Chapter 14

“I’m safe. Well, at least that’s what they tell me. So why do I feel like something terrible is coming? It feels like danger. Danger to someone, but not to me. I wonder, not for the first time, if I was rescued from the lion’s den only to be caught in the wolf’s den?” ~Zara


Zara held Titus’ hand as they walked through the large mansion. It still shocked her at how big the place was. At first, she’d stayed holed up in the comfortable room that they’d given her. But she couldn’t stay like that, not after having been trapped underground for seven years. She couldn’t imprison herself just because she was afraid to face what the future held. Even so, she still wasn’t ready to be out and about, mingling with the…wolves. She needed something to keep her busy, something to distract her, at least for now. When Alina had knocked on her door and explained to her that Vasile had a task for her, something inside of Zara awakened. She realized that her life wasn’t over. She was still alive, capable, and others saw it too. Or at least Alina and Vasile did. After the Alpha female spoke with her about moving forward, Zara realized that’s what she wanted, to move forward and leave all the ugliness behind. She knew, however, that moving forward wouldn’t be that simple. Zara understood that there would be times she would slip back into the dark places of her mind. When she’d expressed this to Vasile’s mate, the words Alina answered with shook her deep in her being.
“Everyone has dark places. Some are darker than others, but everyone has them. The people who survive those dark places are the ones who have people around them, pulling them out when they can’t make it back on their own. You, sweet girl, have us. We are your pack and the pack never leaves anyone in those dark places. When you find yourself slipping into the darkness, all you have to do is call out. I will hear you. Vasile will hear you. Rachel and Gavril will hear you. Jacque and Fane will hear you All of your pack mates will hear you and we will be there to pull you back because you do not belong to the darkness. Just because you have experienced hard, horrible, awful things, does not mean they own you. You belong to us and you will quickly learn that we don’t share well.”
How could she say no to that? So, Zara had agreed to take care of a little boy named Titus who had also been held captive by the vampires. One of the she-wolves—Zara thought her name was Priath, but couldn’t remember exactly—took her to the Serbian pack mansion to take over the care of little Titus.
Zara hadn’t been in the same coven as Titus so she had no idea what his experience had been like. She hated the idea of one so young being held captive by those filthy vampires. It was one thing to suck the life out of a teen, but out of a small child? That was a new level of sick for her. As she looked down at the little boy who was chattering away, her stomach rolled at the idea of him sitting in a dark room or cave waiting, wondering if they were coming back for him. She knew the feeling. You didn’t want to be alone, but you didn’t want the vampires to come either.
She knew that children were resilient and she hoped Titus would be too. The forgiving innocence that was innate in a child’s heart could be his saving grace. She hoped that he wouldn’t grow bitter over what he’d endured. Zara hoped that Titus would be able to let go of his time with the horrible monsters and instead focus on the future he had. He didn’t yet know that he was surrounded by werewolves, but she didn’t think he was going to have a problem with the news. Not only were kids resilient, but they were also extremely accepting.
“Zara.” Titus’ little voice drifted up to her.
“Yeah?”
“We’re friends, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Friends can talk, right?”
Zara’s brow creased. “Of course, they can. Do you need to talk?”
“Yeah, I kinda do,” he admitted. “You lived with the monsters too, didn’t you?” he continued.
She nodded. “I did.”
“Did the angel ever come to see you?” Titus looked up at her with wide eyes that saw too much for a child his age.
“No, little man, the angel never came to see me. I bet she comes to see you because of how special you are.”
“You’re special too,” Titus said and squeezed her hand. “I’m not glad we were with the monsters, but I wonder if we would have ever met if we hadn’t been with them?”
“If we were meant to be friends, Titus, then nothing would get in the way of that. And apparently,” I held his hand up and shook it a little. “We were definitely meant to be friends.”
“The angel said we’re survivors,” he said almost too soft for her to hear.
“She’s right. We are survivors and we will never be alone again,” she told him.
“I’m glad we survived,” he said. “My mommy and daddy are survivors. They’ll survive, right?”
Zara felt trapped between the proverbial rock and hard place. She didn’t want to give him false hope, but she also didn’t want to cause him any grief or pain. “You said the angel told you that you had a new mommy and daddy coming, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, I don’t think she would have said that if they weren’t going to be your mommy and daddy for a very long time. So that means they are going to survive.”
Titus scrunched up his little face as he considered her words. After several minutes, he finally nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Zara nearly let out an audible sigh. Titus seemed like the kind of child that followed every answer with another question. Zara imagined it could get exhausting. If he quit following that particular line of thought, then she’d take the small victory.
“How long am I going to be with you?”
Zara shrugged. “For as long as you need to be.”
“Are we staying here or going to your new house?” he asked.
“We’re going to stay here for a few more hours and then we’re going to ride with Decebel and Jen over to Mr. Vasile’s house.”
“That’s where the new baby is, right?” His face lit up. Judging by the hundred-watt smile, this kid liked babies.
“Yes, the new baby is there,” she confirmed. She looked at him curiously. “Titus?”
“Yeah, Zara.”
“Why do you like babies so much?”
“Because they like me.” He answered with such confidence that Zara felt she must have been dense not to have already known the answer.
Zara grinned down at him. He liked babies because they liked him—seemed like a good enough reason to like someone.
“Have you ever met a baby that didn’t like you?” she asked him, a grin creeping across her face. It felt good to smile, she thought.
“Nope. And I’ve met a lot of babies in my lifetime.” He nodded as if agreeing with himself.
A small laugh slipped passed Zara’s clasped lips. “A lot of babies?” she asked, trying to be just as serious as he was being.
“Yep, like four or five at least. Maybe more.”
“Where’d you meet so many babies?”
Titus looked up at her, his little forehead drew together as his lips turned down. “At the baby store.” He sounded exasperated as though answering her questions was exhausting. “They had them in these bins behind this big window and people walked by and pointed at the one they wanted.”
Zara’s mouth opened as she had an ah-ha moment. She realized he was talking about a hospital. “Well I’ve never been to the baby store so I didn’t realize there were so many,” she said, humoring him, which she felt was a much better tactic than trying to explain the birds and bees to a toddler.
“One day, I’ll take you there,” Titus told her.
Zara chuckled. “Whatever you say, T.” They continued walking and Titus continued to say hilarious stuff that had Zara in stitches, though she had to bite most of it back so she wouldn’t hurt his feelings. She decided somewhere along the way that if she ever had children, and that was a big if, she hoped at least one of them was like Titus.



“Let’s load up, crew,” Jen yelled as she fastened Thia into the car seat. Even though Rachel had offered to watch the girl, Jen had refused. She and Decebel would both be on this little trip, and Jen knew no one could protect the girl as they could.
She saw Zara walk out of the door holding Titus by the hand. They’d formally met only an hour before and Jen instantly liked her. The girl had backbone. She was strong and Jen respected that. Everyone loaded up into the large SUV and then waited. Jen tapped her fingers on the side of the door as she grew more agitated at her mate.
“He told me to hurry, so I hurried. He told me not to take too long getting ready, so I didn’t freaking take too long getting ready. He said I needed to be ready to go, in the vehicle, with my seatbelt on, at five-thirty,” Jen growled as her voice got progressively louder. “Well, here I am, furball. Where the crap are you?”
“Um, Mrs. Jen,” Titus' voice came from behind her. “You don’t have your seat belt on yet.”
Jen heard Zara shush the adorable little boy and Jen grinned to herself. She turned and wiped the emotion from her face. “You’re correct, Toby,”
“Titus, Mrs. Jen. My name is Titus.”
“Forgive me. You’re correct, Tony, my belt isn’t yet buckled, but once—”
“Titus,” he corrected again, but a little more forcefully that time.
“Whatever. Anyway, once it’s buckled, then Mr. Decebel should be ready to go too. Correct?” He grinned and gave her a thumbs up as if he totally understood where she was coming from.
She laughed. “Thanks, Travis,” Jen said as she turned back around and buckled her seat belt.
“Titus, Mrs. Jen. My name is Titus.”
Jen held up her hand and gave him a thumbs up. Just then Decebel came hurrying out of the front door, his usual scowl in place—set to full scowl mode. Is there such a thing as a scowl mode? If there wasn’t, there should be, she decided. She watched as he paused at his door and tilted his head back. Then quickly shook it and opened the door.
“Everyone ready?” he growled as he climbed in and slammed his door.
“We have been ready for a while, Alpha,” Jen purred. “Mayhap I ask why you were not here on time? After you so thoroughly impressed upon me the importance of being punctual!” Once again her voice rose and this time was accompanied by a snarl.
Decebel put the SUV in drive and pulled out of the driveway. “I was taking care of some things.”
“Uh-huh, and what do those things happen to be?”
“Damn,” Decebel’s eyes shot up to the rearview mirror and widened. “I mean dang, female. Why are you snapping at me and prying?”
Jen’s eyes widened and she nearly sputtered but kept her dignity by clamping her mouth shut until she could get actual words out. “Did you just ask why I was prying?”
“Ouch, wrong move, dude,” Zara said softly from the back seat, but their werewolf hearing picked it up with no problem.
“You have things you don’t tell me,” he countered.
“Deflecting, brave move,” Zara murmured.
Jen liked this chick. “I’m a female; I deal with things you don’t need to know about.”
“Why can’t I deal with things you don’t need to know about?” Decebel shot back.
“Counter a question with a question, could work, but sometimes flies back in your face,” Zara’s commentary of their fight continued.
“Because you don’t have a period, or thong issues, or underwire poking at you,” Jen ticked off the things she dealt with one by one on her fingers. “You don’t carry a watermelon-sized baby for nine months and then push her out of a hole much smaller than a watermelon. You don’t become a milk machine and have big round stains on your shirt when your nursing pads fail to do their job!”
“Oh, wow, busting out the big guns with female-only issues. Let’s see how our Alpha handles that one,” Zara again added her part to the fight.
“You can’t keep using those things as ammunition,” Decebel started.
“Why not?” Jen snapped. “They happen on a recurring basis, some of them like clockwork. And will continue to happen for the next thirty years. I think I can dang well use them as often as I need to. Now, what made you late?”
“And she brings it full circle. Well done, Jen, well done,” Zara praised.
Jen shot her a quick grin and then turned back to her mate, her frown plastered back in place.
Decebel let out a resigned sigh.
“And here it comes, folks, the moment we’ve been waiting for—the truth,” Zara whisper-yelled.
Decebel growled at her. She wasn’t impressed. Yep, Jen liked her a lot.
Suddenly a Cheshire cat grin spread across his face. “I was late because I got my period.”
“Men don’t—” Jen started but stopped when Decebel held up his finger at her.
“You have told me many times in very creative ways that males do have a time of the month.” He made quotations with his right hand as he said the words.
“Whoa, it’s an upset. That was totally from right field, folks. What will she do now? How will Jen pull through to take the win?” Zara said dramatically. Titus giggled next to her and Jen bit her lip to keep from smiling.
Her mate had backed her into a corner and had made her eat her own words. That was not going to fly. “Since we all know” —she turned and looked at Titus— “well all of us except Thia and Timmy—”
“Mrs. Jen.” Titus shook his head. “It’s Titus. My name is Titus.”
“That’s what I said, Thia and Titus.” She rolled her eyes. “Anywho, we all know that you did not, in fact, get the dot at the end of a sentence. So let’s just get real here. Let’s set aside our frustrations and prejudices and let’s get to the heart of the matter.”
Zara quickly chimed in when Jen paused. “What is she doing, folks? What. Is. She. Doing? I do believe our Mrs. Jen has an ace up her sleeve. Let’s watch and learn from a pro.”
“You obviously didn’t want me to be late, correct?” Jen asked but didn’t give him time to answer. “In fact, you were so concerned that I not be late that you listed exactly what I was not to spend my time doing because those were the things that often made me late.” She tapped her chin as she stared at her mate whose grip on the steering wheel was tightening. “You made this big deal about me not being late and then you were late yourself.”
“I think we got that, counselor,” Dec huffed.
Jen grinned. “And” —she held up a finger as she made her point— “being late yourself after such a fuss, you are the one disgruntled. Now, as your mate, and mother of your child” —she glanced back at the peanut gallery and winked— “I have grown to know you quite well. So well, in fact, that I know that if you were late for a legitimate reason, you would be frustrated and apologetic. You would not be acting snarky at the rest of us.”
“And look at her go,” Zara quickly threw in.
“Therefore, I deduce that your lateness could only have been caused by something illegitimate. Something so illegitimate, in fact, that you would feel much shame if the true reason for your lateness came to light. Now…I must work through the things that I know about you that might possibly cause you great shame. Granted, that’s not much to work with, because you rarely are ashamed. But alas, I will do my best. Let’s see.” Jen steepled her fingers in front of her chin and cocked up an eyebrow as she thought. “I know that there was some shame when that doghouse fell on you—I mean fell apart,” she corrected, barely holding in her laugh as his eyes narrowed.
“Things are really heating up, people, really heating up,” Zara once again continued her commentary.
“But you used about eight hundred pounds of nails on the second dog house, so I’m pretty sure you weren’t late because it fell on you again. I mean, fell over again. And then there was that time when I stepped into the bathroom and—”
“FOR THE LOVE OF PEACE, I WAS LATE BECAUSE I FELL ASLEEP!” Decebel roared.
Jen shot a fist in the air. “YES! Yes, yes, yes!”
“And the champion still reigns. Ladies and gentlemen, that is how you do it!” Zara said as Titus cheered.
Jen couldn’t stop laughing as her mate pouted in the driver’s seat.
“I’m not pouting,” he growled, picking up her thoughts through the bond.
“Jen, that was a thing of beauty,” Zara called from the back.
Jen turned and eyed Zara and then smiled. “Awesome commentary,” she told her as she reached back and gave the girl a high five. “You’re going to grow up to be kick ass.”
Zara laughed. “We’re the same age, Jen.”
Oh yeah, we are the same age, Jen thought, that’s weird. “Yeah, but with the mating and the baby making and then the childbearing, I’ve got like seven plus years of experience on you.”
“What is this, a video game?” Decebel snorted.
“I’ll give you that,” Zara nodded. “Titus, you see that older lady up there?” He nodded. “I want to be just like her when I grow up,” Zara finished.
“Older lady? Not cool, Z, not cool.” Jen called back. “Tito, who do you want to be like when you grow up?”
“Ugh, it’s Titus, Mrs. Jen. And I want to be like my daddy.”
The vehicle went quiet at the boy’s declaration. Jen’s heart hurt for Sally and her mate. She prayed that Titus would get to grow up with Costin as his father because he would grow into one heck of a man if that’s who he wanted to emulate.
They finally pulled into the drive of the Romania pack mansion and though there was still a little tension from Titus’s words, Jen felt some happiness over the fun that they’d had with Zara and the little boy.
Decebel was the first one out of the vehicle, and Jen was pushing her door open when she heard her mate’s growl. It wasn’t his I’m irritated with you growl; it was his I’m going to rip someone’s head off growl.
“Dec?” Jen said as she swiveled back in her seat to look across at him. He was as still as stone, the only movement the almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. She realized he was scenting the air.
“Take them in and get Vasile,” he practically snarled. “Now.”
Jen scrambled out of the seat and got Thia out of the car seat. She motioned for Zara and Titus to hurry and she ushered them inside, looking back over her shoulders once to see her mate taking off his shirt. “Well, crap,” she muttered.
Jen took them straight to Vasile’s office and handed Thia off to Rachel who was already waiting for her. She pushed through the group to the front of Vasile’s desk. “Decebel needs you now. He’s out front.”
Vasile was up and over the desk before she finished. Jen turned to follow and saw Jacque standing, looking confused. “Give my future son-in-law to Alina and get your butt in gear,” Jen yelled. Fane, move it!” She hurried after the Romania Alpha. She had a bad, bad feeling about this.
She heard Jacque and Fane behind her and, by the time they reached the front door, Fane was moving in front of them lunging outside, placing himself between them and whatever was waiting outdoors.
Jen and Jacque watched as the three males lifted their noses into the air and took deep breaths. Jen tried to do the same, but her sense of smell, though better than a human, still wasn’t even close to her mates.
“Do you smell anything?” she whispered to Jacque.
Jacque shook her head. “I got nothing.”
When Decebel finally dropped his nose and turned to look at her, his eyes were bright amber. “Blood,” his wolf rumbled. He’d already stripped to his boxers. The wolf was ready to hunt. Vasile and Fane were also stripping their clothes off and movement to her left caused her to look at Jacque who was already in her bra and underwear. Jen raised a brow at her.
Jacque shrugged. “Childbirth stole my modesty.”
Jen snorted. “You don’t even remember giving birth.” She let out a sigh and started stripping quickly to catch up with the others who were already phasing. When her four feet hit the ground she heard her mate’s howl mixed with Vasile’s. They were making their presence known. They took off at a run toward the forest as the sun continued to slip further from the sky and the moon began to take its place.
Decebel’s heart pounded in time to his paws as he flew across the forest floor. Vasile was right beside him with Fane just a hip’s length behind them. The females were only two steps behind Fane. Decebel hated that Jen had followed him out there when he didn’t know what they were going to find, but he knew telling her to stay behind would have only resulted in an argument which would have wasted valuable time—time that they might not even have.
When they’d been back at his own pack headquarters, Decebel had thought he’d caught the scent of blood, and something else that he couldn’t identify, but the breeze had changed direction and he’d lost it. But as soon as he’d stepped out of the vehicle in Vasile’s driveway, the smell assaulted him—blood, lots of blood, and one other scent that he now recognized—Costin.
“What!” Jen yelled in his mind. “You smell Costin? Why can’t I smell him? Is it his blood? Is he okay?”
“Calm down, Jennifer. I have no idea if he’s okay, but no it is not his blood. It’s animal blood. You should be picking it up—”
“Oh, man, bloody hell, that’s a lot of blood,” she said, interrupting him.
“Stay close,” he commanded her, hoping she would at least humor him.
They veered right, following the smell, weaving in and out of trees and brush. The foliage was growing denser, making it difficult to move quickly. Limbs grabbed at their fur as if the forest itself was trying to impede them. For a moment, Decebel’s mind slipped back to a time when Mona, the witch they’d killed, had used the forest against them along with its inhabitants. He released the thought. There were no more witches to use the forest against them.
They began to climb higher into the mountains and the scent continued to get stronger. Whatever it was that was injured, or dead, was either very large, or there was more than one. They’d just crested a hill when he and Vasile were abruptly halted in mid-step. The scene before them looked like something out of a horror story.
“What the…” Jen muttered as she walked up to stand beside him.
Decebel took in a deep breath, just to be sure, and when it filled his lungs with the scent of his Beta, he knew. Mingled in with the scent of the dozens of dead wild boar was the scent of Costin. These kills hadn’t been for food. The bodies of the animals had been mangled, as though whatever had killed them had been in a crazed frenzy. The stench of reckless, mindless violence hung in the air. No Canis lupus in his right mind would do such a thing. Werewolves killed for food, for the protection of their pack, or when they were directly challenged by another wolf. Those were the only reasons. They didn’t kill simply for the pleasure of the kill or the exhilaration of the hunt, though their wolves did feel those things when the action was taking place. They were controlled killers, not homicidal animals.
“Costin’s gone feral.” As soon as the words left his mouth, his wolf went into full-on protect mode. His first thought was to get his mate to safety.
“Jen, you and Jacque need to get back to the mansion,” he ordered.
She turned her head to look at him and lifted her lips in a snarl. “I can fight. I’m not a weakling.”
“You’re the mother of my child and I don’t want you injured or worse to leave Thia without her parents. A feral wolf is unpredictable. Costin, for all intents and purposes, is not our friend right now. He’s our prey. We need to catch him before he kills more than just wild boar.”
The snarl dropped away as her eyes widened. She realized his implications. He turned and nudged her shoulder with his big head and the others followed. Vasile took the rear position, guarding them against attack, and Decebel took the lead. Fane flanked them on the sides, weaving in and out from left to right providing protection to Jacque and Jen.
With every step he took, his anger grew. What could he have done differently to have prevented this? How could he have helped his pack mate so that he’d been able to fight the darkness? Decebel growled. He was Alpha. It was his job to protect his pack and he’d failed Costin. Not only had their healer been taken from them but now his Beta had succumbed to the uncontrolled beast inside of him. There was still a thin shred of hope that he could be saved. If Sally was brought to him quickly enough she might push back the darkness with her light. But Sally was not with them.
Decebel was facing one of his biggest fears; the possibility that he was going to have to end the life of one of his pack, one of his friends. To lose Costin meant losing Sally for good as well and the loss of either let alone both of them would leave a huge wound in their family, one that might never heal.