Page 3

Medieval Ireland

–Callum–

BITING BACK A sigh, I stood on my castle battlements and stared out over the lush forests of my homeland, hoping when I should not, that I would sense Storm—not in a dream or a passing thought or sensation, but here in my era, at last close to me.

There could be no doubt she would come, but I knew deep down she would not come to me any more than I would go to her. Like me, she was devoted to her kin and what was best for them. She would put her cousins first and, by affiliation, their new pack and its pups.

My pups.

At least, that’s how I saw them, even though they were not of my blood. They were of Ceara’s and Storm’s, so they were mine, as both women were, even though I could never be with one of them. Not how I wanted, anyway. Not as my fated mate, mine for eternity, forever by my side.

Instead, I owed my loyalty to my former mate, Ceara, and the pups born of my enemy. She would never have left our pack and taken up with Tadc, who abused and bred with her, had I married her and made her my queen. Made her feel loved despite having half a front paw, making it impossible for her to hunt for the pack anymore. I thought I had made her feel wanted, but clearly not enough, and it haunted me to this day even though she said it should not.

“And it should not,”

Ceara reiterated into my mind, following my thoughts as her too-thin white wolf joined me. “Naya was right when she said you and your brothers should not carry guilt over me leaving and ending up with Tadc. I walked out on my own four paws.”

Her eyes met mine. “I have told you before, and I will tell you again, Callum, I release you from any and all obligation. I am not your responsibility anymore, nor are the pups.”

“Yet all of you are my responsibility,”

I said softly, resting my hand on her shoulder, wishing she would shift back to her human half because she hadn’t since reuniting with the pups weeks ago, and I sensed she might not. The abuse she had suffered at the hands of Tadc and his pack had driven her permanently into the safety of her wolf.

“No, we are not your responsibility,”

she reiterated softly but firmly. Her sadness and determination for me to truly hear her were not lost on me. “You loved me but never fell in love with me, and I understand why now. Understand there was always someone else, whether or not you could have her. She would forever be there in your wolf’s mind, calling to your inner beast, and I do not fault you for that, my friend.”

She went on before I could counter with false words.

“And so, I thank you once again for not marrying me,”

Ceara said, never so serious as her steady gaze stayed with mine. “For giving me a chance to find love of my own. Real love. True love and perhaps a fated mate. The pups will always be yours because I know how deeply you love them, but they are only your obligation as you are their alpha and nothing more, for they are the children of all the Wolves of Ossary. They belong to us all.”

We’d had this conversation numerous times since she returned, but something about this time felt different—more final in a way I could not explain as our gazes held. I could have continued arguing or even forced her to be my queen until she saw reason, but we both knew I wouldn't do that. I respected and loved her too much. The very reasons I had not married her in the first place.

As if proud we communicated so well, one of our pups, a mahogany-colored female, joined us, sitting between us quite regally as she gazed out at the countryside through the arrow-slit openings in the wall. Undoubtedly, she would be an alpha in her own right someday.

The pups were growing increasingly comfortable being away from Ceara’s side, but never for too long. At least, not yet.

Next came one of our males, an ebony-colored pup, equally strong but overly distracted by females. He plunked down beside his sister and nudged her a little, making it clear she merely kept the spot warm for him.

Not surprisingly, their grey-colored, rather timid, and reclusive brother came last. I smiled when he rested beside one of my boots, letting me know, as he had a time or two now, that other than his mother and siblings, I was the only one he trusted. Though he ultimately needed to open up to his entire pack, especially his arch alpha, my brother, Tréan, me being one of Tréan’s top alphas or lesser kings, was a good start.

“You will need to name them soon, Ceara.”

I crouched and scratched behind the shy pup’s ear, something he liked because he leaned into it. “’Twill help them as they acclimate to their pack.”

I tried hard to ignore Storm’s faint, sweet scent on them because it was still there from the pups’ brief time in the twenty-first century. Though I loved all three pups from the moment they arrived back in my era with Tréan and Kaia after being hidden in the future, it had been torture catching her unique, earthy scent on them. An aroma that had lingered ever since, driving my inner beast to such distraction, I would have gone to her and claimed her had my willpower and resolve to remain and protect Ceara and the pups not been so strong.

“I thought I would wait to name them until they shifted to their human form so we could better understand their natures,”

Ceara replied. “Or mayhap wait until they are old enough to choose their own names.”

“No,”

I said softly, gazing into the worried eyes of the shy one who seemed to be trying to tell me something. “When they are born wolf instead of human, you should name them for their wolf for ‘twill be many moons before they’re ready to embrace their other half.”

I was about to go on but froze when our shy pup showed his first sign of aggression and looked in a southerly direction, emitting a low growl. He didn’t rush to the arrow slit in confrontation like his brother and sister, but his ears perked forward, and his hackles rose.

“Enemies approach,”

Tréan warned into my mind. “Rally your warriors and prepare for battle. I want you and Mave on the ground this time.”

While tempted to tell him that was unwise as this was my castle and I could best oversee a siege on my own territory, I knew better than to counter him.

Mostly.

“Although I worked well enough with Mave before, ‘twas not without strife, and you know it,”

I reminded him. I put my warriors on alert with a mere wolven thought, urged Ceara to get the pups to a safe location within the castle, and headed down to the great hall where Tréan gathered with our immediate kin. “So, is that so wise?”

The last thing I wanted to do was work alongside my sister again. We had managed tersely and with a fair bit of strategic argument, but only because Tréan had threatened to exile us from the Wolves of Ossary if we didn’t.

And that was no small thing.

Ending our lives would be more welcome than being exiled. It was the worst kind of death for a wolf. We needed our pack, each other, or we would wither away. Most lost themselves to their loneliness and became far too susceptible to the sort of evil that had overtaken Tadc. He might have had a darker nature, to begin with, but still. Dark or not, any exiled wolf could too easily become like him, turning people into beasts without their permission, enslaving them into whatever role they saw fit.

“You and Mave working together and finally finding peace is wise,”

Tréan replied, a warning in his internal tone. “And necessary sooner rather than later.”

I had tried to forgive my sister since Ceara and the pups were safely returned to our pack, but every time I looked at Ceara's awful condition and knew what she had suffered at the hands of Tadc, it was impossible. Ceara might not realize it, but the more she integrated back into our pack, the more her memories of her time with the enemy became ours.

And they were every bit as horrific as one would imagine.

Tadc was evil to the core and had made her suffer in ways that prevented me from forgiving Mave. We might have been close once, but not anymore. Not when she had promised to look after her closest friend, Ceara, in my absence because we all knew Ceara wasn’t herself after becoming crippled. Yet my sister was nowhere to be found when Ceara defected and had yet to explain where she’d been. What was worth breaking her vow to me and letting my former mate go? What was worth all the suffering Ceara had experienced at Tadc’s hands?

Of course, I saw the lack of reason in my thoughts because there was no way to know Ceara would end up with him, yet still, there was logic to it, too. After all, the odds were high that Tadc would have taken Ceara the moment he knew she was no longer with us. If for no other reason than she’d been my mate, and it was a way to hurt not just me but our pack because every one of us had suffered her loss.

As expected, I found Tréan and his fated mate, Kaia, awaiting me in my great hall, along with Bain and his fated mate, Naya, and, unfortunately, Mave. Whenever I was near Storm’s cousins, I caught her scent again. Though I liked them both a great deal, even loved them as we all grew closer, every moment in their presence was excruciating because they were a stark reminder of all I could not have.

Both were beautiful. Kaia, with her darker skin, striking blue eyes, and long black hair, and Naya, with sun-kissed mahogany hair and pale brown eyes, made me wonder what Storm looked like. Much like it had been for Bain with Naya, I had only ever caught snippets of her lost to dreams, but it was enough to know she had to be stunning. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if she were the opposite because what I felt inside her, despite the centuries between us, was beautiful. There was a deep kindness in her that appealed to my inner beast. A love for nature that I understood.

“There’s a sizeable pack of Tadc’s wolves moving toward the castle without him,”

Tréan informed us from where he stood before one of several fires with his arms crossed over his chest. A defensive posture that told me he braced for a war of words with me. “I want you and Mave to intercept and take them down, Callum, but not before you find out what Tadc’s up to because something about this feels off.”

“Have our scouts reported anything unusual?”

I wondered, scowling because working alongside Mave on this mission left no room for argument, whereas planning for a castle siege had left a little leeway. If we disagreed or argued this time, it could swiftly cost the warriors under us their lives.

“They haven’t reported anything unusual, but the warriors heading our way are some of Tadc’s top-ranking wolves, which tells me he’s on the move and not necessarily in our direction.”

“You think this is meant as a distraction,”

I assumed, keeping my expression neutral, as if I were unaffected, even as a wave of terror spiked through me. This distraction likely had everything to do with Storm, and the idea of her in Tadc's clutches was unthinkable. I was unsure if I could let it happen despite wanting to stay close to Ceara and the pups. I thought I would be able to if it meant keeping the pups safe, but based on how my inner wolf railed at the possibility of leaving Storm so vulnerable, now I wasn’t so sure.

“I do think this is a distraction,”

Tréan confirmed gravely, looking from Mave to me. “That’s why ‘tis imperative you intercept Tadc's men and find out what’s happening.”

“Even as you suspect you already have the answer.”

My voice was threateningly low despite how hard I tried to speak normally. Something that proved impossible with my inner beast more at the helm by the moment. “Even as you know we should be heading to the future to protect Storm because this is clearly a distraction to keep us from her.”

Tréan’s golden wolf eyes flared, and his voice grew just as threateningly low. “Be careful how you speak to your alpha, Callum.”

I should fall to a knee and lower my head in acknowledgment of my trespass because it was one, and everyone knew it based on the frustrated, angry thoughts they caught churning in my mind, yet I couldn’t bring myself to do it because I was right. Storm was in danger, and my alpha wouldn’t let me go to her straight away. He would not allow me to protect her and keep her safe.

“And here I thought you were unwilling to leave Ceara and the pups’ side,”

Tréan said softly, a dangerous edge to his voice still. “Here I thought you intended to shun your fated mate.”

“I do,”

I said, frustrated by the lack of conviction in my voice. “And I will.”

Shaking my head, I frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I think ‘tis right to leave her undefended when we are almost certain of Tadc’s plan.”

“Adlin will protect her,”

Tréan reminded. “Of that, I have no doubt.”

His brow lowered in warning. “Until then, you and Mave will do as I’ve asked whilst the rest of us protect the pups.”

He glanced from Naya to me, referring to her pregnancy. Pups that would prove as important to our pack’s future as Ceara’s. “Both born and unborn.”

I trusted Adlin to protect Storm, so why worry now? What had changed? Adlin was incredibly powerful yet still. What if Tadc and his wolves took Adlin unaware? What if he got by the wizard somehow? Given that Storm hadn’t turned wolf during her True Moon Shift, she would be especially vulnerable if Tadc got her back to this era before the full moon tomorrow night. If she shifted this time alongside our enemy.

“You must heed your alpha, brother,”

Kaia said softly but firmly, her authority over me as complete as Tréan's now they were mated. “I agree with him. If I didn’t, don’t think for a minute, I wouldn’t send as many wolves as possible Storm’s way, including you. Especially you.”

When I locked eyes with her at the knowing tone in her voice, I felt laid bare in a way I hadn’t been up until now. As if Storm somehow looked back at me through Kaia’s eyes and saw me. Understood me in ways only she could.

More than that, she warned me away.

“Why would you do that?”

I whispered before I could stop myself, even though I already knew. She was protecting the pups every bit as much as I was and wanted me to stay with them and Ceara. All that wasn’t alarming, though. I already knew that.

What was alarming? She intended to go to Tadc willingly.

Kaia’s eyes narrowed as she responded to my question. “Do what?”

I blinked as if snapping out of a spell and shook my head at her and Tréan. “Storm means to go to Tadc, so this is the wrong course of action.”

Looking at my alpha, I tried to remain civil. Tried to do as he asked. “Someone needs to go to her.”

“We will go,”

Naya intercepted, looking from me to Tréan and Kaia. “Bain and I will—”

“No,”

Tréan ground out, his wolf eyes still narrowed on me. “Everyone will remain here, and Callum and Mave will go intercept the warriors heading this way. If they don’t do as I’ve asked, they will be exiled.”

I swallowed hard against his threat because he meant it as much now as he had before. When I narrowed my eyes in return, about to defy him because his request was foolish, Mave spoke up. “We will do as you’ve asked, Alpha. If the last man standing confirms what Callum said, might we have permission to go to Storm’s aid?”

“You and the members of your pack can, Mave.”

Tréan’s steady, threatening gaze never left my face. “Our brother, however, cannot. He is to return to his castle, people, and pups and watch over them as he swore he would.”

I could tell by his tone and the look in his eyes that he would not bend on this, and for the first time since he turned me, I felt genuine disappointment in him. Had anyone told him he couldn't go to Kaia and keep her safe, he would have cut them down where they stood, but I knew better than to try. Tréan was far too powerful. Not only that, but the idea of harming him bothered me greatly. He was my brother—blood.

Which made this moment that much worse.

Nonetheless, I knew what I had to do. What must be done for the sake of our pack. So, after a long, narrowed-eyed, challenging stare between us, I finally sank to a knee and lowered my head to Tréan, grounding out every word. “As you wish, Alpha.”

Then, giving him no chance to respond, I shifted to my wolf, issued telepathic orders to several warriors to follow, and left without a backward glance, knowing what I should do and what I would do, whether Tréan liked it or not.