A Pack of Vows and Tears

by Olivia Wildenstein

  After she hung up, she smiled. “Hey, sweet girl.”

  “Hi. How . . . ” I’d been about to ask how she was feeling, but I wasn’t supposed to know. “How’s everything going this morning?” I jerked a hand toward the inn.

  “All’s fine. Quiet night. Quiet morning. I’ve rescheduled a couple outings for some of the guests because of the weather, and I reorganized the cleaning staff schedules.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You have nothing to thank me for.” She squeezed my hand. Her skin was clammy, the same way my mother’s had been on the worst of days. “I also went to check on Jeb. He’s been sleeping most of the morning. I dropped off some food. Perhaps you should stop by to see him. He might appreciate some company.”

  I wondered if she knew what was happening. Wives weren’t kept in the dark, but were they informed of the Alpha’s every move?

  “After I stop by to see Evelyn, I’ll go sit with him.”

  I also needed a shower and fresh clothes. Could she smell Liam on me? She wasn’t a wolf, but she’d seen me walk in, so she knew I’d spent the night somewhere other than my own bed. If she sensed where I’d been, there was no judgment on her face. Just a sweet smile. Why did disease have to attack the good people? Why couldn’t it strike down people like Aidan Michaels?

  I started in the direction of the kitchen when Isobel’s voice stopped me. “Do you have any plans for dinner tonight?”

  I turned around just as Lucas came through the doors. I longed to say no, but in what state would I be tonight? In what state would Liam be? Plus going to dinner at the Watts’ probably meant August would be there, and even though I’d spent my childhood having dinner with him and his family, things were different now.

  “I can’t tonight,” I ended up saying, at the same time as Lucas said, “Morning, Mrs. W.”

  “Good morning, Lucas.” She smiled at him before looking back at me. “Okay. Let me know when you have a free night. I’d love to catch up.”

  “I . . . I will. I promise. Maybe this weekend?”

  “You just let me know. Or you just show up. Our house is your house.”

  Her words squeezed my heart. I gave a jerky nod before resuming my walk toward the kitchen. The large space was riddled with delicious smells that had my empty stomach rumbling.

  “Ness!” Evelyn handed Kasie the tongs before hobbling toward me.

  The change in air pressure always made her arthritis flare up, and considering how she limped this morning, I sensed her body ached. I met her halfway. The menthol balm she religiously rubbed into her sore joints soothed my frayed nerves.

  She kissed both my cheeks, surely leaving bright lipstick smears behind. “Kasie, do you have everything under control? I need to speak to Ness.”

  “Take your time, Evelyn. I’ve got our vegetables provençal covered.”

  Evelyn tucked my hand in the crook of her arm and pulled me toward the door. “Come. Let’s have some tea, querida.”

  I grabbed a teapot from a high shelf in the pantry, when Skylar popped in carrying a laden breakfast tray. “Hey! How are you, hun?”

  She set down the tray next to the sink, then pushed a piece of peroxided hair off her forehead and seized the teapot from me. “Here, let me do that. Black, green, herbal?”

  “Earl Grey,” I said. Evelyn only liked dark teas. “But I can do it—”

  She shooed us away. “Out of my pantry.”

  “Thank you, Skylar,” Evelyn said. “We will be on the terrace. It is not raining yet, is it?”

  Reaching up to grab the tin box of loose-leaf tea, Skylar said, “Not yet, but I suspect it’ll come down any minute.”

  “We will take our chances,” Evelyn said, guiding me through the dining room and out onto the deck.

  Only Lucas was out here. He’d taken a seat on one of the many Adirondacks and was checking out something on his phone. Had Liam sent a message? I was tempted to pull out my phone, but it could wait until after my visit with Evelyn.

  The sky was tiled with mauve clouds that reminded me of the quilt Mom had sewn for me when I was a kid, the one I’d given to the army vet on our street corner one unseasonably cold winter day. While the man’s dog growled at me—I assumed because I still smelled like a wolf—his master smiled, raising the bottle of liquor that seemed forever grafted to his palm, and gathered the cover around himself and his pet.

  Eyeing Lucas, Evelyn walked toward the farthermost edge of the terrace. We took our seats at a square teak table.

  In a low voice, she said, “Frank informed me that my ex-husband has purchased the inn from your family.”

  I darted a glance toward the enormous glass sliding doors, making sure that Skylar hadn’t emerged from the entrails of the inn. I didn’t want to alarm the loyal staff before alarm needed to be sounded. Perhaps Aidan Michaels would safeguard their jobs. I didn’t know his intentions for the place. Was it simply a strategic location to keep the packs in check, or was this a business transaction to grow his real estate portfolio?

  “Evelyn, do you think he bought it to insult . . . us?”

  By us, I meant werewolves, although I didn’t doubt for a second that Aidan was the type of man who’d take great pleasure in thwarting his ex-wife’s happiness. Since the man was a snoop with too many connections, I didn’t doubt for a second he knew she was back in Boulder.

  “Or do you think he bought it as an investment?”

  She scratched at a piece of citronella candlewax that had melted onto the teak. “He does not need more money or more land, querida.”

  In other words, this was no commercial endeavor.

  “Here y’all go,” Skylar said chirpily, depositing a wooden tray loaded with two mugs, a teapot, a bowl of sugar, a tiny pitcher of milk, and a plate of bite-sized jam cookies—one of Evelyn’s specialties.

  Since Evelyn had gotten access to a larger kitchen and a limitless quantity of fresh produce, she’d been making the jam herself, and the already delicious cookies had become downright sinful.

  “Can I get you anything else?” Skylar asked, eyeballing the sky.

  “No thank you,” Evelyn said. “You have already spoiled us.”

  I smiled up at Skylar, who returned my smile, but her lips kept bending and straightening, as though she wanted to ask me what was wrong. Even though we’d only known each other for two months, I sensed she understood me; perhaps it was because we’d both lost our mothers. Skylar had once told me that she was a good listener in case I needed to talk.

  I hadn’t wanted to talk about Mom then. I still didn’t want to talk about her. Her absence remained too fresh. Although I no longer cried when someone brought her up, it still abraded my heart.

  “I haven’t seen Emmy yet, but can you thank your wife for covering last night’s shift, please? Jeb and . . . and Lucy, they really appreciate it.”

  She grinned. “Will do. Anyway, let me know if you need anything else.”

  Evelyn poured two cups of piping hot tea while I pilfered a cookie from the plate.

  “Frank has an extra bedroom, which I readied for you last night. I want you to come and live with us. I know Jeb is your legal guardian, but he is incapable of caring for you, and I am not too fond of the men who prowl around you.” She flicked her gaze toward Lucas, which had my nose wrinkling. I hoped she didn’t assume he was a suitor, because . . . gross.

  “Are you sure Frank won’t mind?”

  She placed her calloused hand over mine. “Frank does not mind. His house is . . . it is big. On weekends, his grandson Joseph visits, but otherwise, he lives there alone.”

  “Not anymore.”

  Her lips curled into a demure smile.

  How I loved the glimmer Frank had put in her obsidian eyes and the rosiness he’d brought to her foundation-caked complexion. I loved that she’d gotten her happy ending. If anyone deserved happiness, it was Evelyn.

  “Meet me in the kitchen tonight. We will leave together after I finish making dinner.”

&n
bsp; “Okay.”

  We drank our tea quietly after that, both of us enjoying each other’s easy company. Almost an hour later, we both stood to leave. She leaned toward me as though to kiss my cheek, but instead she asked, “Why does the boy over there keep looking in your direction?”

  “He’s just helping me out with some errands today. You know, driving me around.”

  If I told Evelyn the truth, that Liam was afraid Everest might try to hurt me, she’d fret, and I didn’t want her to fret more than she already did.

  She kissed my cheeks and then rubbed them. “There. I’ve added some color to that pale face of yours.”

  In spite of my summer tan, I could feel I was pasty, the same way I could feel the first drops of rain needling my bare arms. I closed my lids and lifted my face skyward, welcoming the downpour.

  15

  Once I was showered and changed, I dropped by Jeb’s room, Lucas in tow. It took a lot of convincing on my part, but I managed to get him to stay outside while I visited with my uncle. My intentions for stopping by weren’t only selfless, though. I’d printed all the forms for my permit, for which I needed my guardian’s signature.

  Isobel must’ve drawn the curtains open, because the muted light splashed his bedroom.

  “Hi, Jeb. It’s Ness,” I said as I approached him. I didn’t want to spook him.

  “Is it done?” His voice was jaded, just like his expression.

  “I don’t know.” I pulled a chair up to the bed. “Have you eaten?” The laden tray on his nightstand told me he hadn’t, but I was hoping my question might stir his interest in food.

  “And Lucy?”

  “Lucy?”

  He fastened his pale-blue gaze flecked by burst blood vessels to my face. “I thought you might have some news.”

  I shook my head. “But I can call Eric. Do you want me to phone him?” I didn’t have Eric’s number, but Lucas probably did. I could get it from him.

  “No,” Jeb said quietly. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Then my uncle’s insubstantial voice gusted through the quiet bedroom. “What do I have to live for now, Ness?”

  I could’ve lied to him and said the inn, but he didn’t even have that anymore. Who was going to take him in?

  “You heard Everest sold the inn to Aidan Michaels?”

  His pupils contracted with surprise, and his pale lips fell open. He hadn’t known.

  “He sold it in exchange for his help in”—I toyed with my mother’s ring, weaving my fingers in and out of it—“tampering with the pack’s security monitors and getting out of Boulder.”

  My uncle gaped at me, confirming he hadn’t known any of this. Talk about being the harbinger of crap news. I released the ring and set both my palms on my knees.

  “I should never have put it in his name. Lucy, she said—” His voice broke. “Doesn’t matter anymore what she said.” He sealed his lips, as though to prevent himself from badmouthing the mother of his child. After another long stretch of silence, he said, “I own a few apartments in downtown Boulder.”

  I frowned.

  “I’ll have one readied for us.”

  I squeezed my knees. “Us?”

  “You and me.”

  So he wasn’t planning on ending his life. “You don’t have to worry about me, Jeb. Frank said he could take me in—”

  “You’re my ward, not his,” he snapped. That was the most energy I’d heard permeate his tone since the day of the last trial when he’d found his wife holding Evelyn hostage.

  I wanted to live with Evelyn, but I couldn’t abandon my uncle. “Okay.”

  Suddenly, he sat up in bed. “Can you hand me my cell?”

  I got up to retrieve his phone from where I’d put it to charge days ago and then I stood watch as he dialed a number and barked at the unfortunate soul on the other end.

  After disconnecting, he said, “Have one of the housekeepers stop by this address. The place probably needs a good cleaning.” He filched a pad of paper embossed with the inn’s logo and a pen from the drawer of his nightstand table, scribbled an address, then tore off the paper.

  I took it reluctantly, but then pushed away my reluctance. Although my uncle had been the one to drag me back to Boulder the second he found out I was living in LA motherless, he wasn’t to blame for the fiasco that had ensued. If anything, I should have been relieved that he cared enough for me that he wasn’t skirting his responsibilities. I folded the note with the address, deciding I would take care of the cleaning myself.

  He got out of bed so suddenly I stepped back so he wouldn’t bump into me and send me flying backward. Anger flushed his features and sparked in his eyes.

  “I can’t believe he struck a deal with your father’s killer,” he muttered under his breath, grabbing the frame of a watercolor painting and tugging on it hard.

  I braced for chaos by hunching a little, but Jeb didn’t toss the canvas across the room. Instead, the frame folded like a book page. Behind it was a safe. He entered a six-digit number, and the safe beeped. He rifled inside, rustling papers, knocking over jewelry boxes until he found what he was looking for: an envelope. He peered inside, extracted two keys hooked to the same ring. He slid one off and tossed me the keyring. It landed at my feet.

  “The key to our new home. Good thing I didn’t entrust it to my son. Can’t believe he sold Aidan Michaels our inn.” Jeb was so red I worried he would give himself an aneurism. Not that wolves could die of aneurisms.

  I crouched to retrieve the keyring. “What happens once Lucy is released?”

  My uncle stopped muttering and peered up at me.

  I stared at the small silver key nestled in the palm of my hand. “I don’t want to live with her, Jeb. I can’t,” I said raising my gaze back to my uncle.

  “I’m filing for divorce.”

  Oh.

  Jeb walked over to me and gripped my shoulders. “We’ll get through this, Ness.”

  His renewed desire to live restored my hope that we could heal from the deepest of wounds. Changed and scarred, but we survived. Even though I sensed Evelyn would put up a fight, I was touched that my uncle hadn’t abandoned me.

  “You know, Callum was always trying to give me pointers about how to raise my son. It drove me insane, but now, I wish I’d listened to him.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze before letting go. “You’re a good kid, Ness.”

  I pressed my lips together to drive back the emotion rising in my throat.

  “Now, go pack your bags.”

  I nodded and started walking toward the door but remembered the papers I needed him to sign. I took them out, and he signed them, telling me not to schedule driving lessons, that he’d give them to me himself.

  Another wave of emotion surged within me. Jeb could never replace my father, the same way Evelyn had never taken my mother’s place, but I was glad for his support and his presence in my life, and hopeful that it would take some weight off my shoulders. I would never get to be a kid again—I didn’t even desire it—but I wouldn’t mind splitting some of my responsibilities with an adult.

  16

  By the time Lucas and I reached Tracy’s, Sarah was already there.

  I’d packed my bags and swung by the new apartment to drop them off and make a list of cleaning products to purchase. Jeb’s investment was on the top floor of a two-story house, about ten blocks away from Tracy’s. The bedrooms were small, but they had their own bathrooms, and the living area had an open kitchen and an obstructed view of the mountains. In spite of the musty smell and the bare furnishings, I decided I didn’t hate it.

  What would’ve been the point in hating it? It was to be my new home. Besides, I’d hopefully be moving into a dorm room soon. I was glad all my stuff fit in two blue Ikea bags. If I’d owned more things, relocating would’ve been a much bigger hassle. Besides, I adhered to my mother’s philosophy that things and the desire to always amass more stripped people of happiness and freedom. “The lighter you travel, the farther you’ll go,” she
used to tell me. Back then, it had frustrated me not to be able to get a new backpack at the start of the school year or the Adidas sneakers everyone else was sporting, but I’d learned to stop wanting things. It had taken years. To be honest, it had taken my mother falling ill. Nothing else but finding a cure to keep her alive had mattered then.

  I walked past the bar toward the wooden table Sarah was sitting at, drumming her perfectly manicured fingernails in time with the rain battering the windowed façade. She smiled when she caught sight of me, but then her smile wilted when she caught sight of my bodyguard.

  Instead of sitting at another table like he’d done at the inn, Lucas plopped down on the seat beside Sarah. “If it isn’t my favorite Pine.”

  “You don’t have a favorite Pine,” Sarah shot back. Then to me, she asked, “Why is the Neanderthal here?”

  Lucas smirked, twisting the cap on his head. “Still at it with the name-calling, I see.”

  Sarah glared at him, eyes a condemning shade of brown.

  I sighed. “Long story.”

  “I’m listening.” Sarah leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, making her extremely generous cleavage pop. I caught Lucas checking her out, and not just for a second or discreetly. He stared at her chest almost a full minute. Sleazeball.

  Once I was done giving her the highlights, she uncrossed her arms. “Shit, Ness. That fuckin’ sucks.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “I hope they get your cousin today. If only so you’re no longer stuck with this one.” She tipped her head toward Lucas who stole another lengthy look at her chest. “Eyes up, Mason. Didn’t your father ever teach you manners?”