4. Encounter
DELILAH
Eric whistled slowly. “Geez.” He scratched his head and looked over at me. “You’ve been through a lot, kid. Why don’t you sit this investigation out?”
“No.” I growled. “I can take care of it myself.”
“No you can’t, Delilah.” I looked over at Nick. “He thought he killed you. He dumped you on my doorstep like you were trash. He thinks you’re dead, so it’s going to stay that way.”
I clenched my fists. “You can’t tell me what to do, Nick.”
He laughed. “Actually I can. I’m Alpha, remember? You’re a member of my Pack. What I say goes. And this is an order, Delilah. Stay out of it.” He finished off with a growl so sharp I whimpered.
I felt like a caged animal when he was this hostile. The human side of my brain did not like this power he had over me, but my wolf side on the other hand was the exact opposite. My wolf accepted it and even embraced it. She liked having a strong and powerful leader that made her tail go between her legs and her ears go down in submission. He was the one she could also call her own...
Was Nick really more to me that just my “saviour”—as some cliché romance movie would put it—and my Alpha? Was he actually my mate like he says he is? Could I get over my horrid past and accept him, if he was my mate?
My thoughts were interrupted.
“He’s right, hon.” Emily assured me. “It should stay the way he thinks. We don’t need any more attention drawn to you then you already have now. It’s not safe for you or the Pack. “
I opened my mouth to respond, but snapped it shut when the front door slammed shut. Nick swivelled his head over to the door and smiled. Eric and Emily followed their son’s gaze. Emily beamed and ran over to the door.
When I looked over, I saw two men. One of them looked almost identical to Nick—everything except eyes—and the other looked like a replica of Emily with the same blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Both of the men had full lips just like Nick’s. These had to be his older brothers.
Were all werewolves attractive?
I glanced over a Caelon. “Nick’s brothers?”
He laughed. “What was your first hint?”
The brother’s walked forward with brilliant grins identical to their youngest brother’s. Their grins disappeared when they glanced at me, to each other and back to Nick and to their parents. Their attention on me never fully vanished.
“Who’s this?” The dark haired brother asked.
“This is Delilah... My...” Nick hesitated. I looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Newest Pack member.”
He looked at Nick and gave him a knowing half-smile. Great, I thought. His whole family figured it out.
“Well, hello, Delilah.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. “I’m Jared.” The blonde one elbowed him in the ribs.
“How’d you find her?” The blonde one asked, shaking his head at his brother. Nick went into story mode, filling his brother’s with information.
“We didn’t find her,” Nick sighed. “A Mutt dropped her off unconscious. She had bruises all around her neck from where he strangled her, but that was as extensive as the damages got. My assumption is he dropped her off, thinking he killed her, as a warning to us.”
“A warning to tell us what?” Jared asked, leaning forward on the kitchen island.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Caelon said from across the room. Everyone turned their heads to look at the Beta. “My guess is, he wants the Pack. Or at least, some part of the Pack. Whether he wants to be a member, or fight Nick for position.”
“But he left his scent all over her.” The blonde one—Kyle—said. “He’s breaking the Law’s orders.
“Exactly.” Nick said. “He wouldn’t leave it if he didn’t want us to find him. He wants us to confront him.” He turned to me. “Did he say anything to you about wanting something from us?”
I bit my lip. “You already know this.”
“Just tell the others then.”
I sighed and started. “In the beginning I wasn’t as submissive as he wanted me to be. So, he’d drug me.” Nick growled at that. “I wouldn’t stay conscious for very long and when I was, he’d tell me how sorry he was and that he…” I shook my head. “What I’m saying is, I don’t know. If he mentioned it, I don’t remember. I’m sorry I can’t be much help here.”
“You are a big help, Delilah.” Nick said, rubbing his forehead. “We just have no idea why he’s doing this. There has to some reason that he would just—”
“—drop me off like a sack of garbage. Got that part.” I growled.
Jared laughed. “I like this one. She’s feisty.”
Eric sighed, exasperated. “Knock it off, Jared. We need to think logically about this.”
Nick glanced at the clock on the stove. It was well passed dinner time. “Anyone hungry?”
* * *
After our bellies were full, I lounged on the couch next to Caelon with his arm around my shoulders. Kyle was lying beside the fire place and Eric and Emily were cuddling on the love seat. The two teenage boys joined us for dinner but long gone to their room. Nick and Jared were in the kitchen washing dishes.
As I sighed and moved my head onto Caelon’s lap, the door opened and in stepped another male. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering mostly all werewolves were males.
This male was different than the rest, however. All the males that I have met were handsome, but he was not. He was brooding, for lack of a better word. He was tall with dark raven hair and brown eyes that were so dark they were almost black.
Nick appeared in the living room, drying off his hands with a dishcloth. He smiled at the man.
“Elijah and Elliot are upstairs, Marcel.”
Marcel nodded to Nick and Eric. He smiled—the gesture appearing weird on him—to Emily. His long strides carried him up the spiral staircase in seconds flat. Nick smiled and shook his head, re-entering the kitchen to help his older brother with the rest of the mess.
Eric laughed and turned to me. “You’ll have to excuse Marcel. He’s never been the most expressive guy ever.”
Caelon cracked one eye open and laughed. “’Expressive’? Marcel’s the shyest member.”
Marcel came down the stairs with his son’s trailing behind him. Marcel tapped his ears. “Good ears, boys.” Caelon and Eric laughed. Marcel’s dark eyes landed on my blue ones. “Who is this?”
“Delilah.” I said timidly.
Marcel nodded and waved his boys forward. “C’mon, boys. Your mother’s at home waiting for you two.”
They left the house and I closed my eyes and yawned. Caelon absent-mindedly strokes my scalp. I nearly purred in contentment.
Suddenly Kyle snarled a yawn and sprang up from his current position and stretched, his muscles flexing underneath his white shirt. His shirts rode up showing his well-defined stomach. Were all werewolves like this?
“I want to go for a run.”
Nick and Jared entered the living room and gave a brilliant, identical, grin at their brother. Jared’s green eyes sparkled in triumph and Nick’s blue ones held steady.
Kyle looked over at me. “You up for a Pack run?” When I nodded and sat up, cracking my back in the process, he smiled. “Good, ‘cause we haven’t had a Pack run in eons.”
The whole Pack made their way out the back door. In the backyard, further in the back, there was a dense forest. It was dark, but with my night vision, I could see way better than I should’ve been able to. I follow behind Kyle with Caelon at my back.
When we made it into the clearing and everyone scattered into different locations to Change. I hesitated. I didn’t learn how to Change on will yet. Guess you’ll have to learn now.
Nick glanced over at me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded and got into a bush, stripped down, leaving me stark naked. I sighed, got on all fours and closed my eyes. I got the gist of what to do. I imagined running as a wolf. I felt the earth beneath my paws and the cold, hard soil underneath my feet. I was a blonde wolf, with blue eyes as bright as the morning sky. I jumped over a root from a tree sticking out of the ground. I opened my eyes and looked down to see my hands were now big, blonde paws. I smiled.
I flew from behind my bush and ran right into Nick. I looked up at him. He was a big, brown monster with the eyes he still had when he was human. He was the biggest wolf I had ever seen. I looked behind him and saw the rest of the Pack—three blonde wolves, and three brown wolves. This was my Pack. They were all here and I felt at peace. I felt at home. And that was something that never came easily to me.
Nick tilted his head back and pointed behind him towards the back of the forest, away from Cliffhold. The Pack bowed their heads as Nick walked by them. He flicked his tail at me and I immediately followed right behind him, everyone’s heads still bowed as I passed them as well. Nick took off. I had a moment’s hesitation before I booked it into the forest chasing after my mate.
There it is. That foreign word to my human side again. It always ended up in conversations that I have with the Pack. Everyone tries to get me to understand the mate idea. Eric approached me after dinner about it and I kindly brushed him off. Now it was happening in a conversation with myself.
I shook off the thoughts and nipped at Nick’s tail and paws. He stopped abruptly and stuck his nose in the air, inhaling. What was wrong? Why was he acting like he was searching for something?
Nick spun around and growled at me. I took a step back as he growled and bared his teeth again. Caelon came forward and nudged my hind leg and pointed with his snout towards the bush I had Changed in.
They wanted me to Change?
I trotted over to my bush and closed my eyes. This time, I imagined running as a human in the forest, pumping my legs and arms as I ran passed the thick forest. The Change can easy this time with wariness making me anxious. I finished in no time and came out into the clearing, seeing Jared in human form, wearing his brown polo shirt and dark grey sweatpants.
He took me by the elbow and dragged me back into Cliffhold. I ripped my arm from his grasp and rubbed it.
“What’s going on?”
“Nick should tell you.”
I asked him more questions but he was reluctant to answer. I kept pushing for him to answer, but he didn’t budge. I let him be and went up into my room to change into my pajamas.
I opened my door to see Nick outside it with concern plastered all over his handsome face. I frowned.
“What happened?”
He waved me inside and sat on my computer chair—which was pointless to have considering I didn’t possess a laptop—while I sat on my bed. I sat, waiting for him to say something—anything—but he didn’t. He just sat there silently staring down at his hands in his lap.
“Nick, please tell me what happened.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I wished I could suck them right back in as I take a look at his face. It’s total regret and guilt.
“I should never had let you go out on that run.”
I grabbed his hands and pulled him over toward me. “It wasn’t your fault. I wanted to go. What happened? Just tell me.”
“I caught his scent, Delilah.”