Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1)

by Jessie Donovan

  It also helped Kaya to maintain her composure since the suit was like a costume for one of her many roles inside GreyFire.

  She glanced to the clock on the far wall. Dr. Wesley Smith was now thirty minutes late. Kaya understood the power of keeping someone waiting, but it was starting to border on ridiculous.

  Another ten minutes passed before a young woman in a gray skirt and pink top came into the room and said, “I’m sorry, but something has come up. Dr. Smith needs to reschedule the meeting for a different day.”

  Shit. Maybe someone had discovered Sy’s contact hacking into their network and Markgen needed to implement some kind of security protocol. She had no way of knowing if that had happened or not, so she acted as if she were a little bored and irritated. “Did he say when?”

  The woman shook her head. “No, but if you could call back tomorrow, we can try to reschedule.”

  She raised her eyebrows and tapped one of her forefingers on the table in front of her to display her irritation. “Dr. Smith does realize how important this meeting is, doesn’t he? Besides, it’s a three hour drive from my land to here. I can’t just drop everything and come running.”

  Kaya could smell the woman’s anxiety. The human swallowed before she said, “I’m just delivering his message. There’s nothing I can do.”

  Kaya decided she’d put up enough of a fit to put off any suspicion that she was here for more than just a meeting. She stood up and her researchers followed suit. “Next time, Dr. Smith will have to come to GreyFire’s land. You have my office number to set it all up.”

  The woman nodded and Kaya moved toward the door. The human jumped out of the way so the security guard on stand-by could escort them back to the entrance.

  Ten minutes later, Kaya was inside the minivan they’d borrowed for the visit. One of her researchers was driving it, and soon they turned out onto the main road that led to the freeway. She tried calling Sy, but all she got was his voicemail. He must be doing his routine visit at DS Engineering.

  She sent him a quick text message and instantly received a reply. I’ll be done in a few hours. Call Erika.

  Okay, that made her a little anxious.

  Since she didn’t want anyone in the car to overhear her conversation, Kaya reviewed Erika’s emails, but they were vague. Obviously, her second didn’t want to risk someone hacking her account. She’d just have to wait until she reached the safety of Sy’s apartment to call her second. If it were a “call me this instant” type of situation, Erika would’ve given the emergency code word.

  As the minivan sped down the freeway, she decided they were now far enough away from Markgen and it should be safe to question and see how Sy’s contact Dave had done with hacking Markgen’s network. She turned around in her seat and asked Dave, “How did it go?”

  Dave looked up from his computer. “Their security was pretty lax and parts of it were probably done by a fresh college graduate. The company is even backing up their email over the cloud.”

  Kaya vaguely knew what he was talking about, but she wasn’t afraid to ask for an explanation. “Explain why backing up to a cloud is important.”

  Dave nodded. “Well, the cloud is basically like sending your files over the internet to a virtual storage space. Just like with a physical storage space, if you don’t have a good, strong lock, someone can break-in and steal all your stuff.” He jerked his thumb behind them. “Whoever is in charge of Markgen’s security hasn’t put a very strong lock on some of their information. The proprietary documents were well guarded, but not their emails. I downloaded as much as I could, mainly from the last month or so, and saved them. If you and Sy sift through them, I’m sure you can find something.”

  Although she tried not to get her hopes up, she wanted him to be right.

  Kaya took a good look at the human helping them and said, “While I appreciate all of your help, why are you willing to risk helping shifters? If you’re caught breaking the law, sentences are twice as harsh if it’s shifter-related.”

  Dave shrugged. “Sy saw my potential in the company and wasn’t afraid to promote me despite my less than clean legal past. I owe him my second chance.”

  Yes, that sounded like Sylas. Taking well-calculated chances seemed to be his thing. He’d done the very same thing with her, after all.

  Kaya nodded. “Well, you also have my thanks. You are welcome on GreyFire’s land anytime, and if you ever need a favor, I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  Dave nodded. “I doubt I’ll make it up to the mountains as I like it here, but thanks all the same.” He removed something from his computer and held it out. She saw it was a flash drive. “I hope you find what you’re looking for on here.”

  Kaya took the small, rectangular drive. “I hope so, too.”

  But as they drove back to the dummy location where they would switch cars before heading to Sy’s apartment, Kaya had a feeling things had gone a little too smoothly. She only hoped this wasn’t the calm before the storm.

  Even if it were, she liked the fact she had Sy to help her if she needed it. She’d managed to lead GreyFire by herself over the last three years by sheer force of will, but she was starting to understand that if she ever wanted to achieve a balance between her duties and her happiness, she would need help. The only question was whether Sy would be that person or not.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sy unlocked the door to his apartment and entered to find Kaya sitting at the dining room table with his laptop. He’d given her the password last night, but now that he saw her using it, he wondered if she’d seen the surprise he was working on for her. He hoped not.

  He’d received her text about news to share, so he came up behind her to see what she was working on, but it was just some emails. He placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezed, and said, “What’s your news?”

  “Dave managed to get two months’ worth of Markgen’s emails. I’m hoping to find something in them to help us.”

  He massaged her shoulders and he felt some of the tension ease out of her body. “Did you find anything yet?”

  “No.” She looked up with a frown and he stilled his fingers. “Did you really have to antagonize my second in command? Erika didn’t like you before, and she definitely doesn’t like you now.”

  He smiled. “But it’s so fun.”

  “Sylas.”

  He stroked her cheek with one of his knuckles, but her expression didn’t soften. So much for having a distracting touch. “Is there a reason I should start being nice to her? It’s not like she visits DarkStalker’s land every other weekend.” When she didn’t say anything, he decided to push. “I heard about the power share. Tell me what it means, Kaya.”

  Kaya closed the laptop with a sigh. “I guess I can take a short break.”

  She stood up and he put his hands on her hips to keep her from moving away. “Well?”

  She stared into his eyes, but her expression was guarded. His cougar didn’t like that. He wanted her to always be open with them.

  Kaya said, “I want our clans to be closer, and I think you would make sure that happened if anything ever happened to me. I’ve started to trust you again, Sy. I’m not sure why, exactly, since we’ve only been working together again for a short time, but my wolf trusts you and I trust her.”

  The fact she just admitted her wolf trusted him made his cougar stretch out in his mind and purr because his cat trusted Kaya too.

  But he knew, or at least hoped, there was more. “Is that the only reason, Kaya?”

  She looked off to the side and said, “And, well, once all of this is over...”

  He stroked her hips to ease her nervousness. Given their past, this conversation wasn’t easy for either of them.

  Once she finally looked back at him, he tilted his head and said, “Yes?”

  “I want to try again, Sy. But this time, no hiding or sneaking around. I want it to be in full view of my clan. I don’t have time to keep guessing if you want th
is or not, so just tell me straight.”

  As much as his cougar was growling in agreement and urging him to claim her, Sy wanted to be honest with her. “I can’t be your errand boy, Kaya. If you want to try again, then it’s as equals. Pulling rank will fall on deaf ears. I won’t embarrass you in front of your clan, but I won’t be just a shadow inside it either.”

  She smiled. “I don’t want a servant; I want a partner.”

  Thank fuck. He pulled her up against his body. “That I can do.”

  He lowered his head to kiss her, but Kaya pushed against his chest. “Too much shit is going on in my clan. As much as I want to, I can’t do this right now. Hot, mind-blowing sex will have to wait.”

  His ego pumped up a notch at her description of “mind-blowing,” but to calm his cougar’s need to scent-mark her, he kissed the tip of her nose and released her. “Then tell me what you’ve found and what needs doing. Erika sent me an update that the doctors are trying the cougar blood transfusions, but not if they’re effective or not. Did they work?”

  She patted his chest and moved back to sit in front of the laptop. “It’s too soon to tell. But a few more wolves have fallen sick.”

  While he couldn’t see her face, her worried tone spoke volumes. He came up behind her and massaged her shoulders again. “I was a bit of a bastard right then, trying to kiss you when members of your clan are dying. Tell me what to do to help you, Kaya-love, because I can’t stand the thought of you being sad.”

  She turned her head toward him, her eyes vulnerable. If he had to guess, this was a side of Kaya she didn’t show to many people.

  As he stared into her eyes, she said, “Fuck it. After that, I need to hug you.”

  She stood up and turned to wrap her arms around him. He pulled her close and simply held her, reveling in her wild scent and heat invading his senses.

  He stroked her hair for a few seconds before she let out a long sigh and said against his chest, “What if they all die? I’ve been looking through Markgen’s emails for hours, and I haven’t found a single thing to help us. On top of that, my researchers still don’t have a stable, reliable cure or vaccine.” She looked up at him, her eyes full of worry. “I can’t lose my clan, Sy. They’re much more than just a responsibility; they’re my family.”

  He moved a hand to stroke her back, hoping to calm both the woman and the wolf. “But your clan has you, and I doubt you’ll give them up without a fight.” He gave her a squeeze and released her. “Now, as for the finding what you need part, I can help with that. I grabbed an extra laptop when I was at DS Engineering today, so let’s divvy up the emails. Two people going through them will help speed up the process.”

  Kaya smiled and his cougar purred in approval. “Help me find what I need to save my clan, and I will make it very worth your while, Sylas Murray.”

  He moved toward her, turned her around, and gave her ass a light slap. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started. The sooner we fix this mess, the sooner I can have your sexy, naked self in my bed.”

  Kaya laughed and they got to work.

  ~~~

  Two hours later, Kaya blinked at what she’d just read on the screen in front of her and decided to read it one more time to double-check the information. But no, she had read it right the first time. “Son of a bitch.”

  Sy looked up from his laptop. “Did you find something?”

  Kaya frowned at the computer screen and then looked up at Sy. “I think I know who has been helping the mysterious Markgen people sneak onto DarkStalker’s land and release the infected wolves. It’s Kevin Howard.”

  “I’m guessing he’s one of yours and there’s more to the story.”

  Kaya leaned back in her chair and twisted her long hair up off her neck. “He was the main contender for the clan leader position when it opened up three years ago. The betting odds put me as second most likely to get it, but he couldn’t win the final clan-wide vote; I did. Despite his bruised ego, I never would’ve guessed he’d go from wanting to dedicate his entire life to the clan to wanting to destroy it.”

  “What did you find, exactly, that makes you think he wants to destroy it?”

  Kaya released her hair and looked at the laptop in front of her. “Well, he’s been corresponding with someone inside Markgen who goes by the name ‘John Smith’ and over the last few weeks, their emails have gone from one every few weeks to several a day.”

  “There must be more to it than that.”

  She glanced up and gave him a look. “I’m not done yet.” Sy put his hands up in apology and Kaya looked back to her screen. “While the email is in slight code, the time and dates match up to the events of the wolf-shifter attack and the discovery of the infected pup.”

  “What do the emails say exactly that convince you it’s this Kevin Howard guy?”

  Kaya leaned forward and read from her computer. “Things like, ‘The three packages were delivered to DS and accepted,’ which I think is talking about the three wolf-shifters that attacked your brother on DarkStalker’s land. Or, ‘The smaller package and message were received by DS,’ and that fits with when Kian discovered the infected wolf pup with the flash drive.”

  She looked up at Sy and continued, “Kevin should’ve been in Seattle over the course of the last two weeks, yet if ‘DS’ stands for DarkStalker, he’s been on and off your clan’s land instead of doing his duties here. Although, how he managed to do it without getting caught speaks volumes about his ability to hide in plain sight.” She motioned with her hand. “And then there’s Kevin’s most recent email, from late last night, where he wanted to confirm that John Smith would fulfill his end of the bargain at the meeting with GreyFire Industries.”

  Sy sat very still. No doubt he’d started to put it together too. “And?”

  “John Smith said yes, and the proof of the delivery should appear in 24-48 hours after the meeting is finished.” Kaya took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m pretty sure the ‘delivery’ is the virus. That means they’ve infected me, Sylas, and unless we find a way to stop it, I’m going to die.”

  Sy reached across the table, took her hand, and squeezed it. “Then we’d better hurry the fuck up and find this Kevin Howard to make sure that doesn’t happen. Do you know where he is?”

  Kaya made herself focus on finding Kevin instead of worrying about how, if she was right, she would devolve into a mindless, purple-eyed wolf over the next week. “He’s one of GreyFire’s human company go-betweens, which is why I dismissed his emails at first and why I believed him when he said he had another meeting scheduled and couldn’t go to the Markgen one with me. Unless he has run away, he should still be at the apartment GreyFire rents for clan members visiting companies here.”

  Sy squeezed her hand again. “Okay, then we should check the place out. But before that, tell me anything I should know about this guy.”

  Kaya took strength from Sy’s touch, the warmth of his hand around hers allowing her to focus better on what needed to be done than what might happen. “Apart from his stellar ability to get in and out of places without being detected, there’s not much else special about him. After I won the clan leadership three years ago, he went to Seattle for a few weeks to lick his wounds, but he came back and pledged his loyalty to me. After that, his behavior was perfect to the point I had him coordinating the sentries for a few years before establishing him as one of our human company go-betweens.”

  His behavior was exactly why it’d taken Kaya so long to piece the clues together. Kevin had been nothing but supportive since she had taken over the clan. He’d even once tried to ask her out on a date.

  Now she was starting to wonder if he’d only done that to try to get close to her so he could get rid of her easier.

  If—no, when—she solved all of this and was healthy again, Kaya was going to do a more thorough job of investigating her clan and try to delegate more. Her first task would be finding someone to root out all the rumors running around GreyFire. Who knew, ma
ybe there had been word of Kevin’s discontent months before this.

  For now, she needed to think of the immediate future.

  What she was about to say was risky, but it needed to be done. Laying her free hand on top of Sy’s, she said, “Before we start planning on how to track Kevin, I want you to know that I’m not revoking the power share. If I succumb to the virus, you’re going to be in charge, Sy, if you want it.”

  ~~~

  Sy stared into Kaya’s deep brown eyes and couldn’t miss the small amount of fear he saw there. Oh, to most people, she would look calm and collected, but not to him.

  No, with him she was becoming less afraid to be vulnerable and express her true feelings.

  What she was asking was huge, but there was really only one way to answer. He stood up, yanked Kaya off her chair, and wrapped his arms around her. As she melted against him, he said, “I’ll help, Kaya-love, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to me taking over.”

  She leaned back so she could look up at him. “Why? So you don’t have to swear off DarkStalker as your clan?”

  He shook his head. “I love DarkStalker, but I very much want you to live more. The autumn celebration is coming up and I want to show you off to the world as mine.”

  Her eyes softened. “Oh.”

  That expression went straight to his heart, and Sy decided she’d better fucking live or he would raise some hell to get his revenge.

  He took a deep breath to calm the fuck down. Then he brushed her cheek and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Kaya’s touch, as always, was a surefire way to ease his anger.

  Threading his fingers through her hair, he said, “Now, about this Kevin Howard guy, I think I have a plan.”

  He waited to see if Kaya would dismiss him, but instead she said, “Let me hear it.”

  Kaya listened as he explained it. She eyed him for a second before she nodded. “Okay. I don’t really like it, but I see your point.”