Chapter Twelve

Dom

The old hunting cabin was even more of a piece of shit than I remembered. It was a good place to carefully tread back into Moonpeak territory, though, and once word spread that we were here, I expected a number of visitors.

I was digging through the cabinets for what food may have been left around, but it didn't look like there was any. Carson was helping stock the kitchen with the things we had bought in North Sydney. At least with Carson helping Jack shop, we had some decent food for building our energy up. Still, there were a fair number of potato products as well.

"We're going to have to go hunting," Carson said. "I don't think this is going to last that long."

I shut the cabinet door I was at and walked over to him. Looking through the last of the food he had put away, I saw mostly canned vegetables, nuts, seasonings, a couple of onions, some apples. Some jerked meat, but nothing that would last five wolves very long. Lots of foods that would be a part of a meal, but no fresh meat.

"It'll have to wait," I said. "No hunting on pack lands without permission. We're outsiders now, remember? We get to sit pretty on our asses until Alpha sees fit to come deal with us."

Carson's shoulders fell, disappointed. "Damn, that's frustrating. I grew up here, I want to run down the hills and stalk the elk. Why do pack politics have to be so hard?"

I exchanged a look with Aaron, the only other one to argue we shouldn't have brought Carson with us back then. He was just a kid when we left. Sixteen. Amelia had let him come, saying he had the same fire in him that we did because of what happened. We were all left in the same boat when Evander became alpha, after all. Every one of our parents died trying to either stop the challenge or to challenge Evander when he took over, desperate to avenge Alpha Liam or at least to stop the ascension of Alpha Evander. They must have seen something in Evander that made the risk worth it, but all I knew was that it left a bunch of kids orphaned and eventually rogue. What kind of place did a bunch of kids have in the new structure of a pack that had killed their parents? None, and so we left.

"If you're done, go get Aaron and watch for visitors," I said, trying to distract him.

"You expecting anyone?" Carson asked.

"Smokey. Maybe Alpha Evander. Just keep an eye out, will you?" I closed the last cabinet and turned to him. "While we have permission to be here, I expect the alpha will want to come by and set some ground rules."

Carson stopped in the doorway on his way out. "She'll be okay, right?"

"Amelia?" I glanced at her bedroom door. "Yes, just give her time."

If she's not, our trip back here was all for nothing .

"Dom," Carson called. "Smokey's coming!"

I left the kitchen and went out the front door, the screen door creaking as it swung shut behind me. Aaron was outside with Carson, and Jack was still in the cabin doing who knew what.

Up the path, Smokey walked as though he had all the time in the world. There was a little blood on his mouth, he'd probably caught his own lunch on the way here. While most other wolves only hunted on the full moon or as their role in the village asked of them, Smokey barely left his fur. In many ways, Smokey was an odd wolf.

Once he was close he paused and shifted. He shook his head and brushed the hair out of his face as he walked over.

"How are ya now?" he asked.

"Good, and you?"

"Not so bad." Smokey tilted his head and crossed his arms.

"Got a little something on your mouth, Smokey." I gestured.

He wiped it with the back of his arm. "The goose didn't come with a napkin, boy."

Carson laughed. I shook my head. Same old Smokey.

"How frequent are the attacks?" I asked, shifting to business. "Are you still getting hit by those strange rogues?"

Smokey ran his tongue over his teeth, taking a moment to stare me down. "They stopped not long after you left. About when the challenges to Alpha's position slowed down."

Clenching my fists, I kept my voice even. "You know what that looks like. Why didn't anyone push it?"

"Folks here seem unbothered by it," Smokey said. "Folks I would have thought wouldn't let it go. Folks who usually cause a fuss to get things evened out."

"You're telling me the attacks started when Evander came, then they stopped once he was the unchallenged alpha of Moonpeak?" I asked.

"That's about the way of it," Smokey said.

"Weird," Aaron said.

"Very," I agreed.

"Don't go poking around unless you're really ready to do something about it, ya hear? Now, what happened with this June kid?" he asked. "Did she walk up and ask for a peck on the arm or did one of you boys screw up?"

"Amelia bit her." I crossed my arms. "She's in a bad state right now. June thought we were hurting Amelia and came to help. Amelia lashed out. Teeth. Skin. We took June with us. That's about it."

Smokey gave me a dark look.

"Amelia did it, did she? What's wrong with her?" Smokey asked.

"You want any clothes?" I asked, encouraging him to follow me into the cabin.

Smokey scoffed. "This isn't the village. No need to get pants involved."

"Mm-hm. I figured."

When I opened the door to Amelia's room, she was on the bed on all fours, one of her hands gripping the headboard. It looked like she had brought her claws out enough to start tearing it to pieces in her pain and frustration. The T-shirt and track pants she was wearing had some notable claw marks in them too.

"What happened?" Smokey asked, frowning as he took in the sight of her.

"Some shit with a warlock." I shrugged. "It's supposed to be over in nine days. After tonight we've got three to go."

Smokey leaned over her, getting close to her face to investigate.

"Amelia," Smokey said, putting as much wolf in his voice as he could in his human skin. "Put your fur on."

Amelia glared at him, grunting, holding her ribs.

"She can't," I answered for her.

Amelia turned and snarled. Then she spun back around to her visitor, locking furious eyes with Smokey. "Leave," she managed.

Smokey looked down at her. "And if I don't, what are you going to do about it? Claw me like your headboard? Say some pissy shit?"

Amelia raised an arm to take a swing at him, but in her weakened state he caught her arm and lifted her off the bed with it entirely. Amelia hung there, snarling and fighting as much as she could.

"You were gone for ten damn years, Amelia," he said sternly. "You drag your ass back here . . . no. You didn't even come here, did you? Dom dragged your ass back here. You'd probably still be running away, eh?"

Amelia growled, lashing out at Smokey, but he was able to fend her off easily.

"Listen here, girl. You ran. Your ass ran, and I know why you did it but you're an alpha's daughter and that shit can't fly. I hope the last decade of pissin' around with leeches and whatever other shit you got caught up in is behind you." Smokey dropped her back down on the bed. "I hope half of what I heard isn't true. If it is, then you're even weaker than I thought you were."

Amelia snarled.

"Pissed? Good." He laughed, which pushed Amelia to the breaking point. "Get mad. Get worked up. Get over this warlock shit and come find me when you're done. I'll beat the alpha back into you down at the training fields. Do you know how long Naomi cried? The whole pack? You were Alpha Liam's pride and joy. I'm glad he died before he could see this shit."

Oof .

"Where's my sister?" she demanded.

"Naomi's been living in the pack house with Alpha. Been there nearly the whole time, and she barely comes out," Smokey said.

My throat tightened. Naomi, the softer side of Amelia. Where one twin filled Alpha Liam's shadow with the promise of a future alpha, the other was the match to their gentle mother. Naomi would never have fought Evander, not physically. The implications churned in my gut. "That can't be right," I said.

Smokey stared me down. "It is. Don't like it? Shape up and do something about it. You lot went off for a damn decade, what did you expect to happen here? The village is in a cloud of passive acceptance, and the last of our strong upcoming wolves left. You. You left."

I was on edge now. "If you're so discontented, why didn't you challenge Evander?"

Smokey offered a dark laugh. "You forget, I was Liam's witness. I bound myself to the code that I would respect whatever outcome was of their challenge. Liam lost, and I'll be damned before I break the last service I was able to offer him. Liam was a damn good wolf." Smokey turned his ire back to Amelia. "And look at the apple that fell so far from the tree."

"Fuck off . . . Smokey," Amelia growled. "I was . . . getting . . . stronger."

"You were getting weaker." Smokey looked down at Amelia, a frown deep on his jaw. "You thought you were tough shit with the vampire, but all you were doing was flexing someone else's muscles. What kind of wolf did you turn into, girl? What self-respecting alpha wolf takes orders from anybody?"

Ouch .

Amelia was livid, but she couldn't do much against Smokey as she was now. She snarled and took a swing that missed. She kicked out a leg, but all she managed to do was break off a bedpost at the foot of the bed. Smokey laughed again.

"When you're ready to get your ass back on track, you come and find me," he said, then turned and left without waiting for her response.

I followed Smokey back outside. The others had stayed out front, but they would have been able to hear all of it. Aaron had his head down in shame. Jack and Carson looked absolutely gutted. Smokey stopped in the dirt and turned to me.

"You, too, boy," he said.

"What about me?" I said.

"When you're ready to stop playing butler to the pampered princess, you find me," Smokey said, jabbing a finger in the middle of my chest.

"It's her right to inherit Liam's pack," I growled. "I've followed her this far and I'll follow her to hell and back if it means putting her in her rightful place."

Smokey spat on the ground between us. "There is no rightful place in this world. You take it with your own two hands or you die trying. There is no help in a fight to the death, and all your coddling is weakening you both. Ask her if she even wants it, because from where I stand, it looks like she wants her revenge and can't see past it to decide on her future."

He shifted into his fur and bounded off, back on whatever run he was taking this afternoon.

I watched him go with mixed feelings. I was angry that he'd insulted Amelia, but I couldn't argue that I thought we'd gone down the wrong path to gain strength. I hated living rogue, and in our isolation we had become hardened. Hard enough to come back for retribution. I'd watched Evander kill my father. During the challenge, he caught Dad's neck with his teeth and broke his spine. The sound of it snapping still echoed in the worst of my dreams, and I wanted nothing more than to do the same to Evander. All five of us had a similar story.

"What's the plan, Dom?" Jack asked.

"We wait for Amelia to recover. She's the alpha wolf, she's included in any plans we make."

They were restless. Without purpose, wolves will turn on themselves. We all needed a distraction. Something to do with our hands. I couldn't forget that we also needed to survive the next three days.

"Aaron, see if the pond has fish or turtle we can catch and eat. Jack, scrub the kitchen pots. I'm sure there's a delicious layer of dust on everything out here. Carson, clean out the vehicle. Sweep, air it out, get it cleaned up as best you can."

"Right," Aaron said.

"Got it," Jack added.

Carson nodded. Then the three of them went about their tasks.

Back inside, I checked on Amelia. She was struggling through pain and fury, and I wished I could take it away for her.

There shouldn't be any regrets from the last ten years. I grew, we all had, but some part of me that was still the beta's kid following around the alpha's kid as though there was no question that we would be the next to watch over Moonpeak. Aaron, Jack, and Carson came from some of the best warrior stock I'd ever known. We should have been the ones to take over, not Evander, and especially not after the bloodbath that gained him what he had now. How could we have stayed here and watched him stand where Alpha Liam stood? Amelia made the best call she could have at the time, and we followed her willingly. We did a lot of shit I was not proud of working for Apollo, but there was no arguing with the results when we were all stronger than before. We didn't have a chance at challenging Evander before, but now . . .

Smokey was wrong; our time away was not wasted. We were all different wolves for the experience. Harder, stronger, faster ones.

So why did it feel like I was in the wrong?