I rearranged my gelled hair once more before letting my arms drop with a thud against my thighs. I needed to get the hell over myself and just get this meeting done with.
I stalked through my room and flung open the door, purposely avoiding the mirror and the last glance I wanted to give myself. When I made it to the living room, I found Mom already entertaining Beatrice with a tray of tea and cookies.
My mom loved guests but unfortunately, they’d been few and far between in our old pack. I was holding out hope that things would be different here in that regard as well, but only time would tell.
“Hey, Beatrice. Thanks for coming by.”
She shrugged as she took a tentative sip from her teacup. “Don’t mention it. We just want you guys to feel comfortable here.”
“As happy as I am to have you here, Beatrice, I really don’t need a babysitter,” Mom said, her eyes on Wes and me.
Beatrice pursed her lips and stared into her cup, leaving this response to us. I sighed and went to run my fingers through my hair when I remembered the gel I’d slicked onto it. “It’s just for a little while, Mom. Please don’t make a big deal out of this.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m just sick of being a burden to everyone. I’m perfectly capable of staying in the house by myself.”
I crossed the room to take a seat next to her, pulling one of her hands into mine. “You’re never a burden and this won’t be forever. Just please, give me and Wes some peace of mind and let us do this our way. Once we’re sure we have nothing to worry about, you’ll have some of your freedom back, I promise.”
She huffed, but I could see her edges softening. She couldn’t say no to me. Never could. “All right, Wyatt. Have it your way.”
I kissed the side of her head, noticing the rash on her face had cleared up some.
True to his word, Doc Monroe had begun treating Mom right away. That first day he’d drawn a bunch of blood from her so he could assess where she was at and how the disease had progressed. He’d also wanted to confirm the lupus diagnosis. Thankfully, the labs had come back indicating that no major damage had been done to her organs yet, and he’d be able to start treating some of her symptoms like the joint pain, fevers, and rash.
He’d made it clear that lupus wasn’t something she could get rid of, but rather something they’d work together to manage. According to him, she should start feeling much better soon and the relief we’d felt from that statement alone was overwhelming.
I stood up and met Wes at the door. “One of us will be back soon.”
She waved us away, a disgruntled look on her face. “Just go on. I’ll see you later.”
I shook my head and left the house, making sure to lock the door behind us. “I hate that she thinks she’s a burden. And that she’s so upset about being watched all the time,” I mumbled to my brother.
He slapped me on the shoulder as we made our way up the gravel road toward the lodge. “Just be happy she’s feeling well enough to argue with us, brother.”
He was right. There were times she’d been too ill to even put up a fight. Now she was getting some of her spunk back, that meant she must be feeling better. I couldn’t be anything but grateful for that.
We walked in silence up the road, and just as the lodge came into view, so did our new alpha.
“Wes, Wyatt, I’m glad to see you two,” he called as he walked over and shook our hands. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by again this week.”
We frowned at each other before turning back to him. “Don’t worry about it, Alpha. We’re getting along fine,” Wes said.
He nodded absentmindedly. “And how’s your mom? Has the doc been by?”
“Yeah. He’s been great. Some of her symptoms are already improving.”
His eyes were still on the woods in the distance. “That’s good. Real good.”
I frowned at my brother again before speaking up. “Hey, is everything okay?”
Abraham met my eyes, and his shoulders slumped with a heavy exhale. “No, not really. We’ve been dealing with an… issue for the better part of a year and I’m anticipating more bad news any day.”
“What kind of issue?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I suppose you’ll find out soon enough since you’ve both become enforcers.” He ran a rough hand down his face, and when he looked at us again, it seemed like he’d aged ten years. “We’ve had someone killing women in our woods since last June. We don’t know who it is except he’s a werewolf.”
“You don’t recognize his scent?” Wes asked.
Abraham’s jaw clenched. “No. I don’t. And there’s something off about it.”
“How many women has he killed already?”
“The third was just a couple weeks ago.”
I turned wide eyes to my brother before focusing on Abraham again. “Are the authorities involved?”
“We didn’t really have a choice. Thankfully, we have someone from the pack who works at the local precinct and he keeps us updated and off their radar, but it’s only a matter of time before their attention turns to us. Regardless of that, because it’s a werewolf doing this, I feel even more responsibility to find out who it is and stop them.”
I felt that same sense of responsibility down to my bones. It was just another reason I knew we were in the right place with the right pack. “We’ll help any way we can,” I said.
Abraham gave me a weary smile. “I appreciate that. I think we need all the help we can get.” He let out a deep breath and curled his lips into a bigger smile, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s put this aside for now. We’ve got a barbecue to get to.”
He ushered us forward and I let the subject drop for now, but it still weighed heavily on my mind. I wanted as much information about this series of crimes as possible so I could do everything in my power to make a difference. If I knew my brother, he was probably thinking along the same lines as I was.
“Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of my sisters,” Abraham said as he led us into the lodge and toward a table full of brunettes.
My eyes instantly zeroed in on Callista, and the closer I got, the harder something tugged deep within me. Like she was an anchor and I was a ship at sea, helplessly attached to her.
“Damn. You really do have a lot of sisters,” Wes murmured.
“No kidding,” Abraham said, the humor clear in his voice. When we arrived at the table, he put a hand on each of our shoulders. “Girls, these are our two newest packmates, Wyatt and Wes,” he said, nodding at each of us in turn. “Guys, this is Evelyn and Delilah, and you’ve already met Callista.”
I glanced at the first two women he mentioned, but my eyes didn’t stray from Callista for long. She was in a plaid button-down shirt like mine, only hers was tied in a knot at the waist, presumably because it was two sizes too big. Her mess of curly brown hair covered part of her face and my fingers itched to tuck it behind her ears.
Her eyes stayed glued to the table, however, denying me another look at her beautiful pale blue eyes.
“So, who here is single?” my idiot brother said from the other side of Abraham. Lucky for him there was a mountain of a man between us because my hand itched again, but this time to smack him in the back of the head.