Page 13

13

LEO

F or the first time since I was a young child, things were calm. Truly calm. There had been a lot of cleanup after we defeated the last two brothers, as we still had to take care of the remainder of their security outside, free the enthralled they’d left behind, and reunite them with their families.

Then there was the matter of my missing pack members. I had hoped we would find them with the last two brothers, but we only found four: Elizabeth, Frank, Archie, and Phillip. Like most of us, they were confused when they first came back to themselves, but bit by bit their memories returned. Unfortunately, even with the increase in their recollection, none of them had any idea where the rest of our pack could be.

We hadn’t been a large pack, cresting over thirty at our biggest before the massacre, but we were still missing about seventeen pack members. I knew it was unlikely that all of them were left alive, but still, I had hope that there were more of us left than the six of us.

If it weren’t for that weight hanging over my shoulders, it would have felt like months of serenity had passed, but in reality it was only about a full week when something incredible happened.

I’d been out in the garden, trying to find a semblance of normalcy with Ven, when a ragged, bony figure appeared at the tree line. Even after so much time, I knew that scent like the back of my hand.

“ Andromeda! ” I’d cried, heart in my throat as I sprinted for her. Although she was much thinner and worn than I had ever seen her, I knew it was her. Same hair, same button nose, same foxlike eyes.

She had practically collapsed in my arms at the time, but I was there to catch her. Her face was gaunt and drawn, but I knew without a doubt it was her. Hope bloomed in me. Bit by bit, our lost numbers might find their way home.

We were on the third day since she’d arrived, and although she was already improving under Ven’s care, her memories were still scattered. While she didn’t seem to recall us by name, our scent brought her comfort, so Ricky and I donated shirts to her makeshift bed on the couch. One downside of so much of our pack being reunited was that space was getting more and more scarce by the second. Most of the free space in Ven’s yard was packed with tents, and while most of our support had returned to their homes, a lot of them were hanging around to help transport recovered victims back home as soon as they remembered where their home was. I also got the distinct feeling that America wasn’t ready to leave. I didn’t blame her. Sometimes the peace seemed far too good to be true.

“Okay, I gotta go in and get changed,” Ven said, standing up and wiping her hands on the gardening apron that had been given to her by... actually, I couldn’t remember who had gifted that particular item, but I did know that my love had been wearing it whenever she was out in the garden.

“Changed? Why?”

As cute as ever, she smiled and stood up on her tip toes to kiss my cheek. “I have work, silly. Javier offered to drive me there and back, so I won’t have to bike. I’ll only be gone maybe five hours maximum.”

“Ah, right.” Somehow, I had forgotten Ven still had a job outside of our bubble. She’d reduced her hours a lot and had called off for our adventure with the final two brothers, so it had slipped my mind. Really, with all the support from the wide-flung shifter community, she didn’t need to work at all. I couldn’t help but wonder if Ven was clinging to it as one last form of normalcy she had control over. She still didn’t talk much about her spontaneous magical abilities, and I figured it wasn’t the right time to push her. Maybe once things calmed down a little or stopped interfering with her day-to-day life…

“Do you want me to cook dinner?” I offered rather futilely. I wasn’t one of those douchey alphas who didn’t even know how to make themselves a sandwich. I’d cooked for myself and Ricky when we were younger, but my culinary skills weren’t up to snuff when compared with Ven’s or America’s aunties.

“No, I think someone said something about barbacoa, so we’ll be set. But thank you for asking. I wouldn’t mind if you played with the cats and checked in on Andromeda, though. I don’t think she’s quite up for solid food, but I do have bone broth with some silken tofu chunks in the fridge that needs to be reheated.”

Well, it wasn’t quite saving the world, but I was more than happy to do that for her.

“Sure, sounds like a plan.”

“Thanks!” She kissed my cheek again, then hurried off.

Although I felt a little melancholy at seeing her go, I was overjoyed that we finally had enough peace and steadiness that the only reason she had to leave was her work. I didn’t have to worry about any warlocks in the background or enthralled bear shifters who could take her out on her bike ride.

All in all, things were most certainly looking up.

I went about finishing the pruning in the garden, then walked around and exchanged words with everyone who was still on Ven’s little chunk of land. Part of me wondered if we could go to the landlord and ask about renting a larger area so we’d have more room, but I didn’t want Ven to get in trouble if he found out how many people were staying with her at the moment. In all honesty, I’d have loved to go back home and restore the small piece of land our pack had inhabited before we’d been scattered, but the memories of it were bathed in misfortune. That piece of land was only double the size of Ven’s plot, and the houses were all dilapidated, but we’d put so much work into making them cozy houses for the lot of us. We’d had chickens—something I knew Ven desperately wanted—and the woods surrounding it had been perfect for hunting and our monthly runs.

Granted, it wasn’t like our pack lands had been too far considering the fact that the cave was so close to Ven’s home. Perhaps there was a way we could connect the two territories? It seemed a bit impossible since I had no idea who owned Ven’s little plot of land, but perhaps it was something to look into. Especially if we ended up finding more of our pack members.

Thankfully, there was no great drama, so my walk lasted maybe an hour or so, and only because I got involved in a conversation with Ricky. My beta was doing great since our victory with the last two brothers. I was pretty sure it was only his enhanced healing that stopped his cheek muscles from burning with how he was constantly grinning from ear to ear. I didn’t begrudge him the happiness. Of all of my pack members, it seemed that I, for some reason, had suffered the least—only because Ven had freed me from my curse first. Everyone else but Ricky and me had to wait for the brothers to die before their curse was broken. While I still didn’t understand how or why Ven had been able to break the enchantment that had kept me locked in my wolf form, I had a feeling it had something to do with her ability to control plants. Some sort of healer magic. I only wish we knew what she was so I could give her the peace she so longed for. Although the battle had been a haze of stimulation and a cacophony of noise, I remembered Frederick saying something strange to Ven. Nothing that quite made sense but did seem like he knew—or at least thought he knew—something about Ven.

It was too bad we couldn’t have kept him alive to interrogate him. But that was the problem with warlocks. Once the upper hand was gained, it was easily lost if not taken advantage of immediately. Although I hated them down to my very core, I had to admit they’d known how to fight.

Once I’d done my rounds, I went inside and reheated the bone broth for Andromeda. While she had never been one for lengthy conversation, I did want to ask her if she was all right. I knew firsthand how confusing it was to go from being purely an animal to regaining humanity again, and I’d had Ven to walk me through it. Andromeda had woken up alone and cold in some place she wasn’t ready to tell us, then wandered in a random direction until she found us. Her connection to me, her alpha, had guided her in the right direction, but she didn’t know that. It must have been so confusing and so utterly lonely.

So, yeah, even if she didn’t remember me, I wanted her to know she’d never be so alone again.

“Hey there,” I said, peering around the doorway. It was funny how all of us had adapted that way of checking to make sure whoever was on the couch didn’t want privacy, as there were no doors on the lower floor besides the half bath. “You hungry?”

Andromeda tore her eyes away from Goober, who had been purring up a storm on her chest. Now I was certain my mate had special healing powers, I also had to wonder how much of her miraculous results were from the healing power of her cats and their purring.

“Yes, I am, but I’m a bit trapped right now.”

“I can see that,” I said with a chuckle. Crossing over to the coffee table, I put down the tray, then gently picked Goober up. As soon as I put him on the floor, he hopped back up on the sofa and settled at her feet, earning a squeaky complaint from within the knitted blanket.

“Who’s that now?” I asked, moving some of the cloth to see none other than Fork’s furry orange head peek out. He really was a character. I was used to him causing far more chaos in the house, but with so many people to pet and play with, he was pretty tired on the regular. No energy for shenanigans with all the love and play time. What a problem to have.

“Come on, the both of you. You’ll get plenty of cuddle time later.”

They stared at me like I’d grown another head. Sighing, I went and got the treats. What could I say, I had no backbone when it came to Ven’s kitty children. At least they wouldn’t tattle on me.

I gave the treat container a few solid shakes. Naturally, the two boys launched themselves from wherever they were and skittered across the floor like their lives depended on it. I gave them each a handful, which was probably about five treats too many, then waited for Mudpie to saunter in. She loved treats and would throw a hissy fit if one dared to short her, but she at least tried to pretend she wasn’t absolutely mad for them.

Once those clawed terrors were handled, I returned to Andromeda and helped her sit up. She looked a lot better. The color had returned to her cheeks and her hair wasn’t stuck to her scalp anymore. America and Ven had helped her in the shower, and I was immensely grateful for that. I knew the experience was likely very different from how my first time with Ven had been, but I was glad she’d had someone there to help her.

“Here you go,” I said, carefully setting the tray on Andromeda’s lap.

A warm smile spread across her features as she leaned in and inhaled the scent of the soup. I was all too familiar with how the delicious warmth after far too long in the cold could leave one speechless, so I didn’t say anything for a while. I settled into the only other chair in the room and picked up the book I’d started reading a few weeks ago.

It was only a matter of time before Ven’s three felines joined us, Mudpie settling at the top of the couch behind Andromeda’s head, and Goober and Fork settling along her legs and feet. Although Ven did indulge her babies, she’d trained them to keep their distance when someone was eating.

“I… had a cat.”

I set my book aside and leaned forward. I tried to sound casual, as I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and freak Andromeda out.

“You did. Do you remember that?”

“I do. She was old and very fat, even though we kept trying to put her on diets. I think we took her to a vet once?”

“We did indeed. Do you remember the diagnosis?”

Andromeda seemed to puzzle over it for a long moment before she shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

“That’s okay. I only remember because your aunt thought it was the most hilarious thing and told the story pretty much any chance she could get. The vet said she was diagnosed with being too good of a hunter, and she would need to become an indoor cat instead of being allowed to play in the dilapidated barn in the afternoons.”

Andromeda’s eyes went wide. “Wait, wait, I do remember that! We all joked that she was meant for a pack, or that she learned from us.”

“That we did,” I said, grinning from ear to ear. It was a small thing, sure, but it made me so incredibly happy. Bit by bit, Andromeda would find herself again. It would be hard working through the wounds the brothers left on our bodies and in our minds, but she was taking the first steps to do so. Man, once things calmed down, I would have to find a shifter therapist for all of us. God knew we needed it. I supposed we could try a human one, but having to keep so many secrets and also not having them understand our duality seemed like a recipe for disaster.

“You said something about my aunt...”

“I did,” I hedged, perhaps a bit more cautiously than I needed to. Like most of us, Andromeda’s backstory wasn’t exactly full of roses and sunshine. We all made do and got through it together, but it wasn’t easy.

“I... I didn’t live with my mom, did I? Or my dad?”

“No, you didn’t. They died fighting the usurper. Like my dad did.”

Such news could be pretty shocking. After all, it was one thing to be an orphan, but it was another to forget you were an orphan, then suddenly learn it when you’d only just remembered you’d had a cat. Thankfully, Andromeda did not seem that rattled. Instead, she gave a slow, measured nod. I’d never realized how much we wolves tended to communicate that way until Ven started mimicking us.

“Your scent just changed,” Andromeda said, her brow furrowing. “Penny for your thoughts?”

She was remembering idioms already? Another great sign. “Just something funny about Ven.”

“Ven? That’s your mate, right? The human?”

I made a so-so gesture with my hand. “Maybe not entirely human, but, yeah.”

“What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “Her genetics are a bit of a mystery, but it’s nothing urgent. Ven is Ven no matter what species she is.”

It was impossible for my thoughts not to go to my love. Sometimes when I looked at her, it was hard not to be in awe. Never in a million years had I thought I would deserve someone like her. Honestly, I still wasn’t sure I did, but I certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I was happy to accept that I had definitely pulled above my league. She would probably disagree with me because she always undervalued herself.

“Did I have a mate?”

“No, you didn’t. For a while I thought there might be something brewing between you and Tabitha, but then...”

“Then the warlocks happened.”

“Yeah. That’s pretty much the long and the short of it.”

“So, I like women?”

I raised my eyebrows, a bit taken aback by the question. While I had been plenty confused when I’d woken up from my curse, I’d remembered my sexuality. Sure, it had taken me a couple of days to remember the actual word for it, but I’d been aware I was acutely attracted to women.

“As far as I know, you like hunters. The more skilled they were, the hotter they were to you. What’s between their legs never seemed to matter much.”

“It’s hard to imagine that. Sometimes I feel like I’m still just a wolf in the most insane dream.”

“I understand, believe me.”

“But I do know I loved my aunt. She did her best.”

“That, she did.”

“I wish… I wish…” She trailed off again, and dutifully ladled soup into her mouth. I didn’t take it personally. Really, I was proud of her for saying as much as she had. It did seem like she was coming back into herself, even if she couldn’t remember who she did or didn’t fancy. “I wish she was here right now. I wonder how long it’s been since we even talked.”

“As far as I can estimate, we probably spent about two years under the brothers’ spell.”

“Two years? That’s insane.”

I couldn’t agree more, and while I wasn’t certain, with everything that Ricky and I had figured out, we were about as sure as we could be. If it weren’t for America and Jason also pitching in with rumors they’d heard, we’d likely still be in the dark.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.”

“I know, time is weird in our animal forms.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I—” She straightened so suddenly she nearly knocked her bowl of broth from her tray. “I was with her!”

“With her? What do you mean?”

“I know where she is.” Andromeda turned to me, a manic grin on her face and tears in her eyes. “I know where so many of us are! I remembered. I remembered! ”

“Look, I don’t want you to get your hopes up. None of our scouts have picked up any shifter scents so far, and we would have if they were around here.”

“No, I know they’re here,” Andromeda said, her voice almost beseeching.

I hadn’t really been keen on her coming to the cave she’d described from her memory, but her directions weren’t the best, and considering that wolves navigated by scent, we needed her to lead the way.

“I know it, Leo. I do!”

Ricky looked skeptical and opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head. While I hoped Andromeda was correct, if she wasn’t, there was no need to argue with her about it. We would find out soon enough.

But I did truly, borderline desperately, hope she was right. The last thing I’d expected was a bowl of good soup and a conversation about cats to bring around the possible location of nearly a dozen of our missing pack members.

“This way,” Andromeda said, still gripping my hand tightly. “I think the cave is this way.”

“How did y’all end up in there again?”

“I don’t remember. I woke up there with no clue what was going on, and I was so hungry it felt like my stomach was going to turn itself inside out. I wandered into the night, but then I got turned around, and I followed this feeling in my gut that told me I was going the right way. It didn’t lead me back to the cave, though, it?—”

“Led you to us,” I finished.

“Exactly.”

I shot Ricky one last meaningful look, and he clamped his mouth shut. Despite all odds, we eventually stumbled upon a craggy opening at the foot of a steep hill, the kind that told of mountains not too far in the distance.

“There,” Andromeda said with a shaking finger. “They’re in there. I know it.”

Ricky and the two scouts with us began to step forward, but I held out my hand. I had no doubt whoever was in that cave was either terrified out of their mind or confused enough to be violent. They needed their alpha, and it was time for me to step up to my responsibilities.

“I’ve got this,” I said, striding forward. No one argued with me, which I appreciated, and I gave my eyes a moment to adjust before I walked farther into the darkness.

Even with my enhanced vision, there was nothing quite like the pitch black within a cavern, so after a moment I pulled out the phone Ven had given me and turned the flashlight on. I made sure not to shine it far into the cave since I didn’t want to blind anyone hiding there.

I pulled up a rumble in my chest as I walked, a deep, comforting alpha sub-harmonic that any of my pack would hear and feel. I didn’t want to surprise anyone, and hopefully they would be drawn to me the same way Andromeda had.

The going wasn’t exactly smooth, and there were two points where I had to drop down. Just as I was beginning to think no one was there, I heard it. A heartbeat. It was weak, more like a hummingbird than a wolf. Perhaps a starving wolf?

“I’m here to help,” I said softly, but any shifter would hear me. “I’m your alpha. You have nothing to fear. I’m here to protect you.”

It started off as soft noises, nothing more than the scrape against rock, but then I heard more heartbeats. I raised the phone slightly to illuminate more of the space, and I nearly burst into tears at the sight in front of me.

Andromeda was right. There were nearly a dozen humans in ragged clothing who looked more like cave people than modern citizens. They stared at me with confusion and fear, but also the tiniest flicker of familiarity.

“Come,” I said, offering my hand to the closest one. “Let’s take you home and get you something to eat.”

“Alll….pha?”

My heart squeezed at the filthy face looking at me curiously. I thought I would have been able to recognize the female, if not by sight then by scent, but she was so caked in mud and other gross things, it was hard to make out much about her at all.

“Yes. I am your alpha. You’re all safe now.”

It wasn’t quite like herding cats as I got them out of the cave, but it was slow going. While I couldn’t discern their individual scents, I could pick up the acrid notes of starvation. Even if they had somehow adapted to see within the caves, there wasn’t enough large prey to sustain them. When was the last time they’d eaten? How did they get to the cave? Were they let loose as wolves or had they escaped to the wilds to form their own mini pack? Andromeda still didn’t remember that part.

So many questions, and we might never get any answers, but I didn’t care. My pack was slowly coming together. We had only a handful missing, and I was sure we’d be able to find them, too.

“Auntie!”

Andromeda stumbled forward the moment we came out into the light. Although she was still unsteady on her feet, she rushed past me to an especially emaciated figure in the middle of the group.

“ Auntie! ”

The woman stared blankly at her niece before the mud on her face crinkled, and she let out a nearly feral cry. “Andy! My little Andy!”

It was like a dam broke open. Ricky and the two scouts quickly strode forward, embracing our lost brethren one by one. Tears flowed down every face, and it was a miracle I managed to keep my composure. I was so completely filled with pride and joy, it was like it was welling out of me, filling every single cell before it flowed out to touch all the members of my pack standing around me.

Against all the odds, we were winning. We were reuniting.

And this time, I would make sure I never failed them.