Page 48 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)
~Troy~
Whether I died or not, the pack and Amanda had to be protected, so instead of worshipping my mate the way every cell in my body demanded, I sat around a table with Leo and Darius, running scenarios until we couldn’t think of a single damn improvement. Every plan tested. Every possibility weighed.
Once we’d finalized our approach, we summoned our top warriors, the ones whose loyalty we’d never had reason to doubt.
Devon looked wiped when he walked in, probably pulling double shifts since I’d gone AWOL, but as soon as his eyes landed on the mark at my neck, he perked up.
You found your mate? His voice sounded in my head, tinged with excitement. Congratulations!
The grin on his face morphed into confusion a second later.
Wait… no one’s been in or out of the territory. Who the hell did you find? Not someone who just got their wolf, right?
I had to fight hard not to laugh at the look of horror crossing his face.
Definitely not a teenager, I shot back. I’ll tell you everything later, I promise.
We reviewed the plan with the warriors three full times, making sure they understood every detail. By the time we sent them out to run practice drills with their teams, the sun was already dragging the last of its light over the horizon.
“Should we head back to the pack house?” Darius asked just as Amanda’s voice filled my head, closer and clearer than ever since we’d solidified our bond.
Felix and his mate are here. Savannah, Jasper and Kalo have just let them through the border. We’ll reconvene back in my room as soon as you can get here.
I relayed the update to the others, already halfway to the door. We’re on our way.
The Crimsontooth Beta had spent some time in our pack just a couple of weeks earlier, accompanying Savannah during her original visit, so I recognized him on sight.
His mate, however, I nearly missed. Tucked against his side, she was almost two feet shorter than him, delicate and sharp-eyed.
His protective arm wrapped tight around her as she peered out at the rest of us.
“This is Evalina,” Felix introduced her, voice full of pride. “She’s here to save the day.”
She nudged him in the hip, the tips of her pointed ears tinting pink. “Don’t exaggerate!”
“If you can repeat what you did yesterday, it’s no exaggeration,” Amanda replied, offering the fairy a warm smile. “We’re grateful for your help, both me and my mate.”
She reached for my hand like she couldn’t stand for us to be apart, and I crossed the room to take my place at her side. All the stress of the day seemed to melt away with that simple touch.
Kalo stared openly at Evalina, golden eyes wide with wonder. “I’ve never seen anything like you before.”
A low growl rolled through the room.
At first, I thought it must have come from Felix, but realized a second later it actually came from… Leo?
Everyone stilled, their eyes drawn to the Crimsontooth Gamma who looked almost as startled as the rest of us.
He cleared his throat with an awkward cough. “We should get started. We can socialize later.”
“Let’s start with Jasper,” Amanda suggested. “How did things go with questioning Chad and the other prisoners?”
“They’re still not giving up any names,” Jasper relayed.
“But we did notice something interesting. Whenever Kalo was close, they took my questions a little more seriously. At times, it almost seemed like they were on the verge of telling me something significant, but they pulled themselves back just in time.”
That was interesting, and I felt the shift in Amanda’s frame that suggested she thought so too.
“Does that happen a lot for you?” I asked the genie.
He shrugged in his casually elegant way. “People often confide in me, but I’m not doing anything to make it happen.”
“You’re not doing anything intentionally ,” Amanda amended. “But I wonder…”
She glanced over her shoulder to where the necklace that had summoned Kalo still lay.
“The necklace compelled me to touch it and speak a wish out loud to summon you. I assume it works that way for everyone, which means the necklace has some sort of magic attached to it. Perhaps you have the same sort of suggestive magic.”
“What are you thinking?” Savannah asked.
Amanda wet her lips, and my gaze followed the movement, heat sparking in my blood. After hours apart, I ached for her. How we’d gone for years resisting each other seemed almost impossible. Now, even minutes felt unbearable.
“We’re trying to think of a way to amplify my Alpha authority,” she reminded us all. “What if Kalo is an amplifier? What if his suggestive power could make the whole pack respond to me more than they normally would?”
“Try it out,” Felix offered, full of enthusiasm. “Order your pack members to do something right now.”
All attention in the room moved to Savannah and Jasper, the only Ravenstone pack members present besides me, and Savannah sighed heavily. “Fine. Just don’t make me do anything too embarrassing.”
One corner of Amanda’s mouth pulled upwards, a spark of mischief in her eyes, and my damn heart melted. I loved her playful side and wanted to get to know it much, much better.
Drawing a deep breath to centre her power, she addressed the two wolves. “Take a knee if you’ve ever had a risqué dream about anyone in this room besides your mate.”
Even standing beside her, I felt the pull of her command like a tide. But since I’d only ever dreamed about her, I stayed upright. Jasper did too, thankfully; any other answer would’ve required a serious talk since Amanda would have been the only candidate.
Savannah, however, dropped to one knee, face scrunched in reluctant compliance.
Then Leo did too.
And Darius.
What the hell?
Amanda’s command shouldn’t have worked on anyone outside her pack, but if Kalo really was amplifying her Alpha pull, maybe it extended further. That boded well.
Felix burst into laughter at the sight of his Gamma and Delta kneeling. “I’m absolutely telling Vaughan you dreamed about his little sister.”
“I didn’t…” Leo started to say before snapping his mouth shut again. “Never mind.”
That was weird. If he hadn’t dreamed about Savannah, who had he dreamed about?
Amanda gave everyone a sheepish shrug. “Alright, I think that’s enough. Please stand up.”
Jasper offered Savannah his hand to help her up, looking less than pleased with the whole situation.
“It was a long time ago, and nothing actually happened,” she muttered under her breath. “Someone change the subject.”
I was happy to comply. “That was impressive, but can we scale it to affect the whole pack?”
Amanda’s lips pursed thoughtfully. “Maybe we could form a perimeter around the group, like four corners of a square, with Kalo at the centre to help concentrate it. Alphas and Betas projecting and reflecting authority.”
“Four?” My eyes darted around the room, double checking my math. “We only have one Alpha and two Betas, though.”
Amanda and Savannah exchanged a glance and Savannah cleared her throat. “Why don’t we move this meeting back to our house? We could all use a drink and our Alpha could use some time with her new mate.”
The suggestion seemed to come out of nowhere but Amanda nodded in agreement. “Reach out to me by mind-link if anything major happens, but otherwise, we’ll all reconvene here in the morning.”
Everyone said their goodbyes and shuffled out of the room until only Amanda and I remained. Instinct urged me to take her in my arms, but the stiff set of her shoulders added to the strange tension created by everyone else’s sudden departure.
“What’s going on?”
She crossed to the bed and sat on the edge. “Come sit with me.”
I followed, but reading the weight in her voice, I left some space between us. She obviously only wanted to talk.
“I spoke with the pack doctor again today,” she began. “He ran a genetic test on you yesterday, trying to understand how you healed so fast. He suspected you might have ranked blood somewhere in your lineage.”
I truly tried to follow her train of thought but it seemed completely unrelated to anything else going on and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I didn’t care about my lineage and I didn’t think she did either. “What are you talking about?”
Amanda reached for my hand, warmth sparking as our skin met. Her thumb traced circles over my palm, soothing and grounding, and in her eyes, I could see her affection, her determination, and a hint of vulnerability that made her all the more impressive to me.
“Troy,” she said softly. “I know who your father is.”