by Layla Nash
Neither of us spoke on the long elevator ride, nor in the walk through the vacant halls to Smith's office. The older man rose from his desk as we came in, and once more shook my hand. "Thank you for coming at such late notice. I just confirmed a few details and thought you would want to hear sooner rather than later."
I collapsed into a chair and clenched my hands together between my knees. Atticus eased into the chair next to me, his hand a comforting weight on my shoulder. I held my breath.
Smith braced his hands on the desk as he looked at me. "I found them. Your name is Sophia Renee Frazier."
I couldn't move. Stared at him as I started to shake.
He passed a photo across the desk and set it in front of me. I looked at it and then couldn't look away as he went on. A man, dark-haired and handsome, stood next to a woman with auburn hair and hazel eyes and a beautiful smile. Three children stood in front of them, two girls and a boy. My eyes blurred with tears and my throat closed.
Smith's voice reached me from very far away. "They live in Michigan — Hugo and Tatiana Frazier. You have two sisters, Klara and Irina, and a brother, Aleksandr. They're all snow leopards."
My finger shook as I touched the woman's face. Mother.
Atticus squeezed my shoulder, his voice surprisingly deep. "Do they know about Sophia?"
"I called one contact I knew in Chicago and said I had a snow leopard looking for her parents. Ten minutes after I hung up, I had Hugo on the phone, threatening me with bodily harm if I knew about his daughter and didn't tell him everything. They've been searching for you for a long time, Sophia."
My lips parted as I finally dragged my gaze from the photo, clutched in my lap, and stared at the kindly investigator. "But what — what happened?"
His expression turned grim. "From what your father and my contacts told me, there was a rash of kidnappings about twenty years ago throughout the Midwest. Shifter kids were grabbed from schools, from hospitals, from homes... Apparently several packs and prides got together, hunted down the perpetrators, and discovered a medical research facility outside Chicago."
The room tilted around me and I almost pitched out of my chair. Medical research facility. I shook my head, trying to understand what he said. Atticus growled, long and low, and I reached a shaking hand toward him. "M-medical research? What does that have to do with...?"
I trailed off as I ran out of words. My father. He'd spoken with my father. On the phone. They looked for me. They'd searched for me. Missed me. My eyes burned.
Smith held up a manila folder. "He sent me some of the information they have on the group. Because of the advanced healing abilities and unique genetics of shifters, the group wanted to isolate those characteristics for use in pharmaceutical research and cloning. They don't know how these people learned that shifters exist, nor do they know if they've eliminated these individuals. A few kids have disappeared over the last two decades, but none have been recovered. The packs managed to free several children when they raided the research facility. You were already gone, Sophia. They don't know how you ended up at the orphanage in DC, but your connection to Chicago is altogether different than you'd been told."
The knot in my throat made it impossible to swallow. I looked back at the photo, touching their faces. Family.
Atticus gripped the arms of his chair until the metal bent. "These people are still on the loose?"
"Possibly." Smith placed the folder once more on his desk. "They may have gotten better at hiding.”
"And there could be others out there, like Sophia, who don't know what they are."
"Certainly." The investigator took a deep breath and shook his head. "I will provide this information to the Council so they can investigate further, if they choose."
"They will investigate." Atticus rumbled, then reached out and caught me, dragged me onto his lap so he could loop his arms around my waist. "These people in Chicago — they know more?"
"I can give you names to reach out to," the investigator said. His eyebrow arched as he looked at me. "Before we go down that road, Mr. Chase, the Fraziers asked me to pass a message to Sophia."
I froze, panic welling up in my chest. My hands shook so much I nearly tore the photo.
Smith smiled. "They very much want to see you, Sophia. They've invited you to Michigan, or they'll fly here if that makes you more comfortable. They will take things as slowly or quickly as you want. If you have any questions or want to reach out to them directly, this is their contact information and a note from your youngest sister."
I couldn't un-stick myself enough to take the envelope he offered, so Atticus took it for me. He kissed my shoulder, squeezed my knee. I wiped at my cheeks and cleared my throat, flustered that the stoic investigator should see me in such a state. I wobbled to my feet, grateful for Atticus's steadying hands on my waist, and shook Smith's hand. "Thank you. So much. More than you know. Can I — can I come back to ask you questions? I don't know if I'll remember all this."
"Any time." He smiled, kindness in his odd eyes, and shook Atticus's hand as well. "Really, I'm happy to answer any questions you have. I'll courier over the rest of the files tomorrow and you can go over my notes at your leisure. If you'd like me to be an intermediary with the Fraziers, I'm happy to do that as well."
The leopard wanted to leap and bound and dance. Our people. The strange man found our people. I shivered and hugged myself. My thoughts couldn't keep up with his words or Atticus's, quietly discussing what the Council would need to know, and my feet barely worked as Atticus led the way out of the office. I panicked in the elevator until Atticus gave me the envelope with the contact information and letter, and then I leaned into his chest and cried. An ugly cry that left teary blotches on his shirt and ignited a headache behind my eyes, but the joy that grew beneath it almost knocked me down.
Atticus kissed me and bundled me into the car so we could drive back to the mansion. I stared at the envelope as he drove, a thousand questions and possibilities whirling through my mind. Two families. The leopard wanted to meet them, to smell them until we could always find them. I studied Atticus's profile in the flashing city lights, and he turned to smile at me. Whatever happened, I would never be lost again.
* * *
Available Now!
Cut to the Chase
Carter sat at the bar at O'Shea's, nursing a beer as he watched everything going on behind him in the mirror. He didn't want to go back to the house. Between Logan and Natalia, Benedict and Eloise, and Atticus and Sophia, the mansion had turned into date night every night. Carter made a face and reached for another handful of peanuts. He was happy for them, of course, but that didn't make seeing the lovey-dovey cuddling and murmuring and kissing easy. Especially since he still didn't have the same.
A commotion made him look up, and Ruby O'Shea tore into the bar with a ferocious snarl on her face. She slammed the door and strode toward the bar without looking at anyone. The pack members who lounged around the pool table cringed low in their seats and then slunk to the door. The humans populating the bar looked around, uncomfortable, then started asking for the check. Even if they didn't know O'Shea's was a pack bar full of shifters, the humans sensed the tension.
Carter raised his beer to drink, trying to hide a smile as Ruby went behind the bar and started yanking bottles down left and right. He waited until a bottle of tequila landed on the bar in front of him before he cleared his throat. "Rough day?"
She shot him a dark look. "Don't start with me, Chase."
He just smiled. "Come on, Ruby. You're not going to scare me."
Her teeth and a couple of her piercings shone in the light as she ducked to retrieve something from under the bar, then smacked a pair of limes down in front of him. A knife flashed and she had several wedges ready, along with a salt shaker. She leveled the blade at him. "You want to stay and crack jokes, Carter? Then you drink."
"Line 'em up." He uncapped the bottle of tequila and filled the shot glasses as she set them out, and though
he had no problem holding his liquor, he got a little nervous as the number of glasses reached into the double digits. "I just went on the third terrible date this week, so you'll have to work to beat that."
Her dark eyes narrowed and she licked the side of her hand, pouring salt onto it before handing him the shaker. "Worst first and last date ever. Propositioned as a business deal. Since no other man in the entire city would ever ask me out."
Carter winced. "Ouch."
"Yeah." She licked the salt off her hand, tossed back a shot of tequila, and bit into a lime. He followed, the tequila burning his nose and throat and making him blink, and he turned on the stool to watch as she left the bar to snap orders at the few pack members who remained.
When she returned, he caught her wrist. "Hey. You're killing business down here. Let's go upstairs."
"This is my bar, I'll kill business if I want."
It wasn't bravado. Something else bothered her, he could tell. Something to do with that whole 'no man would ask her out' thing, and that was too serious for her to admit in a public place, where her pack might sense weakness. Carter started pouring the shots back into the bottle. "You're too good a businesswoman to do that. Seriously. Jules and the guys can handle things down here, Rafe is out for the night, we can go upstairs and I'll tell you about my awful dates."
The conflict played out across her face, but whatever bothered her must have been pretty awful, because eventually she snatched the salt and limes off the bar, turned on her heel, and marched to the back staircase without another word. Carter took two of the shot glasses and the bottle of tequila, nodding to the bar manager as he followed Ruby. The manager sighed, "Thanks," and went about trying to get the clientele back.
Carter tried to put how good Ruby smelled out of his head. She was Natalia's best friend and the alpha of the BloodMoon pack, and pretty well off-limits. But his lion grumbled and growled as he found her pacing in the large living room upstairs, arms folded tightly to her chest and the expensive high-heeled boots she wore clicking across the floor. The lion liked the idea of a wolf alpha to curl up with at night. Carter set down the tequila and poured her another shot. She threw it back without a word, then leveled a look at him that near stopped his heart. "So you're dating now?"
He took his own drink and eased onto the couch after folding his jacket across the back of the chair. It had been a long damn day, bouncing between Natalia's restaurant and the Chase company headquarters to help Benedict. He put his feet up on the coffee table and yawned. "Logan's thing. He made me sign up with a matchmaker, so I've been on three blind dates in the last week. It's awful."
She managed a grimacing smile. "Really? I would have thought the matchmaker had pretty good instincts for that kind of thing."
"Oh, they all look good on paper." He rested his head on the back of the couch and stared up the ceiling fan, revolving in a lopsided circle. He glanced at her with a grin. "But on paper doesn't usually work out in real life, right?"
"Tell me about it." Ruby paused long enough for more tequila, swigging straight out of the bottle. She paced more, hands tapping patterns against her thighs, and Carter watched her walk. She wanted to talk, wanted to admit something, but she held herself back. After some times, she stopped, hands on her hips, and faced him. "Don't tell anyone this or I will end you. Got it?"
He mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key. God, she was beautiful. All fierce and fiery, pure energy and movement. Long dark hair falling over full breasts and narrow waist, but with generous hips and a fantastic ass that just begged to be spanked. He tried to focus. And her threatening him was more than a little bit of a turn-on, if only because he wanted to show her how he felt about idle threats.
She took a deep breath, raking the hair back from her face, and started pacing again. "Miles Evershaw asked me to be his mate. Merge the packs, kick Rafe out, set up a power bloc against the rest of the shifters, and be mates. A marriage of convenience. A business deal."
Carter poured another shot and set out a lime wedge for her. "Sounds romantic. I'm surprised you didn't swoon."
She shot him a dirty look but a hint of amusement gathered around her eyes. "Yeah."
"So what did you tell him?"
"No way in hell." She gave a frustrated growl and turned in a circle, searching the room for something he couldn't see. "He's an ass. And a control freak. He'd pretend up front that we would be equal, but I know him. There's only room for one alpha in his pack, and that's him. Everyone else is second. And I didn't bust my ass and fight half the wolves in this city to get where I'm at only to give it up for some dick."
Carter bit back a smile, even though he sympathized. "You shouldn't have to."
"No. And I'm not. Rafe and I made this pack. I'm not letting Miles fucking Evershaw run me off or tell me there's no one else in the damn city who will date me."
Carter's dislike for Evershaw grew exponentially. The guy was a manipulative dick. He tried to intimidate Ruby into giving in, acting as if she would be alone forever. Carter raised a shot of tequila in salute. "I can refer you to my matchmaker. Then we can both have disappointing dates and bitch about them afterwards."
A smile definitely made an appearance. "Or not."
She took a shot, then collapsed onto the couch next to him. She rubbed her forehead, fatigue suddenly evident in every line of her body. She smelled delicious, some kind of vanilla perfume clinging to her despite the liquor and the smoke from the bar. He wanted to pull her into his lap and cuddle her. Protect her.
Ruby took a deep breath and fixed him with a penetrating stare. "What's the matter with me, Carter?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." His mouth was dry but the words came easily, and he wouldn't have looked away from her even if the entire pack came up the stairs to end his life. "You are fucking perfect."
"Then why is Miles Evershaw the only guy asking me out?"
He eased a little closer, dared to catch her knee and squeeze it. Even though he wanted to grab her thighs and drag her closer so he could rip off her shirt. "Because you're successful and powerful and you know what you want. Because you have high standards and you're not going to lower them because you know you're worth it."
Half of her mouth turned up. "That's what Nat would tell me. That's what women tell each other. Tell me from a man's perspective."
Carter's mind raced and his heart thumped, wanting to show her a man's perspective. Talking about it wasn't enough. Maybe the tequila made her vulnerable, maybe it was Natalia's impending wedding and all the bullshit that went along with it that had the normally unflappable Ruby thinking about why she hadn't found a mate. He leaned forward until they were nose to nose, but he kept his voice quiet so she had to ease forward, had to hang on his every word. "Because you're in charge every minute of every day, men think you want that at home. In bed. And that makes them nervous."
"Makes them nervous." Her lips parted and she seemed very interested in his mouth. He heard her heart racing, could scent the hint of interest as her body reacted to his. "But not you, apparently."
"Because I know you don't really want to be in charge all the time." He smiled as she blinked and started to protest, and he touched the tips of his fingers to her lips, cutting her off. He leaned forward more until she leaned back, giving way, and he braced his hands on either side of her shoulders, letting his knee depress the cushion between her thighs. He trapped her there, let her feel his weight, and dipped his head enough to nuzzle her hair. His voice dropped as he heard the thrum of her pulse. "I know you want someone else to be in charge when they take you to bed. You want someone to tell you what to do. Take away that burden of responsibility. Maybe tie you up. Teach you a lesson or two. And then let you saunter off to be alpha again, knowing you can't sit down because you got paddled for being a very bad girl."
Her breath escaped in something dangerously close to a moan, then Ruby blinked the dazed look away and braced her hands on his shoulders. "That's not at all what —"
&
nbsp; "Don't lie to me." Carter grumbled a warning and rested his palm on her side, right against her rib cage. "I can hear your heart beating, Ruby."
She looked up at him, tense as a coiled spring, and her pupils dilated until her eyes looked completely black. "Maybe I'm about to throw you across this room."
Carter chuckled. But he sat back, unconcerned. Sometimes the game took longer than he wanted, but victory tasted better after the anticipation. Before he got too far, Ruby's arms locked around his neck and she kissed him fiercely, demanding. Carter waited only a moment before he kissed her back, fingers threading into her hair and tightening until he took control back. He pressed her back down on the couch and she moaned, writhing under him until the lion almost took over. He broke the kiss and retreated but kept her pinned, studying her expression as she panted, eyes wide.
He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers before easing back. She started to follow him, ready for another kiss, but he tightened his hold on her hair and she inhaled sharply. Carter smiled, returned for another slow kiss. She tasted like tequila and lime and lust, a heady mix containing threads of her own taste as well. Ruby bit at his lip, and Carter immediately withdrew. She arched, wanting more contact, but he kept his distance as he murmured, "Here's the thing, Ruby. I like being the one in charge, but I'm not looking for a fight. So whether or not we do this — that's up to you. We'll establish a few ground rules before this goes anywhere, though, and make sure we're on the same page."
"You're saying you won't fuck me unless you get to tie me up?"
Carter shook his head and tapped the end of her nose. "It's not about restraints. It's about acknowledging what you want — what you need. But no, you're not going to intimidate me into sex, and I'm not taking you to bed tonight regardless."
Her full breasts pressed against his chest and Carter immediately regretted his decision. Ruby knew it, could feel his arousal, and undulated her hips against his in a deliberate motion that nearly finished him. Her voice went husky and low. "You sure about that, Carter?"