Chris looked at him confused. “My father was no saint, that's no doubt, but I never knew my mother. She left when I was born, and I don't even know her name.”
“She didn't leave.” Benjamin spit the words with unmistakable venom. “You were taken from her. She was told her job was done, to leave and never come back. She wasn't welcome in your life.”
Chris's wolf growled at the idea that he had been taken from his mother, never given the chance to know her. Chris scrubbed one hand over the back of his neck, suddenly it had begun to ache, and stared at the ground a moment then shook his head, looking back to the wolf shifter.
“How do you know this? You couldn't have been there. You're no older than I am.”
Benjamin stared at him for several long seconds then turned to Rachel. “Do you think it will come better from you than me?”
“It might.” Rachel sighed and moved close, wrapping her arms around Chris's waist and waiting until he looked down into her face before speaking. “I'm not entirely sure the details, but I'm guessing that your mother is his as well. Chris, Benjamin is your brother.”
Chris had no words. How could he have a brother, much less one he didn't know about. Was what Benjamin had said about his mother true? Had she not left when he was born? Chris's father had told him she had been disgusted that he was a werewolf and left, never wanting anything to do with him. Had his father lied? His mind spun. Is it true? He asked his wolf.
It is. The shifter is our brother.
Why didn't you tell me before?
I only discovered him a few days ago, you weren't ready for the news. You needed to focus on securing our mate. This was one of those moments when Chris wished he could strangle his wolf. It wasn't possible but damn, it would be satisfying. Tugging Rachel closer to his body, he glanced across the clearing.
“Is she right, do we share a mother?”
“We do.”
“Is she still alive?”
“She is.” Benjamin kept his answers short. Chris didn't know if it was because the other man was pissed at him or for some other reason. Right now, he didn't really care.
“If she's open to the idea, I'd like to meet her. I know my father was a mean son of a bitch, and I wouldn't doubt he lied to me.” Chris sighed and looked down at the woman in his arms then back to the brother he'd never known existed. “I understand the natural animosity between shifters and weres as well, but despite that, I'd like to try to get to know you as well. Perhaps we can mend some of the fences between our two Fractions, which has kept us so distant in the past. Maybe help solve some of the problems that plague both our Fractions.” He stared at his brother with new interest. “How long have you overseen your Fraction?”
“Not as long as many in this town, but significantly longer than you.” Chris could tell by the way that he skirted the question that he wasn't going to get a straight answer on that one.
“All right. You said you've been investigating the underground meat trade, will you send me the information you have on that? I know Kyle is the lead man here in town, but he's not smart enough to pull off the whole operation. He's answering to someone, and I want to take them down too.”
“I'll send what I have over. Are you using the Lunar Obsession as your headquarters?”
“I am. I'm in my father's offices, not the one Tyrone took over on the main floor.”
“Very well. I'll get that sent over to you sometime today.” Benjamin turned away, Chris thought it looked like he was ready to leave.
“Wait,” Chris called out. Benjamin turned back, watching him without speaking. “Will you check with our mother and ask if I can meet her?”
“I will, but you are a difficult subject for her, so it may take several days before she decides. I'll let you know either way.”
“Thank you.” Chris couldn't resist tightening his arm around Rachel as Benjamin turned and walked away, shifting as he reached a pile of rocks near the base of one hill and bounding quickly out of sight.
A brother he'd never known he had. Chris wasn't entirely sure how he felt about having a brother, but now that he had one, he wanted to know more.
15
Sunlight glinted off windows and cars, temporarily blinding Rachel as they reached the heavier traffic close to town. Stretching her arms over her head, her back and shoulders popped and cracked from sitting, almost unmoving, for the past two hours it had taken them to make the drive back. Unable to stop it, she yawned, her jaw popping louder than her back. After a moment, she settled back in her seat, leaned against the passenger door, and watched Chris across the empty seat that stretched between them.
The drive home had been quiet, so quiet that Rachel had caught herself dozing a couple times, only to jerk back awake when her head fell. She resisted asking what Chris was thinking. It wasn’t that she didn't want to know, just the opposite. But she knew if she were in his place, she would need some time to process the revelations of that night.
“I'm sorry.” Chris glanced across the truck. “I wanted to leave you tired last night but not for the same reason.” He shot her a teasing grin. “My original plan would have been a lot more enjoyable.” He reached across the seat for her. Leaning up, she moved close and took his hand, folding it with hers into her lap.
“It would have been more enjoyable.” She nodded, watching town speed by as they got closer to the strip where Lunar Obsession sat. “But not as enlightening.” She fell silent for a moment then looked at him from the corner of her eye. “And productive in an entirely different manner.”
Chris chuckled and shook his head slowly. “Sometimes, you surprise me.” He lifted his hand and hers, still intertwined with it, to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. “What do you want to do with the rest of our day?” He glanced at her before turning his attention back to the road.
“Why don't you drop me at the MesoAmerican? I've a few things I should get done today, and I'm sure you have a few of your own.”
Chris glanced at her, a crease between his brows. “I do, but oddly, I don't want to be away from you.”
Rachel gave him a vague smile then looked away. “I'm sure you don't, but we both have things we need to get done. Besides, after being up all night, I'd like a hot shower and some clean clothes.” She knew she needed to give him some time on his own to come to terms with everything he'd learned that morning. As tempting as it was to stay with him, he needed the time apart.
“You do know how to tempt a man, don't you? A shower sounds heavenly, and it sounds even better with you in it.”
“That does sound good, but the timing's just not right at this time.”
“All right.”
She could tell by his tone that he was disappointed but not really upset.
“Can I come by tonight though? After I check in at The Obsession and take care of what needs my attention?”
“I don't see why not.” Rachel checked the clock on the dash. “I should be done by seven, if you'd like to come by then.” Chris didn't respond for several heartbeats, and she thought he might protest.
“All right, I guess I'll see you at seven.” He pulled up in front of the MesoAmerican, put the truck in neutral, and set the emergency break before getting out. Instead of going around, he curled his fingers at her, inviting her to slide out his door. When she'd slid over, he picked her up, his hands snug on her waist. Chris dropped a hard, possessive kiss on her lips as he set her on the ground.
Rachel stared up at him a moment after he pulled back. She stood there, dazed by his kiss, before realizing his hands had left her waist. With a slight shake to her head, she turned.
“I'll see you in a while.” Chris called after her as she ascended the stairs. Once she reached the door, she turned to watch him climb back in his truck and speed away.
She wasn't sure if she would see him later. Odds were good that after some down time, the weight of the morning would hit him, and he would need some time to work that out. Once she could no longer see him, or th
e truck, she went inside, the electronic noise of the casino hitting her like a freight truck as she stepped through the doors.
16
Once he dropped Rachel off, Chris had nothing to distract him from the thoughts, which wouldn't stop circling his mind. His mother was alive. He had a brother. His brother was a shifter. His mother was alive. Whoever was controlling Kyle was somewhere near Reno. His mother was alive. He made the drive back to the Obsession on autopilot, only realizing once he'd handed the keys over to the valet that he had no memory of the drive.
Chris didn't know why he was obsessed with the idea that his mother was alive. He'd never been told she was dead, just that she had abandoned him. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was because he had been lied to. If his father had lied to Chris about his mother, what else had he lied about?
In his suite, Chris kicked off his shoes at the door and paced the length of his living room while he tried to remember every detail his father had ever said about his mother. She had been pretty, his father had told him that when Chris had been five or six. A few years later, the subject of his mother had come up again, and he had said she had been disgusted when he'd been born a were. Chris's being a were was something she couldn't handle, and she had left, leaving him behind. At the time, Chris had taken his father at his word, now though, he was second guessing it all.
Chris shoved one hand through his hair as he struggled to come to terms with it all. Frustrated, he headed for the bedroom where he stripped out of his clothes and went straight for the shower. As the steaming water cascaded over him, his mind flashed to a picture of Rachel in the shower, and he wished he were with her. He'd wanted to stay with her earlier, but now he understood why she wanted him to go home.
After his shower, Chris was pulling on a clean pair of jeans when the in-house phone rang.
“This is Walters.” He picked up the extension next to his bed.
“Mr. Walters, this is Evan at the front desk. I have a man here with a delivery for you. He wanted to deliver it to your office, but I knew you weren't in today.”
“Send him up to the office, Evan. I'll meet him there.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
Chris dropped the handset back on the receiver and finished dressing, skipping shoes and heading down stairs to the office floor barefooted. The other man was a shifter, he wouldn’t think twice about bare feet.
On the office floor, Chris went to the waiting area where the elevator stopped, turned on lights, and waited for the visitor. The elevator doors slid open to reveal an older looking man, though with the way shifters age, he couldn't be sure just how old. The man scowled.
“Thanks for coming.” Chris held out one hand. The man stared at it a moment then finally shook it. “I’m Chris, Christopher Walters.”
“I'm Dennis.”
“It's good to meet you, Dennis. If you'll come this way, we can sit down in my office and talk.” Chris led the wolf shifter down the hall. “In here.” He opened the door and propped it open. There was no one else on the floor, and he wasn't worried about being overheard. “Have a seat.” Chris waved one hand toward the seating area on the opposite side of the room from his desk and sat in one of the two leather chairs.
Dennis sat nearly on the end of the matching sofa and held out a folder. “I was told to give this to only you. My Alpha also said only when you were alone or with a dragon woman. No one else.”
Chris took the folder and opened it. “Thank you.” He looked at the first few pages then glanced up at Dennis. “You know what's in here?”
“I do. I assisted in some of the work to put it together.”
“Good. Give me a few minutes to look it over, and I may have a couple questions.”
“Not a problem.”
Chris paged through the folder, seeing some of the same things his own investigation team had turned up and others they hadn't. He wondered why they had found so much more, and asked Dennis as much.
“I'm not sure, sir. It could be any number of reasons. More experience, more or better contacts, more trusted by those underground, or simply not known by them, while those in your Fraction will likely know who is close to you, who you trust, and who you don't.”
Chris stared at Dennis for a couple moments then closed the folder. “What would you suggest then? Should I ask people I don't trust to get me information?”
“Not precisely, sir, but maybe use someone outside your Fraction. You've got alliances, other Fractions you are friendly with, use them to your advantage.”
“Thank you.” Chris glanced down at the folder in his lap, then looked back to Dennis. “Did you have anything else for me? Another message perhaps?”
“No, sir, the folder and answering your questions about it is all I was told about. Were you expecting something more?”
“No.” Chris looked away, then stood. “Let me walk you out. Thank you for coming today. I know it's not a normal business day.”
“There are no normal business days in my line of work. You work when there's a job and don't when there's not.”
Chris walked beside Dennis to the elevator, said goodbye, and watched the doors close before taking the folder back upstairs with him. He was trying to decide whether he should take it with him to Rachel's or put it in the safe. The safe for now, as he didn’t want to leave it lying around, even while he was at home.
17
After Chris dropped her off, Rachel cleaned up and got dressed in clean clothes before sitting down at her dining room table. She scanned the table top, where all the information on her search for Ricky still sat, then made notes about what they'd learned from the wolf shifter alpha. Rachel wasn't sure how yet, but she had a feeling that somehow that black market he mentioned was tied to Ricky's disappearance. Now she was trying to connect the dots and figure out the details.
The phone rang, startling Rachel. Shaking her head at herself, she answered without looking at the screen.
“Rachel,” Teya's voice came across the line. “I hear you had a busy morning.” Rachel frowned, wondering what her friend was talking about. “What time did you make it back to town? Where are you?”
Oh. Someone had told her about the meeting at dawn. Rachel wondered who, but she didn't waste time asking questions.
“We arrived before noon. I'm at home, why?”
“I was curious. Do you have company, or can I come over?”
“I'm here alone,” Rachel glanced at the clock on the wall, “For another three or four hours at least.” She'd told him seven, but she wouldn't be surprised if something kept him later or even all night.
“Okay, I'll be there in a couple.”
The call disconnected, and Rachel pushed away from the table. She stood and straightened the mess she'd made of the papers stacked there, then stretched. She'd been sitting still longer than she planned. A yawn snuck up and surprised her, so she went into the kitchenette and started brewing a cup of coffee. She'd just hit the start button when a knock sounded on her apartment door.
“Come on in,” she called, knowing Teya's prints were programmed into the lock. The door swung open and Teya stepped inside.
“How are you?” Teya looked Rachel up and down, as if trying to gauge for herself.
“Tired, but I'm fixing that.” Rachel pointed at the coffee maker. “You want a cup?”
“I'm good.” Teya waved one hand dismissively as she looked around the apartment, then headed for the stacks of papers on the table. “What's all this?”
“It's my command center for information on Ricky. Some of it's mine; some of it's Chris's.”
“Chris?” Teya glanced at her with interest.
“The new were alpha. I told you about him, remember? I met him the night of the costume ball. He was looking for a missing member of his Fraction, we've figured out since that she's Ricky's girlfriend.” Rachel filled Teya in on all the developments of their search but left out that Chris was her mate. She wasn't quite sure how to broach that topic. They talked a whi
le longer, going over what they knew while Teya made suggestions of things to try in Rachel's search for her brother.
“Now, tell me about the were alpha. I’ve been a little caught up in my own life, and Jericho, and I guess I’ve not been paying as much attention as I should,” Teya said after a while.
“I'm not sure what you want to know. He's been extremely helpful, shared all of his own information with me, and helped me search for Ricky.”
“I've met him. He seems capable of the job and far more interested in the good of his Fraction than his predecessor, and from what I’ve seen and heard, a better man than his father.” Rachel looked up, her interest piqued.
“That's right, you knew his father, didn't you?”
“In a professional capacity, yes.”
“Did you know his mother?”
Teya frowned, tilted her head back slightly, and looked upward. “I don't think so,” she said after a moment. “If I did, I was unaware she was his mother. Why? Is something wrong?”
Rachel thought for a moment, pulling her mouth to one side as she wondered how much she should share, and how much Chris might not want to be public knowledge.
“I wouldn't say wrong per se, but odd. Apparently, Chris and the alpha of the wolf shifters are brothers, but Chris had no idea. He didn't even know he had a brother. They nearly came to blows over things before we discovered it though.
“Chris has been looking for the person behind the illicit market for human flesh in Las Vegas, and he thought he'd found that person in the wolf alpha. Benjamin obviously wasn't who he was looking for, but he had been looking into the same problem and had some insights into the issue he was willing to share.”
“What was that?”
“I don't know. Benjamin was going to have it delivered to the Lunar Obsession this afternoon. I haven't seen it yet.” Rachel glanced at the clock. “Chris said he was going to come by later, he may bring it, but I don't know.”
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