Everything Reed does is designed to send a message: look at how brutal I can be; you might be next.
The stairs creak under someone’s weight and Cal tenses.
It better not be the Winterstokes. Cal would not put it past Luke to try and save him, but all that will happen is that Reed will kill every one of them.
The floorboards outside the door creak, and the key turns in the lock with a metallic click.
And there’s Luke standing in the doorway, his brown eyes dark with worry. He smells like home.
Luke rushes in and bends down, taking Cal in his arms.
“You’re bruised.” Luke’s thumb lightly touches the side of Cal’s face.
“You need to go,” Cal whispers. “Reed will kill you if he finds you here.”
Luke smiles in that odd way people do when they don’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Yes. If he finds me here, and if he doesn’t. I made his kill list the moment he found out we were mated. There’s no running from that. Come on. We have to go.”
Cal doesn’t move. He buries his face in the corner of Luke’s neck instead, scenting the familiar smell of the bookstore and also the gorgeous baby-girl scent of his daughter.
“Where is she? Is she alright?” Tears come to Cal’s eyes. “I don’t even know what her name is.”
He feels the muscles move in Luke’s jaw as he smiles. “She’s just fine. She’s with Jax, and I have no idea what her name is. I’ve been waiting for you to get home so we can decide together.”
Cal looks up incredulous. “Are you serious?”
“I’m afraid so. Now, let’s get going. Please. I don’t know how much time we have.”
Running again. Cal’s hands begin to shake. He is so tired of running, but anything is better than staying here.
“What’s—” Cal doesn’t want to ask the question, but he has to. He spits it out as fast as he can. “What’s going on in the arena?”
Luke puts his head out of the door to check if anyone is coming before he gestures to Cal. “Reed is fighting Adam.”
“Oh God.” Fear skitters up Cal’s spine. Adam. Quiet, reserved Adam with his dry jokes that Cal only gets days later. Adam who spent a whole night baking pink cupcakes for Cal’s baby. “Reed is going to kill him.”
“I hope not,” Luke says. “Or we’re all in trouble. Or at least, we will be once he gets through Gregor too.”
He says it in a way that is clearly supposed to make Cal feel better about the numbers at his back, but Luke doesn’t know how Reed operates.
Cal closes his eyes. “And after Gregor?”
“Then it’ll be Eli Foster. And Sheriff Dan. And the rest of the Fosters and the Warwicks. He can’t take us all down. He’ll yield well before that.”
“No, he won’t,” Cal whispers. His mouth is horribly dry.
That was how Reed worked his way through the Thornwoods. He just took them all down one by one with all the enthusiasm and ease of a terrier working its way through a nest of rats.
Luke stops and puts his hands on Cal’s shoulders. Deep brown eyes stare deep into Cal’s and Cal can see the need that Luke has to make Cal feel better. “He’s not invincible. He’s not immortal. He is capable of going down, and he will.”
Luke says it firmly and with authority, but Cal can smell the fear on him. He’s terrified for his brothers. He’s definitely right about one thing though: they need to leave, so Cal doesn’t argue.
The stairs here are the same as at the Winterstoke packhouse. They’re steep and narrow. Luke starts down the first step, then turns back. “Stay close behind me.”
Cal stops on the stair. “Where did you get the key?”
“Eric gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“I guess he’s on our side.”
“Could you—” Cal holds out his hand. Luke passes the key to him, a little confused.
Cal crosses the landing and turns the key in the lock of the other door. Ben is a dark shape under the duvet. Cal gently shakes his shoulder.
“Ben? I’m running again. Come with me.”
Ben’s breathing changes and Cal knows he’s awake. He says nothing.
“Please come,” Cal says. “I can’t leave you here.”
Ben shifts in the bed. “Okay.” His voice comes out soft and hoarse, and Cal wonders when he last used it. Cal hasn’t heard him speak in years.
“We need to be quick,” Cal says.
Ben nods and shifts his legs over the side of the bed. He’s wearing only a pair of cotton boxers and Cal can’t help noticing how thin he is. The lack of light makes the shadows under his eyes even deeper.
Ben hesitates when he gets to the landing and scents Luke.
Cal takes his hand. “It’s okay. He’s one of the good ones.”
Ben’s eyebrows rise. It’s the first sign of personality that Cal has seen in a long time, even if Ben’s meaning is quite clear: there are no good ones.
Ben follows them down the stairs anyway. There might be no good ones, but there are few who are as bad as Reed.
They take the winding stairs down on soft feet, listening out for the sounds of anyone else approaching.
Luke waits for them as they reach the bottom. The marble floors are cold beneath Cal’s feet. Luke presses a set of keys into Cal’s hand.
“Wait in van closest to the door,” he says. “If we’re not back in half an hour, or if you see anyone from Reed’s pack, start driving.”
“Aren’t you coming with us?”
“I need to get back...” Luke breaks off and Cal can hear all the words that Luke can’t find.
He needs to check his brother is still alive. Or avenge him. Or even both his brothers. He needs to get back in case Reed has noticed he has gone and changed the rules.
Cal nods. “Half an hour.”
Luke takes off in the direction of the arena, leaving Ben and Cal alone in the dark foyer. Cal can hear the sound of his heart racing, and by the way Ben is breathing, his is racing just as quickly.
The front door feels like a big deal. He’s only been through it once in his life, and that was before he escaped. He hopes that after this time, he never has to go through it again.
“Come on,” Cal whispers.
The two omegas tip toe towards the dark door, listening out for pack wolves.
The eerie quiet is broken suddenly by an earsplitting howl from behind them.
Adam.
Cal stops, shivering. In the distance, Luke is racing through the stone garden paths under a bright yellow moon. Every instinct he has makes him want to chase after him.
“Don’t leave me,” Ben whispers.
Cal stops, torn.
There’s another howl from the direction of the arena.
Cal shakes his head. He can’t leave Luke. Or Adam. Or Gregor. Or any of them.
For better or worse, the Winterstokes are now his family, and the Aylewood packs are his pack.
If the Aylewood packs go down, Cal is going to go down right beside them. If he’s lucky, he’ll get to take a bite out of Reed on the way.
“Take the keys. I’ll follow if I can.”
Ben stares at him, horrified.
Cal wants to explain, but that would take more time than he has.
He starts running.
LUKE
blood and betrayal
There’s blood on the sandy floor of the arena. Some of it isn’t Adam’s, but most of it is.
Luke is peering through a gap just behind the high hedge waiting for the right moment to sidle back into the crowd and hope that no one missed him.
The oldest Winterstoke brother is struggling to stand upright on all four paws, and his right flank is matted with blood.
Reed circles him slowly. Adam’s not down, not yet. If Reed picks the wrong time and the wrong angle, Adam will be able to get Reed’s throat without much difficulty at all, so the older wolf appears to be taking his time.
Adam’s got a few blows in too. Reed’s unsteadier
than he was, and Luke can smell at least one open wound. One of Reed’s eyes has swollen closed, making it even more essential that the River Beach wolf picks his time carefully if he wants to win this.
Every pair of eyes is fixed on them. It seems as good a time as any for Luke to sneak back in as if he never left.
Reed darts in and snaps at Adam’s throat, but the mountain wolf twists at the last minute and Reed gets nothing more than a thin break of skin, rewarded with a high sharp howl from Adam who twists away panting.
The sound makes Luke’s heart stop, but he ignores it and walks in smoothly to stand by Eric. The River Beach second gives him a slight nod and a smile, which slowly morphs into a broad wide grin.
Luke smiles back a little unsurely, then his eyes are drawn automatically to the arena. He wants to help his brother but he can’t. The moment that anyone steps over the line to help, is the moment the fight is forfeit and they have lost.
It goes against all his instincts. Warmth streaks through his muscles from the tension of staying in place. Beside him, Gregor is sweating with the effort of it.
Then Eric lifts his head and sniffs loudly and ostentatiously.
For a moment, Luke is confused, but then he scents the same thing that Eric and all the River Beach wolves will smell the second they pay attention: Cal.
Cal on Luke. Cal racing through the darkness towards them.
Eric does it again. Two short sharp sniffs far louder than they need to be.
The River Beach wolves start scenting the air, following their second’s lead. They look around and see Luke. None move, but indecision fills the air.
It takes an instant for the Aylewood wolves to pick up on the tension too. Gregor’s eyes meet Luke’s, and Luke can read the panic written in them.
The River Beach are all looking to Eric for a decision, but he does nothing other than sniff the air again.
Finally, the change in the crowd reaches the wolves inside the arena.
Adam scents the air not taking his eyes off of Reed. The older wolf does the same cautiously, and then with fury.
Reed turns his head towards Eric, and then to Cal who has come racing through the gap in the hedge, sliding to a halt only when he sees every eye on him.
In a flash, Adam takes his chance. He leaps on powerful hind legs onto Reed’s back and catches his neck in his jaws, using his weight to push him to the floor and keep him there.
Luke breathes in a sudden sharp breath, hardly able to hope that this is going to be the end of it. A second later, Cal is at his side, a warm hand in his.
Reed struggles against the hold, trying to shake Adam off of him, but the mountain wolf has him down firmly. Adam shakes his jaw against the scruff of Reed’s neck, and he doesn’t need a human mouth to make his meaning clear. Yield.
Gregor says it out loud. “Yield. He’s got you.”
Beside Gregor, Jeannie shifts into human shape. She’s a tall slim redhead with a broken nose. “Cheat,” she snarls. “They cheat.”
Eric shrugs. “No one entered the arena. The win is valid.”
“No,” Jeannie growls.
In the sandbox, Reed is still struggling but getting nowhere. Legally, Adam would be in his rights to snap down on Reed’s spine and face no consequences. The fight has been won. The only question is whether Adam will let him yield and live to fight another day.
Reed gives off a low rumble from deep in his belly, his eyes red with rage.
Adam shakes his jaw again with the same clear meaning. Yield.
Luke watches in horror. If Reed doesn’t yield, Adam will have to kill him. Luke doesn’t care much for Reed. The man is a psychopath, but Adam isn’t.
His brother will take it hard if he has to kill a man.
Suddenly, as if realizing that he is about to leave Adam with only one option, Reed relaxes completely and gives off a high-pitched whine. Adam stays where he is, looking confused. This wasn’t what he was expecting. He loosens his grip very slightly, enough for Reed to roll over and expose his belly.
It’s a clear surrender.
Adam sidles away cautiously, and Reed struggles to his feet. Adam does a weird little backwards walk out of the arena, clearly not trusting Reed to keep to his surrender and not pounce on him the moment Adam turns his back.
Reed’s eyes follow him with a mix of rage and humiliation, then rise to Cal and the anger rises further. Reed growls again, low and furious.
“You’re a fool,” Eric says out loud, and it takes a minute for Luke to work out who the dark-haired alpha is talking to.
It becomes obvious when the River Beach second steps into the arena. “A damned fool,” Eric continues. “How long before someone beat you and killed us all? And we’d deserve it too. No more.”
Reed growls and launches himself at Eric, who steps aside lightning quick. Reed falls hard onto the sand, and turns for another attack, but he’s injured and slow.
Eric shifts where he stands, shredding his clothes and goes straight for Reed’s throat which breaks with a fleshy-sounding tear.
It happens so fast the Luke struggles to take it in, but in under thirty seconds, Mason Reed has gone from a threat they will have to worry about coming for a rematch to an empty shell bleeding out onto the sand.
A moment later, Eric is human shaped again. Blood drips from his mouth and down his chest. “Anyone want to challenge me?”
Luke looks away.
Jeannie growls.
“Try it,” Eric says.
She stands staring at him for the longest time, then she whimpers and looks away. One by one, River Beach wolves let off a long, slow howl until every one of them has sworn allegiance.
“Good choice,” Eric says, then he turns to Adam. “Take your people and go. I have no quarrel with you. If any omegas want to leave with you, that’s their choice.”
The Aylewood packs don’t need him to say it twice. They leave without a backwards glance.
CAL
baby-dark eyes and a yellow onesie
She’s different. It’s only been a few days, but Cal’s daughter has changed. The angry red just-been-birthed face has smoothed out and turned a pale cream, and her eyes have lightened. They’re still baby-dark, but it’s already clear that she’s not going to have Luke’s brown ones.
She’s wearing the pretty yellow onesie that Gregor gifted her in the baby shower.
Different or not, Cal doesn’t care. She’s here and he’s here, and he’s never going to be separated from her again.
The time spent away from him doesn’t appear to have done her any permanent damage, but he thinks she seems pleased to have him back.
He’s sitting with her in the nursery that they spent so much time decorating. He’s in the armchair he sat in when Luke first told him that Reed was in Cedar Falls.
“Tea’s up,” Luke says, walking in with two steaming mugs. He places them carefully a long way from the baby, even though it’s going to be a while before she’s capable of pulling anything down on top of her. Then, he bends and gently kisses the top of Cal’s forehead, and sits on the carpet alongside him, with his cheek on Cal’s knee. “Are you okay?”
He’s asked the same question a hundred times in the days since Cal’s been back. Cal doesn’t mind. He responds the same way he did the last time and the time before that. “Yes, I’m perfect.”
The cub grips his finger with a chubby baby fist. Her little lips curve into a smile. “She’s smiling,” Cal grins at the expression on Luke’s face. “Yes, it’s a smile I know the difference between gas and a smile. She’s got both her daddies back. She’s happy.”
Luke kisses Cal’s knee. “I’m not arguing. So, is it time?”
“Definitely,” Cal replies. He looks down at his daughter. “What about Anna? Or Alice. Or a family name.”
Luke looks up. He runs a soft fingertip over the baby’s cheek, and the smile comes back. “My mother’s name was Marta.”
“I like that. She looks like a Marta,” Cal says
. “What do you think, little one?”
The baby smiles again.
“She likes it,” Cal says. “Are you sure? Will your brothers mind?”
Luke looks up with shining eyes. “They’ll love it. And you’re right. She looks like a Marta. I think Mom would have liked it too.”
“Well, then. Hello to you little Marta Winterstoke. We’re your dads.”
Marta yawns and closes her eyes. Cal bends and presses his lips to her forehead. He sighs contentedly. He feels as relaxed as she looks. “How’s Ben settling in?”
“Fine,” Luke replies. He reaches up for one of the mugs of tea and takes a careful sip. “At least I think he’s fine. He hasn’t come out of his room. Jax went in and spoke to him and gave him a check-up. Apparently, he’s underweight and malnourished but otherwise healthy. Completely non-verbal though. It’s going to take a while for him to recover.”
“He’s safe,” Cal says, not taking his eyes away from Marta. She’s even more perfect when she’s asleep. “It’s a good first step.”
“Here,” Luke says, putting out his hands. “I’ll put her in the crib.”
Cal shakes his head. “No, I think I’ll just stay here with her for a little while.” He smiles. “Maybe a long while.”
Luke leans his head again against Cal’s knee, and closes his eyes. He smells like books and comfort and mixed in with that is the sweet citrus scent of the baby.
It’s the scent of family, Cal realizes. He likes it. He closes his eyes and breathes in the twin scents of home and family.
EPILOGUE
CAL
coloring books and coffee
It’s an admittedly weird way to spend a family holiday, but Cal married the best man in the world. Luke never complains that they spend three days every few months sitting in a shabby booth at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.
Dad was right about this place, Cal thinks, watching the waitress behind the counter. She wasn’t here three months ago, and the waitress who was there then, wasn’t here the three months before that. The truck stop is simply too far from the nearest town to make it worth anyone commuting in regularly. It’s one of the few places that he and Dad stopped at often, simply because no one would ever remember them.
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