“What does that mean? She’s… coming back?” Max finally turned towards his Beta.
Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea. Her actions seem random, at least to us. Personally, I can never tell what she is up to. If she’s coming back, then it seems something has happened that made her change her mind. But what?”
They were all silent for a couple of minutes, each of them thinking about Kevin’s words and trying to find some kind of explanation. Avelyn’s hands went to touch the roundness of her belly, her first instinct being to protect the small life inside her. Since she found out she was pregnant, she had involuntarily taken up this habit of touching her stomach whenever she felt distressed. Kevin caught her gesture and his eyes went wide with realization.
“Could it be…”
Max’s eyes followed Kevin’s gaze, and he suddenly understood his reaction.
“It can’t be. How would she know?”
“How would she know about what?” asked Avelyn confused. Both werewolves were now staring at her, and their intense looks made her feel uncomfortable.
“About our baby,” answered Max.
“But that’s not possible,” said Avelyn. “Not unless she has some sort of spies.”
Max’s gaze hardened and his jaw clenched in determination. “It doesn’t matter. If there is the slightest possibility that she heard about the child, then we have to make sure you and our son are safe. Kevin, what do you think?”
“It was just a guess, but I think you’re right. I’ve already asked Caleb and Daniel to keep an eye out for her and her pack, and try to find out if she is indeed moving south, trying to come back to the Schloss. She is very clever and sneaky, I must tell you. She is going the extra mile to cover her tracks. It took us forever to find the little information we have now.”
“The more reason to think she’s planning something nasty,” said Max. He squeezed his hands into fists and looked into Kevin’s green eyes. “We must find her. We must take all precautions and never underestimate her. If she truly knows that my wife is pregnant, that we found the cure and she is now a hybrid, then she will do everything in her power to hurt us. We can’t allow that to happen.”
“Yes, I understand,” said Kevin.
Max turned back to Avelyn and his big, warm hands covered hers. “I’m sorry, baby, but I have to find Josie and tell her about this. We need to go over everything we know and try to determine what Sabine is up to.”
“It’s okay, lunch in Dunkelstadt can wait.” Avelyn gave him a small smile, but it probably didn’t come out as encouraging as she had wanted. Max kissed her forehead, then motioned for Kevin to follow him upstairs. Alone in the Crescent Hall, Avelyn sighed and realized she wasn’t feeling hungry anymore. She didn’t feel like going back to her room, but she neither felt like going for a walk alone. She looked around her, then decided to go up in the library. Maybe she could find a good book to keep her busy.
“A thriller… Yes, a thriller sounds fitting,” she whispered to herself and the empty hall, but her voice held no joy.
CHAPTER TWO
Back to Alma Venus
There had been two days since Kevin stormed into the Crescent Wing and told Max and Avelyn about Sabine and her pack. The news had taken everyone by surprise and threw the Schloss into a frenzy. Max had told Kevin and Ryan to take more werewolves with them and try to track down Sabine and her wolves, in hopes they would find out if she was, indeed, coming back to the Black Forest Mountains and the Blackmanes’ Castle. The latest news was even worse than the first: there had been signs of more kidnappings, and a couple of villages and small towns across Germany had been attacked. There hadn’t been any deaths, but two or three villagers were hurt and reported having been attacked by a couple of rogue wolves. It seemed that the authorities had started digging into the matter, but Kevin and Ryan hadn’t heard anything about the attacks being linked to Clan Blackmane, which meant no one had put two and two together yet, and hadn’t even taken into consideration the existence of a whole pack of rogue werewolves. With all the terrible news coming in every day, Max and Jocelyn had all the reasons they needed to make their move. But what would that move be? Max had been reluctant about contacting Karl in Alaska, thinking they still didn’t have enough information to get his brother all riled up and worried. After all, he was on his own mission, which was not easy in the least. He was supposed to gather information about the most powerful Alpha fox-shifter in the world, and he had to be as discreet as possible. It didn’t help that discretion wasn’t Karl’s main quality.
So, that was how the most representative members of Clan Blackmane ended up meeting in Max’s office. Avelyn shifted in her armchair, took a sip of her cherry flavored tea, and looked thoughtfully around the room, her eyes going from Max, who was behind his desk, to Jocelyn, who was sitting on the windowsill, then to Kevin, who was on the sofa, his fingers playing relentlessly with a napkin, the tense muscles in his back and strong arms showing how impatient he was.
Ryan, Jocelyn’s Beta, was standing near the door, as if ready to spring out and take action the second his Alpha reached a conclusion with her brother, and ordered him to carry out their decision.
Finally, Avelyn’s gaze fell on Christine’s small frame. The old woman was sitting across from her, next to Kevin, carefully sipping at her tea. Her wrinkled face didn’t betray much, but Avelyn could tell she was just as scared and worried as everyone in the room from how tightly she held onto her cup, as if she were afraid her hands would start shaking if she lost control over her fragile muscles.
Avelyn sighed and looked back at Max. She didn’t like the crease on his forehead, and she would have loved to be alone with him so she could go by his side, snuggle against his chest, and comfort him with the sweetest words she could find. But this wasn’t only about her, Max, and their baby. It was about the entire clan, and she knew they had to work together if they wanted to find a solution and protect their family from whatever Sabine had planned. And even if Sabine didn’t have a plan and didn’t know about Avelyn’s pregnancy, they still had to assess the situation and do something about the girl, because her actions put the Blackmanes’ reputation in danger. Her rogue behavior could deeply affect Max’s and Karl’s positions in the Council.
Avelyn set her cup down and placed both her hands over her baby bump. The child was growing bigger and bigger every day, she could feel it. Unlike normal, human pregnancies, a shifter bride’s pregnancy lasted somewhere between four and six months only, depending on the father’s race. As she was going to give birth to a little wolf, Avelyn could expect to carry him inside her for no more than six months.
Max was playing with his pen while staring blankly at the notes before him. He had given up reading and rereading them minutes ago, when his vision had become blurry and his brain had refused to keep struggling to make sense of them and come to a conclusion. They had been arguing for over an hour, and they were finally taking a break to gather their thoughts. If Sabine did know about the child, it was impossible for them to figure out how exactly she could have found out. It wasn’t impossible that she had heard about the mating ritual between Max and Avelyn, as Clan Blackmane was the second most powerful in Europe, and Maxwell Blackmane’s marriage with his young Alma Venus bride had certainly traveled the continent. But the fact that Avelyn was with child… That was something Max and his pack mates had tried to keep a secret. If Sabine found out about it, then she would start wondering how it was even possible in the first place. A pregnant she-wolf? It hadn’t happened in centuries. Had Avelyn never turned? Yes, Sabine was almost insane, but she wasn’t stupid. She would eventually figure out they had found a way for Avelyn to carry out her pregnancy even after turning into a werewolf, and sooner or later she would probably find out about the cure and even expose James Harington. No, they couldn’t have that. They could never risk putting their only ally in danger.
Max felt like they were missing so many details, so many clues, and the idea that he simply had to give up and work with what he had was driving him insane. It was like making the decision without having the full picture, and he hated it. He hated it because it didn’t give him the assurance that his final decision would protect Avelyn, their child, and their entire family, but also because it meant he could make the wrong choice again. And Max was tired of making wrong choices. He was tired of hurting the people he cared about most. The worst part was that, this time, there were even more people involved. The innocent victims Sabine had kidnapped and turned into werewolves would end up suffering regardless of what Max decided. They were rogue werewolves, even if not by choice, and they were probably going to suffer the consequences the Council deemed appropriate. Max bit the inside of his lip. He had to stop thinking about these people, no matter how innocent they were. He couldn’t possibly save everyone involved, and he had to deal with it.
Christine straightened her back and cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “We can’t sit here all day and wait for the correct answer to pop out of thin air. There is only one thing we can do, and I am willing to take it upon myself to accomplish it,” she said.
“And what would that be?” asked Jocelyn. For some reason, the she-wolf had a vague idea about what the clan’s Elder was going to say.
“I must talk to her.” Before Max even opened his mouth to say “no”, Christine raised one hand to stop him. “Listen to me: this is the right thing to do. Since she was forc
ed to live… down there, Sabine and I developed a strong friendship. I was by her side every day, every step of the way, and I am sure she hasn’t forgotten how much I helped her, and how much I care about her. She will want to talk to me, and I will make sure to explain the situation and convince her revenge is not the answer.”