Chapter 1
Tristan nodded at several of Reeve’s men as he walked through the morning mist to his grandparents’ house, his thoughts focusing on what had happened the previous evening. It had been a long night filled with sleepless hours as his mind fixated on the man who claimed to be his mate.Mate! What the fuck does that even mean?He’d laughed at such an archaic term but quickly stopped when he saw the hurt look in his visitor’s eyes. Before he could apologize, the man had fled. Stunned at his “mate’s” reaction, Tristan had sat there a moment before finally coming to his senses and getting up to go after him. But by that time he was nowhere to be seen.
After failing to find the man, Tristan had slowly walked back to his office, realizing there were parts of being a wolf shifter his mother failed to tell him about.Like what I’m supposed to do when a strange man announces I’m his mate.Sitting down in front of his stack of unread files, he’d contemplated calling Reeve, but decided against it. The only people who would keep his lack of knowledge a secret were his grandparents, but it had been too late to visit them. So he had no choice but to wait until the next day to get his questions answered.
Reaching his grandparents’ house, Tristan stopped for a moment, staring at their red door—a vivid reminder of his mother’s favorite color. A flash of grief nearly brought him to his knees before he could push it aside. Then, satisfied he wasn’t going to embarrass himself, Tristan raised his hand, but before he could knock, the door swung open.
“Son!” Pete exclaimed, smiling at his grandson. “Just in time for some of your grandmother’s blueberry muffins.”
“Who are you talking to, Pete?” Kathy asked, as she emerged from the kitchen. Then, seeing her grandson, she hurried to the door. “Oh my goodness, what a surprise!” Standing on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around him, giving him a mother-bear hug and a kiss on his cheek before letting go.
Grinning at his grandmother, Tristan said, “Grandpa told me you made my favorite muffins.”
“Now, you’ve done it,” Pete said, ushering his grandson into the kitchen. “I’m going to be swimming in blueberry muffins from now on.”
“Oh hush, now,” Kathy murmured.
“I guess I’ll have to come here more often,” Tristan said, sitting down at the kitchen table.
Joining her husband and grandson, Kathy watched with satisfaction as Tristan popped half a muffin into his mouth. She waited until he’d finished three before asking, “Okay, sweetie, what’s the matter?”
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Jackson glanced at Steel with a questioning eyebrow as he waited for someone in the room to speak. After seeing the almost imperceptible shake of his mate’s head, the Alpha returned his attention to the three men sitting in front of him. He could tell by the glances between Cody and Dylon that they were busy using their mind link to communicate with each other, but Slate said nothing, just sitting there looking stunned by the turn of events.
He certainly understood Slate’s reaction and regretted having to spring this on him so soon after Dakota had given birth to their newborn son, Maxwell James, but it couldn’t wait. Jackson knew that he was asking a lot, especially since Slate would perceive Cain as a threat to his mate and Max, but time was running out. Before he could make a decision about Cain Foster, he had to give the three of them, who knew about Cain’s previous involvement in shifter trafficking, a chance to argue against him joining the pack.
Finally, the quiet in the room was broken when Dylon spoke. “First of all, Cody and I trust the Fates know what they’re doing by putting a human in the pack, but what about you, Jackson? Can you say the same?”
“I can,” Jackson replied. “But, if you’re asking me if I like it, then my answer is no, I don’t. It goes against every law set up to protect the paranormal world. I wish there was another way we could eradicate this threat to our world, but there isn’t.”
“There’s something I don’t get,” Cody said. “Why is the High Council supporting this? Aren’t they guilty of violating their own laws by allowing a human to join a pack?”
“I’m guessing they’re choosing to look the other way,” Jackson replied. “None of them is willing to challenge the Fates over this.”
“Or challenge my mother, either,” Steel added.
“True,” Dylon smirked.
“Jackie, what exactly do you want from us?” asked Cody, frowning.
“Simply put…to trust Cain. Unless you three can do that, I won’t allow him in the pack.”
“Trust a fucking criminal?” Slate snarled, unable to keep quiet any longer. “That human you are so willing to have in our pack is the same one who tried to buy Theo and Norm. Or have you forgotten that?”
Baring his fangs, Steel growled, “Back down, brother.”
Laying his hand on his mate’s arm to calm him, Jackson said, “I haven’t forgotten and I know I owe the Fates for saving Theo, Norm, and Kieran.”
“And now, you’re willing to jeopardize everyone else?” Slate growled.
Feeling the tensing of Steel’s muscles, Jackson tightened his grip on his mate’s arm while surrounding Slate with his Alpha Power and forcing him to tilt his head in submission. “Be careful of what you accuse me of, Slate. I have never, nor will I ever, carelessly put my pack in danger…and you know that. The welfare of each member of my pack is my primary concern…and that also means securing their future. I already know humans have threatened some of my pack members and they’ve also hunted other shifters.
“Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. In fact, it’ll only escalate with time as others are recruited by this small group of human extremists to their cause. The Fates know this…as do I. Whether I like it or not, I don’t have the luxury of waiting, hoping these renegades will get tired of hunting us, because the longer I delay, the more my pack faces danger…and that includes Dakota and Max.
“Human incursion into our world is nothing new—our history is rife with examples…hell, you don’t have to look any further than what happened to the Scottish Wolf Shifters to see what’s in store for us if we bury our heads in the sand. But, unfortunately, this time it’s worse than before. Humans now have advanced technology at their fingertips along with weapons of unprecedented accuracy that can reach us from miles away without us even knowing they are there.
“Add to that, shifters who are willing to betray their own kind and we’re looking at a situation our world has never faced. Whether we like it or not, we need Cain right now to help us prevent the humans from waging war against us. Their biggest weapon of all is that none of us can infiltrate this group because we’d be immediately identified by their shifter members. And these traitors are also revealing secrets about our world that can make humans even more dangerous than before because they’ll know all our secrets.”
