Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (free ebooks romance novels .TXT) 📗

had been different, we would have kept her. I know Chloe. She’s a good woman.”

No, but she just plays one really well. Better than I do.

“You’ve seen her a handful of times for a day. Exchanged a few letters. That doesn’t mean you know her.”

“I do. She didn’t have to keep in touch. The adoption rules were absolute. Yet she sent me a letter and a photo every year. When I was attacked, she helped us hide. She was here when Tate was born.” I can hear the tears in her voice. “If you’re so worried Garret, take our son and leave. I will never leave a child of mine at risk. But I am staying here with my daughter.”

Tears slide down my face. The only person who’s ever been so vehement in looking out for me is Aiden.

I have a mother. A mother other than Underhill.

Addy and Chloe raised me, loved me. Did what they needed to in order to keep my secret. But for the first time, I understand the concept of unconditional love.

Would Sophie fight so hard with her husband if she knew what I’ve done?

“Don’t cry,” Garret soothes. “Everything will be fine.”

“Please don’t push her away.” Sophie words are so muffled I can barely make them out. “Not now that I finally have a chance to get to know her.”

I move away from the wall and curl back up in bed. Good people. These are good people. And as much as I know Chloe and Addy love me, it’s somehow different to know that somewhere along the line, I come from good people.

Perhaps deep down, in some shadowy corner, I have the capacity of being good, too.

My body shakes as I recall Astrid’s acceptance of what I could do. I told her I was a vigilante, like her friend, Declan. Is that the truth though?

Agent Hanson had been married to one of my victims. Had she known he was a pedophile? A murderer? The authorities had found the bodies of the missing children in the basement of that same house where he’d taken me. She must have known what he’d done. Known, yet still blamed me. She wouldn’t just shrug and move on to the next task. Finding me was personal for her.

Tomorrow I would rally my ragtag forces and come up with a plan.

Because what Garret—my father—says is true. I am a magnet for trouble.

We can’t endanger these decent people any longer than necessary.

Aiden studies his sister’s sleeping face in the firelight. Harmony is my sister. He still can’t get his head around that.

Or that their mother had abandoned her to Freya’s tender mercies.

Then there’s the existence of other wolves.

Pack, his own beast insists. It is more content than it has been since the last night he’d been with Nic.

He glances around the cave. It’s deep, with ventilation in the ceiling to let the smoke escape. The fire burns low. He gets the impression that if not for Harmony, they would have doused it completely.

The rest of the pack had bedded down for the night, all in wolf form. All save for Liam, who’d gone for a run.

Aiden stands and heads out into the night. The moon is out, full and fat above the trees. An owl hoots and there is a rustle of something small in the underbrush.

Nic had come here as a child. He’d hated that she’d been alone. The pack had protected her for him. Fenrir might be an evil vindictive monster, but his sons and daughters are a decent sort. He owes them.

So how can you consider bringing them through the Veil? What waits for them there but death?

“Aiden?” It’s Liam, naked in the moonlight. “Is everything all right?”

Much like the fey, the wolves don’t seem to concern themselves with nudity. “Fine. Just wanted to see if I could catch her scent.”

Liam nods. “She’s important to you?”

“More important than I ever thought possible.” He shakes his head. “She’s saved me so many times. Even from myself.”

Liam looks out into the darkened trees, his expression is troubled. “Do you really think we will have a place in this magic land?”

“If the right side wins? Yes.”

The dark brow above his green eye tilts up. “And if the other side wins?”

He holds the young wolf’s multihued gaze. “There won’t be any land left. For any of us.”

Liam nods. “I appreciate the direness of your situation. But I’m Alpha here. I need to do what’s best for my people.”

Aiden gestures to the cave. “They don’t live like people.”

Liam bristles. “No, they don’t. The old ones have a hard time acclimating. It’s simpler if we stay to ourselves and live like the animals we are.”

He’d once thought the same way. “And does that fulfill them?”

Liam stares at him, a dominance challenge. Aiden doesn’t twitch.

It is the Alpha who looks away first. Voice tight he says, “You could challenge me for leadership. Your wolf is more dominant than mine.”

Aiden’s inner beast snarls in satisfaction that the other would admit it so freely. They are ripe for takeover. Be their leader and dispatch them as you will.

Aiden ignores the beast. “Why would I want to do that?”

Liam’s green eye seems to glow. “To get your way. Train the pack to fight and wield magic. Might makes right, doesn’t it?”

Though his beast is still willing to fight, Aiden knows he is a lone wolf. “I don’t want to be Alpha, Liam. From what I can tell, you’ve done the best that you could for your people with the few resources you had.”

Liam turns away and Aiden spies the series of scars down the wolf’s left flank. “Are those from the accident?”

Liam stiffens. “I don’t talk about my scars, not even if you were a beautiful woman. And let’s face it, uncle. You aren’t.”

Aiden doesn’t bother to suppress a grin. “Fair enough. I’ve done nothing to earn your trust and you’ve done everything to earn mine because you looked out for Nic when she needed it. I’m asking