by Viola Rivard
“Oh, Hale,” she said, reaching up to stroke his hair. “I’ve told you before, none of that was your fault. But thank you, for caring.”
“I’m your mate. It’s my job,” he said, catching her hand. He brought it to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
Leaning in close, he whispered, “Don’t worry, Taylor. You see, I took one of your notebooks from the shelf. I’ve been making a list and so far it’s about twenty pages front and back. The moment our son is safely outside of you, we’re going to revisit every single argument that I’ve passed up on.”
Taylor smacked his chest. “You are not serious. Actually, don’t answer that, I know you’re joking because I’ve never seen you write so much as your own name. Ugh, you’re such a jerk.”
Hale started to respond, but his mouth shut and his brow furrowed. He sniffed at the air.
“What is it?” Taylor asked.
“Alder’s back.”
“Really?” Taylor breathed.
Whenever he left for a foray into human territories, Alder was almost always back later than he estimated, so it was a surprise that he was early for once.
“Yeah,” Hale said, sounding bemused. “And I think he brought Snow.”
“Really?” she said again, her enthusiasm compounded.
The first time she’d met Alder’s daughter, Taylor hadn’t known he’d even been a father. She’d been born when Alder was only fourteen, a young age, even by shifter standards. Her care had fallen onto Cain and Sarah, who had raised her as their own until she’d run away a few years ago, seeking to live with her father. Not long after her arrival, the pack feud between Halcyon and Whiteriver had boiled over, resulting in Snow’s abduction.
Snow had never been able to shift, and after they’d finally gotten her back from Whiteriver, they found out why. Somehow, she’d been born human, and was progressing through a normal human puberty. In order to spare her from having to stay in the shifter territories and take a mate, Taylor and Alder had arranged for Snow to go live with the foster mother who’d raised her, Mrs. Smith.
After getting over the initial shock of Snow, Taylor had come to adore her. She looked so much like her father, and was sweet, gentle, and whip smart. Part of her had been sad seeing Snow depart, because she would have loved to have had a daughter like her, and for her children to have such a wonderful big sister.
“This is great,” Taylor said, gripping the furs over Hale’s chest. “Shadow and Fawn will finally get to meet their big sister.”
Hale didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm. “Yeah, but why is she here? That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“What does it matter? Let’s go see them! Can I ride on your back?”
He looked down at her belly and snorted. “Not a chance. We’ll walk, together.”
Hale wasn’t making a jab at how big she was. As her pregnancy had progressed, he’d developed an irrational fear that she would get hurt if she rode him in his wolf form. It was particularly annoying now that she’d reached the stage where even short walks were tiring and uncomfortable.
Her feet and back were aching by the time they reached the hill that led up to the den. It wasn’t overly steep, but might as well have been for all the effort it would take to ascend. Hale offered to carry her and she almost accepted until Alder came into view.
Smiling and waving up at him, Taylor started up the hill with renewed energy. Her mate met her halfway, pulling her into a tight embrace. Tears sprung to her eyes as she buried her head into his chest, taking in his scent.
“I missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you more,” he said, placing kisses on the top of her head, her cheek, and then her lips. “More than I can tell you. Where are the pups?”
“Sleeping, but we can wake them. They’re going to be so happy to see you.”
Hale had gone ahead of them, and Taylor heard him say, “Never knew black was your favorite color.”
She reluctantly looked past Alder, and her mouth fell open. Snow stood only a few feet away from them. Taylor recognized her by her dimpled chin and bright blue eyes, but if not for those distinctive features, she might have been a complete stranger.
Standing next to her uncle, Taylor was struck first by how tall she was. Nearly as tall as Hale, she had long, slender legs that were clad in formfitting black tights and black boots that went up to her knees. Her tank top was white, but mostly obscured by a black leather jacket, which was open just enough to reveal ample cleavage. The most dramatic change, however, was in her face, which no longer looked like that of a girl. Though only in her mid-teens, Snow’s features were so mature that she could have easily been mistaken for being Taylor’s age. Had she not known her, Taylor would have assumed that Snow was Hale’s sister, rather than his niece.
“It’s so good to see you, Snow. How have you been?” Taylor asked.
Snow looked her up and down, her gaze cool and assessing. Then, she looked to her father and said, “You didn’t tell me you were having another kid.”
Even her voice sounded different. It was strong, confident, and flat.
But even more unsettling was Alder’s acerbic tone as he responded, “You haven’t exactly been interested in making conversation.”
Snow stared back at her father, her face devoid of expression. “Whatever. Congratulations, I guess.”
In a clear attempt to break the tension, Hale mussed up Snow’s hair. “So, you’re not even gonna pretend like you’re happy to see your favorite uncle?”
“I’m glad to see you, Uncle Hale.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
While the pair bantered, Taylor turned to Alder and whispered, “What’s happening? Is she coming to live here?”
Alder was wearing a deep frown. “Just for a couple of weeks. She’s having some trouble at school. Mrs. Smith mentioned bullying.”
“She’s being bullied?”
Alder scratched the back of his neck. “It’s my impression that it’s the other way around.”
Their attention was drawn back to Snow as she gave her uncle a none-too-playful slap on the arm.
“Stop fucking with my hair,” she groused.
Profanity was part of the everyday vernacular in the pack, particularly in Hale’s case. It shouldn’t have disturbed Taylor so much to hear Snow swearing, but something about it felt wrong.
Snow felt wrong.
It had been less than three years ago that she had last seen Alder’s sweet, reserved daughter. What could have possibly happened to her in that time? Hale must have been thinking the same thing, though he tried to make light of it.
“Listen to you,” Hale said, taking a big handful of Snow’s hair. “Alder, where did you find this brat? This clearly isn’t my sweet little niece.”
Putting on a smile, Taylor said, “Let her go, Hale. Come on, Snow. How about you come with me and I’ll introduce you to Shadow and Fawn? Oh, and there’s Henry and Belle, too. You’re going to love them.”
“You had more twins?” Snow asked, finally acknowledging Taylor. “Guess the odds are in your favor.”
“No, actually.” She looked to Alder, confused. They must have been traveling together for several days and he hadn’t mentioned Henry and Belle. “They aren’t ours, at least, not biologically. We sort of adopted them.”
Snow just stared at her unblinkingly. Taylor couldn’t discern a hint of emotion on the girl’s face, and it was creepy as hell.
Just when Taylor found herself wanting to look away, Snow said in a deadpan, “How nice. How nice for all of you.” She waved her hand, turned around, and started walking away. “Okay, I’ll meet the happy family later, but I have other things to do right now.”
Alder seemed to be expecting this. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Hale said, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?
Without looking back, Snow said, “Where I belong. To Whiteriver, to be with Silas. And don’t even think about trying to stop
me.”
Oh, fuck.
Hale started after her, but Alder stopped him. “Let her walk a bit, then you can go get her. She needs to cool down.”
“What’s that shit about Silas?” Hale asked.
Taylor said, “I think that maybe they were, um…”
She trailed off, looking for a reaction from Alder.
Alder said, “You knew?”
“No! At least, not before. I guess maybe I suspected something had happened between them, but then this summer, Olivia mentioned that Silas wasn’t over someone and… I don’t know, I guess I thought that it maybe could have been Snow that he was in love with.”
“In love with?” Alder repeated, his eyes narrowing. “She’s a girl and she was his hostage. He took advantage of her, and now she has it in her head that she’s going to become his mate.”
“She doesn’t know about Carly?” Hale asked.
“I tried telling her,” Alder said. “She thinks I’m just making it up to keep her away from Silas.”
“Oh, geez,” Taylor said. “What a disaster this is going to be.”
Both of her mates looked at her with twin expressions of concern. Alder went to her first, putting his arms around her and pulling her into another hug.
“I’m going to handle all of this,” he assured her. “It’s not going to affect you or the pups at all. I know she’s a handful, but she’s just stressed and lashing out. Adjusting to human life has been difficult for her. All she needs is a few weeks here and she’ll remember why she wanted to leave. Then, I’ll take her home.”
Taylor didn’t believe for a second that it was that simple. In her childhood, she had seen enough girls in crisis to recognize the signs. There were serious problems that would need to be addressed with Snow, and they wouldn’t have quick fixes.
But before any of that tough work could be done, Snow would have to face the fact that being with Silas was no longer an option.
Running With Alphas: Autumn
Snow’s arrival affects Taylor’s family in ways that she could have never anticipated. Instead of preparing for her new baby, Taylor finds herself contending with her brilliant, mean, and violent stepdaughter. Not only is Snow hell-bent on destroying Carly and Silas’s relationship, she might actually be succeeding.
Coming Autumn, 2018
Stay up to date on releases. Click Here to sign up for Viola Rivard’s mailing list.
