Page 3 of Hidden Nature

When it came to interactions between Mason and me, that was his favorite thing to point out. Something told me that wasn’t going to be the case for very long if they all moved in with me as Finley wanted. There was no way I could still be on the fringes of this pack when I shared a mate with the two founding alphas.

Walking over to the coffee maker, I pulled out a mug and filled it to the brim, praying it would give me the energy and sanity to deal with what I was about to encounter with all these stubborn males. As I turned around, leaning on the counter, I found them all staring at me, tense and ready to move the second I told them what they hoped I would tell them—where our mate was.

“Take a deep breath, guys. I don’t have a location and we aren’t going anywhere fast,” I explained, then took a sip of coffee. “Peggy has been a spy for the Senate for the past five years she’s been in the pack. Originally, it was to keep an eye on me, but then it changed to keeping an eye on you two,” I shared, pointing at the two alphas. “They like to make sure no up-and-coming alphas are going to be gunning for their spots on the Senate.”

“The fuck!” Mason snarled. “We’ve had a traitor in our midst for that long?” Mason turned on Elias, getting up in the man’s face. “How did you not know about this?”

Elias let out a low warning growl as he shoved Mason back a step. “There are how many people in our pack? Do you know what they are doing all the time?”

“No, because it’s not my job! How are you going to keep Finley safe, Sentinel, if you can’t keep tabs on the dangers here in our own pack?” Mason challenged.

“Enough!” Colt bellowed, lashing out with his alpha energy. “Let Zander speak and we will deal with the rest of this mess later. I want to know where my mate is, so shut the fuck up.”

That got through to Mason. Colt hardly ever used his energy on his betas, so the fact he did it now proved just how pissed off he was with them.

“Peggy doesn’t know where they took Finley because she is finishing her job for the Senate,” I answered, getting it all out there in one go. “She’s going after the Dark Ring.”

Lane and Colt knew what I was talking about, but we hadn’t gone into great detail with the betas about it other than that’s how she got bit.

“Call your mother,” Lane demanded. “She can do something about this. I mean, she’s an omega, for Christ’s sake.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, I shook my head. “My mother can’t do jack shit. Maybe if we told them she was a Light Elf, but that would put her in more danger, if that’s possible, than she is now. In the Senate, there is a vote, and if they sent a team to get her, it means Mother lost that vote. They want the Dark Ring issue settled and done with as soon as possible. They have leverage on Finley. She is no longer with the Organization and she failed the last job. Peggy said it was a team of three and one knew Finley personally.”

Noah slumped into a chair. “This is so much worse, isn’t it?”

“That depends,” I offered.

“On what?” Elias asked, glaring at me.

“How good she is at her job.”

two

“You did it, heart of my heart, you healed me,” he whispered.

Then he pulled me down into a kiss that took the air right out of my lungs, but I would gladly give it to him if it meant he didn’t leave me. Breaking the kiss, I looked down at him, running my hands over his chest to see a strange mark that had bloomed in a mass of swirling lines that made the shape of a heart. I knew what he was saying was important, but I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that I’d just healed him. Me. The assassin turned omega, now coming into my elven powers. Then my hearing seemed to come back as he cupped the side of my face, lifting it so I met his seafoam green eyes that looked into my soul.

“Seems you claimed me, mate of mine,” he murmured, a smile tugging at his lips. “My heart now beats for you. My soul is tied to yours forever, and my life after a hundred years is just beginning as your Guide.”

I balked at his words. “You’re a hundred years old!”

“Out of all of that…” He chuckled. “I am a hundred and fifteen if you really want to be specific, but many of us stop counting after a certain point. Keeping track is tedious past the three hundred.”

As he spoke, it was like my brain got a kickstart back to reality, and I looked around the room with the dead bodies bleeding out all over the floor. “We need to go.”

“Yes, I believe that would be best,” Rathal agreed. “I must say, I’m surprised your mates would let you do this kind of work. Werewolves are awfully protective of their mates, let alone one that is an omega as well,” he commented as he got to his feet, rippi ng off the rest of his blood-soaked shirt.

His skin was so fair it almost glowed in the moonlight and had faint hints of a green shimmer that matched his eyes. Rathal was mesmerizing to look at and it was taking everything in me not to rub up against him like a cat.

Shaking my head, I looked around the room, trying to think of the best approach to getting us both out of here. If what Blakley said was true about them not expecting me to get out of this, then Vicky could be in on the plan. Tabitha worked for the Organization and would never turn her back on them, so she was most likely being used the same way I was.

“Finley,” Rathal called, causing me to snap my head up to face him. He was so incredibly tall now that he was standing here in front of me. “Nin mel, what has you so troubled your mind is turbulent with worry.”

“You can feel how I’m feeling?” I asked, frowning, not sure how comfortable I was with that.

“Yes, now that we are mated, I am able to access all your emotions and thoughts, but you have a remarkable barrier in your mind that is keeping me out. At the moment, I’m only getting flashes of your emotions, and none of them seem to be good ones,” Rathal explained, his face matching the concern I heard in his voice.

Now it was my turn to frown at him, not at all pleased he could read my mind, but that would be a discussion for another time. “My mates don’t know I’m here, but I’ll worry about that once I know we are safe. First step is to get out of this house and off the island without getting caught and the person keeping tabs on the security might be trying to kill me.”