Page 30 of The Wolf's Secret Baby

“And if Vance kills me?”

I tilted my head back, wanting to show Typhon that there was no point arguing with me. “Then I will ensure that you do not die alone. Typhon, we need to treat the pack as enemies. I am not going to allow you to go into enemy territory alone. If you wish to continue disagreeing about this then we shall have to fight.”

“Oh, why does everything have to end up in a fight with you two? Let’s not fight amongst ourselves. We have a war to stop,” Ambrosia said. “Are you sure this is the only way?”

Typhon turned to her and put a hand on her cheek. “It is, and it’s better if you stay here. If we return to the pack and failthen you will be held captive. At least this way you have a chance to be free and prepare for what’s coming.”

“I’m not ready to say goodbye to you yet,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. I approached her as well and kissed the top of her head.

“This isn’t goodbye. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we return to each other. We’re going to prevent this war from beginning and we’re going to stop Vance. I believe in you, brother,” I said, turning towards Typhon.

“That makes one of us,” he replied with a grim smile.

We finalized the plans with Vali and then he sent us away to get some rest and gather supplies for our trip. Ambrosia did not leave our side. She kept fawning over us and made sure we knew that she did not approve of this course of action but there wasn’t anything else we could do, not if we wanted to take the fight to Vance. Anything else was going to be entirely reactionary and if we waited for him to bring his soldiers online then it was going to be a lost cause. I couldn’t help but feel a swell of melancholy myself though. There were so many things that I wanted to say to Ambrosia and yet I wasn’t sure how. With the future being so uncertain it was difficult to make promises and so they ended up remaining in the ethereal realm, unspoken, and I hoped that I would never regret keeping them silent.

As we prepared to leave Ambrosia stood in line with Vali. It felt wrong to be parted from her but it was the best way to keep her safe. I never thought I would trust her with Vali’s people more than the wolves but everything was fluctuating and I could be certain of nothing. If we failed, at least I could be confident that she was safe.

Before we parted, we had a moment alone.

“I don’t like this. I don’t like being away from you,” Ambrosia said. Typhon and I each took one of her hands.

“It won’t be forever and this is the only way to keep you safe. If you return to the pack I fear what they might do to you,” Typhon said.

“And what about what they’re going to do to you? After all that’s happened do you truly think it’s a good idea to challenge Vance?” she asked, her face etched with concern. I glanced towards Typhon. He looked uncertain but resolute. I knew there wasn’t going to be any way to shake him from this course of action.

“It’s the only way to stop this. I need to do this,” he replied.

“I don’t want this to be the last time we see each other,” her voice cracked with emotion. She let go of our hands and caressed our cheeks. “How are you going to ensure that you come back to me?”

“This isn’t going to be the end of our lives. We’re going to come back. You take care of the soldiers. When they emerge they’re going to be confused and they’ll need you to talk some sense into them, just as we needed you. You helped us see the true nature of the world and our past. They’re going to need the same clarity Ambrosia and we’ll be together again soon. When this is all over we can talk about what happens next,” I said, feeling the faint slivers of hope rising within me. I didn’t want to think too much about the future because everything was so precarious but it helped drive me forward.

“But we do need to talk about what could happen,” Typhon said, ready to pour cold water on us all. “There’s no sense in denying the worst. If something happens to us and we don’t come back then you need to leave. Go back to your world and try and make the most of it. Get far away so you can protect yourself from what’s coming, if there is a way to protect yourself. Vance isn’t going to stop for anything.”

Ambrosia gasped and closed her eyes. She nuzzled into us, placing her head against our chests. Our arms wrapped aroundher and I wished that we could keep her safe properly. She was too pure to be involved in something like this.

“I just wish life was simpler. I wish we could be back at my cabin and while away the hours with each other. I don’t want there to be a war,” she said in a small voice.

“And if we succeed with our intent then there won’t be a war. Everything is going to work out for the best, Ambrosia. It’s just going to take a little time,” Typhon said. I remained silent, for I wasn’t sure how much I believed him. We embraced Ambrosia again. It was hard to let her go. I closed my eyes and lost myself in her scent. Her soft strands of hair brushed against me and all I wanted was to stay with her forever, pushing aside the anguish of the world but we had a sterner calling and we were forced to peel away. Ambrosia stood with Vali, who once again promised to keep her safe. I bristled with tension at the thought of leaving her but it was an impossible situation and I couldn’t allow Typhon to return to the pack alone. We turned away from Ambrosia, forcing ourselves to take these steps away from her. I looked at her for as long as possible. I wanted her image burned into my mind so that I would never forget her.

When we were out of earshot, I turned to Typhon.

“Do you feel guilty about lying to her?” I asked.

Typhon grimaced. “It’s better for her to not know the chances of our survival. She will find peace, in time. The most important thing is that we stop Vance.”

Stopping Vance was only the beginning, however. Because after Vance there was Hana, Siv, and all the rest of them, the loyal wolves who had never treated us with any sense of respect. I summoned all the courage I could muster as we embraced our lycan forms and sprinted through the forest, heading directly back to our pack. The air whipped against our fur and our senses were alive. I tried to not dwell on the fact that this might well be one of the last times I experienced life as a wolf. There was everychance that we were running towards our deaths but in some sense our lives had never truly been our own. Perhaps this was the only way it ever could have ended.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Typhon

The only home we had ever known came into view. It didn’t bring any sense of comfort, belonging, or joy. The feelings of resentment were strong within my heart and all of the hopes I had ever had of feeling a sense of worth from the pack had completely ebbed away from my soul. After what we had learned about the other soldiers nothing could be the same again. I bristled with aggression. It was one thing to treat me and Kull with disrespect, to look down on us and abuse us all our lives for being ‘failed experiments’, but it was quite another to purposefully bring other wolves into the world knowing that they were not going to be treated any better. It made me feel sick to think about them being born and thrust immediately into a war. How many of them were going to live past a day, a week, a month? What kind of life was that? And it all began with Vance. He gave the orders and this was his project, and now he was going to have to pay for it.

Our powerful muscles carried us through the forest. There was no need for stealth, so we crashed through branches and stormed through hedges. We sent small animals scurrying away and we growled at the bigger ones, ensuring they knew that today was not the day they wanted to engage us in battle. The mountain loomed in the distance and our snarling forms devoured the distance, each step carrying us farther away from Ambrosia.

I tried not to think about her too much. I regretted being so guarded with her from the beginning. I hadn’t realized our time together would be so limited. My chances of surviving this fight with Vance were slim, so I had taken a lingering lookat Ambrosia and I had given myself completely to our kiss, for I believed it would be our last. Our lives were defined by grim responsibility and, perhaps, we were the only ones that could avert this war. At least we had been given a glimpse of happiness, a sense of what life might have been like if things had been different. If that was all I was going to receive, then I was going to have to be at peace with that.

We approached the gates and shifted back into our human forms. There were looks of derision shooting towards us as we passed into the stronghold. I stood shoulder to shoulder with Kull, ready to defend ourselves in case anyone should suspect that we were here to shatter the status quo. I feared that word might have returned to the pack about our visit to the outpost, before telling myself that there was no reason for this to be the case. It wouldn’t do any good to be paranoid.

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