I’ve never failed at anything in my life before this.
And she’s amazing; every minute with her has been phenomenal. But now that I’m home, I realize it isn’t enough. I want to have it all. The girl, the pack, maybe even adopt some pups. I want a complete lifewithMaya.
“I need to go for a run,” I say, knocking back my second drink and setting the glass down. “You guys in?”
“Always,” Luca replies, and Jackson nods his agreement.
I pull off my shirt just as my phone starts ringing. Fates, I hate that thing. But seeing Caleb Cooper on the caller ID gives me pause. “I need to take this. You guys go on. I’ll catch up.”
Luca and Jackson head outside. The cracking of their bones as they shift is a low, familiar rumble at this distance, but it still rings out clearly over the incessant buzzing of my phone.
“Hey Caleb, what can I do for you?”
“Hi Ryan, listen, this might be nothing, but I wanted to mention it to you. You said your mate was a cat, right?”
Caleb’s tone has me on edge already. My stomach drops out with his words, and my wolf perks up, prowling and ready to protect Maya in whatever way she needs.
“Yeah, she’s a tiger. Why? What is it?” I ask, my voice a rasping, broken thing.
“Well, as I said, it could be nothing. But we have been going through the Keepers’s records, and we found some other shady shit they were into. As well as trafficking omegas for their fucked-up torture nights, they also ran… Fuck, it’s hard to even say it. This shit started further back that any of us ever thought. It’s been going on for generations. They also ran a shifter-breeding program. And they weren’t always wolves.”
My heart pounds in my chest, a frantic drumbeat against my ribs, and the world outside of this conversation ceases to exist. The air thickens, charged with the weight of anticipation and apprehension. Every other sound fades into a dull hum, irrelevant and distant. I hang on every word Caleb utters, my entire being consumed by the gravity of where he could be going.
“They used human women at first,” he continues, “but they kept getting killed or too scarred up. Then they moved to shifters that weren’t wolves. It was only when a group escaped that they moved to omega wolves. Easier to control than other species that aren’t always susceptible to alpha commands, according to the records.”
“Were there any tigers?” I ask, my mouth growing dry as realization dawns on me.
“Yeah, there was,” Caleb confirms. “Nearly thirty years ago. There was a breakout of four shifters. The Keepers were able to track them down some months later, and they recaptured them.”
“How did they find them?”
“Through a mate bond. Alpha Lo, the guy the girls killed during the rescue mission. He was mated to a tiger shifter. He tracked her through the bond.”
I sink down onto the couch as the weight of Caleb’s words hit me. “Fuck. How the hell could he imprison his fated mate?”
It doesn’t make sense. Mates should be hardwired to make each other happy. The thought of hurting one’s fated mate should be incomprehensible.
“Because he was a sick fucking monster,” Caleb growls, letting his anger out briefly before reining it back in. “But also, shewasn’this fated mate. They used magic to fake the mate bond, the same as what they did with Jackson. Except when it was faked with the females, it still acted the same. Still brought on the shifter’s heat. She was pregnant when she escaped, Ryan. So were two others. But there were no cubs when they found them.”
“Fuck!” I roar. I clench the phone so tightly that it breaks in my hand, and then my wolf is tearing his way out. I don’t have time to breathe or process because he’s already running out the door, the remnants of my torn clothing falling in my wake.
I should have stayed on the call for longer. I should have gotten the full picture. But the rage coursing through me is something I can’t control. Something my wolf is rabid about.
My paws pound the ground, reaching the perimeter of the pack boundary quicker than I ever have in my life. The warriors on duty have barely confirmed there’s nothing to report before I’m racing to the next post. Luca and Jackson fall in line beside me shortly after.
Luca nudges my flank, and Jackson tries to talk to me through the mindlink, but I ignore them both. I can’t think straight enough for words. I need to know she’s safe. Fuck! It could be a coincidence, couldn’t it? It’s possible. Except the dates line up and Lo was Asian-American, like Maya. She doesn’t look like him, not really, but they share some features. And shifters don’t abandon their young. Especially not tohumans.
Unless they knew they were being hunted and that was the only way to ensure the cubs wouldn’t be taken back to that hellhole too.
Fuck. How the hell am I going to tell her?
I can’t keep it from her, but it will fucking destroy her. After all those years wondering where she came from. I need to gather more information first. I need to be sure before I tell her anything. Fates, I can’t stand being this far away from her. My wolf lets outan agonized howl before turning and racing back to Emily and Jackson’s place.
I need to see her. I need to know she’s safe.
And when I find the cabin, I forget how to breathe.
Maya is in her tiger form, walking in circles as she tests out the body she has been pushing down for years. Sofia and Emily sit on the stoop of the cabin, watching her in awe. She’s magnificent and powerful. Strong and radiant. If everything I’m thinking is true, I’m sure she gets her strength from her mother. The shifter who did everything she could to protect Maya from the horror she would have been born into.
