My response was instant. "No."
"Rad—"
I trusted Valko. He was one of maybe four or five people on the planet that I trusted. I knew I could share this information with him and he wouldn't spread it around.
"Have you spoken to Ze'ev, Gunny, or Lu lately?"
"Not for about a year," Val replied. "Why?"
"Have you heard anything about them?"
Val shook his head.
"Ze'ev recently established his own pack. The Southern Pacific Pack. It's registered with the council and everything. Ze'ev is the alpha of the pack. I'm his second-in-command."
Val didn't often show emotion so I was surprised when his eyes widened. "Ze'ev established a pack?"
"Gunny and Lu are there, too, but there's one more member of the pack. Currently, he is just listed as a regular pack member, but in fact, he is Ze'ev's mate."
"Dire wolves don't get mates." Val said it with such conviction that I knew he believed that.
He was wrong.
"See, we all thought that, too, but it's a lie. We don't know who started that lie or why, but dire wolves do get mates. Ze'ev has bitten, knotted, and claimed his mate."
I gave Val a moment to soak in that information. I knew it was a lot. We had all been taught that we didn't get mates, that we had been created to protect the packs.
We had been taught wrong.
"Ajag is my mate."
Val's mouth dropped open, something I had never seen him do, not in all the years I had known the man.
"I haven't claimed him yet because there hasn't been time," I continued, "but I know Ajag is my mate and he knows it, too."
Val's eyebrows lifted nearly to his hairline. "You're serious?"
"This isn't something I would joke about, Val."
"But—"
"You need to wrap your head around this, Val. Ajag is my mate and I won't let anyone hurt him or Sy, not even someone from the shifter council."
I'd fight the Devil himself if it meant keeping them safe.
"Did you get rid of your cell phone like I told you to?"
I nodded. "I got rid of it right after you told me. Why?"
"They are using that to track you, your mate, and everyone that was at that ranch."
"You were one of the men that wanted to search the ranch?"
Val shook his head. "No, I was with another team, but I heard about it from my commander. That's how they found the campground. They tracked you through your cell phone and then traced it to all incoming and outgoing phone calls that you made."
"We need to warn Ze'ev."
"I've already sent him a coded message."
