by J. L. Wilder
Well, that didn’t necessarily mean they were safe. He crouched low, ready to spring, ready to defend his family. Being shifter didn’t mean being trustworthy, especially after this bear had growled at him. Who the hell does he think he is?
“Wes, wait,” Lauren said. “Stand down, okay?”
She turned and faced the stranger now, both hands held out to him. To Wes, it looked more like she was showing empty palms—displaying that she wasn’t a threat—than fending off a foe.
“Emmett?” she asked quietly. Wonderingly. “Is that you?”
Chapter Forty-Seven
WES
Wes wasn’t wild about the idea of bringing Emmett back to their shared nest. He didn’t want any outsiders anywhere near their home. The last time he’d allowed an outsider to get close to his home, she’d burned it down.
But Lauren didn’t seem to have any such reservations. She had dressed and was digging through Wes’s small pile of clothes, pulling things out for Emmett. She hadn’t even asked his permission.
“Here,” she said, handing Emmett a pair of pants. “These’ll fit you well enough.”
“Thanks.” Emmett took the pants and stepped into them. Wes felt his blood boil, but he said nothing.
Emmett stretched his arms over his head. “Have you got anything to eat?” he asked, looking around.
That was a bridge too far. “Hang on,” Wes said. “You’re not just coming into our house and eating our food.”
“House?” Emmett raised his eyebrows.
“Fuck’s sake. It’s an expression. We know you’re living wild too, by the way, so don’t get all high and mighty.”
“I don’t know where you get off telling me how to act,” Emmett said mildly. “Not that I mind, necessarily, but it looks to me like you’ve knocked up my cousin. Is that about the size of it?”
“Not that you mind?” Wes repeated incredulously. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, actually.”
“Wes, stop it,” Lauren said.
“He was exiled from the den, Lauren. He’s violent.”
Emmett laughed. “Oh, give me a break. Is he serious with this?”
“He was exiled because he challenged Cody,” Lauren said. “It didn’t have anything to do with being violent.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Wes said.
“What did you hear?” Emmett said.
“I heard you were threatening women.”
“Bullshit,” Emmett scoffed. “I wouldn’t do that. Lauren, have you ever seen me threaten a woman?”
“Lauren hasn’t lived here for twenty years,” Wes interrupted. “She doesn’t have any idea what you’re capable of, so don’t make her try to defend you.”
“Wes,” Lauren said. “You haven’t lived in the city for twenty years either. You’re talking about gossip. How can you be sure?”
“Well, what do you think happened?” Wes demanded.
“From what Matt told me, it sounds like no one knows,” Lauren said. She turned to Emmett. “But he seemed to think Tina had set you up somehow, to get rid of a threat to Cody’s power.”
Emmett nodded. “That’s exactly what happened,” he said. “Those rumors about me—it’s part of her plan to make sure I’ll always be unwelcome among the den.”
“And we’re just supposed to take your word for that?” Wes asked.
“Wes,” Lauren said. “It’s his word against Cody and Tina’s. You can’t tell me you’re more inclined to believe them.”
She had a point. Still, Wes wasn’t used to putting his trust in others.
“The thing is,” Emmett said, “Cody was right to see me as a threat. And Tina was right to be afraid of what I might do. Because I’ve never stopped looking for a way to take their power away from them. I’m not going to rest until the alpha position is out of Cody’s hands.”
Lauren nodded. “I know,” she said.
“Do you? How?”
“I heard you talking in the woods a few months ago. I didn’t know who you were talking to, though.”
Emmett laughed. “You got close enough to hear us and we didn’t even realize it? Damn, little cousin. I didn’t realize you were that stealthy.”
“She’s a natural at living wild,” Wes said, his voice coming out a bit more darkly than he had intended. He could see that Lauren was happy to be reunited with her cousin, and he wanted to put his trust in Emmett too. But that was hard to do. He barely knew Emmett at all—he was a few years older than Lauren and Wes were, so they hadn’t spent that much time together while they were growing up.
“I see that,” Emmett said coolly. “So you two are together, are you?”
“That’s right,” Lauren said.
“How long until the babies are born?”
“Ought to be another two months, I guess,” Lauren said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
“And you’re going to raise them out here? In the wild?”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Wes said. “Worry about yourself, Emmett.”
“No, I’ll worry about my cousin, thank you,” Emmett said. “The woods are a hell of a place to raise a family, Lauren. It’s hard enough living out here when you don’t have children.”
“I know,” Lauren said with a sigh. “It’s not my first choice. But Cody and Tina aren’t going to welcome us back with open arms anytime soon.”
She caught Emmett up on their recent encounter with Tina and their theories as to why she disliked them so intensely. Emmett nodded along.
“It makes sense,” he said. “She loves being mated to the alpha so much; it’s hard to imagine her relinquishing her hold on that in any way, for any reason. Of course she would perceive a future alpha in someone else’s bloodline as a threat to her dominance.”
“And Cody?” Lauren said. “How would he feel about it?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Emmett said. “Cody has been so checked out in the past few years. He’s drunk half the time, and when he isn’t drunk, he’s asleep.”
“He’s destroying the den,” Lauren said. “I saw enough of it while I was with them. It was awful. I can’t believe this is what Cody’s come to.”
Emmett nodded. “That’s why my crew and I are planning to take control away from them,” he said. “Will you come back with me and meet everyone?”
“Sure,” Lauren said.
“No,” Wes said.
Lauren looked at him.
“Lauren, I need to speak to you,” he said. “Privately.”
He turned and strode off into the woods before she could object, not bothering to look over his shoulder to see whether she was following him or not.
She had better be. We need to have this out immediately.
Chapter Forty-Eight
WES
When he turned back, he was relieved to see that Lauren was hurrying up behind him.
Almost immediately, though, he felt guilty. Because of his long stride, she had been forced to run to keep up. She was waddling more than she was actually running, but the sight of her exerting herself at all was more than he could take. He was back at her side in two steps.
“Take it easy,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have rushed out ahead like that. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, looking up at him anxiously. “Are you? You seem...”
“I seem what?”
“Upset. Angry? I can’t tell if you’re angry.” She frowned. “Aren’t you happy that we found Emmett?”
“Lauren, we’ve spent the past two months avoiding Emmett.”
“That’s not what we were doing,” she protested. “We’ve been avoiding Tina and Cody, not him.”
“No,” he said. “Think back. This is why you left the den and moved out here with me in the first place. Before Tina burned the trailer. You were out here because you heard Emmett talking in the woods, and you knew there was going to be a war.”
Lauren looked down at her feet.
“I mean, has some
thing changed?” Wes prodded her. “Are you fine with war now? Are you fine with him attacking the city where my sister lives? Where your best friend lives?”
“Wes...” She drew a breath. “You saw what Tina did to your home.”
“Of course I saw it. You don’t think I could ever forget about such a thing, do you?”
“Definitely not. Of course not. But think about it. Who’s the bigger threat here? Emmett isn’t going to go into the city burning and pillaging. He isn’t going to set fire to people’s homes. He isn’t going to harm civilians. He’s going to find Cody and challenge him directly.”
“It’s still a shifter fight in the middle of the city,” Wes said. “There could be casualties. Collateral damage. People could get hurt, Lauren. You’re really okay with taking that chance?”
“Wes, I think we have to,” she said. “Cody is going to destroy the den.”
“We don’t need the den.”
“We do need it. It’s where I grew up. It’s where you grew up. I want our children to grow up there.” She hesitated, then went on. “I don’t want to raise them out here in the wild.”
“Are you just saying that because your cousin suggested that living in the wild wasn’t good enough?”
“No. You and I were talking about it, remember? We were saying that we wished we could raise our children in the den we grew up in. When Arthur was alpha.”
“Emmett isn’t Arthur,” Wes said. It seemed almost blasphemous to compare anyone at all to the strong, capable leader they had had in his youth.
“Maybe he’s not,” Lauren agreed. “But he’s a damn sight better than Cody, and you know it.”
Wes looked away.
She was right. He did know it. Things would be infinitely better if Emmett were in charge instead of Cody. Anybody would be better than Cody.
“The den could get their financial affairs in order,” Lauren said. “You want to protect Jessica? I’m sure she’s not getting the weekly stipend she’s due as a den member. I wasn’t getting the full amount when I lived there. I was going to have to take a job outside the den to support the babies.”
Wes nodded. Jessica had told him that her income had gone down lately. She had been considering seeking employment herself.
“Wes,” Lauren said.
He looked at her.
“We could go home,” she said. “If Cody was out of power, we could take our babies home.”
“You really want that,” he said quietly. “Don’t you?”
“I want it more than anything,” she admitted. “It took me a while to realize it, but I do. I don’t want to live a human life in the suburbs, and I don’t want to live out here in the wild. I’m not a human. I’m not a bear. I’m a shifter, and I want a foot in both worlds. I want to be a part of the den.”
He caressed her cheek. “You know, I never would have imagined it could be so hot to hear you say that.”
“Me saying that I want to go home is hot?”
“Not that part. The part about how you’re part human and part bear.” He grinned. “When we were young, it felt like you and I were going our separate ways. I didn’t think there was anyone in the world I understood less than I did you. How could anyone go and live in the human world full time? How could you give up your birthright as a bear?”
She chuckled. “When I found out you were going to live in the woods, I thought you were insane. I thought you’d come crawling back in a week.”
“I thought the same about you,” he admitted.
“It took us both a little bit longer than that.”
“Yeah, it did.”
“But I think it’s time now,” Lauren said. “I’m ready to go home. I want to be a part of the den again. And I think that following Emmett is the best way for us to do that.”
Wes took her in his arms. I can’t live without her. I can’t stand it if anything happens to her, or to those babies.
“I just want what’s best for you,” he said quietly. “You know that’s all I want.”
“I know,” she said. “I think this is what’s best.”
“We can’t be sure.”
“We can go with him,” Lauren said. “Meet his people. Find out more about his plans. And then we can decide.”
He couldn’t deny her anything. He had never been able to. From the very start, he’d been wrapped around her finger.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll go with him.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
LAUREN
“Everyone,” Emmett said, “this is my cousin, Lauren, and her mate, Wes.”
Lauren glanced around the clearing at the men assembled there, feeling vaguely shaken for two wildly different reasons.
First of all, that was the first time anyone had ever referred aloud to Wes as her mate. Even when they discussed their relationship among themselves, they had never used that term. She found she rather liked hearing it.
But much more overwhelming was the fact that she didn’t know a single man standing in this clearing.
She had expected that they would all be outcasts from the den, like Emmett was. But if that was the case, why didn’t she know them?
Then one of the men spoke up. “Sure,” he said. “I remember Lauren. You’re back, huh?”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling utterly disoriented.
“Jack Wilson.” He held out a hand. She shook it, glancing at Emmett in search of an explanation.
“He would have been just a kid when you left,” Emmett explained. “Twelve or thirteen.”
“Oh.” Lauren took a second look around. With that context, it was clear that all the men in the clearing were much younger than she, Emmett, and Wes were.
“Cody exiles anyone he thinks might grow up to be a threat,” Wes surmised.
“Right,” Emmett said. “Most of these guys have been on their own, away from the den, a lot longer than I have. Some of them since they were kids.”
“Jesus,” Lauren breathed. She’d had no idea Cody had been doing this—sending away so many of his own people, just because there was a chance his authority might be called into question. “Wouldn’t most alphas welcome a challenge from a kid? They could win handily and remove any doubt that they ought to be in charge.”
“We weren’t idiots,” one of the men spoke up. “We weren’t going to challenge him while we were children. We were going to wait until we were fully grown.”
“But at least we would have asked him for a fair fight,” another man said. “Now, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to find him when he’s sleeping and slit his throat.”
A third man was watching Lauren suspiciously. “If she’s your cousin,” he said to Emmett, “isn’t she Cody’s cousin too? How do we know she’s not going to run back and tell him everything we’re saying here?”
Lauren shook her head. “I wouldn’t.”
“You’re a den deserter. You ran out on us for twenty years. Why should we believe you’re going to put the best interests of the den first now?”
“It’s about her own best interests, too,” Wes spoke up. He was standing so close behind Lauren that she could feel every inch of his body pressed up against her. It was comforting. “She’s pregnant, and she’s from Arthur’s direct line. Cody sees that as a threat to his power. He’s never going to let her go home. She’s not on his side.”
“Lauren, can I speak to you?” Emmett asked. He glanced at Wes, then added, “Privately?”
“You can speak to her here,” Wes said.
“Wes, no, it’s okay.” Lauren pulled free of his hold. “I’ll be fine. I want to go talk to him.”
“Lauren—”
“He’s my cousin, Wes.”
“Yeah. Cody’s your cousin too.”
She sighed in exasperation. “Don’t do that. Emmett is harmless. We’re just going to talk.” She pulled free of Wes’s protective grip and walked off, knowing that Emmett would follow her, knowing that Wes would be hurt but that he would let her go.
>
I’ll apologize to him later.
She turned after she’d covered a few yards of ground and faced her cousin. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Is he always like that?” Emmett asked.
“Like what?”
“Overbearing.”
“Don’t judge him, Emmett. I’m carrying his children. Of course he’s going to be protective. Wouldn’t you be?”
“I don’t know,” Emmett admitted. He pushed his long hair back away from his face. “I’ve never been mated. Never had children. I guess maybe I would. But it’s hard to imagine any of it, to tell you the truth.”
“Sure,” Lauren said.
“But that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Emmett said.
“Wes being overprotective?”
“No, your children. The possibility that you might be carrying a boy.”
“Odds are pretty good there.” She cradled her belly, wondering, not for the first time, how many she was about to become mother to.
“It’s worth considering,” Emmett said.
“What is?”
“Well, Cody and Tina are right, aren’t they?” Emmett said. “If you give birth to a son, he’ll be the most apparent heir to the alpha position.”
“So? He’ll be a baby. Not a threat to them.”
“Babies grow up,” Emmett said sagely.
“Emmett, what is your point?”
“My point is that we’ve been looking for a catalyst for this revolution we’re trying to have. Now maybe we’ve got one.”
“My child?”
“It’s something to rally around,” Emmett said. “We’re deposing Cody in order to install a new alpha. And it gives us a bit of time pressure because we don’t want to wait until he’s grown up. We want to have time for the den to rebuild so that when he’s an adult, he can inherit a stable family.”
“He isn’t even born yet.” Lauren stepped back, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. “And you’ve already got him leading the den? I don’t know if I want that for him.”
“It’s his rightful place, Lauren,” Emmett said. “You and Wes are planning on going back to the city if Cody is overthrown, aren’t you?”
