The Wolf You Feed Arc (11 page)

“There you are, Nea. You can sit with us in the kitchen, honey. Don’t be by yourself.”

Annike stood at the door, her hand threaded through Tore’s. She leaned against her handsome mate, his arm around her shoulder, his face pressed into her hair.

Nea wished someone would hold her like that. She wished Felix looked at her like that.

Annike cleared her throat, “Tore told me… Ricky, you know that cute Mexican tracker who started a few months back? Well, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and we noticed he’s always looking at you. I think he likes you. Maybe we could invite him for dinner and see if you hit it off? What do you say?” Annike looked pleased with her scheming.
 

Nea cringed. They’d been at this for months. First the chef, then the mailman, Annike had even tried to set her up with the gardener.

“Human men don’t interest me.” There was only Felix. “I’m tired, I’m going to bed.”

***

As Nea sat in her room, there was a knock. “Please, Annike, I don’t want to discuss this now.” Opening the door a crack, she prepared to give her friend a reassuring smile. But it wasn’t Annike it was Tore.

Nea pulled the door wider, allowing him to come in and she went back to her bed. He sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “You okay?” Genuine concern filled his eyes.
 

Tears spilled from Nea, they wouldn’t stop. Four years of regret, four years of hating herself, four years of loving a man who would never love her back. Four years of shame, four years knowing how disappointed her mother must be. Four years of her miserable life rolled down her cheeks.

Tore pulled Nea to him. He rubbed her back and stroked her hair while she spewed out her misery.

Nea told him everything, how much she missed the commune, how she lay awake at night dreaming about Felix, how she felt about Rune. Finally, she told Tore how jealous she was of what he had with Annike.

Tore’s arm stayed wrapped around her. He dried her tears and his eyes grew sad. He felt Nea’s pain.

Once she’d calmed down, he stood up to leave. Pausing at the door, he said, “We’ll make it right with Felix, Nea. I’ll try anything. Do anything. Whatever it takes, I’ll get you back to him.” Then he left.

Nea had no idea what Tore meant or how he could change anything. They were in exile. For all they knew, the clan was still hunting for them. Reuniting with Felix was impossible. Yet Tore’s promise sounded hopeful. Would his status as Isak’s son count for anything? Could they return without endangering themselves?
 

Despite Nea’s anxious thoughts, it was the first time in four years that she slept well. In her dreams and in her heart a tiny seed of hope germinated.

 
10

A Few Days Later.

Nea wants to go back
! Tore didn’t mean to broadcast his thoughts, but they’d been filling his waking hours for days. A sudden resignation for what he had to do sent the words tumbling into Liam’s head.
 

Liam spluttered, inhaling his beer. “What? It’d be suicide. Why the hell would she want to go back there? She has a good life here.”

“I know, but she’s miserable. She’s homesick and misses Felix.”

“Tore, it’s too dangerous,” Liam said.

“What can I do? She sees Annike and me together and she wants the same. Nea’s never forgotten him. She has to know if there is the slightest chance he’d have her back.”

“Jeez!” Liam sighed, “You know him, I don’t. Is there anyway he’d take her back?”

“Who knows? Felix is a good guy, but it’s a long shot. Four years is a long time. He might have found someone else.”

“Okay, let’s use some logic here. Let’s say Felix
isn’t
mated and he
still
loves Nea. Even if he can find it in his heart to forgive her; what about Rune? Not everyone can do what you did. Not everyone is secure in themselves to take on another man’s son.”

Tore’s mouth opened, but Liam raised his hand and silenced him. “Well, let’s say none of that is a problem. What about Erik? Dad? Or the guy who fathered her child; is he still at the commune? There are too many hurdles, too many what-ifs. She’ll be putting herself in needless danger. You have to talk her out of it.”

“I’ve tried, Annike’s tried. She’s been like this for months. Years even. She’s gonna go any day now and she’ll take my son with her. I’ll lose him forever, Liam.”

He frowned. “Look, I know how you feel about Rune, but… damn. This is a mess… what will you do?”

Tore rubbed his hand across his face, “I’ve been thinking. We haven’t heard from the clan once in all these years. I don’t even know, for sure, that anyone bothered to try and find us. Perhaps things weren’t as final as I thought. You said so yourself, I was Dad’s favorite. There’s a chance he thought I was being hot headed. If I’d hung around the next day, this might have turned out differently. What if Dad was just reacting in the heat of the moment? What if he didn’t mean it?”

“Tore…”

“I think he’d listen to me. It’s been four years. They can’t still be mad at me, can they?”

Liam sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair. Isak always did have a sweet spot for his youngest. If any of them could go back to the commune, it would be Tore. “When will you go?”

Tore looked over at his boys, He hoped this wouldn’t be one of the last times they’d be playing together.

“Soon.”

Liam nodded. “Look, make contact with Felix, Georg, or Henrik first. Feel out what’s going on. Don’t just go walking in there. You need to know what you’re facing.”

Tore nodded. He shared Liam’s concerns, but he had to try something. He’d taken on Nea’s well being when she left with them. He couldn’t watch her shutting down like this.

***

Stepping out of Yellowstone Regional Airport, Tore’s stomach was uneasy. Annike agreed that Nea needed to do this. She was as worried as Tore about her friend. However, there was no way she’d let Tore return to the commune without her. So the five of them now gathered their belongings from the carousel. The flight had taken just a few hours. A stark contrast to the eight months they’d spent zigzagging their way across the country when they fled south, four years ago.
 

After picking up a rental car, Tore settled everyone in a secluded holiday cabin. It was five miles south of Cody, and the commune was another ten northwest of the town. Apart from when they’d stepped off the plane, Annike and the others hadn’t set foot outside. Tore didn’t want to risk anyone picking up their scent. Once they were comfortable, he gave them strict instructions to stay indoors and keep the windows shut. Then, he set out to a bar the clan used to frequent.

The run down bikers’ place hadn’t changed a bit. The stale smell of beer and cigarettes caught in his throat as he walked in. The sensory overload triggered a rush of memories.

Leaning back against a wooden pillar, Tore watched his friends laughing and joking. They were well into their third or fourth beer by now, but he was the designated driver so he was still nursing his first.

Looking around, ninety percent of the place was underage. The joint would be empty if the barman checked everyone’s fake ID.

At last Felix walked away from the pool table.
 

About time too!
 

As usual Felix was wiping the floor with him. Even though Tore had broke, Felix had hogged the table since then. Tore groaned as the cue ball came to a halt hard up against the corner pocket, surrounded by three others. His ball didn’t have a chance in hell, of going in anywhere; even if he could squeak the cue ball past the black and Felix’s last stripe without touching them.
 

He sighed. It wasn’t even worth taking the shot.
 

As predicted, Tore was unable to pocket his solid. He stepped back to allow Felix to get to the table. Felix cleaned up.

“You know, I don’t know why I still play with you Felix. I’ve not won a game in a month!”

Felix grinned.

Annike snuggled into Tore’s side. She wrapped her slender arm around his waist and yawned. He kissed her forehead, “You tired?” She nodded. It was close to midnight. The rest of the guys had plenty of time to drink as much as they wanted; it was time to go.

Tore rattled the keys to the truck. The others downed their beers and gathered their things. He handed the last couple of inches of his beer to Felix. He gulped it back in one. Annike held Tore’s hand tight as they walked through the bar. She was nervous of the humans that were there. Felix wrapped his arm around Nea, and they headed out to the truck.

It was strange how certain smells could do that. It was like an old song transporting the mind back in time. They’d spent a lot of nights together; the four of them had been so close. It was funny how things worked out. He sighed, realizing that the last time they were all here was about a week before he’d left the clan.

Tore sniffed at his clothes. The Scent Killer he’d sprayed on himself seemed to be doing its job. Even he couldn’t pick up his own scent. Back at the Lodge, they went through gallons of the stuff. The white tailed deer had hyper-sensitive noses. They were more gifted than Lycans in that respect. That stuff was the only way they could get any of their patrons close enough to kill one. The spray would give him plenty of cover. Between that and the cigarette smoke, no one from the commune would be able to detect him.

Tore glanced at his watch. It was coming up on eleven, too late for anyone to show now. He was about to drain his beer and give up when the door flew open and five guys stumbled in. Even though it was too dark to see their faces, there was no hiding the fact they were from the clan. Their physiques alone were conspicuous. Tall, lean, and athletic with broad shoulders and obvious muscles straining against their T-shirts. They swaggered in, confident, their demeanor predatory. As they leaned against the bar, the draft from the open door blew familiar scents to Tore.
 

Jackpot! What a stroke of luck. Felix and Henrik were amongst the group. They moved across the bar and racked up balls at the scruffy pool table.
 

Now to get one of them on their own, he thought.

Felix was the first to break away from the group. He left his beer on the table and wandered over to the bathroom. Tore followed, keeping out of sight. Just as he knew what they were when they walked in, one look in his direction would tell them what he was too. Waiting outside the bathroom, tucked a little way down the hall and hidden by shadows, he checked out escape options.

The bathroom door opened. “Felix?”

 
The Lycan froze but didn’t turn. After a moment Felix started to walk away.

 
“I need you to hear me out. It’s about Nea.”

Felix turned and strode the few steps back to Tor; his face dark, eyes glowering. He clenched his fists at his sides. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip your damn throat out?” he growled.

Stepping back, Tore forced his shoulders to relax. He could feel his wolf wary, ready to appear if necessary. “I know how you must feel.” His words did nothing to calm Felix, he was seconds away from shifting. “Do you think I’d be this stupid, coming back if it wasn’t important?” Tore asked.

Felix’s hand wrapped around Tore’s neck and pushed him up tight against the wall. Tore struggled to pull his friend’s fingers from his throat. Felix thrust his face into Tore’s and bared his elongating fangs. He was taller than Tore and there was no doubt he would deploy his wolf. Tore held back, his own logic kicking in. They were friends and, as far as he knew, Felix had always avoided fights at the clan.
 

Felix’s aggression ran deep, his hatred fueled by years of grief and hurt. They had shared their childhood and passed through transition together. But now Tore’s best friend wanted to kill him. Tore’s wolf instincts were desperate to fight back, but his human half didn’t want to hurt Felix. Just as he thought he’d have to shift, Felix let go and stepped back.
 

He lowered his head. His eyes were black, not with anger but with something else. “Why? Why’d you take her? You had Annike, why’d you take my Nea?” The grief behind Felix’s eyes was raw.

Tore put his hand around the back of Felix’s head. “I didn’t, Felix. She
left
with me, I didn’t take her from you. She’s always been yours.”