“Big truck!” he announced proudly as he showed off his favorite toy firetruck, toddling off to resume playing by himself. Both of them were perfect blends of Talon and Liberty, and he was happy to be an uncle, even if he knew he’d never have kids of his own. He wasn’t upset about the fact he wouldn’t ever be a biological father, either. It wasn’t in the cards for him, because of their genetics. There would never be surrogate shifters, and the only way he would ever have offspring would be if he found a female mate. He already knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Uncle Noah, come play!” Ember was so energetic, just like her mother. She carried the alpha gene, and anyone around her knew what an impact the child would have once she became of age. “Come on!”
“Just for a minute,” he said, ruffling her hair and scooping up Declan from the living room floor. Talon’s son hugged his neck and just rested his head on his shoulder as Ember rambled on about a new toy she’d received for her birthday the month before. Noah spent a few minutes with them as Liberty offered to let Talon know he was there. By the time his brother entered, the cubs had him sitting in the floor, playing with their toys.
“You’re a good uncle, Noah,” Talon offered.
“I kind of like them,” he teased with a shrug. “You ready to discuss this?”
“Yes,” he sobered, nodding for Liberty to take the kids away from Noah. He kissed their little foreheads and gave them hugs before climbing to his feet. “Come to my office.”
Noah followed his brother and noted how the house was empty. There were no pride members around, but as soon as they entered the office, he realized why. The sheriff and his brother’s second-in-command, Winter, were standing beside his desk; both of them with somber expressions on their faces.
“Where’s Taze?” Noah asked.
“I’m here,” Taze called out as he entered the office, closing the door behind him.
“What happened today while I was asleep?” Noah asked, refusing to take a seat in front of Talon’s desk. He chose to stand, and so did his partner. Whatever they needed to be told must’ve already been discussed with the other Guardians who worked during the day and on the pride’s land.
“We looked into missing persons reports after Taze came up with the theory of the Gadaí attacking women,” Garrett began. He glanced at Talon, but the alpha nodded for him to continue. “Since the beginning of the robberies and attacks, there have been twenty-two reports filed by family and friends. Fortunately, sixteen of those have been found. Six of those are still unaccounted for. Of those six, three were working for the businesses that were robbed by whom we now know were shifters. The other three lived within two miles of known rogue activity.”
“So, we may have six female Gadaí?” Noah confirmed, crossing his arms as he began to pace, working through the information. “Talon, Guardians will not harm a female if they’re as rabid as the male we encountered last night.”
“That male was…” Taze paused to shake his head in disgust. “He was rabid like Noah said. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. He was hard to apprehend.”
“We need proof,” Talon began, wiping his hand over his face, then back up again to run his fingers through his hair in frustration. “My females are ready to fight. We discussed everything last night, and Evie, Hope, and Jade are on board.”
“At this point, we don’t know if it’s true,” Taze offered. “I mean, I could be wrong, but the way that male had control over the woman when he began to flee…it was obvious he was willing to change her right there in the alley if we hadn’t caught him in the act.”
“I’ve already ordered the other Guardians to be on alert and to look for females,” Talon began, finally dropping into the seat behind his desk. “I have to be one hundred percent sure these Gadaí are adding females to their numbers before I pull the Protectors from the patrol here and send them out on those streets.”
“You’re really going to do that?” Taze asked, his voice calm. Noah knew Taze was all for the females fighting alongside the Guardians. It wasn’t that way when he was going through his transition and gained his Guardian status. The male was, for a lack of better terms, an asshole. Since he’d taken charge of Calla’s training while she was under the age of maturity, he’d seen what great fighters the females were once they were skilled.
“If there are female Gadaí, then yes,” Talon sighed. “Our rules are changing, and the things we once held sacred are being tested.”
Talon excused them after an order to report to his office as soon as they got off their rotation the next morning. Storm and Lucky were off the night before and had already gotten the same information. Taze shook Noah’s hand and left the alpha’s home with a promise to be at his place half past eleven that night. They’d return to the same area and make their rounds unless there was another robbery reported.
Noah stepped off the back porch and pulled his coat tighter around him as the cold wind blew across the land. He made his way over to Landon’s and knocked on the door as soon as he stepped onto the porch. He didn’t have to wait long for Landon to answer.
“Hey,” Landon said with a smile. After the night he’d had, Noah needed to see the male. Being in his presence blocked out all the violence they were dealing with, and right then, it was welcomed.
“Hey, care to go to my place?” Noah asked, but frowned when Landon hid a yawn behind his hand. “You’re tired. I’ll go.”
“No, no,” Landon begged. “Stay for a little while. Let me make you a plate.”
“Only for a minute,” Noah replied as he stepped through the door once Landon moved away. He wanted to wrap his arms around the male and ask for comfort, but he didn’t. “I’m off rotation tomorrow night, and I think I owe you a dinner.”
“Want to have dinner here then?” Landon asked over her shoulder as he dug through the refrigerator for the plate of food, removing the clear wrap and popping it into the microwave.
“How about you come to my place?” Noah suggested, feeling his beast rumble in agreement. “I’ll cook.”
“Okay,” Landon nodded, a soft blush painting the tops of his cheeks. Noah desired to touch the male every single time he was close. The beast inside him wanted to mount the male, but his human side pushed at the animal. He didn’t know if Landon would ever be ready for that type of intimacy again.
Noah sat at the kitchen table and ate his meal. Landon’s eyes were heavy, but he stayed up until Noah cleaned his plate. “Thank you for dinner. Now, you should go to bed.”
“I am,” Landon replied, holding out his hand for Noah’s plate. Noah ignored him and took the plate to the sink, hand washing it and placing it back in the cupboard after drying it with a towel.
“Good night, Landon.” Noah wanted to say more, but the male needed his sleep. With a short wave, they parted ways, and Noah went home to dress for his shift. They had an alpha to catch. Looking at all of the dark cabins along the road, he realized his job was to care for his people and the humans so they could continue to live in peace.
Taze sat on his porch, looking toward the alpha’s home. In the middle of his line of sight was Calla’s tiny home, and he wondered what she was doing up so late. It was just before eleven, and he knew she had to get up early to head into her human job.
He hated it, but he understood her desire to learn the human’s laws so she could use them to protect their species. The female refused to have a Guardian attached to her while she was at work. Apparently, the law offices were in a tightly secured building, and her office was on the second floor. No one got in without identification.
He still wanted to test that theory. His beast smirked inside his mind. If anyone could get inside that building, it would be Taze. He had an uncanny ability with electronics and door locks. Talon approved him as a Guardian because of his fighting skills, but as he trained with the seasoned Guardians, Taze found his alpha needed him for his stealth and ability to stay hidden when he was on the hunt.
One of thes
e days, he would be off rotation, and after a little bit of sleep, he would pay the offices a visit. Yeah, he was going to get into that building if it killed him. Calla needed to either get back to training or be escorted. Taze refused to let her go into work alone anymore. If those Gadaí were building an army of females, they could get her and force her to take the alpha’s blood. That would break her connection to Talon, and she would forever be lost to him…to the pride. He relaxed when the light by the window went out, knowing she was safe in her own bed. It gave him enough peace to grab his things and leave his cabin. It was time to head out and find the bad guys.
Noah was waiting on him, and he couldn’t sit there and watch the cottage like he so desperately wanted to do. He’d go to work and make his plan for the next afternoon. “Let’s go find this damn alpha.”
“I’m ready,” Noah said as they drove off the property.
It was unspoken, but both males knew they were treading on uncharted territory. The ancient stories of the Gadaí never included female rogues, and Taze assumed it was because of their protectiveness over them. Although they were thieves, they only wanted money and power. Females were left out of wars for a reason. They were not to be used as leverage, because both sides would rather die than lay hands on females of their species.
However, the wolves were a different story. They didn’t care, and that was the problem. Werewolves were always bad. They’d never found a wolf alpha who was pure enough to stop the vicious cycle of their heritage.
Until recently, shifters hadn’t interacted with other species. During the raids and the attacks from the Community, the Shaw pride had found that any alpha could give their blood to a shifter and become their alpha.
The world they’d secretly lived in was changing and no one was sure how it would affect the species. Taze was still a teenager when the raids had happened. His family had kept him in the loop through the fear of the unknown. Their discovery by the humans had been received with a mixed bag of emotions. Most prides and packs remained hidden to keep themselves safe. Only a few were known to the humans, and he secretly wished they hadn’t been the ones to have been seen shifting. It’d brought a lot of danger to his people.
Now, they had rogues, or Gadaí as his ancestors had called them, using their power to turn humans into killing machines. A shifter was naturally stronger than a human. A female shifter, however protected by the males of their family, could defeat a human male in a scuffle. If that female was mated, the touch of a human male would change the odds. She’d be in too much pain to fight back.
“Maybe we need to train the females to be able to fight if they’re touched by a male,” Taze wondered aloud.
“That will not go over well,” Noah replied.
“I’m thinking,” Taze sighed, “if there are female rogues committing crimes alongside the males, and Evie is touched by the male, how will she defend herself? We’ve trained them to wear their gloves and to fight, but what if there is skin to skin contact and they’re twenty miles from home, hunting Gadaí?”
“They won’t be able to fight because they’ll be overwhelmed by the pain.” Noah knew what Taze was saying was true, but to get the mated females through training with the touch of a male that wasn’t their mates…it would cause the males to go feral.
“If we find female Gadaí,” Taze began, “we won’t have a choice. Evie, Hope, and Jade are our only hope of beating this mess.”
“What about Calla?” Noah asked the obvious. Taze glanced at the male, giving him a look a frustration.
“She’s given up on training,” Taze stated. Saying those words hurt more than he thought they would once they were spoken.
“Fuck,” Noah mumbled.
Chapter Nine
It’d been a few days since Landon had last seen Noah. They’d had to cancel their dinner plans yet again, because of his duty to the pride. Noah had been ordered to work on his day off. Landon understood it, but he didn’t like it.
There was an eerie silence to the pride. The Guardians and Protectors were working more than ever, and the pride in itself was on edge. No one knew what was going on, but everyone was assured the alpha was doing whatever he could to keep them safe.
And it was obvious something was going on.
The Guardians and Protectors were tight-lipped. Even his brother, Cole, hadn’t been told by his mate, Dane, of any threat. When Talon used his magic to give a command to keep their mouths shut…they did. It was another one of those things Landon would never understand about his adopted family unless he was changed into what they were.
Landon shook his head as he turned off the light in his office. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea of becoming a shifter. Hell, the thought had never crossed his mind until that moment. He’d heard what happened during the change, and he was certain it was worth the pain, but he didn’t think he would be shifter material. He just wasn’t built like them.
His brother and Olivia were once human, and they’d commented a few times on how much better their lives had become since they were changed. Oh, they’d also complained about the first few weeks of learning how to live with the magic of the animal inside them, and he often heard them mumbling to themselves as if they were talking to the panther. It took some getting used to, and now, he didn’t think twice when he heard them addressing the animal.
“Hey Landon, you ready?” Sophia called out as she left the breakroom. “I’m done with the end of day reports. They’re in your email.”
“Perfect, Sophia,” Landon beamed. Savage’s baby sister was a miracle worker, and he couldn’t have asked for a better office manager. “I just need to leave some notes for Amaya.”
“No rush,” she replied, returning to the front desk.
Landon chuckled when she kicked her feet up on the desk and started surfing through some social media app on her phone. He glanced over as Malaki entered the room, nodding to let him know every window and door was checked and rechecked just as he’d done every night before they closed up the clinic.
Landon left his note for the night nurse and waited for Malaki and Sophia to gather at the door so he could set the alarm. Malaki drove them straight to the pride without saying anything to them. He could sense a change in Sophia since the Guardians had gone quiet, and he knew she was still feeling the stress from her alpha and pride. He wished he could help them, but he wasn’t sure how he could get involved. The only thing he could do was patch wounds should that ever happen.
As soon as he walked into his home, he stopped dead in his tracks. Noah was asleep on the couch in the living room, and Olivia was working quietly in the kitchen. She peeked around the corner and made a motion for him to be quiet.
“What’s going on?” he whispered to his sister-in-law.
“Noah showed up around three and said he was going to hang out until you came home,” she answered, tossing a paper towel into the trash. “He laid down and has been asleep ever since.”
“Do you know what’s going on?” Landon pressed, looking at his watch and noting it was after five. “Everyone is on edge.”
“I don’t,” she frowned. “Dane has been ordered to not tell us anything, and I know it’s killing him to keep it secret, but Talon gave the order.” Talon’s orders were law, and no matter how bad the Guardian wanted to tell the secret, he physically couldn’t. That was the part of the magic that interested him.
“I hope we know more soon,” Landon mumbled, mentioning he’d be back after changing out of his slacks and dress shirt.
Once he returned, Landon took a seat in the recliner next to the couch and watched Noah in his slumber. A soft purr could be heard as he exhaled. He was at peace, and from the sound of it, so was his panther.
He wanted time with Noah, but the scar on his back tingled, reminding him of his flaws. There was no way Noah wouldn’t be disgusted by his deformity. Hell, it made Landon sick if he even looked at his back in the mirror to see if the carving had faded. He wondered if he’d ever get past the fac
t the cartel had beat him and carved the letter E, for their family name, into his skin.
“Landon, what’s wrong?” Noah’s sleepy voice brought him out of his thoughts.
“Nothing,” he breathed as the shifter sat up, stretching his muscular arms. Landon couldn’t stop staring as his back twisted and turned underneath his tight, black shirt. His shoulders were broad, and Landon remembered the time he’d seen Noah working around the pride without a shirt on. He cleared his throat at the images. The last thing he needed to be doing was getting aroused in his brother’s living room. “Ah, just wondering what the hell is going on.”
“I…I really can’t say,” Noah replied, his face showing how torn he was. “Just know that we have the pride protected.”
“I trust you,” Landon vowed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “You look exhausted.”
“I am exhausted.” Noah paused to yawn. “I wanted to be here when you got home. I think I owe you a meal.”
“You don’t have to cook for me,” Landon protested.
“Yeah, I do,” Noah sobered. “Come to my place?”
“Okay, yeah, sure.” Landon stumbled over his words as Noah’s scent thickened in the air.
Olivia gave them a little wave as they said their goodbyes. Landon blushed when she gave him a thumbs up when Noah turned his back. His brother and his brother’s mates knew something was going on between them because they recognized the scent Noah was giving off whenever he was around Landon. It was a panther thing, and even though Landon could detect it, Olivia had told him the panthers could scent it even stronger.
As they walked toward Noah’s cabin, Savage and Mary Grace passed them on their way to the alpha’s home. Savage had tilted his head to the side while Mary Grace smiled widely at them. Booth and Jade didn’t act much differently when they saw them coming from the woods in their human forms.
“Everyone knows,” Noah said as he closed the front door.
Noah (Rise of the Pride, Book 10) Page 9
