Ancient Ties (Pale Moonlight (Wolf Shifters Romance) Book 2)

by Marie Johnston

  A tremor sizzled down her spine. Her body had craved him like ice cream on a sweltering summer day. She ran her hands along his bare shoulders, up to his head, and pulled him closer. His returning hair teased her skin, sending shock waves from her fingertips to her toes.

  Skin-on-skin was the only thing that could satisfy her need. She sat up, and while he watched, she peeled her shirt off. Next went her bra. She cursed staying dressed before she went to sleep.

  His eyes glittered in the dark. Kaitlyn sensed his impatience before he lowered his head past her lips, down to her breasts. Warm lips closed around one nipple. With one of his arms wrapped under her, she reclined to enjoy the feeling. His tongue flicked against her sensitive flesh. She arched into him, sighed when he unsnapped her pants with his other hand.

  Yesss. Her legs spread of their own accord, as much as they could in her pants. When his fingers hit her clit, she almost shouted, but he released her nipple and pressed his lips against hers.

  She had to taste him. She licked across the seam of his lips and he opened readily for her. Ahhh, there was his savory flavor. All male.

  Her hips undulated against his hand; his fingers played with her. Strung her up, stretched out her pleasure. She whimpered, but withheld a moan. Her rational mind warned her she was still in the den and to not make a lot of noise.

  She twined her arms around him, the low rumble in his chest vibrated against her hands. Combined with the magic his fingers created, her climax hit. Her nails scored his back with the effort of holding her scream in. She shuddered and rocked, he held her to him, his mouth catching any sound she made.

  Her breath came out in pants and she broke contact with his lips. His hand stayed at her core, their eyes locked. His were filled with male satisfaction, regret, and longing. She stroked a hand down his cheek. He opened his mouth to speak—

  Her eyes flew open. She looked down at her bare breasts and her undone pants. Her gaze darted around the room. It was a dream. It was a dream.

  She snatched her shirt and bra from where she dropped them in her sleep and dressed. How had she undressed without waking? Dissipating heat lingered at her sex. She’d orgasmed for real. It’d all been so tangible—his touch, his taste, him.

  Being plagued with dreams like that might very well drive her feral.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chayton stared at the ceiling. Soft morning light brightened the room, but he wasn’t going to move until he heard Kaitlyn was awake.

  Fuck…that dream. No sleep since he’d woken from it. No one could sleep through an erection that hard. He’d sought no relief, every breath exquisite pain. It hadn’t died down and he needed it to before anyone else in the household was up. On this, he hoped Kaitlyn ignored him when they met up.

  His thoughts drifted back to the score marks he felt on his back. How the hell…

  It was a dream. An amazing, wish it was real, dream. The real thing would’ve been eight thousand times better. And he would’ve finished—over and over again.

  With a stifled groan, he rolled off his back to a sitting position. The floor of the conference room was adequate enough, he’d slept in worse places. He massaged his neck muscles while waiting for the laptop to boot up. Hours ago, he’d gone through online records, news articles of the colony. Spirit Moon embraced technology in a way that kept them more isolated.

  He was tired of scouring pictures and decided to log onto the “othernet” concealed and run by their kind. Searching a few choice phrases pulled up nothing obvious like rebellion, and he had plenty to sift through.

  A soft knock on the door and Kaitlyn entered.

  Great, his erection had almost faded. His gaze flicked up to her and crashed back to his screen. How did she get more beautiful every day—in the same clothes, with the same hairstyle?

  “How was the couch?” He shouldn’t have asked. Images of his dream dominated. With great effort, he reined in his lust before it overwhelmed the room.

  Mothballs. Week-old garbage. Clogged toilets. All barely strong enough to blanket his thoughts. Especially once the stain of a blush tinted her cheeks and her gaze darted away.

  Was it possible she had the same dream? They were mates.

  No, he mentally shook his head. It did neither one of them any good to follow up.

  She dropped her armload of papers on the tabletop and ignored his question. “I decided to take a different route in this investigation.”

  “Same here, but if there’s anything on Spirit Moon in our underground web, then it’s hidden well.”

  She sat down and spread the papers out in front of her. “I decided to check into the deaths of Mato’s children. There isn’t much for records, which is understandable. It was a brave shifter who put all that on paper after Mato killed everyone involved.”

  “Back in the old days, his pack and clan members acted as his staff. You’re right, he would’ve been too distraught to record any of it.”

  “Not much at all is recorded. But I went looking for anything on the other family.”

  Chayton stood and pulled up a chair next to her. “The parents Mato executed.”

  She bobbed her head while her keen expression picked out details on the documents. “Most people assumed they were innocent. After all, they lost their own children, but there’s two other lines of thought.”

  He was in the group who’d assumed they were innocent and Mato had reacted rashly, not that anyone blamed him.

  Kaitlyn kept her voice low to prevent eavesdropping. “I wouldn’t put it past some shifters to sacrifice their own, but I don’t think that was the case, so I ruled it out. An accident is highly unlikely. Not impossible, but a shifter family with little kids won’t keep random silver around the house. But what if they had friends or family who knew their kids were good friends with Mato’s?”

  “It was a different time, why don’t you think kids cutting themselves while playing could’ve been an accident?”

  She let out a laugh. “A different time, no shit. The kids were playing house—with real cutlery. But that’s the thing. I’m sure they did it all the time. If it was like my aunt and uncle’s place, who fostered all different ages, any of their old shit turned into toys. You tell me, old man, who controlled the colony’s silver supply at the time?”

  His lips twitched. Old man. He was only two centuries older than her. “No different than today. Anyone can have it if they can get their hands on it, but it has to be registered with the leader.”

  “So then why didn’t Mato go berserk and kill anyone who had silver under their roof?”

  He stared at her. “It would’ve been too many people.”

  Her eyes bright, she spun a document toward him. “Or he trusted them implicitly.”

  The names on the paper were all familiar to him. Shifters who might not be a member of the clan his own meager pack was in, but in one of the other clans that comprised the colony.

  He frowned. “What am I supposed to be seeing here? Many of these are Mato’s own pack members.” Made sense Mato would predominantly trust his own.

  Her sly smile was the sexiest he’d ever seen. “Their occupations.”

  Woodcutters, recorder, teachers, repairmen.

  “Okay?” Color him stupid, he couldn’t see what she was getting at.

  “Now look at this.”

  Another document slid in front of him. Yellowed with age, he would’ve dismissed it. A hundred years is a long time to hold on to maintenance forms.

  “It’s a bill for services rendered to patch a roof after a bad storm.” His attention caught on the name of the repairman from Mato’s pack. He sank back into his chair, stunned. “For the roof of the family Mato suspected of killing his kids.” And the name of the repairman was also listed on the silver form.

  “But the rogues haven’t been from his pack, or even his own clan, right?”

  He nodded, wondering the same thing.

  “What if the goal is to put this shifter, the repairman, in a plac
e of power? What if they’ve been undermining Mato all these years and encouraging rogues to wreak havoc to weaken Mato’s hold on the colony?”

  If he could, he’d drag her onto his lap and kiss her senseless. Too bad solving this case wouldn’t solve their problem. “Then they wouldn’t use anyone from Mato’s inner circle. Use shifters from packs known to cause trouble, throw off the scent, unsettle Mato’s power.”

  She tapped the name. “We start there.”

  The conference door swung open, with Mato guarding the doorway. “Start where?”

  Another scent wafted in and Chayton wanted to curse. Tika squeezed past her dad, still looking wan and frail. In a hearty shifter, recovering from silver toxicity was a long road. Too bad Mato had unintentionally kept her weak.

  “Good morning.” Tika glanced back and forth between him and Kaitlyn. “Chay, do you want to grab something to eat.”

  Kaitlyn’s gaze pinned the table as she gathered up contracts and records.

  “No, we need to get started,” he said, softy. He’d been a fool to make the vow, an even bigger fool to not entertain the notion of how it would’ve hurt his future mate.

  “Where are you going?” Mato fisted his hands at his side. As if Chayton would be idiotic enough to tell him. Mato would tear through his pack members, decimate his clan, and maybe ask questions later.

  “Tika,” Zitkana called from down the hall, “let the Guardians work. Come get some food.”

  The girl looked like she was going to shuffle to Chayton to kiss him, but he stumbled out of his chair to retrieve his laptop, holding it like a shield. He busied himself putting it away and packing his gear.

  Uncertainly crossed Tika’s features and it wasn’t about whether she should go eat breakfast. She left the room.

  Chayton suppressed a sigh of relief and spoke to Mato. “We’ll brief you when we’re done.”

  “The hell you will. I demand to be updated.”

  “It’s a hunch, that’s all.” Kaitlyn pushed back from the table and held her hand out for Chayton’s pack. When he handed it over, she stuffed all the papers in it. He almost choked at her audacity in front of Mato.

  So did Mato. His eyes flashed. “Those are my property.”

  “They are part of an official Guardian investigation.” His partner knew better. As soon as they left, Mato would’ve locked himself up with them until he found what they had. The male advanced on Kaitlyn.

  Chayton stepped between them. She could handle herself, but she’d embarrass the shit out of Mato and they had enough hurdles to cross. “You acted impulsively before and likely executed an innocent family. If you do it again and we’re wrong, then you’re doing nothing but proving this little rebellion right, that you’re unfit to lead.”

  “I dedicate my entire life to this colony. I lost children for it.” Mato shook with contained rage.

  For that, Chayton was truly sorry. And sorry that Mato had ruled with such single-mindedness it’d opened his family up to being targets.

  Kaitlyn slung the pack over her shoulder. “If you don’t want to lose more, you’ll let us do our jobs.”

  ***

  Kaitlyn studied the terrain as it flew by. Chayton wove through the mountain roads, wasting time and throwing any nosey shifters off their trail. She’d seen a familiar flash of white.

  “I’m just saying, I can’t believe you said that.” Chayton’s smile was too distracting, she had to keep her focus out her window.

  “It worked, didn’t it. And it’s true.” Kaitlyn despised Tika with every fiber of her being, but her Guardian instincts wouldn’t allow the weak to suffer. “She shouldn’t be such a pussy.” That was true, too.

  He snorted, then sobered. “I swear she stood there and let herself get shanked.”

  “I guess you’ll have to teach her to fight.” Ugh. Damn her heart of melted butter. The girl would be even more of a target with Chayton. Why couldn’t Kaitlyn be a bitch and be wickedly delighted Tika was a walking target?

  He didn’t say anything, and really, what was there to say?

  “Look.” Her gruff voice made her wince. “Waylon’s nothing more than a friend now. I know I have to move on someday while you… But I’m not jumping into anything with anyone.”

  She wasn’t so desperate for a mate that she needed fill the void with another dude or two.

  How many partners would she have to be with to be as satisfied as Chayton had made her?

  Not enough, but she’d deal later.

  His profile was grim, his knuckles white on the wheel. “I’m sorry. I really am. I was two centuries old, been all over the country, with no hint of a mate. I just thought…” His expression softened and filled with regret. “Zitkana was so damn persistent about how I could protect her daughter. I never thought she’d not teach Tika to protect herself.”

  Kaitlyn couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t spike her anger. She stared out the window. They were approaching town.

  “For the record, I haven’t done anything with her, either. Not since I met you. Except the peck she gave me when we first arrived.”

  Her anger remained a slow boil that would always be there and she needed to accept it. “Why a blood oath?”

  He rolled a heavy shoulder. “I think my ability to absorb others’ abilities clinched it. Tika can slow motions, but like her, it isn’t very strong.”

  At least the girl had a power. Not many missions made Kaitlyn feel like an entire failure as this one had.

  “What’s wrong?” Chayton asked.

  “Nothing.”

  Chayton side-eyed her. “Is it the ability thing?”

  She sucked in her lower lip. They’d reached a middle ground where they could be civil to each other. She didn’t want to return to his cutting remarks on her lack of ability.

  He tapped his fingers on the wheel. “How do others’ mental powers affect you?”

  Kaitlyn continued chewing her lower lip. “None have really been used on me.”

  “Not true. Ahte said he tried to read you. Mato surely tried to control you. You negate power.”

  “No,” she scoffed. But…a little excitement started to build.

  “Kaitlyn,” his voice dropped low, “Ahte said he’s only met one other shifter who has that ability. Cian.”

  Kaitlyn stared at him. “You know he’s my dad?”

  “You know he’s your dad?”

  “He told me after he saved me from the lake.”

  “Huh.” Chayton rubbed his chin. “My guess is your growing stronger the more you’re in the shifter world.”

  “Huh,” she echoed. She’d think on it later, have a blast getting the guys to test their abilities on her. “Are you heading to the hardware store?”

  “The whole colony knows our vehicle, so we can’t do a stakeout without Mato finding out who we’re watching. The male we’re after was the one Mato was arguing with when we first arrived.”

  “Thomas.” Oh, did she remember. “We should have an excuse to go inside. What do we have that’s broken?”

  Chayton thought for a minute. “Nothing has to be broken. I’ll keep ’em busy. You wander around and browse.”

  “As in snoop? Eagle, you know me so well.”

  He grunted his response and fell quiet. Maybe they’d reach a non-awkward stage someday.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The store came into view. It was a good-sized warehouse on the edge of town. From the organized piles of lumber in the back, it wasn’t just tools they sold. There’d be more workers than two or three. Chayton better walk in and be a diva to give Kaitlyn time to casually make her rounds.

  He parked and they sauntered in. Chayton had grabbed a pouch out of his pack. She’d seen it before, one of his leather-working projects. They entered the place and Kaitlyn was struck by how normal it was, a sensation that had never died when she dealt with contemporary colonies.

  Work clothes and some styles with a western flare hung in racks off to her right. Several
aisles of tools filled most of the store and the homey scent of fresh wood grew stronger the farther they got inside.

  “Chayton Eagle, you are in big trouble, young man.”

  Kaitlyn turned toward the maternal voice.

  Chayton did the same, but he wore a broad smile. “Auntie,” he greeted warmly.

  A female slightly shorter than Kaitlyn approached. Her gray-streaked black hair was wrapped in a bun. She wore the standard blue apron indicating she worked in the store.

  The female wrapped Chayton in a bear hug. “I heard talk you were in town, but couldn’t believe you wouldn’t stop in to see me.”

  Kaitlyn blinked at the pair. He was the most at ease as she’d ever seen him. A smile ready on his lips, his tone filled with love and respect.

  He beckoned to Kaitlyn, his eyes dancing with delight. “Savoy, this is Shilo. She’s a part of my pack. I call her my auntie, but we’re not blood relatives. Auntie, this is my partner, Kaitlyn.”

  Shilo nodded toward Kaitlyn. “His ina and I grew up together.” She turned back to Chayton. “I still check on Des, make sure he’s ornery as ever. I’d love to think you came here to see me, but I think my heart would break.”

  Chayton chuckled. “I would’ve before I left, Auntie.” He held up his project. “I’m almost done with this waist pouch. It needs a ring for the strap. What do you stock here?”

  Shilo took Chayton’s bag and examined it with a critical eye. “Looks solid. Your skills haven’t faded at all.”

  Kaitlyn took advantage of the moment. “It’s been forever since I’ve indulged in retail therapy. You two catch up while I wander around.”

  She broke and chose the clothing first to look more natural. She ran her hands over the heavy-duty material and jeans meant for more than showing off her ass. No employees approached her. She’d have to go in search of them.

  The next section was boots and shoes. Sturdy, like the clothing. Score. A guy stocking shoeboxes. He glanced up at her, surprise registering. She guessed because she was a stranger. A friendly greeting and she moved on.

  Not Thomas.