Mated To The Alpha Of The North
Chapter 67

Jax

I had known this conversation was coming all along. Regardless, Willow’s words managed to succeed in startling my thoughts away from the dark path that they were previously headed down.

While I was thankful for the reprieve, not looking forward to thinking about Ryker being anywhere near my baby sister without my regulation any more than necessary, I found my trepidation almost equal when I considered the topic that she wanted me to fill her in on.

I never wanted to keep secrets from my mate, but I also did not want her to worry about the added difficulties that Ryker had heretofore been keeping me up to date with on top of the stress that Zeke’s reappearance had produced.

I found myself stuck between a rock and hard place as I was forced to choose between total honesty and protecting her, both mentally and physically.

I appreciated that she did not rush me, remaining quiet while I pondered the best thing for me to do in this setting. Though in the end, I opted to go with the truth, feeling deep in my soul that it was the right thing to do, my father’s words of wisdom guiding me down the correct path.

Her soft hands sweeping up and down my arms in long, measured strokes while I had struggled with my dilemma had not hurt either; in fact, my wolf had seemed to adore the pseudo petting.

I also knew that my mate could handle whatever I threw her way. The strength I saw her exude at times astounded me with its vigor, but I still could not help my wolf and I’s protective instincts towards her in spite of her evident capability.

It was something I was working on, but for now, I began telling Willow about the risk of the bears resurging in the territory, even if I would have preferred to protect her from the danger with her unawares of anything amiss.

“I did not want to alarm you, but I should have known that you would not drop the subject so easily.” I shot a quick smile her way before going on, “There is a possibility that the bears may be attempting to start another uprising. Ryker has been monitoring the situation while we have been away, but it is fairly new and does not line up with the patterns we saw the last time.”

I worried I had made the wrong decision momentarily as I observed Willow’s face drain of color and her body tense instantaneously as I finished speaking.

I snaked my arms tighter around her in response, prepared to help ease her anxiety, but before I could do more than pull her securer into my frame, her muscles unlocked and she sagged into my body of her own accord as she took in several deep inhales.

I held her in my lap briefly, but after a minute or two, she appeared to have collected herself. My first thought was that she was suppressing her emotions, but I could feel through our bond that she was truly okay for the time being, only reaffirming my previous assumptions about her mental fortitude in my mind.

“What exactly is happening? You said it did not align with what had happened before?”

I noted, with immense pride, as the look of resolve replaced the fleeting fear that had formerly reigned on her lovely face when I had originally informed her about the threat.

“No, before the war began, there were signs in the other provinces of the bears infringing prior to the actual start of the fighting, but there is nothing like that this time around. Ryker has been watching a group that has been active around the very edges of our territory, but there have been no other sightings. Still, something is not sitting right about the whole situation with me.”

“Wait, is this the first time bears have been seen near any of the provinces since you guys defeated them?”

“It is, but until we know the full extent of their intentions, we need to be equipped for a full-on catastrophe. Ryker and I have spent most of the morning going over strategies with Asher and Reese and strengthening our defenses, so I believe we have covered the majority of the bases.”

I had intended to comfort my mate with my assurances that we were handling the crisis; however, I immediately sensed that my words were the exact wrong thing to have said in that moment when Willow pushed out of my lap to stand with her arms crossed over her luscious chest.

As much as I wanted to allow my eyes to continue mentally undressing her, I sensed that right now was probably not the best time.

My wolf had retreated at the first sign of her anger coursing through the bond, though the hard glint in her chocolate eyes as she gazed up to snare mine might have done it too.

“Oh, so it is all taken care of, just like that. Hmm, did you ever stop to think for a second that maybe Zeke is somehow connected to this new development?”

I had gotten up and was halfway to her, intent on soothing her irritation one way or another, but I stopped dead in my tracks as her snarky words filtered through my addled brain.

I had been stressing all morning, driving myself insane trying to figure out what would motivate the bears to strike out again after we had so thoroughly defeated them the last time.

I had thought the stray bears that we had encountered in the South, courtesy of Zeke, was some sort of fluke, that maybe he had blackmailed or lied his way into fooling the two goons to do his dirty work. They had certainly lacked a high intelligence rate, that was for damn sure.

Yet, a niggling bit of doubt wormed its way into my mind at Willow’s asseveration. I roughly shook off my immobile state as I felt her wrap her arms around me, finally responding to her query as I said, “Did something new happen that makes you think that he might be involved?”

I did not like how she averted her eyes when I tried to catch her gaze or the self-doubt that I felt blossoming from her side of our bond where she had been broadcasting cool confidence barely a few minutes ago.

All the same, before I could speak up, she seemed to temper her own reaction as she replied, saying, “I cannot be one hundred percent positive, but I could not shake the suspicion that we were being followed nearly the entire trip home, and you had mentioned that there was evidence that Zeke’s trail led this way prior.”

Conflicting emotions clashed internally as I found myself torn between both ends of the spectrum, both euphoric at her use of the word home and dreading that I had missed any indications of us being tracked.

If her instincts turned out to be true, and Zeke is intertwined in this mess in some manner, then his influence is even more far-reaching than any of us had hitherto assumed.

“Never doubt yourself, love. If you felt like we were being tailed, in all likelihood, we probably were. Always trust your intuition. You might also be right about Zeke being the one orchestrating all of this, but aside from catching him the act, there is not much more we can do for the moment.

“I am honestly doubting whether Zeke is smart enough to pull something like this off by himself. I am predicting that there is more to the equation than we know, but there is actually something that you could be doing right now.”

“Oh, and what is that sweetheart?”

“You can help me go over some rudimentary self-defense training. I know I still have to build up more muscle mass before doing anything too serious, but I would feel safer knowing at least the basics.”

I had not given the idea of Willow training any further thought since my sister had brought it up. I had reluctantly agreed when Ronnie would be the one aiding her.

Although I found that I was hesitant to help for fear of harming her, I had eventually agreed, nonetheless, having already decided that I would do whatever was necessary to keep my mate happy.

Willow had slinked off while I rearranged things with Ryker through our mind link in order to ensure that the boundaries would be covered while I was distracted from the task, but she reemerged from upstairs a few short moments later, arriving as I wrapped things up with my beta.

I grasped her hand gently in mine before pulling her out the door without another word. We did not have much time, but I had the perfect escape in mind to make up for it.