Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1) (6 page)

Trin knew full well who was standing there, so he merely said, “Trinity, Kaya. Kaya, Trinity.”

Trin raised an eyebrow. “I can see why your brother sent me out here. You’re grumpy.”

He made a noise in his throat, not wanting to challenge his brother’s mate in front of the GreyFire wolves. Trinity must’ve sensed that because she turned toward Kaya and put out a hand. “Excuse my brother-in-law. He’s never been very skilled when it comes to tact.”

Kaya glanced at him and back. “Believe me; I know that better than most.”

Trin laughed. “I suppose you would.” Kaya opened her mouth, but Trin beat her to it. “Come. Kian’s waiting for you inside.” Trinity looked over her shoulder to meet Sy’s eyes. “You can show the wolves to the outside waiting area.”

Kaya frowned. “I thought Sy was just going to take me to the site of the attack.”

Trin glanced to Kaya. “He will, but Kian needs to talk to you first. He has some new information to share.”

Jonathan was one of the two wolves who had accompanied Kaya, and he frowned as he said, “You can’t expect me to let you take her inside, all alone. I know nothing about you cats, let alone your intentions, and Kaya is too important for me to risk it.”

Sy was about to say something when Kaya stared directly at her sentry and said, “I want to hear what Kian Murray has to say. Go with Sy. If something goes wrong, I’ll institute the emergency protocol.”

Jonathan shut his mouth and nodded. Sy was more than a little impressed. He’d known Kaya was a clan leader, but he’d never really seen her in action.

Then Kaya looked straight at him. “As for you, if you punch my sentry again, I won’t be so lenient next time. I might even kick your ass for good measure.”

Sy raised an eyebrow and decided to avoid arguing about whether she could beat him or not and said, “Then tell him to behave, or I won’t make any promises.”

She pointed a finger at him. “Jonathan is levelheaded, which means he would only act out if you provoked him. So don’t do it.”

“Yes, yes, just go ahead blame me without knowing all the facts. You’re good at doing that.”

Kaya opened her mouth to reply, but Sy turned and motioned for both the wolves and his own team to follow him. The longer he argued in front of Trinity, the more his sister-in-law would get ideas in her head. Not just any kind of ideas, but matchmaking ideas.

And no way in hell was he going to give Trin any encouragement in that area.

~~~

Kaya watched Sy retreat with her clan members and tried to let his insult roll off her, but failed. She was the one good at blaming him for things? The bastard had abandoned her and nearly cost the truce between the clans.

Fuck him.

Taking a few deep breaths, she willed her face into a neutral expression. This would be her first face-to-face meeting with DarkStalker’s clan leader and she needed a clear mind. If she’d known about the meeting ahead of time—and judging by the look Trinity had given Sy, he should’ve told her during the ride here—she could’ve better prepared herself.

Luckily, she liked thinking on her feet and making split-second decisions. She never would’ve earned the right to be clan leader without those traits.

Satisfied that any sign of her irritation was gone, she turned toward Trinity. The woman was giving her a strange look, and Kaya wondered how much Kian’s mate knew about her past with Sy. She decided not to mention it. Instead, she said, “Shall we go?”

But Trinity didn’t budge. “You should just fuck him and see what happens.”

Kaya blinked. “Excuse me?”

Trinity motioned in the direction Sy had left and back to her. “I’m not denying the two of you have issues, but it’s obvious there’s some kind of spark still there. Hell, Sy is usually full of grins and smiles, but with you, he’s grumpy and irritated. I’d say, at some level, the man still cares for you and he is desperately trying not to show it.”

Kaya decided if Trinity wasn’t going to stand on formality and politeness, she wouldn’t either. “Look, I just met you, and I don’t want to disrespect you, but this is clearly my business. Sylas might be your brother-in-law, which means you think the world of him, but he’s an asshole, and I don’t have the slightest interest in fucking him.”

Trinity raised an eyebrow. “Liar.”

Kaya put her shoulders back, raised her chin, and gave Trinity her best alpha stare. “Are you going to take me to see Kian or not?”

Trinity shrugged. “I guess, but think about my suggestion. For what it’s worth, Sy’s never been serious with anyone after you. Sure, he’s fucked females occasionally, but never really dated. Just think about it.”

“Fine. Whatever. Can we go now?”

Trinity nodded and started walking.

Kaya could see now how Trinity had earned her reputation; the woman said what she wanted, when she wanted, and didn’t bother with tiptoeing around an issue. If not for Kian, Kaya could see Trinity taking charge of the cougar-shifter clan.

To be honest, Kaya had a feeling the pair worked together to take care of DarkStalker, which was a rare thing among shifter clans. The cougars, wolves, and bears in the Cascade Mountains were overall a bit more open-minded than the majority of shifter clans in the US. Of the few leaders she’d interacted with, all of whom but one had been male, none of them had ever had their mates sit in on the various conferences calls. Kian had been the sole exception. Nine times out of ten, Trinity had been sitting beside him. True, Trinity had rarely said anything during those calls in the past, but judging from her inability to say anything but what was on her mind, she could understand the necessary caution. A male shifter’s pride could be a delicate thing, and not everyone could handle a female poking at it.

As she followed Trinity through the nondescript corridors, she tried to focus on where they were going, but her mind kept drifting to Trinity’s words. Surely, the cougar female was wrong about Sy. The man clearly hated her. And even if Kaya’s uncle hadn’t killed himself three years ago and was alive today, she wasn’t sure if she’d ask him about the letters.

Of course, the last of her uncle’s closest sentries still resided with GreyFire in the infirmary section. Despite the male being in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, she might be able to get the truth out of him.

Then Trinity stopped in front of a door and Kaya focused back on the present. She wasn’t about to let either herself or her clan down.

After knocking three times, Trinity opened the door and walked inside. Kaya followed to find Kian Murray sitting at a rectangular table, a stack of documents in front of him. When his gaze locked with his mate’s, he smiled, his eyes full of love, and the sight made Kaya’s heart squeeze. She knew jealously wouldn’t accomplish anything, but she wanted what this pair had—love filled with respect and the ability to work as a team.

She doubted she’d ever get it.

Kian’s eyes slid from Trinity’s to hers and he nodded. “Normally, I’d offer refreshments and shoot the breeze with you before getting down to business, but what I need to say can’t wait.”

Kaya took the chair across from him and waved a hand. “Trinity has already knocked down the formalities, so just say what you need to say.”

His gaze darted to Trinity, and his mate gave a shrug. Satisfied, he looked back to Kaya. “We’ve found another purple-eyed wolf-shifter this morning.”

She leaned forward. “Did Sy know about this? Why wasn’t I told?”

Kian said, “I didn’t want this information to leak and I told him not to say anything. He was following orders, so don’t take it out on him.”

Maybe he had changed. Teenage Sylas wouldn’t have been able to keep the secret. “And where is this wolf now?”

“The pup’s in quarantine.”

“Pup as in a baby wolf?”

Kian nodded and his lips set in a grim line. “But that’s not the worst of it. The pup came with a flash drive tucked inside a pouch around her neck. After ensuring the flash drive didn’t have any type of viruses detrimental to our security systems, one of my techs found a message for you.”

“Don’t leave me hanging, Kian. What did you find?”

“If you don’t refuse all the bids on your latest malaria drug, and keep it off the market indefinitely from humans, a deliberate epidemic will be started on GreyFire’s land.”

Withdrawing GreyFire’s malaria drug was tantamount to financial suicide. She had invested heavily in the research and development and was on the cusp of earning a return on her investment. The threat could be from any number of competitors, and she had a feeling that whoever had sent the message would only keep on blackmailing her clan’s efforts. Giving in was not really an option. “Did the message or the flash drive give any hint as to who it was from?”

Kian frowned. “That’s the thing. They didn’t try to hide their identity. It was from Human Purity.”

Human Purity was a mix of religious and secular protesters who believed shifters were no more than animals. They fought against, and occasionally derailed, legislation that gave new rights to shifters. “That doesn’t really make any sense. Purity is spending all their time and efforts toward fighting against the proposed human-shifter marriage equality laws in the various states. I have a feeling someone else is using them as a cover.”

Kian nodded. “I agree with you. Purity rarely targets a specific clan, let alone a specific species. If you have any clues as to who might want to threaten you, let me know. I want to help track down the bastards for infecting a mere pup.”

“As much as I’m glad for your offer of help, why? This affects my clan, and doesn’t really benefit yours. If the epidemic succeeded in wiping out GreyFire, most of our land would become yours.”

Kian stared at her for a second before he replied, “I know things between GreyFire’s and DarkStalker’s old clan leaders were tense at best. I also understand how you were embarrassed by my brother.”

Trinity interrupted with a warning. “Kian.”

He shook his head. “No. I love my brother, but Sy was an idiot all those years ago. He, at least, should’ve approached Kaya about breaking it off.” Trinity huffed and Kian looked back to Kaya. “Despite all of that, I want our truce to be more than a formality written on paper. One day, I want our clans to become almost family-like in their protectiveness of one another, but to do that, you’re going to have to forgive Sy. He’s one of my top people, and you’ll often be forced to be around him and work with him. The question is can you do it? Because if you can, then I have a plan on how to find your blackmailer and maybe save your clan.”

~~~

Arms crossed over his chest, Sy stood on the side of DarkStalker’s outside waiting area and watched the wolf-shifters in human form. It’d been a long time since he’d had to do babysitting duty, but for once, he was glad for the assignment. The peace and quiet of the forest helped him to clear his head about Kaya.

He only hoped he could remain levelheaded once he was close enough to scent her again.

For now, he was more concerned about Trin spending time alone with GreyFire’s leader. His sister-in-law had started to make it her mission to find him a mate. Just his luck, she’d try to patch things up between him and Kaya.

And he definitely didn’t want that. Or, rather, most of him didn’t. His dick wanted to fuck her tight, wet pussy every which way until they were both so exhausted they couldn’t do more than lie motionless and breathe.

Shit, okay, he didn’t need to be thinking of Kaya’s pussy. The woman had broken his heart and dismissed him without a fucking word.

Or had she?

He resisted a growl of frustration. His life had become simple, even predictable, over the last decade, just like he’d wanted. But now a tall, bronze-skinned beauty had turned his world upside-down.

Again.

Fuck.
So much for not thinking about her.

Truth be told, if he wanted to be able to focus on his duties and role inside the clan, he really only had two options when it came to Kaya Alexie. He could keep fighting his attraction and the curiosity of what had truly happened between them. Or, he could temporarily put aside his hurt from the past and corner Kaya to see what would happen next.

Thanks to his inner cougar, who was clawing to come out so he could rub his scent all over the wolf-shifter, he was leaning toward the second option.

Not that Sy wouldn’t mind rubbing Kaya from head to toe; the woman had always loved a massage. Hell, in the past, she’d usually thanked him afterward by sucking his cock deep into her wet, warm mouth.

As his mind started to relive those memories, his cell phone beeped with an incoming message. He took it out, saw it was from Trinity, and read: “Meeting is over. Bring the wolves to the quarantine observation area. Third one is dead.”

Shit.
The third wolf-shifter from the attack on his brother had been failing over the last two days, so the death wasn’t a surprise. However, if the death was a result of the symptoms of the mysterious virus, they now knew it killed its victims in less than a week. If the infected pup his clan had found this morning was just the first of what was to come, Kaya’s clan could be in serious danger.

The thought of Kaya contracting the virus and wasting away into a sick, insane animal didn’t sit well with him. No matter what had happened between them, she didn’t deserve that fate. Her clan depended on her, and his clan depended on that stability for survival. He would do whatever it took to prevent chaos from happening. The last thing they needed was for the humans to be proven right about shifters being no more than animals.