Faith With Wolves Book 2

Faith

The four-hour drive to the Twin Peaks Pack seems to take forever as we continue to drive through this large forest. I love the wilderness, but this is boring. I haven’t seen a gas station or any form of civilization in the last hour. It’s just trees and more trees.

Music is playing quietly in the car but besides that, it’s completely silent. The three warriors with us are asleep in the back seat of our SUV and Caleb seems deep in thought. He’s been tense the whole drive and I swear he’s been driving under the speed limit on purpose.

Earlier we stopped at almost every gas station we saw. Even if nobody needed to use the restroom or get a snack Caleb stopped. He filled up the gas tank when he didn’t need to and wasted time talking to the gas station clerk about nonsense. I literally had to drag him out of a couple of stores.

He’s stalling and I want to know why. “Caleb, are you purposely slowing us down because you don’t want to go to this meeting?”

His eyes snap toward mine instantly. “What? Why would you say that?”

“Because I know you. Every time we had a date you were early, you’re never late. But right now.... it seems like you’re stalling.”

He groans and his fists that are gripping the steering wheel tighten making his knuckles turn white. “Faith the twins aren’t someone you want to get a call from. Elijah and Everette are dangerous. They’re twice as strong, smart, and conniving. Everyone fears them and for good reason.”

“So, you’re afraid of them?” I ask trying to make sense of the situation, but Caleb shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t say I’m afraid, but I don’t trust them. They killed their dad when they shifted at the age of thirteen. He was abusive, and the beta raised them until they were eighteen and they took over their pack. Everyone wants an alliance with them but they’re very selective on who they choose. My dad’s been trying to ally with them for years.”

“Do you think that's what this is about?” I smile. “Maybe they're finally going to set up an alliance with Blue Moon.”

“I don’t think so,” he mumbles under his breath and goes back to focusing on driving.

The next few moments are filled with silence again until we pass over a large hill and come upon an iron gate. Several warriors block the entrance and gesture us forward.

Caleb pulls up to one of the men and rolls his window down. “This is private property we’re going to have to ask you to turn around and leave now.” the wolf states with an attitude.

Caleb sighs. “I’m Alpha Caleb Black of the Blue Moon Pack. Your alphas are expecting me.”

The warrior with the attitude eyes gloss over telling me he’s mind-linking someone. When his eyes return to normal, he points towards the gate that just opened. “Alpha says you’re free to enter but the vampire stays behind. Did you really think we wouldn’t smell that monster even with your scent all over her?” He growls making Caleb growl right back.

“Monster? This vampire is my mate and Luna!” he shouts and starts to open his car door, but I grab his arm, stopping him from killing this wolf and causing a scene.

“Caleb please, they didn’t know. Let’s just drop it. These jerks are going to let us in.” I narrow my eyes at them. I’ve never compelled a wolf before, but I’ll try.

Caleb and the guard continue to glare and growl at each other. The warriors with us are growling also ready to defend their Alpha and Luna if necessary.

Luckily another warrior walks up and pushes the jerk one away. “The Alphas said they would see you, please ignore my friend and enjoy your time at Twin Peaks Alpha and Luna Black.” He salutes us and steps back from our vehicle.

Caleb growls again before he starts driving through the gate. The long narrow road leads into a small town but I ignore it and focus on my mate.

“Caleb, are you okay?”

He grunts. “I don’t like how he was looking at you.”

Nodding, I rub his arm and lean my head on his shoulder. “I didn’t like it either but thank you for standing up for me. It was very sweet of you.”

“I should have killed that asshole.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. If the twins are as horrible as you make it seem then I don’t want to get on their bad side by attacking one of their pack members.”

Sighing Caleb kisses the top of my head. “You’re right. But next asshole that thinks he can disrespect you at least gets punched.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Deal.”

It takes us almost thirty minutes to drive through the small town of Twin Peaks. The road goes right through the center of downtown, so I was able to see many shops. I even spotted the ice cream parlor I want to visit.

We eventually pull up to a large home-no mansion that has my jaw dropping. I’m not sure if it’s a house or a hotel. The large building is made of dark oak and has golden floor-to-ceiling windows scaling up at least ten floors.

“Wow,” I say and my car door opens. I hadn’t even noticed we stopped as Caleb helps me out. “This place is fancy. Have you been here before?”

Caleb hums and interlocks our hands. “No.”

With our three warriors following closely behind us, we enter the large home where the beta wolf named Phillip greets us and leads us more into the extravagant home. Many wolves pass us sniffing the air and looking at me suspiciously, but luckily say nothing.

Phillip leads us to a set of double doors, and I sense a very dominating presence already, it must be the alphas. He pushes open the door and Caleb and I walk inside. The door slams closed behind us making me jump and squeeze Caleb’s hand tighter.

“You’re late and interrupting my dinner.” A male voice calls out and I finally notice we’re in a formal dining room. Sitting at a twelve-person table are two large wolves. The twin alpha’s have hair as white as snow and crystal green eyes. They’re each on one side of the table with one turned around facing us.

He smiles. “Excuse Elijah. He’s cranky when he has to wait longer than five minutes for something. Join us Caleb, you and your mate.” he says looking directly at me curiously.

With my hand still joined with Caleb’s we walk over to the table and take a seat. He leaves an open space between him and Everette.

“Normally when someone says seven, they mean seven, not eight-thirty.” Elijah the other twin growls taking a bite of his food.

“We got stuck in traffic” Caleb lies. “So, where’s-”

His sentence is cut off by the large double doors bursting open. We all turn our heads at the sudden intrusion. A woman with shoulder-length red hair and chocolate-brown eyes walks in. She smells like dark chocolate with a mix of the twin’s scent of Ivory.

Immediately the twins stand and so does Caleb. I quickly rise to my feet as the goddess of a woman rushes over to us and jumps into my mate’s arms.

“Caleb! I can’t believe you’re here! It’s been so long.” she shrieks and pulls away from him.

With a big smile on his face, Caleb's eyes rake over her body. “Brooke! It’s been a long time. You look great.”

She blushes at his compliment. “Thank you, Everette and Elijah have taken great care of me.” She winks at her mates and then turns her attention to me. Still, the smile never leaves her face. “And is this your mate Caleb? I heard we had a vampire in the pack house, but I didn’t believe it.”

I reach out my hand for her to shake. “I’m Faith it’s nice to meet you....”

She laughs. “I must have forgotten my manners I’m so sorry. I’m Brooke the Luna of The Twin Peaks Pack. I’m so excited to meet you!” she launches herself at me hugging me tightly.

Two loud growls erupt behind me, the twins. “Brooke be careful please,” Elijah warns and tries to take a step forward but Caleb growls at him.

“Faith isn’t going to hurt her!”

Brooke finally lets me go and rolls her eyes at Elijah. “Always so overprotective. How about Faith and I go out to the garden and let you three discuss business? I want to get to know my new friend.” She smiles at me and then back at her mates.

“I’m not so su-” Elijah starts but Everette cuts him off.

“Sounds like a great idea sweetheart, we trust you and Faith. Right, Elijah?” he glares at his twin who sighs and then nods.

Caleb speaks next grabbing my hand and looking deep into my eyes. “Are you okay with this Faith? You don’t have to go with her if you don’t want to,” he whispers, and I kiss his cheek.

“I want to go with her, don't worry I'll be fine.”

Sighing Caleb cups my face and kisses me. “I’ll try to hurry this meeting along, I love you.”

“I love you,” I confess and just stare into my mate’s beautiful blue eyes. Every time we make eye contact it’s like he’s looking deep into my soul. There’s just so much love and adoration in them and I hope he realizes I look at him the same way.

Accompanied by another set of warriors Brooke leads me outside to an outdoor patio area. There’s a bar, a large pool with a waterfall, and a row of sun loungers. It's dark now so cute fairy lights are shining around the patio deck which I really like.

Brooke picks a bright yellow sun lounger right in the middle and lays down. Immediately another she-wolf dressed in a black and white server suit runs up with a tray of drinks.

“Fancy a cocktail?” She smiles at me and then grabs a drink for herself.

I shrug and sit down. “Sure, why not? But I thought we were going to a garden?”

The wolf with the tray of drinks rushes over to me and I grab one. Brooke dismisses her quickly leaving us alone except for the dozen guards standing around pretending to be busy.

Brooke chuckles. “Garden please, I’d much rather drink and gossip. So, tell me about yourself who are you, Faith?” she smiles.

I don’t know anything about Brooke, but I can’t sense any ill intentions from her. I think she genuinely wants to know more about me. Caleb told me the twins are wary of outsiders and hardly leave their mansion in the woods. I have a feeling Brooke doesn’t have many friends. Which I can relate to.

So, I spend the next fifteen minutes telling Brooke about who my parents are and about growing up in the royal palace. I don’t bring up being part fae because I want to keep it a secret as much as possible.

The whole time she listens and asks questions in between. Brooke even tells me about herself and growing up with her six sisters and having to share everything. After an hour of talking, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about her.

I shake my head. “Wow, I can’t imagine having to share everything I own. I’m an only child and pretty spoiled.”

Brooke sighs. “It was the worst! Even if I bought something just for me someone would take it. I’m just so happy I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Yeah, being Luna means you don’t have to share unless you want to.” I smile and drink more of my fruity cocktail. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had so I'm feeling quite a buzz.

“So how long have you been Luna? I had no idea Caleb even found his mate?” she raises an eyebrow and I sense some attitude in her voice but ignore it. I’ve been drinking so I could be misinterpreting things.

“Not long. Caleb and I met about two months ago and started dating. We just recently officially mated and marked each other. My Luna ceremony was a couple of weeks ago.”

She frowns but then immediately masks it with a smile. “Wow.... I mean congratulations. Caleb is a great guy and being mated to an alpha is a blessing from the moon goddess.”

I can’t help but smile thinking about Caleb and how great he is. “Yeah, Caleb is amazing. He’s so sweet and affectionate. He remembers even the smallest things I tell him and he’s so passionate when we- sorry I shouldn’t be telling you this.” I blush at my stupidity. Of course, she doesn’t want to hear about my sex life. “So how long have you been with your mates?” I ask.

“Two years but it's complicated-” she replies but is interrupted by Caleb marching toward us.

“Faith we’re leaving now! Come on!” He growls and grabs me by the arm yanking me up harshly. He sniffs me and then growls again. This time it’s directed at Brooke. “You got her drunk? Haven’t you learned by now alcohol only makes things worse when you're involved!” he snaps.

She looks completely flabbergasted. “I’m sorry I-

“I don’t want to hear it! Leave me and my mate out of your bullshit drama!” Caleb shouts as we walk towards the back gate to leave. Our warriors who came with us instantly flanking our sides. I have no idea where they even came from.

“Why are you so mad? C-Caleb what’s going on?” I stumble over my words as I’m helped into the passenger seat of our SUV.

Caleb wastes no time starting the car and speeding away from their territory and down the road. His fists are tightly gripping the steering wheel and I’m afraid he’s going to actually break it this time.

“Caleb talk to me please, what’s going on? Why did you drag me away from Brooke? Did we get the alliance or what?”

"No."

“Then what happened? I’m worried, I’ve never seen you like this before.” I plead. All I feel is rage and confusion through our bond.

“I don’t want to tell you,” he mutters.

“Caleb just tell me please, I can handle it.”

He scoffs. “They didn’t want an alliance, Faith. Brooke is having issues getting pregnant and they think I can help.”

I’m utterly confused. “But how could you help?”

Sighing Caleb looks at me and I can tell he’s torn about what he’s about to say. “When I was seventeen Brooke, and I were friends. Our packs had an alliance and we saw each other a lot. Later on, we became friends with benefits. I was seventeen and she was twenty and hadn’t found her mate yet. We hooked up a few times and one of those times we didn’t use protection-

“No,” I say feeling my heart crumble into pieces. A tear falls from my face and Caleb tries to wipe it away, but I growl and push his hand away. He looks hurt by the action but at this moment I don’t care. “Tell me what happened?” I grit my teeth together.

He swallows hard and I know I will hate the next thing he says. “She got pregnant.... but we both realized it was a mistake... I was too young and-”

“So, she got rid of it? Brooke was pregnant but aborted her baby. Now she wants to have more kids and thinks only you can impregnate her again.”

He nods and reaches for me again but I just back up farther towards the door away from him. Tears continue to betray me and fall down my face. “Were you ever going to tell me about this?”

“No, I wasn’t. Some things just need to stay in the past, Brooke is my past. Telling you would do nothing but hurt you.”

A sarcastic chuckle leaves me. “Because finding out this way doesn’t hurt either! Your ex obviously still cares about you, she wants to have a baby with you Caleb!”

“I don’t care what she wants! Faith, I only want you. I’m happy with you, I love you.” he pleads pushing his feelings through the mate bond.

“Pull over,” I demand and he shakes his head. “I said pull over or I’m about to jump out of a moving vehicle!”

The SUV skids to a stop and I hop out. I don’t even spare a moment to say goodbye before I take off running into the woods. Caleb shouts for me and I know he’s going to chase after me but I’m going so fast I know he won’t catch me. I don’t want him to catch me, I need space, to be alone.

I need TRUST.