Chapter Three

 

Clover kept the conversation flowing as they walked through the northern woods, talking mostly about the weather. While it felt sweltering to Taylor, it was apparently much hotter at the Shaderunner den and the surrounding regions. Situated in the mountains, Halcyon Valley experienced milder summers and colder winters than places at lower elevation.

The talk of the temperature only served to make Taylor hotter, and by the time the first glimmers of the lake came into view, sweat was rolling down her back and between her breasts.

“That’s your home?” Carly asked as they neared the lakeside cabin. After Taylor nodded, Carly said, “Do all of your pack mates live in houses?”

“Just Taylor,” Lark said, her voice a little stiff. She was clearly torn between wanting to view Carly as the enemy and her own friendly, talkative nature.

“The wolves feel more comfortable in the den,” Taylor offered.

As they left the clustered trees behind, Shadow finally emerged from the woods. Living up to his name, he made scarcely a sound as he followed behind them, a remarkable feat, considering that he was the size of a small car.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Carly stumbled, caught at the last second by Clover. As she straightened, she put a hand to her chest, regarding Shadow with wonderment.

“Is that one of your mates?” Carly asked.

“That’s my son, Shadow,” Taylor explained just as Shadow was prancing up to her. He rubbed the side of his snout against her by way of greeting, and Taylor was quick to put her arms around his neck, relishing in the small gesture of affection. She didn’t doubt that he’d been upset with her, but unlike Hale, he could never stay mad for long.

“He’s so…” Carly paused to swallow. “Handsome.”

Clover, having not seen him since the winter, appeared equally taken aback by Shadow’s size, though she recovered more quickly. She had just begun to greet him when Lark pointed towards the cabin.

“Those are Taylor’s mates,” she said.

Taylor’s head snapped around. Sunlight hit her eyes, and she lifted her hand to shield them. Leaning against the cabin and dressed in identical white furs were her mates, Alder and Hale.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell one from the other. With their furs over their shoulders, Taylor couldn’t see Hale’s telltale scar. Their expressions were the same; not quite neutral, but cool and assessing.

Taylor hadn’t expected to see either of them there, let alone both of them. She felt a spark of excitement, but it quickly fizzled out when she remembered her last exchange with Hale, wherein he’d all but accused her of not loving Henry.

For once, she hadn’t fought back. He must have seen that as a victory, but the truth was, she was simply too overwhelmed to defend herself. She had wished, and still did, that she could crack open her skull and let him peer inside so that he could understand why she was doing this. Why she had agreed to allow Carly into her territory and was facilitating this stranger being close to the pup Taylor had been raising as her own.

Alder was the first to approach them. Taylor knew it was him the instant that he favored her with a warm look. As he reached them, his arm came out to wrap around Taylor’s waist. A second later, Clover was on him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Alder, it’s been ages!”

“Have you gotten taller?” Alder asked, planting a kiss on the top of Clover’s messy hair.

After a quick exchange of greetings, Clover’s attention shifted to Hale, whom she practically pounced on. Taylor’s attention was drawn less to the sibling reunion and more to the stunned look on Carly’s face as she gaped at Taylor’s mates.

Taylor didn’t take it for granted that Alder and Hale were hot. In fact, the knowledge had wreaked havoc on her self-esteem early in their relationship, and still popped up from time to time, even after being together for three years. She could never quite shake the feeling that they were out of her league. She thought she looked nice enough, the scar on her face and her ever-fluctuating weight notwithstanding, but they were both beyond gorgeous, the sort of men that may never have spared her a second glance, had they not been biologically compelled to mate with her.

Alder leaned down to press a kiss near Taylor’s ear. “How did it go?”

Something about the low, whispery tone of his voice made her shiver. Taylor sometimes wondered if her attraction towards her mates would ever wane, but as of yet, it’d shown no signs of abating.

Leaning her head against his arm, she whispered, “He bit her.”

She expected Alder to be as aghast as she’d been, but he only gave a small frown and said, “Hm. Strange.”

It annoyed Taylor, just a little. From the night she’d first told him about her plan to bring Carly to the valley, she’d failed to get a read on Alder’s opinion. While Hale had been very vocal about his feelings, Alder refused to take a side and was resistant to Taylor’s efforts to probe him.

Of her two mates, she would have expected Alder to react more harshly than Hale, as he seemed more bonded to their two adopted pups than her other mate did. But true to form, Hale had reacted to the news of Carly coming with a tornado of rage, while Alder remained calm and collected.

After Clover’s enthusiastic greeting, she introduced Hale to Carly. The young woman looked up at Hale, her mouth popped open, cheeks flushed, and pupils dilated. In spite of her longstanding issues with jealousy, Taylor wasn’t initially riled up. As she watched Carly practically drool over her golden-haired, finely chiseled mate, she felt only amused, with perhaps a tinge of pride. Once you got to know him, Hale was far from a prize, but he sure made a fine presentation.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Hale said, practically purring the words. He reached out to pluck a leaf from Carly’s brassy locks and then held it out in front of her.

“Thanks,” she said, her fingers trembling as she took the leaf and cupped it in her palm.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Taylor looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the exchange, but Lark, Clover, and Alder were conversing, and Holly was staring at the lake, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

Carly caught Taylor staring and her face reddened further. Clearly hoping to shift attention away from herself, she pointed towards the cabin and asked, “Who’s that?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Taylor grimaced when she saw Olivia.

Some people called her Olive, but Taylor had yet to earn that privilege. She was technically the second shifter Taylor had ever met, having accosted Taylor and Alder as they journeyed to Halcyon Valley over three years ago. That night, Taylor hadn’t even known that Alder was a shifter, so when she’d first seen Olivia morph from a wolf into a tall, feral-looking female, she’d thought for sure that she was looking into the eyes of death.

Only moments later, Alder had revealed himself to be a shifter and had carried Taylor to the safety of the valley, where she would not see Olivia again for many months. At the time, they’d been enemies, but after a tentative peace treaty the packs had learned to tolerate one another. Olivia was now a member of Taylor’s agriculture group, helping to oversee the Whiteriver wolves that worked the fields.

While she and Olivia weren’t exactly friends, Olivia did seem to regard Taylor with a certain amount of deference for being Alder and Hale’s mate. It wasn’t anywhere near Karin-levels of deference, but Olivia was at least respectful, usually. At the moment, she stood with her hands on her hips, her green eyes narrowed on Taylor. All Taylor could do was offer a helpless shrug.

Nearly as tall as Alder and Hale and with sharp, but attractive features, Olivia was an intimidating sight up close. As she sauntered up to the group, her eyes still narrowed, Carly shrank back to be closer to Clover.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Clover said, extending a hand.

Olivia took it, giving a single quick shake before letting go.

“Olivia. Whiteriver beta,” she said tersely.

Clover smiled in spite of the stiff greeting. “Oh! You must be Silas’s sister, then?”

At the mention of Silas, Carly began combing her fingers through her hair at a furious pace. “Is he here now?”

Taylor wondered what exactly Sarah and Clover had told Carly. In her letters, Taylor had tried to convey that Silas wasn’t a sure thing. He wasn’t actively pursuing a mate, and there was no telling if he would be interested. However, from Sarah’s responses, it had seemed as if it were a done deal. Sarah couldn’t stop gushing about how Taylor and Carly would be such good friends, how they had so much in common, and how happy she would be to have another human living in the valley.

Looking at Carly now, Taylor struggled to imagine a single thing they might have in common, aside from their species and gender.

I would have never abandoned my baby.

There it was, that poisonous thought that seemed to slither in whenever she thought of Carly. She hated that she felt that way, but she couldn’t deny that the feeling was a part of her.

“Can I have a word with you?” Olivia asked, ignoring Clover and giving Taylor a pointed look.

Clover interjected, “How about the three of us girls have a chat while you guys show Carly around.” She gave her brothers a bright smile. “Shaderunner is the only pack Carly’s ever seen. I think she’d be interested to see how wolves live in the valley.”

“Sure,” Carly said, looking anxiously between the females.

For her part, Taylor instructed Shadow to take Henry to play. The younger pup had already been at his brother’s side, watching everyone converse while displaying no particular interest towards Carly.

Lark tried to invite herself along, but Taylor urged her to keep Carly company. The conversation to come was going to be contentious enough without Lark adding her input. Taylor couldn’t keep Holly from coming, but the fox’s presence wasn’t problematic. She followed behind them, hanging back and keeping to herself.

They walked in silence for several minutes. It wasn’t until they’d reach the pebbled shore of the lake that Olivia rounded on Taylor, her chin jutting up as she glowered downwards.

“Is this some sort of joke?” she seethed. “Silas will never be interested in her.”

Clover was the first to respond, catching on right away. “She’s not conventionally attractive, but she has a really big heart and she grows on you.”

Directing her ire at the other shifter, Olivia said, “She has the face of a toad.”

Taylor took a step back, happy to let the two of them argue. She was careful to scan the area, making sure that Carly was well out of earshot. If this had been a movie, the human would have undoubtedly been slinking behind a nearby tree, poised to hear every disparaging comment. To Taylor’s relief, she spotted her far off across the lake, with Lark and either Alder or Hale at her side.

Clover continued to argue, clearly growing irked. “What does it matter what she looks like? Last time I checked, human females weren’t exactly lining up to live in caves and make babies for wolf men. She’s here and she’s willing. Besides, she’s not that bad looking.”

Olivia let out a huff. “You haven’t seen my brother, and if you saw the last female he was with, a female that he still very much has feelings for, you wouldn’t be wasting our time with this beaver-faced human.”

Something about what she’d said tickled at Taylor’s memory, but she didn’t have time to explore it. Olivia turned her attention back to Taylor.

She demanded, “Are you going to say anything? This was all your idea.”

Why did everyone keep saying that to her?

Taylor took a breath, rubbing her belly in a gesture meant to sooth herself more than her unborn child.

“Look, right now, we’re all just making assumptions. Let’s get the two of them together and see what happens. Besides, it’s not like Silas knows we’re trying to set him up with Carly. All he knows is that Henry’s mother is visiting our pack.”

Olivia grimaced. “That’s not the case anymore. I told him everything this morning.”

“What? What did he say?”

Olivia folded her arms across her chest and looked down at her feet. “He was angry. But I told him that it was the best way to secure the alliance between our packs.”

“But we already have an alliance,” Taylor said, frowning. “We’ve had one for years.”

Olivia stamped her foot impatiently. “Halcyon has an alliance. All Whiteriver has is the vague promise that Halcyon won’t change its mind.”

“You can’t really feel that way. And what about Shan? You know how—”

“You think we’re that significant to him? That he’s going to swoop in to rescue us if Halcyon attacks?” Olivia kicked at the rocks, and then looked up at Taylor. “We’ve spent a lot of time together these past few weeks. I know you’re a good person, Taylor. But all Silas knows is Alder and Hale killed our father, forced us from our homes, and then bullied us into submission for years. It’s going to take a lot more than a few promises to get him to trust Halcyon.”

Taylor knew only bits and pieces of Whiteriver and Halcyon’s history, and what she did know was only from Halcyon’s perspective. According to her pack mates, Silas’s father had held the entire valley before Alder and Hale had taken it from him, and he hadn’t been a just ruler.

She couldn’t believe that her mates would have killed him and taken his pack if he hadn’t been as horrible as everyone said, but then again, her mates had both been quite different before she’d met them, Hale in particular. And even if everything she had heard about the former alpha was true, there was real pain in Olivia’s eyes when she spoke of her father’s murder. Taylor’s own mother had been a real piece of work, but she couldn’t imagine having to be neighbors with her killers, let alone make peace with them.

With a shoulder-slumping sigh, Olivia said, “Silas doesn’t want a mate. At least, not one he doesn’t choose himself. But he recognizes that taking Carly as his mate could put some of this tension to rest, what with her being the mother of one of your pups. He’s giving it serious consideration, or at least he was this morning.”

Olivia followed Taylor’s gaze towards the other side of the lake, where Carly was still strolling with Lark.

“It was a good plan, Taylor. But her… She’s not the one for Silas.”