by Ashlee Sinn
Instead, they told me about our long family history of pure raven blood, and how the Kaplan’s were the only other raven shifters in the world who still had an untainted line. And yes, they actually used the word untainted. That was when they informed me of their deal—Roman and I would marry when I was twenty-five and he would pursue his career in politics. Which meant I would support his career in politics and my mom and dad would financially benefit from their investment. For weeks, I fought with my parents about this arrangement, despite being nine at the time. But I already knew that I wouldn’t be happy in a forced marriage and I hated that so many others had the freedom to do what they wanted.
So, on the month of my twenty-fifth birthday, I moved to Alaska.
The scent of pines filled my nose while the remnants of snow and ice crunched under my feet. I swear the air was so much clearer up here than in the lower forty-eight. I used to love the rolling hills and amazing summers in Kentucky, but this place…this place stole my heart. In more ways than one.
I was so preoccupied with my thoughts, that I didn’t even notice the pickup truck coming down our private road until it was almost on top of me. The old, raggedy truck skidded to a halt as I tried to calm my shuddering heart. Swearing to myself for be so unobservant, I slowly walked around to the driver’s side and waited for the uninvited guest to open the window. It took a while. Too long, actually, before the woman manually rolled down the window and offered me a smile. Her gorgeous red hair was parted down the center, and her pale skin and blue eyes contrasted nicely with the sharp nose and jawline. She had on minimal makeup, but she wouldn’t have needed any to look striking.
“Hello,” she said, voice shaking slightly and a scent of fear wafting off her.
“Good morning.”
She lifted her phone and read from the screen. “Is this Eagle Creek?”
Glancing at her phone, I quickly recognized that she was looking at the official government registration site. And while I hadn’t had to deal with any yet, I’d heard that the shifter groupies were coming out of the woodwork since our locations had been made public. “This is private property,” I said by way of an answer.
“So, I am in the right spot,” she sighed with relief. “You know, it was so hard for me to find this place.” Something made a noise in the small back seat, and the woman quickly looked in her rearview mirror to see whatever it was. “I’m looking for Max Larkin. Do you happen to know him?”
“Why are you looking for Max?” I didn’t like the way her eyes relaxed when she mentioned Max’s name—like she knew him and he provided something safe for her.
Again, another passenger stirred in the back seat. The woman turned around to look behind her while I sniffed the air. She was human, but whatever she was carrying in the back was not. When she settled in her seat once more, she gave me a tired look. “Is Max here?”
I shrugged. “You should talk to Donovan. He’s in charge.”
“Oh, okay. I can do that.” Her eyes lit up and again, I felt that irritating twinge of annoyance in my gut. “Do I just follow the road?”
Hesitating, I couldn’t decide what to tell her. We didn’t typically have uninvited guests find us in Eagle Creek. But her passenger was a shifter and there was a reason she was here. “Yeah. Just go until the road ends.”
She beamed a smile in my direction. “Thank you so much.” A moment later, she was bouncing along down the road and eventually disappeared around the bend.
My gut didn’t feel right about this, so I sent a quick text to Mariah, telling her someone was coming to speak with Donovan. Mariah immediately wrote me back and assured me she would meet the stranger right away. I considered Mariah a friend, and today I loved her even more.
I tried to continue my run, even as the sound and smell of the old truck finally dissipated. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something important was happening and I needed to be there. How did she know Max? Why did she want to talk to him? She’d come a long way, if the Oregon plates were hers, to speak with the Enforcer of Eagle Creek.
“Fuck it,” I finally muttered to myself. Stripping out of my clothes and tucking them into a tree, I started to run back toward the camp. I only had three or four steps on the ground before the shift took over. Pumping my wings, I lifted up into the air, high above the trees so I could make a straight line back to my home. Finding the right currents took me a moment because I was so distracted with that heavy feeling in my gut. Something was wrong. Something didn’t feel right.
Something was about to change.
When I crossed over the final curve in the road, I caught the scent of the truck again. The woman had stopped and was exiting the vehicle. Mariah waited by her door, clipboard in hand and talking to her about something. The woman looked petrified, hunched over and barely making eye contact with the coyote shifter and mate of the alpha. If I could have smiled with my beak, I would have. Thank you, Mariah. For some reason, I felt that she was looking out for me even if I didn’t know why this woman was searching for Max.
I circled overhead while Mariah escorted the woman toward her and Donovan’s cabin. And when Rhys jogged over to join them, I landed on an old tree stump next to Donovan’s porch, happy he hadn’t gotten around to removing it yet. My alpha gave me a look, and I replied with a squawk. I wanted to hear what the woman had to say, and I would sit here quietly and listen. Rhys cleared his throat, although it kind of sounded like a laugh, and held out his hand to the woman.
“I’m Rhys. And who are you?”
Mariah smiled as the woman took a step away from him, even though she shook his hand. She was tall, taller than most of the females here, but she smelled terrified. “I’m…I’m Sarah.”
“What are you doing here, Sarah?” Donovan asked. His deep voice and oppressive size would frighten any shifter, so the fact that human Sarah hunched in on herself again and dropped her gaze was no surprise.
“I’m looking for someone.”
“How did you find us?” Donovan had his arms crossed as he stood on the porch, several feet above the rest of us.
“The registry.”
Rhys and Donovan shared a look. I knew Donovan hated the idea that we all had to register our locations as Eagle Creek, and this was probably one of the reasons why. “You’re human.”
“I am,” Sarah whispered.
“This is a shifter camp. We protect each other and we don’t want any groupies. If you’re looking for a hook up, you’ll find some bars in town that cater to that sort of thing.”
Again, Rhys hid his laugh and Mariah rolled her eyes at her mate. “Sarah,” she said politely, “who are you looking for.”
Sarah’s cheeks flushed red and she smelled a little angry, as though Donovan’s suggestion pissed her off. “I’m here to see Max Larkin.”
“Max?” Rhys said, “Does he know you’re coming?” I didn’t miss the way all three pairs of eyes found me in their sideways glances.
“No. No…he doesn’t know.” Sarah was lying, or at least not telling us the whole truth.
“What do you want with Max?” Donovan asked, timber lowering to a scary tone.
“Please, I just need to speak with him.”
“Why?” Donovan commanded.
“It’s private.” Sarah’s cheeks turned red again. I repositioned my feet on my stump, flapping my wings to keep my balance. Donovan shot me another glare.
“Max is under my care,” Donovan continued. “Therefore, I need to know why you want to speak to him.”
“Why?” she snapped, but then immediately ducked her gaze.
“Because you have trespassed into my territory. You owe me an explanation.”
Sarah ground her jaw and shifted on her feet. Back and forth. Back and forth. She cast a few fleeting glances over her shoulder to her truck, as though contemplating her next move. Finally, she let out a deep breath and put her hands on her hips as she spoke to Donovan. “Fine.” Turning on her heel, she stomped to her truck and opened the dr
iver’s door. I thought she might be leaving and enjoyed the giant wave of relief that washed over me. It might have been petty and childish, but I couldn’t help what I felt. Whatever Sarah was here for, it couldn’t be good. And when she stepped back from the door to allow a child to jump out onto the ground, I knew I’d been right.
Everything was about to change.
Donovan, Rhys, and Mariah all shot a glance in my direction, mouths hanging open and pity wafting off them. I squawked again, telling them to shut up and wait for an explanation instead of jumping to conclusions. But as Sarah and the blonde boy with round cheeks and the same brown eyes of Max walked back toward us, I knew they’d all been right.
Sarah put her hands on the child’s shoulders as she escorted him our way. The boy’s eyes widened when he looked at me, and then grew to the size of saucers when he looked up…and up at Donovan. “Wow,” he breathed. “You’re the lion, right?”
Donovan gave him a quick nod.
“Micah, that’s rude,” Sarah said. She was carrying a piece of paper in her hands, and she handed up to Donovan as she bit her lips and waited.
“What is this?” Donovan asked.
“It’s a DNA test.”
My heart plummeted while I waited for her next words.
“Micah is Max’s son.”
Donovan gave me a look of pity as he scanned the paper in front of him. “What is this showing?” Handing the test results to Mariah, she answered for Sarah.
“It’s showing that Micah and Max share the same DNA.”
“How’d you get his sample?” Rhys asked, ripping the paper out of Mariah’s hands.
“It’s on file from his arrests,” Sarah replied curtly. “Look, I’m not here to cause problems. I just need to talk to Max.”
“Lady,” Rhys said with a huff and a quick glance toward me, “you have already caused problems.” Then, looking up at Donovan, Rhys said, “I’ll go get him.” We watched him jog off toward our cabin, before Sarah finally spoke up again.
“Please. I really need to talk to him.”
Donovan ignored her and instead crouched down to be at eye level with Micah. “How old are you?”
“Seven,” he said proudly.
“And what are you?”
“I’m a panther just like my dad.”
Mariah sucked in a breath at the same time Donovan stood back up. Well…shit. This just threw a massive kink in our perfect little life. It’s not that I was anti-kid, but we’d just started our lives together and now Sarah was here, gorgeous Sarah with her super-cute panther kid, and I was sitting on a log observing.
In the distance, I saw Max leaving the cabin and following Rhys back up the hill. I needed to go to work and I didn’t think I could sit here much longer and listen to Sarah’s story. I needed some time to process first. So, as Max approached, I lifted up into the air, flew over his head and landed on two legs as I reached our house. I felt Max’s eyes on me, but I didn’t turn around.
He could deal with this in his own way and I would deal with it on my own. Work would help, and being distracted by work might be a damn good way for me to figure out how to process everything. I mean, did Sarah want Max in their lives? Did she want Max? Did she want Max to live with them in Oregon?
There were so many thoughts racing through my head, that I almost walked out of the house without shoes. Swearing to myself and still trying to make a quick getaway, I climbed into my truck, backed out of the small parking space, and sped off into the woods.
I didn’t like the way Fawn just buzzed my head and then ignored me as she stomped into our cabin. And I really didn’t like the way Rhys was rushing me up to Donovan’s saying there was something important waiting there for me.
Walking backward so I could watch Mariah scurrying out to her truck and kick up dust as she peeled out of the camp, I felt my stomach plummet. Something wasn’t right. It had all been so perfect just an hour ago, and now I was missing something big.
“Come on,” Rhys said, yanking on my shirt. “Donovan’s waiting.”
“So, he can wait,” I grumbled. “What’s up with Fawn?”
“You’re about to find out.” Rhys muttered those words but I’d still heard them.
Annoyed at…well, at everything, and feeling the familiar ache of a pissed off panther, I jumped on Rhys’ back and knocked him to the ground. He fell to his knees and I had him pinned before he could say a word. Twisting his arm behind his back and resting my knee on his ribs, I demanded, “Tell me what’s wrong with Fawn.”
“Fuck you, Max. And get the fuck off me,” Rhys shouted.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Donovan walking down the stairs of his front porch. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Max!” Donovan’s commanding voice yanked me out of my angry rage, but I didn’t let go of Rhys. Instead I looked up at my alpha and stared him down. “Max, let him go. Now.”
The power in his voice pressured my animal to obey, even if the human did not. Fuck him for forcing this, and fuck everyone else for watching. I pushed back to standing, watching as Rhys took a moment collect himself. He stood, brushed the dirt off his shirt, and glared at me like he wanted to kill me.
“What?” I shouted at him. “It’s what you get for being secretive.”
Rhys huffed a laugh and shook his head. “I’m not the one with secrets, asshole.” He stomped toward Donovan, Mariah, and a redhead holding onto a little boy. It was the first I’d noticed them and instantly, I knew something wasn’t right.
“Max, please come here,” Donovan said, a little more politely then before.
As I approached, the little boy studied me closely, taking in every inch from my head to my work boots. He looked up at me and when I caught his gaze, he smiled shyly and clung to the woman again.
“What’s this?” I asked, pointing to the two of them.
Donovan stared at the woman, waiting for her to answer. Finally, she cleared her throat and did her best to make eye contact with me. “Max, do you remember me?”
“Should I?” I scrambled through as many memories as I could, but I was drawing a blank.
“We met in Seattle, seven years ago.” When she said that last part, she looked down at the boy huddling next to her.
“Lady, I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to, but I don’t remember a damn thing about my years in Seattle.” When I noticed her tearing up, I let out a breath and tried to explain myself a little better. “I wasn’t always in my right mind back then. There are a lot of blanks.”
“Well,” she said, clearing her throat again, “I’m Sarah and this is Micah. You and I spent some time together during one of your blank moments and we produced this.” She pushed Micah in front of her so the boy was standing between the two of us. “Micah is your son.”
My friends didn’t say a word as I stood there like a statue with my mouth hanging open and my brain scrambling for an explanation. My son? My fucking son? No way. There was absolutely no way this was true.
Donovan pushed a piece of paper into my hand. “It’s true. This is the DNA test.”
What? She had my DNA? How did she…oh, yeah. When I was arrested for assault. It all started to come together in a blinding rush. Because of the situation with the human man I beat to a pulp, the police had my DNA on file as evidence for the court case. And when shifters had to start registering after the big reveal, well, I’m guessing that bloody shirt got linked with my profile.
But I still didn’t fucking remember spending any damn time with Sarah.
“Let’s give them some space,” Mariah suggested when no one was speaking.
Slowly, my friends disappeared into the surroundings as the weight of the paper in my hand kept me still. How had this happened? How had things changed so quickly? I looked down at Micah, still clinging to his mother, and wondered how I had produced that.
“Please say something,” Sarah whispered.
I couldn’t speak.
“You’re a panther,�
� Micah said quietly.
His voice finally pulled me from the deepest parts of my thoughts. “I am.”
“Me too,” he giggled. It was the cutest damn giggle I’d ever heard, but then I realized what he’d just admitted.
Looking at Sarah, I asked, “He is? He’s a shifter?”
She nodded and rested her hands on his shoulders. “Yes. And that’s why we’re here. He just started his changes and I don’t know…I don’t know how to handle them.”
“I like to scratch,” Micah said proudly.
I glanced at Sarah who added, “He’s destroying everything.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he doesn’t know how to control himself, and I can’t teach him. He needs a shifter in his life. He needs his father.”
Lifting my hands in the air, I took a few steps back. “Whoa. Just hang on a minute. You can’t show up on my doorstep with a kid and just dump him on me.”
Sarah’s face turned red. “How dare you? I didn’t ask for this but I’ve been taking care of your son by myself for seven years. I didn’t intend to seek you out and in fact, I wouldn’t have if Micah had turned out normal!”
“I’m not normal?” Micah asked, eyes flashing back and forth between the two of us.
“No, baby,” Sarah immediately said. She bent her knees so she was at eye level with her boy. “You’re more than normal. You’re my special boy, remember?”
“I’m special,” he purred, rubbing his head against his mother’s.
“You certainly are,” she responded with a smile at Micah and a glare at me. Standing again, she looked around the camp. “Is there someplace he can go while we talk?”
“I can take him,” Mary said. She had on her black again, but was wearing a smile I’d never seen on her before. “You want to play catch?” she asked Micah.
