“Livy?” Killian’s voice shifted.
“Yeah, Dad?”
“I’m glad you’re okay, sweetheart.” His voice cracked, just barely, before the line clicked off.
Sloane blew out a long breath. “I don’t wanna split up.”
“Neither do I,” Jacob said. “But Uncle Killian needs us.”
Sloane turned around in her seat to look at Eli. “Jacob has to go back, but I don’t have to follow the Alpha’s or Killian’s orders. I can stay with you guys.”
“No need.” While the offer was clearly genuine, Eli knew Sloane would not want to be apart from Jacob. “We’ll be fine.”
Jacob plugged the coordinates into the GPS and merged back onto the highway. Sloane closed her eyes. Olivia, still tucked against Eli’s side, laced her fingers through his.
“You okay?” she murmured.
“Yeah.”
But something cold had coiled in his gut the moment he heard Kentucky. He told himself it didn’t matter. Kentucky was a big state. Still, his wolf stirred uneasily.
His hand drifted to his jacket pocket, where the remaining vials pressed against his chest. He’d carried them for years as a reminder of what he’d lost. Now they felt like a warning of what was coming.
Chapter 10
Olivia pressed her face closer to the window to take in the scenery outside the window. The hours had melded together as they passed highway after highway, rest stop after rest stop. But now, the landscape had changed into rolling hills and narrow roads through densely forested valleys. Even the air seemed different, which meant that they were finally in Kentucky.
Thank God.
She was near ready to collapse, her body feeling like it had been wrung out and hung to out dry. There had been barely time to stop, though when they did, she immediately changed out of the ripped-up, bloodstained shirt, which was now stuffed into a plastic bag in the back of the SUV. Sloane said she’d take care of it, which Olivia hoped mean burning it to ash. She wished she could do the same for the memories of the pain and agony she had suffered in the last twenty-four hours.
She glanced over at Eli. He hadn’t slept during the entire drive. Neither had she, really, though she’d dozed off a few times. Still, each time she was jostled awake by a bump on theroad, she found him in the same position, shoulders rigid, eyes fixed on the outside.
Olivia wanted to ask him what was wrong. The question had been sitting in the back of her throat since somewhere around the Maryland border. But she couldn't say it aloud, not with Jacob and Sloane in the car.
“Almost there,” Jacob said, checking the GPS. “Should be about ten more minutes.” He pulled the SUV off the highway and onto a two-lane road that wound uphill through thick forest. Sloane had fallen asleep in the passenger seat about an hour ago, her head tilted against the headrest, one hand resting on her belly.
The road became narrower, the trees clustered closer together, creating a natural path that led up to a wide gate with stone pillars on either side. A wooden sign proclaimed it as Seven Peaks Mountain Lodge in a rustic script. From there the dirt road turned into gravel, leading up to a sprawling log structure with multiple stories, with front deck, and clear glass windows likely built to showcase the gorgeous views from the inside.
Jacob parked the SUV in the closest empty spot, and they all headed out toward the four people waiting on top of the steps leading up to the lodge. Olivia recognized the Alpha’s youngest sister as she stood in a white dress, hair loose around her shoulders. She had one hand braced on her lower back and the other resting on a rounded belly proclaiming her advanced pregnancy. It was strange, seeing Isabelle Anderson here. The last time Olivia had crossed paths with her, Isabelle had been barely twenty, tearing through Manhattan nightclubs with her cousin Maxine Muccino and earning a reputation as the clan's resident wild child. She had been much younger, so they never hung out, but Olivia remembered the spoiled-brat reputation well. The girl who threw tantrums when she didn’t get the besttable. The girl who once made a hostess cry at Per Se. And now here she was, deep in the Kentucky mountains, pregnant and looking well-settled into the slower-paced life in the country.
True Mates really did change people. She glanced down at her own flat stomach, then at Eli beside her and wondered what it was doing to her.
Next to Isabelle was a man who could only be Ransom. Tall, broad, tattooed, with a beard and gold-green eyes that tracked their group's movements as they stopped at the bottom of the steps. He wore a weathered black leather vest over his shirt, jeans, and motorcycle boots, and while he didn’t stand out or seem like was anything special, Olivia clocked what he was. Much like Lucas Anderson, there was a power and presence there that just proclaimed him Alpha. Her she-wolf cowered back in submission, making itself smaller so as not to present a threat.
A red-haired woman stood beside them, holding a toddler on her hip. She was obviously human, Olivia could tell from her lack of a wolf. The boy had mismatched eyes, one green, one blue, and was clutching a ratty stuffed rabbit to his chest.
“Alpha, Lupa,” Jacob began. Since he was the most familiar with Ransom, they decided he would talk first and make the introductions. “This is my True Mate, Sloane, my cousin, Olivia Jones of the New York Clan, and her True Mate Eli Blake, formerly of the Boston Clan.”
Eli pulled up his shirt, revealing the wolf head tattoo on his ribs. “Alpha, thank you for allowing us into your territory and giving us shelter.”
Ransom’s gaze flicked down at the tattoo, then at Eli. “You can drop the ‘Alpha’ thing. I’ve had the title for about five minutes.” He hooked his thumb into the waistband of his jeans and tugged it down an inch, showing his own Lone Wolf tattoo on his hip. “Before that, we were just a ragtag group of Lycanswith nowhere else to go. My Pa formed the Savage Wolves MC so people like him could have a home.” He let the waistband snap back. “Isabelle’s dad encouraged me to take the Alpha title, or I probably would’ve just kept things the way they were.”
“He’s being modest,” Isabelle said. “The High Council offered him the territory because he earned it. After what happened with the mages, they needed someone strong in this region. Ransom was the obvious choice.” She smiled at Olivia. “Olivia, it’s been a while.”
“It has.” Up close, the change was even more obvious to Olivia. Though she was still polished, there was a glow about her that not even the most skilled makeup professional could recreate. This was not the girl at Per Se. “Thank you for having us.”
“Of course. Lucas called and we were happy to help. This is Silke Walker.” She gestured to the redhead. “Ransom’s sister and the owner of the lodge, so most of the thanks goes to her.”
