Christmas with my Off-Limits Alpha (Feuding Hearts Christmas)

15. Ava Mooney

Ava Mooney

Chapter Fifteen

T he trail narrows, low brush snaps against my legs, lashing at my bike and body. I barely notice the sting, every sense attuned to the faint connection, the hint of Liam calling to me. It grows stronger with each passing moment, along with my dread. What could have gotten the better of an alpha wolf?

A clearing opens up ahead. I burst through the treeline, and my bike simply cuts out, stops, sputters, coughs, and dies beneath me. Rolling to a stop, my feet automatically drop to keep it upright as I try repeatedly to restart it.

“No, no, not now!” I slam my palm against the fuel tank, but my bike remains silent, useless metal in the middle of nowhere. Lifting my leg over the seat, I lay the bike down gently.

“Thanks for getting me this far, girl.” I pat the fuel tank one last time. My faithful companion has never failed me before, and even now, she carried me close to where I need to be. The chrome gleams dully in the filtered light as I reluctantly leave her behind.

I’m miles from town. The wind cuts through my jacket, but that’s not what makes me shiver. Liam needs me. I close my eyes and let my Kitsuné senses stretch out. The forest speaks to me now—every rustle of leaves, every shift in the wind carries information. There’s a trace of him in the air, mixed with blood, destruction, and danger.

“Hang on, Liam.” I push forward through the trees. My boots crunch over the frozen ground, but I barely notice the cold anymore. The Kitsuné magic inside me burns hot, lending me strength.

A branch whips across my face. I taste copper but keep moving. The scent grows stronger—Liam’s distinctive wolf musk tinged with pain.

Should I turn around and go for help? I can’t save him alone. The thought rises unbidden, but I push back. I can help him by trusting my Kitsuné abilities.

The old me would have hesitated, second-guessed her abilities, dismissed her value and run for help. But no more. The fox inside me sings with purpose, and I let it guide me. He’s close and in danger. The ground here is wrong, unstable. I sense disturbed earth and crushed stone.

Calling into the wind, “I’m coming, Liam!” I pick up my pace. My feet find purchase where there shouldn’t be any. Fox-quick reflexes keep me upright on treacherous ground. I’m running at breakneck speed, precarious. But I don’t care. With each step, my senses are clearer. He’s in pain… and… he’s not alone… Diggs.

He’s near now. “LIAM!” My shout echoes as I run through the meadow and up a steep hill where I stop short.

My eyes widen at the scene before me. The world sharpens into preternatural focus. Every shadow, every detail stands out in stark relief.

The ground ahead is just… gone, collapsed. There’s a faint warmth rising from the cracks, carrying Liam’s scent.

The sinkhole gapes like an open wound in the earth, at least thirty feet across, with jagged edges where the ground gave way. Broken trees and crushed vegetation ring the crater’s lip, their roots dangling uselessly in the air. Deep in the darkness below, I make out the glint of metal—maybe part of his bike. The unmistakable scent of wolf mixed with blood drifts up from the depths.

Liam is down there, trapped beneath who knows how many tons of rock and dirt. He’s alive, but for how long? Loose pebbles skitter down the unstable walls of the pit, disappearing into the shadows below with hollow echoes that speak of deep, dangerous spaces.

The earth shifts beneath my boots, a warning rumble that sends my senses into overdrive. A crack splits the air, and the ground beneath me crumbles away. My stomach lurches as I plunge into the darkness.

No. Not like this.

The fox inside me surges forward, and I let it come. Power floods through my limbs as my form shifts, my senses sharpen to crystalline clarity. The world slows, each fragment of falling rock distinct, separate pieces falling in slow motion. I twist mid-air, pushing off a chunk of debris, my body moving with a grace I did not have before Liam’s training. It’s like I’m flying in between moments of time, in between the pieces of falling rubble.

The transformation feels... right. Natural. Like breathing. No fighting, no struggle—pure instinct taking over.

My paws touch down on solid rock, and I land in a crouch. My fox’s night vision pierces the gloom of the cavern, every detail sharp and clear. The musty scent of earth mingles with the metallic tang of blood and the familiar musk of wolf.

Through the darkness, I make out two figures against the far wall. Liam’s familiar silhouette brings a rush of relief, but it’s short-lived as I catch Diggs Fireclaw’s snarl. His face is a mask of suspicion and barely contained rage. He’s looking between me and Liam, putting the pieces together, realizing that I am not a random rescuer.

“She’s your Kitsuné bitch now?” His growl is low, barely audible. “Didn’t realize you were into bestiality, Shadds.”

“Watch your mouth.” Liam snarls back. “She’s here to help both of us.”

Diggs sneers. “Oh, I’m sure she is. Just like your old man was so eager to help my family, right? You set this up." Diggs clutches his side, blood seeping between his fingers. “Just like your father set up mine.”

“For the last time, I didn’t…” Liam’s jaw clenches, and he throws his hands up in the air.

This is an argument well underway before I dropped in, with no resolution in sight. My fox senses pick up the metallic tang of blood, the acrid scent of fear and anger rolling off both men.

I take a moment to give myself the illusion of clothing before I move closer. The illusion won’t stop my shivering as I feel the chill, but my discomfort is nothing compared to their pain and injuries.

Rocks shift beneath my feet as I move closer, picking my way through the debris.

“Both of you need to stop.” I step between them, forcing Diggs to look at me.

“The hell with you, bitch.” Diggs tries to stand and falls back, wincing. “You’re as dirty as he is. Your families destroyed everything we had. And now here’s history repeating itself.”

“No one set you up, Diggs.” Liam’s voice carries that alpha authority, but there’s exhaustion underneath. “The ground was unstable. We both went down.”

“Right. Just happened to give way right when…”

“Enough!” My shout echoes off the cave walls. This has to stop. The fighting, the accusations—it’s tearing us apart. “Look around. We’re trapped. There’s no climbing out of here. The ground is too unstable. If we don’t work together, none of us are surviving this landslide.”

Diggs’ dark eyes lock onto mine, generations of hatred and pain burning in their depths. But beneath that, I catch something else—fear. Not just of death, but of trusting the wrong people again.

“You expect me to believe you care if I make it out?”

“I expect you to want to live.” I hold his gaze. “And right now, that means trusting us, trusting each other.”

Liam shifts closer, his presence steady at my back. “She’s right. Whatever’s between our families, it doesn’t matter down here.”

The silence stretches, broken only by the occasional plunk of water dripping nearby. I watch the war play out across Diggs’ face—pride versus survival, hatred versus necessity.

The fox spirit inside me stirs, responding to the tension crackling between Liam and Diggs. Words aren’t enough - I need to show them.

“Both of you, look at me.” Power flows through my veins as I step between them. My skin tingles as the Kitsuné energy builds, making my tattoo shimmer with an ethereal glow. “We need to see the truth, whatever it is.”

Diggs backs against the cave wall. “What are you doing?”

“Showing you what really happened.” The illusion spins out from my hands like gossamer threads, weaving images in the air. The cave dissolves around us, replaced by scenes from decades past.

Frostbite towers in the vision, his icy eyes burning with ambition as he faces down the town council. His voice echoes with dangerous authority. “The Iron Wolves deserve more territory. More power. You can’t deny us what’s rightfully ours.”

“That’s my father,” Diggs whispers, transfixed.

The scene shifts. Frostbite hunches over maps, plotting routes through rival territories. His claws tear through paper as he marks targets—homes, businesses, sacred sites. The hunger for power twists his features into something feral. He gives orders that send his people out to terrorize and plunder.

“He wasn’t betrayed.” My voice stays steady as I guide them through the truth. “His action, his choices led to the Iron Wolves’ fall.”

The vision shows Frostbite orchestrating attacks on innocent packs, manipulating alliances, breaking treaties. Each scene reveals another layer of deception, another grab for power that pushed him further from honor.

“No.” Diggs shakes his head. “This can’t be right.”

“Look closer.” I pour more energy into the illusion, sharpening every detail. “See how his ambition consumed him? The council didn’t banish your pack—they protected the town from his hunger for control.”

Liam and Diggs watch in silence as the final scene unfolds— Frostbite’s last stand, not a noble battle but a desperate power play that backfired. The truth of his legacy is written in every reckless choice.

The fox spirit’s energy hums through me, steady and sure. This is what my power is for—not destruction, but illumination. Healing old wounds by exposing them to light.

“It’s a trick. What are you trying to do, bitch?”

“Kitsuné abilities allow us to see truth, to reveal what’s hidden.” Liam steps closer to Diggs and continues, “It’s not a trick, Diggs. Ava is showing you the past, the true past. Your father’s choices were his own. The council acted to protect everyone, including the Iron Wolves.”

Diggs shakes his head, his fingers clenching and unclenching. “I don’t believe it. Show me more. Show me a memory you can’t fake. Show me a time only my father would know.”

The fox spirit within me responds, drawing forth another vision. This time, I see a young Diggs, no more than seven or eight, sitting with his father beneath a massive oak tree. Frostsbite Fireclaw’s voice echoes through the memory, teaching his son the old pack songs.

“That’s... that’s impossible.” Diggs’ voice cracks. “No one else was there. That was our private time.”

“It’s not impossible, Diggs.” My voice is hard. He needs to believe and I can’t show the empathy, the pity I feel for him. He will reject the emotion and refuse to believe the truth.

“I am Kitsuné. Fox shifter and much more. Listen to your wolf, Diggs. He knows the truth, what Kitsuné is and what Kitsuné is capable of.”

I watch as the realization hits him like a physical blow. His face contorts, denial wars with the primal knowledge his wolf is forcing upon him. His hands clench into fists at his sides, trembling with barely contained rage and pain.

“No,” he growls, but his wolf rises in his eyes, confirming what I’ve said. The truth his father buried beneath years of lies and manipulation.

Diggs throws his head back and lets out a howl that makes my bones ache—raw anguish and betrayal given voice. His wolf joins the cry, their combined pain echoing.

My fox spirit stirs in response as Liam reacts, adding his compassionate howl to Diggs, whose entire world is shattering around him. Everything his father told him reveals itself as carefully crafted deception.

Still howling his grief to the sky, he slumps against the rock wall. The sound gradually shifts from rage to something closer to weeping, the cry of a child who has lost a father and the foundation of all he believed about himself and his place in the world.

“All these years... did I build everything around a lie?”

A low rumble cuts through the moment. Small rocks cascade from above, pattering against our shoulders.

“We need to move. There’s more coming down.”