by L Ann
“The dogs.” He rose to his feet, crossed to the window and threw it open. “They’re unsettled.”
“It’s just dogs barking,” Cassie said.
Asher’s smile was tight. “When there are Shifters and Hunters in town, it’s never just dogs barking.” His attention shifted to Shaun. “Do you still keep a collar and leash in your car?”
“I do. Mac’s pulling up, let’s wait and see what he says.”
Cormac stood listening to the frenetic barking of the dogs while Asher explained what he wanted to do.
“Hunters avoid dogs,” Deacon argued when Asher fell silent. “They’re probably going nuts over being locked outside.”
“But if it’s not that?” Asher retorted. “Nothing about this Hunter’s behaviour has been normal.”
“Asher is right,” Cormac said, when Deacon opened his mouth again. “There’s something not quite right about this Hunter. We need to check out anything that raises a red flag.” He cocked his head, listening to the dogs. “And that isn’t normal. Even if something was bothering them, they’d pause for breath.” He glanced over at Shaun, who stood near to the kitchen door, his arms looped around Cassie’s waist while she leaned back against him. “Get the collar and leash out of your car. Asher, you shift. Deacon, take your dog for a walk.”
Deacon grunted, while Shaun disentangled himself from Cassie and disappeared outside, returning a few minutes later with a thick black collar and leash. He handed them to Deacon.
In the time it took Shaun to retrieve the collar and leash, Asher had stripped off his clothes and shifted. The wolf was sitting beside Deacon patiently when he returned. Collar in hand, Deacon crouched beside Asher and fit it around his throat, then clipped the leash to it.
“Good job you look like a Husky,” he said and received a reproachful look from Asher in response. Deacon snickered, and they both walked out of the kitchen.
“What happens now?” Cassie asked into the silence.
“Now we go and socialise with the town,” Shaun replied. “We’ll take a walk down Main Street, maybe pop into the bakery, if it’s open.” He glanced at Cormac. “There’s an old woman there. I’d forgotten all about her, but she said something weird to me the Saturday after Cassie came to the house and we … “ he trailed off and smiled at Cassie’s blush. “Probably shouldn’t add any more detail, huh? Anyway, I meant to ask you about her.”
“Mrs Dawson … everyone calls her Mama Dawson,” Cassie supplied the woman’s name. “Curly grey hair? Built like a tank?”
Shaun laughed. “Yeah, that’s her. She asked me if I was claiming you. Then told me that you deserved a wolf, not a mongrel.”
Cormac’s eyebrow rose. “That seems very … specific.”
“I thought so, too. But she also gave off the impression that had I pushed, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere, so I left it. Then shit happened, and it slipped my mind.”
“If you want to catch her there, we need to go. The bakery closes at six,” Cassie told them.
“Isabella,” Cormac turned to the small dark-haired woman who, until now, had stayed silent. “You go with Cassie and talk to … Mrs Dawson, was it? Jaden, you go with them.” He waited for Cassie’s nod, then continued. “Shaun and I will head to the bar and meet you there.”
“Shouldn’t I –” Shaun began, and Cormac raised a hand, palm outwards, stopping him mid-sentence.
“No, you shouldn’t. You and Cassie are the only familiar faces in this group. She’ll check out the bakery, you will come with me. It’ll rouse less suspicion than two strangers walking into the bar. They’ve seen your face around here and already link you with Cassie.”
It was clear from the expression on Shaun’s face that he didn’t like it, but he nodded in agreement.
The small group left Gemma’s house together and went their separate ways. Cassie led Isabella and Jaden on the ten-minute walk to Main Street where the bakery was situated, while Shaun took the short walk with Cormac across the road to The Corner Pin.
The bells over the door chimed merrily as Cassie pushed it open. The smell of fresh bread assailed her nostrils and she almost groaned.
“That smells so good,” Isabella murmured beside her, and she nodded.
“It tastes as good as it smells. There’s nothing like Mama Dawson’s cooking.”
“Why Mama Dawson?”
“I don’t know. She’s been called that for as long as I can remember.”
“Stop whispering back there, Cassie, and introduce me to your friends.”
Cassie jumped when the voice thundered through the shop. “I swear I don’t know how she does that!” she hissed and dashed toward the counter, Jaden and Isabella following her more slowly.
The old woman Shaun had met a couple of weeks earlier stood behind the counter, her arms folded across her ample chest.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” she declared when Cassie came to a stop just in front of the cake display. “I’m glad to see the rumours aren’t true.”
“Which rumours?”
“You were dying. You’d eloped. Your new boyfriend had beaten you almost to death.” Her voice changed on that final sentence, and Cassie felt Jaden tense beside her.
“Why would people think any of those?” Cassie asked, resting a hand on Jaden’s arm.
“You know how this town works, child. Tell me which rumour had more basis in truth.” Mama Dawson rounded the counter and Jaden immediately moved so he was partially blocking Cassie. The older woman gave him a narrow-eyed glare and sniffed.
“Oh, move out of the way, pup,” she snapped. “I’ve known Cassie since she was a baby. She has nothing to fear from me.” As she spoke, she folded back the sleeve on one arm, displaying an intricate tattoo covering her forearm.
Jaden and Isabella both gasped. Glancing first at the two Shifters standing with her, and then down at the tattoo on the older woman’s arm, Cassie’s eyes widened.
“Does that mean you are –”
“Yes, dear. Don’t speak it aloud. There are ears everywhere.”
“But –”
“Cassie!” Mama Dawson’s voice hardened. “I suppose you should come through to the office. We’ll talk there, but first I want to know which rumour has the most basis in truth.”
“Shaun hasn’t hurt me,” Cassie told her, her eyes still on the older woman’s forearm. “The first one is the closest to the truth.”
“Good. That’s what I hoped.” She turned and walked behind the counter. “Well, come along then.”
The Corner Pin was already half-full when Shaun and Cormac entered. They made their way toward the bar and Shaun ordered two beers.
“You know,” Shaun said quietly. “It would have made more sense for Cassie to have come here. She’d notice whether there are new faces.”
“She’ll be here soon enough. I wanted to talk to you away from the pack.”
Shaun paused, his beer halfway to his mouth. “That sounds ominous.”
A rare smile pulled Cormac’s lips upwards. “Not really. You and I both know how impossible it is to have a conversation without someone overhearing.”
“True.”
“And then there’s all the pack politics. I might be the pack Alpha, but I’m also your brother, Shaun. And sometimes I have to find ways to be the latter without the former rearing its ugly head.” Cormac patted Shaun’s shoulder.
“Is that what this is?”
“Let’s just say I saw an opportunity and I took it.” Cormac lifted his own bottle. “How are things between you and Cassie?”
“We’re okay, I think, given the circumstances. She’s partly moving on auto-pilot, so I do wonder if there might be some fallout to come once things settle down.” He laughed at the raised eyebrow Cormac directed at him. “I have to believe things will calm down, eventually.”
“Never for long, sadly,” Cormac replied. He took a swallow of beer, then continued. “She seems happy enough, though. A lot more together than I exp
ected her to be after yesterday.”
“Yeah. She’s even been asking questions about the pack, how it works, which is a step forward. Surprising too, since taking away our situation, she hasn’t had an easy time of it with everything else in her life.” He told Cormac what he knew of the death of Cassie’s father, explained that her mother was uncontactable, how she’d sold the house and then spent half of the profit on a six-month world cruise.
“What’s the story about her ex – the one who turned up at the hospital?” Cormac asked. Shaun’s lip curled up into a sneer. “He’s a piece of work. Cassie doesn’t know half the shit he’s done.” He relayed what Rebekah had told him about Sam’s behaviour.
“Do you believe her? She could have just been spinning you a tale.”
“Nah,” Shaun’s denial was immediate. “I half-considered breaking into his place and seeing if I could find the evidence. If he has anything on Cassie, I want it out of his hands.”
“He seemed pretty adamant at the hospital that you were the cause of their breakup.”
Shaun laughed. “Not true. He was the cause of us meeting, though, so I should thank him for that, at least.”
Cormac tipped the top of his bottle forwards. “You might just get your chance. He’s heading over this way right now.”
“You’re a survivor of the Draydon pack.” The door had barely closed to Mama Dawson’s office when Jaden spoke.
“Yes.” Mama Dawson settled on the padded office chair and waved her hand toward the other chairs.
They each sat, Jaden choosing the seat directly across from where Mama Dawson sat.
The older woman smiled. “Your women have nothing to fear from me. I’ve known Cassie since she was a babe.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t take that chance,” Jaden replied. “Your markings show a link to a pack we thought long wiped out. Yet here you are, alive and well.”
Mama Dawson smiled. “It’s a story I intend on sharing with you. But first, I need to know,” she looked at Cassie. “Where is your wolf?”
“My wolf?” Cassie repeated.
“Dear Cassie, I may be old, but my senses still work just fine. I can smell him on you.”
“Shaun is … he’s over in The Corner Pin. We’re supposed to be meeting him there.”
“And you?” The older woman returned her attention to Jaden. “You aren’t the Alpha.”
“No, ma’am,” Jaden confirmed.
“Forgive me,” Isabella spoke up. “But what happened to the Draydon pack? I thought I knew all the pack names.”
“They were wiped out by Hunters around forty years ago,” Jaden said.
“Forty-seven years, nine months, and twenty-one days,” Mama Dawson amended softly. “Our entire pack wiped out in a matter of hours. Well, almost entire. A few of us escaped. Five children, nine adults.”
“That’s how you recognised what Shaun was,” Cassie said. “He was wearing a t-shirt when he came into town and you saw his marks.”
Mama Dawson nodded. “That’s right. The Midnight Pack markings are distinctive, even amongst all those tattoos he’s added to them. But, even if I hadn’t seen them, he had a look about him. One that only wolf Shifters of his rank have.”
“His rank?”
A look of surprise crossed Mama Dawson’s face. “He’s an Alpha Wolf, Cassie.”
“No” Cassie shook her head. “His brother is the Alpha. Isabella explained it to me. Cormac is the strongest of the three of them.”
“He’s one of the Jacobs’ boys, isn’t he?” She waited for Cassie’s nod. “It’s a fact well known that all three of those boys are Alpha Wolves. They bend to their older brother through love and out of choice, not because they could not take his place. Shaun and Deacon Jacobs – the twins – are both more than capable of ruling Midnight. They could even break away and form their own Packs, if they wanted to.” She glanced at where Jaden sat in a watchful silence. “I wasn’t certain when I first saw him. That he was one of the three, I mean. They’re almost legendary amongst Shifter communities. But then I heard talk of the Midnight Pack relocating here. That’s when I knew for sure.”
“Who was talking about the relocation?” Jaden asked.
Mama Dawson pursed her lips. “When we fled Chicago after the massacre – it was agreed that we would split up. It would be safer that way. Out of the five children, only two where siblings, so they were kept together. They went with three of the adults. Last I heard they were in New York. Myself, another adult and one of the children came here, and the rest went to Washington.” She leaned forward and pulled open a drawer in the desk. Taking out a book, she turned it around and slid it across to Jaden.
Slowly Jaden lifted and opened it. Photographs stared up at him.
“Pack record?” he asked, and his voice was reverent.
Mama Dawson nodded. “I was picked to carry it, to hand it down to the next generation. Sadly, children were never to be a part of my life.” Her eyes flicked to Cassie. “But the child who travelled with us grew up to be a fine man. He married a local girl and he was happy. They had two beautiful daughters before he died.”
Both Jaden and Isabella twisted to look at Cassie, who stared back at them blankly.
“That isn’t possible,” Isabella said. “We’d know. Shaun would have known.”
“Just because you aren’t aware of it, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible,” the old woman pointed out. “And the evidence is right in front of you.” She reached forward and flipped the pages until she found the one she wanted. One finger landed on a single photograph.
“That’s … that’s a picture of my parents!” Cassie said into the silence. She frowned. “Why do you have a photograph of them?”
“Haven’t you been listening, Cassie?” Mama Dawson said, her voice gentle. “Your father was the young pup I was talking about. Your mother is the local girl.”
“But I’m not … I’ve never … I would know if I turned into a wolf!”
“There have always been rumours,” Isabella said slowly. We mate so rarely with humans, there was never any confirmation, only theories.”
“Rumours about what?”
“Half-breeds,” Jaden said. “Children born of Shifter and human. We always thought it just a story.” He looked at Mama Dawson. “She seems human.”
“She is … she was. Right up to the moment she found her mate.”
The scrape of a chair against concrete silenced them, and they all watched as Cassie sprang to her feet.
“I’m right here! Stop talking about me like I’m not here!”
“I know, dear. Please sit back down.” Mama Dawson smiled at her, before returning her attention to Jaden. “Has no one ever questioned why our pack was slaughtered so suddenly and completely?”
“I’ve never been privy to meetings between Alphas, but I can only assume they thought it was a chance encounter.”
“No. It was planned and coordinated with military precision. And it was because our Alpha had discovered a secret the Hunters were desperate to keep from our kind.”
“What kind of secret would bring about such an attack?”
“The secret that tells our kind how Hunters can find us, how they, mere mortals, can stand against a Shifter.” She held Jaden’s eyes. “Have you worked it out yet?”
Isabella’s soft gasp turned all eyes onto her. “They’re half-breeds,” she whispered.
“Half-breeds born and trained specifically to kill Shifters.” Mama Dawson clarified. “We thought they targeted the women of our packs to weaken us, to slow our breeding. That’s a lie. It’s also a cover. Most of the women are taken, caged, and forced to breed with humans. Forced to birth half-breeds.”
“I need to speak to Cormac,” Jaden said, and rose to his feet.
“You need to sit down and let me finish,” the old woman told him. “Going to your Alpha with half a story will not help him nor his brothers.”
Cassie was pacing the small office, wringing her hands as
she moved. “This can’t be happening.”
“Cassie dear, come and sit back down and let me explain everything to you,” Mama Dawson told her.
Cassie glanced at the old woman and shook her head. “You’re telling me my father could turn into a wolf and I never knew!”
The old woman’s face softened. “It wasn’t safe for you to know. And yours and your sister’s safety was the most important thing to Grey.”
“His name was Graham.”
“No dear, that was the name he took. Close enough to his own that responding to it was easier to learn.”
“Well, he failed! He died and now Gemma is missing!” The three wolves could hear the mounting hysteria in Cassie’s voice.
“Gemma is missing?” Mama Dawson repeated, her own voice rising.
“Yes. She was taken last night.” Jaden explained what had happened the night before. “We came into town to see if we could pick up a scent and find out whether any strangers other than ourselves have come to town.”
“There was one,” the older woman began slowly. “He arrived a week before Grey died. They spent a lot of time together. I think he knew Grey was a Shifter. He left the day before Grey died.”
“And you don’t find that strange?”
“As strange as a wolf Shifter dying in a car crash.”
“Stop it!” Cassie cried. “I can’t listen to this!”
Isabella rose to her feet and wrapped an arm around Cassie’s waist. “Why don’t we wait outside while Jaden finishes up here?”
Shaun turned to watch Sam Cooper as he made his way across to where he and his brother stood at the bar.
“Is he likely to cause problems?” Cormac asked.
“Probably.”
“You!” Sam lurched forward, a hand outstretched to grab Shaun’s shirtfront. “You took her away from me.”
The bar fell silent at Sam’s loud exclamation and, aware attention was on them, Shaun slowly and carefully reached out to peel Sam’s finger away from his clothes.
“Go home, you’re drunk,” he told the other man softly.