by Kaia Pierce
“Garland will be on his best behavior if he’s seen outside talking to a man in uniform,” Kaden said.
I shrugged. “Fine.”
The three of us got up and walked out of the office back towards the lobby. Kaden and Josh walked side-by-side, their hands brushing each other every few strides. As worked up as I was, I couldn’t help but feel a little wistful watching my brother with his mate.
Will I ever have that with Liam? I wondered.
Ever since that night, Liam had ignored my texts, my calls, and flat-out refused to talk to me. Of course, I knew exactly why. Liam wanted something from me, something I wasn’t willing to give.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but perhaps I could show Liam that I truly cared about him.
I’ll make this go away, I silently promised—both to him and to myself.
When we got outside, Garland Grayback’s white-gloved driver was already waiting in the parking lot. Once he saw us emerge, he turned to the black sedan behind him and opened the back door, and Garland finally stepped out.
He looked dignified from afar, dressed in a long wool coat with a red scarf tucked around his neck. As he strode closer, though, I could see the ferocity in his eyes and the set of his mouth, and there was a certain sense of pride, an undeniable alpha-ness, in the way he carried himself.
Mentally, I pictured him standing inside of the bakery where Liam worked.
“Easy,” Kaden muttered under his breath.
I was trembling, but I stopped myself.
Garland came to meet us by the flagpole. The flag itself was flapping lazily above our heads, suspended against a sky that reflected how I felt inside: gray, stormy, lightless. I felt Josh touch me lightly on the shoulder, signaling that he would break the ice first.
“Garland,” Josh began, “I called you here to discuss your visit to the Morning Glory Café earlier today. I understand you were in the company of another alpha.”
“A colleague,” Garland clarified. He raised his thick eyebrows in a look of feigned surprise. “The fact that he is an alpha is neither here nor there. Carl Henderson is in town on business, and he asked me to recommend someplace where he could pick up a nice breakfast.”
“Bullshit,” I blurted out.
“Caleb—” Josh began.
“You knew exactly what you were doing when you brought Carl Henderson to Liam,” I snarled.
Garland began saying something, but Josh spoke over him.
“We’re just asking that from now on, you and your associates stay away from Liam Davis for the sake of the truce,” he said.
Garland laughed, his tan face erupting into a crosshatch of fine lines. “What truce? The only reason my pack struck a bargain with yours is because of him.”
I startled when I realized that Garland was looking directly at me.
There was an easy smirk on his face, but his voice had a cold, steely edge to it. “Yes, I’m talking about you, Caleb McArthur. Your brother promised to be my ally because you threaten our packs. My betas accidentally shot Liam because you dragged him out into the woods where they were hunting—”
Kaden snatched the back of my jacket before I could lunge for him.
“—and now, Liam is pregnant because of you. Don’t you see? You just make everything worse. If you care so much about that omega of yours, you should just leave.”
His final words rang out to the silence, like the last, fading echoes of the gunshot that tore through Liam’s hip.
Kaden and Josh were both quiet, waiting for me to respond. All I could do was stand there, while a stone turned over and over in the pit of my stomach. For some reason, I just couldn’t respond, because Garland was right.
Everything that had happened so far was because of me, and it took an enemy alpha for me to finally realize it.
“Here’s how I see it,” Garland continued on. “I’m willing to forget about everything that happened and continue honoring the truce between our two packs, but only if Caleb leaves.”
My hands turned into fists at my sides. I could leave, I thought to myself. I’d left my old life to spend a year hiding out in Riverrun, silently plotting my revenge against Kaden, and it had been much harder than I thought. It was like climbing up a steep mountain, endlessly laboring, with the apex nowhere in sight.
Thinking about that, it was tempting to just leave town and go back to how things were. Just the road, my bike, and myself.
There was just one thing stopping me—well, two things, now.
Liam…
While I was still mentally struggling with the options before me, Kaden unexpectedly stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder.
“He’s not leaving,” he said darkly, “so I guess there’s no truce.”
By the looks on their faces, Garland and Josh were just as shocked as I was.
“Think about it, Kaden. Do you really want to antagonize the Graybacks now, right before our quarterly shareholders’ meeting?” Garland said.
“So you admit that you’ve been planning one in secret,” Kaden said.
Garland bared his teeth. It wasn’t a smirk, but a wolf’s snarl on a human face. “Of course I have. What role have you played in my company’s success, when I’m the one waking up at dawn every single day to make sure it’s running smoothly? Now, you have the gall to criticize how I run my company, when you’re just as guilty of having a secret of your own.” He flicked his narrowed eyes at me and shook his head disgustedly. “I find it funny that you sneer at my lifestyle and how I helm my pack, but you never complain once the check comes in the mail, do you?”
Kaden’s hand left my shoulder, and he took another step forward, leading with his chest. “My father worked his ass off for you for years, you asshole. He earned those shares, and he left them to me.”
Once again, I felt the sting of knowing that I was the forgotten twin, but I shoved it back as I watched Kaden and Garland’s rivalry come to a head right before my eyes.
“By associating with him, you endanger your pack,” Garland said. There was a tiny hint of a growl in his voice. The shift was already happening inside of him, slowly building itself up to explode. “But if the upcoming meeting bothers you so much, you’re certainly welcome to join me and the other three alphas, who have also been my friends for—”
Suddenly, a strangled, choking sound erupted from Garland’s mouth, and his eyes widened as he looked at something just over my right shoulder. I turned to follow his gaze. The only thing he could possibly be looking at was the blonde secretary who I’d spotted earlier in the lobby.
“Is there a problem?” she said as she strolled towards us.
In her boxy, black dress and gray cardigan, she was not threatening in the least, yet Garland was acting as if he just saw the devil. His eyes were so wide that I could see the entire diameter of his irises. His lips trembled. He was clearly spooked.
“I…I was just leaving,” he said, already inching backwards.
The secretary reached us. The badge clipped to her cardigan told me that her name was Sarah. She crossed her arms and stared Garland hard in the face.
“That’s good, Mr. Grayback. Because I enjoy working here, and I would hate to tell the head witch that you’re causing problems with our coven. Again.”
“I wasn’t…I mean, I didn’t know you worked here,” Garland said. Finally seeming to get a hold of himself, he straightened out his scarf and coat and gave each of us a polite nod. “I’ll be in touch,” he said, obviously restraining himself from saying anything more.
With one final, worried glance at Sarah, Garland walked briskly back to his car, got in the backseat, and was driven away.
What the hell? I thought as the black sedan drove out of sight.
“Sarah, you’re a witch? Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Josh said incredulously.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a shifter?” Sarah countered, arching her thin eyebrows. “My coven has been keeping tabs on the supernatural community here for
years. I’m guessing you were turned, not born a shifter?”
“Correct. Now it’s my turn. What business does your coven have with Garland and his pack?” Josh said.
Sarah’s large eyes scanned the mostly empty parking lot. “It’s a long story. How about we talk about it over a pot of coffee? There are some questions I want to ask you about your pack, as well.”
She looked expectantly at Josh, who looked at Kaden, who finally looked at me.
“If it’s okay with him,” Kaden said.
I studied Sarah, marveling how I’d lived over three decades without meeting a single witch, and now I’d met two in this small, unassuming town.
Much like Rowan, Sarah herself looked like a typical, twenty-something woman, yet seeing the way Garland reacted to her made me think that she could be of use to us.
“Fine by me,” I said.
The rich and powerful Garland Grayback was afraid of her. That meant that I absolutely had to talk to her.
Chapter 17: Liam
It was a Tuesday night, and I was at home reading a book when I felt the first tingle of a voice in the back of my head. It was the pack’s mental connection tapping into my brain, and the voice I heard belonged to Kaden.
Emergency pack meeting. One hour.
It had been months since Kaden telepathically reached out to his pack to call an emergency meeting. With everything I knew about Caleb and his plot, I figured the meeting might have something to do with him.
The moment we got the message, Logan and I set out for the pack meeting place together, him on his Harley and me in my old beater. Despite the chill outside, I kept the heater turned off, feeling perfectly comfortable in my jacket and jeans. My body was running a little hotter these days, thanks to my pregnancy.
I followed Logan all the way to the parking lot of Lucy’s Bar, where we left our vehicles. I even spotted Rowan’s car, parked between Sam’s Harley and the road sign for the bar. Half a dozen other Black Paw packmembers were already trekking into the woods behind the building, following the trail leading to the abandoned barn in the woods. It had been our pack’s meeting place ever since we settled in Riverrun.
I got out of the car and hurried out onto the trail. It was a clear and windless day, and I could glimpse the barn through the brittle, frozen trees.
The environment was calm, but I was torn up inside. I couldn’t stop wondering about how much of Caleb’s plan had played out so far and whether this meeting had something to do with it. Without even meaning to, I placed my hand over my lower stomach as Caleb’s face entered my mind.
Suddenly, I stepped on a patch of ice and slipped. I gasped as my limbs splayed out for purchase. In the split second that I was suspended in midair, the only thing on my mind was the safety of my baby.
“Whoa, there,” I heard a male voice behind me.
A pair of strong, warm arms caught me against the speaker’s chest. My heart clenched painfully. Even before his familiar scent wrapped around me like a thick, comforting scarf, I knew whose hands were carefully setting me upright again.
I forced my eyes to the floor, refusing to turn around and look at him. “Thanks, Caleb,” I said.
Caleb remained silent and still. I found that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t command my feet to budge, either. All the while, I directed my gaze to the ground, to the barn and the trees, anything but directly at Caleb’s face.
“How have you been, Liam?” Caleb said softly, when it became clear I wouldn’t be the first to speak.
Something inside me changed when I heard him say my name. Slowly, I raised my eyes to meet his, finally looking at the father of my child for the first time in days.
My breath caught in my chest.
Somehow, Caleb had managed to get even better looking since the last time we met. Since there was no use for him to pretend that he was Kaden, his hair was overgrown once again, and there was a hint of five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw. I could almost feel the texture of his stubble on my tingling fingertips as I briefly imagined stroking his face. It had been days since I’d done that, too.
As tempted as I was, I kept my hands firmly at my sides.
“I’ve been okay,” I said.
That one, simple answer left me short of breath, because Caleb was staring in a way that made me feel naked. His eyes bore into mine, as if he could read my thoughts.
“That’s good,” he said, still not blinking. His lips, under a dark layer of stubble, curved into a nervous smile. Then, his eyes dropped to my stomach, and his face fell.
I covered my middle with my hands. “Yeah, I’m starting to show a little bit,” I said.
Caleb raised a hand towards me. “Can I…”
I unzipped my jacket and pulled it open. I wasn’t huge just yet, but I was beginning to get a modest belly.
Caleb brushed his fingers over my tee shirt, so softly I barely felt it. “Wow,” he murmured.
Feeling self-conscious, I zipped my jacket back up and crossed my arms. “So do you know what this meeting is going to be about?” I said.
For the first time since he showed up, Caleb avoided my eyes. He cleared his throat before speaking. “I have an idea.”
I sucked in a breath through my teeth. “Does it have anything to do with Kaden and the Grayback pack?”
I narrowed my eyes. Because I was studying him so slowly, I could tell that Caleb was uncomfortable. He made a strange gesture with his hand over his forehead, like he was flicking away something that wasn’t there. After dropping his hand, he inclined his head slightly, raising his eyes to look at me through a fringe of hair.
God, I love it when he looks at me like that, I caught myself thinking. Hormones pulsed through my body, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to help me ignore it.
“Be honest,” I said.
“Garland finally invited Kaden to the shareholders’ meeting. It’s tomorrow night,” he finally admitted. He turned halfway to the left and began kicking at the exposed roots of a nearby tree. “It’s in the woods.”
“Shit,” I whispered, feeling a cold stab of dread. “What does that mean?”
“Think about it, Liam. Garland and a bunch of his rich, businessman buddies, in the middle of the woods? It’s a declaration of war. The truce is over. Garland wants to settle this once and for all.”
The tiny hairs covering my human body stood on end. The words alpha fight and to the death shuttered through my mind.
“Caleb,” I said urgently, “are you still going to go through with your plan?”
Caleb nodded without hesitation.
I shivered inside of my jacket as a swell of anger erupted in the middle of my chest. “So you’re going to do…what, exactly? Sneak up behind Kaden while he’s sparring with Garland and kill him, then kill Garland, too? While the rest of the alpha shareholders kick back and watch?”
“I haven’t thought that far yet—”
I opened my mouth. “So you’re still planning to attack—”
“Keep your voice down!” Caleb hissed. He looked over his shoulder before turning back to me. “The other shareholders weren’t part of the plan, so I’m still—”
“Like my pregnancy wasn’t part of the plan,” I said.
Caleb’s pressed his lips firmly together, forcing them into an emotionless, straight line. His eyes flashed, and he paused for about three seconds before he continued, “If my entire life’s work offends you so much, what’s stopping you from going to your alpha and telling him everything?”
“Because you should be the one to tell him,” I shot back.
Not only did I want him to do that, I needed him to. I still loved him, but I couldn’t trust him to be a father until he could prove that he was capable of putting me and the baby first.
Why can’t he see that?
Caleb released an exasperated sigh and stared up at the clouds for a moment. “You just don’t understand,” he whispered.
My throat turned dry and constricted. I had to g
ulp down the urge to cry. “I’m the only one who understands you, Caleb.”
Finally, Caleb seemed to have run out of words.
I heard my mother’s voice in my head. Spread your wings and fly. Just like in the dream.
“I can’t have this baby with all this fighting and plotting and…and negativity going on. Do you hear me, Caleb? I just can’t do it. So you need to decide what’s more important: me or your half-cocked revenge fantasy. Because if this alpha fight really does happen, I’m leaving. I’m driving far, far away and starting over. I’m not sticking around to see another pack torn apart by violence.”
Just thinking about it tore me to pieces, but it was something I had to do to keep my baby safe.
Caleb’s brow furrowed. He looked stung. “Liam…”
Feeling the very first prickle of heat in my face, I finally broke forward, marching quickly towards the barn. “Come on, Caleb. The meeting,” I said woodenly.
Caleb didn’t move, not until I was several feet ahead of him. With his heavy footsteps behind me, I simply continued walking to the barn, pretending that it didn’t bother me, the way he didn’t rush to close that distance between us.
*
“Let’s get started,” Kaden said, and the entire barn fell silent.
Caleb was all the way across the room, standing behind Kaden with his betas. It hurt me to see him there after the conversation we’d just had, standing with his brother like they were allies. He had a guilty look on his face.
Kaden, on the other hand, seemed troubled, and understandably so. He propped one foot up on a bale of hay and rested his hand on his knee.
“First of all, thank you all for coming. I wish we were all together for a happy reason, but unfortunately that’s not the case. So I’ll just say it: Garland Grayback has invited me out to Dover Forest Park for a ‘meeting’ tomorrow with the rest of the company shareholders, and there’s a strong possibility that it will turn into a serious fight.”
Immediately, there was a collective ripple of fear, both inside the barn as well as inside my own head. I heard several packmembers’ voices murmuring their concerns through our telepathic connection.
