To Catch A Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Wolf Valley Raiders Book 2) (9 page)

“No, it’s not,” Riley shouted.

“Yes, Riley it is.” Her eyes flashed fiercely; she had taken enough, and now she had a plan. “I know how we can be free of it.”

“How?” Cole asked, but Riley looked ready for another argument.

Bliss sighed, knowing this was not going to be easy. “We get Sol home, and then I’ll tell you.”

Between them, they got Sol into the truck, Riley and Cole sitting each side of him. Colin, Bliss, and Hugo sat silently in the cab. She let her mind go over her plan. It would work, she was sure it would. First Sol needed to change back into a human. Otherwise, he would never be free of the blood oath.

“Colin, you said you knew someone who could help,” Bliss asked.

“If she’s willing. Look, you drop me off at my place, Hugo. I’ll go and fetch her. She lives over the other side of Wolf Valley.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind helping us?”

“Not at all. As I told Hugo, I want you kids to be free of this. Then you can get on with your lives.” Colin smiled at her, nodding his head. “I couldn’t think of a way to break the oath. I’m glad to see you have your mother’s brains, and I’m intrigued to know what you have in mind.”

“As soon as we can get Sol back to normal, I’ll tell you.”

They pulled up outside Colin’s cabin and he got out and went inside. When he reappeared, he gave them a wave and then headed to his truck. Satisfied Colin was going for help, Hugo turned the truck around and headed slowly back up the track, and turned towards the small house where Bliss lived with her brothers.

“You think your plan will work?” he asked.

“It has to. I want my freedom back; I don’t want to feel forced go back to these raids because of some blood oath. I don’t want my brothers to go through that either. They are good men.” She shook her head. “I can’t get over how badly my dad acted towards my mom.”

“She must have been heartbroken. Mates don’t do that to each other,” Hugo said, placing his hand on hers. “History doesn’t repeat itself either.”

“Are you a mind reader now?” she asked.

“I can see where your train of thought was going. We don’t have to repeat past mistakes. Ours or our parents’.”

“I’m lucky to have you, Hugo. My hero.” She shuffled over and leaned her head on his arm as he drove. “I like the sound of that, Hugo the Hero.”

He laughed. “Now you are teasing me.”

“No. I’m not. A hero is someone who saves people, right? Well you have saved me.”

“And all I wanted to do was catch you and tie you to my bed.”

“You caught me last night. But now I give myself to you freely, Hugo. You won’t ever need a rope again.”

“Good.” He placed his arm around her and pulled her close, guiding the truck along the road with one hand. “Although you might be a bigger hero if you can somehow get your brothers back on a straight road.”

“I hope so.” She sighed. “I really do. But it depends on whether we can help Sol. I only hope whoever Colin has in mind doesn’t say no to helping us.”

“Why would they? They won’t know who you are. And if they do, I will make sure they understand you are a changed character.”

“You are a very persuasive man,” she said.

“I’m glad I persuaded you to stay last night.” He slid his hand down over her bottom, and squeezed her flesh. “I can’t wait to take you home later for seconds.”

She sat up. “My brothers are in the back,” she hissed.

“They can’t hear.” He grinned as she turned a nice shade of pink.

This was not the time to think about sex with Hugo, but he seemed able to put images in her head of his naked body at any time, whether it was appropriate or not. All she wanted to do was straighten her family out and then look forward to their new life together. She longed to have his children and raise them to be happy and loved. He was right; the past was the past, and they had to move on.

But when she saw the woman Colin had brought to help them, her past suddenly caught up with her again.

“I know her,” Bliss said to Hugo as Colin opened the truck door and a woman got out. Behind her was a man, his face like thunder when he recognised Bliss. “She won’t help us..”

“Relax, just act normal,” Hugo said.

Bliss took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “Hi, thanks for coming to help my brother.” Normal, lasted until she spoke and both the people in front of her recognised her voice. Damn it! If only she had kept her mouth shut when she had run into them on the mountain. Now they would link her and her brothers to the attack on Nadine. Oh yes, the woman who had come to help Sol, was the woman Lance had chased. And of course, the owner of the car they had stolen. Talk about karma being a bitch.

“You want Nadine to help
her
?” the man asked.

“Kurt,” Nadine said, putting a comforting hand on him, and trying to calm him down. “This is what I do. You should understand about second chances.”

“I do.” Kurt looked at her, and backed off, but he was still unhappy. “But I’m not leaving your side.”

“Hello,” Nadine said brightly, knocking Bliss off guard with her friendliness.

“Hi.” She hesitated and then said, “Sorry about your car.”

Nadine nodded. “I bet you are.”

“Listen, will you help my brother? He’s never hurt you. Please don’t blame him for what we did.” Bliss wanted Nadine to know she had changed, and she was intending to make sure her brothers saw the error of their ways too. “The guy who attacked you isn’t running with us anymore. Not that we will be running as a pack after today either.”

“Sometimes you just need to have your eyes opened to what is important. Isn’t that right Kurt?” Nadine asked the man who was her mate.

Kurt grumbled something incoherent. So he had another side to him too. It made Bliss feel better about herself. People could change. Right?

“Do you want to show me where he is?” Nadine asked.

“Yes. Thank you,” Bliss said again, taking Nadine into the house, hoping the ceiling didn’t fall down on them. As she saw it through the eyes of others, she wondered what had ever possessed her and her brothers to live here.

Of course, she knew: her father’s influence once again. Only the bond between her and Hugo gave her this new insight. For one final time, Bliss knew she had to look after and save her brothers.

“She’s been in there a long time,” Cole said, turning once more to look at the cabin.

“I can’t see how she’s going to talk him out of it,” Riley answered, picking up a stone and throwing it. “He’s going to be stuck like that forever.”

“She talked me out of being a wolf,” Kurt said.

“You got stuck?” Cole asked.

“Yes. Nadine saved me. So there is hope. I was stuck for a lot longer than your brother.”

They were all sitting around on the dilapidated porch while the sun began to set. But no one was going anywhere until Sol was back to his normal self. Even Colin stayed, staring at the Merric boys more often than not, something they let go, although Riley looked uncomfortable about the scrutiny.

Behind them, the door opened, and Hugo turned, expecting it to be Bliss with another update. Instead, a tall, slim man stood in the doorway. Hugo got up and moved away from the door to give him free access to come out. It looked as though Nadine had done her mumbo jumbo thing and saved Sol.

“Damn it, Sol. What the hell have you been up to?” Cole asked affectionately. Sol gave a goofy grin and then let his brothers hug him and pat him on the back, a little too hard. It showed the depth of emotion shared by this family.

“Hey there,” Bliss said, coming out and going to Hugo.

“Hey, you,” he said, pulling her close. Behind Bliss, Nadine came out, and he mouthed
thank you
to her.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Now I think it would be a good time for Bliss to explain how she aims to break this blood oath.”

“She’s told you?” Colin asked.

“I ran it by Nadine while she was talking to Sol. I wanted her opinion.”

“I’m not sure we should break it,” Riley said, his face bright with unshed tears as he hugged Sol.

“Listen, it won’t mean you turn against Dad or anything, it will just mean you’ll be able to look at things with a clear head. You have to agree that we can’t go on like this. Nadine saved Sol; what if next time he can’t be saved?”

Riley shook his head. “I can’t.”

Bliss went to him. “We all have to do this, Riley.”

“No, Bliss. We don’t.” Riley moved away from Sol and then left the porch, disappearing around the corner of the house.

“Riley,” Bliss called.

“Don’t worry, Bliss. I’ll get him back.” Cole, with an excited Sol in tow, headed after his brother.

“Hey,” Hugo said, pulling Bliss close. “You can’t lead their lives for them.”

“I know, but I’m not sure this will work if we don’t all do it. We made the oath together; we need to break it together.”

She leaned on his shoulder. “I’ve messed it all up.”

“No, you haven’t. You are doing your best. He’ll come round.” Although, Hugo had to admit, he wasn’t sure Riley would. He seemed hell-bent on fulfilling his father’s wishes of revenge. It was a road to self-destruction and he wanted Bliss completely free of it. If he had to, Hugo knew he would find a way to force Riley to do this.

“What about Sol? If Riley won’t do this, what happens to him?”

“He can live with us. There’s plenty of room. Listen, we will make this work, Bliss. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to make this right for you.”

“I can’t believe how lucky I am, Hugo. To have you. I only wish one day all my brothers are as lucky as I am.” Bliss kissed him on the lips, while Colin, Nadine, and Kurt stood talking quietly some way off.

“Here they come,” Bliss said nervously, as her three brothers returned.

Riley still looked sullen, and she hardly dared hope he would agree to what she had in mind. But then Cole spoke, “We are going to do this, Bliss. If not for us, then for you and Sol.”

“Thank you,” Bliss said. “It’s got to work.”

“I’m not convinced, but I said I would try,” Riley said.

Bliss threw her arms around Riley. “Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me. I want us all to be happy. To be free.”

“What do you want us to do?” Cole asked.

“I think we need to make an oath to each other. The same kind of oath we made to Dad. If one of you two is the new alpha, that should break the one we made to avenge his death.”

“And if neither of us are the alpha?”

“Then it might not work. But Dad was our alpha because we had no other pack, so even if this has no bearing on Wolf Valley, it should still bind us, to whoever is in charge of our small pack.”

“I hope if it’s Sol, we don’t all end up running around chasing our tails,” Cole laughed, while Sol did just that, happy to be free after all the time stuck in the dark.

“I don’t know, we might all be happier if the most important thing in our lives was cupcakes,” Bliss said.

“Let’s do this, before I change my mind,” Riley said.

It took a few minutes to get what they needed. Then they all stood together, taking it in turns to swear an oath to each other. Bliss had to help Sol, saying the words very slowly and making sure he repeated them accurately. Then, when it was finished, they all stood around looking at each other.

“Do you feel any different?” Cole asked Riley. “Like if I told you to stand on your head, you would do it?”

“You are not the alpha here,” Riley said firmly. “If it’s either of us, it will be me.”

“Now, you two,” Colin said, stepping in. He had been watching the whole proceedings with Kurt, Nadine, and Hugo, from a distance. “You do know that to be the alpha, you have to find your mate.”

They both stopped and looked at him, the answer clear on their faces. “No one told us that,” Cole said.

“It’s a fact, as far as I know. Any alpha contender has to be mated.” Colin nodded, watching as the news sank in.

“Then I guess you two had better brush up on your socialising skills and get down to Wolf Valley and find a mate,” Bliss said, smiling. She wasn’t sure about her brothers, but she felt different. Lighter, as if a load had been lifted off her chest, although that could just be because Hugo was near. He made her feel all warm and happy, and safe.

“I’m not ready for that kind of commitment,” Riley said.

“Then I guess you will be answering to me,” Cole said.

“Thank you, Colin,” Bliss said, turning away from her two brothers, who looked as though they were about to come to blows again, and hugging the old man.

“My pleasure, Bliss. You know, you look like your mom.” He kissed her on each cheek. “Kurt’s mom would agree.”

She frowned at his words. “What do you mean?”

“He is your cousin. His mom is your aunt. On your father’s side.”

“I never knew my mom had a brother,” Kurt said, coming over to join Colin and Bliss.

“No, it wasn’t ever mentioned. Exile is total. No other resident of Wolf Valley could help them. But before they left, your mom and Bliss’s mom were real good friends. I’m sure she would love to get to know her niece.”

Kurt eyed Bliss, and his other cousins, with distrust. But Nadine came up beside him and said to Bliss, “It will be good to have another woman around, Bliss. Why don’t I come on over tomorrow and pick you up. I’ll introduce you to your aunt.”

“I’d like that,” Bliss said.

“Make it later in the afternoon,” Hugo said, moving behind Bliss and circling his arms around her. “We might be having a late night tonight.”

Bliss felt the colour rise in her cheeks, but heat rose in her body too. Although she was absolutely shattered, she wanted nothing more than to go home with Hugo. But what about her brothers? If she left them alone, would Sol wander off again?

“We need to go home, Kurt. Colin, can you give us a lift.” Nadine took Hugo’s hint and rounded up the two men. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bliss.”

Nadine hugged Bliss, and kissed her cheek, making Bliss feel awkward; she had never had a female friend and felt undeserving of this friendship. “Are you sure it’s no trouble?” Bliss asked.