Four Days (Seven Series #4) (14 page)

A rivulet of blood trailed down his neck and he pushed the spear away, rising to his feet. “Oh, I dare. Think about it, Ivy. Your mother wasn’t too good for me, and I know with a little patience, you’ll warm up to me too. We’ve known each other a long time, and I’ve always treated you better than the other girls. I know you don’t hate me like you pretend to. You’re naïve if you think what we did was wrong. There’s nothing wrong with a little rough play between two Shifters. Let’s be real—you were old enough to know better than to wear a dress like that around an experienced wolf. But that’s in the past, and I’m offering you a high position in my pack—one you’d never be able to get otherwise. I’ve never hated you. You’re the spirit of your mother with all her beauty, if not more.”

“Get out.”

He turned away and then lingered for a few moments before looking back at me. “We both know how this is going to end. I wouldn’t want anyone you love to get hurt. Come peacefully and I’ll take some of Cole’s bitches into our pack—maybe even the lower-ranking males if they submit. You’ll still have your family. Refuse, and I’ll rip a hole wide open in your universe, and I won’t stop until the floors are stained with their blood.”

Fox left the room with a slam of the door, and the moment he did, Lorenzo shifted into human form. I was in such a state of shock that I paid no attention as he left the room and yelled out for Caleb.

I sat down in the chair and realized that the power I had reclaimed from Fox would not help me defeat him. Not if he knew where to find Lakota.

Even I didn’t know.

When Lorenzo returned to the room, he found Ivy’s clothes in a pile by the wooden chair and her silver wolf facing the window.
He knelt down beside her and noticed a mournful longing in her faraway gaze. Lorenzo cradled her neck with his hands and she lifted her snout higher.

“Stubborn. What’s wrong,
nashoba
? Why won’t you come out and speak to me?” he said in gentle words.

Lorenzo remembered the conversation she’d had with Fox. It had taken every ounce of focus to comprehend what they were saying because his wolf had fought against him.

Ivy had only one more sunrise under his protection before he would release her to Austin and Fox would hunt her down. That is, if she didn’t go to him first. Fox held something over Ivy. Or someone. The details of her mother’s suicide sickened Lorenzo. He couldn’t fathom a wolf being driven to that kind of desperate violence, but he could understand the insurmountable pain she must have endured knowing that the man she had freely given herself to had raped her own daughter. And then to be with child, forced to see him every day as a reminder unless she confessed the truth to her mate.

Lorenzo wondered if Fox had tried to force himself on Ivy more than once. What had Ivy told her father? Why did he call her the pack whore?

Maybe there was more to Ivy than what he’d first thought. Perhaps a vulnerable young girl had become promiscuous and gone into another man’s bed, like this Lakota that Fox had mentioned. Did she love him? He must have realized his error in judgment and left the pack, unless Kizer had forced him out.

Still, Lorenzo couldn’t blame her. If Ivy’s innocence had been taken at such a young age, then she couldn’t have known better. With the loss of her mother, it wouldn’t surprise him if she had sought comfort and protection in the arms of another man. Someone who would keep Fox away from her since they lived in the same house.

He stroked her ear and suddenly felt listless. Ivy had awakened new emotions within him, and now that he knew her heart belonged to another man, it hollowed him out. Lorenzo hadn’t realized until that moment how much he was beginning to respect this courageous woman who was a fighter in every aspect of her life. She possessed a quiet strength that even his pack admired.

“Don’t make me force you out of there,” he whispered.

The silver wolf closed her eyes and released a high-pitched whine—one that could shatter a man’s heart. When her brown eyes opened, they glittered with pain. He didn’t want her to shift in front of the cold window, so he stood up and coaxed her to follow.

“Come with me,” he said, patting his bare leg and moving toward the door.

She stood up and trotted toward him. Her wolf walked better than Ivy did, but she also had three other legs to help her along. When they reached the stairs, Lorenzo called out for Caleb.

After a minute, Caleb jogged downstairs with a phone in his hand. “What’s up?”

They stood close and Lorenzo lowered his voice. “Collect the dead wolves on the property from the rogue pack.”

“What do you want me to do with them?”

“Take their pelts.”

Caleb glanced down at Ivy. “An offering?” he said with an arch of his brow.

Lorenzo nailed him with an intolerant gaze. “I need a new blanket.”

“That’s not really our custom.”

“It is in
my
culture,” he quickly said.

The human tribes of Native Americans didn’t share the same beliefs as Shifters, although they did in some regards. Shifters had their own subset of beliefs that were passed down from wolf to wolf. As a whole, their Native Americans had become a melting pot of language and beliefs, but over time, split up into tribes. Lorenzo’s grandfather had once told him that when you killed an enemy who sought to take your life, their spirit roamed in the afterlife, seeking you out. Spirits stay away from their lifeless bodies because they’re afraid of them, so the Shifters in his family would bury the bones in their campsite or wear a tooth around their neck. Lorenzo could do the same, but perhaps having their fur in the home would keep them away.

He’d scoffed at Ivy for her superstitious notions about bad spirits, but she was right. Ivy’s beliefs differed from his because she didn’t come from the same tribe, yet they spoke the same language of history and spiritualism that other Shifters didn’t understand.

Before ascending the stairs, he put his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Bury the bones of one of those wolves on Cole’s land. Don’t let them see you do it, and cover up the scent.”

Caleb’s brows popped up, but he didn’t question his Packmaster’s orders. “You have my word.”

“I’m proud of you, Caleb. You’ve shown leadership in William’s absence and have risen to the challenge.” Lorenzo patted his shoulder twice before heading upstairs at a pace that would allow Ivy’s wolf to keep up with him.

“Why have our destinies collided?” he murmured when they reached the top floor.

She waited and allowed him to enter the room first before trotting inside behind him, her toenails clicking on the floor. When Lorenzo had burst into the house the previous night, his instinct told him to cradle Ivy in his arms and carry her away from danger. But he’d foolishly allowed her father’s poisonous words to enter his mind and germinate.

The layers of complexity to this woman brought him back down to earth. Or maybe it was the prophecy his grandmother had told him based on recurring dreams. She’d said,
“On a full moon, I have seen a great change in your life. Spirits will come at you from all directions. There will be a power shift within your pack, and your wolf will love a woman whose heart belongs to another. Blood will cover the moon, but I cannot see whose it will be
.
”

Not so long ago, Lorenzo had thought that female was Alexia. His grandmother had said his wolf would love this woman, but his inner wolf hadn’t cried out for Alexia when they met.

The first time he laid eyes on Ivy at Austin’s peace party, his wolf sang. She’d spoken poetic words under the influence of narcotics that were floating around at the party, but it was as if he could see her spirit wolf. The second time was at an outdoor gathering, and his wolf had almost lunged out of his skin to attack a drunk who had put his hands on her.

It had been Ivy all along.

A woman who had come to him on a full moon with danger nipping at her heels. One who stood up to him and yet brought out his protective side. A woman he wanted to learn inside out.

He stroked her silver coat as she stared out the window at the treetops covered in a thin fog. The sun napped behind the clouds, and the snow had tapered off to nothing but a few sparse flecks of ice tapping against the window.

Lorenzo draped a thin blanket around her. “Shift,” he said and then turned toward the fire to light it up.

Once he got a good blaze and put on a pair of pants, he glanced over his shoulder. Ivy stood facing the windows with her back to him, her hair in a loose braid. But it was unraveling at the bottom without a band to tie it with.

“Come sit and we’ll talk,” he said gently. “You leave tomorrow, and I would like to spend some time with you before we part ways.”

***

When Lorenzo called me to the fire, I knew this was a turning point. I would be going home tomorrow, and I had no idea what kind of reception awaited me. Would my wolf be able to fight by their side with her injury? Would my pack accept me?

I took a seat in the chair and Lorenzo sat on the bed across from me. The heat from the fire engulfed the left side of my body, making me want to turn away from it.

“Do you think Austin will reject me from his pack once he sees the condition I’m in?” I asked. “As a Packmaster, give me your honest answer.”

“I cannot say. If he has humans in his house, I would guess no. Do you have a job that will secure your position in his pack?”

“Denver suggested I go into furniture restoration,” I said with a shrug.

“There’s money in that.”

“Money isn’t the only thing worth valuing. Your house doesn’t impress me as much as your knowledge for healing magic.”

He pursed his lips, considering the comment. “But healing magic will not put food in your mouth and a roof over your head. You understand the importance of each packmate contributing to the house. Not all bring in money, but some have skills that are put to good use. A few things around here could use a little touch-up.”

“Are you offering me a job?”

He lifted a shoulder and looked toward the fire. “All members of a pack should contribute in some way, whether one brings in money, is a caregiver, or even the healer in the pack. Children get sick, and someone needs to know how to care for them. Everyone should have a place.”

“I’ve been feeling adrift since my father sent me away.” I turned more on my right side and closed my fist, leaning my head against it.

“What troubles you? Since Fox left, your spirit’s been left broken. This is not the wolf I have come to know.”

“I’m going to talk to Austin about it. Maybe my leg will make it easier for him to let me go.”

He leaned forward with a glint of firelight in his eyes. “Go where?”

“To go with Fox.”

“That’s
all
the fight you have? It didn’t take long for you to buckle under the weight of words.”

I rested my arm on the chair and sighed. “Fox has something over me and he laid down a threat. I have no choice in the matter.”

“Ah, yes.
Lakota
.” I didn’t like the way he’d said Lakota’s name, as if it were a curse. Lorenzo rose to his feet and folded his arms. “So you would let your love for another man lead to your ruination? If he was any kind of a man, he wouldn’t allow this to happen.”

I laughed softly and it grew louder until tears welled in my eyes.

“This is funny?” Anger flashed in his eyes and he dropped his arms to his sides. “You’re giving yourself over to a rapist as an offering to save a weak man.”

“That’s right, Lorenzo. You’re absolutely right.” I sat back and slouched. “Lakota
is
weak, and that’s why I must protect him.”

“The man can’t fight off a rogue wolf?”

I shook my head, my eyes never leaving his. “Lakota is my son,” I said in a soft breath.

He blanched and almost stumbled backward over the bearskin rug. Lorenzo sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes downcast.

So I drew a deep breath and revealed a family secret that I’d kept buried for many years.

“When I was sixteen, Fox had sex with me and it wasn’t consensual. I thought I’d done something wrong to deserve it because no one had ever talked about sex with me. Our pack kept the children sheltered. Soon I began to get sick and my mother called a Relic.” I wrung my hands together and lowered my eyes. “The Relic revealed I was pregnant, which came as a surprise to my mother, who had no idea I’d been with a man. Not to mention Shifter women rarely get pregnant before their first change, let alone when not in their heat cycle. I defied every kind of natural law, as if the fates wanted to punish me for what I’d done. That’s how I felt—punished. Why else would the spirits give me a child under such conditions?”

“And what did you tell Ivan?”

“Nothing. He cornered me and wanted to know who the father was, but I couldn’t tell him. I was terrified. Part of me still loved Fox in an irrational way, because I’d known him my entire life—a man who was as close to me as an uncle. I was confused and torn, not to mention humiliated. One day my father led me out to the field with my horse and held a gun to her head. He said if I didn’t give him a name, he’d shoot her.”

My lower lip quivered and I swallowed down the guilt.

“That beautiful mare died because of me. He tried to question everyone in the pack, and Fox stood behind him, so he never suspected a thing. Soon it was time for me to have the baby, but he wouldn’t allow me to keep it. My father said it would be a reminder to every man in the pack that I was a whore. He never knew I was forced, Lorenzo. He thought I’d lain with a man willingly and I was lying to protect him. It’s probably for the best, because he would have never recovered from that secret. It would have driven him mad.”

Lorenzo glanced at an arrowhead necklace on the small table beside his bed. “What happened to the child?”

“A few months after I turned seventeen, the Relic delivered a baby boy. At first they didn’t want me to see him, but when my mother left the room to tell my father it was over, the Relic slipped him into my arms for a good-bye. I never believed in love at first sight until I laid eyes on my baby. Oh, Lorenzo… he was so beautiful.”

I grimaced and threw my head back, closing my eyes as the pain threatened to steal me away.
My beautiful baby boy
. I remembered how I’d kissed his fingers and stroked his chubby cheeks as he wailed and shook in my arms.

“I only had moments, so I told the Relic his name. I’m sure wherever he is now, he goes by something else, but I’d hoped maybe he’d keep his name and someday I’d be able to find him. She wrapped him in a swaddling cloth and took him away. No one saw the baby, not my father and especially not Fox.”

“And now he wants the child?”

I laughed somberly. “Fox never wanted children, let alone his own child. That man feels no love. The only thing he feels is envy. What you heard earlier wasn’t Fox threatening to steal my baby. He was threatening to kill him. I don’t know if he knows where Lakota is, but I
have
to stop him, whether that means killing him or going to him. I can’t make a foolish assumption that Fox won’t follow through with it. He would do it out of spite. That mare died because I sacrificed something I loved for someone I didn’t. I won’t make that same mistake again. I may not know my child, but I love him. I will always love him, even if we never meet in this life.”

“How long ago was that?”

I looked wistfully out the window. “He’ll be five this winter. Sometimes I try to imagine what he looks like, what he’s doing right now. Maybe he’s sitting in front of a warm fire, playing with toy horses and pretending a great battle is unfolding before his eyes and that he’s the warrior who will save his pack. Lakota wasn’t born an alpha, but I know he has a strong spirit. He’ll be second-in-command if he joins a pack. I just know it.”