Nobody listened to me as I continued to protest the idea of letting some old lady mess with ancient powers on my mate. Caleb patted me on the head like a child, but before I could kick him in his balls, he backed away. Liam was still apologizing for being a dick and promised he was going to be just fine. He insisted it was the only way for things to move forward for us.
I finally threw my hands up in the air. “Fine. If you want to be idiots and get yourselves killed, do it. I’ll make sure to carve ‘I told you so’ into your headstones.”
I grabbed Jamie’s hand, dragging her out of the door. Too many emotions were storming within me. Even though I had forgiven Liam, the hurt was still lingering. I was battling a war within myself; my head still thought it was best to leave, but my heart and wolf were determined to make things work.
“Where are we going?” Jamie mused.
“I don’t know. I needed out of there and didn’t want to get lost by myself. That’s what happens when you decide to be my friend. You get dragged into shit you didn’t sign up for.”
She laughed and continued to let me pull her toward the door. When we got on the front porch, Sera was standing there with another woman. I halted, causing Jamie to slam into my back.
“A little notice as to when you’re going to put the brakes on would be nice,” she grunted.
Sera cleared her throat. “Ladies, this is Criselle.”
I rolled my eyes. Caleb was such a douche. The lady standing before us was not old or senile. She was older, yes, but she still had a lot of life left in her.
Jamie came around from behind me and introduced us. “Hi, Criselle. I’m Jamie and this is Taya. It’s nice to meet you.”
Criselle reached her hand out to both of us. Her grip was firm, and her voice was strong. “I’ve watched Sera’s boys grow since they were wee pups. It’s nice to see them settling down. Hopefully, I can keep them alive for you.”
My eyes bulged. Maybe Caleb wasn’t kidding.
“Transferring the alpha power is actually dangerous?” I screeched.
Sera smiled and brought her hand to my shoulder. “Only to someone who isn’t trained in how to do it. Power transference isn’t often done forcefully like this, but whenever it’s been needed for the last century-and-a-half, Criselle has always been the go-to wolf for any of the packs.”
There was no way she was one-hundred-fifty years old. Shifters aged slower than humans, but not that slow.
“How are you still alive?” I asked.
“Every time I complete an exchange, I take a bit of power from the alpha. It’s my payment for the service and keeps me young. The alphas get what they want and so do I. A win-win for all involved.”
I’d never heard of such a thing, but then again, our pack had never had a need for a transference before.
I let out a breath. “Okay, then. When does this happen?”
Sera’s face crumbled at the reminder of what came next. “Tomorrow morning, before the funeral. Then, after the services, we will announce the change to the pack.”
Now it was my turn to comfort her. “I’m very sorry for the losses your pack has had to endure. Is there anything we can do?” I gestured toward Jamie as well, because I knew she’d do whatever was necessary to help without asking.
“Not tonight. I’ve told the boys to stay with you. Criselle will keep me company for a while. I’ve kept my sons busy enough today. You two should go spend some time with them. I know they need it.”
I nodded and turned back for the door after we said our goodbyes.
Now that it appeared Liam and Aiden’s lives weren’t in imminent danger, I could breathe a little easier; being cooped up inside didn’t seem so bad anymore.
Once the door was shut firmly behind us, I turned to Jamie. “Caleb is going to pay for making me think Criselle wouldn’t be able to handle the exchange.”
She laughed. “He might be my mate, but even I have to agree, he deserves some payback after everything you went through today.”
“I don’t know when, but I’ll find the perfect moment and I expect you to play along.” My mind could be twisted enough that Caleb would regret screwing with me.
She linked her arm through mine. “I’ve got your back.”
When we got back to the room, we didn’t mention the fact that we had seen their mom or Criselle. I’d let them figure that out on their own. Instead, we chatted for a while about how things had gone today with their mom and what happened when Declan attacked the pack.
Liam began. “Mom said they came in from all directions and seemed to know exactly where to cause the most damage. Somehow, they had inside information. Mom said there was no other way for Declan’s wolves to know where Dad and his beta Shamus would have been at the exact moment they were attacked.”
I sucked in a breath. “Did you tell her about what happened with Augie?”
He nodded. “Declan has been planning his coup for a long time. It shouldn’t be surprising to us that he had spies in place. But just like at your pack, there isn’t anyone at the top of the list to suspect. Whoever they are, they’re good.”
Aiden growled. “They can’t hide forever. We’ll find them, and they will pay.”
“How did Declan get here so fast?” Jamie asked. “There wasn’t much time between fights.”
Caleb answered her. “He wasn’t here. His army is bigger than we thought. He has an in with the rogue shifters.”
Fuckery. Rogue shifters were bad news. No wolf chose to be alone unless they were unstable. Most of them were mercenary-type men and women who worked with humans doing things sane people wouldn’t do. The humans didn’t know who they were, but they didn’t often ask questions as long as the job was done.
There were a few moments of silence as it all sank in. Declan might have lost his sorceress and source of magic, but he hadn’t shown all his cards yet, and we weren’t even close to winning this fight.
Caleb stood, pulling Jamie up with him. “We have an even longer day ahead of us tomorrow. Unless you need anything else, we’ll see you all in the morning.”
I got up as well, while the guys said goodnight. I gave Jamie a hug and thanked her for being there for me earlier. She’d been a voice of reason for me and I wouldn’t soon forget it.
Once everyone was gone, I went in search of my bag, so we could get ready for bed. It was a little after eleven and I was spent. The day had been emotionally draining for everyone and I hoped a good night’s sleep would help us start over fresh the next day.
When we were in bed, Liam held me and began humming a sweet tune under his breath.
I glanced up at him. “What is that?”
“Huh? What’s what?”
“The song you were just humming. I’ve never heard it before, but it was soothing.” I closed my eyes, hoping he would continue.
“Oh, I didn’t realize I was. It’s a song my mom used to sing when we were kids. I guess being in the pack house brought back memories.”
I snuggled in closer. “Keep singing. I like it.”
“As you wish.” He kissed my forehead, then shifted me on to my back.
He continued the enchanting melody, but also began placing kisses along my upper body between choruses.
I closed my eyes and let him overwhelm my senses. I wasn’t going to stop him. The last two days had been hell on our wolves and hearts. I was happy to let him redeem himself by making love to me, and that was exactly what he did.
***
The following morning was solemn. Liam was rightfully withdrawn, but this time he kept me close. A piece of him was always touching me, needing me, letting me be there for him in some way. The way I had wished it had been from the moment we found out about his dad.
“I know you’re a long way from okay, but are you sure you don’t need to talk about it before we head out there?” I asked, wanting to verbally reach out to him once before we were overwhelmed with everything else happening that day.
His hands cradled my face. “The depth of how much you care about the people you love is one of the many reasons I adore you, but I can assure you, the breakdown I had with you yesterday was more than enough sharing for me.” He kissed my forehead. “Don’t worry about me. As long as I have you by my side, I’ll be okay.”
Regardless of his sweet words, I rolled my eyes at him. “Whatever you say.”
A grin appeared on his face. “You’re one to talk. I seem to recall several times when I had to watch you walk away from me to have some space in order to process the shit that had been thrown your way.”
I had no reply to that, because he had a point. I wasn’t one for talking about my feelings. I preferred taking action. I pushed up on my toes and gave him a little action just to show I agreed with him.
“I love you,” he whispered.
We hadn’t said those words much to each other since the first time we said them, but I hadn’t felt it was necessary. We didn’t need words to show how much we cared for each other. Besides the twenty-four-hour period when he put up his walls, I knew our bond was rock solid. If we could get through all that was going on, nothing could take away what we had.
“I love you, too. Now, let’s go try not to get you killed.”
“Yes, dear.” He smiled.
He led me from the room, and we met his brothers and Sera in the alpha office where they had been holed up for most of yesterday.
The sleek room was mostly glass with metal fixtures, giving it a contemporary feel I wouldn’t have expected from the brooding alpha I met back in Arizona. Sera sat behind the oversized desk, appearing like a child in daddy’s chair, as opposed to the late alpha’s wife.
I wasn’t overly tall by any means, but she made me feel giant until she opened her mouth and I realized how much of a badass she was.
“I thought a lot about what happened yesterday, and when I was done processing, I wasn’t happy. You boys are on my shit list and if I see any shenanigans today, I’m going to ground you for a month. I don’t care how old you are. I’m still your mother, and if you omit important information from me again, I’ll make sure you pay dearly. Do I make myself clear?”
All three brothers bowed their heads, mumbling their acknowledgements.
“I have no doubt that Taya and Jamie will help me keep you in line. I know if they were able to put up with you these last several weeks, then they’ve got the backbones they’ll need to be your mates,” Sera added.
Caleb scoffed. “We need to split them all up. This is not good for our man cards, bros.”
I stepped toward the desk, grinning. “I’ll add that Caleb tried to get us to believe Criselle was old and senile. That it was more likely she’d kill Aiden and Liam than successfully complete the alpha power exchange.”
Before I could even blink, an object was thrown across the room, hitting Caleb in his gut. A book tumbled to the ground as he hunched over, sucking in a breath.
“Thank you, Taya.” Sera smiled.
I nodded, feeling like Caleb had received only part of my payback. I wasn’t done yet, not by a long shot.
“Enough of all that,” she continued. “Criselle wants us to meet her by the old oak tree. She’s setting up right now. Is everyone ready?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they all said in unison.
Sera might have said some awful things about me yesterday, but I had believed her when she said things would have been different had she known who I was. Between her grief and Liam withholding the information, I held no hostility for her previous words. In fact, after that little show, I absolutely adored her.
It was a ten-minute walk to where Criselle was waiting for us and I began to wonder if she was truly a wolf shifter, or if she was a witch. It looked very similar to how the area had been set up when Zarai performed the soul exchange between my dad and Davis.
That thought caused me to pause and contemplate whether it was worth it for Liam to do this or not. Caleb might have been joking before, but there was no way the transference was foolproof. There was a chance something could go wrong, and I wasn’t ready to live in a world in which Liam didn’t exist.
I leaned into him, whispering, “Are you sure this is the right thing?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. When this is over, I plan to officially make you mine.”
His words were like hot lava to my insides. I knew exactly what ‘mine’ meant when he said it that way. He wanted to let our wolves bond through a blood exchange. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to think about that, so I said nothing…like a chicken shit.
He pulled me closer. “Aiden and I are going to be fine. Stay here with Jamie and it will be over before you know it.”
“If you die, I’m going to carve ‘dickbags’ as well as ‘I told you so’ into your headstones. Come back to me.”
He kissed me before pushing me toward Jamie. “I promise.”
Caleb and Aiden were already with Sera, helping Criselle put the final touches on her set-up.
I leaned my head against Jamie’s and sighed. “They’re going to be okay, right?”
“They really are.” She put her arm around me. “Then, we’re going to hunt down Declan and have our happily-ever-after’s like we deserve. This has gone on too long.”
Jamie was right. I needed to get back to my positive thinking. Liam and Aiden would be fine, and sooner rather than later, Declan would die.
I brought my attention back to where the others were with Criselle. Liam and Aiden now sat in wooden chairs that had to be hundreds of years old. Criselle stood behind them, with Sera on her left. Caleb had backed away but still hovered nearby, tension set in his shoulders.
A bowl sat on a stand between the two guys and Criselle dipped her hands into it. When she pulled them back out, they were oily and thick with something that reminded me of mucus. I gagged a little at the thought of it touching them.
All at once, Sera placed her hands on Criselle’s shoulders, Criselle put one slime-covered hand on each of the guys’ heads, and they closed their eyes. Nothing seemed to be happening, and I wondered for a moment if it would even work.
I opened my mouth to say something to Jamie, but Liam’s eyes opened frantically, and his body stiffened as if he was being electrocuted. Aiden’s body crumbled, and I fell to my knees, unable to bear the weight of what I was seeing. Nobody moved. Time was frozen as I watched my mate wither in pain.