Chapter 19 - Aris

Less than an hour after I made everyone run through the river, I drag them back out of their cabins to prepare for the rogue attack. After strategizing with Bigby, we've decided the best course of action is to act like we've left, running away from the threat, especially because Varun will likely get info from his informant that we know about the attack. Bigby and I keep our strategy to ourselves, deciding we'll tell the team at the last second to avoid a traitor revealing it to Varun and his shifters.

I'm just about to start handing out orders to the people in my team when Byron projects to me.

Sir, can we talk?

"Hey," I say, drawing him away behind the cabins, speaking low enough that the others won't be able to hear me. Byron looks nervous, his eyes darting to the side, back to the group of others.

"Sir," Byron says, and I note the way he's returned to formality, his back straight. He's shifting from foot to foot, and before he can transfer any of that anxiety to me, I try to get to the point of what I think he wants.

"Do you think it's possible that anyone in our team has been sending out communications to the commander without my knowledge?"

"Yes," Byron says immediately, his throat working as he swallows. His hair has lost some of its color and shine, likely washed out by the river water. There are bags under his eyes that almost mirror mine. "I was up all night before we—before we went to the river. I found a trace of an electronic communication leaving this area the day we arrived."

"Do you know who sent it?" I know I'm eager, asking that question as though he wouldn't have told me who it was already if he knew the answer. Of course, it occurs to me that since Byron is the only one of us with advanced technological abilities, he could easily be the traitor and be covering his own ass, but something tells me he isn't.

Standing in front of me right now, looking tired to his bones, I don't believe he could be the one betraying our team. I was at his wedding last year and saw him holding his first child. Byron is a good man and an honorable shifter. I push away the notion that he could be the one trading our secrets away for something as trivial as money or power.

"No," he admits, looking ashamed. "I don't know how anyone else on this team could encrypt their signal like they did, but I'm going to keep working on it. If I crack it, I can trace it back to the person who sent it. I'm just worried that if I work it too hard, I'll jeopardize its structure. I don't want it to collapse on me. It's a delicate thing."

"Tell you what," I say, noting the way he's sagging, even as he's talking to me. I feel the same way, but I at least got a few moments of rest and relaxation with Linnea. At least I wasn't burning out my retinas staring at a screen all night. "You go back to your cabin, get some rest. An hour or two to take the edge off. Then get back to it."

"Yes, sir," Byron says, and I don't miss the relief in his eyes at the order. He turns and heads straight for his cabin, and I find the others out front, working on what's left of the meat we cooked up the other night.

I don't know when there will be time to do more hunting. Right now, we have to focus on getting the area ready for the attack.

"Okay," I say, "Varun's rogues are coming after us, and we're not going to be able to take them on our own. We need defenses. We already have the advantage of the scent-cover. They won't be able to track us that way while they're in this area, but we need more. Ideas?"

"I brought smoke bombs," Ado says, producing a belt of grenades. He sets them on the ground and takes a step back. "They help with disorienting the target."

I stare at them for a second, wondering when Ado got approved for this level of weaponry. Deciding not to question it, I nod.

"Are you going to tell us how you know about this surprise attack?" Eva asks, picking at a fingernail. She's lounging on a tree branch, one of her long, shapely legs swinging back and forth above us. "If it's not coming from the commander."

"I can't share that yet," I say, dismissing her. "Let's move on to preparations."

"How can you be sure this is even happening, then?" Eva presses. I look at her, warning in my eyes, and she raises her hands, palms forward. "I'm just saying—if the commander betrayed us, how do we know this other source isn't also giving us false information?"

"It's a trusted source."

"A source that you trust."

"Yes," I growl. "I am the alpha of this team, which means you will defer to my judgment. Understood?"

"Understood," she says, shrugging and leaning back into the tree. I glance around to see if any of the others are bothered by the suggestion that I might not know what I'm doing, but if they are, they don't show it.

"Okay," I say, returning to the matter at hand. "We can use the smoke bombs. What else?"

"We should dig trenches around the perimeter," comes a voice from the edge of the group, and Bigby and Percy move aside to reveal Linnea, who's outfitted like she's going to battle with us. She's wearing another all-black outfit, this time in the new clothes Eva brought her back from the department store. The leggings and tight shirt hug her curves, and it takes my head a moment to focus.

"Linnea," I say, narrowing my eyes at her. I'm torn—part of me wants to go to her, to take her in my arms, and the other part of me wants to hide her away. I can see the rage in her eyes, and I know it's because I didn't answer her earlier, her confession hanging in the air between us with so much weight I feel like I could reach out and touch it.

It's too much—thinking of settling down with Linnea. Having a family. Potentially staying in Rosecreek. At one point in my life, that would have been my nightmare. And now I can't deny the way my brain leans into the idea, thrilled at the image of Linnea carrying my child. I clear my throat as my voice comes back to me.

"Go back to the cabin," I say, using my most authoritative voice, the one that makes other shifters shrink away. But Linnea stands tall, jutting out her hip and placing her hand there, her eyes full of fury as they meet mine.

"No," she says, and the team collectively sucks in a breath. Even Eva, who regularly shows some sort of attitude, glances between the two of us with wide eyes. I feel my chest expanding, and I intend to show everyone that she will do as I say—whether my orders are logical or not.

"It's a good idea," Bigby says, drawing my attention away from my staring match with Linnea. She looks at him as well, breaking the tension between us for a moment. "We need to catch them off guard as much as possible. An opponent falling six feet during the fight wouldn't hurt."

"It will hurt them, though," Linnea adds, her eyes bright with glee as she looks to Bigby, raising her eyebrows at him. "Because we'll sharpen stakes and place them at the bottom."

"Holy shit," Percy says, sucking in a breath through his teeth and glancing at me excitedly. "Your woman is ruthless, Boss."

I stare at her. My woman.

I could throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to the cabin. Show her who the alpha is in this situation and remind her that she isn't to disobey me in front of my team, but the truth is that her suggestion is actually pretty good.

"Fine. You can stay and help with the preparations," I concede, "But the second the rogues get close to here, you're hiding. Got it?"

Linnea is still staring at me, and I realize even as bold and abrasive as she can be, there's an affection for her buried in my chest that I can't shake. The truth dawns on me. I love her. Of course I do.

I'm in love with her, and I would do anything to protect her. To cherish her. Looking at her now, her chin tipped up, that defiant gaze boring into me just like it did that day at the bar, I realize I want her to be the mother of my children. She will raise them to be defiant and wholly their own. And our son will become alpha of the Rosecreek pack after me, carrying on our legacy.

I have this thought, and at the same moment, I realize this means I must become the alpha of the Rosecreek pack first. Which means I'm going to kill Varun myself and take his place. I'm going to restore glory to this area and regain the credibility and respect we had back when my father was the alpha.

"Got it," Linnea finally says, pulling me out of my thoughts. Her concession feels good, but she immediately turns on her heel, addressing Bigby again as though he's chief of strategy. "We can also confuse and overwhelm them with scent," she adds. "You all will need to wear bandanas over your noses, but we can bundle herbs and flowers in the fire pit and light them up when they get near. If we bring all the chemicals out of the cabins and dump them around the area, it will drive them nuts."

I remember that day in the bar and how she'd smelled like a cleaning aisle herself. She'd admitted to me that she had plans to break away from the pack—something that's basically inconceivable to me—and I wonder if that had something to do with it.

"Okay," I say, "Bigby and Ado, you shift and get to work on those trenches. We'll never finish them in human form. When you're done, go to rest and regain your energy while we place the spikes. Eva, go and find us something to eat. We'll need the fuel. Percy and Linnea, I want you on spike duty. Make as many as you can, and we'll put them down as soon as the trenches are done.

It feels good to be doing something, giving orders again. Nods come my way, and people split off to get their jobs done. Before he can get too far away, I grab Percy's bicep. Our eyes meet, and the never-ending question filters through my mind—is he the traitor? Am I making a huge mistake by leaving him alone with Linnea?

"Protect her with your life," I say, keeping my voice low so Linnea can't hear me.

"Of course," Percy says, looking serious for once in his life. The expression on his face is as though I've said something redundant. "She's our luna."

The term hits me like a slap across the face. Linnea is my pack's luna—the person on my arm, the strong woman who acts as a role model for the other women in the pack. She guides the nourishment, nurtures other mothers, ensures we can all connect, and maintains emotional balance. The luna of the pack teaches us how to feel and keeps us strong through our loyalty and love for one another.

My mother was the luna once, and I watched her coach women through pregnancy, help young shifters change for the first time, and mediate disputes between pack members. She and my father worked as a team to keep our pack strong. I glance over at Linnea, who is already gathering up sticks, examining them before adding them to a pile. She'll make a great luna, even if she can't shift. My pack will respect that and perhaps even see it for the strength it can be. Her visions are also an invaluable asset, though I'm not sure if we'll disclose that.

I shake my head, realizing I'm already making plans for a pack that doesn't even belong to me yet. I need to focus on what's happening now. With a start, I release Percy's bicep, wondering how long I was holding it. There are small white marks where my fingers were digging in.

"I know I'm not from Rosecreek," Percy says, drawing my attention suddenly. He doesn't seem bothered that I was just manhandling him or staring off into the distance after my mate. He has that same lopsided smile plastered on his face. "But I'll follow you wherever you go, Boss."

I blink hard, not wanting to betray how much that means to me.

"Of course you will," I say gruffly, and Percy leans in, grasping my hand and pulling me in for a brief hug, his fist pounding my back once.

"Now, come on, Boss, we got preparations to get to."

Percy turns and takes off in Linnea's direction, spooking her as he taps on her shoulder, making her drop an armful of stakes. He can't be the traitor. If he is, it might honestly break my heart. He's been the light of our team for too long to turn out crooked.

I position myself so I can keep an eye on Linnea and start my project—constructing an area up in the trees in which I can hide her when the shifters come. Using spare wood that's out by the cabins, I make a platform high enough that other shifters shouldn't be able to see her or catch her scent if the scent-cover and chemicals don't do their jobs. As I work, I watch Linnea and Percy laughing, a pile of sharpened stakes growing taller to their left.

When the platform is finished, I drop to the ground just as Ado and Bigby return, still in their wolf forms. I see Linnea's eyes go wide at the sight of them, and she glances away as they shift back, fully naked. Ado retires to his cabin to get some rest before the fight, but Bigby stays out; he and Percy place the stakes as Linnea and I go cabin to cabin, grabbing bottles of bleach and ammonia.

"We shouldn't dump them until just before," she says, heaving as she sets a gallon of bleach on the ground. I growl softly. I'd tried to take it from her, something deep inside me insisting she not carry anything in my presence, that I should take any load she would carry, but she fought me until it became ridiculous, so I just let her carry the damn bleach.

"Speaking of your ingenious strategy," I say, wiping my hands off and stopping to take a swig of my water. I offer it to her and she takes it, but she's still eyeing me warily. I want that look in her eyes gone, but it doesn't seem like the right moment to tell her that I love her and I want to stay in Rosecreek with her. "The chemicals… You smelled like this at the bar."

"Oh," she says, blushing and handing the water bottle back to me. "Yeah. I didn't want Varun to be able to track me, so I'd doused my house in that stuff. And my clothes."

I nod, then quirk an eyebrow at her playfully.

"…And the spikes? The death traps? I'm assuming you didn't learn that in gym class."

"No," she laughs, leaning forward to tie her shoe, but I put a hand on her shoulder, gesturing for her to put her shoe up on my thigh. She does, and I tie it for her as she talks.

"I—I used to read a lot, back in high school. It was a good way to take my mind off of things."

"Things?"

"Well," she says, clearing her throat. "I was pretty miserable at school. You and your goons, you didn't make it easy. And then my grandma died."

I wince, remembering the worst thing I'd ever said to her. It was a day she'd worn a skirt to school, and I'd been feeling extra agitated at the way my eyes kept tracking to her legs, wandering up to the hem of her skirt. In my anger at myself, it projected and just slipped out.

Your grandma probably died just to get away from you.

It was too far. I'd known it immediately when she turned, walking quickly to the girls' bathroom. Even then, even at the most hurt, she wouldn't let me see her cry.

"I'm sorry," I hear myself say, and if I'm shocked at it, Linnea is more so, her mouth actually dropping open.

"Okay," I say, reaching over and putting a finger under her chin, pushing up until her mouth is closed again. "You don't have to act so surprised. Obviously—obviously I'm not the same guy I was back then. I'm sorry for what I did."

"You've never said that," Linnea says quietly, and if my hearing wasn't this good, I wouldn't have heard her. "You've never said you were sorry."

"Of course I am," I keep pushing, tipping her head up until she's staring up at me, and I see the tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry, Linnea. You didn't deserve the way I treated you."

She leans up on her tip-toes, and just when her lips are about to meet mine, Percy and Bigby come barreling back into the clearing.

"Hey, guys, we—" Percy cuts off as Bigby cuffs him on the back of the head, but the moment is ruined, and Linnea steps back before I can kiss her.

"Sorry," Percy calls, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling out through the clearing. At that moment, Eva returns, hauling a deer in her huge maul. She drops it unceremoniously by the fire and heads back to her cabin. We turn our heads as she shifts before going inside.

"Great," Linnea says, eyeing the bloody deer warily. "Dinner."