Cade clenched and unclenched his fists. “You knew what would happen!”
“I wasn’t one hundred percent certain what would happen. I didn’t know if you would be the noble Cade and deny your feelings for my sister, or if the wolf you keep under lock and key would win.”
“You think this is a fucking game?” Cade was straight up pissed and ready to throw down a beating on his best friend.
“Not at all. As a matter of fact, this is anything but a game. You have no idea what kind of shit this family is in or how deep it goes.” Ezra turned to grab the bottle of Scotch sitting on the corner of his desk, along with two glasses. He filled them half full and handed one to Cade.
“Ezra, man. What are you talking about? What’s going on?”
Ezra downed his drink, then poured another and downed it as well.
Cade watched as Ezra pushed away from his desk and began pacing around his office. Worry for his friend settled in the pit of his stomach. He’d never seen Ezra so visibly upset. He’d also never seen him hit the bottle before noon. Yet here they were.
“My dad backed what was supposed to be one of the hottest tech startups to hit the Portland area in decades, but the startup squandered the initial investment. This would have cost the investors millions. I tried to talk my dad into cutting his losses and getting out while he could, but you know Dad. He refused to admit defeat and went looking for more investors.”
Cade sighed. “I don’t like where this is going.”
“Yeah, well, you’re about to like it a whole lot less.” Ezra stopped pacing and poured himself another drink.
“What happened?” Cade asked.
“My dad asked a wealthy friend of his to invest.”
“Who was it?” Cade had a very bad feeling.
Ezra downed his Scotch. “Jonas Markson.”
“Fuck.” Cade closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
“It gets worse,” Ezra warned.
Cade couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be any worse. Jonas Markson was the worst of the worst when it came to people to deal with. He was the Alpha of Raven Claw Pack and an absolute douche. He had more shady dealings lined up than a pimp at a twenty-four-hour brothel.
“And probably as many STDs,” his wolf said.
“So, how much worse does it get?” Cade asked.
“The startup fell through again. The lead guy at the company took everyone’s money and took off. He hasn’t been seen in months. When the deal went south, Jonas accused my dad of setting him up. He threatened to kill my parents if he didn’t get his money back.”
“Fuck! So, now what? Can they pay him back?” Cade didn’t know what else to say or how this involved his and Ivy’s mating. But the whole situation was bad. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
“I had no idea how much Jonas had invested and lost, until last week.”
“How much are we talking about?” Cade asked.
“Close to ten million.” Ezra looked like he was about to be sick or pass out or something, and Cade couldn’t blame him. The thought of losing ten million bucks made Cade sick. Ten million? Ugh!
“You need to sit down before you fall down.” Cade took Ezra by the arm and led him around the desk to his chair.
“The money isn’t even the worst part,” Ezra admitted.
“What could be worse than losing ten million dollars and having your parents’ lives on the line?”
There had to be a way out of this mess. Cade racked his brain for ideas but came up blank. He had no fucking clue how to raise that much cash and fast.
“Jonas knew my parents wouldn’t be able to come up with the money. So he made another deal with them.”
Dread washed over Cade.
His wolf growled in his mind.
“Spit it out.” Cade knew exactly where this conversation was going and how it involved his mating with Ivy.
“He demanded Ivy as payment. To be allowed to force a mating with her on the next full moon.”
“Over my dead body,” Cade spat the words at Ezra. Never before had he felt more anger churn through his body. How dare Madeline and Joseph Winters use their daughter to pay off a debt. She was a person and should be treated as such. Not a commodity to be traded around.
Cade found himself pacing around Ezra’s office like his friend had done only moments ago. “There has to be something we can do to stop this. Have you talked to Elias? He’s our Alpha. Surely he can help in this situation?”
“No! And we can’t bring him or Barnette into this. It’s our mess. We’ll find a way to figure this out. One way or another.”
“You’re crazy. You know what you’re up against. Jonas isn’t going to be talked out of this.” Cade tried to be the voice of reason when all he wanted to do was to hunt Jonas down and rip his fucking throat out.
“The last thing I want to do is start a war with another pack, and that is exactly what’s going to happen if we get Elias involved. Jonas will see it as a declaration of war if Elias withholds his promised mate. I won’t see innocent wolves killed because of my parents.”
“And what about Barnette? He’s the damn sheriff. There has to be something he can do.” Cade turned and slammed his fist into the concrete wall. Bones snapped. A couple probably shattered.
“The only law that has been broken so far is by my parents. When they offered Ivy up, knowing he’d force a mating on her at the full moon if she wasn’t his fated mate. I can’t turn my own parents in.”
“Even if it means saving your sister?” Cade growled.
“There has to be another way. I can’t accept—won’t accept defeat. Not when it comes to this—having to choose who in my family I’m going to protect.”
“Fuck!” Cade slammed his fist into the wall again.
9
“What is with all the commotion out here?” Joseph asked as he stepped into the living room.
Ivy slowly backed away from her mother and the unfiltered rage seeping from her pores.
“We have to get out of here,” Ivy’s wolf growled in her mind. The animal inside her would have no problem defending herself against a single female. But a mated pair? That was another story. It would be a disaster—one her wolf feared she wouldn’t easily walk away from.
“They’re my parents. They won’t hurt me.” Ivy tried to calm her wolf. They had given birth to her, fed her, bathed her, and taken care of her. They’d had many differences over the years, but she couldn’t believe for one second that they would physically harm her.
“Joseph, you have to fix this,” Madeline said as tears streamed down her face. “I won’t let her ruin everything we’ve worked for.”
Joseph placed a hand on Madeline’s shoulder. Ivy felt a cold chill in the air. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “What have you done?” Her father’s voice was colder than ice. So cold—so chilling, and definitely not that of the loving man who had raised her.
“I found my mate,” she whispered, suddenly afraid his reaction would mirror her mother’s.
“You can’t go through with it. You’ve been promised to another.”
“Daddy, I don’t understand. You have always told me that my fated mate was out there and I would know when I found him because I would see my destiny. I’ve found that.” Ivy beseeched her father to listen to what she was saying. She had taken the mating advice he had given her. Why would they keep insisting on forcing her to be with someone other than her true mate?
“It’s done, Daddy. My mate has already marked and claimed me.” Ivy pulled her hair to the side and showed him the mating mark.
“No!” her father growled.
“We need to leave. Now!” her wolf demanded.
This time, Ivy wasn’t about to argue with her wolf. She grabbed her purse off the table and headed for the door. Tears filled her eyes, her heart breaking into pieces. Her parents had every right to be worried or even upset with her for the rushed mating, but it wasn’t like they l
ived in the human world where engagements were dragged out for months if not years—sometimes to infinity. Most wolves found their mates and mated just as quick as she did. It was instinct, magic, destiny all rolled into one driving force that was impossible to fight.
Had she not gone away to college and Cade not gone into the military, they would have more than likely mated years ago. Would it have been such a big deal to them back then? For some reason, she didn’t think so. There was something else going on here and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Ivy needed to find her brother and fast.
“What if he is part of this? How do you know we can trust him?”
She had no choice. She had to talk to him. He was the only one who might be able to help her. Maybe he could talk to their parents and find out what the fuck was going on.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me while I’m talking to you!”
She felt the silver chain around her neck before she could process what was happening. Her wolf pushed forward, trying to force the change. Unable to shift to protect herself, Ivy was at her father’s mercy. Not exactly the place she wanted to be.
“Daddy, stop!” she cried. Tears streamed fast and hard down her face, the silver burning her skin.
The pain was almost more than she could bear. Still, she had to fight—even if it was only in human form. Ivy had to do something.
She kicked and screamed, hoping someone would hear her and come to her assistance. The more she fought, the tighter the silver got around her neck.
“I have plans for you. You will not give yourself over to the first mutt who tells you he is your mate.”
“What plans?” She gasped for air.
“You will not fuck this up!” her mother shouted.
“Jonas will be here to pick you up in the morning. Then our debt to him will be paid.”
Terror settled over her. Jonas Markson was the scum of the shifter world, and everyone knew it. He was sick and twisted with absolutely no morals. He’d challenged and killed his own father to become Alpha of his pack. After he’d won, he killed his six brothers and their sons so no claim could be made by anyone who shared DNA with him.
“Daddy, please! I’m begging you. You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s already done.”
Darkness closed in around her.
10
“Something’s wrong.” For the first time in his life, Cade felt true terror, but it wasn’t his. Crippling panic followed by a blistering pain around his neck left him gasping for breath. His knees buckled, sending him to the ground.
“Cade! What is it?” Ezra asked.
Cade searched the room for a culprit—the person who was the cause of his suffering, but found no one. It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t under attack.
“Ivy!” his wolf called out for their mate.
Only then did Cade realize she was the one who was in trouble. The panic flooding his body this time was his own.
“Cade! Help!” Her voice was faint, distant, and most definitely troubled.
Cade jumped to his feet. “I should have never left her side! I should’ve been there, but she wanted to be the one to tell your parents. If you would have told me what the fuck was going on in the beginning, Ivy wouldn’t be in danger now!”
“Please tell me they didn’t.” The look of shock in Ezra’s eyes told Cade all that he needed to know. Ezra truly was innocent in all of this. He may have known about their overall plan but had no idea what his parents were up to and why Ivy was terrified of them.
“They did. I’ve got to get to her!” Cade shot out of Ezra’s office like a freight train.
“The fastest way to get there is to shift and run,” Ezra said.
“Agreed,” Cade said as they came to a halt in the parking lot.
Static crackled around them. The ancient magic housed in their souls begged to be unleashed. Cade screamed and dropped to his knees as his bones snapped one at a time. Pain like he’d never felt crippled his body and mind. Something was wrong. Never before had a shift felt like this. It felt as if he was broken, like something was preventing him from allowing his beast to take over.
Ezra looked up at him and whined, sensing Cade’s struggle.
“Stop fighting the shift. You have to trust me and allow me to do what needs to be done. She is my mate, too, and I will do whatever it takes to save her,” his wolf warned.
Cade hadn’t realized that he’d been fighting his wolf. The agonizing pain coupled with his wolf’s warning suddenly made sense.
He glanced down at his prosthetic, knowing it was the reason he didn’t give in and surrender to the change. Without it, as soon as he shifted back to human form, he would be in trouble. There was no way he could fight as a human with one leg. Nor could he hope of having a conversation with Joseph or Madeline. Once he shifted, he had to remain in wolf form until he could get back to his prosthetic.
Leaning against his truck, he pulled up his pant leg and unstrapped the device that had helped him walk after his Humvee had hit an IED. He tossed it on the front seat and slammed the door.
“Fuck!” He didn’t like the feeling of vulnerability that washed over him. How was he supposed to rescue and save his mate with his disability?
“Stop fighting me. I can do this. I will save her,” his wolf growled in his mind.
“You damn well better!”
His wolf had never led him astray, even when they were on the frontlines of the battlefield. Since he’d lost his leg, he’d given his wolf very little control—just enough for the animal to learn how to run on three legs instead of four.
He sucked in a deep calming breath and allowed the magic within him to take over. The feeling of being torn apart faded. As soon as his paws hit the ground, Cade took off. His need to find Ivy intensified. Instinct ruled the animal. The need to protect and defend his family pushed him to run faster and harder than he’d ever run. Faster than he had in the past with all of his legs intact. Wind rushed over his fur. Tall blades of grass brushed over his body, fallen branches scraping his sides as they dashed through the forest.
“We’re all most there,” Ezra spoke into his mind. Once in animal form, members of the same pack could communicate telepathically.
“I can’t feel Ivy anymore. It’s like she just disappeared.”
Their mating connection had gone blank. He could no longer hear her or feel any of her emotions. It scared the shit out of him.
“She’s okay. She has to be. My parents, no matter how fucked up they are, wouldn’t kill their own daughter.”
Cade wasn’t so sure.
11
“What the fuck have you done? Where is Ivy?” Ezra shouted at Madeline and Joseph. Cade growled in the background.
He wanted his mate and he wanted her now.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, dear. Ivy isn’t here,” Madeline said with a smile on her face.
Cade sniffed the air around them and snarled. He could smell his mate. She was there. She had to be. The scent was too fresh to suggest otherwise.
“Her mate begs to differ. He knows she’s here. So do I. I can smell her.”
Cade paced back and forth, ready to rip someone’s throat out if they didn’t produce Ivy soon. And so help him, if a single hair on her head was out of place, they would pay dearly.
“Agreed!” his wolf said.
Images of him ripping his enemies’ entrails out filled his mind. For the first time in his life, he truly wanted to harm these people. They were lying through their teeth and he knew it. He could taste each lie that tumbled out of their mouths. He’d always held Madeline and Joseph in high regard. He’d looked up to them, thinking them to be noble wolves and exemplary citizens.
Growing up, he’d wished many times that he’d been born to Madeline and Joseph instead of his parents. Ezra and Ivy had never wanted for anything. They were born in and grew up in the same beautiful home with parents who were still alive and in love.
Cade’s family had been broken from the start. His mom died giving birth to him, driving his father off the deep end. Raised by his grandmother, he’d cried himself to sleep more often than not, wanting what he could never have. A mother … a father … a family.
How wrong he’d been about the Winters. So very wrong.
“She was here, but she left,” Joseph said as he eyed Cade.
“Bullshit! Do you think we’re stupid? That you can just assure us she’s fine? Cade can’t feel the mating connection anymore. He can’t hear her anymore. That doesn’t just happen. You damn well know it and so do I.”
“Feel free to search the house. Like your father said, she left. She’s not here.” Madeline was cool and calm as always, but her voice betrayed her. Cade picked up the slight change in her tone. The increase in her heart rate—telling signs of a lie.
If he’d have been in human form, he would have never noticed the smallest variations that gave away the truth.
“Your friend needs to shift to human form; you know how I feel about animals in the house.” Madeline motioned to Cade.
“Mom! We’re all animals. It’s literally who we are.”
“Just because we share our souls with wolves doesn’t mean we have to act like it.”
“He’s staying in wolf form. So, help us or get out of the way.”
“Let him stay in wolf form, Madeline. It will be easier for him to get around than trying to hobble around on one leg. Who knows what he would knock over and break? We can always call the housekeeper later to clean up after the mutt.”
Cade lunged at Joseph, knocking him to the floor. He stood with his paws on his chest, growling in his face. He’d had more than enough of the man’s holier than thou attitude.
“Ezra, stop him! Are you going to stand there and let this uncivilized beast attack your own father in our home?” Madeline screeched.
Dark Moon Falls: Cade Page 4