With an ungodly amount of pep in her step and tone, Emmy swivels to walk backwards towards the grand staircase, gesturing for her companions to follow. “Come on, I'll give you the grand tour, and you can rock-paper-scissors for the good rooms. Pro-tip, they’re the ones by me.”
Catching Thane’s eye, Slade offers, “You're welcome to stay though, if you wish.” Running his gaze to encompass them all, he adds, “Any of you. But I imagine you're all due for a long conversation as well.”
Thane nods respectfully before turning to follow Emmy down the hall. They all leave hesitantly, but their concern and loyalty is to Emmy, not this pack. Waiting until they’re gone, I stare at the three men that reluctantly take a seat on the couch across from us, looking between them. Ultimately, I choose to focus on the blonde since he seems to be the most level-headed.
“We should probably start with the basics, I suppose. So, who the heck are you?”
His lip twitches, and when he opens his mouth to speak, I catch a flash of silver metal, matching the multiple piercings ringing one of his ears. “I’m Kaige, and this is Hunter-” he gestures to the pissy brunette, and then the living demon “-and Damian.”
Licking my lips, I exhale an already weary breath. “And I assume you’re here because if my-” the words taste sour on my tongue “-fathers were to declare a match, it’d be between you three?”
As he dips his head in quiet acknowledgement, three hands possessively settle on my legs, but refrain from articulating their objections for now. Struggling to figure out where to begin, especially when Slade starts gently massaging my sore ankle, I close my eyes, giving myself a minute to arrange my thoughts. Ultimately, I opt for honesty, because while I owe these men nothing, they're the only things that might be able to stop this entire situation from escalating further than it already has. Hopefully, when they realize that I’m defective, that even if I bite one of them they won't be able to shift, they'll lose interest and move on.
So I fill them in; on all of it. The way that I was raised, my mom and the theory I have regarding her and my dad, making me a half-breed too weak to accomplish what they want, and that even if they were to drag me back in front of my mother’s mates, hoping they’d match me with one of them, it wouldn’t matter. By the end, the three alphas range from pissed off, to curious contemplation, and I can feel the rage on my behalf from my own men like a static charge in the air prickling across my skin.
Kaige scrubs a hand over his jaw. “I've never once in all of my years heard of someone that couldn't shift when bitten, but especially not a female that can't.” Turning to face Damian and Hunter, he continues, “Bet you sheisa half-blood. Might not be possible with one of us and a human, but we all know our women are the glue holding us together, so I’m not surprised.”
Damian hums in contemplation. “Means they have a hell of a lot more options than we do, so no wonder alphas have been keeping them more isolated and on such a short leash in recent decades. Instinctually, they can feel their hold on the situation slipping. If our women abandon us, we’re all fucked.”
His words trip something in my head, and I quickly glance at Reid out of my peripherals, only to find him staring right back at me with the same glint of awareness in his eyes. Damian’s statement hits too close to the theory that he, Cinjin, and I discussed about all of this. It feels too specific that he’d jump to that conclusion within seconds from this conversation; it’s more like he’d already been toying around with the idea in his head for a while, and this was simply confirmation.
Kaige carries on. “Merrick, Leo, and Sebastian are-” wavering his hand back and forth, he eventually shrugs and blurts, “-fucking dicks. I’m surprised your mom’s been able to fly under their radar for twenty-six years, but not that she ran. Women are prized among our kind, though there are still some that think they’re owed a mate, that they exist simply for the purpose of unlocking the ability to shift, and breeding. Whether she didn’t get pregnant until after she bolted, or hell, you’re actually theirs, it doesn’t really matter.” Face contorting in a grimace, he says, “They think you are. It might be better to let them assume so.”
“Because they’ll pick one of you?” I scoff. “I hate to tell you, but I’m a whole-ass adult. I’m a bit old for daddies dearest to decide my fate or set me up with a shotgun wedding. Already mated, too, so the point is moot.”
Hunter raises an eyebrow. “Because the Slaughters earned their name instead of being born into it. If your boy toys are already struggling with this pathetic lot, the last thing you want is those men coming to tie up loose ends in a bid to salvage their reputation. They’ve only grown more brutal in the face of their mate abandoning them and the shame of losing her, so they won’t take the news of a bastard child lightly. Especially when it would reveal that female wolves can reproduce with humans when we’re already at each other’s throats over their rapidly dwindling numbers.”
My stomach sinks, and I take Cin’s hand without thinking. “And when they find out the truth?”
The look in Hunter’s eyes is there and gone in a flash, too quickly for me to attempt to interpret. “You meanif.”
Slade’s had enough. “Only way to peacefully conceal her lineage in this situation would be her being mated off to one of you, and you can kindly fuck right off before we let you take her. Besides, that would only buy some time, not solve anything. When they realize that you can’t shift, the truth will come out.”
Hunter latches onto the confrontation like it fuels him, leaning forward to rest his arms on his spread thighs with a malicious grin. “Maybe her inability to shift is simply proof that your little pack isn’t right for her and her wolf knows it, is waiting on her real mates to bestow the honor of revealing herself. Sabrina’s smart, but so is her counterpart, even if it’s quiet. This world is even more dangerous for her than most females, so she’s better off lying in wait until she’s found a pack that can actually protect her.”
A warning sound escapes Bo. “We could spend all day tossing around theories, but that's all they are; theories. And as you've seen, Sabrina's already chosen. They don’t get to negate that claim because it suits their agenda, or they’ll have a repeat of their mate’s actions to deal with.”
Damian points out, “Unintentionally claimed. One might argue that since she was deprived of the benefits most women have growing up, it'd be a mercy to allow her a fresh start now that she’s up to speed on her situation.”
I cut through the flood of testosterone in the room with a sharp, “Hey!”
Reaching over to grip Boden's arm, I stare directly at Damian while I bring Bo’s wrist to my face. Biting down hard on the side of it, Cin’s hand tightens on my thigh, and Reid’s cock twitches against my leg.
“I'm here because I want to be, not because I have to.” The weight of the guys’ silence, like they're all holding the same collective breath, makes my anxiety spike, but I fight through my nerves. “And whether or not he actually was my biological father, Noah Laroquewasin every way that counts, and not a day goes by that I don't miss him. He's not the villain in my narrative, and I'm not about to leave everything I have behind to listen to a few strangers talk shit about him, or try to auction me off like they have any say in my life when they weren’t even there for it.”
Hunter starts to interject, but I cut him off, on a roll. “I’m. Not. Like you. I wasn’t raised like you, and I’m not going to humor your expectations of how my lifeshouldplay out when your opinions and input, quite frankly, don’t matter to me. I’m aperson.Not a thing to be fought over and shuffled to wherever men that don’t even know me deem fit like they know any better, or have a right to dictate my life. As you clearly see, my bites don't makeanyoneshift, so I'm of little value to you guys, anyway.”
Releasing a long breath, I attempt to keep my rising temper in check. “Tell them Adrian was wrong and I’m just some human that looks similar to their mate. You want something to take back to them so your trip wasn't a waste? Here.”
Pushing Cin’s hand aside, I get to my feet despite everyone’s protest. Snatching up a pen off of the table on the way as I limp over, I grab Kaige’s arm and start writing. “After as many times as she threw me to the wolves as a kid, I really don't have much sympathy. Here’s her address; you can claim that you tracked her down after Adrian’s lead turned out to be a bust. Have at it, and good fucking luck, because she’s not going without a hell of a fight, so one of you is probably crawling away infertile from that delightful abduction. Everyone happy now?”
As I step away, Kaige’s hand wraps around my arm faster than lightning, pinning me under his unrelenting, inhuman gaze. “Not even close, love. Honestly, we don’t give a shit about your mother. We care that you’re hurt. That the men that left here today would happily see this place burn to the ground, and there aren’t nearly enough men in this pack to ensure that it doesn’t turn to ash, all the while still thinking that they’re capable of protecting you while you’re standing there, injured.” Bo snarls, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me back, breaking Kaige’s hold.
Through it all, Kaige keeps those bright orange eyes pinned on my face. “And we care that for whatever reason, you can’t shift, despite me being able to feel your beast writhing in your chest. You’re a mystery, Sabrina, but also a blessing. Your safety and well-being are our responsibility now that we know about you.”
Nervously, as Bo sets me on Slade’s lap, I ask, “And why’s that? You don’t even know me. You can go back to pretending that I don’t exist.”
It’s Damian that answers, his leg bouncing restlessly. “I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation, and I think it’s worth considering that our fates might actually be intertwined. There haven’t been any females born in our area in over two decades. When your mom left... it broke something, Sabrina, something that we haven’t recovered from. The last bit of light that was keeping the worst parts of ourselves at bay was snuffed out, and we’re struggling, to put it mildly.”
