"Honestly Liam, this is embarrassing," I taunted.
Liam growled low to me, a warning. It was so easy to push his buttons. His wolf was super touchy when anyone pushed too hard, well, mostly when I pushed too hard.
He lunged at me and knocked me down. We rolled, and lucky for me I ended up on top. I socked him hard in the chest then jumped up and stalked backward.
My wolf was happy, the distraction Liam was providing calmed her down.
Today was Wednesday.
Today was the day that Evan would come to us.
After Levi hung up the phone he briefed me over my transfer, my wolf moaned sadly at the thought, she was so torn, and so was I. The night he told me that Evan was coming, I cried myself to sleep on Derek's shoulder. Thank God Derek was coming me. Apparently, Elliot would be here today and was going to travel with us. At least I had that much of my family going with me.
Every day that went by, it was like my heart became heavier and heavier while my nerves ate away at my soul. I felt like a time bomb had been strapped to my heart. It wasn't even bitter sweet, it was mostly bitter. I didn't want to leave my home or Levi. The only silver lining was the option to come back if I hated it, I was so happy this pack was on our border. My wolf was as well, it made her feel safe to know that Levi was nearby us.
But still.
My heart broke at the thought.
Everyday, my heart broke at the thought.
I would pass by Levi in the house, or see his wolf behind his eyes, and almost broke into tears. My wolf helped me keep it together though, everyday that drew near to Evan's arrival only made the itch more incessant. I felt like I was slowly breaking, like little pieces of my heart were chipping off.
How could I leave? It was a thought I had every day, yet in the same thought, I would wonder how could I not go? If I didn't, I was sure this itch would drive me insane, as was my wolf.
"Come on Char? I thought you liked being on top?" he shot back as he sprang to his feet.
I let out snarl vicious with a warning. "And I thought you liked being on the bottom?"
Liam's cocky smile faded quickly into a scowl as Remi and Derek bit back laughs. He lunged at me again; I dodged then kicked him in his kidney. He turned quickly and socked me good in my hip.
My beast snarled again. We hit him right in his shoulder then took our elbow and rammed it into his face.
He stumbled back a bit as blood started to trickle out of his mouth. "Dammit Char!"
"Afraid I'll ruin that pretty face?"
He spat some blood out to the side and wiped his mouth. "So, you think I'm pretty?"
I lunged at him and socked him hard once on the chin then again in his nose, breaking it. "Not anymore you're not."
He let out a vicious growl that my beast returned. His wolf was done playing, as was mine. I rolled off of him and back to my feet then started to stalk around him.
My wolf was close. So close. She wanted to have a go at Liam, a go at his wolf. The itch was driving her anger, her rage, and I was more than happy to let her empty it out.
"Shift," Remi called out.
Liam ran towards me and in that moment I lunged and let her come forward. We crashed into the ground; biting, snapping, clawing, and ripping at each other. My wolf sprang away and snapped her jaws in his direction, daring him to try again.
His wolf let out a low rumble that shook the ground, he had grown over the winter. He was big, bigger than my wolf, and well built. He was shaping up to be an alpha, we could feel it.
But my wolf was an alpha too, and she had grown as well. She may not be as big as he was, but she was vicious; skilled and ruthless when the time called for it.
Liam snapped his jaw and lunged at her. We stepped out of his way then turned and bit in deep on his shoulder.
He rolled and tossed on our back, then tried to go for our neck, but we rolled out of the way and snapped at his ear–tearing it. The male roared furiously at us then slammed his body against ours. He was done playing games with us.
He got a good piece of my flank in his teeth before my female jumped on his back and bit into his tail. He let out a languish moan and bucked us off him, sending us flying into a nearby tree.
We hit it hard and slid down with a 'thud.' The male slowly walked towards us, cocky, like he had won this damn thing.
But that was the thing about Liam, he still was not as clever as we were yet. We laid there, playing hurt while he casually walked over to us.
He came close and growled as we continued to fake our 'crippling' injury. As soon as the male came close enough, close enough to end this fight, we sprung to life.
We knocked him hard on his back and tore viciously at his chest, taking a piece of it with it. Before he could even retaliate, we had our teeth on his neck drawing blood as they started to pierce the skin.
Liam huffed out then thrust his neck up towards us. My beast growled in approval and released him then started to walk over to Derek. We shifted back to our skin and slipped on a plain heather gray t-shirt dress that he had gotten us for Christmas.
I was bleeding in a few places, too concerned with the new gash in my thigh to notice Levi and a younger guy standing next to him. "Well, Evan, this is Charlotte."
I quickly turned around and looked at the guy who Levi had with him. He had a strong jaw with a little stubble and copper brown hair that was almost down to his ears. He wasn't as tall as Levi, but he was almost as tall as Liam. He was a strong wolf, built well, smelling of alpha blood, but he was no alpha.
His blue-green eyes were wide as they looked me over like they had seen a ghost; his wolf was pacing circles behind them like a madman. I let out a huff in annoyance as my wolf let out a low warning growl to him.
He cocked his head as his eyes widened some more and looked at Levi who just chuckled and winked at me. "Come on Evan, I'll show you where you're sleeping while Charlie get's showered up."
He followed Levi in a zombie-like shocked state as Liam came to stand behind me. Immediately his eyes snapped to Liam's, eying him curiously before looking back to him. There was something about him. An energy to him that seemed to draw me in, it was small, but it was there. It was like a very soft hum, so soft that it was almost not even there.
"Easy Liam," Remi called out. Liam sighed as Remi walked up to him and looked at his nose. "Sorry about this man." Remi took his nose and cracked it back into place, which had Liam groaning like a dying rabbit.
"Nice work Char," Derek said with a coy smile.
"If I wasn't so pissed about my nose I would say the same," Liam gritted out.
I shrugged at him. "Run in the morning?"
"Sure," he replied curtly. He trotted off with Remi in tow who waved at us before he shifted.
Derek took a look at my gash and gave it a wary look. "We better get that cleaned up."
I followed Derek back in the house and to his room. Levi must have taken Evan out somewhere because they were nowhere to be found, which was fine by me. My beast and I were still not too sure about the young male.
Derek helped me get my gash cleaned up before I took a shower and washed all the blood, sweat, and dirt off of me. The shower was like therapy. I couldn't help but feel more at peace now that Evan was here, it meant that hopefully, this itch would go away soon.
But the peace I felt was short-lived. A wave of pain exploded in my heart. I tried to let the sound of the water cover my sobs; I wasn't sure if I could do it, but my beast and I knew we had to.
We had to at least try.
I walked out to the kitchen in fresh yoga pants and a long sleeve oversized t-shirt that I stole from Levi; it smelled like him which calmed my wolf and I down. Derek was making my favorite spaghetti while he chatted with Evan, who was sitting on a barstool drinking a beer.
I paused for a moment and let my wolf eye him. She was curious about him. His wolf had pure alpha blood but he was not an alpha, yet we could still feel it, the power in his veins, it was similar to ours.
We couldn't deny that he was handsome. There was this boyish charm about him that seemed to draw our eye to him, we were sure that it drew many female eyes to him. A tingling was buzzing at my brain as I continued to assess him with my wolf, a curious thing it was.
After looking him over a few more times, my wolf was confident that we could have him on his ass if we wanted. I smiled inwardly at the thought, it gave me enough confidence to walk out into his line of sight.
He snapped his eyes to me and offered me a smile. "I'm sorry about earlier," he gently said. He hopped off his barstool and slowly walked over to me. Cautious. He knew better now than to approach my wolf too quickly. "I'm Evan, it's nice to finally meet you." He offered me his hand to shake.
I could see the sincerity and canniness his wolf had through his eyes. With that, my beast softened and pushed me to shake his hand. "Charlotte, Levi has said a lot about you."
"Oh God," he pulled his hand back and scratched his hair. "Hopefully nothing embarrassing?"
I scoffed and walked over to Derek. "What else would tell me besides all the embarrassing things?" I teased.
Evan chuckled and walked back to his seat while I poured myself a fat glass of red wine. I took a sip while Derek pulled out my favorite garlic bread, drawing a rumble from my belly.
I helped Derek put them in the little bread basket then set it in front of Evan who was eyeing me curiously. "These are amazing, you should try one... or four."
Evan laughed as he reached into the basket and took a slice after I did. In two bites he scarfed the whole thing down then went in for another. I laughed after he shoved his mouth full of the delectable bread. "Told you," I smirked.
Derek laughed and clinked his glass with mine. "How's your pack, Evan?"
Evan wiped his mouth and nodded. "Good, we still have some snow on the mountains, but it's finally starting to melt off. I'm so tired of winter."
"You and me both," I grumbled into my glass.
Derek sighed. "We almost all killed each other in here this winter. Living with two alpha wolves in this little cabin of ours when you're snowed in is quite the pill."
Evan almost spat out his beer while I rolled my eyes at Derek's words. "We were not that bad."
"Uh huh..." his voice trailed off as he went back to checking the spaghetti sauce.
"Levi said you went on the bear hunt this year?"
I smiled at his question and nodded. "Yes, got a bear too."
"Go show him your skin Char," Derek said while nudging me.
I nodded my chin towards the hall then started to walk back to my room. "Leave that beer here. I'll have your throat if you get it on my skin," I called out over my shoulder. My wolf and I loved that thing like it was an extension of ourselves.
I could feel his eyes on me, his wolf's eyes on me, as we padded back to my room. I let out a breath and went over to my bed where I had the skin folded neatly at the end. The fur was still so soft. It was so damn warm at night, I always felt like I was in my own little burrito.
Evan shook his head as I handed it to him and let out a breathy laugh. "Damn, I honestly thought Levi may have been high when he told me." I laughed and shook my head as I sat on the edge of my bed. My wolf and I watched him curiously as he ran his fingers over the soft fur. His eyes were staring at it, but they looked more like they were staring at something far, far, away. "My brother's and I used to dream about the bear hunt."
"I know." As the words came out of my mouth I wanted to shove my damn foot in it. "Levi, he uh, he's told me a bit about Lucas and Eli. I uh–"
"It's ok," Evan interjected softly. He sighed. "It was a long time ago, but that doesn't mean that talking about them is wrong."
I let out a breath of relief and nodded. "I'm really sorry, I can't imagine..."
Evan handed me back my skin and nodded. He pulled up a chair and sat across from my then tugged a bit at his hair. "It's in the past, but thanks." He sighed and looked at me long and hard. I felt my wolf stir as his did too. A curious thing it was. "You feel it don't you?"
"Yes," I whispered out. I looked out my door and didn't see anyone. I held my fingers up to my lips and Evan nodded. "What is it?"
"I don't know," he breathed out softly. "Can we talk later?"
I nodded. "Don't say anything. I don't want to worry Levi if it's nothing."
"Alright." He agreed.
We walked back out into the kitchen right as Levi walked through the front door. He paused and gave me a curious look as he flashed his eyes between Evan and me. "I showed him my bear skin."
"Ah," he said with relief flashing across his face. I bit back a laugh and walked over to my wine while Evan went back to his beer. Levi popped open a beer and took a long drink of it then sat on the barstool next to Evan.
"How was Bowie?"
Levi nodded. "Good. Not much to report from his sweep this time. Apparently, Liam talked to Remi when he got home."
"And?"
Levi mused a bit. "Remi was excited and accepted the offer. I know he wanted to be a tracker but I think this suits him more."
"He'll be a good beta for Liam," I added.
"Agreed."
"Remi's the tall one with dark hair that you saw today," I said to Evan who looked a little confused. "We're going running tomorrow with Liam in the morning if you want to go?"
"Sounds good to me, Liam's next in line?"
"Yap," Levi said as he wiped his mouth. "Damn pain in my ass too. By the way, did you break his nose today?"
"Yes," I said into my glass.
"That a girl." He reached into the bread basked and pulled out a piece for himself. "Remi, actually got himself a nice black bear, a male, this year," he said to Evan.
Evan's eyes widened a bit. He took a sip of his beer and nodded. "I think next to Christmas, that bear hunt was like the only other thing we looked forward to every year once we got a little older." He chuckled a little and looked over at Levi with a nostalgic smile. "Probably even over our birthdays."
Levi chuckled and bit into his bread. "I remember," he said through a full mouth. He swallowed his bite then wiped his mouth with a paper towel. "You and your brother should come this year."
"Really?" Evan's eyes lit up and I bit back a smile.
"Yup. How old is Evangeline?"
"Twenty," Evan quickly answered.
Levi mused a bit. "She can come as well, but I want to see her spar first before I let take her own bear. Lynna, Lander's daughter, is training for the hunt. If she doesn't look ready, Lander will still bring her, but to watch. We could do that with Evangeline, it would give her a good idea of what to expect if she's not quite ready."
Evan nodded and smiled as he drank his beer. "I mean, how hard can it be?"
"Ha!" Derek scoffed out. He fished around in his pocked and pulled out his phone then started to scroll around with a devious smile on his face. He slid the phone across to Evan with a coy smile. "See for yourself."
"Who is this?"
"Charlotte, Elliot filmed her from behind the tree line." Derek turned towards me and motioned his chin towards the plates. "Hey Char, could you start setting the table?"
I nodded as my cheeks flushed with a little embarrassment and set my wine down as Evan hit 'play' on Derek's phone. Derek had the plates stacked at the edge of the counter; I scooped them up then began to mechanically start to place them around the table. After that, I padded back to the kitchen and grabbed us all some silverware from a drawer and set a fork and knife pairs around every place setting.
"Holy shit!" Evan was staring at the phone with his mouth open big enough to catch a swarm of flies. I smiled as Derek's gaze met mine. He winked at me and went back to stirring the sauce.
Levi looked over curiously after taking a sip of his beer. "Is that the part where she shifted back to her skin?"
"She shifted to her skin during this?" Evan asked with a mix of disbelief and shock.
Levi chuckled and nodded. "Keep watching, it gets real good."
I shook my head and Levi shrugged. Derek turned towards us and took off his 'Master Chef' apron and hung it on a hook. "Time to eat guys."
"Did I miss anything?" Elliot was standing in our doorway with a hungry look on his face.
I rushed over to him and jumped into his arms. "We missed you!" I pulled back and motioned to the table. "I'll get you another place setting, Derek made spaghetti."
He squeezed me to his chest with a chuckle and kissed my hair. "Good I am starved."
I started to set Elliot up with another place setting while he zipped to Derek and locked him in a chaste kiss, that was barely chaste. Levi let out a low growl and muttered a string of curses under his breath. "Take that love fest somewhere where we are not eating."
"Are you kidding me?!" Evan gasped out again. He looked at me with wide eyes then back at the phone then back to me then back the phone.
Levi leaned over as he scooted off the bar stool he was sitting on. "Ah ya, he got to the part when you shifted to your skin."
"You're insane Charlotte," Evan murmured.
"You should have seen her kill her husband," Elliot replied with a devious smile. "That was some crazy Gone Girl shit, I am only pissed that I didn't video it. I'm Elliot, by the way."
"Evan," he breathily replied as his eyes flickered over to me; he quickly shook Elliot's hand then looked back down at the screen.
I groaned and rolled my eyes as I picked up my plate and walked towards the spaghetti. Evan was shaking his head at me then looked back at the phone; his brows rose and mouth dropped again. Levi just laughed while I started to scoop a mountain of spaghetti on my plate.
I finished it off with a very generous helping of parmesan cheese right as Evan put the phone down and took a long drink of his beer. "That was the most insanely bad ass thing I think I have ever seen."
I laughed as my wolf growled in contentment. "Thank you. It definitely wasn't easy."
"No shit," he muttered under his breath.
The spaghetti didn't last long at all. Evan was practically moaning with every bite to which Levi said to 'quit making out with your dinner.' We filled out bellies full, then filled them some more until we were all stuffed like fat ticks.
Evan tossed his napkin on his plate and let out a long sigh. "I am eating at your cabin every night."
Derek chuckled as Elliot swallowed down the last meatball on his plate. "You're more than welcome too. Cooking is like therapy for me, it's one of my favorite things to do."
"What do you have planned tomorrow Char?" Elliot asked as Derek stood up and walked back to the kitchen.
I wiped my mouth and leaned back in my chair, letting my bloated belly have a some more room. "Well, I'm taking Evan on a run with Liam and Remi in the morning. Remi wanted to try out a new hunting spot, he saw some elk and deer over there and thought we should check it out. Want to come?"
"Sure," Elliot replied quickly.
Derek set a plate of my favorite cookies in the center of the table and Evan looked at him like he was holier than holy. "There's more?!"
"Why would you have dinner without dessert? It's just an absurd notion," Derek quickly replied.
Levi rolled his eyes and took two cookies for himself before the rest of us dove in for our own. Even with a full belly, I would always make room for Derek's cookies.
We finished up dessert then helped Derek clean up the kitchen. Elliot and I pulled out the fold-out couch and covered it in sheets and warm blankets for Evan. The fire in our fireplace had died down, it wasn't as vital to keep it going with the weather warming up, but it still was nice to have the feeling of its warmth in the cabin.
Levi stayed up for a while and talked with Evan on the porch. I was happy for him, for both of them. I knew that Levi cared for Evan and his siblings, and it seemed like Evan was more than happy to let Levi back in his life.
I waiting under my covers for everyone to fall sound asleep before I would try to find Evan. He and Levi had finished talking a few minutes past midnight and turned in for bed. I was too restless to sleep, my wolf and I wanted to pick up our conversation from earlier with him.
I decided soon that now was as good of time as any to try and sneak out. I tried to find his mind with the tendrils of my to form a link. It took me a little longer than I would like, but I soon found this energy buzzing in my brain. I reached out to it and gently grasped onto it, letting a channel form between the two of us.
"Evan?"
"Charlotte?" he replied a bit startled.
"Meet me outside."
I got up from my bed and slowly walked to the front door. Evan was trying to quietly get out of his bed, the stupid thing was old and rusty, but somehow Evan was able to James Bond it and get up without a sound.
I walked out the door with him in tow and closed it gently before walking down the steps and sitting down on them. I scooted across them and turned to lean on the rail as he did the same.
He sighed and tugged at his hair a bit. His wolf was like energy. There was a buzz about him that I couldn't figure out. I felt a gentle tug in my mind towards the male wolf, but it was so soft and almost invisible like a ghost.
"I don't understand this at all," he thought out loud.
I nodded. "Agreed. What do you think it is?"
"I don't know." He shook his head and sighed then looked back at me with searching eyes. "It's really hard to tell, but there's something there, I just have no clue at all."
I let out a frustrated sigh and nodded. I hated that there was so much gray in my life. "It's not at all what I feel towards Liam–"
"Liam?"
I bit my lip and shrugged. "Potential bond."
"Oh," he breathed out. "That must suck?"
"You have no idea," I muttered under my breath.
"Is that why you're–"
"Yes," I replied, answering his question before it even left his lips. "Well, sort of." I played with the loose ends of my hair while he patiently watched me. He was a good listener and kind, he didn't seem like the type to rush you or push too hard. "My wolf, she's been unsettled since Christmas, well, a little before. It's like a damn itch that I can't scratch. I feel pulled towards something, but I have no idea what it was. All I know is that the idea of a pack, especially your pack, seems to calm her down, but only a bit."
Evan scratched at his scruff and pondered for a moment. "I don't know what to tell you, I'm at a loss."
"It's alright, I mean, I guess I'll find out eventually right?"
He smiled slightly and nodded. "Hopefully."
Silence blanketed us for a long pregnant moment. The trees were rustling back and forth, swaying gracefully in the wind that seemed to drown out the stiffening silence.
"I don't think I ever thought I would see Levi again, you know?" I looked over at Evan who gave me a small smile. His eyes held so much sadness and pain that my heart recognized. It was hard to forget that kind of pain. I nodded to him gently. "I don't blame him for disappearing, I have no idea how he's even still alive or not a rogue. He's still so much like I remembered him."
"Still the world's grumpiest wolf?"
"Ya," Evan lightly laughed out. "He always gave my dad so much shit. My dad would come home furious because Levi just poked and poked and poked at him. We all knew better, though, he and Levi were like brother's, the were always trying to get the best of each other.
"You smell like him you know? It's just so trippy, when I walked up I could have sworn for a second it was Lydia. You smell different than they do, but you smell exactly like a pup of his."
"That's what Lander told me after he bonded me with his blood," I murmured.
Evan nodded and gave me a warm smile. "He loves you, you know? I honestly don't think Levi would be the alpha again unless you came along. Honestly, we were all convinced that Lander was going to be stuck with it and that shit was taking a toll on him."
I blinked back small tears that wanted to leak out, tears of happiness a the thought of it all. I shrugged. "He saved me, saved my life. I would more than likely be dead or I don't know, living some shell of a life if it weren't for him."
"Elliot said you killed him?"
"I wish I could do it again," I answered venomously. "He beat me so much that eventually, he beat his own way of thinking into me. I completely lost who I was."
"What about your parents?"
"Dead," I breathed out. "My mother died of cancer when I was fifteen and my father drove his car into a lake after it lost control on ice before I was eighteen."
"I'm sorry."
I gave him a small smile and met his knowing eyes with mine. I knew his pain, I understood far too well the suffering that he probably felt. My wolf whined a bit for him, she liked the male and didn't like to think of him suffering. "It's in the past, it's not who I am anymore."
"You don't have to go you know? I mean, Levi is reluctant to let you go, and it seems like you're really happy here. I won't make you if you don't want to."
"I can't Evan," I sighed out. "She's too restless. It will drive me insane if I don't. I need to at least try and see what this damn itch is about."
He sighed and nodded to me. "You're going to throw everyone for a trip. You feel like Lucas did but your smell reminds me so much of Lydia."
"What do you mean?" My wolf perked up. She pushed forward and eyed the male intriguingly.
"Lucas was totally the alpha pup in that litter. The kid reeked of it. Lesser wolves would walk next to him and visibly cower without even knowing it. Eli was the same. It was like this weird sense of power and energy radiating off them like a wave. Lesser wolves can't handle that kind of thing."
"So you're saying I am a wave?" I teased gently.
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, but even now it's like a soft current coming off of you. I couldn't even speak to you before because it was rolling off you and Liam both so much that it blew my damn mind. I expected it from Liam, but not from you. It was a damn trip. Just totally caught me off guard."
"Levi said it's my blood, well, our blood I guess."
Evan nodded. "Could be, that's probably part of it. You got that grumpy ass Thorne blood in you now, so who knows what that will do."
I laughed and shook my head with him. I did have some grumpy-ass Thorne blood in me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I was proud of my blood, my wolf was proud of our blood, and we always would be.