Libby POV
I don’t wait, I tear the package open with one hand and reach behind with the other to take my water bottle out of my backpack.Her eyes don’t leave me once as I take not 2 but 4 tablets.“That’s a lot…”“I’m fine, I know what I am doing.” I mutter back as I swallow 4 little green pills in one hit. These were different, not as strong as before.However, they start to work immediately.I rejoice internally as my tensed muscles start to relax, that inner voice slowly disappearing again back into the abyss. Just where I like to keep it.I take a long deep breath in, cracking my neck to the side before returning my attention to the female in front of me.She takes a long drag on her cigarette before blowing it out towards my face.She’s not the warmest of characters.“Thanks for coming so quickly, how have you been?”“Yes, yes all fine. I can’t stay…” She’s not as talkative as she normally is. Usually it was me trying to get away from her, not her trying to get away from me.“Oh…yes okay. I’ll let you go…wait, this isn’t enough.” I actually now check the parcel, now my mind is calmer to let me thinking more clearly.“That’s all I could manage this time…it’s getting harder to get hold of them. It’s not like they are readily available in local shops. But I’ll see if I can get more for next time.” She flicks her used cigarette bud to the ground, the farmer in me wanting to lash out at her for ruining nature’s beauty.Then she has the audacity to click her fingers at me, signalling for me to throw the money to her.I have to bite down on my tongue to keep back what I want to say back to her.Instead I throw her the money, it is sealed in a small white envelope. My hard owned cash lining her pocket. She probably hasn’t had a hard day’s work in her life.For as long as I have known her, she has been a privileged high maintenance bitch. But I need her right now and she is my only connection to the outside world.“Are you staying close by?” Her eyes gaze out onto the luscious green landscape around us, before going back to counting the money I have given her.Every time we meet, she tries to press me for information on where I am staying, but I wasn’t as stupid as she may once have thought I had been.I’ve walked miles to be here and have miles to walk back in time for dinner.Having been slowed down from my pain I will be cutting it fine to get back before my friends return from town.“Here, take this phone, it will be easier to get hold of you with the lack of signal around here.” She throws me brand new top of the range mobile phone box, which I catch. However, I don’t intend to keep it.“That’s great, I need a new phone…thank you.” I smile sweetly, playing dumb. With this phone she could trace my every movement.I need her, I’ll have to come up with an excuse for next time I see her.I wait until her car speeds out of the car park, sending dust and loose stones flying towards me. As soon as her car is out of sight I drop the mobile phone box into the closest hedge.I place my tablets into the bottom of my backpack, making sure they are secure before I climb back over the fence and head towards the direction I came from.A couple of hours later and my stomach is rumbling for food, my legs ache from walking on uneven farm ground but I know I am close by. Maybe 1 mile or 2 to go.I’m deep within a woodland area, miles from a main road when I hear an odd noise.Some kind of wild animal in pain.A lot of the farmers put animal traps in the surrounding areas to deter larger animals from killing their live stock. It was cruel but so was waking to find all the farming animals dead. Following the noise I find a male kneeling on the ground, his hands pulling at his hair as he seems distressed. I walk closer to offer some kind of aid when I realise I recognise the back of the male…it’s Ben.What is he doing out here?As I close the gap between us, a gasp escapes me as I finally see what he is shielding with his frame. Some kind of wild dog laying on the ground, whimpering and gnawing at a trap around its ankle.“Ben?” I call out to him, now running towards him. But as I look to the ground the dog was a lot larger than usual, it’s grey colour giving off a blueish tone to its fur.“Libby…what are you doing here?” He looks behind me, surprised to find me alone in the woods. I might ask him the same question, he was supposed to be in town.“I just found this dog, it’s in pain...” He continues, his eyes looking fearful for the animal at our feet. I look down at the animal, it’s snout long…it’s teeth sharp…its ankle covers in blood…it’s eyes telling me it was in pain.I’ve seen animals like this before.“That’s not a dog...that’s a wolf.”Pierce POV This can’t be happening, not again. Not the children…Evelyn won’t recover from this, not if something happens to them. Why the cave, why would they be a cave of all places… I don’t wait, I needed to act now. Keeping as hidden as possible I move between buildings, spotting the overcrowded Pack Hall, which was guarded by Natascha’s minions. This is where she was keeping the Sickle Pack warriors, the ones that refused to fight for her. These warriors needed to take back their own pack, they needed to fight for their lands…fight against Natascha. I creep up on the guards, taking them down with ease. I don’t know where she got these men, but they certainly weren’t trained to a high level, the smell that exudes off them informs me that they are in fact rogues. Typical, she can’t find followers based on her own integrity…she must buy them. These fuckers must have been the ones tormenting my Libby, trying to capture her for Natascha’s gain…for her inheritance. I bre
Libby POV “What do you want?” I snarl down the phone, a sleeping Angel starting to stir in my arms as mybody starts to shake with anger.“Are they safe, are they alive?” Evelyn leaps for me, trying to take the phone out of my grip but I turn, Natascha has called me for a reason. She wanted me to hear this.“Libby…” Evelyn growls out at me, her aura spreading out on to me. Reluctantly I place the phone on speaker phone, but keep a hold of it tightly in my grasp. “I want what is mine, the Sickle Peak back, you had no right in taking it.” Natasha shrieks down the line. “You lost your pack when you and your father committed treason.” Evelyn roars out, Noah moving towards her to try and comfort her. “IT’S MINE…I want it back.” Natascha screams down the phone to Evelyn, before clearing her throat and adopting that cold calculating tone of hers, that I have grown accustomed to. “The imposter alpha has to go, he doesn’t belong there. I want him gone.” She continues to demand, my eye
Libby POV I forget that I have a wolf that can heal me, as I grip tightly onto the car seat for the entire journey as Pierce speeds through the traffic in a race to get us to Evelyn and Angel. “This is going to break her…we need to find them and fast.” “We will, we have to.” The idea of not getting to them, of something happening to them is just unthinkable. I refuse to think of it. We arrive at the royal pack gates, extra guards on the gates as Pierce flies through, refusing to slow down. Thankfully they were expecting us and opened the gate just in time. As soon as I open my car door Pierce is already gripping me tightly to him. We were in no danger here, he had to calm down, this was about Reuben and the children. Entering the royal house, a collection of faces greets us…alphas of both alliances here to offer their assistance. Their auras hung in the hallway like a dark black cloud, a struggle in dominance as each aura tries to come out on top. It doesn’t seem to affe
Libby POV “Reuben isn’t to blame for the sins of the father.” Pierce’s tone is firm, it’s certain of each syllable used. He has no doubts in his mind that no matter what happened between our fathers, it had nothing to do with Reuben. He does not hold it against him, or me. Before me stands a good man, the best man. I am undeserving of his love, as is Reuben. We do not deserve him. I didn’t think it was possible, but my heart widens, my chest burns with more love for him. I don’t there will be a day where he disappoints me. “He doesn’t deserve you, I hope you know that.” My hand moves to his cheek, my thumb stroking across his jaw line where his slight stubble is rough against my soft skin. Love surges from me through the mate bond and I can see in his eyes that he feels it, his eyes widen, a knowing smirk entering onto his lips before they move into that smile of his. “Well, he’s stuck with me now…you seem hellbent on keeping him in your life.” His lips move to my ears, a
Pierce POV My warriors stand outside the safe house, I wasn’t willing to trust some stranger who failed my mate in her previous life. I of all people knew what Odin was capable of, if she did too…why didn’t she act sooner…why didn’t she get to Libby before he did. My men cornered hers, readying to take them out at my orders. They may be outside yet I have a pack link to them…mine will attack before hers even know they are coming. I was on high alert, not liking the small size of this safe house, my eyes constantly checking for hidden threats. “How long have you had this place?” Libby seems to trust this woman, even placing her arm in hers, moving side by side along the small hallway to an open living area. “Around about when you were born. Your mother thought Odin would do right by her…I thought differently.” “I don’t understand.” Libby stops in her path, she hadn’t got the hang of hiding her emotions through the mate bond yet…complete confusion hitting her like a ti
Libby POV “Libby.” The female shrieks in fear as she is almost thrown to the ground by Dane. I spin my body around Pierce in an attempt to see my attacker for myself, when I finally recognise the face…“Wait…Dane, stop…” I desperately cry out to Dane as his hands grip on to the woman too tightly, trying to yank her away from me..thinking she was a threat.I can see figures running towards us, running into the road…the Grey Howl pack warriors coming to our aid, but why…she was a lone woman. Then I see why, she hadn’t come alone. Males were running towards us, bodyguard types rushing to her aid. “I know her…Stop.” I growl out, a heavy sensation shooting out of me which is solely directed to Dane, which seems to freeze him in his tracks. “Release her!” I order out, the anger within me only intensifying as I can feel it roll off me, as if it was tangible. Whatever it is, it works. Dane releases the female immediately, her hands shaking as she places them to her mouth, trying to cal