Chapter 134

Alaric’s POV

Alpha –

There is evidence that the rogue Lilia has been in contact with certain members of the nobility, including those on the elder council. Her motivations could be revenge for you and yours. Please be cautious. Your family, including the children, are too vulnerable.

The note is unsigned, but knowing the elder who passed it to me, I believe I can trust it. That he felt he had to do so in secret tells me everything I need to know about the other elders with him though. The ones that now have evidence that Cara and the twins are inside of my house.

These are grave tidings indeed, and not ones I can keep to myself, even if I want to protect Cara’s sense of peace.

I call for the butler. “Please, bring Cara to the sitting room.”

“At once, Alpha,” he says and departs.

A few moments later, he returns with Cara in tow. She seems nervous as she enters. Looking all around, it’s as if she expected the elders to still be here.

“I kicked them out,” I say.

“They saw Mia…”

“They want the children to be my heirs,” he says.

Cara shakes her head. Already I can see an argument forming on her lips.

“I told them no,” I tell her.

She sighs in relief. I hate that I have to ruin this moment of peace for her. But she needs to know. More than anyone, Cara needs to understand the depths of the threats that hound her.

“One of the elders, the one I can trust, passed me this in secret,” I say and hand over the letter to her.

With hesitation, she opens it. I watch her face fill with worry as she reads it, regretting that this is necessary.

“Lilia,” she says, a name from our shared past that I had hoped would stay gone forever. “I was thinking she might be involved somehow…”

I blink, not having expected that from her. “You have?”

“I told Eamon,” she says. “When Melinda was… pursuing you, I noticed the way she was dressed. It was such a silly thing, a pin that held up her bodice, making it more form fitting. It looked just like one that Lilia had worn, and in the exact same style.”

“You didn’t say anything to me.”

“Eamon thought it was probably nothing. It was too loose a connection between the too.”

Melinda came to BloodyMoon pack to seduce me, but perhaps she had different motives in mind? If Lilia has been in contact with the elders and Melinda is involved too, then perhaps they are all caught up in some kind of conspiracy together.

I need more evidence to decide, but regret already fills me. I thought Cara would be safer in DuskWood pack, but perhaps I never should have taken her out of BloodyMoon. I’d been too confident, too sure.

There, she at least has her brothers to look out for her. Here, if the DuskWood elders want her out of the way, then there are very few places where she will actually be safe.

“This is my fault,” Cara whispers. “I never should have agreed to come here.”

“This is not your fault,” I reply. “If anyone is to blame, it’s me. But we all thought you would be safer here. And for a time, I truly believe you were. When they didn’t know where to find you.”

“We’ll have to move again.”

“I will go with you,” I tell her. “We’ll keep moving, keep the assassin’s guessing, until you are safe.”

“But what about the children?” Cara whispers. “They need structure and schooling. I can’t just move them again and again like this. It’s not good for them.”

“We’ll make it work, Cara. And it won’t be for forever.”

“Then does it feel like it will…”

I don’t know what else to say. I have such few words to offer comfort. What I do have are my strong arms, so I wrap those around her and pull her into the safety of my chest. With her against me like this, I can keep her safe from the whole world. If only we could stay just like this forever.

I know it’s not possible but for the moment I dream. She must dream too, because she slumps into me, burying her face against me.

I hold on tighter.

Ethan’s POV

I’ve taken my schoolbooks out of my backpack and instead, packed in some clothes and snacks, enough to keep me going for a while. I also add my favorite action figure and a sheet of science facts, to read through when I get bored on my travels.

Mia watches timidly from the doorway. With her fingers on the doorframe, she’s half-hidden around it, like I can’t tell she’s there.

“You can’t tell anyone I’m going,” I say.

“But…”

“No buts.”

She frowns unhappily and steps more fully into the room. “Then you have to let me come with you.”

“No way,” I tell her. Mia isn’t as strong as me. Her health problems make it dangerous for her to go outside on a normal day, let alone one where we might have to run away from potential bad guys. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Not dangerous enough for you,” she says.

I hitch a thumb at myself. “Cause I’m an Alpha.”

“Not yet, you aren’t,” Mia says and sticks her tongue out at me.

“What do you know,” I say. Turning back to my backpack, I realize I’ve forgotten socks. Going to my drawer, I retrieve a handful of socks and then take them back to my bag.

“You are going to make Mom worry,” she says. “Dad too.”

“He’s not our dad,” I tell her. “Stop calling him that.”

“But he says he is. Mom does too.”

“I don’t care what they say. My dad is going to be someone great, like a war hero or a scientist. He’s not going to be some guy who has been mean to our mom.”

Mia pouts at that, her bottom lip pressing out. I ignore it. I love my sister, but it’s time for her to understand the real world like I do.

“You stay here,” I tell her. “Mom will look out for you. But it’s time I make my way in the world.”

Mia, shaking her head, rushes forward and grabs my arm. “Stay,” she says. “Dad is good. He’s not a war hero or a.. a…”

“A scientist,” I say.

“One of those,” Mia says. “But he’s still a good Dad.”

“He makes Mom sad.”

“He makes her happy too.”

I shake my head again. Mia is just a kid. She doesn’t understand. Not like I do. We might be the same age, technically, but I’m minutes older. That counts for a lot in the real world.

With my socks in my backpack, I zip it up and throw it over my shoulder. The hardest part will be sneaking out without all the security and staff seeing, but they don’t know I’ve been studying their movements. I think I can time everything right to get out of here.

I’m already tired of being trapped in these walls. As an Alpha – well, a future Alpha – my place is among my pack.

“I’ll keep in touch,” I tell Mia, and move to put my plan in action.

“But Ethan…” Mia has tears in her eyes.

They tug at my heartstrings, but I ignore them as best I can. I need to do this alone.