing in my hold. “What the hell happened?” he demands, quickly stepping in and taking her from me, his arms wrapping around her to calm her down.
“Mark mentioned how unstable Ethan’s wolf is,” I explain, my voice tight with frustration. My eyes shift to Mark, who has plastered himself against the far wall, pale and trembling. “She lost her temper.”
“Ethan is off-limits, Doc,” Griffin says firmly as he holds Grace tighter, trying to soothe her trembling frame. “You should know better than to bring him up. Her wolf is fiercely protective of him.”
Griffin turns, carrying her toward the door, and I follow, grabbing our bags from the waiting room on our way out. The session is over, and nothing productive came of it. Not like this. Not when the only thing lingering in the air is the unspoken threat of what could’ve happened if I hadn’t caught her in time.
Silence is never golden…
Griffin drives us home, his eyes focused on the road ahead while the soft hum of the engine fills the car. Grace sits between me and the door in the back seat, her tablet propped up in front of her as she video calls Conrad, Barrett, and Lorcan. The air feels thick with the weight of her recent session, her voice sharp as she recounts the details.
“I swear, I wanted to rip the therapist’s throat out,” Grace says, her eyes narrowing as she recalls the frustration. Even though the screen between us blurs the distance, her energy practically crackles in the confined space.
Barrett’s voice cuts through the phone. “Gracie, you have to understand—it’s a known fact alphas lose their marbles the longer their wolf is denied their mate. Honestly, I’m surprised the big guy’s as level-headed as he is.”
Grace sighs, the sound soft but heavy with pent-up annoyance. “I know, but he doesn’t get to say shit like that about Ethan.”
I watch her pout, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it. The contrast between this moment and how she nearly tore apart the doctor is almost too much. Her fingers drum against her leg in irritation, the same fingers that probably could have snapped bones just minutes ago. There’s something amusing about how quickly she can switch from deadly to vulnerable, though I’m careful not to let my smile break through.
“Hey, guys,” I finally say, my voice raised just enough to catch their attention on the call. The three of them chime in with their greetings, their voices a blend of concern and affection for Grace. I lean forward slightly, catching her eye with a reassuring smile.
“You all got Griffin’s text, so you know what’s coming. Since you three are off in the wild blue yonder, we’ll schedule your one-on-one time first.” The words slip out smoothly, but the tension in the car remains. They’ve been gone too long, and with everything Grace is dealing with, they need this time with her more than we do. My mind drifts for a moment, wondering how we’ll balance the chaos ahead, but I push that thought aside.
I can feel the tension in my chest tighten as Conrad offers, his voice casual but knowing exactly what’s needed in this moment. “I can take Lorcan to a spot where the reception is good tonight, so he can talk to Grace alone.” Conrad offers as he picks up Ashina and Nina and balances them on his legs.
The two little girls wriggling in place as they beam at the tablet in front of them. “Hi mommy, hi daddy,” they chirp in unison, their innocent voices cutting straight through the weight in the air. Grace leans in closer to me, making sure I can see both our daughters’ faces.
“Hi, babies…” Her voice is tight, and I can see the battle she’s fighting just to keep from breaking down. The smile she offers them is fragile, like it’s about to crack. “Daddy Griffin can hear you,” she says, swallowing hard, trying to hold it together for them.
Griffin’s eyes flicker up in the rearview mirror as he drives, his usual calm demeanor slipping ever so slightly. “Are you two being good for your other daddies and grandparents?” His voice is gentle but tinged with the same sorrow we all feel.
“Yes...” The girls glance around, and there’s a quick exchange of looks between them. Ashina, always the eager one, pipes up first. “Deacon’s pup chewed the valve off a tire yesterday. Pop pop had to fix it.”
Nina immediately slaps her sister’s shoulder, her little face scrunched in disapproval. “We don’t tattle on the baby.” She turns her wide, innocent eyes on me, the furrow in her tiny brows making my heart ache. “I miss you, daddy. When can we come home?”
Her question hits me like a punch to the gut, and I struggle to keep my voice steady. “I don’t know, pumpkin.” I glance at Griffin, and he meets my eyes in the mirror, giving me a slight nod. We’re both in the dark, with no straightforward answers to give. “Hopefully, as soon as possible.”
“Okay, daddy, love you all,” Nina says, her small voice so hopeful it makes my chest ache even more. She slips off Conrad’s lap, running off after we tell her we love her back.
“I’m going to go nap with Deacon. I’m on baby duty. Love you, mommy and daddies.” Ashina, always full of energy, gives a quick wave before following her sister.
I pass the tablet back to Grace, watching the way her face softens as she continues her conversation with Conrad. I lean back in my seat, but my phone buzzes in my pocket, pulling me back to the present.
The heavy equipment has finally arrived at the job site, close to the pack lands. I scroll through the messages, my pulse quickening as I check off everything we requested—dynamite, fuses, detonators. Each one is a ticking clock in my mind, every piece vital to the plans we’ve set in motion. Plans that could either save us or tear everything apart.
Logistically, my plan should work. It has to. I’ve got five heavy-duty excavators and enough dynamite to blow half this mountain range to rubble. The only thing left is teaching my bond mates and Ambrose how to operate the machines. Once they’re ready, I’ll send in my explosives experts to wire the tunnels for collapse. The excavators will seal the tunnel mouths before the charges go off, trapping whatever’s inside.
I pull up my notes on my phone, my mind already running calculations. Stick count, tunnel size, collapsible length—I jot down the numbers and start plugging them into equations, my fingers tapping out a steady rhythm. It feels mechanical, almost mind-numbing, but the stakes are too high for me to get this wrong. One miscalculation and the tunnels won’t collapse as intended, or worse, the blast radius won’t be far enough to keep us safe.
Grace leans over my shoulder, peering at the numbers on my paper. “That’s wrong.” Before I can respond, she takes the notepad from my hands and rewrites the formula, effortlessly plugging in the correct numbers. “The answer is twenty-three, set at eighteen inches apart, with additional charges at the apex, in tandem, at the furthest point.”
Her voice is calm, confident. She scans the rest of my notes, her eyes narrowing slightly as she pulls up something on the tablet. Without missing a beat, she scribbles a different formula, her fingers flying across the screen like she’s done this a thousand times. “We’ll need two hundred and fifty yards of fuse cord, minimum. The ignition system should give us a safe distance of at least a hundred and fifty yards.” She hands me back the notepad, a small smile on her lips, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
My brain screeches to a halt. What normally takes me hours to calculate, she figured out in less than twenty minutes. I stare at the notepad in my hand, feeling like my brain just short-circuited. How? How did she do that so fast?
“How did you do that?” I ask, my voice more breathless than I’d like. I glance from the notepad to Grace, who’s now finger-drawing charge placement plans on the tablet like it’s a casual sketch.
“Do what?” She doesn’t even look up, absorbed in the work.
“This—the math? Engineers spend years learning how to master these calculations.” My mind is spinning, the ground shifting under my feet. Grace, my mate, is apparently a secret genius, and I had absolutely no idea. Judging by the way Griffin keeps glancing at us in the rearview mirror, neither did he. The more I think about it, the more unsettling it becomes. What else don’t I know?
“Numbers are easy, constant. People … They’re difficult.” Grace smiles as she turns, showing me the rough sketch she did on the tablet. Holy shit, she did better than some of my highest paid engineers.
“Do you want a job? I’m being serious. You can work from home and whenever you feel like it.” Grace wants to do something meaningful and that gives her a purpose. This could be it.
“I’ll think about it.” She says, smiling. “I’m just glad I could help.”
Help? She literally just solved a problem that would have consumed the rest of the day for me. I would have been trapped double and triple checking my numbers till well into the night.