Chapter 29

Austin’s POV

Three days ago, our daughter should have turned eighteen. It was one of the most challenging days for us yet. My wife Amy refused to come out of the bedroom. This year was the reason we had to lose our daughter in the first place. Five other couples like us had to lose their daughters that night as well; none of us spoke about it; we actively tried to avoid each other if we could, but no one wanted to talk about it. That night had been hard enough, and it never got any easier every year.

I worked in the same office as Stephanie Bryden, mother to Tristan, the Alpha’s nephew. He was currently away on pack business, representing the pack in the Winter Moon packs territory.

Every day was the same; I’d say goodbye to my almost silent wife, kiss her on the cheek and drive to the office. But yesterday morning wasn’t the same as it always was. Sitting at my desk, I could hear Stephanie having a very heated conversation with her son; the door to her office was not fully closed. Everyone knows it; wolfs have exceptional hearing. So, if the door to our soundproof rooms were not fully shut, we could hear everything.

Minding my own business, I tried to shut her shrill, annoying voice out until she said one thing that grabbed my attention instantly.

“Of course, it was me; who else did you think could kill the girl so quickly?” she shrieked down the phone at her son.

Her words swam around my brain like a fish in a bowl. The Winter Moon packs territory was where I had had to leave our daughter all those years ago, literally right outside their main town. It was the only way to guarantee they would detect an unwelcomed wolf. As far as I know, there were no other babies left there. Why would they have a reason to kill a girl now? Especially one they didn’t know, in the host pack’s territory to make it worse.

My heart was beating so fast; it felt like it was trying to escape the confines of my chest. I had an awful feeling they were talking about my baby, my fully grown baby girl. Which would mean she made it. She’s been alive this whole time and didn’t know we were here, that we loved her.

How could I find out if my intuition was correct? It’s not like I could walk up to Stephanie and just say oh hey, who was it you were trying to kill! I was going to have to find a way to get there and see for myself, to see if we could find out if she were my little girl. Suddenly I had an idea. It was no secret Tristan loved his mother but couldn’t stand her either. If I could get hold of him, I could use this situation to my advantage. Maybe I could persuade him to get a DNA sample from her.

“It’s a long shot, but it might work,” I tell myself

Being unable to sit at my desk and work right now, I did the unthinkable for me; I pulled a sicky!

On the drive home, I thought about what I would say to Amy. If I didn’t say anything to her, I could save her any further hurt if it wasn’t our little girl. But if it was and I didn’t say anything to her, she would hate me for it; I couldn’t bear that. Not from her.

Mind made up; I pulled up on our drive. I was going to talk to my wife about our daughter.

“Hi sweetie, I need to talk to you”, I call as I shut the door behind me.

“Why are you home already? What is wrong,” she asked. It was the most animated I had seen her for a long time.

“Here, sit down; I must tell you what I heard today.” I started, my heart in my mouth the whole time.

To begin with, she didn’t want to listen, she never wanted to talk about our daughter, but I insisted she hears me out today.

“We have to go; I don’t want to sit here and wait to see what that useless boy comes back with; I want to go and see for myself; Austin, please, let’s just go”, she begged me, it was like I had my wife back, there was a sparkle back in her eyes. The fact she had found even a slight ray of hope to encourage her to come back out of herself was enough of a reason for me to drop everything and just go anywhere she needed me to.

“Yes, go and pack; we will leave right away,” I tell her; I see the tears in her once dull eyes, now shining with hope.

I couldn’t believe we were going to do this, but Amy was right. We had to see with our own two eyes. We couldn’t leave this up to someone else; if it were our daughter, we would have to warn her, protect her from what our pack was trying to do. We couldn’t let anything happen to her, not again. Not when there was the tiniest chance that we may have just gotten her back.

“I will happily become a traitor to the pack for her”, I swore.

Tristan’s POV

Spending the evening with Melody was amazing, yet I couldn’t keep my mind from drifting back to the phone call I had received hours earlier. I had spent hours trying to piece together a new plan for carrying out my uncle’s orders, and every time I came up short, that was until Austin Johnson rang me.

He rambled about his daughter he had to give up for a while and how he overheard the call with my mother. I didn’t pay attention until he said he was on his way as he needed to see if the girl was his daughter. He wanted a DNA sample and for me to be the one to get it. At first, I outrightly refused, but then as he continued to urge me, I was on the verge of begging. I thought about it and how I could use this to benefit me. If I could indeed find out who she was related to, I could lure her away from her home and three constant protectors with the promise of meeting her true family. That way, I could make my attack without anyone ever knowing it was me, apart from mother and uncle, of course.

“Fine, but you will owe me for this, Austin; trust me, I won’t forget either”, I remember saying to the older man. He sounded so hopeful. He was in the car with his wife, already on their way here. They couldn’t just come to the Winter Moon territory. Without it being planned, they would be killed on sight, at the very least locked up and questioned. If they were lucky, they would be released and handed back to our Alpha; on second thought, the kindest option would be to kill them on sight.

Pushing the phone call out of my mind, I focused on the people around me, especially Ayla.

“Where had she gone now?” I wondered.

Scanning the room, I couldn’t find her right away, then I saw her coming from the direction of the Alpha’s office, with the Chase brothers in tow.

This meal needed to hurry up. Melody said they would put music on after and have a mini dance. That would be when I could get my DNA sample. If I danced with Ayla, I could get a strand of her hair.

“Tristan, would you like to sit with us” Melody smiled at me

“Sure, definitely”, I answer; she starts in the direction of the dining room, instinctively reaching down and taking her hand. She looked shocked but didn’t Pull Away. Hopefully, my mind can stay focused on nice things for a while, even if it’s just for a couple of hours.

Ayla’s POV

“What I would give for movies and pizza,” I thought. I was finding this evening was grating on me. To make things worse, my hand was still burning from touching the cave image, yet there wasn’t a single mark. I just wanted to chill with the triplets in my room with no one constantly staring at me.

“Me too,” all three brothers replied together. They were feeling the annoyance of the evening too.

“How long exactly will this take; we need to get to Aleena”, Archer grumbled.

“It’s a three-course, sit-down meal, Archer; it’s going to be a while,” I tell him. frustration radiating from me.

“Look, there is nothing we can do until later, so let’s just try and enjoy the evening” Aiden tried to help; we all glared at him, and none of us wanted to be here.

“Well, sorry I even said anything”, he pretended to sulk.

Everyone started filing into the dining room, so we followed them in. The sooner we got this done, the better. It was a sit where you like kind of thing, so we chose the four seats on the end, as far away from Mason as possible. Tristan sat near us with Melody and her two friends. They seemed nice enough, even if Tristan seemed a little shifty tonight.

“Are you staying for the dance after?” Tristan asked me?

“Well, I guess for a bit. It’s nothing major, just a bit of music, nothing fancy” I sounded like an ungrateful teenager; I just didn’t want to be there.

“Ok, great! Maybe you would save a dance for me” he smiled, quickly replaced by dread.

Aiden, Axel and Archer had all turned towards him and were growling, low and quiet, but it was definitely a warning.

“Calm down; no one knows we have all mated yet; he wouldn’t know that he couldn’t ask me”, I silently remind them.

“I don’t care; I don’t want him touching you”, Archer snapped.

“Is that Archer talking or Titan, and you would do well to remember not to talk to me like that, either of you, as you won’t win”, I snapped back. I had never seen Archer look so hurt, and I felt awful. But I refuse to be made to feel like I can’t make my own decisions.

“He didn’t mean it like that, Ayla; it’s just so overpowering for us right now; this need to protect you is all-consuming”, Aiden tried reasoning with me.

“We will see; I am feeling exhausted; I have only been back on my feet since this morning”, I answer Tristan, hoping it’s a good enough excuse not to dance and good enough to appease my overprotective mates.

“Fully understandable”, he answers, even if he was a bit nervous and kept looking at the boys.

“Umm, excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back” I smile at him as I stand to leave. “Archer, can you come with me, please”

Leaving the room, I didn’t even wait to see if he was following me or not; I just carried on walking. My target was the massive double doors leading to the garden. As soon as I threw the doors open and the wind billowed in, Archer’s scent smacked me in full force; he had definitely followed.

The night was clear and beautiful but cold! Archer hadn’t said a word to me, I could sense him behind me now, but he was uneasy. When I turned to look at him, he stood with his hands in his pockets and his head down, kicking his foot about as if something was stuck to the ground and he had to get it off. Instantly I felt bad for snapping at him; he looked uneasy and unsure what to do.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come across as so harsh. I just get annoyed when choices are made for me, and I’m spoken to like that with no reason for it,” I told him; I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek, and his eyes looked sad. He still looked breath-taking with this slate grey; silvery hair tied up in a top knot.

“I know I’m sorry”, he mumbled.

“Aww, don’t you’re killing me; please don’t look like that” I tug his hands out of his pockets and make him place them on the small of my back. He smiled and looked up at me, head still bowed. I took my chance then, reaching up on tiptoes, placing my lips on his and kissing him gently. Instantly he responded; his hands got tighter around my back, and he drew me closer. My feet are almost off the ground. When we finally parted, we were both breathless.

“That is why I don’t want anyone to touch you, your mine”, he whispered, his forehead resting on mine.

“I know, and no one will ever have me; I’m only with you, Aiden and Axel; just remember you don’t have to worry about anything like that, so you don’t have to use that tone with me,” I tell him “And I won’t use it with you.”

“I just hate that we can’t tell the world your ours yet”, he declared

“We have to work out what’s going on first Michael doesn’t want people coming after us, and we are not armed with every bit of information that we could be”, I try to explain, but in truth, I didn’t know why we were hiding it either.

“I don’t care if they do, I wanna shout to the world that your mine, yes, you’re my brothers too, but for some reason, I’m okay with that”, he admits.

“You’re right; I hate it too,” I say; something clicks in my mind then; I didn’t want to hide what I had with these three amazing men.

“So, I don’t wanna hide us anymore, I know Michael doesn’t want us to say yet, but I can’t hide how I feel all the time”, I sent the message to all three of my guys. Archer’s face lit up, So I could only imagine what the other two looked like right now.

“Finally!” I hear Axels relieve

“Thank the Goddess for that; it was killing me”, Aiden replied; I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Does that mean I can show you off now?” Archer asked

“I take it you’re all okay with that then” I laugh. “And yes, I guess so, Archer.”

Walking back into the dining room was different from walking out of it earlier. This time I returned, holding Archer’s hand; a few people noticed but not enough to cause a stir. That was until I sat back down in my seat between Aiden and Axel. Archer leaned down and kissed my lips. It was only quick, but it wasn’t something you did with friends.

“Let the Whispering begin”, Aiden muttered to me. I couldn’t help but chuckle; it was Stacy’s face at the other end of the table. She looked like she was chewing on a wasp.

“Aww, Stacy thinks I’m with Archer; this is going to be fun,” I say