by Sabrina Rue
Jax murmured, “For several months after your father’s death, the new Alpha said your family was in isolation to grieve. We gave it a year out of respect for Alpha Kassis before we made the trip to your compound.”
“They lied from the moment we stepped from our vehicles, Harmony. The new Alpha of Montana Pack refused to see me and…I had trouble controlling my Wolf as the days passed.”
Jax added, “It was more than a week before anyone finally admitted you weren’t even in Montana. By then, Ryker was out of patience and leaning toward full rage.”
Sipping her coffee, she shook her head. “They told you I ran off with someone?”
“A rogue who came through and swept you off your feet. They told us your brother and sisters covered your betrayal so the four of you were exiled together.”
“No one admitted to knowing where you were,” Jax said.
“None of it made sense. I should have tracked you then. I was angry. My Wolf was out of its’ mind for months.”
Meeting his gaze, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “By the time you arrived in Montana, my family was already dead in New Mexico and we were on the run.” She tilted her head. “It took a long time for you to search for me.”
“I calmed down enough to think clearly…”
“That took a while, Harmony. No one could go near him for months.” Jax whistled. “The contracts were signed when you were sixteen. Four years before Pack females are ever Mated.”
“I’m almost twenty-three.”
The blonde nodded. “Ryker knew he’d have to wait until you came of age and he was prepared for that. Many never find their Mate but he knew you were out there for years. It gave him the focus and the drive to build Texas Pack into the second strongest and third richest in North America.”
Glancing at Ryker who kept his eyes on his Mate, he added, “Four years became five, then six before he could think. Over the last year, he’s sent two teams to find you but you always managed to lose them.”
“I’m just glad I didn’t kill them. Talk about awkward.”
Harmony met the eyes of the man her mother searched for desperately. One of the last things Journey said came back to her. “Being Mated to such a strong Alpha will help your family. When the time is right, do for them as I’ve done for you.”
Now she told them, “I swore I’d see my brother and sisters Mated, protected. I’ve failed at every turn.”
Jax cleared his throat. “Harmony, that’s not true. When Ryker came out of his cycle of rage, he questioned much of what your old Pack told him. It took us months to find the location of your New Mexico home.”
“A place that once held happy memories for me. Those are all gone now.” She was wracked with a sudden chill.
Jax growled. “The scent of death was still heavy almost a year after you abandoned it. Ryker was feral but I have no excuse for not questioning their lies. I’m sorry.”
“All of us made the same mistakes,” she assured him sadly. “Looking back now, it’s easy to say I should have doubted what I was told but…they always stuck to their story. They were really good at lying.”
Ryker told her, “There’s an investigation into Montana Pack being conducted with as much secrecy as Arman can manage. Until we know the reasons behind so many deaths and deceptions, we can’t bring the criminals to justice.”
“If only that could change the years since Dad died.” She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun.
Inhaling deeply several times, she considered every moment since her father’s last breath left his body.
Being taken from their home. The loss of her brother and sister. A painful separation from her twin while they fought to stay alive.
Opening her eyes, she stared into Ryker’s and snapped her teeth. “I will bathe in their blood, Mate.”
Growling, he replied, “I’ll sharpen my claws, Harmony.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ryker held the back of her head. “I can’t comprehend the pain you felt when you thought I’d murdered your family and ordered your death. I can’t take back the years you felt forsaken, in a far worse way than I believed myself to be.”
Tightening his fingers in her hair, he whispered, “I’ll find your sister, avenge what’s been done to your family, and perhaps there will come a day when the horrible memories will fade with the good ones I want to give you.”
“Thank you, Ryker.”
Glancing across the street, he smiled. “They’re opening the post office.” Leaning forward, he nuzzled her face before standing and taking her hand. “Jax secured your belongings.”
“Only the backpack is mine. The truck, it doesn’t belong to me. I stole it. I-I stole a lot of cars.”
“You needed to survive. We’ll reimburse the owners.”
As they crossed the street, Jax told her, “Your color improves by the minute, Alpha Harmony.”
“Thank you. The sun helped.”
“We haven’t been properly introduced, Alpha. My name is Jax Atherton. You know I’m Ryker’s Second in Texas Pack. You’ll choose a Second of your own. However, if your Mate is ever unavailable, consider me your Second as well. He’s been my best friend since childhood.”
Harmony felt a small tug inside herself as she met the man’s gentle brown eyes on the other side of her Mate.
Instinctively, she understood who Jax was, as well as the place he would represent in her own life.
There was much to deal with before she could turn her full attention to her future as a Pack female.
“Thank you, Jax. For your help last night as well.”
He told her quietly as he held the door, “Get strong again. Nothing else is more important.” His smile was brilliant. “I hope you have a message from your sister.”
She nodded. “So do I.”
As she approached the row of boxes, Ryker said, “I’d like you to eat real food when we leave here. Then we can get on the road unless you learn information that changes the plan.”
“You’re…letting me decide?” That shocked her.
“You’re my Mate. I’ll be damned if I’ll force you to do anything you don’t want to do after what you’ve been through. I can’t let you put yourself in danger. My Wolf would never remain still in such a scenario. As long as you’re safe, our people and resources are at your disposal.”
Tugging her lip between her teeth, she nodded. Removing a small key from the back of her photo album, she took a deep breath and opened the box.
The two letters she’d mailed Hope over the past six months were inside along with a smaller pale green envelope. Harmony’s hand shook as she reached for it.
Holding it to her heart, she relocked the box and quickly ripped the seal. The date at the top was two months old.
Harmony…I miss you every minute.
I couldn’t write for a long time. I went through the worst and best event of my life the months after we were first separated. I survived.
You were always the strongest, always protected me, and it took something bigger than myself to force me to find my own strength.
I’m alive and I’ll stay alive. Everything has changed. I’ll explain when I can but won’t put it in writing. I know you’ll understand.
I’ve felt your agony and know the cause. I’m sorry, Harmony. I know you resent the vulnerability of Heat.
The Montana Wolves lied about your Mate.
They lied about so much but that may prove to be what destroys them. He’s powerful and they shouldn’t have involved him in their games.
Run to Texas Pack, Harmony. Ryker will protect you.
I’ll make my way back to you but it may be years before I can. Thank you for sending me energy I know you didn’t have to spare.
I love you, I love you, I love you. More than words can express.
Be well, be strong.
Hope
Harmony didn’t realize she was crying until Ryker wiped her tears. Looking into his eyes, she whispered, “We h
ave to find her. Please, Ryker.”
“Let me feed you and then we begin the search.”
Glancing through the windows to the street beyond, she murmured, “How did you find me here in Lebanon?”
Jax snorted. “We were going the wrong way at first. Following the trail you laid for us.” She grinned. “The human who towed your car works with the Weres and contacted the Kansas Pack Alpha. He told us there had been several sightings of a woman matching your description over the years.”
“With both of us coming back, it doubled our exposure in such a small population.” Nodding, she went to a tall counter and removed paper and an envelope from her bag.
Hope, contact Texas Pack. We’re searching for you. I love you. Be safe. I will find you. ~Harmony
At the bottom, she wrote Ryker’s personal cell number as he recited it to her. Then she addressed the front of the envelope and dropped the stamped letter in the outgoing mail slot.
Staring at nothing, she shook her head. “I need to think but I need a real meal to do it.”
“Thank the gods. I’m starving.” Ryker led her outside to the waiting SUV and climbed in the back with her as Jax got in the front passenger seat.
When they were moving, she handed him Hope’s letter. His eyes widened as he read it.
He looked at Harmony. “We’ll find her.”
She slipped her sunglasses in place with a smile. “I know.”
They stopped at a steakhouse south of Lebanon and it was quickly obvious that the restaurant was accustomed to Weres frequenting their establishment.
When Harmony mentioned the quantity of food the server delivered the moment they sat down, Ryker laughed.
“It’s owned by Kansas Pack. I’ll order you a special shake that’ll ramp up your healing abilities. I want you in peak physical condition.”
She was quiet while they ate ridiculous amounts of rare steak, multiple sides, and bread. Her mind raced as her body consumed the fuel it required to repair itself.
After a long period of silence, she glanced at the two men who’d found her before staring through the large window at the parking lot beyond. Around the restaurant, other members of Ryker’s Pack sat at tables away from them.
“What are you thinking about, Harmony?” Ryker asked.
The question made her huff. “Everything.” She shook her head. “Our first month in New Mexico, a man who fought with my father passed through on his way to California. He went to Montana first and learned of Dad’s death. He remembered Mom’s place but kept it to himself. He said the new Alpha had already almost bankrupted the Pack accounts.”
Tapping her fingers on the table, she went over what she knew.
“Go back to the first moment you felt was off somehow. Who was involved and why it seemed out of the ordinary,” Jax said quietly. “You and your sister were targeted. I suspect what it is but don’t want to muddy your thoughts with mine.”
She stared into his brown eyes. “I suspect as well.”
Ryker leaned on the edge of the table. “Did you know any of the males who tracked you?”
She nodded. “All the ones we killed were rogues and a couple of them I recognized but didn’t know their names. They’d applied for Pack status. My father was unimpressed but sponsored their admission into one of the settlements.”
“Weres willing to cross all kinds of lines to leave rogue life behind,” Ryker said with disgust.
Harmony shook her head slowly. “It’s more than Pack status. They were instructed to try to get one or both of us pregnant.”
The violent growl from Ryker made several tables still.
“They’re foot soldiers. Not the kind who would ever move up in Pack hierarchy. Four came to New Mexico. I killed them and four more picked up our scent in North Carolina. No matter how many times I stood my ground, how many I killed, there was always another group. That’s a lot of manpower and you wouldn’t want to diminish your Pack.”
Jax frowned. “You could give a rogue any story you wanted and they’d likely believe it.” He removed his phone.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “It might be why they were such good liars. They didn’t know they were lying.”
Ryker’s expression was one of physical pain. “Jax, any updates?”
“I sent a team to stake out Alpha Harmony’s vehicle at the campground.” He grinned. “We left the clothes you wore before your shower on the front seat.”
“Excellent bait. I smelled disgusting.”
“I disagree,” Ryker said firmly.
Chuckling, Jax told her, “They’re concealed and won’t leave until your last pair of hunters show themselves.”
“We need them alive,” Harmony ordered. “I have questions.”
Jax nodded. “I suspected you’d prefer capture to kill.”
“Make no mistake, they will be dead after they’re interrogated.”
Both men watched her without speaking for a long moment.
“I’m the oldest child of Slade Kassis. A full-blood Wolf who lost his entire family to the Pack War in the fifties. He was a certified rogue for several years until his unique skills inspired his invitation to Montana Pack.”
Ryker tilted his head, hanging on every word.
“He served as a foot soldier for a decade before the Alpha started to fear his strength and cunning. A team ambushed him during scout maneuvers and he killed them all.”
Her smile was slow. “His challenge of the presiding Alpha – and the resulting fight – was quick and merciful according to historic accounts. The conclusion was all that mattered. He established himself as one of the most imposing and successful Alphas of his generation.”
She sat back. “My father was good to his wife, his children, and his Pack. He was also the most dangerous man I have ever known, Wolf or human. Those traits were passed to me more than my other siblings. I won’t take a life without cause.” She paused. “Cause has been established.”
Meeting Ryker’s eyes, she said clearly, “I’ll paint Montana with the blood of my former Pack if they sanctioned the murder of my brother and sister. I’d forsake my future to avenge my past. As my father would have done.”
Ryker leaned close and murmured, “There’ll be no need to forsake your future, Harmony. If death is what Montana Pack have earned, it’s what they’ll receive. From you, your new Pack, and your Mate.” His eyes were intense. “Your father would be proud, as I am, of the woman you became.”
Jax added softly, “You’re already a formidable leader, Alpha Harmony.” He nodded. “I’ll gladly fight beside you.”
Sitting back, she let her mind examine events after the Shaman found her Mate. Repeatedly, she circled back to that as the starting point.
“Do you have a secure computer system?” Ryker nodded. “I need to see our original contract. I need to pinpoint a specific clause that’s hazy to me. I know it’s important in some way. Can someone at your compound send the file?”
Ryker was dialing before she finished the sentence.
She needed to find her sister but it was important to understand the game they’d unwillingly been pulled into for years.
Jax removed his phone and handed it to Harmony across the table. “We’ll get you one of your own today.”
“I’m sure I’ll be with you or Ryker at all times. I don’t mind using what belongs to you.”
“Good to know.” He smiled and she returned it.
When the file came through, she pulled it up and scrolled past the initial information about Mates and treaties that were common to all betrothals for their kind.
She remembered the day her father reviewed the document with her in his office. He’d been pleased about his cunning throughout negotiations.
Harmony finally found what was at the edge of her memory.
After reading three paragraphs of uncommon extras her father had included in her Mate contract, she moaned, “Oh gods, Dad, you had no idea what chain of events you would put in motion.”
Ope
ning her eyes, she looked back and forth between the friends. “He always played the long game, my father. Always thought about the distant future. He couldn’t have foreseen the peril he placed us in with these terms.”
Frowning, Ryker asked, “What do you mean?”
She rubbed her temples and rested her elbows on the table. “I told you that my parents wanted me Mated first because I was the oldest but also because I’ve always been the strongest. I could look out for the others.”
“It makes sense.”
“Our nature is domination and submission but it would take a powerful man to gain submission from someone like me. Dad knew that. He knew if he found my Mate, he’d likely be one of the strongest among our kind. He once joked I’d likely be moving fifteen-hundred miles in any direction.”
Realization dawned on Ryker’s face. “California, New York, or Texas.”
She nodded. “I thought it was silly at the time but now it makes sense. A powerful Alpha grows a powerful Pack. My father more than tripled our numbers and holdings in less than twenty years. It’s the way of things.”
Taking a moment to gather her chaotic thoughts, she went on. “Being Mated to the Alpha of a successful Pack was added security for the future Alpha of Montana Pack. It would dissuade the chances of a coupe.”
“Your brother, Caleb,” Jax said quietly.
“He was being groomed as successor. Had there not been an uprising, my father would have hung on until Caleb came of age to assume his position as Alpha. Trained by my father and me, he would have held the Pack.”
Clenching her jaw, she breathed through her stress. “They couldn’t afford to wait until I was Mated. They couldn’t risk an alliance that would give my brother added protection.”
“The bastards focused on the contract to isolate you.”
“Worse. There’s an additional amendment I never noticed and Dad didn’t openly discuss before his death.”
She expanded the two sentences and turned the phone to him.
My second daughter, Hope Kassis, will reside with Texas Pack until her twenty-first year in the hopes that her true Mate is found among their members. She will not wed until Shamans have exhausted all efforts to locate her true Mate.
