Her Fated Mates (House of Wolves and Magic Book 2) Page 15

  Thinking about my brother made me wonder, “What if the woman is Brecken’s sister or girlfriend? She could be trying to spy for him, make sure he’s not walking into an ambush or something.”

  “That’s true. Our intention, or at least my intention, isn’t to interact with her or hurt her, just find out where she’s going and what’s going on. She might be leading us somewhere we could ambush Brecken without having to deal with the wolves as well. It might make him more open to talking and telling Roman what’s going on.”

  “I don’t know why he betrayed Roman, but I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now or when Roman does catch up with him,” I mumbled.

  “Me either.” Micah snorted.

  I followed him around a corner, and we found ourselves in a cute little neighborhood sandwiched between two shopping areas. Most people probably passed it by without a thought, but not us.

  We—well, Micah followed the scent until we ended up at a house that reminded me of the one I’d lived in with my parents when that was still a thing in my life. Two floors, big picture windows, perfect for people who were trying to see in, lights blazing in almost every room. It was the kind of house that screamed upper middle-class. The kind of house that if I lingered too long around it, I’d get the cops called on me.

  At least with Micah on my arm, that was less likely to happen.

  The two of us stopped across the street as Micah pretended to tie his shoe. As we caught a glimpse of the woman, we realized that Brecken was there as well, and with the way he was looking at her, she definitely wasn’t his sister. She told him something we couldn’t hear, and his shoulders sagged in relief for a moment before he cupped her face and kissed her.

  As the kiss morphed from one of thanks and relief to something full of passion and affection, I decided it was time to go. Why did rich people always forget that the rest of the world was watching? Sure, we were spying on them, but they had the curtains open and lights blazing, so anyone from the neighboring houses could see them getting busy in the dining room or whatever it was.

  “Time to go, Micah,” I said quietly.

  He pushed to his feet, and we continued walking past. We had made it to the shopping area on the other side of Brecken’s neighborhood when he broke the silence and said, “So Brecken has a girlfriend. That could be useful.”

  I nodded. “Let’s head back to the cabin, see what Roman and Blake accomplished.”

  Micah decidedly stepped in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and I bumped into him. “If you wanted to get close to me, all you had to do was say so, beautiful.”

  I giggled like a fucking teenager. What was wrong with me? “You know I always like getting close to you, handsome.” I gave him a flirtatious wink and bit my lower lip in what I hoped was a seductive way.

  “You keep doing that, and we’ll have to make a pit stop on the way back.”

  “Oh really? And what would that stop be?” I asked, playing innocent.

  “Me fucking your brains out, making you come on my cock so hard that you never forget it.” He growled the words into my ear, and it sent a shiver down my spine straight to my core.

  “Promises, promises,” I teased.

  “You think I won’t do it?” he demanded, feigning outrage.

  “I think you know we’ve got bigger issues right now, ones that can’t wait for one of our fuck fests to be over before they’re dealt with.”

  “Buzzkill,” he grumbled as he bumped my shoulder with his.

  When I looked up at him, he grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. “Yep. That’s what I am. Your mate, the buzzkill. Too bad you’re stuck with me for the rest of your very long life.”

  “Who’s to say it will be long? If I’m dumb enough to get poisoned with silver, then the likelihood of me making it to old age must be slim.”

  I knew he was trying to be funny, but it wasn’t okay. I yanked on his sleeve, forcing him to stop and face me, at which point I prodded a finger in his chest and said, “Do not joke about dying. You and I are going to live until we’re old and gray, and then we’re going to die at exactly the same time in our sleep. I won’t let go of you before that. I won’t. So you better not try and make me. I’ve lost too many people. I can’t lose you too.” I hadn’t meant to get upset, but there it was. Tears brimmed on my lashes, and I knew if I blinked, they would fall, so I just stared at Micah until my eyes were burning.

  “Oh, Nina. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it,” he said as he pulled me into a tight bear hug.

  I blinked, and my tears fell. No doubt he could smell them, or at least feel them soaking through his shirt. When I sniffed, he squeezed me tighter until I pushed against him. “We’ve got to get back.”

  I felt him nod against my head, and when we parted from the hug, he didn’t let go of me, not entirely. His fingers twined through mine, and we held hands as we walked like the humans I would see who’d first started dating. I supposed in a way, that was true for us, only we knew from the first date that there would be no one else for each other.

  Unless it was me, in which case there were two other people, but it was an in addition to, not an instead of situation.

  Micah’s phone buzzed quietly in his pocket. As we walked, he fished it out and tapped on the screen. “Roman and Blake are back at the mate house and want us to meet them there.”

  I snorted. Of course they did. We turned around and started heading back the way we’d come. It took a little time, and we were both lost in our own thoughts on the way back to the mate house. Soon enough though, we were back in the bugged house.

  “Don’t worry, we destroyed all the bugs,” Roman said as we walked in.

  “And we brought dinner,” Blake added, holding up a container of take-out Chinese from where he was sitting at the table. The tangy smell made my stomach growl, and I practically lunged for the container.

  “You’ve got your own, don’t worry,” Roman said, a laugh in his voice. He moved around me and picked up a container and handed it to me along with a fork, both of which I accepted gratefully before going and plopping down on the couch. There were only a couple chairs at the table, which made sense since mates usually came in twos, not groups.

  I began shoveling the food into my mouth, the lo mein noodles smacking against my lips and leaving some sauce behind, which I didn’t bother cleaning up. Once I didn’t feel the gnawing bite of hunger in my stomach, then I’d be more delicate, but for now, I just needed to satisfy the need for food inside me. Being hungry was something I was accustomed to, so it wasn’t a big deal, but you couldn’t wave a container of delicious smelling food in front of me and expect me not to chow down. Once I had a few twirled forkfuls in my system, I slowed down and cleaned off my mouth and cheeks with a napkin.

  “It was Brecken’s girlfriend who bugged the place,” Micah said as he began to eat after watching me curiously. What? Like he’d never seen me attack my food before? He’d watched me the same way when I was eating bacon that first morning at his place. Well, his old place. There was no way we were ever going to be able to go back there.

  “We followed her to their house. It’s not too far from here actually, saw them make out and figured that was as much of a confirmation as we needed,” I added before putting another mountainous forkful into my mouth.

  “We brought some of our stuff down. We had to leave some in case Brecken actually stopped by the cabin to pick it up before coming here. I think we got all of the important things though. The bags are upstairs if you want to go and check.”

  “Did you get my photo?” I asked.

  Blake nodded as Roman came and sat down next to me while he said, “That’s tucked safely into my pack. You fret too much, angel. We’ll always take care of you.” He leaned over and placed a delicate kiss on a cheek that was bulging with food.

  “Can we use Brecken having a girlfriend to our advantage? Or maybe even the girlfriend herself?” Blake asked, steering us back on course.

  Roman nodd
ed slowly. “I didn’t know he was in a relationship, but we could definitely play that to our advantage.”

  “I don’t want to hurt her. We don’t know how complicit she is, other than putting the bugs around the house,” I said around a bit of noodle.

  “We won’t. Not unless we have to.” Micah’s words hung in the air, surprise ringing through me that it was my more peaceful mate that was saying such things. Is this what we were coming to? Threatening innocent women? Although, I guessed we didn’t know how innocent she was. Not yet anyway.

  19

  Nina

  We all sat around Roman with bated breath, listening to the phone on the other end ring. If Brecken didn’t pick up, then the plan would have to wait until he did, which made me more nervous than I cared to admit. I felt like most of my life recently had been waiting and running.

  And sex.

  Mustn’t forget about the glorious sex.

  Finally, Brecken picked up. “Hey, man. Are you safe?” From the tone of his voice, I might’ve actually thought he cared, or would have if I didn’t know that the whole place had been bugged by his girlfriend and that he’d led the wolves to the cabin.

  “Yeah, yeah, we got to the house okay. Felt like we came close to running into other shifters a few times, but we’re inside now, so feeling safer. Were you able to pick up any of our stuff?” Roman sounded so normal, so casual, that when I looked at his face and saw the emotionless mask he was wearing, I wanted to go over and hug him. I knew he didn’t need that right now though, not when he was concentrating on sounding as normal as possible.

  “I did. There were only a couple bags though. Was that all you guys brought with you? I thought I remembered there being more.”

  “No we only had a few bags. Didn’t have time to pack anything else.”

  “Okay. Want me to bring them round now?”

  “Could you?”

  The call ended shortly after they agreed on a time for him to get there by so we knew he wasn’t an attacker. At least theoretically. If I was honest, I expected the wolves from Jax’s pack to show up anytime now. Maybe they’d wait till after Brecken had dropped off the rest of our stuff, maybe they wouldn’t. I was certain of one thing though—he would tell them where we were.

  Brecken had claimed it would take him a half an hour to get to us. I wasn’t sure how that would be possible if he had to go and get our bags, but who was I to judge? Maybe the guy had a thing for speed. Whatever it was, I just wished he’d hurry up. I was so tired of waiting.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Blake started ominously, pausing for us to turn and look at him. “I think Jax has been looking for you for a lot longer than it seems. Ever since I joined the pack, there’s been something that we’ve been looking for. Only his inner circle knew exactly what it was. But everyone was told to be watchful for female shifters. If we found one, we were supposed to get their number and report them to Jax or one of his lieutenants. I think he was looking for you the whole time. It makes me wonder how long he’s been talking to this oracle and how he even found her.”

  “Are oracles hard to find?” I asked, not liking the way Blake’s words made so much sense.

  Roman nodded. “Usually. They stay away from people, since their visions of the future get more intense when they’re in a heavily populated area. If a child is suspected of being an oracle, then they’re usually taken away to train with the previous oracle, since only one is born every generation. Usually, they sense each other and find one another eventually, but if it takes until adulthood, then the younger oracle can suffer tremendously because of the frequency and intensity of her visions.”

  “And oracles are always female?” I clarified. It wasn’t like I’d ever learned about this stuff. Our alpha hadn’t thought women needed to know much of anything, other than how to raise pups and spread their legs.

  “Yep. Occasionally, there will be male oracles, but they’re generally viewed as a danger and not to be trusted,” Micah chimed in.

  “How do you guys know all this?”

  “We were taught in school,” Micah said carefully as though he was confused as to why I didn’t know anything about oracles.

  “I always wondered where the boys went off to, what they got to learn about in their special classes or do when they left pack lands,” I mused, remembering how jealous I’d been as a kid and even as a teenager that the men were allowed to do whatever they wanted, while I had to sit by and wait just because I didn’t have a cock between my legs.

  “Special classes?” Micah raised an eyebrow as he looked over at me before taking another bite of food.

  “Didn’t you guys split up the girls and guys? Like sex ed style?”

  The three of them shook their heads almost completely in sync.

  I frowned as I thought about all the restrictions our previous alpha had placed on us and wondered if Jax was following in his footsteps. “We did. For half the day, we got to study and play together, then the boys would go off and do their special classes while we helped the moms with the new pups. We weren’t allowed to leave pack lands without our father or mate with us, or in my case my brother, since my alpha had slaughtered my father. I don’t know whether it was because of that, but Sam was always very hesitant to take me anywhere. It may have been to do with his work for the alpha as well though. Looking back on it, I think he was a drug runner, or maybe guns, I’m not sure. Whatever it was fit inside his backpack, and I wasn’t allowed to touch it.”

  “By the gods, did your alpha still think women couldn’t learn to read and write as well?” Roman blustered.

  “Probably, but the women taught us anyway.” I shrugged and shoveled a forkful of lo mein into my mouth.

  “So you never learned about pack history? Or the history of the gods? Or where shifters come from? Any of that?” Blake asked.

  Once I was done chewing and swallowing, I said, “Not really. There was some glossing over the gods and how shifters are descended from them and it’s the power of the gods that allows us to transform, but that was pretty much it. Does Jax run the pack the same way?”

  Guilt filled Blake’s face. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s not the part of the pack that I really interact with. He lets me teach at the college, and I spend most of my time there with office hours and what not, which I need to send an email out about.” His mind had clearly shifted to that part of his life that I barely knew anything about, which I wanted to change. I watched as he slipped his phone from his pocket and tapped out an email.

  “Your pack wasn’t run that way either?” I asked Micah and Roman.

  They both shook their heads. “Men and women are equals in our old pack,” Roman added.

  “Does your old pack know anything about the oracle?”

  Micah shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.”

  Roman was a little slower to respond. “The oracle was a rumor, a history lesson, but no one ever pursued the topic like they thought she was real. Just like the mate potion. It hasn’t been used in so long that it’s faded into myth in our old pack. From everything you’ve said, it sounds like your old alpha was due to be ousted from his position a long time ago.”

  “I just hope that Jax has moved the pack into more modern times. I always felt so trapped there as a child. I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t learn, then when the alpha took a mate that was only two years older than me, I realized that my life was just a waiting game. Eventually, someone would pick me as their mate, whether a true mate or not, and I’d be expected to birth the next generation with them. That was going to be my whole life… Then my parents were murdered and everything changed. I knew I wouldn’t get a mate within the pack, at least not one that would treat me with any kindness, since I was a traitor’s daughter. Gods, if they knew I had three mates now, they’d probably say that my father had corrupted me from a young age or something, just because he hadn’t agreed with our alpha.”

  “You’re the traitor’s daughter?” Blake said, his eyebrows shooting to
his hairline.

  I shrugged as panic bloomed in my chest. Was he supposed to kill me on sight or something? I didn’t know that the pack even remembered my family any more, but Blake certainly hadn’t been there before I left, so how could he know unless people were still talking about it?

  “I heard rumors about how the traitor’s daughter was the one who got away. Your alpha, Erik, had apparently spent a lot of time, money, and effort searching for you, something the members of the pack were bitter about. Apparently, he bankrupted their legitimate businesses with his efforts to find you. It’s one of the main reasons that the less legal side of things became their source of income and also how the pack became what it was when I joined. Though I think Landon was the alpha that really pulled the pack back from the brink with the deals he cut with the local crime families, not to mention paying off the cops.”

  I wanted to vomit. I’d always known that Erik would never give me up without a fight, that he wouldn’t kill Sam just because he was angry. He killed Sam because Sam helped me escape and he had wanted me for something. What that was, I didn’t know, and I was beyond grateful that I never had to find out. “Do you think all the previous alphas have talked to the oracle?”

  “Probably. With how often Jax was going to see her, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Blake cracked open a fortune cookie and crunched down on the pieces while the rest of us ate in silence for a moment.

  If all the alphas had gone to see the oracle, then that would explain why Erik and Jax had both looked for me. “We need to talk to the oracle. I need answers. I need to tell her what she did to my life.” Anger and resentment flowed through me in bitter waves.

  “We’ll find her as soon as we can,” Roman said as he put an arm around my shoulder and squeezed. “I promise we won’t forget. We just have to deal with this first.”

  “Why do you think you have three mates?” Blake asked after we were all quiet for a moment.

  “How should I know? It’s not like I chose this. Roman can tell you I practically bolted from him when the mate bond first clicked into place. I was terrified of what it would mean, then when Micah’s hit as well? I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared, especially after Micah bolted as well. I was stuck making nice with all the bitches that had wanted to snag Roman for themselves, the whole time knowing I had a second mate and that my life was about to blow up as soon as Roman realized it.”