Caged Wolf (Wolves of Willow Bend Book 2) (15 page)

Linc and Tyler lunged to their feet and were out the door before their mother finished speaking. Virgil followed at a more sedate pace, pausing to kiss to his wife. They shared a look so intimate that Vivian glanced away and her gaze collided with A.J.’s. Virgil paused at the sofa to put his hand on A.J.’s shoulder and then shocked Vivian when he did the same to her.

“You two listen to Claudia,” he said, then leaned down and kissed the top of Vivian’s head. “You’ll do, little one. You’ll do.”

Befuddled by the gentle welcome, Vivian scrubbed a hand over her face. A.J. waited for the door to close before saying, “We’re not doing this now, Mom.”

“Hush, Andrew.” The command in the soft words was unmistakable. Vivian considered fleeing, but A.J.’s hand on her leg kept her in place. She’d already upset him with her earlier assertion, and she didn’t want to leave him to face off with his mother alone.

“If he doesn’t want to do something,” she said, startling both A.J. and his mother. “You shouldn’t make him. We’ve both had enough of that.”

Instead of being offended, Claudia seemed amused. “Yes, I think I agree with your father. She will do.”

What the hell were they talking about?

“Mom…”

“No, dear. You asked me a question. Vivian needs to be here for this discussion. After all, it’s her condition we need to talk about.”

Heart sinking, Vivian jerked her attention to A.J.
My condition?
Had Emma told him? He squeezed her leg lightly and she read the truth in his eyes.

“You know?”

“That you’re dying?” He ground the words out and anger flash fired beneath his tone. An anger she’d never heard directed at her. “Yes. I know.”

Wincing, she glanced down. “I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

“Yes,” he said, then plucked her from her seat and pulled her right into his lap, disregarding his mother seated nearby. “You should have, but I’m not mad at you, sweetheart.”

Okay, that was news.

“I’m pissed at the situation, but never at you.”

Relief swam through her. She could handle all of it—the madness, the fugues, the weakness and the uncertainty of how many tomorrows she had, but A.J. was in her blood and had become a reason to wake up each morning, to take a deeper breath—to live.

“Emma said she would do some research.” It wasn’t much hope, but frankly, she’d take what she could get.

He cradled her to him and she closed her eyes. In his arms, she really could forget everything. She’d forgotten, for a little while, that she was dying because being with him brought her to life.

“Or,” Claudia said, “A.J. has another possible solution.”

“You do?” she asked him, not his mother.

After shooting a dark look at his mother, he turned kinder eyes on Vivian. “Emma and Gillian are both pretty powerful and they can do some things for humans, but their gifts work best on wolves.”

Okay, that made sense.

“I want you to become one of us,” A.J. said, and the world stopped. “I want to offer you the bite, to turn you.”

No.
Her mind shied away from the whole idea. “I’m sorry. What?”

Cupping her chin, he held her focus. “We can, from time to time, change humans and make them like us. I was born this way, most of us in Willow Bend were, but we have our human pack mates. Some of them become wolves, too. If you were a wolf, you’d be stronger, healthier—and even if it didn’t cure you, Emma and Gillian could. You can live, sweetheart.”

“We think,” his mother tacked on, but the idea continued to splinter inside Vivian’s mind. Become a wolf?

She isn’t pack, Lexi. I know you want to sympathize because she’s human and so were you…
Mason’s statement in Emma’s home struck her, suddenly making sense, and dizziness followed.

 
“Say yes, Vivian,” A.J. urged. “We’ll take care of everything.”

“No.” Claudia rose to her feet. “Do
not
order her, A.J. You don’t have the right.”

“The hell I don’t.” He didn’t back down, raising his head to glare at his mother. Vivian was still struggling through the earlier statement.

“Oh, baby,” Claudia said abruptly. “I—”

“Later,” A.J. growled.  “Right now, she has to say yes so I can take this to Mason.”

“Even if she does, he may not be able to tell you yes. You know there are rules…”

“Then we’ll fucking leave.”

Whatever they discussed left her mystified until that last bit. “No, A.J., You can’t leave your pack. I cost you seven years of your life already. I will not cost you anymore.”

He whipped his head around, pinning her with a hard, incensed look. “You cost me nothing I didn’t willingly give or that I wouldn’t give a thousand times over. No more about the past, remember? No. More.”

Yes, she’d broken his rule, but this was insanity. She tried to slide out of his lap, squirming until he released her. He would never hold her against her will. “I don’t understand. How can you make a wolf like you?”

“It’s a complicated series of bites, dear. We can go over all of the details later. Right now, you need to calm down and breathe.” Claudia was on her feet and she had an arm around Vivian. The comforting hold of a mother was as alien to her as the idea of becoming a wolf, and yet…

“But I’m sick.”

“You’ve been told you were sick, yes.” His mother agreed with her. Across the room, A.J. paced from side to side. When the hell had he gone over there? “Emma is still looking into it. A.J. called me yesterday and asked me about the possibility of turning you.”

He’d asked his mother. Curving her shoulders, she pulled away from Claudia and headed for A.J.  The agitation in his manner beckoned her. Touching his arm, she stopped his motion.

“Do you trust me?” He asked—no, he wasn’t asking. Pleading reflected in the depths of his blue eyes. “Tell me truthfully, do you
trust
me?”

“Yes.” No doubt. No hesitation. She trusted him, trusted the animal within him. His eyes had been more wolf than human since they’d fallen into bed together. “But this isn’t about me trusting you.”

“The hell it isn’t. Let me do this for you. Let me get permission. Emma can research and Mom can do what she’s doing, but if you’re sick and being a wolf will save you? Don’t ask me not to try.” The quiet anguish in his voice seized her heart. She couldn’t breathe past the urge to comfort him, to take his pain and worry.

“A.J.”

“Please, Vivian,” he caressed her cheek, and bowed his head until his forehead rested against hers. “Say. Yes.”

“I don’t even like the idea that cows become steak. I don’t think I’d make a very good wolf.”

The corners of his lips kicked upward and he began to chuckle. “You will be the most perfect wolf that ever lived.” Gripping her nape, he tugged her closed and kissed her. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t say yes,” she whispered.

“Yes you did.”

Yes. She had. “But…”

“No, no buts. Let me fight for this. We’ll figure it out, I promise.” Without waiting for her answer, he looked toward his mother. “I’ll talk to Mason, Mom. Not you.”

The wild merry-go-round she’d been trapped on for years seemed to be speeding up and if she didn’t hold on, she might very well crash off to the side.
Okay.
She closed her eyes and held onto him.
I’ll try.

He ran his hand down her back, a fleeting caress.

She’d try anything for him. Glancing over, she met his mother’s gaze and read her own fears reflected in the woman’s eyes. Losing her could hurt A.J. in some indefinable way.
I’ll leave first
, she promised him silently.
If it comes to that…
She would choose him, put him first this time. He may not care what she’d cost him, but she did.

Chapter Ten

“You have to tell her,” Claudia said, adamant as A.J. walked her from the woods toward the street. “You’re making huge decisions without her.”

“Mom, don’t interfere in this.” Social law amongst the pack wasn’t as strictly enforced so much as adhered to—and mates were off limits. They’d always been dealt with as a private matter between the couple. Interceding simply wasn’t done. Rubbing his jaw, he stopped walking and faced his mother with a sigh. “I know you don’t like it, but I do need you on my side. She’s been through hell, and I don’t want to scare her. One problem at a time.”

“She’s not the only one who’s been through hell, baby.” Claudia held up her hand. “And I am always on your side. Your father and I nearly left Willow Bend after your sentencing.”

The news silenced him.

“Yes, I know you didn’t know. Toman handed down the order to repudiate you, that Willow Bend disowned you and your actions. We were watched, very closely, to be sure we obeyed his edict. Quietly, your father began to reach out to our family in other packs. I did not want to stay with an Alpha who betrayed my son. Your brothers, your sister…they withdrew from aspects of pack life they should have embraced.”

His family had been hurt because of his choice. “You didn’t leave though.” No censure, only curiosity.

“No, Felicia came and asked us to stay.” Felicia Carlyle, Toman’s mate—A.J. had few memories of the older woman, save for a sense of inescapable kindness. Claudia folded her arms. “She said to me, ‘you children are all too young to remember Toman before. He is a good man, Claudia. While his methods may be harsh, he protects us all and all he wants is for us to be safe. Stay, make Willow Bend stronger.’ I wanted to hate her, but I couldn’t. We were already hurting after the death of Mason’s parents, the invisible divisive lines grew more distinct. We made a choice to stay, to try and right what had gone wrong…and your father petitioned Toman relentlessly for your freedom.”

He hadn’t known any of those events happened, but the loyalty of his family? Their unfailing dedication? He hadn’t needed to be told. “I’m home now.”

“Yes you are.” Her eyes turned fierce, her wolf peeking out at him. Though he believed his father a fraction more dominant than his mother, it had always been Claudia who ruled their family. The maternal wolf blazing in her eyes was as much as his parent as the woman before him. “You are the one I want to protect, and you are willing to risk everything for this woman. Is she truly yours? Tell me truth and I will never doubt you. We will take her as our own and protect your mate to our dying breath, but tell me it is a true mating and not your need to protect a fragile woman.”

No matter how fair her question may have been, the mere fact she’d asked irked him. Closing his eyes, he reached for his wolf with a coaxing hand, but he didn’t need to beg. The animal surged up within him and when he opened his eyes, he met his mother’s wolf-stare with one of his own. “She’s mine. She’s ours. Don’t make me choose between my family and my mate.”

“I would never.” His mother cupped his cheeks, not flinching from the growl in his tone. “If she is yours, then she is ours, too. We will help you protect her.”

The declaration settled him and he hugged his mother tightly. “Thank you.”

“Oh, baby. Someday, you will have children of your own and you will understand there is nothing you won’t do for them. They will always come first for you.” She gave him a squeeze, then ruffled his hair as she stepped back. “You look better. Keep eating. I think having your mate with you is doing you a world of good.”

More than good, he could feel his wolf and the animal seemed to rise easier and easier. He wanted to walk his mother to the road where his father would meet her, but he didn’t want to get too far from Vivian. Only the certain knowledge that Owen and Timothy, the second Hunter, prowled the woods gave him any comfort.

He’d scented them early in the walk. They’d kept their distance from the cabin, but they would watch over his mother. It was what pack did. As though following his train of thought, his mother smiled. “I’ll be fine. Your father will be there, he always is.”
Total faith.

“What’s it like?” He had to know. “Am I being selfish? Or will it help her as much as it…” He forgot the rest of his question. They’d gone to Emma to see her about Vivian’s fugues. She’d told him she had to research it, but they needed to go home, to rest, to eat, and play.

Our mate
. She’d been theirs from the beginning; from the first moment their gazes collided in that bloody, dark alleyway. His wolf had gone mad at the sight of her injuries. They would have done anything to protect her.

And they had.

“Mating is different for everyone, darling boy. It’s why we don’t interfere and why we don’t discuss it unless asked. It’s personal, but I think you know the answer to your question.”

He’d do anything to protect her—and she would him. She’d never given up on his release. Made herself sick in the attempt. The pack trial loomed ahead of them, and she didn’t want to cost him anymore. Urgency flooded him. “I need to get back to her.”

“Go.” Bless his mother, she needed no further explanation.

A.J. was already running, racing for the cabin.  The silence greeting him inside warned him his instincts were correct.

Vivian was gone. The only other scents he found were of his family. Neither Timothy nor Owen had breached the safety of the cabin. No, Vivian had left on her own. Checking the bedroom, he saw her clothes were gone. She would have to hike out. The closest road was accessible via the trail he’d left his mother on. If Vivian left right after he and his mother had, she had a good twenty minute head start.

“Where would she go?” Not toward the road or him. No, she wasn’t stupid—foolish yes, stupid no. If she wanted to avoid him, to escape Willow Bend because some silly notion told her it would be better for her to leave him than stay.

Two other trails were nearby. One headed into a deeply forested wildness that eventually butted up on a national forest. Willow Bend owned all of the land, held it in a blind trust for the pack. No outside developers would tear up their hunting and running grounds. A second trail took a longer route toward one of the state highways, but it was a good day’s journey on four legs.  She was human and on two legs, it would take her considerably longer. Dark would fall within the hour, then she would be out there, alone under cover the night.