Despite everything he’d put me through, I wasn’t immune to this shifter, but for either of us to ever move past the forced bonding, we both had to face up to the reality: Fletcher was an evil fuck, and we were true mates.
There was also the fact that I wasn’t the only victim here, which Slade and the rest of our pack needed to accept, so we could claim our only possible future.
Forming a sextet.
CHAPTER 22
HUNTER
The entire time Emme was in our containment rooms with Slade and thatother fucker,I paced the front entrance. Paced and yelled at whoever I could get on the phone.
Reeves Industries didn’t exactly fall apart when I wasn’tin office, but it always had more snags. If it weren’t for the thousands of jobs that’d be lost across all of our facilities, I’d shut the whole fucking thing down. For now, my senior staff were handling the day-to-day, but when I returned, there’d be more than a few incompetent assholes on the chopping block.
I already knew I’d have to make an appearance tomorrow to ensure the launch of our new product wasn’t a complete disaster. The magic-resistant, armored chest plates were about to ship out to the general population, and would change the face of the impending war.
These plates could be stitched into any shirt or worn over the top, with nothing more than a few easy-to-manipulate bands. It’d been in the works for a number of years, but I’d pushed up production. With all the magical attacks on our pack, I knew there was a battle on the horizon, and I wanted to create easily accessible and relatively cost-effective protection for shifters.
Thefullarmoredvests took longer to manufacture, and worked best when sized correctly to the purchaser. Custom-made didn’t come cheap or easy, and while this new product wouldn’t be quite as effective, it would still give us an edge during a magic war.
A war brought on by Fletcher. I should have killed that bastard years ago and dealt with whatever mental fallout resulted when you murdered your sperm donor. I’d have taken that fallout ten times over if it meant Emme never had to go through the last few weeks.
I had no fucking idea how I’d even missed all the signs that Fletcher was connected to our issues with the Rogers pack, but I should have known. It was a huge oversight, and it cost my pack too much.
By the time Emme and Slade slogged up the stairs, looking exhausted and emotionally shattered, I was ready to murder every fucking shifter who’d ever bothered either of them, including that rogue doppelganger in the containment room.
“Did you learn anything?” I asked, and neither of them showed any surprise to see me standing where they’d left me earlier.
When Emme stumbled into my arms, allowing me to support her as a mate should, a strong wave of satisfaction hit my wolf. Through our bond, she released a pulse of relief at being in my arms, and fuck, if I could bottle this feeling… I’d have many more billions.
Slade remained stiff, and I knew my brother well enough to see him trying to rearrange all his broken pieces. “We learned a little. He’s much more receptive when Emme is close by. The main points are that Talon is a scent match for Emme, and that we were born in the same egg. Fletcher separated us at birth, but we’re most definitelysalatrina.”
Fuck.
That word was immediately familiar, and swallowing roughly, I met my brother’s wide-eyed gaze. Slade had gone through a ten-year period where he’d attempted to uncover every piece of information about his species of shifter, and I had helped out.
Salatrina meant…twin souls.
“Fletcher separated you at birth?” I huffed, unsurprised that the bastard had stolen that bond from them. “And kept you apart for decades…”
Emme snuggled closer, and I slid my palms down the back of her thighs to lift her up into me. When her long legs wrapped around my waist, securing her firmly against me, relief filtered through my essence.
“Your sperm donor is a real piece of shit,” she mumbled against my neck, breathing deeply as she took in my scent, soothing her beast. “Not only did he make your lives hell growing up, he stole Slade’s brother—his fucking twin soul—and kept him all but locked in a cage, trained to fight and obey. Talon has never been treated like a living being worthy of love or care. We have to help him.”
My wolf howled in response, and I chose my next words carefully. “You really want to help him?”
Over her shoulder, I stared into Slade’s eyes, which all but glowed green in the dim light. When Emme didn’t immediately respond, he said, “We might not have any other choice. Talon is strong and well-trained. Our one hope might be to turn him to our side and show him that Fletcher is not the alpha he believes him to be.”
I snarled, “Or even better, we kill Fletcher and forget he ever existed.”
Slade shrugged. “Yeah, that’s my plan too. I always worried that killing him would break the final shreds of your humanity, and if you broke, then I’d lose myself. But he signed up for deaththe moment he touched Emme. I’m quite looking forward to ending him.”
“Get in fucking line,” Emme mumbled, and I was relieved to hear the snark in her words. She’d been lost to us for days, but the pulse of her beast and essence was stronger, more like her old self.
“We can discuss our murder-list tomorrow,” I said, running my hand up her spine and into her hair. “For now, our little omega needs to rest.” I eyed Slade as I added, “Do you want to be alone, brother? Or do you need company?”
For three decades we’d held each other together and accountable. We checked in on the sanity of our beasts and fought our demons as a team.
Since our return from Texas, though, Slade had been pulling away from me, and from the pack. He was fraying around the edges, and I was done leaving him alone to deal with it.
