The Broken Wolf
Chapter 28

“Molly, Robert and Seth are back. They want you to meet them in your room. Alone.”

I dash down to my suite and burst through the door, but I replace myself unexpectedly alone. Robbie must have linked him while they were still walking up to the pack house.

Are you guys OK?? I link my brother, almost in a panic.

We’re both fine, Molls. We’re not far. We’ll meet you in just a few minutes.

I wait for what feels like an eternity, pacing the floor so much I’m sure I’ve worn a line into them. I decide to open a bottle of wine to help my nerves and then continue my pacing, but with a glass in hand this time. Finally, I catch the faint scent of my mate and rush to the door, flinging it open to see him walking down the hallway towards me.

Seth is dressed in the same clothes he had on yesterday morning, but far dirtier. He’s dirty and stinky, he’s not shaved and looks scruffy, but I can’t help myself and I throw myself towards him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he catches me and holds on to me tightly, gently leading me back into my home, with my brother following behind him.

“Lovely to see you, too.” Robbie says to me, closing the door behind us.

I know he’s joking, but I can’t be bothered to go along with it. “You’re both alright?!” I ask quickly, looking them both over. They’re gross, but don’t appear to be injured at all.

“We’re fine, Molly.” Seth says, gently holding my face in his large hands. “It was pretty rough terrain so we shifted and spent most of it in wolf form. We didn’t have issues with any other wolves, they were true to their word and let us through.”

“Good.” I say, and wrap my arms around him again, holding tightly and breathing in his scent that I had missed so much. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

My brother looks at us, clearly a bit uncomfortable. “I’ll leave you guys, then. Let me know if you need anything.” he says, turning and leaving us alone.

“I’m going to take a shower and then I’ll tell you everything.” Seth tells me and heads to the bathroom.

I hear the shower start and I’m unsure what I should do. My stomach rumbles and I remember that I didn’t make it to dinner, and realize that Seth probably hadn’t eaten either, so I head across the hall to the kitchen and gather some food and a box of gloves to cover my injured hand with so I don’t mess it up more. With everything placed into a basket, I go back to my rooms and get to work. I decide to remove the splint and carefully put a glove on my hand. I get to work chopping the potatoes to roast, being more careful than I probably ever have been. I’m scared of possibly hurting myself again, or worse than it already is, but I have to admit that it feels really good to be cooking something for my mate. It’s nothing fancy or amazing, but it’s what I can handle doing myself for now.

I have the potatoes in the oven and broccoli roasting as well and begin cooking the steaks when Seth comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me tightly, smelling my neck deeply. “I missed you”, he whispers into my ear and releases me. “I didn’t expect you to make me dinner.”

“I know. George and I were working late and I haven’t eaten, and I didn’t think you would have either.” I tell him, and I feel his anger through the bond.

“What were you doing with George so late?” He growls out lowly and I realize how what I’ve said must sounded to him.

“Relax.” I say to him. “I was working on something with him for your Father. He and my dad were with us. Besides, it’s just George.” and I can feel the anger dissipate as quickly as it came on.

“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” He says with a sigh, gently placing his hand on my h*p. “We didn’t stop to sleep for very long, we didn’t want to stay longer than we had to. It’s just been a really long day.”

“It’s ok. Some good food will help you feel better.” I tell him with a smile. “So, are you ready to tell me what happened?”

“It was very weird, Molly.” He begins and I listen to him attentively while continuing to make dinner. “There were rogues everywhere, but they didn’t bother us, not once. It’s almost like they’d all been instructed to let us through, but they’re not a pack, so I don’t believe the mind link would work.”

“Maybe it was your auras,” I say to him, not completely convinced of my own words. “You’re both powerful and strong- an Alpha and a Prince. Maybe they didn’t want to start a fight they knew they’d lose.”

“It’s possible, but I really don’t think so.” He says with a shrug. “We found the witch.”

“You did?” I ask him, trying not to get too excited.

“Yes, and she remembered you”, he says, almost cautiously.

I’m trying not to become too excited over his words, but I’m really struggling. “Is she willing to meet with me?”

Seth sighs deeply and I realize it didn’t go as he expected it to. “Kind of. She’s willing to meet you, but I don’t like her terms.”

“She has terms for meeting me?”

“Yeah, Love, she does. And they are concerning.”

We stand there for a moment, neither of us willing to break the silence. I move to grab the potatoes out of the oven but Seth takes the rag from my hand and does it for me, placing it on the counter before leaning over to place a k**s on the top of my head.

“I need you to understand some things,” he tells me and I nod at him silently. “You are the most important thing to me, but I’m not willing to risk your safety to fix your finger.”

“Oh, so it’s really bad?” I say, feeling deflated as I plate our food and take one to the table, and come back for the second. I go to pour a glass of wine for him but realize that he must have poured his own behind my back while I was cooking. We move and sit down, eating dinner. I don’t pry, he’ll tell me when he’s ready, but my stomach is in knots at the thought of how bad it may be.

“She wants to meet with you alone. In some cave.” He says, not looking at me. “She knows you found the cave before, and I know she’s a witch, but that’s not the kind of information you would expect her to have.”

“That is weird. Only Oli and Robbie know about the caves we found.” I say. “Well, until Robbie mentioned it at dinner with our families. Maybe someone overheard.”

“It’s possible, but she shouldn’t know about the cave at all, it’s not on the rogue land, it’s just across, in the Lunar Falls territories.” He says, seemingly troubled. “There’s more though. She insists that everyone stay at the packhouse except you and Albert. And she named him by name. She wants him to walk you to the cave, but only you can go in.”

“She knew Albert’s name?” I ask, understanding the problem now.

“Yes.” He says, and he looks absolutely, completely exhausted. “I just want to protect you, Molly. You understand that, right?”

“I know, Seth.” I tell him and reach out for him. He takes my hand, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. “Do you honestly think that Albert would do anything to hurt me?”

“No. I don’t, but I’m concerned that she named him by name.” He says and gently squeezes my hand. “It doesn’t make sense that she’d insist everyone stay back and just Albert could bring you to the cave, though.”

“From the way you’re talking, it sounds like you’ve already made a decision about this?” I ask, knowing the answer.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you, Molly.” He says and it almost looks like there are tears in his eyes. “Having you with a damaged hand is better than something happening and not having you at all.”

“Does my opinion matter to you at all here?” I snap at him, not happy at all with how this conversation is going.

“Not if something could happen to you” he tells me sternly, unwilling to listen to what I have to say.

“You don’t get to decide this, Seth.” I snap at him, becoming very angry. “You get to have an opinion but it’s not your decision. It involves me. I’ve lived my whole life without a wolf and now that she’s, quite literally, within my reach you’re telling me I can’t because it’s dangerous??” I can feel myself growing more and more angry by the second. “Just tell me when I’m supposed to meet her and I’ll make arrangements with Albert myself.”