She was unsettled to find that the hill ended in a steep cliff, and that his outstretched leg dangled over the edge. Padding up to where the ground dropped away, she peered over and saw only darkness below. Her palms felt sweaty as she took a seat beside him, deliberately dangling both legs off the side.
Sten tilted his head in her direction. “Aren’t you afraid of heights?”
He was smiling at her. With teeth and everything, the bastard. Worse still, she was smiling back at him.
“I have a healthy fear of anything that can kill me,” she told him. “What about you? Are you afraid of anything?”
His grin faded, though his features still appeared softer than usual. It was his eyes. No longer coolly detached, he was looking at her with an expression that made her feel as though a bird had been set loose in her belly.
“Everyone is afraid of something,” he told her. “If you’re not, then you have nothing worth losing.”
His words plucked at a nerve she’d been trying to ignore. Giving up all hope of being angry, she tried to think of how best she could serve her heart to him. The old Indigo would have ripped it out and thrust it at his face, but instead she found herself handing it over piece by piece.
“This isn’t the first time that I’ve been here,” she said, letting her legs swing a little. “The I was here this past summer. I sat in that cave.”
His brows twitched. “What were you doing this close to our den?”
She averted her eyes. Coward.
“I was looking for you.”
When Sten remained silent, she took a deep breath and drew up her leg. She pulled off her boot, grimacing as her toes became exposed to the frigid air. She could feel Sten’s gaze on her ankle, which bore a gnarled scar.
“It wasn’t the first time I caught your scent. The time before that, I got so close, and then I ended up in a poacher’s trap.” She laughed nervously. “I’m still not sure if that was less dangerous than trying to walk into Amarok.”
Indigo wet her lips. “From the moment I first smelled you, I knew that I wanted to be with you. And that was before I knew how unbelievably handsome you are, and how good you are at kissing, and how I always feel safe when I’m with you—even when I’m dangling off the edge of a cliff. I know that I’m rambling, so I’m just going to be blunt. I want you, and you’re going to have a very hard time getting rid of me.”
She was able to meet his eyes now, but she couldn’t understand what she was seeing. His eyes had narrowed, but he didn’t look angry, and his lips parted, as though waiting for words to come. If anything, he appeared speculative, and she found it difficult to keep her own mouth shut and stop from backtracking. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but there was no way that she could have anticipated what he finally did say.
“I’m taking your entire pack to my brother’s den tomorrow.” He waited to see if she’d respond, and then continued when she could only gape at him. “I’m not certain how my brother is going to react. There’s a chance, a small one, but still a chance that he may cast me out of Amarok. There is an even greater chance that he’ll find some way to penalize me, likely by keeping me away from the den as much as possible over the next few months.”
Sten exhaled heavily. “What I am telling you is that at present, I am in no position to make any sort of commitment towards you. Do you understand?”
Indigo hated nodding.
Before she could lower her chin, Sten hooked a finger under it and held her gaze. “I have no intention of getting rid of you, Indigo. I’m only telling you this so that you understand what you’re getting yourself into.”
Chest swelling with emotion, Indigo threw her arms around Sten’s neck and kissed him. He was briefly taken aback, but then he returned her kiss in earnest, his firm lips taking command of her mouth. He put a hand to her back, pressing her so closely that she could feel the pounding of his heart against her breasts.
He had to pull her off, and his hand clamped on her arm was the only thing stopping her from tackling him. Amusement glittered in his eyes, but there was a wan smile on his lips.
“You’ve made a terrible decision,” he told her.
Did she ever have a choice?
Chapter 14
The ravine was a dark pit that seemed to have no bottom. Indigo tried to keep her eyes on the icy path ahead and held tightly to Maia’s hand, unsure which of their palms was sweating more.
She still had no idea what had transpired between Zane, Sten, and the Amarok alpha, all she knew was that her brother had bowed to Erik, and now they were heading into the Amarok den. Her face still burned at the memory of Zane kneeling before the other alpha, a male her brother had once hated was now their only hope of security.
Her breath hung in the air as they entered the den. She had never thought it was possible to be colder inside of a den than it was outside. Following closely behind Henna and Brynn, she had been among the first of the Siluit wolves to enter the Amaork den.
Everywhere that her den had been smooth and inviting, the Amarok den was jagged and foreboding. Stalagmites jutted up from the ground, which was slick with slippery ice. Sharp-tipped stalactites loomed overhead, looking ready to fall and impale her. Worst of all was the darkness. There were no lanterns or torches to light the path, only a faint blue glow that came from somewhere up ahead.
Brynn shifted and bound ahead down the path, while Henna slowed her pace, allowing the others to catch up. Indigo looked around for her brother, but couldn’t make him out in the sea of shadowed faces. When they started moving again, the blue light grew brighter. A moment later, the passageway opened up into a massive cavern that was filled with wolves.
Indigo found herself startled on many levels. While there had been the ambient sounds of footsteps and whispering from her pack, she should have been able to hear the Amarok wolves up ahead, but even now, they were as silent as they were still, all of them staring like statues.
The other thing that shocked her was how big they all were. Even the smallest among them was only little shorter than Kuva, and the biggest, a muscle-bound silver wolf, was easily larger than her brother. There were at least forty of them, and not a single one was in human form.
Pretending that she wasn’t insanely intimidated, she held her chin up and tried to look anywhere else but at the Amarok wolves. After another search of the crowd, she finally spotted her brother towards the back, talking with Ginnifer, Vale, and Kya. She started pushing through the tightly huddled group to make her way to him, but Maia tugged at the hem of her pelt.
Indigo kneeled down in front of her. She almost asked what was wrong, but the question seemed stupid, given the circumstances. Instead, she gave Maia’s hand a squeeze and told her everything was going to be all right.
“I know,” Maia said, with a level of confidence that Indigo wished she shared. “Can I go play with them?”
She looked at where Maia was pointing, and was surprised to see that two more wolves had entered the main room, and they were anything but quiet. One was a petite chestnut-colored wolf, small even by Siluit standards, and her soft features marked her as a pup. The other was about the same size, and…
“Is that a dog?” Indigo said aloud, sniffing the air.
She’d seen dogs before, but only once and at a distance, when she’d been spying on a group of human caribou hunters that had been passing through Siluit territory. This one sure smelled like they did, but she couldn’t fathom why there would be a dog in the Amarok den.
“That’s Astrid’s mutt,” Henna said dryly. “We made the mistake of not killing it the first night, and then Halley got attached to it, and then Sten said he’d kill anyone that hurt it, so I guess we’re fucking stuck with it now.”
“Sten said that he’d kill anyone that hurt a dog?” Indigo asked doubtfully.
Henna sighed. “You like Sten, don’t you?”
Her first instinct was to deny it, but that felt childish. She gave Henna a slight nod.
“He
seems to like you too,” Henna said. “Which is very fortunate for you, because that’s about as high as you can go without figuring out a way into Erik’s bed. Do yourself a favor and hide behind him while you’re here, because if you stick your pretty little neck out, these wolves are going to eat you alive.”
Henna strutted away, and Indigo was glad for it. She was too drained to think up a snappy response. Maia squirmed beside her.
“Who’s Erik?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “Can’t we find our own bed to sleep in?”
Indigo pressed her nose to Maia’s forehead. “Why don’t we go find Boaz and the other pups?”
Boaz was much harder to find than Zane. He was already short, but when Indigo nearly tripped over him, he was crouched down, trying to soothe a crying pup. Tallow swooped in, scooping the little boy up and swaying him back and forth in her arms. Boaz stood and brushed off his pants. He cast Tallow a fond look before turning to give Indigo a weak smile.
Indigo put Maia down, and after a brief hesitation, Maia scampered off to join the other pups. Before Indigo could say anything to Boaz, the hum of voices grew louder as many people began talking at once. She stood on the tips of her toes to see what had caused the commotion.
Sten had returned, and he was with his brother. With the two of them walking side by side, she was able to notice similarities in their features, and once she saw them, the resemblance became striking.
Erik was taller, with a thicker neck and bulkier muscles, but he had the same strong nose and handsomely clefted chin as his older brother. The shapes of their jaws and cheekbones were also the same, and the more she looked between them, the more she thought the only real differences were their hair and eyes. Seeing so much of Sten in the Amarok alpha made him seem less intimidating to her.
Both males wore severe expressions as they stalked into the main room, but Sten’s quickly softened. The brown pup that had been playing with the dog came bounding up to him at full speed, shifting as she leapt into his arms. Sten’s eyes squeezed shut as he enfolded her in a tight embrace. He said something to her, but Indigo couldn’t make it out over the noise.
She had no time to speculate over what she’d seen. Beside Sten, his brother snarled in frustration. His commanding voice cut through all other sounds, echoing through the chamber.
“I don’t have time for this.” He turned to face the Siluit wolves, and bellowed, “Which one of you is Indigo?”
She didn’t know what was more appalling, that the Amarok alpha had asked—yelled—for her by name, or that her pack immediately shuffled out of the way, clearing a path directly to her. Indigo stood frozen, like a cornered rabbit.
In the next instant, Zane was there, standing in front of Erik. His earlier display of submission seemed like ages ago, as he scowled at the larger male.
“What do you want with Indigo?”
Still holding the pup in one arm, Sten stepped between them. He held out a pacifying hand towards Zane. “It’s all right. We just need her help with something.”
Sten motioned for Indigo to join them, and she finally stepped forward, her feet feeling leaden. She stopped beside her brother, and then looked up, way up, to meet Erik’s icy gaze.
“What can I help you with?”
Erik scrutinized her for all of a second, and then turned to give Sten a withering look. “She’s a juvenile.”
Indigo thought that nothing could make her more angry than being discounted as a juvenile, but she’d never considered that someone might do it while simultaneously referring to her in the third person.
“I’m twenty,” she said, now more pissed than intimidated.
Erik returned the weight of his stare to her, and to her shame, she flinched. This seemed to please him.
“Fine. But if anything happens to my mate, I will hold you personally responsible.”
Indigo felt a chill run down her spine. “Wait, huh?”
Sten and Zane both began talking at once, but all Indigo heard was Ginnifer, who had suddenly appeared at Zane’s side, her eyes wide with alarm.
“What are you talking about? What’s wrong with my sister?”
Erik was oblivious to the males talking on either side of him. He was looking at Ginnifer, all of the hardness gone from his features. His lips parted slightly, as though he were going to say something to her, but abruptly he turned and walked away.
“I’m not letting her go with him alone,” Zane was saying to Sten.
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Sten said. “Go with her. Ginnifer can go as well. No matter how it seems, he’s only angry with himself. I’ll be behind you shortly.”
Indigo glanced surreptitiously at the pup in Sten’s arms. She was an older pup, with long willowy limbs. She might have looked ridiculous being held by another male, but in Sten’s arms, she looked smaller than she was. Her deep green eyes returned Indigo’s gaze, and Indigo quickly looked away, following after the others.
Erik led them down a gusty passageway, not speaking or looking back. His pace was too quick for Ginnifer to keep up, and Indigo found herself pulling ahead of Ginnifer and Zane, her bags banging noisily against her thighs as she jogged to keep up with the alpha.
When the alpha turned to enter a room, Indigo hesitated, the smell of death turning her stomach to a hard rock. Taking a quick, calming breath, she stepped inside.
The room was lit by a glass lantern, the light magnified by a strategically placed mirror. Fur rugs made the floor soft, coupled with the stuffed cushions and stacks of folded fabrics the room had a cozy feel to it. Or it at least it might have, if not for Erik’s icy stare.
The rigid alpha stood by a pallet of furs, and when Indigo did a double take at the female laying in the bed. She was so small, shorter even than Coral, but with a more curvaceous figure. Indigo could not imagine how this female could be Erik’s mate. It seemed physically impossible.
Hastily recovering from her shock, Indigo rushed over to Astrid’s side. The human was drenched with sweat and her breathing was shallow.
“She was not this bad when I left,” Erik said, and a flash of anguish passed over his hard features. He took his mate’s hand, and offered it to Indigo. “It is this.”
Indigo’s brows rose as she saw the red line running along Astrid’s arm, coupled with a pinkish rash that was spreading across her body. The others arrived before she could say anything, and Ginnifer let out a sharp cry.
“What happened? What did you do to her?”
To Indigo’s amazement, Erik flinched.
Ginnifer tried to rush to her sister’s side, but Zane held her back. “It could be contagious.”
“It’s not,” Indigo said. “It’s an infection in her blood.”
Knowing the problem gave Indigo only a small measure of relief. Astrid was in bad shape, and even using the antibiotics she’d brought from Siluit, Indigo wasn’t sure if the human would recover. She tried saying as much, but looking between Ginnifer and Erik, her tongue caught on the words.
* * *
It had been difficult to leave Halley so soon after retuning home. She had seemed understanding, which made it all the worse for Sten. She was growing far too accustomed to him leaving her.
As soon as she was tucked into bed, he followed Indigo’s scent. It stood out more than the others, and was the easiest one for him to pick up. He found her in Astrid’s room, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her bag of books was in her lap, and she was hugging it to her chest.
Astrid lay sleeping on her back, her sister laying to her left and Erik to her right. Ginnifer was in a dead sleep, and Erik looked as though he wouldn’t be far behind, but for now he was awake, head resting on his arm and eyes on his mate’s face. Zane sat in the corner, looking none too pleased about his mate’s proximity to the other alpha.
“How is she?” Sten asked, coming to crouch down beside Indigo.
She looked up at him through eyes rimmed with fatigue, and began to wring her hands. “She seems a lot better, but we’ll k
now more later.”
Sten put a hand on the back of her head, giving it a gentle stroke. She didn’t lean into his touch, but her eyes fluttered shut, her posture sagging slightly. He didn’t immediately take his hand back, nor did he look in her brother’s direction. He knew that Zane would be watching and speculating, but if he and Indigo were going to have any sort of relationship, Sten would not tiptoe around Zane.
“If you’d like, I can take you to your room,” he said.
Indigo looked at Astrid and started to shake her head.
“If she needs you, someone will come and get you,” Sten said. “And she’d be better served if you were well rested when she did.”
It was Erik who spoke next, waving a dismissive hand as he did so. “Go.” His eyes never left Astrid.
A command from Erik had her practically springing to her feet. Sten hoped it was from eagerness to leave and not fear. He did not regret taking time to be with Halley, but sending Indigo off with his brother had not been easy. Never had he wanted so badly to be in two places at once.
Sten waited for her to say goodbye to Zane, and he acknowledged the alpha with a slight incline of his head. Zane nodded back, his face perfectly blank.
He took her bag as they headed out into the passageway. They had only gone a few steps when she began to tremble. Before coming to find her, he had quickly changed into clothes, and now he regretted not bringing an extra pelt to cover her with.
“It’s not much colder than your den,” he told her. “It’s the wind. It sweeps through the ravine and…”
Sten trailed off as he smelled her tears.
“What’s going to happen if she dies?” she asked in a shaky whisper. “Is he going to blame me? There was nothing else I could do.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he said, running a hand down her back. “You have my word.”
She didn’t respond, but some of her shaking subsided. He knew that his vow was unnecessary. Erik had made many rash decisions in his life, but Sten couldn’t see him harming Indigo for something that was clearly not her fault. But he realized that he did mean what he said. He wouldn’t be able to stand by if Erik tried to harm her.
Chasing the Alpha: Shifters of Nunavut, Book #3 Page 12
