Wings For Marie

Oliver

I hadn’t stuck around long enough for the cleanup. Hell, I probably shouldn’t have stuck around at all. There weren’t as many hunters there as I hoped - they could have spared me so I could have followed my mate. The anger had consumed me, though. That kid’s arms around her with a silver knife to her neck, taking what was mine, made him an impossible target without risking her life.

I damn near tore the door of the packhouse off its hinges. “Thomas!” I shouted. I needed answers.

Padded feet came rushing down the hall. Decidedly not Thom.

“You’re back!” Anna cried. “It’s 5 in the morning, what are you doing back so soon? Is Trevor here, too? Is he okay?”

“Shut up, Anna! Where the fuck is my brother?” I demanded.

She took a step back, a look of shock crossing her face. “I-I’m sorry, Alpha,” she stuttered. “He’s probably still sleeping.”

I stormed down the hall, not sparing her a second glance. Just as I lifted my fist to start banging, the door swung open. Thom looked like he hadn’t slept at all, eyes haggard and hair sticking up in all directions, like he had been running his fingers through it all night. He took a cautious step into the hall, quietly closing the door behind him.

Before he could say a word, I had my hands around his throat and pinned to the wall. “How the fuck did Lya end up at the battle, Thom?”

Thom held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll talk when the others get here,” he choked out.

I tightened my hands. “What the fuck do they have to do with it? She snuck out from under your nose! If you had been keeping an eye on her, she wouldn’t have gotten out there! They took her, Thom! She’s gone!”

Hands grabbed at my arms, pulling me back.

“Let go of him, Ollie,” a voice I knew but couldn’t be bothered to recognize said.

“Oliver,” Gregory called. My head snapped around, hearing my name instead of my title out of him was just barely enough to get my attention. “Office, now.”

I turned and walked toward my office. I felt like a zombie. The string connecting Lya and I felt like it was at its breaking point, wrapped so tightly around my heart it was suffocating. I sat down at my desk, head in my hands. This couldn’t be happening. Someone put a well overfilled glass of scotch in front of me. I couldn’t even be bothered to give it a second glance.

I sat still, trying to drown out everything around me. People slowly filtered in, but I couldn’t think clearly enough to distinguish who it was. I couldn’t tell if it had been hours or milliseconds, but I still didn’t have answers.

“Someone needs to start talking.” I hardly recognized my own voice.

Gregory stood up, walking over to the decanter, pouring himself a glass. I hardly ever saw him drink. Come to think of it, the last time was at my father’s funeral. “Oliver, can you tell me why exactly you chose the people in this room to stand by you as you lead this pack?”

I looked up, eyes unable to focus. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Why are we all here, Oliver?” Gregory asked. “Do we boost your ego, is it just to agree with you and tell you your choices are correct, or do we serve a more important purpose?”

I furrowed my eyebrows, taking a second to think. “No one would be able to lead a pack alone, especially a pack this size.”

“Good, you got that answer correct,” Gregory chuckled. “Now, you need to shut up and sit quietly while the circle you selected explains what is going on and why you were not involved in it.” Gregory took his glass back to the couch and sat down.

I looked around the room, but no one seemed the least bit excited to start in on the story. I cleared my throat. “The Marsan family and their connections are the largest hunter contingent in North America. We have over 100 members cataloged, but higher numbers are likely. We took out seven tonight, with only one survivor.” I shot everyone another glance before continuing. “We know they were after the lost Wulver girl for years, but we do not know why. In a twisted turn of events, that girl is also mated to the alpha of the largest pack on the continent. If they discovered she was mated to that alpha, they would surely be after that pack as well. Do I have the story right so far?”

Soft laughter started in the back of the room. I looked up to see Trevor’s face contorting as it progressed to manic guffaws. “Oh, and you thought my first plan was bad,” he hooted. “You are going to murder us all when you find out what’s going on.”

Cody reached over, smacking the back of his skull. “No, he won’t. We’re the ones that got her into this mess, and without us, he can’t get her out.”

Cody got up and started pacing. “Look, Lya is a plant. We’ve got people following her, figuring out where the hell these guys even hole up and hide from us. She shut out her wolf so they shouldn’t be able to realize she’s anything but human. When we have enough information figured out and have picked off enough of the hunters to make it an easier job, we’ll go in and get her. For right now, we need you to get on the phone and start calling in every favor you have.”

I looked at him, absolutely dumbfounded. “And you actually think that is going to work?”

“No fucking clue,” he laughed coldly. “But she’s a Wulver. Just like me, just like Gregory, and just like your brother. If we didn’t facilitate the plan, she would’ve gone and done it herself. At least this way we know she has a minimum of two packs backing her up.”

I grabbed the glass of scotch and took a long swallow. “When this is over, I’m killing all of you.”

“No you won’t,” Cody sighed. “The hunters came into existence to destroy the Wulvers. Now, the Wulvers are rising up to destroy the hunters. We have come full circle, and our leader is our MIA Alpha’s daughter.”

Gregory’s glass clinked down on the table. “I am not scared of you, Ollie boy, I am scared of that girl’s father when he finds out we did not uphold his very last request of us to keep his daughter away from our kind.”

“What are you even talking about?” I asked, looking up at Gregory. “Who even are you? How are you and Cody even in this pack if you’re also in the Wulver Pack?”

It was Thom this time that cut in, helping bring me up to speed. “The pack isn’t technically a pack, since they don’t have an alpha bloodline,” he explained. “No one really knows why they can still maintain a pack link, but because they don’t have a true alpha line tying them together, they can join other packs.”

“There’s a Wulver in almost every pack,” Cody agreed. “We are small in numbers, but we have our hands in everything, directing everything where it needs to go.”

I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath. “I never had any control here, did I?”

“No, you’ve always had all the control, called all the shots,” Gregory said. “We don’t get involved in pack matters unless it’s breaching werewolf law.”

“And it’s just you four in on it?” I asked.

“And the rest of the Wulvers,” Cody said, “and a few rogues like Thom we’ve picked up along the way.”

I finished off my scotch, staring blankly at the glass for a moment. None of this felt real. I just wanted to wake up from this horrible dream.

“This is too much,” I mumbled. “I just want my mate back.”

“We’ll get her back, Ollie,” Trevor promised.

Glass shattered against the wall, sending shards cascading through the room. I looked down at my hand, not even realizing that was where it had originated from.


“I marked her!” I roared. “I can’t even feel the bond anymore!”

Cody quickly strode over to me, tearing the collar of my shirt down to reveal my mark. “She’s still alive,” he sighed, the relief evident in her voice. “She’s fine for now.”

“You won’t feel it, anyway,” Gregory said nonchalantly. “She’s been drinking silver laced tea since a couple days ago.”

I glared over at my beta. “Why would you have her doing that?” I spat.

“Because of the way silver works for a Wulver,” he sighed. “We are resistant to silver, but not immune. Her wolf will recede away to avoid it, taking the scent, the ability to mindlink, even the mate bond with it. The wolf is still there, watching, and waiting in case it needs to come forward. It isn’t going to hurt her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, the same way silver didn’t hurt her before. You’ve seen all her scars!”

“None were permanent, and all healed. Any human would have bled out or overdosed from her past wounds but her wolf didn’t let her,” he pointed out. “Oliver, she chose this. All of this was her plan.”

I looked around the room, trying to find someone to stand by me. But I was a lone wolf here.

Something inside of me knew this was going to happen. Once I knew where she came from, it had just seemed inevitable that she would take matters into her own hands. She knew me well enough to know I would have never let her do that, too.

I slumped back down in my chair, squeezing my eyes shut, hoping that when I opened them it would be Lya in front of me instead of a room full of betrayal.

“Does she even realize we are fated mates?” I asked quietly. I bore her mark, but maybe she truly didn’t realize what her wolf staking her claim meant.

“She’s known for a month now,” Trevor said. His voice was dull and lifeless, exactly how I felt. “She was pretty hurt that you never said anything about it.”

The weight of that truth hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe if I had been upfront with her, none of this would be happening.

“Wait,” Cody cut into my train of thought. “You’re both marked, but neither of you have accepted the bond?”

I kept my eyes down, but still shook my head.

“Oh thank god,” he breathed out. “Even if we don’t get her out alive, we won’t lose you, too.”

“Oh, no we will still lose him,” my brother murmured. “He’ll still physically be here, but Alpha Oliver will be gone.”