SPENCER
On the way to the hotel, Mom insisted on getting us some Chinese takeout.
“This would be like a little snack to you, and you all need proper food after such an intense night,” she said. “But you can’t go out with blood dripping from your wounds. We should take care of it first.”
By the time we arrived, the cut on Finn’s cheek was healed. Alister had a few scratches that were all gone too. Liam’s injuries were getting much better, but James’s wounds were deep and would take more time to completely close.
Supporting him from both sides, Finn and Liam helped James get to his bed. To make him comfortable, Liam pushed the pillow under his back as he leaned against the headboard.
Mom walked into the room holding bandages. “Let me see.” She helped James take off his blood-soaked t-shirt and patched two long cuts across his stomach, and one on his side.
“Here.” I handed him the food and put a bottle of cold soda on the nightstand.
“Thanks.” He moaned from the pain as he tried to pull himself higher.
“James, I’m so sorry.” No matter what they all said about the fight, that it wasn’t just for me but for all of us, I still felt guilty for everything they had to go through from the moment I showed up in their lives.
“It’s nothing,” he smiled. “I have a couple of broken ribs. They’ll heal by morning just like all the other wounds, don’t worry.”
“He got into the fight first, and was jumped by many at once,” said Liam, looking at me and then at Mom. “They came on us from all sides, surrounded us pretty quickly, and it’s good Alister showed up, or we would all look like him.” He nodded toward James. “Maybe worse.” He grabbed his box with food from the table and dropped into the chair.
“Alister, are you sure no one recognized you?” asked Finn.
“I’m sure. I didn’t see a single familiar werewolf. And to be honest, I’m not surprised. The old ones wouldn’t get involved in a fight with a few rogue wolves.”
“Listen.” I crossed to the desk and leaned against it. “Alister, I’m sorry,” I looked from one to another, “and you guys, for calling you my men out there, and acting like some alpha. I only did it to show him that you weren’t keeping me against my will, to let him know that I wasn’t just some voiceless . . .” I cleared my throat, “stripper.”
Liam smirked. “You are.”
Finn glared at him. “Excuse me?”
“Chill man. I mean the alpha. And she has the right to speak for us.”
“No, I’m not,” I glanced back at Liam a little startled.
“Spencer, don’t you see the changes you brought into our lives?” Alister said with a kind smile. “This was the first time we ever opposed them. We fought as a pack, and it happened only thanks to you. You brought us together, gave us hope, and tonight, you acted like a leader. You should be proud of yourself.”
“We were outnumbered. And I only did what I did to get you all out of there.”
“Exactly. You saw the threat, and at once, you came up with a solution to save—yes you can say it—your men.”
“You’re the oldest, and it should be you who—”
“No, it shouldn’t. It has nothing to do with age. I’m not the one who gave us a reason to come together and trust each other. And don’t forget—it’s your destiny to be an alpha.”
I glanced at Mom, who jerked her shoulder with a smile.
“Well, we’ll see what happens,” I shrugged. “Let’s hope one day that destiny thing will sink in. Right now, we all need to rest to recharge our brains so we can find a way out of this mess.”
I glanced at Finn. But he didn’t look back.
He said, “I’ll go wash up,” and marched out of the room.
He was still angry, which proved that what he said to me before we all got in the cars wasn’t everything he wanted to say.
Today's events made him doubt my feelings for him. It hurt me, and I hoped it wasn’t because he didn’t trust me. I blamed his wolf’s protective nature. The longer he would stew in his anger, the deeper it will root. I couldn’t stand him not looking at me, and I wouldn’t let this barrier between us I created grow into a wall.
I pursed my lips, looked at the others, then said, “Excuse me, but I need to fix this,” and went after Finn.
During this few-second walk from one room to another, I managed to work out some anger of my own. Not bothering to knock, I burst into the room and following the sound of running water, went to the bathroom.
Standing shirtless with his back to me, Finn was unbuckling his belt.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted. “What is this? Is this your way of saying thank you for fixing the crappy situation we all ended up in? For making sure no one gets killed? Is it? I embarrassed myself by showing up naked in front of our friends and somehow, you’re the bloody victim? Answer me!”
“Our friends?” He spun around. “Who cares that our friends saw you naked.”
“Oh, I see. It’s because of him. You can’t get over the fact that he did. For the love of God, he’s just some guy who—”
“He’s not just a guy,” Finn bellowed. “You are his mate.”
“I don’t care,” I shouted back. “I love you. You hear me? You. Not him.”
His lips sunk onto mine. His hands were around my back, and he lifted me. Tightly pressing me against him, he turned me around. Then he slowly slid me down his body and put me in the bathtub under the running water.
His fingers quickly unbuttoned my shorts, and as he dropped them down, he kissed his way from down there up to my breasts. My knees weakened from the pleasure. He pulled off my water-soaked top, then dropped his pants and stepped into the tub.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he whispered, out of breath, as his fingers slipped between my thighs.
“I’m yours.” I sucked in some air as his finger reached its target. “Remember that.” I breathed out. “No matter what I did or will have to do, I’m yours,” I murmured and slipped my tongue between his parted lips. “Now.” Following my hand, my eyes moved down his front and stopped on the spots of blood on his thigh. “Let me help you wash that off.”
* * *
ERIC
My father was surprised when I called him and said that I let the intruders, and most importantly Spencer, go. He wanted me to stop by, but I wasn’t sure what to say. I needed some time to sort out my thoughts.
I told my father that I first needed to take shower, and I drove to my cabin.
It was her, my mate, standing naked in front of me, and it blurred my mind. Her words “control yourself” paralyzed me, like she had some power over me.
And Spencer was controlling herself all right considering the fact that more than a dozen men were staring at her. She spoke with such confidence as if she knew I would obey. No woman would ever dare play me like that.
That was fucking hot.
I wanted her with me now more than ever, so what made me step back and watch her walk away?
She’s mine. I almost had her. I can’t believe I just let her go.
We could’ve ripped those wolves apart. But I knew that letting them go was the right thing to do. Spencer wasn’t like the others. She was special. She couldn't be taken by force.
I was so thrilled to see her. But her behavior, and the fact that those man-wolves obeyed her was unusual in our, or any other pack. And that was another thing that put me in a stupor.
I put some fresh clothes on and headed to my parent's house, hoping my father would have some answers.
My father was having whiskey in the backyard. As I sat down across from him, he poured a glass for me too, and put it on the table.
He listened without interrupting as I told him everything that happened.
“Father, she called them her men. I thought that was impossible.”
“You’re right.” My father’s face darkened. “There are no female alphas. And if they were a pack, we would know about them.” He paused, heaved a sigh, then said, “Eric, you should’ve kept her. She’s your mate. You shouldn’t have left her with some rogue wolves who make her think that she has alpha powers.”
But I didn’t think they were just a bunch of rogue wolves.They cared about each other too much, and I was sure Spencer could link to their minds.
So who the hell are they? That was the question that bothered me the most.
My father wouldn’t like it if told him I didn’t want to take Spencer by force. He would see it as a weakness.
I took a sip of whiskey, then said, “Don’t worry, Father. After what happened tonight, she’ll come to me herself.”
“How can you be sure?”
I knew she would. I could hear her heartbeat when she said she’ll take me up on my offer.
“Oh, I’m sure. Give it a few days.”
********
SPENCER
We spent the next two days thinking of a way to open the damn safe. But it didn’t go well. And all that time, the words Eric said to Finn echoed in my mind: If she doesn’t show up, I’ll come after you.
After everything I did that night, Eric was still thinking that Finn had some kind of hold on me. He was right of course, but in the wrong way. It seemed he never considered the possibility that I might have feelings for Finn. He was always sure it was the other way around and one-sided. Eric never doubted that if I had a choice, I would run to him without a moment of hesitation.
What an arrogant asshole.
However, Finn acted like he couldn’t care less about Eric’s ultimatum. Every time I tried to talk to him about it, he cut me off, saying, “Bring it on.”
He wasn’t angry with me anymore, but it didn’t mean he was okay with the fact that I was Eric’s mate and he was obsessed with me. And what bothered me was the perception that Finn couldn’t wait for Eric to show up so he could finally bite his head off. He knew that even if we got caught, Eric would never harm me, and Finn didn’t care what could happen to him at all.
That scared the crap out of me.
“Maybe we should leave this place,” I offered when we all gathered in my and Mom’s room. “To some motel far away from here.”
“Why?” asked James. “It’s not like they know we’re here.”
“We’re right under their noses. It wouldn’t be hard for them to sniff us out.”
“We need to stay close to them,” said Finn. “The full moon is coming, Spencer. We’re running out of time, and we shouldn’t spend it on running around.”
“What’s the point of staying close if we have nothing, not a single way of—”
“Clare, I was thinking,” Liam interrupted me. “Maybe it’s possible to make a potion that would melt that damn thing.”
James laughed.
Alister chuckled. “Have you ever heard about thieves who opened a safe by melting down the lock?”
“The thieves don’t have magic.”
“I don’t think it’s possible,” Mom shook her head. “And even if it was, the safe is installed in the floor, and there would be no guarantee that the potion wouldn’t go through and damage the content as well.”
“Thieves,” James said with excitement. “We need to find a safecracker.”
Alister scoffed. “How’re we going to do that? Make an ad in a newspaper saying a safecracker required?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Liam snapped. “Or any idea at all?”
Alister pushed his hands into his pockets. “Most of the time, the combination is an important date. How much do we know about Aaron? We know he’s an alpha, he has a wife, and he has a son. And that’s pretty much it. We could find out the exact dates when he became all those things: alpha, husband, and father, and then we can scratch them off the list.”
“Huh?” James squinted.
“Yeah,” sighed Finn. “‘Cause if even we, some strangers, are able to figure out those dates, then they’re not good enough. The number should mean something private and secret. Maybe some member of the pack who’s known him for a long time would have better luck guessing. But for us . . .” he shrugged. “The only way for us to solve this puzzle is a compulsion.”
“I know,” Mom said quietly. “But it would be too risky to go back there for any of us right now, even more so to try to catch and compel the alpha. I could go by myself—”
“No, you couldn’t,” I gazed at her. “I would never let you do that.”
“I wouldn’t wait for permission if I knew it was possible. But even if I did, even if I managed to get Aaron alone in the room, I doubt I would be able to compel him. For the compulsion to work, Aaron needs to look me in the eyes, which means I’ll have to remove the cloaking spell. Alphas can sense the magic. He’ll feel my presence, and if I appear in front of him out of nowhere, he’ll rip my throat out before I could say a word.”
“Then how did you compel Marcus?” asked James.
“It was different with Marcus. He sensed there was something wrong. When I showed myself, he got distracted the moment he saw me. He knew I was a witch, and he would’ve killed me if he hadn’t recognized me at once. He was even more shocked when he saw Spencer and learned that she was his daughter. And we took advantage of it.”
“Then we’ll have to scratch the compulsion of the list too.” Alister rubbed his chin.
“And we’re back to the blank sheet,” sighed Liam.
* * *
I had a hard time falling asleep. All I could think about was that we were running out of time, and we still hadn’t found a way to get our hands on the scroll and the compass. When the compass activates during the next full moon, it won’t take long for Eric and his father to put two and two together and realize who I really was and why I was snooping around Marcus’s and their packs. The compass would help them find me in no time, and I wouldn’t be the only one in danger.
I lay with my eyes fixed on the piece of the inky sky behind the window, and then, what felt like minutes later, I was sitting bolt upright in bed covered in a cold sweat.
I woke up from a nightmare.
We were at Finn’s place. I was in my wolf form, running through the woods under the weak light from the crescent moon with Finn right next to me. We were far from the house, and for the first time, I’d come to the border on the other end of Finn’s property. When I was about to cross it, I heard his voice in my head.
Spencer, stop!
I obeyed, but it was too late. I saw more than a dozen pairs of eyes glowing in between the tree trunks. The closer they got; the more expressive their large wolf forms became. One of them came forward. His blue eyes glowing in the darkness, he was heading toward me.
Spencer, run! Finn’s warning burst into my mind.
But I couldn’t move.
Spencer! I heard Finn’s voice again.
The blue-eyed wolf was too close now. Finn’s wolf leaped forward and landed in front of me. The rest of the wolves attacked him together. And that was it. I couldn’t see him anymore. I could only hear him whimpering as the wolves tore him apart.
The dream played in my head over and over the whole day.