“It’s a challenge and I can’t just ignore it, Millie,” Ethan returned with a serious but loving expression. “What kind of protector would I be if I just let another ware antagonize and threaten you? Or my pack? This obsession of Osyrius’s needs to end. To let it continue would only kick the problem downthe road. I won’t drag any children we have into this fight with the Tupilaq pack. I’m dealing with it before it deals with us. It’s the right thing to do.”
When he put it like that, I couldn’t argue, however much I might want to. Years ago, my dad had tried to run from the Tupilaq pack with my mother when they’d gotten pregnant with me. Look how that had turned out. The pack, like Ethan had said, had brutally dealt with him the first chance they got. Had I been caught that day, I would have been forced back to Alaska and given to Osyrius like war booty. If we ignored the wares now, like my father had before me, the cycle would continue with our children. And that very real possibility nearly crushed me.
“If you’re going to Alaska, I’m going with you,” I boldly proclaimed, just as unwilling as my mate to budge on the issue.
“No, you’re not. It’s not safe,” Ethan quickly barked out, trying to cow me into submission with his stern reply.
He might be my alpha, but he was also my best friend. I’d never let him fight alone. We were in this together, through thick and thin, no matter what.
“You said it yourself,” I reminded him then. “If we don’t follow the rules of the challenge, the Tupilaq pack will just come back to Montana to seek their revenge. We’re not giving those animals an excuse to do that. We go together as a pack, or we don’t go at all.”
Flint, Gavin, Stark, and Colt all added their voices in a chorus of agreement then. The only one missing was Logan. Ethan had tried calling him back to the cabin for a family meeting on our ride home, but he’d never answered his phone.
Ethan might not like that his whole pack was being sucked into this fight, but he couldn’t deny that showing up in force was the only sensible path to take with such a powerful and well-connected clan.
“Fine,” Ethan begrudgingly accepted. “I’ll order the plane tickets tonight. We won’t be staying long, so pack light.”
My stomach acids began to churn violently at the thought of going to Alaska and seeing my mother. As much as I might deny it, I wanted so badly to be a part of her life, and for her to be a part of mine. But the rose-colored glasses where that woman was concerned had long ago been ripped off my face. That phone call hadn’t helped matters any. I knew better than to hope for something that was hopeless. Better to accept the reality now and not be disappointed by the truth after I’d invested too heavily in the fantasy of a happy family that included my mother.
Ethan had headed to his office to tie up some loose ends with work after the family meeting, and I’d headed back to our bedroom to pack for our trip.
While deciding whether to bring one sweater or five, I heard a soft knock at the door which was halfway open.
Glancing up, I saw it was Flint standing there, looking uncharacteristically serious. “Hey,” I said, letting the pile of sweaters flop onto the bed in a heap. “What’s up?”
“Can I come in?” The usually brash ware asked.
I raised a brow in concern. “Since when do you ask for anything?” I teased with a smile. “Come on in. I couldactually use the company right now to distract me from my constant worries.”
Flint entered, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his cargo pants. “What are you worried about?”
“What do you think? My mate is about to fight another ware to the death. It’s not exactly something I deal with on a daily basis,” I snarked in return.
Flint shook his head. “He might be a calm son-of-a-bitch, but Ethan’s one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen. You don’t have to worry about him with Osyrius, Millie. I know the type. Young. Cocksure. Arrogant. His pride will be his downfall. I’m sure of it.”
I couldn’t help but feel Flint might be speaking from a place of experience. After all, he too fit many of those descriptors to a tee.
“I’m not worried about Osyrius beating Ethan in a fight. Well, not really. I’m worried about the Tupilaqs stepping in and doing it for him. I don’t trust them, Flint. They killed my father for no other reason than that my mother chose him as her mate. I can’t lose someone else I love to their blood feuds. It would destroy me from the inside out.”
Flint listened with the intense focus that could be unsettling if you didn’t know him as well as I was beginning to. “You’re right, Millie. I’m ashamed to admit I was too wrapped up in my own concerns to think about it that way.”
I turned his question to me back on him. “What are you worried about? Besides the obvious, of course.”
“It’s dumb, I know,” Flint tentatively began, “but going back to Alaska is complicated for me.”
Taking a seat on the bed, I patted the spot beside me. “Tell me about it.”
Flint lumbered over and lowered himself onto the mattress. I had to catch myself from tumbling into him because of the weight differential. We both laughed as I righted myself, which helped significantly lighten the mood.
“I know a thing or two about losing parents,” I assured him. “While our circumstances aren’t the same, Flint, they’re more similar than they are different.”
“I know,” he spoke quietly. “That’s why I feel comfortable talking to you about this.”
His words warmed my heart a great deal. Families shared their problems. I hadn’t had that kind of support system in years. Flint confiding in me now made me feel like he truly saw me as one of the pack, not just some hanger-on. Now if I could only shift, I’d be one of them for real.
“When I was looking into your mom,” he slowly began, “I stumbled upon something about my own.”
I didn’t know much about Flint’s family, only that he had lost them when he was three. Other than that, there wasn’t much to tell. He’d been dropped off in the middle of the night at Cascia House. No note. No guardian. No hope for reunification. Just a sleeping child curled up on a blanket on the front stoop. My chest constricted with pain at how afraid and lost that little boy must have felt.
