Chapter 26 – Home Sweet Home

24 hours later

I gaze out the window, taking in the sight of snow covering everything as far as the eye can see. I never thought I'd miss the snow, but it's a welcome sight after a month in Arizona, and I'm relieved to be home.

"Athena?" Ryna says, trying to get my attention.

"Hmmm?" I say absently, turning away from the window.

"Your phone is ringing," Ry tells me.

"Oh!" I say, quickly grabbing it from the seat. "Hello?" I answer it, not recognising the number.

"Hey, it's Noah. Can you put me on speaker?" He asks.

I put the phone on speaker and lean forward between Ryna and Gino in the front. "Go ahead," I say to him.

"Have you noticed the black sedan?" he asks.

We all say "no" at the same time.

"I've been following you for about an hour, and this sedan has been following you the entire time," he says.

"Why are you tailing us? Where's Andreas?" I ask.

"He's at the warehouse with Gamma Alex. He wanted me to make sure you were okay," Noah explains.

I smile as butterflies form in my stomach at the thought of Andreas checking on me. I look over at Ryna, who is looking in the rear-view mirror.

"I can see the sedan you're talking about. Three cars behind us in the outside lane." Ryna says.

I turn in the back seat and find the car they're talking about, and it has a small dent on the front bumper. "Guys, that's the sedan that ran Jason and me off the road," I tell them. "The one Derek was in."

"What should we do?" Ryna asks.

"Nothing for now. I don't want them spooked. So instead of going into Billings, head towards home. Let's see if they do anything," I instruct him. "Noah, can you continue to follow these guys if they go a different way?"

"No problem," he says.

We continue north on I-90 towards Hardin until we reach the Sarpy Creek Road exit, which takes us to our pack's estate at the foot of the Little Wolf Mountains. Ryna takes it, and we wait for Noah to say something.

After a few moments, he says, "They've taken the exit."

We drive for another twenty minutes until we reach the dirt road turnoff that will take us to the pack territory.

"They're not indicating to turn. I think they're going to continue straight," Noah tells us. "I'll follow them. You guys get to the pack estate, and I'll let Gamma Alex know what's happening."

"Thanks, Noah. Let me know where they end up," I tell him, and we hang up.

"What do you think they were doing?" Gino asks.

"Probably just seeing where we were headed. Surely they're not stupid enough to try something so close to our territory," I say.

"We shouldn't underestimate them, Athena. How do we know they're not following us because they know we have the doctor?" Ryna asks.

"No one knows we have him. Andreas got out without being seen, and Uncle Alex made sure Doctor Shields wasn't taken back to the pack. That's why he organised the warehouse," I explain.

"We still need to be careful," Ryna says.

I lean back in the seat and stare out the window. My thoughts wander once more, this time to home and how long it has been since I left. I remember back to almost a year ago, when I told Uncle Alex that I would not take over as Gamma when I turned 18, and asked him to keep the role. I had to leave. I couldn't take over as Gamma until I found out what happened to our pack and my father. He seemed disappointed, but I could tell he just wanted to support me. When I remember my mother's expression when I told her I was leaving, tears well up in my eyes. She sobbed and begged me to stay. The day I left, Uncle Alex had to restrain her so that I could go. I think I broke her heart that day.

I sniff and wipe my eyes as I realize we've pulled up to the estate's gates. I look over to the small guard office that was built after the attack, and a warrior named Chris steps out and walks over to my truck.

"Hey Ryna, good to see you back!" He says this happily when Ryna winds the window down. He leans his arm on the top of the truck and bends down to say hi to Gino, too. He looks in the back and sees me and gasps, "Athena! Oh man, it's so good to see you," he shouts with excitement. "Does this mean you're back to kick our asses into shape?" He asks with a laugh.

"Well, you are looking a little flabby around the middle there, Chris…," I say, the corner of my mouth twitching as I try not to smile. Chris is one of the most built warriors in the pack and takes almost too much pride in his body.

He laughs and lifts his shirt up. "You could use these abs as a washboard," he says proudly as he pats his 8-pack.

"Yeah, okay, put it away," Gino says, his cheeks turning a little red.

Ryna and I giggle, and we wave to Chris as he steps back from the truck and presses the button to open the gate.

My phone rings again, and it's the same number that Noah called from before. "Hey, Noah," I answer.

"I'm sorry, Athena. I lost them," he tells me.

"What happened?" I ask.

"They pulled over to turn around, and I lost them trying to keep some distance between us. I think they turned up a back road that heads back towards Hardin," he explains.

"Shit. Okay, no problem. Where are you now?" I ask.

"I'm heading to meet Gamma Alex and Andreas at the warehouse," he says.

"Okay. Thanks, Noah. I'll talk to you later." I say and hang up.

I sigh in frustration and rub my face with my hands. I save Noah's number in my phone and place it in my pocket.

"What are we going to do?" Gino asks.

"There isn't much else we can do. We're just going to have to keep an eye out for them," I say.

I lean on the open window with my arms crossed; the breeze whipping my hair around. I take a deep breath and relish in the smells of home. "Ryna, can you stop, please?" I ask him.

He stops the truck, and I open the door and get out. I lean down at the window and tell them, "I'm going to go for a run. I'll meet you up at the house."

I turn around and run into the thick forest. I strip down and leave my clothes at the base of a tree, then Enyo shifts quickly and runs deeper into the woods.

"Is everything okay, Athena?" Enyo asks as she chases a rabbit.

"I thought that when we returned home, we'd have answers," I say sadly. "But all we have is more bloody questions."

"At least we found Andreas and Ares."

"Yeah, well, we'll see how that turns out, won't we…," I say sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"He believes we can't be together…."

"He'll come around. He can't ignore the mate bond forever," Enyo says.

We hear a howl in the distance that I recognize as Alaster, Rynas's wolf. Enyo howls back, and then we hear more howls pierce the air, and we see the warriors charging through the trees towards us. Enyo lets out another massive howl before sprinting to the front of the group and leading them on a run through the trees.

#

After an hour or so, Enyo returns to the tree where we left our clothes and phone, and we shift. I put on my clothes and run my fingers through my hair to try to detangle it before bending down and grabbing my phone. I realize I have a missed call from an unknown number, but I put my phone in my pocket and walk towards the pack house, not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.

Our estate is more like a small gated community, with the four-story pack house in the middle and smaller homes surrounding it. As I walk up the dirt road, I can hear the young pack kids playing on the playground, their laughter carrying on the wind. I can see Ryna and the other warriors further up the road, mucking around as they walk along. I wrap my coat around myself, feeling the cold more than usual after my time in Arizona.

"Athena!" I hear my mom calling from the porch of the pack house. I smile at her and start jogging towards her. When I climb the steps onto the porch, she wraps me up in a big hug and says, "it's so good to have you home, sweetheart."

I just smile and follow her inside. She walks me through the large living room and into the kitchen, where she removes the kettle from the stove and begins making coffee.

"Where's Alpha Damon?" I ask as I sit at the large island in the middle of the kitchen.

"He's supposed to be back later tonight," Mom says, putting a coffee cup in front of me.

I wrap my hands around the steaming mug and take a small sip of the coffee. I hear my phone ding, so I get it out of my pocket and look at the screen. It shows that I have another missed call, but I didn't hear it ring. I try to call the number back, but it says that it is unavailable. I'm about to put my phone down when the message tone dings, and there's a video message from the same number. I open it and press play, but the screen stays black. I check to make sure it's playing, thinking that it might not have loaded properly, when my screen turns bright from a light turning on, and I see a man sitting in the middle of an empty room, tied to a chair with a black hood over their face.

"What the fuck?" I say out loud.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Mom asks, but I can't respond.

My eyes are glued to my screen as a masked man walks into the room and takes the hood off the man in the chair. I gasp and almost drop my phone.

"When's the last time you spoke to Uncle Alex?" I ask.

"Earlier today. Why, Athena? You're scaring me."

"Mom, call him. Call Uncle Alex," I say, panicked.

"What? Why?" she asks.

"CALL HIM RIGHT NOW!" I yell at her, causing her to jump. She pulls her phone from her pocket with shaking hands and dials Uncle Alex's phone number.

"It's just going to voicemail," she says, panicking.

"TRY AGAIN!" I scream. "Please be a prank. Oh Goddess, please let this be a joke," I mumble to myself.

Tears start streaming down my face as the masked man in the video takes a large blade off the small table next to the chair. My whole body is shaking in fear, and I can hear voices in the background in the kitchen, but I've blocked them all out as I watch the masked man look over the blade. Then, he stands in front of the camera, and finally, I hear a gurgled scream as I see blood spray over the wall.

"NOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOO!" I scream. The last thing I hear is Enyo howling in pain in my head, then everything fades to black as I pass out.