Wolf Mated

by Tamsin Baker

  There was a lot of huffing and puffing, and stomping of feet, but in the end, my mates obviously decided that I could be left alone with the weird shifter.

  Shadow chuckled when the door slammed shut behind them. “Are they both your mates?”

  I blinked at him, surprised he read that fact about our connection so easily. So quickly. “How’d you know that?”

  He shrugged. “I get a feel of people pretty easily. That and the excessive possessiveness. They both know me, trust me. I would never hurt a woman, especially not one related to me. So, their need to be in here was... strange.”

  I smiled at his logic, and the fact that I’d been right. They did trust him. Even if he was... odd. “Yes, they’re both my fated mates.”

  He smiled. “You must be a lot of woman to require two mates, especially one as strong as a dragon.”

  I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

  And I really didn’t want to discuss it with a man I’d just met, either.

  He laughed. “All right, we won’t continue with that conversation. Bit weird anyway, to be honest. Now, let’s get back to the topic at hand. You do realize why witches are extinct, or everyone assumes we’re extinct, don’t you?”

  “Shh...” I said, glancing around as though there could be people listening in the corners of the room.

  He lowered his voice. “There’s no bugs in this room. Don’t worry.”

  How he knew that, I had no idea.

  “Okay.” I shook myself to focus back on the conversation. “Ah, yes. I do know that the reason the witches are basically extinct is because the vampires hunted them until there was none left. I’m not sure why they did that, though.”

  He nodded, his purple eyes swirling in a way that I recognized as being part warlock. No other paranormal had eyes that color. But men on my mother’s side of the family did.

  I stared at him, awe struck. “You really are my cousin, aren’t you?”

  He chuckled. “Yes.”

  “Then why didn’t my father tell me about you?”

  Why would he keep a family member from me like that? I had so little as it was.

  Shadow puffed on the last of his cigarette, then pulled out another one from the silver case, lighting the second with the end of the first.

  “I think he wanted to keep you separate from this life... until you chose to be a part of it, of course. There are so many elements that are... unsavory. Dark. This part in particular.”

  I swallowed hard, taking a few, careful breaths to try and slow my thundering heart rate down. “What’s this, in particular?”

  Shadow blew out a ring of smoke and it drifted elegantly to the ceiling.

  “The Blood Ring.”

  “The... blood ring?” I repeated.

  It sounded like some sort of weird boxing match.

  Shadow shifted in his chair uncomfortably again. “Yes. It’s an underground blood market for vampires. Where people are bred, then drained of their blood, purely for selling to vampires.”

  “They... what?” I blinked at him, then threw up my hands. Shocked. “Are you telling me there’s people locked up somewhere in this city... whose sole purpose is to be available for a vampire’s tastes?”

  Shadow’s mouth thinned into a hard line. “Absolutely. But it gets a lot worse than that.”

  “Worse? Than babies bred for being fed to the vamps?”

  Not bloody likely.

  Shadow chuckled. “You really don’t get it, do you? The vampires consider us little more than food. Think about the way we see cattle, lambs, chickens. Bred for slaughter. For consumption. The vampires allow us to think we are free in this world, but in reality, they run the whole show.”

  I shuddered. “Like... cows? Like... steak?”

  I swallowed the bile that rose. I’d had such a delicious steak with Rogan last night, just as I did most nights with my father. Vampires couldn’t possibly think of us that way. I couldn’t believe it.

  “But, we’re human! We’re what they used to be! It’s almost like cannibalism.”

  Shadow nodded. “Yes, I agree with you. But that doesn’t change what we are to them or how they see us. Especially the ancient vampires. I’ve found that once they reach a certain age, two hundred or so, their empathy for the human condition, for anything really, becomes non-existent.”

  I shivered and ran my hands over my arms. I wasn’t actually cold, but the conversation was icing my normally pretty hardy constitution.

  “Okay. So... you’re saying the vampires run an illegal, and totally immoral blood ring, to what... breed specific blood lines... why?”

  Shadow shrugged one shoulder and winced. “Why do we, as humans, breed any species? Think about it. Why do we cross certain dog breeds, or cattle?”

  I tapped my fingers along the desk, thinking about his point from the perspective he was presenting. “Ah, for the strengths of those different breeds. Like designer dogs that look a certain way. Or cattle, for their size and muscles mass.” A horrible thought struck me. “Are they breeding us for... traits? Or...”

  Were we now designer... donors?

  He nodded. “Sort of. What the vampires have deliberately not told us over the years of working with us, although it’s obvious if you speak to them or live in their world, is that they enjoy certain blood types better than others. Why do you think all witches and warlocks were hunted to extinction?”

  Because they were too powerful? The vampires were jealous?

  “I never really looked into it. I guess I just assumed they thought we were a threat to them.” I closed my eyes briefly as a wave of nausea passed through my belly. “Tell me they don’t enjoy magical blood more than any other.”

  He chuckled. “You’re quick.”

  He sat up straighter, meeting my gaze with his. “They do. They love it... crave it more than any other bloodline.”

  He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Why do you think your mother was killed? Or why she would have been encouraged to breed with a shifter like your father?”

  I gaped at him. “You think a vampire killed my mother, for her... blood?” How was that possible? How had my father let that happen?

  He nodded. “I know they did.”

  “You... know?”

  How? How did he know?

  Then the other shoe dropped.

  “And what do you mean, she was encouraged to breed with my father?” I asked, wincing.

  I’d just gotten my head around the idea that my parents could be fated mates, but that was obviously not the case here.

  Worry crossed Shadow’s face, then he glanced down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “We’ve come this far, push on. Please. There’s no-one else alive to tell me anything true.”

  He sighed and smacked his lips together. “Do you have any water, or...”

  “Yes!” I jumped to my feet, happy to do something with all my nervous energy. I grabbed water bottles and coke cans out of the bar-fridge in the corner of the room.

  Luckily, my dad kept a full stock.

  I walked back and placed them on the desk. Three of each. “Help yourself.”

  Shadow took a bottle of water, tipped his head back, and swallowed it the same way a pelican would. All in one long drink.

  Impressive.

  Then he opened a can of coke, the crack of the aluminum echoing in the room, quickly followed by the effervescent bubbles of the soft drink.

  He took a big gulp and sighed. “Thanks.”

  I sat down and cracked my can. I needed the sugar. “You’re seriously not going to tell me how many different shifters are in your blood line?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t tell anyone. But... if you really want to know, I’ll tell you, cousin.”

  I nodded. “Shoot.”

  He sighed. “I have a base of witch blood of course. From our great grandmother, but my ancestors, unlike yours, fell in love outside their circle. So qui
ckly my blood was diluted with wolf shifters, a fox shifter, and a hare.”

  “A hare?” I repeated with surprise. That was a very unusual shifter.

  He chuckled. “Yes, unfortunately that did not mix well with my blood lines, thus the... spinal deformity. However, it gave me speed and agility.”

  “Thank you for telling me,” I said, though I was pretty sure he was holding something back. “There’s no...” I swallowed hard against the fear that rose. He may take this as a rude question, but I was going to ask it anyway. “There’s no reptile in there at all?”

  His eyes opened wider, then he chuckled. “How’d you guess that? No-one has before.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know. Something about your skin...”

  And my intuition that I trusted.

  He nodded. “Yes, there is some snake in there, which is probably why the vampires don’t bite me.”

  “Why is that?” I asked, not quite sure what he meant.

  “Because they don’t like reptiles, they never have. Oh, now it all makes sense.”

  “What does?” I asked.

  He grinned. “I knew they added something to your blood line, but I wasn’t sure which shifter. It makes sense why the vampires don’t bite you either. You have some snake in you too.”

  My mouth fell open. “Ah, say what now?”

  Chapter 17.

  Shadow smiled. “They never told you, did they?”

  “That my dad had snake in him? No!” I would have been horrified to learn such a thing. Snake shifters were known for being sneaky, underhanded, and savage.

  And now that I thought about it, I supposed it was possible...

  Shadow laughed. “Okay. I definitely need to tell you some things.”

  “Like what?”

  What else could there possibly be?

  How many more secrets did my family, and this city have to tell?

  Shadow took another sip of his coke, then placed it on the desk in front of him. “Well, firstly, there’s no snake shifter, in either side of your blood lines. Unlike most shifters who’ve intermingled for centuries, you dad’s line is pretty pure. Human and wolf shifters only.”

  Well, that was good to know, but did that mean... “And my mother?”

  “Pure witch,” he whispered. “The last of her kind.”

  “Then how...” He wasn’t making any sense. Unless my father wasn’t my real father, but I didn’t believe that for one second.

  Shadow reached forward, grabbed the coke, and tipped back the last of his can. “It’s pretty simple really. Do you remember the spell your mother cast on you as child?”

  “Ah...” I hated that this literal stranger knew so much about my life, but I tried to push through the discomforting feeling. “No, I don’t remember it, but my father told me that she’d conducted a spell to enhance my shifter abilities.”

  “Like she did for him,” he said.

  I gaped at him. “How is it you know so much about my family? Honestly, it’s...”

  “Un-nerving?” he finished with a grin.

  I nodded. “Totally.”

  Worse than that actually, but I didn’t have a word for it.

  He shrugged. “I listen and have an eidetic memory.”

  So, he memorized pretty much everything he’d ever been told, or read.

  I narrowed my gaze at him. Who was keeping secrets now?

  “It’s more than that,” I said. “My father wouldn’t have told you all of that information unless he had to...” Shadow has warlock in him, remember? “Did you put a spell on him? Or...”

  The answer came to me in a flash, as though my mother had handed the piece of information straight into my head.

  “You can read minds, can’t you? You sneaky bugger.”

  Shadow cackled with laughter and the door burst open as Fridge darted into the room.

  I waved my hand at him. “We’re all good in here, Fridge. You can go downstairs and work if you need to. Shadow and I are fine.”

  Fridge snorted through his nose and I was surprised not to see smoke rings come out his nostrils. Then he took another look around the room and nodded as though he was satisfied I was telling the truth. He slammed the door behind him.

  “You know he is super conflicted about the whole Fated Mates thing, right?” Shadow asked.

  I groaned. “Yes, I know! Can you tell me how to fix it?”

  He shook his head. “No, that’s not really how my... gift works. I get flashes of memory, emotion, sometimes words. But its fuzzy, and it has to be at the forefront of someone’s mind for me to read it. I can’t go digging through their subconscious or anything.”

  Good to know.

  “So how do you know about the spell my mother cast?”

  Because that is a secret I never thought my dad would share with anyone.

  “I felt the memory one day when I was with your father, and I started asking questions. In the end, he told me everything.”

  Everything. What was everything?

  I swallowed hard. Did I really want to know? Yes. Yes, I did.

  I had to.

  “And what’s everything?” I asked, though part of me wasn’t sure I could handle any more surprises this week.

  Shadow sighed. “That the spell your mother cast didn’t enhance your wolf shifter powers.”

  “It didn’t?” That would explain why my sense of smell is so terrible. So, they lied to me? “Then what did the spell do?”

  “It enhanced your speed and skills, but what your mother did, was add snake shifter to your mix of blood.”

  I gasped and jumped to my feet, my heart pounding and my stomach twisting. I felt sick.

  I pushed the chair back so that I could pace behind the desk. “But why... why would they do that? Why would she?”

  What a horrible thing for my mother to do!

  I tugged on my ponytail, letting my hair spill out. I ran my hands through the strands and rearranged my hair until I wanted to pull it out.

  “Stop freaking out, Sadie.”

  I spun around and glared at Shadow. “Stop freaking out? Are you serious?”

  The door slammed into the wall, and Rogan stood in the doorway, looking ready to fight.

  I waved both hands at him, getting annoyed now. I didn’t need some white knight in shining armor. Shadow was not going to hurt me.

  “Seriously, Rogan. I appreciate you standing guard, but I have to be able to scream at my cousin. We’re in a heated conversation.”

  Rogan backed out so fast it was funny.

  When the door clicked shut, I turned back to Shadow.

  “Now, Shadow. Is that the name you like by the way? Or should I call you something else?”

  He hesitated, as though he was about to tell me to call him by a different name, then he changed his mind. “Just call me Shadow. It’ll be easier.”

  I nodded. “Fine.” I had too much to worry about, without trying to convince him to trust me with his real name. “Now tell me, why the hell do I have snake shifter DNA in me?”

  “You don’t have the DNA, I don’t think. It’s just a spell.”

  Good. So I won’t pass it on to my kids.

  “To what purpose?” I asked.

  I was feeling totally betrayed by the people I’d thought loved me. And I wanted to know why they’d done it.

  “To save you.”

  “Save me? From what?” I demanded, putting a hand on my hip.

  Shadow moved to his feet and looked me in the eye. We were almost the same height, so it was easy to meet his gaze across the desk.

  “Not what. Who.”

  “Well, then, who?” I snapped, flinging out my arms.

  Shadow’s lips tilted up at the edge. “You really do have a lot of your father in you.”

  I growled, letting whatever wolf was in me, loose. “Shadow, I swear to god...”

  He put his hands up. “Okay, okay, sorry. They did it to save you from the vampires, to disguise your witch blood.”

>   All the fight went out of me. Of course, my parents had done such a reprehensible thing to protect me.

  I grabbed the chair and sat back down, flapping my hands at Shadow so that he’d do the same.

  He flopped down into his chair as well.

  My brain was going a million miles an hour, sorting everything into logical categories.

  “So, in summary, vampires love witch blood. They killed my mother for hers. And since I’m half witch and would probably tempt them in a similar way, my mother chose to put snake shifter into my blood to disguise my origins?”

  Shadow nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. The vamps hate snake shifter blood more than anything. It’s the main thing that has saved me from being fed on over the years. And by the sounds of it, it’s done the job and saved you also.”

  I straightened in my chair. “Well, I’m no push over, and I don’t put myself into dangerous situations...”

  I liked to think that I had a say over what happened to me from day to day.

  Shadow chuckled. “Sorry, love, but you are a gorgeous young woman with witch blood. And a high percentage by modern standards. In fact, you’re probably the last true half-blood witch of our time. It wouldn’t matter how well you hid yourself, or how well your father trained you, you’d be dead by now if your mother hadn’t disguised the scent in your blood.”

  My throat grew thick and I swallowed hard. What a sobering thought.

  I wanted to know more. “How does it work exactly? The snake thing?”

  He shrugged. “We’re not a hundred percent sure, but something to do with the snake shifter scent. It really puts them off.”

  “Good to know,” I said, nodding.

  Of all the things I thought my parents would do to save my life, introducing snake shifter genes—considered the lowest of all shifters—into my blood was not one of them.

  I took a deep breath and pulled my chair forward so I was closer to the desk. “So... now that I know things about myself that I never expected... what are we going to do to find out who killed my father?”

  “Well...” Shadow ran his hand through his scraggly hair. “I need to do some digging and investigating.”

  “How long is that going to take?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Give me a few days. I’ll know more by then. Is there anything you need to tell me about his death, that I don’t already know?”