The Alpha Wolf's Secret Baby (Wolves of Anchorage 3)

Violet

She only thought she'd felt panic before. It was nothing compared to this.

She kept a very calm demeanor as she put together Arabella's lunch for camp. She zipped it up into her backpack and took her hand and walked her to the bus stop. The two of them rode to the entrance of the camp while Arabella chatted away happily about their night swim and the wax melting project they had planned for the day. Apparently, they were going to melt wax and shape it into an ice cream sundae that would function as a candle.

Violet nodded at all the right places, but she knew Arabella wasn't going to that camp. They were going to get on the next bus, and they were going to ride. And then they were going to run. She believed that Tristan meant what he said. But he was so angry. He had every right to be. He'd been very angry, but not out of control. He was going to take her daughter from her.

She didn't even blame him. She brought this on herself, but it was too late to go back. If he took the case to his pack, the results would not be favorable. They would not look kindly on her at all. She had already paralyzed one of their beloved members, and she had been ready to take his daughter. They would be furious.

She and Arabella had to go. Violet wasn’t panicking. She was numb. Her body was moving on autopilot. They hopped off the bus, but instead of going into the entrance of the camp building, they went to the next bus stop.

“Where are we going?” Arabella asked.

“We're a little early. So we’re going to ride the next bus to the store.”

Arabella yanked on her hand. “But I just saw Alex go inside the camp.”

“We’ll be right back, okay? Come on.” She felt horrible lying to her daughter, but she had no choice. She took very deep breaths, keeping her heart rate steady as the bus rumbled along the road. Then, it arrived at the edge of town.

“Okay, we’re going to walk into the woods for a minute, and then we're going to shift and run. It's going to be a lot of fun and when we’re done, I'll get you some ice cream, okay?”

“What about camp?”

“We’re not going to go to camp today.”

“But I want to go to camp,” she said, voice rising plaintively.

“I'm sorry,honey. Some things came up, and we need to go.”

“I don't want to go. I want to stay here in the cabin. I want to see Daddy, and I want to go to camp!”

Oh damn. Here was Arabella’s perceptiveness again. She knew something was going on. “I understand.” Every part of Violet’s body was shaking. “But we’re going to run as wolves and we're going to have a lot of fun and then we’re going to have ice cream, okay?” She felt like if she just kept repeating the plan, Arabella would accept it. That had worked when she was younger.

“But I don't want to.”

Clearly, she needed a new strategy. Ice cream wasn’t cutting it anymore. “Come on, let's walk and we'll talk about it okay? Tell me everything you like about camp.” She grabbed Arabella's hand. She couldn't transfer into her wolf form yet, because she couldn't guarantee that Arabella wouldn't take off and run in the other direction. So they were going to have to walk as humans for a few minutes.

“What I like about camp is when I go,” she said, sounding far older than six. “I don't want to miss the wax.”

“I'll make sure you get to do a wax project.”

She hustled her daughter across the stream and down a rocky path. They got into a denser part of the woods where humans didn't go. Violet kept up with her steady breathing. She'd never gotten a chance to ask how Tristan had known she was planning to leave.

She was so busy concentrating on her breathing that she completely missed the human in front of her. He stepped out from behind a tree and gave her a malicious grin.

Damn. It was some human thinking she and her daughter were lost in the woods. Well, it might not be pleasant, but she could easily defend them from a human. She breathed in and realized there were at least two more behind them. But that didn't matter – three to one was nothing when she was up against humans.

“You really don't want to harass me right now,” she said. “I really don't want to hurt you.”

“Oh, Violet. You're not going to be able to hurt us.”

Oh no. Oh shit. They knew who she was. If humans knew who she was, that was not good.

She'd never come across any humans who knew about shifters, but she heard about them.

Hunters.

Hunters who were trained to kill supernatural creatures. Usually, they stuck to vampires. But they knew how to harm shifters too.