Chapter One
ONE MONTH. It had been one month sincethe bastards had taken my father to experiment on. A month since we had learnedthat the string of werewolf kidnappings were for experimenting on, with the endgoal of curing humans. All at the cost of the wolf’s life. We had been able to rescuemy father and Mason’s new mate Alice, but now the entire mountain had become afortress of werewolf protection. Nearly our entire Portland pack had beenbrought in. They left homes, jobs, school, dropped everything to seek thesafety of this mountain and band with my father. Nothing had come out in thenews about the real reason the wolves were being taken, but I knew that myfather was just waiting. Planning, plotting, waiting. We still had a few wolvesas far out as Corvallis, and my father would be calling them in soon, I wassure of it. There had been no physical sign of the Skin Walker, Mukesh, in thepast month, but I’d been dreaming of him. Small snippets where he came into mydream and taunted me, but my bear always ran him off. Nahuel had been meetingme weekly for lessons in the ways of a Keeper and Gavin had been training withmy mother on how to best use his Matefinder abilities. Which were once myabilities. We had some major relationship issues in that department, but it hadworked out. My father had surprisingly taken well to him, although he waspressing us to have a mating ceremony even though we were technically alreadymated. True Mates. I hoped that if I kept ignoring my father he would stopmentioning it. Gavin and I had slid into an easy relationship. He knew me, hegot me, and he was one hell of a cook. Not to mention a nice piece of eyecandy. Our relationship was pretty much the only thing that was going right inmy life.
“Thinking about me?” Gavin came into theliving room we shared just as I was lacing up my jogging shoes. My lips curledwith a slight grin.
“Always.” I stood meeting his emerald eyes.He was wearing a grungy white V-neck t-shirt and his dark hair was a mess. Hehadn’t shaved in a week, giving him that stubble that I loved to scratch withmy fingertips. I ran my gaze down his corded muscular body and saw that his graysweat pants were practically falling off … he’d never looked sexier. A lowgrowl rumbled in his throat as he caught me looking.
“I was just gonna shower. Wanna join me?”His hooded gaze sent heat traveling down below my belly, but I had to tamp itdown.
I groaned, thinking of all of the thingswe could do in that shower as a newly mated couple. “I have to meet Nahuel.”
He nodded and simply pulled off his t-shirt,showcasing his tight, tanned muscles.
I grinned. “You’re wicked.”
He smiled and flexed his pecks, makingthem dance. I burst into laughter and stepped closer to him, reaching out to smackhis chest, but he used the close proximity to pull me into his strong grip. Hisarms snaked around my lower back and slid up my shirt, sending chills down myarms. All of a sudden I was staring into his impossibly green eyes, my hearthammering in my chest, my breath stilled. We were still in the honeymoon phase,as my mom told everyone. But I had felt this passion for him since the firsttime I met him and it wasn’t going away. Hell, even before I met him I wasdreaming about him. Gavin made me laugh all the time, and even though timeswere dark, I was truly happy with him. My True Mate.
“I love you more than you will ever know,”he told me, stroking his thumb across my bottom lip, sending a rush of heatdown my body.
He said things like that often. Deep,honest things that made my soul intertwine deeper with his every time.
I crashed into him then, kissing him hardwith a restless passion. Screw meeting up with Nahuel. That could wait. Gavin’sstrong arms came around to cup my butt and he lifted me up on top of him and mylegs opened to straddle his hips. Then I smelled it.Nahuel. Gavinnoticed too because we both groaned at the same time and he pulled away from mejust before the knock came.
“Rain check?” I asked him, nipping hisbottom lip. That got me a smile.
“Always,” he answered and slipped intothe bathroom but not before giving my ass a light smack.
Being mated was awesome on so manylevels.
Smoothing my hair down, I sighed andafter fixing my shirt, I crossed the room and answered the door.
My shaman mentor had already begunwalking away, assuming I would follow. Typical Nahuel. I shut the door quicklyand took off after him as he hiked deeper into the woods by my house. He was ina hurry today. Normally, he let me catch up before we hit the woods.
“Umm … hello? Oh, hi, Anya! Let’s go fora hike today. Okay, Nahuel, let me just shut the door.” I had a fakeconversation with myself and the shaman’s retreating back. Socializing wasn’this strong suit and I used every opportunity I had to point that out to him.
Stopping, he turned to face me and chillsran up my arms. Nahuel’s left cheek sported three long gashes; they looked likescratch marks. His shirt was dirty and tattered, but his eyes, it was his eyesthat scared the shit out of me. They looked haunted and I knew without a doubtthat something awful had happened.
“What is it?” I stepped closer to him,concern etched all over my face.
“Little Keeper, I fear that the end hasbegun.” His usual cryptic bullshit, of course. Could he ever tell me something straight?
“What happened?!” I shrieked. Now that mymind had run wild after taking in his tattered appearance, I was fearing theworst.
He swallowed hard, looking more emotionaland destroyed than I had ever seen him.
“Lina has been holding the light for ourpeople for a long time now. It is always passed down to women with great power,and ...”
He didn’t finish, but my head wasspinning. Why was he talking about Lina? Had something happened to her? Ididn’t know what light he was talking about, but I wanted to know more. I hadtaken two trips back to Canada in the past month with Nahuel to see Lina andtrain with her. We had grown into an easy friendship and I respected her. If hewas about to tell me she was hurt, I would lose it.
“Nahuel. I need real freaking Englishright now. What. Happened.” I pleaded with him to just spit it out.
He nodded and his eyes grew moist. The sightof Nahuel on the verge of tears had fear clenching me in its cold, hard grip. “Linawas murdered last night. The Walker did it.”
All of the air left my lungs in one bigrush as his words slammed into me, hitting me hard with shock and grief. Mystomach dropped as I fell to the ground, panting.
“No!” I wailed and couldn’t help the furthat traveled down my arms. My bear was livid and she wanted out.Now.Linahad helped me when Gavin was dying. She saved us both and I felt foreverindebted to her for it. She was my friend and the Walker had taken her from me.The Walker had taken too much from the ones I loved. The shift was happening. Icouldn’t stop it, and I didn’t want to. If I didn’t shift, I would break underthe weight of this grief and anger. My clothes tore as my bear took shape,transforming my human skin into a 250-pound female black bear. Grief was easierto carry in my bear form, but it still felt like a raw wound had been gashedacross my body.
I shook off the remains of my shreddedclothes and once I was on all fours, I glanced to my right and saw Nahuel inhis jaguar form. He was my pack. Maybe not by traditional standards, but wewere family now. A howl rose behind us, and turning, I saw Gavin in wolf form.He felt it, he knew. I could sense him probing through the matebond.
