by Brea Viragh
The lanky dark-haired man stood with water to his knees. Watching, Calen certainly wouldn’t have bet money on Van running forward, diving into the water and grabbing Desmond in his arms. Nor would he have imagined the kiss that rocked the two of them. Energy palpable. Love evident.
“You’ve been here the whole time?” Van broke the embrace to run his hands along Desmond’s face, his neck, his shoulders. Taking in every piece of his long-lost love. “How could I have missed you?”
Desmond buried his nose in the crook of Van’s neck. “You sometimes have the habit of missing things that are right under your nose,” he joked.
The teasing statement did something unexpected. Van tipped his head back and laughed, full bodied and real. The first time Calen had ever seen the stoic wolf truly smile and mean it.
The two of them kissed again, and Odessa reached down through the water to take hold of Calen’s hand. “Come on. Let’s leave them alone. They deserve it.”
Five years. He remembered Van mentioning something about losing the love of his life all that time ago. How would he feel, Calen wondered, if he had been separated from Odessa for that long?
She swam toward the opposite shore, and although his muscles protested the swim after his fight with Alex, he would not say no to her. Not when he saw the privacy afforded by a looming willow tree. Delicate green branches arched low and dipped to kiss the water’s surface.
The old manor house was closer to this end of the lake. Close enough that he could pick out the individual outlines of stones on the exterior wall.
“I’m sorry, you know,” he began haltingly, sinking down on trembling knees.
Odessa turned to stare at him over her shoulder. “For what?”
“For killing your father.” His stomach flipped, saying it aloud.
When he glanced up, her gaze had fallen on something in the distance. Somewhere he could not follow her. “If you hadn’t,” she stated, “then I would have.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” She was adamant. “I would have torn his throat out with my own jaws if I were in your position. Never be sorry for defending yourself, Calen. For defending your parents’ honor, because I heard what he did to them. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I had no idea it was him. I should have.”
So she bent down before him, her head dropping low and her legs digging into the rough sand.
“I’m sorry for what my father did to your parents. Sorrier than I can ever tell you, Calen. I will try to repay the debt owed to you until—”
“No.” He interrupted, dragging her chin up to meet her eyes. “You don’t kneel before me, Odessa. You kneel before no one, and you owe me nothing.”
“Calen, what my father took from you is unforgivable,” she insisted.
Only if he’d taken you.
“And what he did to you ranks right up there. I want to move forward.” He bent down to kneel in front of her, keeping them eye to eye. “I want to set fire to the past and do our best to make a new life together. Together, Dessa, with the rest of our people. To make a better tomorrow for them.”
She ducked her head to hide her smile. “Yes. Yes, that sounds about right. Alpha Siegfried has a nice ring to it, too.”
His eyes bulged. “Alpha what, now? You can’t be serious!”
“You defeated the last alpha in battle.” Her smile was only a little shaky. “It’s right that you take up the mantle. It’s yours if you want it. I know the Taunway Lake pack will be in good hands.”
“Yes, because they’ll be in yours. I didn’t defeat the last alpha, because it’s always been you. Ready to fight, ready to die, ready to sacrifice for her people. And it will be my honor to protect her, always.”
Odessa linked their hands together. “What about standing at her side?”
He sealed the deal with a kiss. “I think that can be arranged.”
Epilogue
Odessa stood at the head of the table looking at the other alphas with her face set in a quiet, if somewhat grim, smile. Her platinum hair lay against her spine in a long braid plaited from the top of her head.
Van sat to her right, and if she didn’t know him any better, she’d say he held his breath. Waiting with a sort of smugness she hadn’t seen from him in ages.
Smug indeed, she told herself. He knew what waited for him after this meeting. Who waited for him after this meeting. And if she gave in to those same thoughts herself, Odessa was sure she’d have the same look plastered across the lower half of her face as well.
Calen.
She placed her palms flat on the wooden farmhouse table in front of her and set the room with a stare. “I’ve gathered this meeting of the territory packs and now I call to order. Hail.”
A chorus of half-hearted “Hails” greeted her in return. Many of the other older alphas stared her down, no doubt questioning her authority. Her right to lead.
Having been in a position of prey, Odessa knew things. Knew things that no other wolf understood or cared to understand. What would have once intimidated her—those sharp eyes and sharper claws, along with the fear of retribution—no longer held any weight.
“I call to order,” she repeated, “to redraw the terms of our coexistence together. To reevaluate pack structure.”
The Galloway pack alpha, a wolf of seventy still going strong, stood up and mimicked her posture. “I’m sorry. This may seem like a sensitive subject, but what happened to Alex Darrow? I thought he was the alpha of the Taunway Lake pack.”
Odessa and Van shared a look, volumes passing between them. Three months since she’d almost died. Three months since Calen had ripped out her father’s throat. None outside of the lake that evening knew the truth. All the better.
“My father had to relinquish the position to me due to unforeseen circumstances,” she said primly.
Yeah, if one called death an unforeseen circumstance.
“An unmarried and untried female wolf? I understand that you are his daughter and the hierarchy demands the heir apparent step into position, but I find this highly unorthodox,” the old man continued.
Van stood now, his massive shoulders cutting a path through the air and drawing all attention to his direction. “Miss Darrow is more qualified than any other in this room to lead. I, for one, stand beside her no matter the direction she takes. In this case, I agree with her methods and plan for the future with my entire conviction. Now please sit down, Mr. Galloway, and open your ears.” He cast a brief nod in Odessa’s direction. “Go ahead.”
With the stage hers, Odessa settled into a familiar breathing pattern, slowing her lungs and preparing her body for the dance. This time, she need not step out of her chair to command the room. She did so with nothing more than her mind.
She smiled. “Listen to me carefully, gentlemen. Here is what I plan.”
Hours later, she withdrew from the room with her hair surely raised and her nerves frayed. Tired, yes, but satisfied. They’d made good progress today, and while some of the less-modernized packs objected to her new stance on inclusivity, the others had been willing to listen. If they were willing to show the interest, then she would give them the opportunity to get on board with her plan. If not, then she always knew a nice stone manor house, recently renovated, where they could head for vacation.
Van walked her down the stairs with his arm cast loosely through hers. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help with the rest of the delegation,” he told her slowly. “We have a long road ahead of us.”
Odessa inclined her head. “We do. Take the evening off. You deserve it,” she bid. “We put in a long day today. We made a lot of progress, and I know there is someone special waiting for you at home.”
Just as there was for her.
If she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn she saw Van blush. “For what it is worth, I would have gone through with the marriage because of my father’s word. But I think it less a hardship than my initial assumption. You are a formidable
woman, and were I not otherwise inclined...” He trailed off.
She smiled, thinking of how happy Desmond would have been to hear of his boyfriend’s strength of will. Or maybe not. Maybe he would have flown off the deep end with jealousy. “Thank you for the compliment. You aren’t so bad yourself.”
Van bid her goodnight with a brief salute before heading out the door to where his car waited, pulled around the center-curved driveway with a very eager Desmond seated behind the wheel. Dark hair curled away from his face and light blue eyes growing wider the closer Van got.
Odessa waved until her arm grew tired and then shut the door behind her, sensing the familiar energies of Ghast and Nova at her back.
“You two were spying on me again?” she asked.
They materialized out of the shadows near the staircase. “Only doing our jobs, miss,” Ghast replied easily.
“This is going to take some getting used to.” The idea of being watched. Of being protected for the rest of her days.
No matter, she tried to tell herself. It meant she’d finally stepped into the position she’d been groomed to take since birth. And this time, she did it on her own terms.
“I hope you fellows will excuse me, but I’m going to call it a night,” she told them with a yawn. “There is a certain fellow waiting for me upstairs and I’m eager to see him.”
The twin wolves shared a look and bowed away. “We will leave you to it.”
“And close your damn ears. I don’t want you eavesdropping on things you would be better off not hearing.”
How embarrassing it would be for the two of them, or any in the pack, to hear her cries of passion. But it came with the territory, she knew. The gathering of wolves close to her for support. For protection.
They turned to her now instead of her father.
Odessa forced her body toward the wing of the manor reserved for the alpha and his family. There were still two people inhabiting the space now, only the dynamics had changed. For the better. Yes, for the better.
She closed the door to the suite of rooms behind her and threw the latch. Let someone from the delegation try to break in tonight. Not only did she have utter faith that her people would handle it, but she had the same kind of faith in herself.
When she entered the bedroom, Calen waited for her.
“I knew you would be hungry,” he began, patting the bed beside him. “So, I made your favorite.”
Her stomach growled in a rather unladylike demand. “Lemon tarts?”
With a flourish he lifted the plate from his side and held it up for her inspection. “What else do you expect me to do with my time as a kept man?”
She chuckled to herself and urged her feet to hurry forward, her mouth already watering. “I’m not sure. What do Alpha’s mates usually do?”
“I think they lounge in their rooms eating sweets and ordering people around all day.”
“Try again.”
“You mean, that’s not what I’m expected to do? Well, dammit anyway, Odessa, now I’m going to have to go out there and find another mate.”
She caught his hand as he made to rise in jest. “Tomorrow,” she warned with mock sternness, “you are going to be beside me at that table. The delegates will probably respond to you a little better than they will to me. Or Van’s abruptness.”
“He certainly gets things done.”
“And you will, too. Now feed me that damn tart because I am starving to death over here.”
“Demanding little wolf pup, aren’t you?” He handed her the lemon tart wrapped in a napkin and watched her down it in two bites.
“That’s the way you like me,” she said through a mouthful of food.
“No.”
“No?” The squawk came out sharper than she intended.
“That’s the way I love you,” Calen corrected her.
She wasn’t normally one for the romantic mushy-gushy moments that made Hallmark movies so popular. Alone in their rooms, with the rest of the world preparing for sleep and the night stretching out open and free ahead of them, Odessa gave into the melting in her heart.
“You are going to spoil me,” she insisted.
Hopefully she would be able to do the same for him. He deserved it, after everything. After the mess Alex had put them through and the fight to come out on the other side. They still had a long road ahead of them, toward rebuilding the trust in the pack and the relations between the other local wolves sharing their territory.
But she knew they could do it. As long as she had Calen at her side, to keep her steady and secure, to love her, then they could do it.
She leaned back into his comforting warmth and closed her eyes, savoring the sweet, sharp tang of the lemon and the muscles of the wolf at her back. “What do you want to do tonight? The moon isn’t full yet, but I could go for a run along the property.”
A glance over her shoulder showed her the glowing yellow of Calen’s eyes as his wolf peeked through. Wanting her. “I think I have something better in mind.”
She squealed as he grabbed her, hauling her around and settling her on his lap. Already the stark evidence of his arousal pressed at her. Their bodies fit together as they always had. Lining up in the perfect position so that everything just...clicked.
Her perfect dance partner.
Maybe my life didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped, she thought when his lips came down on hers, With the perfect freedom and the lack of responsibilities. Things turned out the way she’d needed. For that, she would be forever grateful.
Calen’s tongue slipped past her lips and tangled with her own, drawing heat from her center with the minutest touch.
The alpha and her mate made love that night with the quarter moon high overhead and the future stretching out in front of them. The lake in the backyard quiet and undisturbed except for the single crane gracing its waters.
The End
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About the Author
BREA VIRAGH is a USA Today Bestselling contemporary and paranormal romance writer based in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is a proud Gryffindor, a graduate of Brakebills, and a member of Fairy Tail. Klaus Hargreeves is her bestie. When she isn’t writing and daydreaming about her newest project, her hobbies include binge-watching HGTV, scouring thrift shops for goodies, and maintaining her alpha status among her puppy and three cats.
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