Celina woke up with a start and scanned the room she was in. Pico rubbed her back, calming her down and she realized she was in his house. She had successfully helped him get the nomad pack with them but today would be a big day. Once they’d arrived back last night they had more sex then passed out. On the way back, Pico had been on the phone with Ian, the alpha discussing the plan with Axel. They hadn’t had a chance to really talk about Alia. She missed her little girl’s smile and laugh.
“Where is Alia?” Pico leaned up and met her gaze.
“She’s with my sister back in Ohio. I had no clue how long it would take to find you. I didn’t want to be searching for months and take her away from her studies.”
“I see.” Pico didn’t say anything else. Celina decided to change the topic. He already seemed agitated for some reason.
“What if your plan doesn’t work?” Celina turned toward Pico, who rubbed his arms like they hurt.
“Ian is sure it will. He doesn’t have a mate or children Bev can hold over his head. Man, my wolf is agitated.” Pico shook his head.
“Which makes this plan even more dangerous. What happens if Ian dies?” The long pause from Pico made her nervous.
“I would become the next alpha unless he surrenders the pack to Bev before death.”
“You would be the alpha,” Celina said the words but she couldn’t comprehend them at the moment.
“The plan will work. Axel is talking to the other pack not loyal to Bev and then we will have plenty of manpower to protect the territory.”
“It also has to depend on a witch using magic too.” Celina shoved her hands through her hair.
They climbed into the shower and ate a quick breakfast, they were due to be at Ian’s house soon but Celina’s stomach didn’t want to take anything in. The damn nerves had her stomach in knots.
Celina grabbed her phone and called Jina’s phone to talk to Alia.
“Hello,” Jina answered with a sneer.
“I would like to talk to Alia please.”
“She isn’t here.” Jina’s voice raised a bit. Celina wondered if her sister would actually lie to her.
“Where is she?” Celina glanced at Pico for a moment then looked at the table, trying to focus on the background noise.
“She’s out.”
“Jina, give Alia the damn phone. I can hear the cartoons in the background.” Celina grew more irritated every passing second. She needed to hear her little girl’s voice to make sure she was doing okay.
“You left her in my care, Celina. I’m watching out for her,” Jina said before the sound of a door being closed filtered through the phone.
“Damn it, Sister, this is my daughter. I’m coming back on Monday. I wanted to tell her the good news myself.”
“I will tell her when she gets back.” The line died, leaving Celina more irritated than worried. Her damn sister needed to get the damn stick out of her ass.
“If we can get this stuff fixed today, I want to leave to get Alia tomorrow. I don’t care if I have to drive again.” Celina shoved her hands through her hair and met his gaze.
“Why is Jina doing this? Why did you leave her there again?”
“She is the only family I have other than you Pico. I didn’t think she would get all ‘momma bear’ with my daughter.” Celina ground her teeth together.
“We better get going then. We can talk everything over tonight.” Pico stood and they walked out of his house. Soon she would be able to call it her home when her stuff arrived. At the moment, it didn’t have any feminine touches to it other than in the kitchen, thanks to Pico’s mother.
They arrived at Ian’s place but the whole property was eerily quiet. There were wolves hanging out up front and outside and when Pico parked the truck everyone stared at him. Something isn’t right.
Pico grabbed her hand and they moved toward the white house white house. The alpha had a nice place with nothing but land behind the structure. When they crossed the threshold, a horrible smell reached her nose, making her want to vomit. Pico’s grip tightened on Celina’s hand and she followed his gaze.
A wolf in mid-shift was strung up and cut across the neck and then a cut was made the length of his body, leaving his internal organs on the floor. Celina couldn’t hold it back anymore, she vomited her breakfast out onto the wooden floors.
“What happened?” Pico growled out. Kimberly walked up to Celina and handed her a glass of water.
“Your father wanted to be here early to help Ian out and we found him like this.” Kimberly’s voice shook. “Drink, my dear.”
“Mom, help Celina get washed up while I help Pico get Ian down,” Ricky spoke to Kimberly, who was rubbing Celina’s back.
“Ricky, get a few more in here to help clean up the mess.” Kimberly shook her head while ushering Celina up the steps.
“I really wish you didn’t have to see that.” Kimberly smiled and Celina coughed a bit.
“Who would do that?” Celina moved into a bathroom to swish around some water and calm her body down.
“We will go back down when you’re ready, my dear.”
“Would Bev really kill Ian?” Celina dabbed a towel against her lips trying to drag her feet a bit. She’d never seen a dead body like that, her parents weren’t mutilated when they were killed in the car crash.
“I’m not sure my, dear. I caught a scent that I’m not familiar with but Pico will have to make the decision to act on it.
“Why...” Celina was about to ask why her mate had to be the one to decide when the memory of their conversation from earlier filled her mind. “Fuck, he’s the new alpha,” Celina hissed.
“Which makes you the alpha female my dear.” Kimberly’s soft voice vibrated in her brain. Celina looked in the mirror, the urge to vomit again twisted her already empty stomach. She swallowed hard and turned to Kimberly.
“They have the bleach out so that means Ian is outside.” Kimberly gave her a short smile. The woman had a sense of cheerfulness to her that wasn’t showing because of the present situation.
“I’m as ready as I will ever be.” Celina turned off the light in the bathroom and headed for her changing future. She had only planned on finding Pico and being happy but now her mate was the damn alpha. What should I do? Should I run back home and forget, or stay and accept every Wiccan change?