“Enough, you two!” Amara shouted. The brothers both looked to her in nearly identical expressions of surprise, but she was long since passed the time for embarrassment. “This is hardly the perfect time to be bickering about frivolous bull. Save it for later.” She gave them both pointed looks. “I mean it.”
Before either could respond, she looked to Nemoy. “Look, I know everything that needs knowing right now. There isn’t anything you can do to change that. So maybe instead of griping about it, we can move forward and actually make some progress, okay? Okay. Now why are you here?”
Nemoy stared at Amara in dumbfounded awe. Slowly his gaze began to slide towards Nova, but Amara snapped her fingers to regain his attention. “Nuh-uh. Don’t look at him. You two have proven that you can’t get anything done without arguing every two seconds. This is between you and me. So what’s up?”
Nemoy allowed himself the small amount of freedom to look amused before he wiped the expression away, all business once again. “The Falls Clan has declined the invitation to fight alongside us should a war become imminent. It seems word has gotten out about our diminished forces, which puts us at a disadvantage.” Nemoy’s eyes flitted to Nova for a fraction of a second before returning to Amara. “This means we may have to pull in even more pack civilians than originally expected… including you.”
“Me?” Amara spluttered.
Nemoy’s face was grim as he nodded. “It’s not a war you signed up for, but it’s one we might need you for if we want to win.” Nemoy finally met Nova’s very unhappy gaze. “So when can she start?”
Chapter 8
Nova cradled Amara’s naked frame against his own, folding his arms tightly around her bruised body as she sank sleepily into the warm tub of water. “Wake up, sweetheart,” he murmured against her damp hair, kissing the top of her head as her eyes fluttered back open.
“’M not asleep,” Amara slurred, eyes already beginning to drift off once more.
With a guilty sigh, he let her sink into slumber. It was his fault she was so exhausted. When Nemoy proposed that she be trained to fight in the war, he should have said no. He should have forbid it. Of course, she wouldn’t have listened; he could tell by the look on her face when Nemoy asked.
For a split moment, his eyes turned to hers and he was shocked to see the look of raw determination on her face. Amara had always been a fighter. From the moment he’d first laid eyes on her over ten years ago, she’d always fought. When she was faced with a task she couldn’t beat, she’d trained her ass off until she could beat it. She lived her life seeing obstacles as mere speedbumps; she never let them slow her down for too long. There was power in her resolve—power that couldn’t be taught, bought, or stolen—and even Nova could see the merits of it, both in a lover as well as a soldier.
This was just another task to beat for her, another speedbump to bypass. She had never let anyone stop her from facing her trials before, and far be it from him to try and stop her now. At least, that’s what he told himself when his response to Nemoy’s question had been to ask her himself. Now, as he started down at her tired and beaten frame, exhausted to near unconsciousness after nearly two weeks of rigorous drills and sparring, he regretted ever letting her step foot onto the training grounds.
It had started out fine. Amara was quite skilled at close combat, thanks to her grandfather teaching her about knife-wielding after Kal attacked her ten years ago. She was also an excellent sharpshooter, should they have the need for one. For a day or two, it looked like she’d be able to hold her own just fine. But then she’d taken her first blow.
Iso was her sparring partner, and he told Nova that he’d try to play safe. But Iso was always reactionary, even as a pup. All it took was one unanticipated lunge from Amara, and he struck out without thinking. It wasn’t too hard of a hit, for another wolf. For Amara... Nova’s heart nearly stopped when he saw her airborne. If it weren’t for Nemoy holding him back with all his power, Nova wasn’t sure what he’d have done to Iso in that moment.
But even after nearly being incapacitated, Amara was determined to keep going. She kept sparring Iso until she could recognize his attack patterns and when it became too predictable, she moved onto someone else. She’d cycled through three of the other trainees and was currently on Nate. At first, Nova was impressed with how fast she was progressing, but then thinking back, she was a skilled hunter born from a long line of hunters. How could he have expected anything less?
Skilled though she was, she was still only human. Her endurance was lengthy, longer than a lot of humans, but even at her physical peak she could barely hold a candle to a shifter. The hours upon hours of last-ditch training were taking a toll on her. She became weaker with every punch taken; less coherent with every mile ran. Some nights she was too tired to do even the most mundane of things, like eat or bathe. It was tough to see her like this, but whenever Nova tried to even hint at her taking it easy, that same look of defiant determination showed up on her face, ready to combat whatever he’d planned to say. The moment he saw that look, he knew he’d lost, every time.
Nova sighed. “Why do you push yourself so hard?” he whispered, barely audible even in the bathroom’s acoustics. “You’re already so strong. What more do you have to prove?”
She shifted onto her side, sloshing water over the rim of the tub. As she settled into the new position, Nova hugged her close. Suddenly, Amara hissed in pain, jumping up with a flinch.
Immediately, Nova began surveying her bruises and marks, but she was covered in them. There was no way to pinpoint which one was agitated. “I’m sorry, I must’ve accidentally squeezed one of your war wounds,” Nova said with an apologetic smile. “You alright?”
Amara scrubbed her eyes with a soggy fist. “Yeah. Just hurt for a moment. It’s gone now.” She stood, raining warm water down on Nova as she began to shiver. Without a word, Nova stood as well, grabbing a nearby towel to wrap around her.
She thanked him with a kiss and stepped out of the tub. The towel was wrapped around her shoulders, but she wasn’t using it to dry off. Still dripping water onto the floor, Amara left the bathroom.
“Wait, Amara!” Nova scrambled for a towel of his own, hastily drying off before going after her. “Where did y...” He found her curled up under the towel in the middle of their bed, still soaking wet.
It would have been cute if he weren’t so worried about her. She was hardly there mentally these days. She always seemed to be looking right through him, or pretending he wasn’t there. Her body was one thing; it could be broken and mended stronger a million times over. He could survive that. But her mind…
He caressed her chin with slightly trembling fingers. “Baby, you haven’t eaten yet,” he said softly.
Amara stirred slightly. Her eyes opened just a crack and her loving, gray eyes stared back at him. “I promise to eat a big breakfast when I wake up, okay?” she said, voice muffled and groggy with sleep.
Nova nodded. “As long as you promise. And it better be huge. That’s an order.”
Amara nodded sleepily. “Aye aye.”
He kissed the top of her damp hair. “Sleep tight, beautiful. I’ll be back in a bit.” She smiled and mumbled that she loved him, but when he whispered it back he was pretty sure she was too far gone to hear it.
Nova dressed silently in the dark of the room, afraid that any light might disturb her much needed sleep. He slipped out the front door just as silently, double-checking the locks to make sure they were securely in place.
Nemoy’s cabin wasn’t too far from Nova’s, only a short jog away. Nemoy had told him to stop by after Amara was settled, and he didn’t sound happy. There was a note taped to the front door. It read, ‘Door’s unlocked, go to study,’ in Nemoy’s no-nonsense handwriting. Nova let himself in, locking the door behind him.
Nemoy had his back to the open study door, leaning against his desk while poring over something that Nova couldn’t see.
“Nemoy?” Nova said quietly, tapp
ing on the doorframe for good measure.
“Close the door behind you,” Nemoy said without turning around. Nova obliged. Apparently this satisfied Nemoy, and he finally turned around.
Nova nearly gasped at the sight of him. Amara wasn’t the only one that this presumed war was taking a bad toll on. Nemoy had prominent bags under his eyes and his usually pristine hair was unkempt and limp from neglect. Frown lines created caverns on the sides of his mouth, and his breathing seemed too quick, like he’d just gotten finished running a lap around the compound.
He could understand why his brother was so stressed. Ivanah’s due date was looming ever closer; she looked ready to give birth any day now. There was a war hanging overhead, ready to drop on the entire compound whenever the wind shifted, and the only confirmed leak of information that escaped the compound with Kal was that Ivanah’s baby and possible heir to the Mountain Clan pack would soon be born. As alpha, he couldn’t stay to protect his mate when she’s most vulnerable. As mate, the stress he felt from Ivanah—both from the baby and from knowing she had a target painted on her back—impaired his judgement as alpha. The two sides of him were in a constant battle all their own, and it showed in the strained expression on his face.
“Let’s make this quick. You need rest, Nemoy,” Nova said.
Nemoy shook his head. “No time. Look at this.” He held out a sheet of thick stationery, slightly worn from a day of constant handling.
Nova took the letter from his brother’s hands, already studying the script at the top that spelled Nemoy’s name. He quickly scanned the rest of the letter before going back to the top and savoring each word.
“He wants to meet?” Nova asked suspiciously after finishing the letter for a third time.
“It figures, right?” Nemoy scoffed. “Ivanah’s days from being due, something they know about but aren’t supposed to, and then suddenly this Kumbaya bullshit shows up on my doorstep about making amends.” Nemoy’s breath drew quicker, his eyes wild and desperate. “The worst part is I want to believe it. I’ve been staring at this damned note all day, and God, I want this to be reality. So why does it feel like a trap, Nova?”
Nova agreed; every alarm was going off in his head. Something about the letter was off, but that wasn’t what Nemoy needed to hear in that moment. Nemoy wasn’t a stranger to outbursts of frustration, but Nova had never seen his brother get this bad before.
“Fuck it. Let’s just go,” Nova declared. Nemoy’s head shot up to meet Nova’s gaze. Nova nodded as if you reaffirm his words. “Let’s do it. But not like we’re preparing for peace. We’re gonna go like we’re preparing for war. We’ll take every able body and storm Callahan Vann’s castle. If he’s really looking for peace, this will make sure he doesn’t change his mind. If this is his idea of a trap, well…” Nova grinned. “We’ll make him regret it.”
Nemoy stared at Nova for a few seconds longer. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Completely,” Nova answered. “You’re right. We are not our father. We’ve tiptoed around this problem for far too long hoping that it’d fix itself. It’s been over ten years, and it’s only gotten worse. Now I’m married to a human and you’re days from being a father and we’ve never been more vulnerable than we are in this moment. I’m tired of sitting back and waiting for the right thing to happen. And so are you. And so is Amara. And I can guarantee that Ivanah feels the same way.”
He crushed the thick paper in his hand, reveling in the feeling as it buckled and collapsed against his palm. “So let’s get this done, once and for all. We’ll shut Callahan Vann down for good and get back you back to the compound in time to witness the birth of your child.” He handed the balled up paper out to his brother with a smile. “How’s that sound for a plan of action?”
Nemoy lowered his eyes to Nova’s outstretched hand, pausing briefly. Then slowly, a smile finally spread across his pale lips. He reached out, grabbing and crushing the already destroyed letter between his fingers.
Shaking his head incredulously, he chuckled, “Fuck it. Let’s go.”
Chapter 9
Amara’s body still hurt all over, but it didn’t stop her from tearing into Nova… not even as he made her a steaming hot breakfast.
“This training is a pretty big deal for me, Nova. You know that,” she chastised.
“Of course I do,” he replied, flipping a buttery pancake with expert precision in the skillet.
“And yet you allowed me to sleep through over a day’s worth of training!” she bickered, throwing up her hands in disbelief. “Couldn’t you have… I don’t know, set me an alarm or something?” Despite her anger, she couldn’t help but follow the swirling movements of the spatula as Nova whipped up a mountain of scrambled eggs.
He chuckled. “You weren’t just asleep, babe. You were borderline comatose. I doubt a little alarm would have woken you.”
“You couldn’t delegate any time to wake me up personally, then?” she asked.
“Personally?” Nova mimicked, glancing at her with a brow arched suggestively.
“Not like that,” she corrected, slapping him playfully on the arm with a hand towel. “I mean, just give me a little nudge to get my brain gears turning so that I could keep on training. I want to help.”
Nova shrugged. “Sorry, love. I was much too busy to come all the way back to the cabin to wake you,” he said, tone completely unconvincing. With a mock sigh, he continued, “It’s such a shame that you got nearly two days of rest and recuperation, are mentally coherent once more, and regained your appetite.” He shook his head in feigned sadness. “Such a shame.”
Amara smacked him with a towel again as he bit back a smile, and she found herself holding back one of her own. “Not funny, Nova,” she said, but she’d long since lost the bite to her tirade.
Nova grinned down at her as he flipped the fluffy egg pile onto a nearby plate. “I think I’m quite hilarious, actually.” He leaned down and stole a kiss. “Plus, it’s getting really hard to take you seriously when I can hear your stomach growling from a mile away.”
Amara subconsciously curled her arms round her stomach, and Nova laughed. “Oh hush, wolf boy,” she grumbled. “I’m not done tearing into you. Just wait until we finish breakfast.”
The food was delicious; perfect like everything Nova did. Amara wondered if there were any flaws to this man as she shoveled forkful after forkful of cheesy scrambled goodness into her mouth, and decided that there wasn’t. No flawed person could make such amazing eggs.
She was much too occupied to talk, so when Nova started recounting the things she’d missed since crashing out, she was happy to listen.
“Nate will be happy to hear that you’ve woken up. He was afraid he’d been working you too hard,” Nova began, smiling satisfactorily as Amara bit down on another helping of eggs. She really hadn’t noticed just how famished she was. She promised to never go two or more days without eating ever again and nodded wordlessly for Nova to continue.
“Nemoy tried and failed to reach out to the Falls Clan again to see if they might be interested in—oh,” Nova faltered, interrupting his original sentence. He glanced at Amara’s confused gaze, and said nothing.
Amara gave him a look that wordlessly prompted him to continue.
He rubbed the back of his head. “So, uh…” Nova’s eyes shifted, and Amara could tell he was working up the courage to tell her something dicey. She washed down a bite of thick pancakes with a swig of orange juice and cleared her throat to speak.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, trying and failing to keep the suspicion out of her voice. “What about Nemoy? What about the Falls Clan? Is something wrong?”
“Um…”
“Did Kal’s father say something about the war?”
“Well…”
“Were we attacked?”
“What? No!”
Amara slammed her hands down on the table, rattling the dishes of food and sloshing a bit of orange juice onto the napkins.
“Well then tell me something, Nova!” She visually composed herself before continuing. “Like it or not, this is my family now, too. My pack, my home, my problems. You can’t keep me in the dark anymore.” She pulled back the sleeves of her light blouse, showcasing brown and yellow and purple patches of bruising in various states of healing. “I earned every one of these. I fight alongside you now, as an equal. Stop treating me like some child that needs protecting, Nova. I can handle whatever you throw at me.”
Nova let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn it! You’re so….”
“So what?” Amara challenged.
Nova growled quietly as he bit his own tongue. “So… strong!” he finished. “You amaze me every day, Amara. And my amazement only grows. For ten years I made it my personal duty to protect you with my life, and you were none the wiser. I felt like you needed me, and who knows? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t, but either way I felt like I had a purpose. I loved you as I protected you: silently and unwaveringly. And when you found out about… me, I remember seeing a bit of that awe in your eyes about the wolf you watched as he watched over you.
“But that was then; it feels like a million decades have passed, but it hasn’t even been a year. Now, the human I fell in love with at seventeen is training to become a warrior among wolves for a war she never should have even known about. I guess… I guess I just wish I had one more day where I could silently and awe-strikingly protect you like days past.”
Amara sat dumbfounded, unable to properly formulate words to respond. After Kal’s first attack when she was fifteen, she’d made a vow to herself that she’d never allow herself to be the victim again. Her father had died to wolves. Her mother would die being afraid of them. Her grandfather died with nothing to show for his efforts in keeping Strathford safe… except for the love and training he poured into Amara every day until cancer made him bedridden. She was all her family had left. She was a part of generations of hunters that died at the hands of the Valley Clan, one way or another. This war changed nothing. As Nova stared desperately into her eyes for some form of relief, she knew she could offer him none.
Mountain Wolf Protectors Complete Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 34
