Page 23

CHAPTER 23

C hristophe

Unfortunately, by the very next day, Ashley and my bubble is burst by a dose of reality.

“Fixed your watch,” I tell Mike as I hand him the five-year-old sports watch. “Now, you don’t have to buy a new one.”

He grins from ear to ear as we trudge through the wooded area that’s a few miles out from the pack’s commune. We’re going for a walk in a separate part of the mountains than Mike took me out to meet Ashley last night.

Apparently, he thinks I need more fresh air, and not just at night, but during the day. As I gaze up at the perfectly blue sky, I can’t say I disagree with him. It amazes me at times how much I avoided the outdoors before.

I stayed in my home just about all day, only coming out for the occasional pack run or shared mealtime.

Funny how much you miss when you stay cooped up inside with nothing but the computer screen to keep you company.

“Thanks, man,” Mike says, taking the watch. “He’s gonna put this to use tonight.”

A ‘V’ forms between my eyebrows as confusion settles in. “He?”

Mike’s eyes widen, almost imperceptibly. “Me,” he corrects. “I like to use this thing when I go out on human runs to track how much I run.”

I nod, not knowing that Mike goes on runs while in his human form. Not typical of shifters. We usually leave the runs for our wolves.

“Cool.” Something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention at the exact moment we pass by a small creek. I turn my head to see two butterflies passing by, underneath a tree. I’m mesmerized by the stillness of their wings. It’s as if they’re floating.

“ They catch the course of the wind. It allows them to go further without exerting so much energy.”

Ashley’s words spring to mind at the same time I reach for my phone. I snap a picture of butterflies and then send them to her without thinking.

Me: Saw this pair on my walk and made me think of you.

My lips spread into a grin when only a few seconds later my phone buzzes with her reply.

My Butterfly: Oh, Mother Moon! That’s an Orange Sulphur, I think. They’re common in New Mexico.

“Something funny?” Mike’s question makes me realize that I’ve laughed out loud at her excited response. He found out a few days ago about the phone when it went off while we were talking.

He shrugged and just asked for the number so he could text me from time to time, too.

I shake my head, but still chuckle to myself. I can imagine the excitement in her voice, pretending she’s said the words out loud to me, not just texted them.

My Butterfly: Out on your walk with Mike?

Me: How’d you guess?

My Butterfly: I wish I could join you.

Guilt weighs down my belly.

Me: It’s really boring. You’d hate it.

I lie.

My Butterfly: *rolling eye emoji* You’re just saying that so I don’t feel bad.

Dammit, how does she know that?

Me: Honestly, Mike had to drag me out of the house to go on this damn walk. Have I mentioned how stupid hot it is out here? If I wanted the best way to fry my CPU, all I would need to do is bring it out with me on one of these blasted walks.

My Butterfly: Why would you want to fry your CPU? Wait, that’s a computer thing, right?

I snort, but Mike clearing his throat has me looking up at him. He waves with his head in the direction back to my house. I follow, but drop my gaze back to my phone.

Me: Yes, it’s a computer thing. Point is, this walk is super uneventful and you have no reason at all to wish you were here. I wouldn’t want that for you.

My Butterfly: I know you’re just saying that to make me feel better and I love you for it.

I stop dead in my tracks, reading the words over and over again. My wolf stirs in my chest as a warm sensation that has nothing to do with the sun or weather grips my entire body.

“Christophe.”

I hear Mike calling my name, but his voice is distant as my attention remains on Ashley’s last message.

… and I love you for it.

Love.

“Christophe.”

Did she just admit to loving me?

My head begins shaking as soon as I ask myself the question. But it feels too good reading the words again and again.

“Christophe, you have a guest.”

I blink, finally lifting my head to meet Mike’s worried expression. I hadn’t even realized that we’d come to a stop directly in front of my house.

What’s more alarming than that, however, is the woman standing in front of my door, apparently waiting for us.

A flash of a memory from that first day at the hospital. And she was there at that first run Ashley and I took in our wolf forms.

“Emery,” I say as I approach.

Her eyes widen, and lips part but then quickly shut again. Her dark brown eyes dart over my shoulder.

“Perhaps, we should take this inside.”

I look over my shoulder at Mike who gives me a nod. “Do you need some water?” I ask.

“I’m good.” He takes a seat in the chair he’s brought to set underneath the shaded part of my lawn and pulls out a huge bottle of water from the bag he left earlier. “This baby’s been defrosting since I brought it over this morning.” He nods in the direction of the door.

“Go on inside, I’m fine out here.”

I open the door and then step aside to allow Emery in first. I watch from behind as she takes in my small home. From the entryway, you can see the open kitchen, small dining space, and down the hall toward the bedroom on the left and bathroom on the right.

After a few beats, Emery turns to face me.

I stare down at her. This is Chance’s mate. She’s about five-nine, tawny brown skin, round face accented by curly, coily hair that has a prominent grey streak in the front. I take in all of her features, wondering if they mirror Ashley’s in some way.

I can’t picture Ashley in my mind’s eye without my head starting to throb, but looking at this woman doesn’t bring on that pain. Are they similar? Different? How much so?

“Why did you betray your brothers?”

Her direct question jars me out of the mental questioning I’ve been doing and settles me right back into the present.

“Excuse me?” I ask even though I heard her clearly.

“He told me what you did. Why did you lie to them?”

Maybe this line of questioning from a complete stranger would anger another person. Not me.

Surprise me? Sure.

Anger? Not at all.

I turn my head toward the kitchen. “It was a mistake,” I admit, but the word mistake doesn’t nearly encompass the heaviness of what a colossal error of judgment I made against my pack.

“Mistake,” she repeats, her voice sounding contemplative. “Hmm.”

“Worse than a mistake,” I add. “A complete and total lapse of any critical thinking. My brain malfunctioned like an infected virus.”

“Virus?” Her confused question draws my attention. There’s a dip between her eyebrows, begging me to explain.

“When a computer becomes infected by a virus, the owner loses total or even partial control over it. And whoever installed the virus now has control over—” I stop when she holds up a hand.

“So, you’re the computer?”

I nod.

“And the virus was ?” She drags out the word ‘was.’

I clear my throat before speaking. “Um, well, it was …” I shake my head. “The shifter I worked with, I suppose.” My stomach churns with the acid of regret and self-loathing that stirs in my gut.

“Rufus whatever his name was. The one Alpha Chael replaced as a council member?”

“Yes, him.” Among others. But I don’t tell her that. There are forums and platforms of bunches of lone wolves who hate the packs for one reason or another. Most of the reasons are illegitimate, though.

I’ve come to realize that now.

“You hurt him, you know? Chance,” she specifies. “A lot.”

Her words cause me to flinch.

“Both of them.”

I press a hand to my stomach.

My brothers.

“I know.”

She nods and then looks away from me.

“Are you going to do the same thing to my sister?”

My head snaps up. “Never,” I growl, not meaning to but that’s how it comes out.

“Because that type of betrayal would crush her,” she says as if not hearing my answer.

“Our adopted parents deceived us for years. They lied to us about who and what we really are. And then they put Ashley in that place, ” she spits out the last word with tears in her eyes. “And they made me believe she was gone forever.”

Emery lifts a shaky hand to touch the wolf-shaped pendant that hangs around her neck. “They told me this was all that was left of her. It almost destroyed me.”

My wolf whimpers inside of my chest as we watch her swipe at a tear that attempts to fall.

“I failed my sister. I didn’t protect her from our adopted parents. It’s my fault she?—”

“What happened wasn’t your fault,” I cut her off.

Emery stops mid-sentence, her mouth ajar for seconds before she closes it again and nods.

“Either way, I refuse to fail her anymore. You will hurt her.”

“I would never,” I counter.

“Maybe not intentionally,” she continues, and I don’t miss the word maybe . “No, you might not betray her the way you did your pack. But you and I both know there’s no future for you two.”

The urge to flinch from every word as if I’ve been shot by a silver bullet courses throughout my body, but I refuse to allow my body to react.

“Once you help Alpha Chael and Chance track down that evil doctor, you will be sent back to the real prison. For the rest of your life.”

More pain invades my belly. It’s not as if I’d forgotten my fate. But lately, for more and more moments at a time, I’d been able to forget about it. As if it were a far-off reality.

Now here’s Ashley’s sister reminding me of my truth.

“You won’t be able to see her again,” she continues. “You have to pay for your crimes. But Ashley shouldn’t. And the longer this … whatever it is that’s going on between you two, continues, the deeper her feelings grow.”

She holds up a hand, stopping me from responding.

“I appreciate whatever it is you did for her inside of that place. But my sister is idealistic. She’s always let her emotions make decisions for her. It’s always been up to me to keep her safe, to be her protector.”

Emery’s eyes widen when I growl, startling the both of us.

My wolf doesn’t like to hear anyone but us claiming to be Ashley’s protector.

I force myself to take a step back and away from Emery. Running a hand across my chest, I soothe my wolf.

“We both know the best thing for you to do is let Ashley go. Now. Not in the future. The sooner the better, before her feelings get too deep and she has no way out.”

My fist tightens against my chest as pain rips across it from the thought of letting Ashley go.

“Spare her any more pain,” Emery says, giving me one final look before heading toward the door.

There’s no malice or hatred in her eyes. Just love for the sister she thought she’d once lost.

Absentmindedly, I step aside, making room for her to exit.

Once she’s gone, there’s an emptiness inside of my house that I haven’t felt since before I was sent away to prison.

I run Emery’s words over and over in my mind, but no matter how I replay them, I can only come to one conclusion.

She’s right.

I have to let Ashley go.

Before it’s too late.