The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 61 - A Song and Dance

Look at me go! Updating every week?! I hope you're all very proud of me. We'll see how long I can keep this up 😂

They had replaced the temporary bridge across the river with something more permanent, made of wood and steel beams. It had railings and even some lanterns to line the way. I watched the steady stream of Riverside pack members walking across that bridge and smiled a little.

We had a big clearing near the border, so the celebration was being held on our territory. The fighters had spent the day setting up pavilions in case it rained, and we'd had a few minutes of drizzle already. There were strings of fairy lights everywhere, old carpet covering the snow, and tables full of food and drink. It exceeded the founding party, if I did say so myself.

Lizzie and Jaden were the first to seek us out. They were leading their pack across the river, and they joined us under the pavilion. She wasn't wearing a dress — none of us were, in this bitter cold — but she was dressed up nicely all the same in a glittery sweater. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like the arm that was linked with Jaden was rigid and tense, while the other one hung loose.

"How are you?" I asked her while Tyler and Jaden greeted each other.

She gave me a smile that was almost convincing. "Oh, I'm okay, thank you. And you?"

"Good," I said. "Would you like some champagne?"

I had to get rid of it somehow. I had thirty bottles here because we hadn't known how many pack members would want to come — better too much alcohol than too little, in my opinion. We would need it to ease conversations between people who had been bitter enemies only two weeks ago. To me, it looked like there were sixty from New Dawn and fifty from Riverside. A good turn-out, by all accounts, but I had been hoping for better.

But when I held out the glass, Lizzie shook her head. One of her hands came to rest on her stomach. "Thank you, but I, um, I shouldn't."

I set her glass down and took a sip of my own. I eyed her, and then I eyed the hand on her stomach.

"Congratulations, Lizzie," I told her. It was barely louder than a breath, because we weren't alone here, but she heard it and smiled.

"I think I'm equally scared and excited," she confided. "We haven't told the pack yet — I hope you can be discreet?"

I squeezed her hand. "Of course."

No doubt Jaden would tell Jace the first chance he got. He had so far refrained from pressing me about our agreement to have children, but I was worried this might add some pressure. At the moment, Aria was the only heir to the Alpha position, and that needed to change sooner rather than later. But unfortunately, I did not feel ready to bring a child into this world. Lizzie was younger than me — she must have felt even less ready.

It was possible to pinpoint the moment Jace arrived because all of a sudden there was a chorus of people greeting him as he walked through the crowd. None of them paid much heed to the dark-haired, blue-eyed girl walking alongside him, because why should they? She could have been anyone. A friend's child, a cousin even...

"Are you going to do it now?" I asked him.

"No, we'll let them celebrate first," he replied. "Either way, it will distract from the peace efforts, but we don't have much choice now that—"

We were interrupted by a burst of lively music as the band started up. It was time for the dancing to begin, and I wasn't sure if that was a relief or a worry. As it stood, the Riverside men and women were gathered together at one edge of the pavilion, while our own pack members had retreated to the other edge.