4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

“ S he dropped the f-bomb?” Lucas looked as surprised as I was when I’d heard my mother say it.

Marianne Redford never swore, never spoke out of turn, or put one paw put of line. She was the epitome of a lady. Unless she accused you of being responsible for the death of her mate. Then all bets were off.

“With conviction.” I shook my head. “The note said I was being watched. By who? The alliance? I mean, that’s a given. So, why the warning?”

“I don’t think she meant the alliance either. She knew the challenge was going to be reinstated.” He scratched at the five o’clock shadow filling in around his usually trimmed beard.

“She did, didn’t she.” That hit me like a sucker punch to the solar plexus. “She probably knew you were hurt, and that I would want to make sure you were okay. She let me walk right into that. How can she hate her own daughter that much?”

“Because you’re strong enough to bear the brunt of her pain and anger.” Eliza Williams breezed into the room and swept me into a hug. “It doesn’t make it right; it only makes it true.”

She pulled back from the embrace. Her hands sliding down my arms until they clasped around mine.

“Now, let me get a look at you.” She raised my arms as if she were about to twirl me on the dance floor. “As beautiful as ever, but too thin. You haven’t been taking in enough calories, Caroline. I’m making breakfast. I’ll fix you a plate.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Eliza. Really. I’m not staying.” I cast a glance over her shoulder at Lucas who seemed amused by my attempt to dissuade his mother’s effort to put a little meat on my bones. “I’m going to be staying at the lodge. I’ll just grab something there.”

“Nonsense.” She pulled me in for another hug before leaving the room. She stopped just outside the door. “I’m making cinnamon pecan waffles with real maple syrup.”

The woman knew my weakness.

My stomach rumbled and my mouth watered at the mere mention of a stack of Mrs. Williams’ world famous waffles slathered in butter and dripping with syrup. I resisted the temptation and politely declined the offer again.

“Dr. Bennett will also be joining us.” Eliza said in a sing-song voice as she descended the stairs. “I’ll set you a place next to his.”

That sealed the deal.

“Damn, she’s good.” I said, still in awe at how easily she’d manipulated me with waffles and a conversation with Dr. Bennett.

“You have no idea.” Lucas laughed. “My father ruled with an iron fist. My mother ruled with a cast iron skillet.”

“And a waffle iron.” I added.

“And a waffle iron.” Lucas agreed.

I caught a glimpse of how things could have been without the challenge looming over me. Lucas, the normalcy of parental units who didn’t have political machinations that revolved around their children—even if they weren’t my own. A sense of family and of pack.

A life.

“Lina?” Lucas called my name a second time. “Earth to Lina.”

I was still blinking away the daydream when I looked at him.

“Where did you go just then?” He swung his legs over the side of the mattress and pushed himself off the bed when I shook my head. “Hey, talk to me.”

He reached for me, and I let him take my hands in his. Partly because he needed to balance himself, but also because he was my lodestone. The longer I was around him the harder it became to ignore the craving for his touch.

“It’s …” I started, but shrugged off an explanation. “It’s nothing. Forget it.”

I slipped my hands from his grasp. Lucas grabbed the hem of my shirt, stopping me before I pulled further away from him.

“This looks good on you.” He balled the cotton fabric in his fist and tugged, drawing me in. “You should keep it.”

Warmth flushed my cheeks. My choice in clothes hadn’t been intentional. Had it? No, I grabbed the first mostly clean shirt I found in my backpack and threw it on. It had nothing to do with the fact that it still smelled like Lucas.

He leaned in and brushed the barest of kisses on my lips as if waiting for my permission for more. His forehead pressed against mine, so close that if I moved my head a quarter of an inch our lips would touch again. I wanted to give in to the moment, to let myself love him, and be loved by him. We were headed down the same path that tore us apart, but I couldn’t do it.

My heart wasn’t strong enough.

“Lucas.” His name came out in a breathy whisper, belying the words that were about to follow.

“I know, Lina.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “You can’t run from the challenge now any more than I could a year ago.”

“And what’s so different this time that you’re pulling me close instead of pushing me away?” I needed to hear the answer even though it wouldn’t change anything.

“I thought loving you from afar, being forced to watch you with another man if I lost the challenge would be the worst kind of torture imaginable. And then you disappeared from my life completely.” He kneaded my back with his hands. “I should have gone with you. I regretted not going with you every single one of the three hundred sixty-five days you’ve been gone.”

“You could have found me.” I buried my face in his chest to hide the tears threatening to spill over onto my cheeks.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to.” Lucas played with the ends of my hair. “Did you want me to?”

I recalled the moment he walked into the bar after closing, the fear of being forced to return to Cedar Grove. Deep down I knew it wasn’t just my fear that Lucas was the one wolf capable of finding me and bringing me back, that had sent me running for the hills.

It was that I would let him.

Not that it mattered. I ended up right where I started, and it had nothing to do with Lucas’ powers of persuasion or the power he never realized he had over me.

“Breakfast.” Eliza called up the stairs. “Lucas dear, do you feel up to joining us or should I bring up a plate?”

“We’ll be right down.” Lucas responded for the both of us. He cupped my face in his hands, holding me in place when I disentangled myself from his embrace. “Did you?”

“Yes.” I closed my eyes, unable to look at him when I gave him the full truth. “And no.”

“We’re going to fix this, Lina. Together.” He wiped away the few tears that slipped past my lashes. “All of it.”

I nodded, despite not feeling as confident as him that everything would be an easy fix or even close to alright.

“We better get down there before your mother gets the wrong idea.” I said, before offering him help to the kitchen table.

Everyone was seated by the time Lucas made it down the steps. He insisted on doing it on his own and the progress he’d made since I arrived was impressive.

“I can fix my own plate, mom.” He rested a hand on her shoulder to keep her seated when he reached the table. “Dr. Bennett is a miracle worker. I’m almost as good as new.”

Plates piled high with waffles and all the breakfast trimmings, Lucas and I wasted little time taking our seats and stuffing our faces. I was so lost in butter and syrup that I almost forgot the main reason I’d decided to stay.

“Dr. Bennett.” I took a swig of coffee, washing down the last bite of waffle before I continued. “Can I ask you a question about the silver nitrate used in the bear trap?”

“You want to know if it’s the same type of silver used to kill your father.” Dr. Bennett shucked his manners and rested his elbows on the table, steepling his hands together. “I need to analyze it back at my lab, but upon initial inspection, I would say yes. They’re one and the same.”

“Do you expect that to change after you look at it under a microscope?” I set my coffee mug on the coaster.

“In this situation I think it’s best to err on the side of caution. We’re talking about murder, not just of an alpha, but the head of the alliance.” Dr. Bennett shook his head. “We need to be sure. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

“He was my father, Dr. Bennett. That’s the only title I ever cared about.” I got up to clear my plate from the table. “I will find out who killed him and set that trap for Lucas.”

“It wasn’t Lucas they were trying to trap, Lina.” Benjamin wiped the corners of his mouth with a cloth napkin and tossed it on the table beside his plate.

“What?” My empty plate wobbled in my trembling hand.

Lucas had mentioned the same thing back at the motel. He hadn’t even considered himself a target. I thought taking out a contender for the challenge, as opposed to the prize, seemed a more likely scenario.

I said as much to Benjamin and the rest of the people seated around the table.

“You only came home last night, Lina. The only people who knew in advance are sitting at this table, and your mother, obviously. The council wouldn’t have had time to make a decision on your punishment let alone a formal announcement.” He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which, I’m due at an emergency meeting to discuss that very thing.”

“Killing my father I understand. I won’t forgive or have mercy on whoever did it, but I understand it. Why me? That just doesn’t make sense, Benjamin.” My brows knit together as I puzzled it out, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with a good reason.

“I can think of two reasons.” Lucas glanced at his father as if seeking permission to continue. When Benjamin nodded, he went on. “One, they hoped to bring you in, play the pack hero and collect a reward.”

“Is there a reward?” I looked to Benjamin for confirmation.

“A hundred grand.” Benjamin answered my next question before I even asked it.

“And the second reason?” I asked, still baffled by the high amount.

“Play your hero. Make it look like an alliance tracker’s trap, they come to your rescue. Nurse you back to health when you can’t shift and—”

“And what? I fall in love with the knight in shining armor?” A bitter laugh escaped my mouth. “I’m not the damsel in distress type.”

“They don’t know that.” Lucas’ hands clenched into fists. “All they know is you’re vulnerable without your wolf.”

“I’ve never been that vulnerable.” I didn’t tell them that I’d been without my wolf before and had the scars to prove it.

“I think Caroline should stay with us.” Eliza busied herself with stacking dirty plates. “Whatever the reason, if she’s being hunted, she’ll be safer here than at the lodge.”

“That’s probably not a good idea.” I blurted out before I had time to formulate a more polite response and instantly back peddled to prevent rumpling Eliza’s feathers. “Umm, what I meant to say was, that’s awful sweet, but—”

“With the challenge about to be reinstated, Lina needs to appear impartial. As do we.” His expression softened when he met his wife’s gaze. “We don’t need any talk of Lina or the council playing favorites. Especially if our son still intends to accept the challenge.”

As much as I hated the idea of Lucas participating in the challenge, I welcomed it as a reason not to stay in the Williams’ home. It was too much too soon, and as much as I still cared for him, I was not ready to play house with Lucas.

“Benjamin.” Eliza pinned the alpha to his chair with a pointed glare. “We’re talking about a rogue. They’ve made it abundantly clear that they aren’t playing by pack rules. She’s—”

“Safe at the lodge. I don’t think it’s a disperser, but we’ll have people watching for any rogue activity.” Benjamin’s gaze shifted to me. “If that’s alright with you?”

I appreciated Benjamin’s effort to make it appear as if I had a say in the matter and nodded my agreement.

The alliance and I differed in opinion when it came to rogues. I spent my life under my father and the alliance’s thumb. A year on my own was enough to change my opinion on lone wolves. Technically, I’d been one of them.

And my mother wanted to make it official.

My thoughts drifted to another lone wolf—Gabe. I knew him for a short time, but I trusted him almost as much as I trusted Lucas. He had helped us when he could have just as easily chosen to run and he continued to help us.

“Gabe called.” I said, when it occurred to me that I never told them.

“The rogue you enlisted?” Benjamin arched a quizzical brow.

“When?” Lucas asked, disappointment in his voice and eyes that I hadn’t said anything sooner.

“Right before I came here.” I answered his unspoken accusation of withholding information from him. “I’ve had a lot thrown at me from the moment I walked through the door, Lucas.”

“You’re right.” Lucas said in lieu of an apology. “What did he say?”

“He wasn’t sure, but he thought the rogue might be headed to Cedar Grove.”

“Good.” Benjamin folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. “That makes our job a hell of a lot easier.”

I recognized the calculating look in his eyes. My father donned a similar expression whenever he formulated a plan. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Benjamin was thinking, because I had already thought of it myself.

We needed bait and I was it.