Chapter 86

Zane POV

After Sarah and I collapsed, we rolled around on the grass, and then she scratched my scruff and haunches, laughing all the time about how big my teeth and claws were. I considered going back into my skin to tell her those were mating rituals, but I was too comfortable.

Then the lake was too far away to worry with and we made our quiet way into the villa, me in my fur and her in her bra and panties. I’m sure the guards and cameras saw us, but the guards had all signed NDAs and the cameras didn’t care.

I had thought I would collapse and sleep well, but instead thoughts of how I hadn’t really told Sarah the truth plagued me. I had told her the matebond call was “faint.” It was actually quite loud; I just wasn’t sure why or what to do about it.

I awoke with a headache and the certainty that I would wait until I was completely certain about the future before sharing my feelings with Sarah. I was also completely certain the future was a complete mystery.

We could not be together. The scandal of it would hurt the pack. I’d be challenged by some alpha half my age, and Sarah would end up a widow and the children orphans.

I lay on my back and closed my eyes. I envisioned what I felt for Sarah and made it a blue jewel, the color of her eyes. Then I imagined a box with a lock. I put the jewel in the box and locked it.

It didn’t make me feel any better, but it did give me the resolution to get up and start my day, and it gave me the insight to at least know my next step. The truth was that I needed counsel, and there was a place for pack alphas to receive counsel. I got on the phone and made an appointment.

Sarah smiled at me over breakfast, and mindful of her heart, which was doubtlessly as confused as mine, I smiled back and looked over at my daughters with satisfaction. Grace was smiling freely and nudging at Chloe for some reason. Chloe nudged back, and they laughed.

I noticed their outfits and teased, “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Riding lessons,” Chloe said, making a face because they were both dressed in their riding clothes.

I laughed, then looked at them both carefully. “Did you girls grow an inch when I wasn’t looking?”

Sarah laughed, and Chloe rolled her eyes while Grace gave me one of her shy smiles. Her sister noticed and shoved at her with her shoulder, and then got pushed back. I realized it was the first time I had ever seen Grace tussle with another person, and my heart swelled with happiness.

I didn’t know what the future held, true, but the present was pretty damn good all the same. I had never had as much as now, and I felt a little ungrateful for wanting more. But I did want more.

“Meeting with Travis today?” Sarah asked between inhalations of coffee.

I try never to be secretive for no reason. A pack alpha’s secrets became problems too easily.

“I’ve made an appointment with the Luna Temple,” I said, though I did keep my tone casual.

Sarah looked like she was going to respond, but Chloe asked, “It is really pretty there?”

“Very.”

“You have to take me and Grace to the temple when we call our wolf.”

“I do, but let’s leave that for a few years, all right? I like having my daughters just as they are for now.”

“We like it too, Daddy,” Grace said so sweetly Chloe rolled her eyes again.

“Oh my,” Sarah said. “I’ll have some time to myself this morning. I think I’ll run an errand or two.”

“Take Danielle,” I said, and she nodded.

After breakfast, finished getting dressed and then headed to the temple. Ollie sensed my mood and didn’t try to make small talk. He was a good man, a good beta, calm behind the wheel. Mike sat beside in him in the passenger seat.

My contemplative mood from breakfast returned as I looked at the two wolves who were part of the network of people I employed to make my life possible. How many times had I shown up at a crisis ready to go because Ollie’s driving meant I could make my plans in the car? How many times had I been able to put my children from my mind and concentrate on pack matters because I knew Ollie would take care of them and see them safely home?

I had known a few pack alphas who ultimately failed in their positions because they hadn’t created, or been able to create, the network a leader needs to do their job properly. I remembered Sarah asking me how many people worked for me personally and her surprise at my response of twenty-three, or twenty-four counting her. The number was actually higher now with the new guards.

I had hoped the additional security was going to be temporary, a response to the rogue’s attack on Grace, which could have been mere chance, and the wolf’s shooting at Sarah, which cold also be random. But that combined with the goddess-cursed business with the human trafficking ring was just all too much for random chance. While I worried about the state of my heart, I was churning with concern about what forces were working against my family and my pack.

So it was with some relief that I saw the gates to the temple grounds ahead.

The blue sky, green grass, and white marble were calming as always, and soon a veiled Oracle was letting me into the antechamber, where I was to bathe and change into my own white robes. Of course, this all brought to mind the image of Sarah in her bath, one of the most arousing images of my life, and this brought to mind that photo of Sarah enjoying the werewolf perfumes that she should have been unable to small.

What would it be like to smell those scents on her skin?

Oh dear. The robes weren’t going to hide my physical response to that question, and I thought about next year’s urgent care network’s operating budget to calm myself down.

Once I nodded to show I was ready, I was led to the main chamber of the temple where three hooded members of the tribunal awaited, as usual. What wasn’t usual was the trio of musicians seated on cushions along the curved wall.

At my entrance, one drew a wooden mallet from her robes and slowly drew it along the rim of her singing bowl to draw out a resonating drone. As I set myself down on the floor pillow I usually occupied, the second musician began to play a quiet melody on her harp, and then the third began a harmony to the harp on her flute.

I felt myself relax, the oddly muted music soothing my concerns and slightly lowering my shoulders without any conscious instruction from my mind.

“You have come here to discuss matters of importance,” said the Oracle in the middle, who I knew was the head Oracle at the temple. I had never learned her name, but though she wore a hood I knew her voice.

That was the standard opening for these counseling sessions, so I just nodded and said, “Yes.”

But instead of asking me what I wanted, the Oracle said, “She is not what you think.”