Smiling whole heartedly, I was proud of Liam. Desmond though, was not. He was back to seething. “She is not your parent, Liam. She isn’t the one who is making decisions about your well-being.”
“She could be. At least she doesn’t lie to me and give me bullshit answers.” Liam stared down his dad.
Desmond narrowed his eyes at me after he caught the beginning, realizing that Liam knew. Fuck, I was in trouble. If I wasn’t already now I absolutely was.
“Vi actually gives a shit. Never once did you actually ask me what I wanted to do. You just sat there waiting for me to tell you. Assuming that I would either take over or go to Washington State. But you never cared enough to ask what my thoughts or dreams were or if they were even obtainable. She actually asked me and then told me it was going to be a fucking hard road to walk, especially with who we are.”
&ldq
Nasir was slowing down. We had been running for five days straight. My legs burned as did my shoulders but I refused to stop. I felt Desmond pull hard at the mate bond but I refused to acknowledge it. Refused to let it pull me back. I just kept running. Letting it fuel me to keep going, keeping him and the kids safe was all that mattered. Poor Nasir was not used to cross country running. He did really well and I knew my pace was nowhere near his running speed but the continuous run wore on him.“Up there, there are some rocks. We will rest there. I know you’re tired. I am too. We can rest and figure out where we are.”Nasir barked and he pulled up next to me, pushing with one last bit of strength. We all out sprinted towards the jutted out rocks and once we made it, I climbed up. Nasir easily jumped and we sat down, huffing. I laughed as he rolled on his back and stuck his tongue out.
I feel into a routine easily. I woke up early, helped some of the woman make breakfast for everyone and ate with them when the entire village piled into the main tent. After that I would help out some of the men with chopping trees and replanting as they chopped.It didn’t take me long to realize this place dwelled within a dimension pocket of the forest. The force around this place though was something I had never seen. It was so strong even the ley line back at the territory didn’t effect me as much.It had been a couple weeks already and Nasir seemed to enjoy it as well. He was able to walk around freely, even receiving pats and joined the patrols around the area. Bucho would come visit me and we would talk about magic or werewolves or even just stories of our younger days.“You had to be part of the Mafia right?”“What makes you think I have the disposition to be a mafia boss?”I chuckled, my feet were tucked
***Desmond’s POV***I slammed my hand into the desk. Scott backed away a couple steps, surprised. “Damn it! She probably thinks I walked away from her!”I fell back into my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose. No. It was just a dream. It wasn’t her. She isn’t here. She is gone. I’m just too wound up. Taking a deep breath, I leaned fulling back in my chair. I was in my office at the pack house, where nearly all of my time was now spent.“Alpha?”“Sorry Scott, I fell asleep at my desk. Did you need something?”His eyes narrowed. “When’s the last time you actually had a fulls nights rest?”“I’m fine.”“No, you’re not. You’ve been staying here and I know you haven’t been actually eating meals.”I glared at Scott. “Do you have the revisions for the lake houses? As well as the new patrol
Smoke rose from the clove cigarette I was holding. For the first time in over fifteen years, I needed a smoke and I got one. Janet, the head of the witch coven within the pack, had supplied me with a box she rolled herself. She was sitting in one of the meeting room chairs, a cigarette also pressed to her lips.Iggy and Derek were leaning over the table, looking at the maps I had worked on the day before. Scott was pacing the room while Eli leaned against a chair. Imogen was a fairy who had taken up the gargantuan task of wrangling the fey who were on my territory. She also had been working with the haven that was just outside my territory. I would have liked to have Victor here as well but currently I couldn’t get ahold of him. I did speak to Zeus but apparently Victor had gone off on a quest and didn’t tell anyone about it.“We need to figure out our borders first. Secure them and then we can work inwards from there.” Scott didn’t stop p
My eyes went wide and I turned her around. Looking Olivia up and down, she definitely was thinner as well. I had been so happy she was in front of me, I hadn’t even done a true health check. Fingers brushing her shoulders, I could see the muscle but it was literally just bone, muscle and skin. Not a single ounce of fat anywhere.“You haven’t been eating?”“I have. I eat what I can. But after nine days of running…”My eyes widened. “Nine? You ran for nine days? In the forest? Alone? What the hell did you eat?”A smirk came onto her face. “Breakfast bars and I wasn’t alone. I had Nasir.”I rolled my eyes. “Goddess, Olivia. If I never see a breakfast bar again, it will be too soon. I’m going to start banning them from being sold at the grocery store.”She laughed and even through my frustration it made me smile. It had been so long since I heard it. My he
'Alpha?' I growled. The nail in my mouth fell and I placed the hammer down, feeling for the nail. Once I managed to find it, I used one hand to brace the nail and grabbed the hammer. Two good hits and I ran my finger over the nail. The frame of the new cabinets in Olivia’s place were coming along nicely. The butcher’s block countertop finally came in that I ordered and my father had dropped it off yesterday. Today I was taking my time setting up the cabinets so I had something to get the countertop on. 'Alpha, we have visitors.'Scott mind-linked me again. Sighing, I closed my eyes. 'Today is my day off. We made a deal Scott. Take care of it. I’ll be back tomorrow.' 'I know but they are looking for you directly. It’s Alpha Claude and his Beta Harrison. There was a pause. His father is also here. They just wanted to visit apparently, see how you were doing.' 'Shit.' Scott chuckled. '
“We have more and more coming in every day. It’s getting worse Desmond and I don’t know how we need to combat this.”Claude was sitting across from me in one of the smaller meetings rooms we had in the pack house. Harrison was sitting in the seat next to him and Chris was sitting a couple seats away, letting his son take the reigns on this talk. Considering he wasn’t Alpha anymore, it didn’t really include him. I smiled though, Chris sporting a black eye from our tussle yesterday. While I also had a bruise, it was at my ribs and I could hide it under clothing. I may have let my control slip for a moment when we were rough-housing yesterday. I needed to get Olivia a new table now too.“You’ve seen the camp next to my territory. I’ve got three territories worth of fey and I don’t know who else has joined their side that we need to be watching out for. While I don’t mind raging a war against a territory, ev
We laid together in silence for a while. My hand traced shapes on her back as she was cuddled against my side. Every so often, I planted a kiss on her forehead. Sighing, I closed my eyes. “Chris came down with Claude and Harrison.” Her body stiffened. “You mean…” I nodded. “Claude came down and I don’t think he meant to have his father and beta tag along but they didn’t trust him with me alone, that much was apparent.” “You’re telling me this now? Why didn’t you start off with this news?” I chuckled. “I wasn’t thinking about it. A lot has been going on. If anything, I needed you more.” She smiled and placed her head back down on my chest. “What did he say?” “He actually told me that their plan may involve Yggdrasil. I don’t know if it was to gage my reaction or if he was trying to get information from me. I gave him some correct and incorrect information. Basically telling him and Claude that there wasn’t anything we can do abo