Four Days (Seven Series #4) (13 page)

“Can we go outside?” the girl asked.

“
Hell
no,” Watcher barked out as he walked in from an adjoining room on the right. He was tall and menacing, but the kids seemed to warm up to him.

“Please,” the girl said, clutching his arm. “Just on the porch.”

“It’s too dangerous. We’ve got a rogue pack out there.”

“Jesus, Watcher,” the man on the couch complained. “Just let them out for a minute or they’ll hold this against you for the next ten years until it snows again.”

The kids looked at him expectantly. I wondered why there weren’t any young ones in the house, especially given that I’d seen a few mated couples.

Watcher lifted a knit hat off a hat rack and slid it over his head. “Come on, let’s go.”

They both ran to a coat closet and put on their jackets so fast you’d think they were going on a trip. When the door swung open, a biting wind crept in and I shivered.

“Cold out there, huh?” the guy from the couch said, his eyes on my chest.

I folded my arms.

“So what’s wrong with your leg?”

Ignoring him, I went into the room to my right. A beautiful cream-colored rug stretched across the floor, and several chairs were lined up against the walls, facing each other. Windows spanned the left wall and the one straight ahead. I cautiously took a seat on the right by the entrance to stay away from the wolf lying on the rug. He eyed me suspiciously, as did a few of the others.

“We heard what you did last night,” one of the men commented. “I’m sure Lorenzo has given his appreciation, but I’d like to give mine. Not everyone here likes Rebecca, but she’s family.”

The white wolf lifted his head and his lips peeled back, revealing his canines. He wanted to intimidate me. I wasn’t part of his pack, so it was inappropriate for him to try to rank me.

I ignored him and replied to the man in the right corner with the black ponytail. “I’m just glad that I could help. They’re here because of me, so I’ll do what I can to protect your pack while I’m in your company.”

“Excuse me?” the woman across from me said. A single curl fell out of the messy knot clipped on her head. She had on a white sweater that made her dark features stand out. “Those assholes were here because of
you?
”

“I know their leader,” was all I could offer. “Lorenzo is aware of it. Don’t worry; I’ll be leaving here tomorrow, if not sooner. You have a strong pack, and he won’t try again.”

My heart raced when the white wolf stalked toward me with his ears back.

“Jonus!” One man leaned forward but made no attempt to get up.

The wolf didn’t listen. He was just three feet from me, growing more aggressive with each passing second. Then his tongue curled over his front teeth.

I stood up as fast as my body would allow. “I will not submit to you,” I said, refusing to yield. “Back off.”

“Jonus, she’s a guest,” the man said, as if the wolf could understand him.

The growls that rolled out had everyone on edge. When one of the men stood up, the wolf turned his head back and barked ferociously, making him sit. Then I realized he must have outranked all the Shifters in this room.

If he thought I would shift into my wolf just so he could dominate her with some posturing, he was mistaken.

The tension thickened when Lorenzo’s grey wolf approached from behind. His toenails clicked on the floor as he took heavy steps toward the white wolf, positioning himself between us. The other wolf crouched low, licking at Lorenzo’s jaw before rolling onto his back with his belly up. Lorenzo locked his mouth around the young wolf’s snout, baring all his sharp fangs.

When he growled, I smothered a laugh. There was no need for him to continue this showy display of dominance, so I touched his back and whispered, “Thunder, that’s enough.”

He curled around and stood beside me, taking a position against my injured leg. In fact, Lorenzo’s wolf sat beside me the entire time I spent getting to know his pack. The man with the slim ponytail went by Aaron, and one of the women in the room had a high-paying position as a financial advisor. Most of them were friendly, but I could tell Lorenzo’s presence changed the way they behaved.

An hour later, someone burst through the front door and entered the room. Cold air rolled off him as he pulled off his gloves with his teeth. “We’ve got a situation. A Shifter is at the end of the property, and he wants to see our visitor.”

“Is this your friend?” the woman across from me asked, tugging a curl of hair that had fallen loose.

I rose to my feet. “Do you want me to go out and meet him or bring him here?”

“Bring him here,” someone suggested in a dark voice.

“You can’t hurt him if he comes in peace,” I said. “Those are the rules.”

They knew the rules, but they were also mad as hell that someone had tried to infiltrate their home.

“Well,” Aaron said, rising to his feet, “I can’t promise Lorenzo won’t try to take him down.” He stroked his black ponytail and crossed the room. “Let’s just see what happens.”

When I turned to follow, Lorenzo’s wolf—whom I’d been calling Thunder—did a peculiar thing. He turned with me so that he remained on my left side. At first I touched his head to get my balance. But then I felt him push back and raise his head higher, as if he were offering me full support.

His alpha wolf let me use him as a crutch. It’s not as if I walked with a hard limp, but I also couldn’t keep up with everyone else. And without something to hold to keep my balance, I risked falling if I moved too fast.

The men suggested I wait in Lorenzo’s room on the opposite side of the house. It was a simple room with a chair and Native American furnishings. Watcher said that Lorenzo’s wolf would feel more in control in this room and be less likely to attack Fox, so long as our visitor remained submissive.

I took a seat in a large wooden chair facing the window, and Lorenzo sat beside me to the left. I didn’t pet him as if he were a dog but anxiously waited, wondering if he would lunge and rip out Fox’s throat.

The wind howled outside and tiny taps clattered against the window from the freezing pellets of sleet. Nothing had accumulated on the ground except a light dusting. I remembered hearing rumors that large congregations of Breed could influence changes in the weather, bringing more dramatic temperature changes. Something about our energy, but I spent little time listening to hearsay.

I traced a few patterns on the rug below with my toe, admiring the handwoven designs. I wondered how many of these artifacts had belonged to his grandmother. Something about that melted my heart. The fact that someone as formidable and seemingly cold as Lorenzo could have such respect for an older woman in his family—such love—that he wanted her possessions to be part of his new life and home really touched me. Yet he kept this side of himself hidden from the outside world.

When the door opened, Lorenzo stood on all fours and drew in heavy sniffs, taking in the scent of a stranger.

Fox slipped inside, lowering the hood from his green jacket and revealing salt-and-pepper hair. He kept his jacket on and approached with caution.

“This is the Packmaster,” I said, hardly needing to tell him that. He could no doubt sense the alpha power in his presence. “Lorenzo Church.”

“Is he gonna stay that way?”

“It’s his turf, so I’d say yes. Have a seat.”

Irritation flashed in his eyes. “You want me to sit on the floor?”

The thought of him sitting at my feet was empowering. “Yes. I don’t think Lorenzo is comfortable with you standing taller than him.”

Fox grumbled some profanities and sat down with his right leg bent at the knee. He avoided direct eye contact with Lorenzo, but I could tell the growls had him on edge.

“I’m told three of your men are dead,” I began. “Is that enough to make you quit and go elsewhere?”

He rubbed his red nose. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

“Obviously a human made that up, because they never lived in the Breed world,” I said, touching my braid. “You’re going to lose all your men if you keep coming at us. Lorenzo’s numbers are strong.”

“Yeah? And how attached are you to that wolf? Making yourself a nice home? Because I have a feeling this is just temporary and you’ll be heading back home to your Packmaster soon. So you can get off your high and mighty rocker.”

I could hear a low growl coming from Thunder Wolf, but it was almost inaudible. That let me know Lorenzo was awake and aware of what was happening.

A knock sounded at the door and Caleb inched in. It made Fox sit up straight, ready to spring into action if needed.

Mostly because Caleb was holding a bloody spear. A grin spread across his angelic face. “Everything okay in here?”

“We’re fine, thanks for asking.”

“Thought you could use this,” he said, walking forward and handing me the spear.

I blushed and suppressed a rising laugh as I settled the blunt end of the spear on the floor to my right, the arrow tip pointing up.

Fox’s eyes rose to look at the stained blood on the end.

“She got one of yours last night with that spear, so you better behave,” Caleb said, warning Fox before leaving the room.

Fox. Looked. Pissed.

“
You
took out one of my men?”

“It doesn’t look dignified to lead a pack who would tear out the throats of women. Your man advanced on an unarmed woman and I didn’t hesitate in protecting her. If these are the only men you can get to follow you, then it will lead to your downfall. And deservedly so.”

“Keep yapping your mouth, Ivy. We both know I’ve got claim on you.”

I rotated the spear between my fingers, wondering how much of this conversation Lorenzo could understand. Some alphas had the ability to access areas of the brain in control of interpreting language and memory, while others had to rely on scents, tone, and posture.

Fox laughed quietly. “You’re afraid he can understand us, aren’t you? Why don’t you ask him?”

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re here so we don’t waste anyone’s time? There are wolves outside the door, hungry for a fight.”

“You see, Ivy, I’m more clever than you give me credit for. I’ve always known how to get what I want, but your mother was the only exception. Ivan had money and no woman will turn down a Packmaster. Before you were born, we both courted her. Naturally she chose the alpha, and we put it to rest.”

“Don’t you
dare
talk about my mother,” I spat out. “You drove that woman to suicide. She meant the world to me and you took that away.”

“Is that what you think? Your mother came to my bed and spread her legs for me. Ivan wasn’t enough, and yet she still wouldn’t leave him.”

“Why would she? My father offered her protection, love, and a home. What could you have offered? She told me what happened, Fox. She said she was pregnant with your baby and she knew it would shame my father and the pack. When I found out you were the father, I had no choice but to tell her what you did to me. She was devastated. She went to a Relic to get an abortion but couldn’t do it. Grief consumed her. I don’t fault my mother for having loved you, because you deceived us all. I just wish I had told her sooner—maybe then she wouldn’t have given herself to you.”

“Jesus Christ,” he said. “So
that
was it. She was ready to leave Ivan and suddenly, out of the blue, decided she wanted to keep the baby and stay with the pack. I should have known you had something to do with that. She
promised
herself to me—she was
mine
.”

“She was never yours!”

“That child made her mine. Ivan would have strung me up in front of the pack and castrated me if she had told him, and he would have cast her out. She was foolish to think he’d forgive her; Ivan would have known the baby wasn’t his. They hadn’t had sex in years.
Years!
”

My stomach soured, and I looked at the ashen wolf on my left. Maybe my mother had felt she had no way out, but her suicide had affected me profoundly.

“Couldn’t have that,” he continued. “I tried to get her to leave one night and told her we could start our own pack.
The baby this, the baby that
. All she cared about was what would happen to you and that damn seed growing inside her. She wrote a note to Ivan and said how unhappy she was and that she was leaving. Your mother was willing to leave you, Ivy. How’s that for love?”

“That’s before she found out what a deceptive animal you are, but I would have respected her choice,” I said, averting my eyes.

When my mother had told me about her pregnancy and who the father was, I had no choice but to tell her what Fox had done. What if she chose to love him and they had a daughter? What would Fox do to
her
? After I’d confided in my mother, she locked herself in a guest room for two weeks. My father just assumed she was going through her heat cycle and left her alone. I couldn’t imagine how guilty she must have felt for loving a man who had hurt her own child. She’d tried to go to a Relic to take care of the baby but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Eventually the pack took notice of her change in behavior. Then one morning, a scream poured out from the bathroom and they found my mother slumped over the bathtub with a knife in one hand and her jugular cut. Blood filled the bathtub, and two lives ended with one clean slice.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away.

“Aww, such affection for a whore. Like mother, like daughter.”

Thunder stood up and stepped forward with his ears back. I leaned the spear against the wall behind me and sat up straight, uncertain if he was going to attack Fox. But Thunder sat down just a little closer, keeping a steady eye on our enemy.

“This is going to get ugly if you don’t come with me, Ivy. We both know this isn’t where you belong. I did a little investigating of my own, and I know one person who might be able to change your mind. It would be a shame if something were to happen to Lakota.”

In a swift movement, I launched to my feet and grabbed the spear, swinging it around until the pointy blade pressed against his neck. “Don’t you
dare
,” I hissed.