by Lia Davis
Soon.
Ana fell in step with him and Blaine as they made their way to the back of the den. “Is this human-like mutant female?”
Hayden nodded.
“Have you hurt her?”
That made Hayden miss a step. “No. She a friend of yours?”
“Yes, she is.”
Hayden speared a questioning glance to Blaine, who just shrugged and didn’t seem concerned about Ana’s admission. From what Hayden had heard, Ana passionately hated the mutants so much that she’d spent her adult life killing them while living in the Onyx den.
When they approached the ruins the mutant used for shelter, Ana ran inside calling out, “Gina!”
The female mutant met them in what used to be the living area of the house. “Ana? Why are you here?”
Ana hugged the female tight. “I’m here for you, silly.”
“I can’t go back. Please don’t take me back.”
Hayden took a step forward, and Gina started to shake and looked as though she was about to bolt. Ana held up a hand and took one of Gina’s with the other. “Gina, we aren’t going to take you back to Onyx. I escaped Felix too. I have a new home in a loving Pack.”
Gina looked at Blaine then Hayden before returning her attention to Ana. “Rick is with me. It’s my fault he’s dying.”
Hayden saw the slight tension in Ana’s shoulders at the mention of the other mutant. “Does Onyx name all their mutants?”
Ana peered at him over her shoulder, her leopard in her gaze. “No. Only ones like Gina can remember their names before the turn.” She turned to Gina. “Show me.”
Gina nodded and walked to the bedroom, where Rick still lay on the mattress. “He’s asleep.”
Hayden cleared his throat. “We need to question her.”
Ana nodded. “Gina, come with us. Just outside so we can talk. Can you do that?”
Gina peered down at Rick and nodded.
“Good.” Ana linked her fingers with Gina’s and lead her out of the house.
Blaine ran a hand through his short black hair. “Go get Tanner, Christa, and the twins. We’ll have a fucking show and tell party.”
****
Christa sat next to Hayden on the ground with the others. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Hayden hadn’t said much when he came and got her and the twins, although, by the wary glances she got from Blaine, she could guess that this meeting wasn’t only to talk about the mutants.
Averting her gaze from the Alpha, Christa focused on Ana, who sat next to Gina, holding her hand in a comforting way. Christa didn’t know much about Ana other than she’d grown up in the Onyx Pack and had only recently moved into the Ashwood den.
Blaine let out a sigh from where he stood against the wall, arms crossed over his broad chest and feet crossed at the ankles. She wondered if he knew his attempt to look relaxed wasn’t working out so well.
He just looked tired.
“Ana, please explain. I need to get back to my mates.”
Ana flicked her brother an irritated glance before turning back to Gina. “I was sent to kill Gina several years ago. Fath—” Blaine let out a growl that Christa felt deep in her bones. Ana took a deep breath then continued. “Felix knew the virus hadn’t taken in Gina and ordered her death. At the time I was assigned to ‘put down’ rogue mutants.”
Hayden snorted. “Mutants can go rogue. Weren’t they made to go rogue?”
Ana cut him a glare and said, “To Felix, Ashwood are the rogues.”
It was Hayden’s turn to growl, and Christa flinched. Being a few feet away from the deep rumble of the Alpha’s growl was one thing, but sitting next to a male with the same power running through his veins was unnerving to say the least. Christa had to fight the urge to bare her neck in submission, and she was human.
Ana slammed her hands on the ground and leaned forward. Behind her Blaine pushed off the wall. Ana held up her hands. “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and turned back to Gina, who seemed to be unfazed by the interaction between Hayden and Ana, as though the female mutant was used to the aggression between shifters.
That only confirmed everything the truth in everything that Hayden. Ashwood was not the enemy. Onyx was. That also meant her instincts were correct about Vance, and her intuition has never been wrong before.
“What made you change your mind?” Christa asked when the silence became too much for her.
Ana met her gaze and appeared to study her for a few moments before answering. “You’re the human hunter.”
It wasn’t a question, but Christa nodded anyway. “Was. I’m not going back to that life.”
Ana smiled. “Why is that, human?”
Christa’s first thought was to reply with a bitchy remark like she’d done with the men she worked with. Too many times they’d pushed her buttons by making racy comments because she was the only woman in the unit.
So, yeah, it’d become almost instinct to lash out and be on defensive. However, she was smart enough to know that shifters saw the defensive reaction as a challenge and a possible threat.
Christa met Ana’s smile with one of her own. “Let’s just say I’ve seen the light. Besides, I don’t like it when a shifter is able to come in and take over my unit.”
Ana’s smile turned into a laugh as she leaned into Gina so their shoulders pressed together. “Well, as you can tell, Gina isn’t like most. She looks more human, she talks, and she’s smarter. I’d never meet her before I tracked her down. When I did, I knew something wasn’t right about it. I mean she has a good heart. Rogues do not have good hearts.”
Blaine started to pace, drawing Christa’s attention. He ran a hand over his short hair, something Christa had seen him do several times since meeting him. “We can’t have mutants in the den, Ana.”
“Well, she can’t stay here. I’m sure those other mutants were scouts sent to kill her.”
From the corner of her eye, Christa saw Gina shift nervously as she sat on the ground. Quietly, the female said, “I could wear an enchanted collar.”
Ana stood up and faced her brother. “Shay and her mother-in-law could make one. We can test it before taking her to the den.”
Blaine let out a low curse and peered at Hayden as if looking for some help. Hayden just smiled and lay back in the grass. Blaine blew out a breath. “My father can so have his job back. I’ll have to talk with Luna then Robyn and Shay.”
Ana threw her arms around Blaine. He tensed at first then smiled and hugged her back.
Christa made a mental note to ask Hayden more about Ana later.
Blaine looked over at Hayden. “We still have the issue of the male, the twins, and Christa.”
Christa’s heart stopped for a microsecond then started to beat in rapidly. This was it. If Blaine said she wasn’t permitted in the den, she was out of here. And she was taking Brenna and Bryce with her. She’d figure out how to provide them with a normal shifter life without Ashwood Falls or Hayden.
One thing had become clear to her as she sat in on this meeting. Vance would be looking for her and the twins. There was no way she’d let the rogue anywhere near her niece and nephew.
“Luna seems to like Christa. Bring her to the house in the morning. We’ll have breakfast and then the binding. We can do it at my house since it’s just a blood bond. The twins are welcome because they are shifters and minors.” Blaine turned his attention to Gina. “Hayden said the male is ill.”
Gina nodded. “He is dying.”
“How?”
Gina looked at Ana, who gave her a short nod and gestured for her to stand. After she stood and faced the Alpha, she said, “I tried to cure him and failed.”
Chapter Eleven
“What do you mean you tried to cure him?”
Hayden and Blaine spoke the question in unison, although Blaine put more growl into it, making the female shrink back behind Ana. Hayden drew in a breath and clapped Blaine on the shoulder in a silent request to let the female speak. “Gina, please ex
plain.”
The female looked at the ground and spoke with a shaky voice. “Before my abduction, I was a bio-geneticist. I worked for a cancer research laboratory. When Felix’s lab techs injected the serum in me, it didn’t take like the others. I seem to have a gene that rejects the full effect of the mutant virus.”
Hayden wondered if the same gene Gina referred to was the same one Shay carried that made her completely immune to the virus. Was it even possible for humans to carry such genes?
“What I don’t understand is how the virus actually works. I mean shifters are born, not created. We carry an extra chromosome that allows us to shift into our animal halves. Humans don’t possess the DNA structure necessary to make a full transfer. Therefore they are stuck in mid-shift, never again to be human or animal when they are infected with the mutant virus.” Hayden peered at Blaine, who was staring at him as though he’d grown another head. Shaking his head, Hayden continued. “I’ve been doing some research.”
Gina stepped around Ana to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her. “Yes, but when I tested my blood and hair in the lab after the change, I found I have a recessive shifter gene. Someone in my ancestry was a shifter.”
Christa broke her silence. “So how does it work on shifters? Rick was one and now a mutant.”
Gina rocked from foot to foot as she answered Christa’s question. “They have different versions of the serum. At first I thought it was the serum itself that caused the transition, but after breaking into the lab computer, I found out they have many strains of the virus, using different animal DNA and a few for humans. There were also some notes on enhancing the virus, but for some reason, it wasn’t finished. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover that until after I’d injected Rick with the antidote.”
Blaine blew out a breath and raked a hand through his hair. “Okay, this is giving me a headache. Gina, why is the male sick?”
She swallowed but met the Alpha’s stare. “I made an antidote using my immunity.” She frowned and looked at the twins then back to Blaine. “I needed to escape. I thought that if I could convince him to help me, I could cure him. Only our DNA wasn’t compatible. It did help clear his mind. He’s able to think for himself and speak, although his fangs make it hard to understand him sometimes. But it also made him mortal and unable to heal at a supernatural rate. When we did find a way out of the den, he cut his leg on a rusty wire in the forest, and infection set in.”
Hayden turned his attention to Blaine. “It’s your call, Alpha.”
“Damn. This is fucked up. I’ll get Robyn to work on the collars and talk to Luna about Christa. Be prepared to travel home in the morning. I’ll send some sentries out just in case more mutants decide to get stupid.”
Blaine gave Ana enough time to say bye to Gina before teleporting them back to the den.
When they dematerialized, Hayden turned to Christa and the twins. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tanner walking toward their temporary house. “Did you want some time…”
Christa lifted her chin and straightened her spine, but he could sense her hesitation. Confusion and pain rolled off her. “I’m not ready to talk to him right now.”
He gave a short nod and lifted a brow to the twins. He wasn’t surprised when Bryce was the one to speak. “Whatever is in there is not our father. We have nothing to say to him.”
The teen male grabbed his sister’s hand and dragged her away. Brenna sent an apologetic look to him and Christa and mouthed, “I’ll talk to him.” By him she meant her brother.
Silence filled the small space between him and Christa once they were alone. He studied her, making her fidget as she stood there. Beside him Gina cleared her throat and asked, “May I be excused?”
The question shocked him, making him draw back and break his focus on his mate. Turning to face Gina, he raised a hand, palm up, an offering of trust among shifters. Confusion skirted across her features. She drew her brows together and peered at his empty hand then at his face, not meeting his eyes.
Hayden set his jaw and mentally counted backward from one hundred. After a moment, he tried to soften his features and offered the female a small smile. “Place your hand in mine. Please.”
The sharp scent of fear arched off the female, and he silently cursed. What the hell had she been through? He was about step closer and draw Gina into a hug, like he’d done with so many tormented and scared submissives right after the attacks on MoonRiver’s den. The instant contact from a packmate had helped them clear the dark cloud of fear that consumed so many of them.
Before he moved closer to Gina, Christa cupped the female’s hand in between hers. “When a dominant offers his hand, he or she is asking for your trust.” Christa tugged Gina’s hand to his so it hovered above it. “You have to decide if you can accept that trust.”
Hayden met Christa’s gaze as she stepped back to allow Gina space to decide. Christa surprised him every minute. The more he was around her, the more he saw her strengths and her weaknesses. She was a remarkable woman.
And she was his.
The warm, soft weight of Gina’s palm touching his drew his attention back to the female. He closed his fingers around her hand and covered it with his other. Her features appeared to be a mix between a feline and a wolf. Her nose and mouth stuck out like a snout, but not as far as a wolf’s would. She had no facial hair like other mutants did or the extra-long fangs.
He focused on her golden-brown eyes and tried to get the animal half he felt to react to him. Yet, nothing happened. Oh, Gina started to fidget, and her eyes held a hint of wild fear in them, but her inner beast didn’t rise up to meet his challenge.
Interesting.
Even the wildest of mutants was lost to their animals. It was what made them the ultimate assassins. The beast was in full control, all humanity forgotten or destroyed by the brutal conditioning they must had gone through during training.
It was definitely something to discuss with Sasha and Dani—the Pack Healers—to get their opinions on. After all, they knew more about this shit than he did.
“What animal combinations did they use on you?”
Gina tugged at her hand, and Hayden let it go. The female was not used to touch. Well, a gentle touch that was. Hayden had seen it in too many females over the decades.
His wolf growled at the thought, and Hayden had to agree.
Onyx was going to pay for every hurt, every destruction that even hinted at their involvement.
“I found tiger and wolf DNA in my blood. It was an odd mix and so fused together that I couldn’t determine which one was my natural animal gene before I was discovered.” Gina snapped her attention to a bird that landed on a chunk of a nearby building.
Ah, there it was. The tiger reflex to pounce. So she wasn’t complete out of touch with her animal half. Yet, they didn’t respond to him.
“Gina.” He spoke softly so he didn’t spook her. When she met his gaze briefly, he asked, “Do you feel your animal spirits inside you?”
She drew her brows together. “What do you mean?”
“It sounds crazy when it’s spoken out loud. But do you hear another voice in your head? Do you feel another soul inside you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I have certain instincts that I didn’t before, but that’s it.”
He opened his mouth to ask another question but stopped when Christa placed a hand on his arm. Taking Christa’s hand in his, he brought it to his lips. Her intake of breath and the way her heart rate sped up made him smile.
Christa jerked her hand from his and stepped out of his reach. His wolf growled at the absence of her touch. Deciding to settle the distance between then later, in private, he returned his attention to Gina, who tried her best not to watch the exchange between him and Christa. The slight blush in the female mutant’s cheeks told him she was a little uncomfortable with the PDA.
Hayden scanned the area more out of instinct than anything. Being a born Alpha and working as a Marshal for most his
adult life, he was always on the alert. Now he had one more reason to keep watch. “Gina, you are welcome to the little food we have. We’ll come get you in the morning when we’re ready to leave. If you hear anything that remotely sounds like a search party, come get me. We’re in the large house closest to the entrance of the den.”
She nodded. “Thank you. I will.”
Christa gave Gina a wave and turned to leave. Hayden offered the female a short nod right before he stalked after his mate.
If she thought she was going to get away from him, she was mistaken—her second mistake. Her first mistake had been walking away from him because, to the wolf, she’d just challenged him to chase her. When he caught her, he was going to have her naked and in his bed.
****
Christa rounded the corner and darted behind a pile of destroyed building. Once she was out of Hayden’s sight, she ran. She wasn’t sure where she was going. All she knew was she needed to run. Needed to get away from the den, from Gina, from Rick, and, most of all, from the wolf that made her burn from within.
Damn she was a wreck.
Her emotions were too close to the surface. Memories rose to show the ugly images and the pain she’d buried long ago.
Hayden had seen that pain. She could no longer hide from it.
She stopped when she reached the stream where she’d had lunch with Hayden earlier that day. Peering into the water, she tried to remember where her life had taken a plunge into the crapper.
A snap of a twig had her spinning around into a defensive stance. Some of the tension loosened in her muscles as she stared into Hayden’s green eyes, eyes that glowed, indicating the wolf was close to the surface.
He stepped toward her, and she planted her feet, not daring to move. If she ran now, he’d chase her down. She didn’t want to know what he would do when he caught her.
Oh, she could guess by the way he prowled toward with a hunger in his eyes she’d never seen in any man.
The mating thing.
It had to be it. Shit.
“Hayden?”
