He seemed surprised by what he’d said, and immediately cast Astrid an apologetic look.
“I already have one pup,” Erik said. “I have no interest in a second.”
Sten continued paying attention as they began bickering. At least on the surface. He had been watching and listening, but his mind kept drifting to Indigo. Mostly, he wondered where she was, what she was doing, and if there were any other males around her. She never seemed interested in other males, but he’d seen them looking at her. Being Zane’s sister might have been enough to ward off Siluit males, but the Amarok males had no such reservations.
Of course, his mark was on her now. A brief lapse in control had put it there, but he’d been up half the night staring at it, and he’d decided that he wasn’t going to let it heal. She didn’t want him to. She had been stroking the mark all morning, always whens she thought he wasn’t watching, always with a small, triumphant smile. As though his mark was some sort of accomplishment. She had no idea that he had been hers from the first night they’d laid together.
“What about you?”
Erik was looking at him, and Sten had to think a few seconds before he could remember what they’d been talking about.
“If you want my opinion on what to do with her, I think that—”
“I wasn’t asking for your opinion,” Erik said irritably. “You wanted a mate, didn’t you? Take Coral. It will give us a good starting point for our negotiations with Sedna.”
“I’m not doing that,” Sten said in a tone that, with any other wolf, would have ended the discussion then and there. Erik, of course, pressed on.
“You haven’t even given it any consideration. If we send her back, they’ll forget what we’ve done in a day. If we keep her here and the two of you have a few pups, her mother will be obliged to aid us, and by proxy, Siluit.”
You were planning this all along, weren’t you? Sten thought, his eyes narrowing on his brother.
Before he could say anything, Indigo came stumbling into the room, looking equal parts angry and terrified.
“He said no.”
She quickly grew flustered under their blank stares. Sten was particularly confused, because he hadn’t heard her approaching the room.
“I only mean… Coral should be able to choose who she wants to mate.” Awkwardly, she added, “Just, as long as it’s not Sten.”
Sten rubbed his chin, his hand concealing a grin. His face hardened when Erik spoke.
“Do not think that fucking my brother gives you the right to come barging in here. Get out.”
The temperature in the room became subzero. While Sten clenched his fists in an effort not to snap at Erik, Zane had no problem doing so.
“Don’t you dare speak to my sister like that.”
“That was so rude,” Astrid said, her voice only a fraction lower than Zane’s. “Why would you say that? Do you even think before you speak?”
Sten knew that there was no way he could continue to be civil. He stood, placing a hand on Indigo’s back. She looked mortified, and Sten suspected it had more to do with her brother than his own. He knew that Zane must have known about them. There was only so much that water could wash away, and by now their scents had sunken into each other’s skin. But knowing a thing and hearing aloud were quite different.
“You seem to have everything figured out on your own,” Sten said. “So I’ll take my leave now.”
“I didn’t tell you that you could leave,” Erik said.
Sten looked his brother straight in the eyes. “Are you going to make me stay?”
They stared at one another, neither blinking, or even taking a breath. It was Astrid who spoke, getting up to step in between them.
“How about we take a break for today and pick this discussion back up tomorrow? I think we all need some time to cool off.”
She was still talking when Sten led Indigo from the room, though she’d changed the subject to Zane’s pup, likely in an attempt to calm him down.
The room was near the surface, and the light that penetrated snow and ice cast blue light through the passageway. No one came to these tunnels, which were higher up even than Siluit quarters, and the way was quiet, save for the distant sound of Astrid talking.
As soon as they’d turned a bend in the path, Indigo stopped and looked up at him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…ugh… I’m sorry.” She apologized twice more, her eyes becoming glassy. “You won’t do it, right? You won’t take Coral as your mate?”
Sten had already said as much, and he knew that she had been listening, but she was emotional and if she needed reassurance from him, he would give it to her.
He put his hands on her face, cupping her cheeks. “I don’t want her.”
Sten was about to kiss her, but he heard booted footsteps approaching. A few seconds later, Astrid appeared around the bend.
“I’ve gotten them talking without looking like they’re going to kill one another, so it’s a start,” Astrid said with a sigh. She frowned at Indigo. “I’m so sorry about that.”
“You don’t have to apologize for him,” Indigo said. “I shouldn’t have interfered.”
Sten cared for Astrid, but in that moment, he wished she would leave them be. He wanted to be left alone with Indigo for a while before they had to leave. He was annoyed when she continued to linger.
“Do you think I could borrow Indigo for a bit?” Astrid asked, giving him a hopeful smile.
Sten couldn’t have held Indigo back if he’d wanted to, but he nodded just the same. Before he let her go, he asked, “Do you want me to pack you a bag for the trip?”
Indigo smiled weakly. “That would be great.”
“I’ll meet you in the main room when you’re finished.”
* * *
Astrid rambled off excuses for Erik’s behavior all the way back to her room. Indigo listened with one ear, one hand massaging her temple and the other clutching her gurgling stomach. She was still insanely hungry, and now she had a massive headache as well.
“…used to getting away with saying whatever he wants. He can be really cruel sometimes, but deep down he’s… I dunno. I’m not sure why I love him. Sometimes I think I’m a masochist.”
“What was it you needed me for?” Indigo didn’t mean to sound so clipped, but they’d been standing in Astrid’s room for several minutes now, and all she wanted was to get back to Sten, mostly so she could take him up on his offer to feed her.
“Oh, right,” Astrid said, looking abashed. She began pacing as she spoke, her finger twisting one of her dark curls. “Geez, I was so excited about this, and now my asshole mate had to go and ruin it for me. I not even sure I want to ask you, to be honest.”
“What is it?” Indigo asked.
Astrid was very flustered all of the sudden, and Indigo’s annoyance was replaced with curiosity.
Waving at her belly, Astrid said, “Every day, Malina and Lusa take turns listening. Ila used to, but all she ever did was announce when I had gas bubbles.” She paused to grimace. “Anyway, this morning, Lusa said she could hear two heartbeats. I want to believe her, but Malina couldn’t hear anything and Lusa is kind of a twat.”
As Astrid rambled, Indigo had guided her over to the bed. “How far along are you again?”
“I’m not exactly sure. Six weeks? Maybe a little more? It’s embarrassing that I don’t know.”
“It can be hard to keep track of time during the winter,” Indigo said as she brought Astrid down to sit. “I might be able to hear something, but I can’t make any promises, okay?”
“Oh yeah, of course. Thanks.”
Indigo leaned down to press her ear to Astrid’s soft belly. She hadn’t had the opportunity to listen to Luken’s heartbeat when he was this small. They hadn’t even found out that Ginnifer was pregnant until she’d returned from Florida, already well into her second trimester.
But it wasn’t the first time she’d listened for a miniscule heartbeat. She remembered w
hen she’d been five years old and her mother had become pregnant. For several weeks, she spent a good hour each night, listening and talking to what she hoped was her little sister. It wasn’t until a few years later that she understood why her parents had fought so much during those weeks, or why her mother had seemed relieved when she had lost the pup. Her mother had been dying, and she had not wanted to leave behind another child that she would not live to raise.
“I definitely hear one,” Indigo said. “Maybe two, but it’s hard to say.”
She was almost certain that she heard a second heartbeat, but it wasn’t the sort of thing she was comfortable being wrong about.
Indigo lifted her head to see Astrid smile, and then cringe, and then smile again.
“I knew it,” she breathed. “The first week, everyone was commenting on how quickly my scent changed, and it was always in the back of my mind that it might be twins. Do you think it’s wrong of me to be so excited? I should be terrified, right? But I’m not. I’m so happy. I always wanted two kids, and Erik’s so adamant about only wanting one pup. Now I don’t have to beg him for the second.”
She pulled Indigo into a tight hug, thanking her profusely.
“Just remember, I didn’t say there were definitely two,” Indigo cautioned anxiously. “I’ll check again at the end of the week.”
“Of course, of course,” Astrid said absently. “I’m not sure how I’m going to tell Erik. I wish I could tell him tonight so he feels extra guilty about what he said today, but I probably will wait a few more days. I don’t want him to be disappointed if we’re wrong.”
“But I thought he said he only wanted one pup. Why would he be disappointed?”
Astrid waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, he just says that because it makes him sound tough. I don’t think I’d actually have to beg him all that hard for a second.” She stopped to take a breath, and then grabbed Indigo’s hands to squeeze them. “I can’t thank you enough for this. I’m so glad to have you here.”
“No thanks needed,” Indigo said before taking her leave.
Sten was already in the main room by the time she arrived. He was speaking with Boaz, making arrangements for Halley to stay with the other pups in case they were gone overnight.
Somehow, Kya had managed her way into the group, and she was standing beside Sylvestre, hanging on his every word as he conversed with Roch. Thankfully, Lake was not among them. Indigo didn’t think she could handle another minute of the snooty female today.
She said goodbye to Halley, but didn’t manage to get two words in with Sten before they were all shifting. Her wolf came to her easily. The animal was hungry, and eager to get out an hunt.
Chapter 23
It was night by the time they passed over the frozen lake, and well into the early morning hours when they found the herd, grazing on buried roots on the open tundra.
Sten and Sylvestre led the four Amarok wolves, coordinating the attack through a series of blinks and slight twitches of their heads and tails. Indigo wouldn’t have even noticed the gestures if she hadn’t been briefed on them beforehand, and she still wouldn’t have been sure of her role, were it not so straightforward.
She and Kya had to swing a wide circle around the herd to make them anxious. Muskoxen did not run from the sight of a couple wolves, instead they formed a tight circle with their calves in the center, bulls and cows looking out in every direction.
Roch was tasked with getting them to break formation, running at them repeatedly until they were flustered and stressed. That part took the longest, but as soon as the break came, the Amarok wolves were there to exploit it.
Until then, Indigo had been irritated about being marginalized. Sylvestre had told her and Kya that they weren’t allowed to go anywhere near the muskoxen when it came time to kill, and Sten had backed him up. Under normal circumstances, she would have been overjoyed at not having to participate in the hunt, but that night her wolf had been anxious to make a kill and feed.
They had not seen the Amarok wolves until they struck. Not just the muskoxen, but Indigo and Kya as well. Even Roch had appeared startled when the pale wolves had risen up from the snow like spirits, striking fast and violently. It was the first time Indigo had seen a bull die before it hit the ground.
In spite of his own carefully laid plans, Sylvestre had immediately shot off after another one of the fleeing muskoxen. The massive beta male felled it almost as quickly as the others had brought down the first bull, though it gave several dying thrashes, one of them driving its horn down Sylvestre’s side.
It was a deep wound, one that would have left Indigo doubled over and crying, despite her considerable tolerance for pain. But when Sylvestre shifted into his human form, with blood oozing down the side of his body, he was grinning ear to ear. As though oblivious to the wound, he held a long, enthusiastic conversation with Ciel, slipping in and out of French as Indigo tried to get him to sit down.
Sten had packed her medical kit, for just this reason, he’d told her. Wounds were uncommon when they stuck to formation, but Sylvestre had a habit of being impetuous.
That was how Indigo ended up stitching Sylvestre’s side, while the other wolves got to enjoy the meal they’d earned. After loading the muskoxen carcasses onto a rudimentary sled, they had retreated from the open tundra, to a hilly area where they’d be less exposed. They’d brought enough kindling for a small fire, but they only used it for warmth. She could see Roch and Kya eyeing their plates sadly, but neither was willing to be the first to cook their meats, something the Amarok wolves would have mocked them for.
Indigo’s attention shifted back to the wound, but her stomach rumbled loudly.
“Eat if you want,” Sylvestre said. “You can finish this later.”
He really had no idea how bad this wound was. She had exhausted her supply of cloths, all of them soaked with blood now, and the unstitched part of the wound was still bleeding freely.
“I’ll eat when I’m done,” Indigo said, trying not to sound sulky. “If I wait any longer, it’s going to scar.”
Sylvestre had turned his full attention on her, and there was a mischievous glint in his golden eyes. “I have plenty of scars. Besides, females like scars. It shows them that I am a male that has been tested.”
Indigo pushed the needle in a little more deeply than she had to. It only seemed to amuse Sylvestre.
“All it shows is that you’re rash,” she told him. “I still can’t believe you went after a bull all by yourself.”
“Impressed?”
“By your stupidity.”
A ripple of laughter ran through the Amarok males, and even Sylvestre chuckled, though he wagged a chiding finger at her face.
“You should be glad. Now there are two bulls, where there might have been one. That means a whole bull for your pack. A week of fresh meat.”
That had been the deal that Sten had struck with her pack. She, Kya, and Roch would come and participate in the hunt, and in return, Siluit would take half of the haul. It wasn’t really fair, considering the Amarok wolves did most of the work, but if it bothered any of them, they said nothing.
“I’d hardly consider one bull to be a week’s worth of food for nearly a hundred wolves,” Indigo said obstinately.
Sylvestre was no longer looking at her. “I could have caught a third, if Sten hadn’t stopped me.”
Sten sat not far from them, but had been too preoccupied scraping meat from bones to join in on the conversation. Indigo had gotten the impression that he and Sylvestre were friends, but the look Sten gave him was frosty.
“We couldn’t have carried a third back.”
“Speaking of which,” Roch interjected. “Who’s pulling the sled back? It’s not going to be me.”
There had been a time when Indigo had considered Roch to be a large, strong male, but the Amarok males made him look scrawny by comparison. They were all staring at him now, blank expressions on their faces.
Roch scratched the back of his nec
k. “All I’m saying is that I helped out more than the females. One of them should carry it back.”
“That is a tonne of meat,” Sylvestre said. “You’d have the females carry it back? Would you also like to ride on their backs, so you can rest your skinny legs?”
Roch flushed. “I’ll at least need someone to help me.”
Sylvestre gave him a congenial smile. “But you’re the sled boy. That is why we allowed you to come.” He snatched Kya up, and she let out a delighted cry as he pulled her against the uninjured side of his chest. “We brought the females because after a good hunt, it is nice to rest beside a warm body.”
Kya’s smile stiffened, and Indigo knew that she was thinking of Coral’s comment from the day before. Indigo jabbed the needle even deeper this time, earning a scowl from Sylvestre. Despite having his insides had visible only a few moments ago, he still found the needle to be objectionable.
“Oops,” she said, in a tone that heavily implied that she didn’t mean it.
Then his grin was back. A handsome grin, but one that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
As soon as she was finished, she went to sit beside Sten. She had been wondering how he was going to treat her around the other males, and her worries were eased as he put his arm around her, pulling her close to his side. He finally joined the others in talking about their plan for the return trip to the den, but Indigo was too absorbed in eating to pay attention.
Her favorite meat had always been caribou, and she’d never cared much for muskox. But this had to be some of the best meat she’d ever eaten, and she mentioned as much to Sten in between bites.
She’d been given almost as much as the males, but she was still craving more once her tray was empty. While Sten was up putting out the fire, she picked a few pieces from his half-finished tray. Sneakily, she thought, but when he sat back down, he looked between her and the tray, and picked it up and offered the rest to her.
“I’m good,” she said, her cheeks warming. Sten rarely voiced his disdain for how much the Siluit wolves ate, but she knew that he considered overeating to be very wasteful.
Chasing the Alpha: Shifters of Nunavut, Book #3 Page 20
