Maybe there was more to Ivy than what he’d first thought. Perhaps a vulnerable young girl had become promiscuous and gone into another man’s bed, like this Lakota that Fox had mentioned. Did she love him? He must have realized his error in judgment and left the pack, unless Kizer had forced him out.
Still, Lorenzo couldn’t blame her. If Ivy’s innocence had been taken at such a young age, then she couldn’t have known better. With the loss of her mother, it wouldn’t surprise him if she had sought comfort and protection in the arms of another man. Someone who would keep Fox away from her since they lived in the same house.
He stroked her ear and suddenly felt listless. Ivy had awakened new emotions within him, and now that he knew her heart belonged to another man, it hollowed him out. Lorenzo hadn’t realized until that moment how much he was beginning to respect this courageous woman who was a fighter in every aspect of her life. She possessed a quiet strength that even his pack admired.
“Don’t make me force you out of there,” he whispered.
The silver wolf closed her eyes and released a high-pitched whine—one that could shatter a man’s heart. When her brown eyes opened, they glittered with pain. He didn’t want her to shift in front of the cold window, so he stood up and coaxed her to follow.
“Come with me,” he said, patting his bare leg and moving toward the door.
She stood up and trotted toward him. Her wolf walked better than Ivy did, but she also had three other legs to help her along. When they reached the stairs, Lorenzo called out for Caleb.
After a minute, Caleb jogged downstairs with a phone in his hand. “What’s up?”
They stood close and Lorenzo lowered his voice. “Collect the dead wolves on the property from the rogue pack.”
“What do you want me to do with them?”
“Take their pelts.”
Caleb glanced down at Ivy. “An offering?” he said with an arch of his brow.
Lorenzo nailed him with an intolerant gaze. “I need a new blanket.”
“That’s not really our custom.”
“It is in my culture,” he quickly said.
The human tribes of Native Americans didn’t share the same beliefs as Shifters, although they did in some regards. Shifters had their own subset of beliefs that were passed down from wolf to wolf. As a whole, their Native Americans had become a melting pot of language and beliefs, but over time, split up into tribes. Lorenzo’s grandfather had once told him that when you killed an enemy who sought to take your life, their spirit roamed in the afterlife, seeking you out. Spirits stay away from their lifeless bodies because they’re afraid of them, so the Shifters in his family would bury the bones in their campsite or wear a tooth around their neck. Lorenzo could do the same, but perhaps having their fur in the home would keep them away.
He’d scoffed at Ivy for her superstitious notions about bad spirits, but she was right. Ivy’s beliefs differed from his because she didn’t come from the same tribe, yet they spoke the same language of history and spiritualism that other Shifters didn’t understand.
Before ascending the stairs, he put his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Bury the bones of one of those wolves on Cole’s land. Don’t let them see you do it, and cover up the scent.”
Caleb’s brows popped up, but he didn’t question his Packmaster’s orders. “You have my word.”
“I’m proud of you, Caleb. You’ve shown leadership in William’s absence and have risen to the challenge.” Lorenzo patted his shoulder twice before heading upstairs at a pace that would allow Ivy’s wolf to keep up with him.
“Why have our destinies collided?” he murmured when they reached the top floor.
She waited and allowed him to enter the room first before trotting inside behind him, her toenails clicking on the floor. When Lorenzo had burst into the house the previous night, his instinct told him to cradle Ivy in his arms and carry her away from danger. But he’d foolishly allowed her father’s poisonous words to enter his mind and germinate.
The layers of complexity to this woman brought him back down to earth. Or maybe it was the prophecy his grandmother had told him based on recurring dreams. She’d said, “On a full moon, I have seen a great change in your life. Spirits will come at you from all directions. There will be a power shift within your pack, and your wolf will love a woman whose heart belongs to another. Blood will cover the moon, but I cannot see whose it will be.”
Not so long ago, Lorenzo had thought that female was Alexia. His grandmother had said his wolf would love this woman, but his inner wolf hadn’t cried out for Alexia when they met.
The first time he laid eyes on Ivy at Austin’s peace party, his wolf sang. She’d spoken poetic words under the influence of narcotics that were floating around at the party, but it was as if he could see her spirit wolf. The second time was at an outdoor gathering, and his wolf had almost lunged out of his skin to attack a drunk who had put his hands on her.
It had been Ivy all along.