Rick

by Dana Archer

  “Physician’s assistant?” I ask to make sure.

  “Yes.” Smiling wanly, Mya tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Anyway, there was a girl in that class who came up to me afterward and asked me if I was okay. We started talking, and once she realized I was a lone wolf, she invited me to visit with her that night to talk about what was happening to me. I was supposed to meet her at a coffee shop in town.”

  “Harper’s Moon, right?” Wyatt’s diner is the best place to go in this area for coffee. That hasn’t changed in forty years.

  Mya nods, then focuses on the gently flowing stream. Silence stretches between us, but I don’t think she’s done with her story. Likely, the worst is yet to come. I relax my stance and wait.

  After a couple of minutes, Mya’s shoulders slump. “Todd was there. He approached me, and we started talking. The next thing I know, I’m agreeing to go for a walk with him. We ended up at a bar, or two.” She smiles, but there’s no amusement in her expression. There’s hurt and betrayal. “I lost track. Somehow, we ended up at his place. He seduced me.” Mya raises her gaze but not her head. “I think, anyway. Honestly, I was so drunk, I could barely stand.”

  My wolf’s snarling growl shakes my body. His desire is perfectly clear. I feel the same drive to punish Todd. Hearing Mya’s words comes first.

  “And Todd made you his breeding partner.” It’s a guess, but why else tell me the events of the night?

  “At the time, I didn’t know what happened. I was left locked in his room with a bite mark on my shoulder and the start of the worst hangover I’ve ever had.” Mya rubs her arms. “The girl I was supposed to meet came to me. She helped me through the pain, then explained things to me.”

  “That same night or a different one?” If she’s willing, she can be our proof that Todd violated mating laws.

  Mya straightens. Determination flares in her eyes. “Jenna saw my mate mark the same night Todd bit me, the night before I officially matured.”

  I breathe past my excitement and resist the urge to close the distance between us. Mya deliberately chose this spot with the creek between us to reveal this information. I won’t breach the safe zone she created until she invites me to share in her hurt.

  “It’s illegal for a shifter male to claim a female until the full moon past her twenty-fifth birthday.” With the sympathy and help of a senior Council member, we might be able to use the law to our advantage too. Possibly that’s what Ella was calling me about.

  “It’s also illegal to sever the brake line on my parents’ car while I was crying my eyes out on Jenna’s shoulder.” Mya moves to the edge of the stream. With her jaw clenched and arms trembling, she appears barely restrained. “But it’s hard to prove anything when you don’t know a crime has occurred.”

  “And you didn’t know.” I prompt her.

  “No. I only learned what Todd did to me was illegal a couple of days ago, and I didn’t get the call about my parents. I didn’t have a cell phone then, still don’t, and I didn’t go home for weeks after Todd turned me into his incubator. I was too ashamed. When I did, I learned I’d missed the funeral.” Mya’s voice cracks, but the anger burning in her green eyes doesn’t lessen. “I went to Todd, looking for comfort. He laughed at me, saying them dying in a car accident was a blessing. I wouldn’t have to worry about caring for old, weak, and frail humans who couldn’t even make sure their brakes were in working order. I could focus on raising our children.”

  “You didn’t tell him how your parents died, did you?”

  Again, Mya shakes her head. “At the time, I didn’t know. After I grieved, I started asking questions.” She closes her eyes on a sigh. “I confronted Todd. He didn’t deny it or admit to it. He warned me if I pursued this, I would suffer if he wasn’t around to protect me. That he was the only one keeping me out of the hands of traffickers.”

  “Traffickers who specialize in shifters, right?” Trafficking is one of the biggest dangers our kind faces. No one is safe, not females, children, or males. There’s a market for everything. Since shifters not only live a long time but can take a lot of damage, they’re perfect specimens to exploit.

  Eyes still closed, she nods. “I believed him. Still believe him. I know Wyatt is involved with illegal activities.”

  “What kind of activities?” The knowledge will help in our investigation of him. If I can somehow tie him to a crime, I can get him out of our lives too.

  “Drugs, gambling, illegal fights.” Mya presses her lips into a thin line as disgust twists her features. “I don’t know any details, if that’s what you’re wondering. Sometimes Todd talks about stuff. Never anything incriminating or so obvious I feel confident about going to Shifter Affairs. He just…” Mya shrugs. “Todd just hints at how powerful and sick Wyatt is, then Todd reminds me he’s the one keeping me from Wyatt.”

  “To control you.” Mental abuse can be as bad as physical. I’ve seen too many examples of the damaging effects it can have. Knowing my true mate has suffered with it stirs a torrent of dark emotions within me. I should’ve been here to save Mya from them. I regret I wasn’t. There’s nothing I can do to change the past, however. I’m here now, and together, we’ll heal.

  Mya dips her head. “I hate him, Rick. I hate him. He claimed me in order to breed me, nothing more.”

  The pleading look in Mya’s eyes directs me. I cross the stream and pull Mya into my arms. She holds me tight. “I hate him too.”

  “I’ll never be free of him. Even if the Shifter Council sides with me and orders him to never touch me again, Todd is still Peyton and Rey’s father.” Mya buries her face against my chest. “He’s also the father of the babies I’m carrying. He has a right to see them, and they have a right to know their father. As much as I hate Todd, I can’t keep him from them.”

  I rest my cheek against the top of Mya’s soft hair. “A father is the man who is there for a kid. He’s the one who’d lay down his life for them. He’s the one who will share in their pains and joys. The one who will teach them right from wrong. The one who will take on the world to keep them safe. Is Todd that man?” I hope not. It’s the role I want to hold.

  “No.” Mya’s body shakes with her bitter laugh. “He has no interest in my children. Wyatt does, and if the babies I’m carrying turn out to be boys, I’m supposed to move into his house so he can keep me…safe while I’m pregnant. After that?” Mya squeezes me impossibly tighter. “I have no proof, but I fear he’ll keep them and toss me out. Maybe hand me over to traffickers.”

  Never! I fight the rush of rage choking me. This isn’t the time or place for it. If Wyatt or Todd tries to separate Mya from her children, nothing, not even the laws I swore to uphold, will save them from my fury.

  I rub my hand down Mya’s spine in a hopefully soothing caress. It’s tough to do when my body is vibrating with barely restrained vehemence.

  “It won’t come to that. There are legal avenues to explore.” I lean back enough to look into Mya’s eyes. No tears show, but there’s a soul-deep sadness in her gaze. “And spiritual ones, Mya. There might still be a chance for us to share a bond the Shifter Council will recognize.”

  Mya’s brows furrow. She studies me with first skepticism, then hope. “What do you mean?”

  As much as I want to share my theory about her being able to mate me, I can’t. I want Mya to choose me out of love, not desperation, viewing me as a way to escape Todd. “You promised to trust me. I need you to do that now. Just trust that there’s hope for us. Everything else will work out.”

  After a long moment, Mya nods. She slips from my arms and twines her fingers with mine. “Come on. I want to get to my meadow before midnight so we can greet the new day together there.”

  The first of many if I have anything to say about it.

  Thirteen

  Rick

  Only a few splotches of snow remain from the squall this area got hit with the other night, and most of those isolated patches are out of direct sunlight. The remainder
of the woods feel damp underfoot. By morning, a thin layer of frost will coat the fallen leaves blanketing the ground. It’s natural for this time of year. The meadow in front of me is not typical. Despite the coming winter, lush green grass forms a circular area, large enough for a pack to gather.

  I turn to Mya, who’s watching me with a smile on her face. “What is this place?”

  “My birth pack’s sacred circle.” She hops over the border of scraggly, deadened bushes, then walks backward, putting several feet between us. “According to Ilan, the Ammon pack settled here in the early eighteen hundreds but, for unknown reasons, abruptly abandoned it. They never broke this circle before they left, however, which is why this town and the woods surrounding it are neutral territory.”

  Mya turns her back to me and spreads the blankets on the ground. “My alpha returned when I was a baby with the remaining members of his pack. His enemies followed. A fight ensued, killing those members who’d returned here with him. He left me with the humans who raised me and took off again.”

  I lived in this area with Anna for the last couple months of her pregnancy. She’d wanted to be close to her mother. I’d wanted my breeding partner happy. During those months, I never heard any stories about the Ammon pack, but then again, Anna’s pack mates avoided me. They didn’t like outsiders. The fact that I was tied to their alpha’s daughter didn’t change their minds. I didn’t belong to their pack. The morning after she died, I was escorted off their lands.

  “Have you tried asking Shifter Affairs for help in finding your alpha?”

  “Yes. Shifter Affairs never responded to my request for information on him. I was told they’d reach out to me if they heard anything. That was nearly six years ago.” With her arms outstretched, Mya turns in a slow circle. “Obviously, my alpha’s not dead. If he’d lost his life without passing the spirit on, our pack’s spirit would’ve ascended to the heavens, leaving this spot barren.”

  And Mya would be dead.

  Every member of a pack is connected through their alpha to their pack’s spirit, which many elders say is actually the soul of the founding father of the pack. During the peak hour of the full moon, the alpha can access the pack spirit’s memories, using the knowledge gained by the spirit to guide the pack.

  During that celebration, magic floods this circle, causing the grass to turn vibrant no matter the season and strengthening any pack member standing here. Once the peak hour passes, the effect it had on the circle dims, causing grass to brown and flowers to die in the winter months.

  The Ammon pack’s circle doesn’t appear to follow those rules. It’s as vibrant as if this was the middle of July instead of December. I have no guess as to why either.

  Mya glances over her shoulder. The flush to her cheeks has darkened since she stepped onto the fertile soil. “The heart of my pack is here, in this circle. I can feel its pull, the lure of its power.” Mya studies my face. “Do you feel it?”

  “No.” I step over the deadened shrubs. The soft brush of grass teases my feet, but no rush of power flows through me. Not surprising. I don’t belong to its pack. Mya does. “I don’t, but this circle was cast by spilling the blood of its pack, the same blood that flows through your veins. It recognizes you.”

  “And it’s lonely.” Mya walks toward the center of the circle, then faces me. “So am I. When I come here, though, I don’t feel so alone.”

  Mya’s voice takes on a sultry quality that calls to me on a primal level. Unable to resist its pull, I go to her, but I don’t touch her. I hold my fingertips inches away from her flushed cheeks. Warmth emanates from her skin. I can almost feel her lust and taste the power of her pack on my tongue. I hunger for both.

  I lift Mya’s hair from her shoulder. Energy races from my fingertips to the balls of my feet. The power she spoke about moments ago flows through me, leaving me energized, crazed. I release her hair. The rush of power cuts off.

  Mya’s the source of it.

  “Who’s your father?” If I had to guess, I’d say he’s the mysterious missing alpha of the Ammon pack. This show of power and its welcoming caress isn’t a normal reaction for just any member of the pack to experience within a pack’s sacred circle. It’s reserved for the alpha family. Their blood is the blood of the pack. Theirs is the blood that was spilled to create this circle. Theirs is the blood that’ll carry the pack into future generations as the spirit is passed from father to son. My gaze drifts to Mya’s still-flat belly. Or grandson.

  “I don’t know.”

  Her words are breathy. The rush of power is affecting her in a very primal way. I can see it in her eyes. She looks as if she wants to devour me. While I don’t mind Mya unleashing her passion on me, if she is indeed an alpha’s daughter, she needs to understand the repercussions of giving in to it here.

  “Why do you go by the name Ammon, then?”

  “It’s my name. I’ve always been Mya Ammon, even when I lived with my human parents. They were listed as my guardians on the paperwork for school. Even my social security card says Mya Ammon.” Mya grips the waistband of my jeans. Her knuckles brush my skin, sending sparks of energy through me. “Apparently, my alpha secured an identity for me before he left.”

  Lust chokes me, leaving me tense and vibrating with the need to possess. Chest heaving, I force myself to step back. Mya’s hand falls to her side, and she looks at me with hurt in her eyes. That’s the last thing I want to see. This is too important not to broach, however. “He secured his daughter’s identity and made sure you’d know who you are.”

  “You’re saying I’m…” Her words drift off, but the understanding shows in her shocked expression.

  “You’re his daughter, and this”—I motion to her body—“is the response I’ve heard the members of the alpha family experience when they step foot on their pack’s sacred grounds.”

  “And he just left me? That’s ridiculous. A father wo—” Mya’s words cut off abruptly. Jaw clenched, she turns her attention to the ground.

  No doubt she’s thinking about her children’s biological father. Todd obviously cares little for his daughters. I can’t imagine that would change if the babies Mya’s carrying are boys. They’d be possessions, something for his uncle to use to secure their family name.

  By establishing a new pack through Mya’s son. Of course.

  “How old is the alpha of the Ammon pack?” Better I phrase it that way than use the word father. Mya’s sense of betrayal is clear in her pissed-off glare.

  “Ilan says very old. Miguel lived through the Black Death, and he’s one of the only unmated single shifter alphas to have led his pack for centuries without losing his position to a challenger. Ilan described them as a bachelor pack. So, I guess there wasn’t a strong drive to take over coming from his dominants.” Mya nibbles on her lip a moment before sighing. “If you’re right about me being his daughter, obviously he finally took a breeding partner.”

  My theory sounds even more believable in light of Mya’s revelation. If Miguel doesn’t pass on the spirit to another shifter, he’ll return when Mya’s son is old enough to accept it. I’ve heard of alphas who defy death for longer than anyone could imagine for the sole purpose of securing their family line. If he doesn’t last that long and dies, the pack’s spirit will return here for a short time before ascending to the heavens. Either Mya’s son or Todd would then simply step into the circle and claim it.

  “We don’t know who your alpha’s enemies are or why they’d annihilate his pack mates. Him leaving you might’ve been the best thing that could’ve happened to you.” Of course, giving Mya his name wouldn’t help her obscurity if that had been the goal. Still, I’m not about to judge her father without all the facts.

  Mya crouches down and skims her palm over the lush grass. She exhales audibly. “Rick?”

  “Yeah?”

  She raises her gaze, peering at me from behind her lashes. “I don’t want to talk about the past anymore tonight.”

  “What do you want t
o talk about?” I ask the question, but I already know the answer. Need burns in her eyes. Seeing the desire reflected in her focused gaze heats my body.

  In a lithe move, Mya stands and closes the distance between us. Her hips sway with each step. I can’t tear my gaze from her. Her beauty draws me, along with her goodness, exactly as they did when I approached her in the back of the bar the other night. In this moment, however, another side of my true mate shows. She revealed a glimpse of her passion to me earlier tonight. I want to unleash the rest of her sexuality. The moment I touch her, I will. She’ll bloom in my hands, transforming into a sexual goddess who will always hunger for me. I want that more than anything.

  Only honor is keeping me rooted to this spot.

  “Think very carefully about your answer, Mya. If I meet the needs I see displayed in your eyes while in your pack’s circle, no other male will satisfy you. The magic contained here will guarantee I own your body in a way even Todd doesn’t.”

  Mya bites the corner of her mouth, an attempt to hide a wicked smile. Her guise fails miserably. I can see the excitement in her eyes in response to my warning. She steps around my body and slides her hands over the expanse of my back. Despite the two shirts I’m wearing, my skin burns in the wake of her lazy exploration.

  I fist my hands and breathe through the lust. Until she acknowledges my prediction, I won’t act. The moment she does, however, I’ll feast.

  “You’re my true mate. My soul already belongs to you.” She tugs the edge of my button-down shirt from my pants and slips her hands underneath. A sleeveless tee saves me from her touch, but I feel her lust. It echoes mine. “And you’re on your way to claiming my heart.”

  She links her arms around my chest and presses an openmouthed kiss to the top of my spine. A primal sound shakes my chest. My lungs heave with my rough breaths. Her lips on me ignite the fire I’ve managed to keep banked since entering her apartment tonight.