Wolf Mountain Peak Complete Series, page 115
part #1 of Wolf Mountain Peak Series
The revelation paralyzed Ray’s mind and limbs. Shutting his eyes, he pressed his lips together, recalling the narrative of Julia and Carrie’s argument. It was the last time they spoke to one another. His mate had made a promise to herself and her loved ones that she would never reach out to the woman who had effectively killed her father by cheating on him. Ray didn’t know what had driven Carrie to plot against his family. Yet, he did know what his beloved Julia needed. The stillness of her gaze was screaming at him. Jumping from his seat, he kicked his chair backward with the heel of his boot, and then turned around, staring down at her white fingertips. He threw his arms around her waist, and held her close, letting out a long, heavy breath.
“James, stop that thing,” he urged, his voice dropping an octave, feeling Julia’s curls brush his chin.
“I really don’t know what to say,” James muttered, reaching towards the cover of his laptop to press it closed.
“Monica, what’s her mother’s maiden name?” Ray asked, shifting his gaze towards his brother’s mate.
“Whitaker,” the doctor said on an exhale. “Why?”
“I found a picture of a little girl earlier, where we went after the shooter,” He told her, removing his arm from Julia. Reaching down, he shoved his hand into his pocket, and pulled the picture out. “Is this her?” he inquired, handing it over to Monica.
“Yes,” she gave a firm nod, her voice wobbly. “I’ve seen it before. Julia and I used to go over family photo albums when we were kids. I don’t understand; why would an assassin carry it with him?”
“That’s not what’s important right now,” he replied in a low tone, returning his gaze to Julia, curling his free arm around her neck. A sob fled her lips when he pressed her head onto his chest. The sensation of her quivering body in his embrace sent his heart into a downward spiral. Ray drowned in her scent, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. Once again, his “mess” as he was used to calling her, had been bitterly let down by her own flesh and blood. This time however, Carrie had done something even more unthinkable than be merely disloyal to her husband. Ray could not predict where this act of war could lead. He could only hold his mate in his arms, in the hope that his love and support would help her heal, as they had done in the past.
Chapter Nine
The short walk back to their cabin resembled more of a march of grieving relatives at someone’s funeral. Slow, heavy footsteps sent Ray and Julia back to their home. Neither of them opened their mouths. For him, uttering any words felt useless and completely pointless. He might have had occasional disputes with his parents while they were alive, but his mother and father had never betrayed him like this. As such, Ray could only imagine the pain that had been dwelling within Julia. What would a sentence do to soothe that agony? How could he hope that anything he might suggest would comfort her, particularly just minutes after a revelation that had shocked her to her very core? Alas, he had but one option: to wait for her to address him first.
Later on, in his living room, he noticed that the fire in their fireplace was burning to its dying embers. There were just two, charred logs, stacked on top of one another, surrounded by burnt-out twigs and ashes.
“I need to go get some more wood,” he told Julia, turning on his heel leaving her standing in the middle of the room.
“Ray, wait,” she croaked, forcing him to stop, while she crossed her arms over her chest. “Please, talk to me.”
“What’s there to say, mess?” Ray wondered, thrusting his arms out to the side. “That she screwed you over again? That’s she’s a freaking psychopath? That this is a new low for her? Is any of that going to help you?”
“I guess not,” Julia whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing her gaze on him. “I’m lost here. My own mother is trying to kill the man I love; for what? What have you done to her? And teaming up with vampires? How the hell did she even know they existed?”
Ray parted his lips, ready to voice his ignorance on the matter; but, just then, a red plume of smoke that shot up from the wooden floor, on Julia’s left, pulled him out of the difficult position he was in.
“If you’ve come here to brag, save it,” Ray’s mate said, tension creeping into her voice, tossing a vicious, sideways glare at Helena.
“Brag!” the witch exclaimed, her brows shooting up. “I would love for my theory to be wrong, my dear Julia. It would spare you from the world of pain you are in right now. Alas, it’s not. But, there is a positive side to this. We can get to the mastermind of this insanity. Where does your mother live?”
“Muscle Beach, LA,” Julia groaned, tearing her gaze away from her. “Why? What are you going to do, kill her?”
“No, that’s…” Helena faltered, averting her eyes from her to throw a puzzled glance up at Ray. “That’s not my intent. I mean to monitor her, find out more about her plans. Firstly though, I need to pay a visit to your uncle. The photograph indicates he’s the one behind those shootings.”
“Well, good,” Julia nodded in satisfaction, turning to her once more, “because I want to do that. I want to watch that bitch die.”
“No, no, no!” Ray barked out, leaning over towards her, his face twisting with a mix of surprise and fear. “Don’t go there, Jules! Yeah, we need to handle her, but you can’t do that. Do you really want to carry that burden?”
“It’s not going to be a burden,” Julia explained in an emphatic tone, her face hardening more and more by the second. “It’ll be the end of an enemy. That’s all there is to it.”
“Who are you trying to convince, mess?” Ray spoke, his voice deepening, and the green in his eyes darkening. “Is it you or me?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m going to need your uncle’s full name and address,” Helena interjected, shifting her gaze back to Julia.
“His name’s Eric Whitaker, he lives in Green Mountain in Vermont, but he’s not our shooter,” Julia declared, still staring up at her mate. “The guy’s a retired cab driver, for crying out loud. He doesn’t have the first idea about guns.”
“We still have to pay him a visit,” Ray pointed out, running his hand through his hair. “Let’s hope he is who you think he is.”
“Please, write down your mother’s address for me,” Helena politely requested, making her voice sound sweeter.
“Follow me,” Julia urged, turning right. Only then did she avert her gaze from her mate. The pure, unadulterated rage that had been threatening to consume her was becoming all the more obvious to him. Minute after minute, the sweet, cheerful girl he knew and loved was transforming into a vicious creature, which seemed ready and willing to tear apart its flesh and blood. While he could understand the reason behind her reaction, Ray could not allow that horrific thought to nestle in her heart and mind. It was not a matter of control over her; he had never even attempted to dictate her actions. It was merely an issue of preventing her from making a mistake that she would have to live with for the rest of her life.
“Thank you,” The witch spoke in her feathery voice, taking the small piece of paper with Carrie’s address into her hand. “Excuse me. I need to talk to Cliff and explain to him why I’ll be flying to Los Angeles tomorrow.”
“You’re catching a flight?” Ray squinted down at her. “I thought you could teleport over there.”
“I’m a witch, Ray, not a goddess,” Helena claimed, a smile of amusement forming on her face. “Los Angeles is far beyond my reach and my sight. Goodnight to you both.”
Her maternal figure’s disappearance in one more cloud of smoke signaled the beginning of his quest for the right words to phrase his objection. Sauntering towards his mate, he let out a long sigh, realizing that he needed to hold tightly on to his temper. Aggression would only bring more aggression, and Julia was already upset. Almost anything could trigger yet another, angry outburst.
“We can go to Vermont whenever you like,” He assumed a calm, steady tone, taking one last step closer to her. “Even though I believe it’s your uncle that shot us last night, I really hope it’s not him.”
“It’s not,” she repeated her opinion, her voice coming out faint. “He’s just a tool, though; a means to an end. And I’m going to rip dear mommy’s throat out, whether you like it or not.”
“And you’re going to wallow with regret for the rest of your life,” Ray uttered, his baritone lowering further as he gazed down into her eyes. “Look, I’m not going to try to talk you out of this. She’s your mom. But, you say you want to have children someday. Imagine if they run into a photo of hers. What are you going to tell them? ‘Sorry baby, grandma’s passed. I ripped her to shreds, some years before you were born.”
“They’ll understand if they learn what she was,” Julia whispered, dragging her gaze away from him. “A cheater who killed their grandpa and a murdering bitch who tried to have her own daughter killed.”
“Okay,” He heaved one more sigh, struggling to believe her persistence. “Do you remember what you’d asked me, back in ‘Northern Oak’? You know, on the eve of Kate and Dean’s mating ceremony?”
“I wasn’t that drunk,” She snorted, feeling red heat flush her cheeks. “Yeah, it was something like: ‘What happened to the cool, funny guy I met at my friend’s wedding? Have you seen him?’”
“Right,” Ray gave a soft nod, reaching his hands towards hers. “Should I return the question?”
“She’s hired an assassin!” Julia cried, her gaze shooting up to meet his, two tears toppling over the edges of her eyes. “She’s teamed up with vampires, for God’s sake!”
“So, we’ll take care of her - and them,” he assured her, wrapping his fingers around her hands. “Baby, you’ve never looked into someone’s eyes when they’ve died, have you? This isn’t like killing vampires. They’re cold; they feel like they’re made of ice. A human, though?” he paused, furrowing his brow. “They’re nothing like that. Regardless of what they’ve done or who they are, they’ve all got the same, horrified look, just before the end. Even the thug I killed the other day, the guy who had been threatening James with a gun, had that same exact fear in his eyes. It seemed like he was begging me to let him take just one more breath, one last taste of life. Now, you’re telling me you want to do that to the woman who gave birth to you? Who raised you? And I’m supposed to sit by and let you go down that path? Let the darkness take you? No, Julia. I’m not going to lose my mate because of her mother’s mistakes. Because that’s what’s going to happen, mess. My sweet, wacky girl will be gone. Guilt will consume you.”
“Oh, God…” she whispered in helplessness, shutting her eyes, leaning in towards him. “I’m sorry, Ray,” she sniffled, resting her head on his chest. “It’s just that…”
“I know,” he interrupted, pitching his voice higher while sliding his hands up her arms. “You have every right to be mad at her. Hell, I’d be furious if my mother did that to me, too. But, killing her yourself will not make her betrayal go away.”
“What do you think I should do?” Julia asked, slowly easing back. “Should I go to L.A. with Helena?”
“Bad call,” Ray commented, clenching his jaw. “You shouldn’t confront her just yet. I think we should take a little trip to Vermont; the sooner, the better.”
“Let’s do it tomorrow,” she suggested, holding back a sob. “We need to leave early. It’s a long way.”
“I’ll go tell Raul and Dean I’m taking tomorrow off,” he stated, his tone deep with a small smile bursting out upon his lips. Ray planted a loving kiss onto Julia’s forehead, and then turned left, eager to tell his brothers about their decision. Most of all, though, Ray was overcome with relief. He had managed to change his Julia’s mind. She had realized the weight of her statements. He would love to believe that she would not fall prey to her own anger; yet, he was well-aware that it wouldn’t be easy. One more attempt on their lives could - and probably would - bring back her rage. For him, disposing of the shooter was even more imperative than handling the issue with her mother.
Chapter Ten
Predictably, neither Raul, nor Dean objected to their brother’s plan. They welcomed his decision to go visit Vermont, but they both wanted to go with him and Julia, maintaining that things could get dangerous for them. Although Ray appreciated their offers, he was compelled to reject them because he and Julia had to keep up appearances. They were simply paying a visit to her uncle. She wished to introduce her boyfriend to him. For a total stranger to bring his brothers along would seem very strange indeed. It would invite questions - questions that they were not willing to answer.
The next morning, the young couple left Paxton behind them, seeking the truth about Eric Whitaker. For Julia, this drive was of no use whatsoever. Throughout the long drive to Vermont, she kept repeating that her uncle could not be the man who had opened fire upon them. Although Ray was desperate to solve the mystery of the shooter’s identity, he had to admit that she had a point. To imply that a sixty-two year old, former taxi driver had the necessary expertise, equipment, and physical strength to hunt them down on their own turf sounded ridiculous. It would take years and years of training in the military, exercise and a proper diet, things that Eric did not possess. He had never enlisted, and he loved junk food. Upon his retirement, he was so fed up with life in the city that he moved to Vermont with her aunt Madeleine. In any case, however, he was the only family that Julia had. The faded picture of her mother in the clearing suggested that someone close to Carrie had undertaken this gruesome task. Ray had to head over to Vermont, in order to ensure that he wasn’t the man for whom they were searching. Ruling him out as a suspect would not mean much, but they would be free afterwards to look into other clues they might find along the way.
Four hours later, his pickup truck rolled into Green Mountain National Forest. He discovered that winter was much harsher in that part of the state than it had ever been in his birthplace. The tree trunks on the slopes around the road were covered in snow, reaching almost all the way up to the first branches. Some of those branches were bending under the weight of the snow. Other than the harshness of the landscape, however, it looked like a fantastic place for an elderly couple to retire. Serenity existed in the atmosphere that could not be found in a metropolis like New York City. The air was clean and light, filled with the scents of the trees along with the freshness of the snow.
Eric’s house was located on the hillside, more than two hundred feet above the forest itself. Even so though, it was surrounded by lush greenery. Snowy treetops were peeking over the roof, and there were large, thick bushes on either side of the property, serving like natural fences. As Ray’s vehicle drew near the front yard, he spotted Julia’s uncle, shoveling snow outside of his garage. In a matter of seconds, he discovered the honesty in her description about him. He couldn’t be more than 5’10” and he could tell that he was overweight, even from fifty yards away. The brown coat he had on stretched outward in front of him.
“If that man outran three wolves, I’m the Queen of England,” Julia teased while the truck rolled to a gentle halt just outside the property’s entrance.
“Okay…” Ray gave a short chuckle watching Eric toss the shovel across his yard. “He’s definitely not our guy. Let’s talk to him. I just hope we didn’t drive up here for nothing.”
“Julia?” The elderly man said in a nasal voice when she stepped out of the truck. “Damn! Now that’s what I call a surprise!”
“Heyyyy, Uncle Eric!” She sang, broadly smiling, lighting up her face. She strolled towards him. “How have you been? Where’s my aunt?”
“I’m better than ever, pumpkin!” he cheered, welcoming her into his embrace. “Your aunt’s in her favorite place in the world: her kitchen. Who’s your big friend?” he inquired, casting a quick glance up at Ray, as the young shifter moved around his truck.
“Oh, that’s my boyfriend,” Julia stated. “Ray, this is my Uncle Eric.”
“It’s a pleasure, sir,” Ray tipped his head down in a polite manner, offering his hand for a handshake.
“Boy, he’s large,” Eric giggled, squeezing the shifter’s hand in his hand. “What brings you kids over here? Let me guess. You had enough of all that noise, and decided to pay your dear old uncle a visit.”
“Actually, I don’t live in New York anymore,” Julia pointed out, shaking her head sideways. “I quit my job at the bank, and moved to a sweet little place upstate, called Paxton.”
“Beautiful,” Eric praised, his oval-shaped, brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “It sure as hell beats that shithole your momma lives in. I just hate L.A. It’s full of knuckleheads and bimbos.”
“You got that right,” Julia agreed with a chuckle.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Come on in,” Eric urged, lifting his arm to place his hand over his niece’s shoulder. “Hey, Madeleine!” he shouted, turning to face his home. “You’ll never guess who’s here!”
Ray sucked in a deep breath, gazing around at the scenery while they trotted off towards the residence. The snow-covered mountain dominated his view, towering before him. Regardless of their size, the scarce trees and bushes on the slopes looked like miniatures, lost in the sheer vastness of the area. In a way, it reminded him of the holy ground of his forefathers but on a much, much larger scale. The rugged wilderness was stretching out around them, ruling in splendor and magnificence over the land, breathtaking and mostly unspoiled by humans. In his mind, this scene of unparalleled beauty was worth the trouble of driving all the way to Vermont. He had suspected that their quest to find the shooter would not end here, but at least he would get something out of this seemingly unnecessary road trip.
Eric’s front door opened to a large, yet plain kitchen. Julia’s aunt, an elderly, short, but much thinner lady, was leaning over the table, chopping onions. As soon as Madeleine’s and his mate’s eyes met, a broad smile lit up her pale face.
