Chapter Two
Lachlan
The nearly inaudible sound of a light step on the kitchen floor snagged my attention. I blinked rapidly, wondering why my vision seemed dim. Then I realized that night had fallen.
Moving slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, rolling my shoulders and straightening my spine. I’d been sitting on my couch for the last few hours, unmoving.
I knew who was in my kitchen just from his scent. As I entered the room, I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the lights. Calder turned from the counter where he was spooning food onto a plate and studied me.
“You look like shit,” he stated before turning back to what he was doing.
“Thanks for pointing that out,” I replied.
The scent of the food hit my nostrils and my stomach growled loudly.
“Good, you’re hungry. That means you’ll eat,” Calder drawled. “Sit down and I’ll bring the food to the table.”
I saw that he had filled two plates, which meant he intended to stay. Probably to make sure I ate as well, I thought darkly. I went to the fridge and grabbed two beers off the top shelf. I popped the tops and carried them to the table.
Calder joined me, setting a steaming plate of chicken, potatoes, and carrots in front of me. Three buttered rolls topped the pile of food. Without speaking again, he began to eat.
Though my stomach rumbled, I had no urge to eat. But I did it anyway. I forced myself to take the first bite, chewing the chicken slowly. Then another. I ate until I cleared most of my plate, barely tasting the hot food.
When my stomach felt full, I laid the fork aside and picked up the beer in front of me, knocking back a huge slug.
“Thanks for dinner,” I said to Calder, breaking the silence that had fallen between us as we ate.
He shrugged. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m kinda surprised you didn’t eat with Ricki and the pups though,” I drawled, draining the last of my beer. “I’d think she needs you to deal with those three.”
He laughed. “Not tonight. Her friends are all over, playing with the pups and drinking wine.”
“So you escaped.”
His eyes twinkling with contentment, Calder laughed again. “There was no escape about it. They kicked me out.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and Calder stared at me as though he were surprised to see the expression on my face. Then I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d smiled.
“They came over to cheer her up,” he continued.
“Cheer her up? Did she finally realize she’s stuck with you for the next few centuries?”
“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “No, she’s upset because Chloe left today.”
“What do you mean left?” I asked.
“Left. As in she packed her stuff and drove out of the compound this afternoon. Didn’t she tell you earlier?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t see her today.” The food I’d just eaten sat like a lead weight in my stomach. “When will she be back?” I wasn’t sure why I cared. I hadn’t cared about anything in eighteen months so the feeling was foreign to me.
“She’s not coming back,” Calder replied flatly.
Another strange sensation seized me, and I felt as though I’d had the wind knocked out of me. “Not coming back?” I repeated.
Calder reached out and grabbed his beer, drinking down the last of the bottle. “Nope.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed.
“Why not?”
“Because she refused to tell me.” His eyes were serious when they met mine. “But I’m worried. I’m going to snoop around and see if I can’t figure out what’s going on.”
“Why did she leave? Did she tell you?”
Calder exhaled and I understood that he was frustrated. “She gave me a very good reason, but I don’t think it’s the whole story.” He got up and walked over to the fridge, pulling out two more beers and bringing them to the table. “You know her parents died a couple of years ago, right?”
I nodded. It had happened a short time before Chloe joined the pack. When I was still acting as alpha. I hadn’t been able to go to the funeral at the time, but I remembered Nadine and Matthew MacArthur well. He was a great alpha. As a couple, they were respected leaders and good people to boot.
“Chloe and her grandmother think that it wasn’t just a random killing by rogues, as the pack claimed. Chloe left her old pack because her alpha forbade her from investigating. Then, when she came here, we were dealing with the Faction and she had to put it on hold. She’s says it’s time for her to pick up where she left off and find out what really happened to her parents.”
“You think she’s lying?”
Calder shook his head. “No, she’s not lying, but she didn’t tell me the entire truth either. She’s hiding something and I’m not sure what it is. But I’m going to find out.”
We fell silent as we both heard footsteps approaching my back door. A few seconds later there was a light knock before Kerry Gayle stuck her head in the door. I felt a shaft of pain when I saw her. A witch like my mate Belinda had been, Kerry was now the head of her coven, having taken over when Belinda died. She had also been Claimed by a vampire named Finn not long after the Faction had been disbanded. Seeing her reminded me of what I had lost.
She smiled at us as she entered, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She seemed almost…sad. “Hey, Calder. Lachlan.”
“Things getting too wild for you over at my house?” Calder asked with a smirk.
Kerry shook her head and I noticed the envelope in her hand. “Uh, Calder, would you mind if I spoke to Lachlan alone? I have something for him.”
Calder studied her for a moment then picked up his beer and headed toward the door. “No problem. I’ll just go check on Ricki and the pups.”
When he reached her side, she put out her hand and touched his arm. “Don’t go too far,” she murmured softly, her blue eyes communicating something to Calder that I couldn’t read.
He seemed to understand though because he nodded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
When the door shut behind him, Kerry didn’t move from her spot in the center of my kitchen. She looked at me, the sadness I sensed earlier clear on her face.
“You look better,” she stated softly.
I shrugged and sipped my beer. “I’m alive.” I realized I was being rude and gestured toward the chair that Calder had just vacated. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me why you’re here?”
Kerry sighed and sat down, her fingers tightening on the envelope in her hand. “I’m not sure how to explain this. What I have to say is difficult.”
The back of my neck tightened at her words, the tension spreading to my shoulders. “Maybe it’s best if you just tell me.”
She took a deep breath and held out the envelope. “I have a letter for you from Belinda. It, uh, appeared in my library yesterday with instructions to give it to you today.”
My heart stopped beating at her words and I stared at the creamy paper she held out to me, my name scrawled across the front in elegant script. Slowly, I reached out and took the envelope from her, hyperaware of the coolness of the paper and the smooth feel of it beneath my fingers.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Do you want me to, um, stay or would you prefer if I—”
“I’d like to do this alone, if you don’t mind,” I told her, not taking my eyes from the envelope in my hand.
She released a shaky breath. “I’ll ask Calder to—”
“No,” I stated, lifting my eyes to hers. “I’ll want some time alone after I read this. Tell him I’ll call him if I need him.”
The witch looked as though she wanted to argue, but she finally nodded and got to her feet. Before she opened the back door, she glanced over her shoulder at me. “I’m sorry, Lachlan.”
Then she was gone.
After the door shut behind her, I laid the envelope flat on the table, staring at my name. I could hear the quiet murmur of Kerry speaking to Calder outside, but I had little interest in trying to decipher what they were saying. My entire focus was on the letter in front of me. I didn’t want to open it. Didn’t want to see the words that Belinda had written to me before she died.
When I realized she was my mate and began my pursuit, Belinda had tried to keep me at a distance. She told me, over and over, that it was for the best if I waited until the threat of the Faction was gone. I’d managed to convince her otherwise. I’d marked her not long before she died.
Sometimes I wondered if she fought our connection so hard because she knew she was going to die and she didn’t want me to perish with her.
I heard Calder and Kerry walk away from my back porch and realized I needed to read the letter now. Calder would return in a little while, that much I knew. Whatever Belinda had written on these pages was private. For my eyes only. I didn’t want to share any of that with Calder or anyone else.
I flipped the envelope over and ran my fingers across the wax seal affixed to the flap. There, in the crest, was a wolf. It was Belinda’s crest, one she used when sending correspondence to other Covens. A magical seal that could only be opened by the person the letter was intended for. I’d laughed the first time I saw it, saying it was clear that she was meant for me.
I slid my thumb beneath the flap and the seal released easily. I withdrew several small sheets of cream-colored stationary, Belinda’s beautiful handwriting covering the pages.
I yearned to read it, to hear her voice speaking to me in my mind, yet I hesitated because I knew the heartache it would cause. It would hurt to remember her. Hurt to hear the words as though she were right here with me again.
I steeled myself for the pain and began to read.
My dearest Lach,
I met you today for the first time and already I am overwhelmed with what I feel for you.
I knew I would meet you, you see. I’ve had visions of you for months. But they didn’t prepare me for what I would feel today.
Our futures are intertwined. Tangled together, not only with each other but also with others. We are destined to be lovers, more than lovers. It feels strange for me, knowing all this when you do not.
Perhaps it is because I know how this will all end. By now, I’m sure you’ve realized what I already know—that I am not long for this world. I do not know when or how, but I will be forced to leave you behind. I thought I had made peace with it…until today.
But destiny does not change on a whim. What is coming to pass is for a larger purpose, greater than either of us. And, even now, I understand that you aren’t wholly mine, even if you do not.
When I am gone, Lachlan, you will be needed more than ever. I know you will want to die with me, that you will do your damnedest to wither away, but you can’t. I don’t want that for you. I want you to live. I want you to cherish each year. If not for yourself, for me. Your existence is more precious to me than my own and all I want is for you to have a full and happy life.
I can see you now, in my mind’s eye, shaking your head, but I’m demanding that you don’t ignore my desire. That’s right. Your mate is demanding something of you. And I know you, Lachlan. You will do anything in your power to give me what I want.
And what I want is for you to live…and to love again.
Don’t deny yourself happiness because I am gone. THAT ISN’T WHAT I WANT FOR YOU. And you shouldn’t want that for yourself.
Let me go, my love. Release yourself from the pain and the grief. It is time.
With my heart and soul, I love you.
Belinda
As I finished reading her words, my heart pounding in my chest and my lungs burning, a single drop of liquid hit the page next to her signature. I blinked, trying to focus my gaze on it as it was joined by another droplet. Lifting a hand, I touched my cheek, feeling the wetness on my skin.
I lifted my fingers to stare at them and realized I was crying. With a howl, I shot to my feet, my chair crashing to the floor behind me. As I lurched for the back door, I was already tearing at my clothes, leaving the tatters to fall where they would.
As soon as my feet hit the back porch, I launched my naked body into the air. When I landed in the grass, it was on four paws. Another howl tore from my throat and the sound felt as though it was ripped from my very soul.
Then I ran as if the hounds of Hell were behind me.