Chapter 24
Henry
She cried for what felt like forever, although Henry wasn’t impatient for it to finish. He was frustrated that he couldn’t adequately comfort Ophelia as she struggled with what sounded like years of grief and frustration and feelings of inadequacy. He hated every second of it and wished there were a way for him to tell her the fault lay with the rest of the world, not her.
Whatever she’d done—or her magic had done—when he surprised them in his room had disrupted whatever it was that let him immediately turn back to human. It wasn’t uncomfortable, exactly, to be stuck as a wolf. Normally he wouldn’t have minded in the least. The only real irritation came from having Ophelia in his room, in his bed, and not being able to welcome her as he’d planned.
Henry let her pull on his fur and beat on his side as she sobbed, and nosed under her arm when she tried to hide her face in the pillow. He didn’t like her hiding herself away. He wanted to see her. He even licked her hand to try and distract her, remembering in a flash that he’d cleaned her hands at the restaurant only a few hours before. Henry bit back a growl of frustration at the circumstances that had brought them together—and yet still kept them apart.
He breathed easier when Ophelia’s tears slowed and then stopped, and she started to relax. Her arm looped across his shoulders as her grip on his fur finally eased. Henry’s ears pricked as he heard a soft sound in the hall as someone approached; he glared at the half-open door as Mercy peeked in, but the other wolf retreated before Ophelia noticed her. He vaguely remembered Deirdre saying something about Nola confronting Evershaw and knew he should have untangled himself from Ophelia and attempted to shift back.
But he couldn’t make himself leave her. She absently petted his head, her fingers working around the base of his ears, and Henry groaned in sheer ecstasy at the sensation. It was surprisingly intimate, to have her stroking him like that in his wolf form. He waited, unsure of what to do. He could have shifted back to human, but somehow he didn’t think having a naked man snuggled up to her instead of a wolf would help Ophelia’s equilibrium any.
So he remained in wolf form and waited until her hands stilled and her breathing slowed and she slept. Henry eased off the bed and shifted so he could get dressed, and hesitated as he looked at where Ophelia dozed. He didn’t understand much about magic, but it sure looked exhausting. He tiptoed out of his room and searched for where his sister and Evershaw had ended up. Even though he didn’t want to, he needed to talk to Nola about what her real goal was. Henry got the feeling he’d get no peace until the Montana pack was sorted out.
Henry found Deirdre, Evershaw, Nola, Fran, and Mercy on the front porch, sitting in relative silence as Nola and Evershaw scowled at each other. Deirdre patted her mate’s arm and gestured for Henry to take a seat. “How is Ophelia?”
“Sleeping,” he said, and didn’t want to say another damn thing about her in front of his sister. Henry exhaled and steeled himself for an uncomfortable conversation. “I hear there was trouble earlier, Nola. Care to explain?”
Her expression darkened. “It’s not my fault the males had no control or manners.”
He sighed but didn’t press further. Nola didn’t suffer fools, and Henry knew there were enough fools in SilverLine that a confrontation had been inevitable. He’d just wished “inevitable” took longer than just a few hours. “No blood spilled?”
“Nope,” Mercy said cheerfully—and very quickly. Which made Henry suspect there was a lot more to the confrontation than any of them wanted to admit. The other wolf smiled with all her teeth and hopped to her feet, gesturing for Fran to go with her. “Let’s make some coffee and get some snacks before dinner, shall we?”
Fran followed meekly, not even looking at him, and Henry fought down anger that Nola could ever have planned to force the poor girl to mate with Henry. How could she have suggested such a thing? He kept a handle on his irritation though, when he considered all the challenges Ophelia faced on a daily basis. The least he could do was have a civilized conversation with his sister.
Once the two younger women had disappeared into the house, Deirdre looked at Nola and raised her eyebrows. “You’re welcome to stay for a few days, as we said, so long as Henry doesn’t object. But you’ll have to settle down a bit and give up this plan of dragging him away against his will. It’s not going to happen.”
Nola’s expression darkened. “He has an obligation to his family.”
“His family had an obligation to him,” Evershaw said, tone sharp and carrying more growl than normal. “And his family failed him. He owes you nothing.”
“Who else is in line for alpha, Nola?” Henry asked. He felt tired all the way to his bones, and regretted leaving his room. He should have slept beside Ophelia and just called it a night, left all of this nonsense for the morning.
She blinked and folded her arms over her chest. “No one, because you’re—”
“You can’t tell me that no one challenged Ulrich in the years since I left. There have to be other males in the pack who want to take over.”
Nola’s gaze slid away from his. “There are a few, but none who are meant to lead.”
“Sean or Hendrick, maybe?” He searched his memory for any of the males who might have grown strong enough to lead a group of half-wild gray wolves in the middle of nowhere. “Cappy was a good dude. Why wouldn’t he—”
“They all left,” she said. Nola swallowed hard and for a moment, real fear lurked in her gaze before it was replaced with determination. “Ulrich drove most of them away or they died.”
Evershaw grunted, some of his irritation fading. “I’ve seen it before. Better just to disband the pack, let everyone go their own way until they find a new place to belong. Get rid of the bad memories and just move on.”
Nola’s cold gaze moved to the alpha. “There are too many women and children to try and break up the pack now. We don’t have enough money to split everyone up and make sure they get somewhere safe. The best option—the only option—is for Henry to come back and take his place as alpha. He can fix things. He can get the pack strong and healthy again.”
Henry’s heart sank. He’d always feared something like that would happen when Ulrich got too abusive and violent. Those who had the strength and resources to leave would leave, and those left behind... would be stuck. His chest ached to think of the weaker members of the pack left with no one to protect them. “It can’t be the only option, Nola. You can be alpha. You’d be a great leader.”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “You can’t be serious.”
“You’re bitchy enough to be a leader,” Evershaw said under his breath, ignoring the dark look Deirdre sent his way.
Henry raised an eyebrow at his sister. “My father was your father. There’s no reason it can’t be you.”
“We’ve always had male alphas,” she said. “That’s just how it is.”
