by Alexis Davie
Pike nodded and turned away slightly. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this revelation and he took three long, deep breaths to center himself.
“What happens now?” Talon asked. “Are you going to find out if she knew?”
“Of course she knew,” Reed muttered. “She has to know, right?”
“I’ll find out soon enough,” Pike told them and lowered his gaze.
“Why does it bother you so much?” Talon asked.
Pike glanced up at Talon and sighed. “It doesn’t. I just don’t want the past to repeat itself, you know.”
Talon nodded knowingly and turned to Reed, who eyed Pike suspiciously.
“I know what’s going on,” Reed pointed out. “You fucked her and now she’s gotten under your skin.”
“Reed, show some respect—” Talon growled as he angrily pushed Reed away.
“No,” Pike said and shook his head at Talon, silently ordering him to back off. “He’s right. I did fuck her, and she’s gotten under my skin, but not for the reason you think.”
“Why else would you screw a human, again?” Reed muttered.
“It really isn’t anyone’s business—”
“If it affects your judgment and puts the entire pack at risk, then it is everyone’s business!” Reed hissed.
Pike’s jaw clenched, but he stood down. He knew Reed was right and both he and Talon deserved an explanation.
“I feel something when I am around her,” Pike admitted.
Talon and Reed exchanged glances of disbelief and turned their attention back to Pike.
“Since when?” Reed wanted to know.
“Since the moment you brought her in here,” Pike answered.
“And does she feel it too?” Talon asked.
When Pike nodded, Talon’s eyes widened. “I knew it.”
Before Talon could say anything else, Pike held his hand in the air and shook his head. “Don’t even go there, Talon.”
“But I’ve been reading up about it and—”
“About what?” Reed asked.
“Mating for life,” Talon added.
“Like one person for the rest of your life?” Reed asked.
“That’s what it means, yes,” Talon said and rolled his eyes.
“That’s ridiculous,” Reed scoffed.
“There have been many documented incidents where our ancestors referred to—”
“True Mates, I know, Talon. You’ve told me this several times,” Pike sighed. “It doesn’t mean I believe it.”
“But you both felt something shift inside you, didn’t you? Like the entire world came to a standstill and it was just you and her?” Talon asked, his dark eyes glimmering like jewels in the sunlight.
Pike didn’t answer. Even though Talon’s words exactly described what he had experienced with Farrah, it was still almost impossible to comprehend the existence of True Mates. Pike had heard many tales when he was younger, but he had never believed in them.
“Boss?” Talon prompted.
Pike blinked a few times and looked at Talon. “I’ll go talk to her. Find out if she knows about her father.”
“And her brother,” Reed added.
“What do you mean?”
Reed took a few steps toward Pike and answered, “It seems that after Terrence’s death, Owen Walker took over the family business. He’s been taking out wolves across the country.”
Pike shifted his weight and asked, “How close is he to our territory?”
“A few hundred miles, but we’ll set up patrollers to keep an eye out for him,” Reed answered.
“Make sure they don’t miss a thing.”
“Got it. What do you want us to do with him if we do catch him?”
Pike hesitated for a moment and narrowed his eyes. “Keep him at arm’s length. Do nothing until—”
“Until you’ve sorted out that mess in your head, and your heart,” Talon interjected.
“Know your place, Talon.”
Talon lowered his gaze submissively and stepped back.
“Do not capture him, and do not harm him unless he attacks, but—”
“Don’t kill him, right. The poor bastard is family now,” Reed muttered and turned away. “Come on, Talon.”
Pike clenched his jaw in disapproval, but there was nothing he could say that would rectify the situation. He watched as Talon and Reed left the living room and he turned back to the staircase.
He was surprised to see Farrah at the top of the staircase, slowly making her way down to him.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What did your two henchmen want?”
“I asked them to get information on you.”
“Why?” she asked and crossed her arms. “Because all humans lie?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s mildly insulting,” Farrah said with an exaggerated eyeroll.
“Reed thought he knew you, and…”
“And what?”
“Something about you seemed familiar to me, too. So I asked them to find out more about you.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” she sneered. “There was nothing to find. Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, Farrah,” Pike answered.
“Yes, it is. I lived an ordinary life with a somewhat dysfunctional family, but that’s it,” she pointed out.
“It wasn’t your life that is the problem. It’s your father’s.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father was Terrence Walker, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve lived in Detroit your entire life?”
“Up until I moved here, yes.”
Pike lowered his gaze and his eyes grew darker. “Your dad wasn’t who you thought he was. And his death didn’t happen the way you were told it did.”
Farrah’s eyes welled up with tears, but she stood motionless in front of Pike. “What happened to him?”
“Did you know what your father did at night? When he wasn't home? Do you know where he was?”
A tear ran down her cheek and she shook her head. “No.”
“You’re lying to me.”
“I’m not lying to you. Just tell me what you know,” she demanded.
“Your father was a wolf hunter, and he got too close to a pack. The Alpha had him killed to make it look like he’d been gunned down.”
“No, that’s impossible. My dad was a kind and decent man. He’d never do something like that.”
“Even the kindest of men had the motivation to do what he did.”
“My dad was not a monster. He apparently just hunted them,” she retorted and glared at Pike.
Farrah’s words struck him deeper than any blade had ever done, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. It felt as though he had been punched so hard that all the air escaped from his lungs and his shoulders slumped momentarily.
“Talon also found out that your brother took over for your dad when he passed away.”
“You mean was murdered,” she corrected him.
“I’m sorry, Farrah.”
“I don’t believe you. I know the kind of man my father was,” Farrah said after a pause.
Pike sighed, knowing that there was only one way to convince Farrah that he was telling the truth. Even though he had known about Terrence Walker for a long time, he never realized he had a son and a daughter. Terrence had done a stellar job in keeping their identity a secret, as well as keeping them from harm. If it hadn’t been for Talon and Reed putting the pieces together, Pike would have never made the connection between Farrah and her hunter father.
Pike walked to the door which led to the garage and looked back at Farrah. “Come on.”
Farrah frowned. “What?”
“I want to show you something.”
“No,” she answered simply as she wiped her face and glared at him with narrowed eyes.
“Farrah, please. There is something I need to
show you.”
“What is it?”
“I have to drive us there.”
Farrah inhaled and her eyes widened, showing her obvious fear. He just hoped it was fear of what she might find out, and not a fear of him.
“Please, Farrah. Maybe things will make more sense to you after you see it for yourself.”
“See what?”
“Let me show you,” Pike urged and held out his hand toward her.
Farrah bit her bottom lip, then pushed past Pike through the door leading to the garage. Pike simply pursed his lips, knowing Farrah wasn’t in the mood to take his hand, or even look at him at that moment. The truth about her father, which she reluctantly believed, had obviously shaken her up a bit, and Pike knew she would be even more shaken up once they arrived at the underground chapel.
Pike climbed into his dark blue Audi, and Farrah slid onto the seat beside him. She immediately buckled her seatbelt and stared out in front of her. He lowered his gaze, waited for the garage door to open, before he shifted the car into reverse gear and drove out of the garage, and into the streets.
During the drive, he glanced occasionally at Farrah, but he didn’t say a single word to her. He wanted her to be the one to talk first, as he knew anything he would say to her could make her doubt herself even more. She had already accused him of lying to her about her father, but Pike didn’t take it personally. He could only imagine how lost and confused Farrah was at that moment, as her entire life and the image of her father she thought she knew were lies.
Gray clouds formed in the sky, casting an ominous shadow over New Orleans as Pike drove out of the city toward Lake Pontchartrain. The road split in two and he took the right road. He noticed Farrah’s growing discomfort as she shifted in her seat, gazing around her at the swamp wasteland.
“Where are we?” she asked in a tiny voice.
“Almost there.”
Pike took another small side road, and as they reached the clearing, surrounded by trees, Pike slowed the car.
Farrah glanced at him in confusion as he stopped the car and turned off the engine.
“This is the part where you kill me, right?” she asked anxiously.
Pike sighed in exasperation and opened his door. “Come on.”
He climbed out of the car, but it was only when Farrah realized that he was serious that she climbed out of the car as well.
“Wait a second. We’re in the middle of nowhere. What can you possibly show me out here?” she called out as she quickly closed the car door and ran after him.
Pike steadily made his way through the grass and came to a stop all of a sudden. He reached down and grabbed a metal ring which was cleverly concealed by the grass and shrubs. He pulled the ring upwards, and the large circular trapdoor opened.
“What the hell…” Farrah gasped as she finally reached him.
“Ladies first,” he offered with a cocky smile.
“Yeah, right. Like I’m going to go in there first. I don’t even know what’s down there. You could be leading me to my death,” Farrah scoffed.
Pike rolled his eyes and took a few steps down into the tunnel. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already.”
“That’s comforting,” she retorted.
Pike couldn't help but smile as he descended the stone steps, Farrah following closely behind him. She placed her hand on the small of his back, and it set off a whole new range of emotions as he felt his cock harden from just her touch.
At the bottom of the stairs, Pike reached for a switch and the entire room, which was large and spacious, with books, old chests, and dusty furniture that made it look as though no one had been there for a while, was lit in a dull orange haze.
“What is this place?” Farrah asked as she took a few steps forward, looking around the room.
“It used to be my lair when I first arrived in New Orleans,” Pike answered.
“Your lair?” she asked and turned to him. “Okay, Batman.”
“Talon, Reed, and I would come down here to figure things out, have discussions and meetings. We even had orientations here.”
“Orientations for what?”
“For those who wanted to join my pack.”
“You’re the pack leader?”
Pike shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head. “We prefer the term Alpha.”
“So I’ve heard,” she mumbled and approached a tall stack of books. “And all these books are…”
“Our history, mostly. What we are, where we came from. A lot of them are journals from previous generations, trying to figure themselves out. Being what we are didn’t exactly come with a guidebook,” he answered.
Farrah looked at him, her blue eyes luminous in the orange light. “So this is what you wanted to show me? A secret wolf lair? What does this have to do with my father?”
Pike walked toward a high shelf against the wall furthest from him and reached up. He found the rough leather-bound book and retrieved it from the shelf. It was the only book that wasn’t as dusty as the rest since he had read through it every so often, especially once he had acquired it after Terrence Walker’s death. He wiped the thin layer of dust from the leather and handed it to Farrah.
“What is this?” she asked as she reluctantly took it.
“It’s your father’s journal. Or at least one of them.”
Farrah’s eyes widened and she opened it on the first page. “That’s his handwriting,” she whispered as her fingers gently traced her father’s words on the pages.
Pike looked at her face, tears already starting to form behind her dark eyelashes. He watched her read for a few minutes, the emotions forming on her features. Sadness, confusion, anger, resentment, guilt, love, and disbelief. A single tear ran down her cheek and she shook her head. “I can’t believe this. My dad was a wolf hunter. All this time and I never knew.”
Pike shifted his weight, the feeling of discomfort a foreign concept for him. “I’m sure he wanted to tell you, but he just didn’t know how to. He just wanted to protect you and your brother.”
Farrah glanced up at him and let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“I know what it feels like to find out things about your family, things that happened right under your nose and you had no knowledge of it.”
“What did your dad do? Was he also a murderer?”
“He wasn’t a very good guy, and he paid the ultimate price because of that,” Pike answered and his eyes glowed softly in the dimly lit room. “My mother was a human, and I never knew that. It was only when she started to age that I realized it. I felt lied to because everyone knew except me.”
Farrah eyed him sympathetically. “People are selfish idiots, no matter what species they are.”
Pike nodded in agreement and lowered his gaze.
“How well did you know my dad?” she asked after a brief pause.
“I knew he was a great hunter. He singlehandedly killed over a thousand of us in his lifetime. Everyone feared him, even just the mention of his name. Many of us believed he wasn’t human; many of us still do, waiting for him to strike at any moment like he was never dead to begin with,” Pike said.
“Did he try to kill you too?”
“I’m the Alpha,” Pike said and held out his hands. “Of course he tried to kill me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. You had no idea,” Pike whispered.
“Can I ask you something?” she whispered in return.
“You can ask me anything.”
“Why haven’t you killed me yet?”
Pike regarded her grimly and his eyes flickered as he approached her. “Because I can’t.”
“That’s not an answer,” she pointed out.
“Then maybe this is,” he said huskily, and he pulled her close to him and kissed her on the lips.
Pike felt himself melting into Farrah, and despite his suspicions that mating for life was absolute nonsense, he couldn’t help but feel like h
e had just found his true mate.
5
Pike’s heartbeat was slow and steady against her ear as she stood enveloped by his arms in the weird underground lair. The words that were written in her father’s journal still spun around in her head, but she knew some of it wasn’t true. Her father had written that the wolves were heartless animals who deserved to die, but he was wrong.
Or at least he was wrong about Pike.
Pike was mentioned several times in the journal’s first few pages, which made Farrah believe that her father had specifically tried to target Pike, but never had any success. She shivered at the thought and backed away slightly. Her lips still burned from Pike’s passionate and tender kiss and gazed up to meet his eyes.
Without a word, Pike also backed away and sighed. “I feel very protective of you, Farrah. I don’t know why, but ever since the first time I saw you, something happened to me. I couldn’t kill you because killing you would have meant killing a part of myself.”
Farrah frowned but she understood what he meant because she felt exactly the same way about him. She had been in love once, or at least she had thought it was love at the time, but nothing compared to the feelings she had inside her for this man.
A wolf or not, she had lost her heart to him.
Her affection for him was sudden and illogical, but then again, there was nothing logical about the situation. Wolf shifters were real.
“I understand. I’m glad you didn’t,” she said with a small smile.
A hint of a smile formed on Pike’s lips but disappeared before it could become something more.
“What’s wrong, Pike?” she asked, sensing something was weighing on his mind. Something he wasn’t going to tell her.
“I have to let you go,” he answered simply.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I have to let you go. I can’t keep you locked up at my house anymore. People are going to ask questions. Your friends are likely looking for you. I don’t want the police snooping around my house. I’ve created a safe place for my pack, and I don’t want anything to jeopardize it.”
“Is that the real reason? Or are you just making up some excuse for not wanting to be with me?” she asked. “Is it because of my dad? Is it because he tried to kill you several times?”
