Chapter 301 Book 2 ~ Chapter 66

Chapter 301 Book 2 ~ Chapter 66
Leo’s POV

The meeting drags on for hours. By the time the sun starts dipping lower outside the lodge windows, every Alpha in the room smells like stress, exhaustion, and brewing aggression. Arguments spark at least every twenty minutes before Alpha Josh, or Ryder manage to drag things back under control again.

Hunters, borders, the possibility that whatever they’re dealing with now isn’t fully human. Every topic somehow circles back to the same thing: fear. Nobody says the word aloud, of course. Alphas don’t like admitting fear exists, but I can smell its acrid stench beneath the layers of musky dominance and authority.

The only thing that breaks the tension is the late lunch dragged out onto the grounds behind the lodge. Whole hogs roasting over giant fire pits. The scent hits the air, thick and smoky, mixing with pine and rain-soaked earth as everyone finally spills out of the building like they’ve been released from a cage.

Normally, something like this would turn loud fast. Drinking, sparring, laughing, wolves trying to outdo each other, but today feels off. There are too many guards posted around the perimeter. Too many people keep checking the treeline. Even the conversations stay quieter than usual.

I lean against the wooden fence bordering the clearing, my plate balanced in one hand as I watch Ryder talking to Alpha Josh near the fire.

Callen appears beside me with another beer already in hand.

“You look homicidal,” he says casually.

“I’m considering it.”

“That bad?”

My gaze flicks across the clearing automatically. Straight toward the Mountain Ridge twins. Alaric catches me looking and grins around a mouthful of pork, like the psychopath enjoys being watched. Beside him, Bastian doesn’t smile at all. He just studies everything with those unnervingly pale eyes.

“They’ve been staring at me for hours,” I mutter.

Callen snorts. “I’m pretty sure they’re staring at all of us.”

“No.” My jaw tightens. “It’s different.”

Because it is, I can feel it. Every time our pack came up during the meeting, both of them reacted. Tiny things most people wouldn’t notice. A slight shift in posture, a glance exchanged between them, the subtle sharpening of attention. Like they’re suspicious, or they know something, and I really fucking hate that feeling.

Callen follows my line of sight before smirking faintly. “Maybe they just think you’re pretty.”

“I will throw you into the fire.”

“You say that like it’s a threat and not a normal Tuesday for us.”

A laugh almost escapes me before I hold it back.

The bond pulses suddenly against my chest, soft and restless. My focus slips for half a second as warmth brushes through me alongside faint unease that doesn’t belong to me.

Callen notices immediately, his hand gripping my shoulder.

“She okay?”

“I think so,” I nod once.

The longer we’re away from Phoenix territory, the stranger the bond feels. It still works, still connects us. But sometimes emotions bleed through distorted around the edges, like trying to hear someone through heavy rain.

"It gets easier to manage, I promise," he reassures as if he heard my thoughts.

Ryder finally approaches us a few minutes later, looking as exhausted as I feel. 

“We’re leaving before the evening shit starts,” he says.

“Good,” Callen nods. “The sooner, the better.”

Josh had apparently planned some kind of alliance celebration tonight. Bonfires, drinking, and more politics disguised as socialising. That’s a hard pass from me.

“We’ve got a newborn at home,” Ryder continues. “And a six-hour drive. Josh will understand.”

“Plus Remy will absolutely murder us if we stay longer,” Callen adds.

That earns the smallest grin from Ryder, because we all know it’s the truth. Remy barely agreed to us leaving for this meeting in the first place, with everything happening around Paige and Poppy lately.

Relief settles heavily as we finally head toward the parking area near the tree line. Darkness has already started creeping across the mountains now, the air colder than before. I’m already mentally halfway home. Already imagining Poppy curled up asleep, and already counting the hours until I can touch her again.

Ryder unlocks the car while Callen tosses his bag into the back.

I reach for the rear door…

“Hey!”

I freeze instantly at the familiar voice behind me. Of fucking course.

Alaric jogs across the gravel parking area toward us with Bastian walking behind him at a much calmer pace. I glance toward Ryder, silently begging him to develop survival instincts.

Alaric flashes an easy grin. “Any chance we can catch a ride with you?”

No. Absolutely not.

“We’re heading to the same place,” he continues before anyone answers. “And apparently it’s easier to get between here and your territory by vehicle, which we didn’t bring.”

I stare at him blankly. “Then hire one.”

Callen snorts loudly. Traitor.

Alaric just grins wider, as if he enjoys my hostility.

“We don’t take up much space.”

“That’s debatable,” I mutter.

Ryder rubs a hand down his face like he already has a headache. “Fine. Get in.”

I look at him in genuine disbelief.

“That was way too quick a yes,” I snap through the mind link.

“We’re wasting daylight.” He shrugs.

I look up at the sky, wondering if my vision is playing tricks on me. “It’s already dark.”

“You know what I mean.”

No, I really don’t. Because somehow, within the next thirty seconds, my entire night becomes a personal attack.

Callen slides straight into the front passenger seat without hesitation, and Ryder gets into the driver’s seat. Which leaves me standing there staring at the back row while the twins wait expectantly.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter as I climb in.

Then Bastian climbs in from the other side, and Alaric pushes in beside me, and suddenly I’m trapped between them like the world’s most irritated hostage. The doors shut simultaneously, and everything feels too close.

Mountian Ridge wolves smell different from ours. Colder somehow. Pine, smoke, frost, and wild mountain air. It fills the entire backseat instantly.

Alaric stretches comfortably beside me like we’re old friends heading on a road trip, while Bastian remains unnervingly still on my other side, keeping an inch of space between us.

The engine starts, and then gravel crunches beneath the tires as Ryder pulls away from the lodge. For several minutes, nobody speaks. Callen controls the music from the front while Ryder focuses on the winding mountain roads ahead. I try very hard to ignore the two predators sitting inches from me.

Then Alaric speaks.

“So,” he says casually, “is Phoenix territory really as intense as everyone says?”

My eyes narrow slightly. “Define intense.”

He shrugs. “Depends. The rumours vary.”

“Most rumours about us are bullshit.”

“That usually means some of them are true.”

I hate how amused he sounds.

The bond thrums again, stronger this time. A flicker of anxiety brushes through my chest, and I tense automatically.

Bastian notices immediately. Of course he does.

His gaze slides toward me slowly. “Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

My jaw tightens. There’s something deeply unsettling about how observant he is. Like he watches people the same way predators study weak points before deciding where to bite.

When it’s clear I’m not going to answer, Alaric leans forward slightly, angling himself in front of me to look between the front seats. “So this mate of yours…”

Every muscle in my body stills. Callen glances backward, and Ryder’s hands tighten on the wheel. The atmosphere inside the car changes in an instant, dropping dangerously quiet.

Alaric smiles, not mocking exactly, but curious. Like he just found the exact thread he wanted to pull.

“What about her?” Ryder asks flatly.

“Nothing.” His grin grows wider. “Just sounds like she’s causing quite a stir from what I’ve heard.”

The steering wheel creaks under Ryder’s grip, and the car slows as he takes his foot off the accelerator. Callen turns to face Alaric fully now. 

“Our Luna is one of a kind. Bright, beautiful, and strong. A human who was blessed to four of us by the Moon Goddess, she has carried two of our children so far, and our entire pack adores her.” Callen explains with a genuine look of pride clear on his face. “I can understand why that might get the rumour mill spinning, but let me be very clear when I say, she is off-limits.”

Alaric leans back, holding his hands up. At least he has some self-preservation. 

“I didn’t mean any harm, just curious is all.” He says, his tone too calm. “When you hear that a pack you’re about to stay in has a literal Goddess as a Luna, then you ask. Of course, we knew it wasn’t true because, come on… an actual goddess living here on Earth is insane.”

“Yeah, crazy, right?” Callen laughs.

Alaric laughs too, but it’s even more forced than Callen’s. Alaric nudges my side with his elbow, just enough to get my attention, but subtle enough he could pass it off as an accident. I look anyway, and when my eyes meet his, he fucking winks.