Chapter 132
#Chapter 132 – United
When Victor and Evelyn walk back into the campsite, him still leaning heavily on her shoulder, their
family is waiting for them.
Ian and Alvin rush forward, throwing themselves into their parents’ arms.
“We’re so d you’re okay,” Alvin whispers, his voice excited but edged with sleepiness.
“Did you win?” Ian asks, looking excitedly up at his dad.
His dad ruffles his hair and gives him a warm smile, but doesn’t answer. It’s aplicated question.
Instead, the family moves, together, towards the still-burning fire at the middle of the campsite. Marissa
and Bridgette are there, waiting, and Henry rolls out onto the porch of his cabin. Looking around, Victor
can see his Beta team edging closer, all eager to hear the results of the trial.
“Well well,” Henry says, folding his hands in hisp. “I see that one of my sons has returned, apparently
victorious. And where is Rafe?”
Evelyn can see Bridgette biting her lip, anxious.
Victor flicks his head backwards, indicating the still-dark forest, though dawn is starting to light the sky.
“He’s still out there, writhing in the snow, feeling the effects of wolfsbane.”
Bridgette gasps, getting shakily to her feet, staring out into the woods. Evelyn’s heart goes out to her; if
it had been Rafe that returned to let them know that Victor was lying in the snow, suffering, she’d be
desperate to help him.
Henry opens his mouth to say more, but Victor interrupts him. “Rafe cheated. He sent a proxy in to take
his ce in the fight, not showing up until his entire force had been wiped out.”
Henry nods, ncing at the boys, who had told him the same. He opens his mouth, ready to dere a
winner.
“But,” Victor continues, “the final blow to Rafe was not delt with my hand.”
Henry’s mouth snaps shut. The family and Betas look at Victor and Evelyn, confused. Silence reigns in
the clearing.
Then, Evelyn shrugs. “I did it.”
She takes a few steps forward and reaches down to grab the bottle of white wine out of its cooling pile
of snow. “And now I’m going to bed. We can talk about all of this,” she waves a hand to indicate the
whole trial, which she still thinks is ridiculous, “in the morning.”
“She’s right,” Victor says, nodding. “We’re exhausted, we’ll sort this out in the morning after the medic
teams go retrieve the wounded.” With this, he looks pointedly at his lead Beta, who nods, salutes, and
then hurries off to retrieve Rafe and the twenty wounded Betas from the woods.
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Shooting everyone in the clearing a wide smile, and not giving them a chance to protest, Evelyn grabs
two metal mugs out of a box of supplies and then, decisively, takes Victor’s hand. With little resistance,
he goes with her to their cabin. The boys quickly follow behind.
Inside the cabin, Evelyn pours herself a mug of wine and sips it while she helps the boys out of their
snow gear. Their eyes are half-lidded now after all of the excitement. They allow themselves to be
tucked into their nkets with little protest.
“No more sneaking out,” Evleyn murmurs to them as she kisses each on their forehead. She turns to
see Victor tending to his ankle, hissing as he eases off his boot and surveys the bruised and swollen
flesh.
“Is it broken?” she asks,ing closer.
“No,” he murmurs, wincing as he flexes and points his foot. “Sprained, I think, but badly.” She hands
him a long strip of gauze from a first-aid pack she finds beneath the bed and he wraps his ankle tightly.
When he finishes, Evelyn hands him two ibuprofen from the kit and half a mug of wine with which to
wash them down.
Victor smirks before popping the pills into his mouth and then chasing them with sauvignon nc.
“Whiskey would have been better.” He winces as he swallows.
“Whiskey would have been gross,” Evelyn responds passively, helping him ease back onto the bed and
prop his injured leg up onto some pillows to decrease the swelling. “You’ll see a doctor about it
tomorrow?”
Nodding his assent, Victor closes his eyes and leans his head back. Evelyn climbs into the bed as well,
curling up next to him, her mostly-empty ss of wine still pressed into her hand.
“Tomorrow,” Victor murmurs, dragging a frustrated hand down his face. “Is going to be a big day.”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Evelyn murmurs, taking the final sip of her wine and thenzily putting the
cup up on the nearby windowsill. They are silent, a moment, before she says, “They’re not going to
take this pack from you, Victor.”
“They’d have to pry it from my cold dead hands,” he murmurs back. “But considering they’d have to get
through you three first,” he says, smiling and stroking her hair, “I think I’m in a pretty good spot.”
Evelyn smiles, pressing herself close to him, not letting herself think about tomorrow, when the trial
would be decided.
When Evelyn finally opens her eyes, the sun is streaming through the windows of the cabin. She blinks
against it as she feels Victor sitting up next to her, working to stand. She pushes herself up and puts
out her hands to help him.
“It’s okay, Evelyn,” he says, wincing as he puts his injured leg on the floor. “Go back to sleep.”
“No way!” Alvin says from across the room, rubbing his eyes. “We’re not missing the good stuff!”
“Ugh, what time is it,” Evelyn murmurs, rubbing a hand over her sleepy head. “For four more hours of
sleep, I’d give up the good stuff.”
Victor gives her a smallugh before hobbling off towards the bathroom. He knows she wouldn’t miss
this uing family conversation for the world.
Ian is already awake, pressing himself against the window that overlooks the firepit. “Everyone’s
already up!” he says, eager. “Look, there’s uncle Rafe!” Alvin joins him at the window, peering out to
see their uncle bundled in nkets, sitting in a wheelchair borrowed from their grandfather. He
twitches, lightly, wincing in pain every few moments from the wolfsbane still coursing through his
system.
“Geeze,” Alvin murmurs. “He’s pretty beat up.”
“Good,” their mother says, standing next to the bed and stretching. “You two will hear all about it soon
enough, but your uncle did some very wicked thingsst night in the forest.” She gives them a stern
look. “Your father will need your support today, but he will also need you to let him sort it out. So, no
interruptions, okay?”
The boys look to her, considering, and then nod in agreement. It’s their father’s fight, they know. And
they have full confidence in him.
“Good,” she says, nodding in return, and then heading off to the bathroom when Victor emerges. “Get
dressed, boys,” she calls over her shoulder. “We’re going to the fire pit in five minutes.”
The boys rush to their little packs of clothing, pulling on fresh warm clothes, eager to see what happens
next.
“Do you think Uncle Rafe will be in trouble for cheating?” Ian whispers.
“I don’t know,” Alvin responds, pulling a heavy sweater over his t-shirt. “They let him get away with it
last time.”
“What about what mama saidst night, that she was the one who…what was it?” Ian asks, trying to
remember thenguage.
“Delivered the final blow,” Alvin whispers, handing his brother a set of socks. “I think that means she
stabbed him, not papa.”
Ian winces. “That doesn’t sound like it follows the rules either.”
Alvin shakes his head, agreeing, and both look over at their father, still dressed in his ck tactical
gear from the trial.
There is a grim determination to Victor’s face that sets their minds at ease. A few minutester, all
dressed and as neat as they can be after four hours of sleep, the family leaves the cabin together.
The children have adopted their father’s determined look, their mother’s confident stride. As one, the
family takes to this new battlefield, determined to im what is rightfully theirs.
As they approach, a slow smile builds on Rafe’s ravaged face. In his eyes, an equal determination
burns.