Chapter 160: Jealousy And Love

Calix Pov

I threw the heavy pine log onto the dirt pile and the impact sent dry bark flying across my boots. Maddie was standing by the entrance of our tent and her face was totally tight. She had her right hand slipped deep into her pocket and she would not look at the bonfire circle where Marcus and the others were singing.

"You went to the creek to see him off," I said and I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve.

"He was already there when I got to the water trail," Maddie said and she finally looked up at my face.

"He is trying to get inside your head, Maddie," I said and I took two fast steps until I was right in front of her. "He talks about your mother and he shows you an old scar and now you look at me like I am a stranger. I am your mate."

"I know what you are," she said.

"Then why were you holding that old cloth by the water?" I asked.

"He told me things about the past, Calix," she said and she pulled her hand out of her pocket empty. "He told me things about my family that do not match the stories we were told."

"He is a northern wolf," I said and my voice got louder than I wanted. "He wants to pull you away from the Crescent Pack. He wants to take you to the peaks because you are the White Wolf and he knows we are small right now. Why can you not see that?"

"Do not yell at me," she said and she stepped back into the dark mouth of the tent.

"I am not yelling," I said.

I did not think. I just moved.

I followed her inside the canvas walls and I grabbed her upper arms with both of my hands. My grip was firm but I did not squeeze hard enough to hurt her skin. Her chest was moving up and down very fast under her blue shirt and her breath felt hot against my chin.

"I am the Alpha here now," I said and I looked straight into her blue eyes. "I protect this pack and I protect you. I do not want his name in this camp anymore."

"You cannot just command me to forget my mother," Maddie said and she shoved her palms flat against my chest.

"I am not doing that," I said.

"You are acting just like him," she said.

"Like who?" I asked.

"Like your father," she said.

The word hit me like a solid punch to the ribs. My fingers dropped from her arms instantly and I stepped back until my spine hit the center wooden pole of the tent. The canvas groaned above our heads.

"Do not say that to me," I said and my teeth clapped together hard.

"Then stop trying to lock me in a box," Maddie said and her voice cracked a little bit in the dark.

She looked at me and the hard look in her eyes suddenly melted away. She took one step forward and reached out to touch the side of my jaw with her fingers. Her skin was shaking.

"I am sorry," she said softly.

"I am not him, Maddie," I said and I let my head drop against her palm.

"I know you are not," she said.

I pulled her body back against mine and this time she did not push my chest away. I put my mouth on hers and I kissed her hard. Her lips broke open under mine and she wrapped her arms tight around my neck. The anger inside my stomach turned into a different kind of heat in one quick second. We fell backward onto the big pile of wool blankets on the floor.

I pulled her blue shirt over her head and threw it onto the dirt. Her skin felt very warm and smooth under my fingers. We did not talk about Kai or the northern ridge anymore. We just held onto each other while the noise of the pack festival went on outside the canvas. Every time she pressed her body against mine, the gold mate bond in my chest grew thick and heavy until the worries in my brain stopped completely. We stayed together on the blankets for a long time until our skin was damp and our breathing went totally slow.

The next morning, the camp was full of roasted meat smells. It was the first real festival our pack had held since the old house burned down. Marcus had found two jars of sweet berry wine in the cellar and the younger omegas had built a long wooden table out of the fresh pine planks.

"Eat more deer, Alpha," Marcus said and he dropped a large wooden plate onto my knees.

"Thank you, Marcus," I said and I picked up a piece of meat with my fingers.

Maddie sat right next to me on the bench. She was wearing a clean white shirt and her hair was tied back with a piece of leather string. She smiled at the elders and she even laughed when one of the pups tripped over a water bucket and rolled into the grass. For five hours, nobody shouted and nobody looked at the tree line. It felt like regular life had finally come back to the valley.

When the sun started to drop behind the western hill, the elders went back to their tents to sleep off the berry wine. I stood up from the bench to help Marcus carry the empty cooking pots down to the river trail.

"I am going to tidy up the back storage trunk," Maddie said and she stood up too.

"I will be back in ten minutes," I said and I gave her a small nod.

Maddie walked over to the old iron-bound box that we had saved from the house ruins. It was sitting under the small canvas awning behind our main sleeping tent. The lock was broken from the heat of the fire but the heavy lid was still closed tight.

She lifted the iron latch and she began pulling out the old winter coats to shake the ash out of the wool. Near the very bottom of the box, her fingers hit something hard and flat. It was hidden between two layers of tanned deer hide.

It was a thick piece of square parchment paper. The edges were sealed tight with dark green wax and the wax had the shape of a running wolf pressed into the middle.