Kay nodded. He was still surprised at the way Noem had reacted to Emery’s words. He himself hadn’t been offended—he knew Emery was talking bullshit. He wasn’t about to string Noem along. He knew how important mates were for shifters and the like, so if he decided to try to see how things went with Noem, then he’d be serious about it. No one-time thing like Emery had said.
Still, Noem hadn’t known. Kay had expected him to get angry with him, maybe to leave him and Emery alone in the hallway, not to try to punch the lights out of Emery. Not that that punch could have hurt much. Kay was pretty sure Noem had been in more pain than Emery. But it was the gesture that had touched him, the fact that Noem was ready to fight for him, even though Emery had only been rude.
“What he said wasn’t true,” Kay said. He didn’t like the fact that Noem was still looking anywhere but at him, as if he believed what Emery had said and was only waiting for Kay to tell him that.
Noem finally looked up. “It wasn’t?”
“No. Like you said, Emery doesn’t like me much. I can’t say I’ve really tried to make myself likable until now, but still, he didn’t have the right to say those things. He doesn’t know me.”
“He was right when he said that you don’t like shifters.”
“We already talked about this.”
Noem nodded. “I know. It’s just hard to believe. You seemed so sure that shifters were, I don’t know, unnatural or something, and you really didn’t like the idea of mates.”
Kay sighed and pushed away from the door. He wasn’t in his room, or in the room that had been his for the night anyway, and he wasn’t sure Noem would take him flopping down on the bed well, so he chose the armchair instead. “I didn’t really know about shifters,” he said once he was sitting.
“So you hated them on principle?”
“Not really.” Noem arched a brow and Kay chuckled. “Fine, yes, I hated them on principle. Well, I didn’t exactly hate them, but it felt as if they’d taken away the only family I have, you know? Troy disappeared, and I didn’t hear from him until I heard from someone else that he was living here. He didn’t call, and I didn’t know about the lab, obviously. Then I got here, and he had this enormous stomach and told me he was pregnant and that shifters were real and all those things. It felt as if he wasn’t my Troy anymore.”
Noem cleared his throat and slowly sat on the bed. “Have you and Troy... were you ever together?”
“No, not like you think anyway. We’re best friends, more like brothers, really. We’ve always been only that, and we’ve been each other’s only family for years.”
“But now he has his own family, and you have no one.”
Damn, Noem understood Kay more than Kay would have thought. “Yes. I came here thinking I’d get my brother back, that we could go back home and go on with the lives we had before, but everything had changed. He didn’t come back, and one of the reasons for that was Emery, so I kind of, I don’t know, hated him on sight. Rationally I know he loves Troy and Aaron and he’d never do anything to hurt them, but that doesn’t take away the fact that he took Troy away from me.”
Noem was silent for a few seconds, then he snorted. “You’re kind of a brat. I thought you had a good reason for hating shifters, like, I don’t know, that one had killed your family or something like that, but you’re just jealous.”
Kay winced, because Noem was right. He’d never realized it, not until he’d talked with Troy. He’d tried so hard to hang onto his old life, onto their old life, that he hadn’t realized life changed. It had to. People fell in love, had kids, and he knew that would have happened even if Troy hadn’t been kidnapped.
“So, you said you talked with Troy?” Noem said.
“The other day, yes. I told you about it.”
“It’s hard to think that only a conversation was enough to make you change your mind.”
“Troy was very... thorough. And clear. He told me to get my head out of my ass and explained exactly why I was being an asshole.”
Noem snickered, and Kay smiled at him. He needed to finish this before they could take a step forward, though.
“I understand why I was wrong about shifters, and I’m marginally more comfortable with them now. I wouldn’t even have dreamed about sleeping here a month ago, heck, even a week ago. It doesn’t mean I’m ready to throw myself in the shifters world, though.”
Noem’s smile disappeared. “What do you mean?”
“That I don’t think I can decide now that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I like you, but I don’t know you, and no matter what your people think about mates, I don’t think I can accept it easily. I wouldn’t get married to a guy I’d met two days ago, and marriage doesn’t even have to be forever.”
Kay expected Noem to get angry, or to be disappointed, but instead, he smiled. He looked relieved, and Kay felt guilty. He’d let Noem think he was going to reject him, to not even give him a chance. He shouldn’t have, because no matter what he was, Noem was a good man.
“I don’t expect you to mate with me now, or even soon.”
Kay blinked. “Really? I know Troy and Emery mated right away.” He’d thought that was what shifters wanted, but maybe it was different for Noem, since he wasn’t a shifter?
Noem shook his head. “It’s true that a lot of shifters mate right away, but not all, especially not the couples where one of the mates is human. I understand why you’re hesitant about it, and it’s not what I want.”
“You’re saying you don’t want to mate?”
“No, just that I want you to give me a chance. Of course I want to mate. I know about mates, have known about them all my life. I know you’re the only man I’ll be with for the rest of my life, and it’s fine with me, but being together means to compromise. Being mates doesn’t mean magically not having problems. It’s still work. I mean, you should see some of the couples in the house fight. They look like they’re ready to tear each other’s head of one second, then the other they’re making out. It’s not perfect, but they love each other.”
Kay hadn’t expected that. He was the first one to admit he didn’t know much about shifters—didn’t know anything about them, in fact—but he’d thought Noem would want to mate right away and that he’d be angry or disappointed if Kay didn’t agree with that. It was one of the reasons why Kay had thought mating was so bad. He’d thought it didn’t give people a choice and that mates had to be together, no matter what.
“So, you want to what—date?” Kay asked, because he had a hard time imagining soul mates dating.
Noem’s smile widened. “You want to date me?”
“Well, yes. I thought that was what we were talking about.”
“We were talking about mates.”
Kay was confused. “That’s what we are.”
“You have no idea how happy hearing you say those words makes me. And yes, if that’s what you want, then we can date.”
“All right.”
Noem laughed, the sound clear and happy. “Is this where you kiss me?”
Kay smiled. “I can do that.”
The bed wasn’t far from the armchair, and Kay only had to lean forward to touch Noem’s face. He cupped his cheek and looked at the happiness dancing in Noem’s eyes. He had no idea what the future would look like, but he did know that even though he’d just met Noem, he had a hard time imaging they wouldn’t be together. He didn’t know if it was only due to the mating thing between them, or if it was because he liked Noem, but he didn’t think that mattered.
He pressed their lips together.
Chapter Five
Jericho was pouting, and it would have been funny if he hadn’t been a grown man and a hunter to boot. Noem ignored him as he took his vitals. He couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation he’d had with Kay that morning. He’d thought about it during most of the time he’d spent in the hospital that morning, over lunch, and he was still thinking about it now.
“Who is who?”
“My mate.”
Noem straightened and arched a brow. “You want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Why, so you can tell him to stay away?”
Jericho took a moment to answer. “Who said I was going to tell him that?”
“Well, you’re a hunter, he’s a Nix. You do the math.”
Jericho shook his head. “I don’t care about that.”
“Really? The fact that you were in the group of hunters who attacked the mansion kind of goes against that, you know. Oh, and let’s not forget about the way you panicked when you first woke up and realized where you were, as if we were going to eat you or something.”
“I’ve had the time to think since then. There’s nothing else to do here.”
Noem wanted to believe Jericho, because it would mean that Aeron had a possibility with him, but he didn’t want his friend to get hurt. He needed to be sure, at least as much as he could. “And what did you think about?”
Jericho cleared his throat and tilted his chin toward the chair next to his bed. “Why don’t you sit down?”
“It’s a conversation for which I need to sit down? That doesn’t bode well.”
“You can leave if you don’t want to talk to me.”
“No, I’m curious, and I want to be sure you won’t hurt your mate.”
“Do you... do you know him?”
“Yes. He’s a good friend.”
Jericho nodded. “Does he want me? I mean, I know I’m not the best option, since I was a hunter and everything. Honestly, I wouldn’t want me if I were him.”
Noem sighed. That was an understatement. “Of course he wants you. He’s a good man, and he knows what being rejected feels like. He wouldn’t do that to you, not just on principle. He’s going to give you a chance, no matter what you did.”
“Who?”
“Who what?”
Jericho rolled his eyes. “I feel like we already had this conversation. I mean, who rejected him? Why?”
“His tribe. I won’t tell you why because it’s something he has to tell you, but he’s been through enough. The last thing he needs is for his mate to string him along, so if you don’t want anything to do with him, you should tell him as soon as he comes out and tells you who he is.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
Noem finally sat down. He knew Jericho wasn’t just a hunter—he was also a son, maybe a brother, he had a job, interests—but all that kind of disappeared behind his hunter persona. It was hard to think he was just another human being when he’d been killing Noem’s friends just a little over a week before. The only reason Noem was giving him a chance was because of Aeron.
“I know I haven’t been exactly kind,” Noem said, “but you can talk to me. I’m not human, but it doesn’t mean I can’t help.”
“I know.”
“Besides, I’m not really kind with anyone, not when I’m working, so it’s not you.”
Jericho’s lips twitched. “I noticed that.”
“You’re not exactly a ray of sunshine yourself.”
Jericho opened his arms. “Would you be in my place? I woke up in a place I’d never seen before, in the hands of my worst enemies. And I’m bored. Can’t forget about that.”
“Look, I don’t know what you were told about shifters, but we won’t hurt you. Dominic will want you to cooperate, but he won’t torture or kill you. Trust me, we’ve seen some bad people over the years, and if we had to kill all of them, the garden would be overflowing with bodies.”
Jericho’s eyes widened. “Do you often bury bodies in your garden?”
“God, no. Cerris and Wyn would kill us. The garden is their baby or something. What I meant was that no matter what you were told, we don’t kill people. We don’t even hurt them if we can avoid it. The only thing we want is to live in peace, and your hunter group isn’t making it easy for us. You were the ones who attacked us, who killed so many people just because of who they were. It’s like someone would want to kill you just because you’re human, or your eyes are dark. It’s not something you can change. It’s not something you should want to change, not if it’s for someone else.”
“I’m starting to believe that. I never thought about being a shifter in those terms before.”
“Just give us a chance, yeah? I promise we won’t hurt you. I can’t say you won’t have to pay for what you did, but it won’t involve blood.”
Jericho suddenly looked so young, and afraid. “What will it involve?”
“Well, I guess it depends on how much you help us. I know Dominic wants you to tell him about the hunters so we can take the group down. I can’t be sure, but I think he might send you to our jail for a bit if you don’t cooperate. I’m not sure what will happen if you do cooperate, and there’s the fact that you’re a mate. Dominic will probably try to keep you here, maybe have you work with the enforcers for punishment. He won’t want to hurt your mate.”
“Noem!” Jared yelled from the infirmary main room.
Something was obviously wrong, so Noem left Jericho where he was and hurried to find his boss. To his surprise, Jared was sitting on one of the beds, his phone in his hand and his eyes huge as he looked at it.
“What is it?” Noem asked.
Jared didn’t answer. He just pointed at his phone, so Noem rounded the bed and leaned over to see the screen. A video was playing, showing a huge wolf fighting with a man. Noem squinted, because he thought he recognized the man, but it couldn’t be.
“Is that Kameron?” he had to ask, because it looked like Kameron, even though Noem didn’t want to believe it.
“Yes.”
“And this video is... ”
“All over the internet. You didn’t see the beginning, but it shows a man shifting into the wolf.”
Noem couldn’t wrap his mind around it. “You mean a video of a guy shifting is all over the internet? Where humans can see it?”
“Yes, and while I know very little about technology, I think a lot of people already saw it, if the numbers under the video are indications of that.”
Noem took the phone from Jared’s hand and looked. Jared was on YouTube, and the number of viewers was over ten thousand people already. He didn’t know when the video had been recorded, but it had been uploaded only an hour or so earlier.
“Shit,” Noem swore as he handed the phone back. “That’s not good.”
Jared looked lost, something Noem wasn’t used to seeing. “What do we do?”
“We need to see Dominic, although I guess every single pride member will try to do the same.”
Jared nodded. “You go. I’ll stay here with Jericho. Just make sure you let me know what’s happening, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Noem almost ran out of the infirmary. He wasn’t surprised to find Keenan and Nysys in the hallway, huddled together as they walked and looked at the phone in Nysys’ hands at the same time.
Noem ignored them and went to knock on Dominic’s door, but he found it already open and the office almost full. Dominic was there, talking with Ani and Nate, while various other pride members had gathered in small groups and were all looking at their phones and talking in soft voices.
No one noticed Noem, so he went to sit next to Benjamin. Benjamin looked up when he sat. “Have you seen this?” he asked.
“Why do you think I’m here? Of course I saw it.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“Probably nothing good for us.”
Benjamin slowly nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in Dominic’s place.”
“Do you think we’ll be safe? I mean, do we have to fear the government taking over the house and locking us all up?”
Nicky, who was on Benjamin’s other side, leaned closer to h
im and kissed his temple. “We’ll be fine. It’s true I’m happy not to be an alpha anymore, not with this happening, but Dominic and the council know what they’re doing. I think they’ve been ready for this to happen. It was only a question of time. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t happened before, especially with the Glass Company and the hunters involved.”
Noem hoped Nicky was right. He’d already lost his tribe and his family. He didn’t want to lose another one.
* * * *
“We have a problem,” Laura said as she sat on the corner of Kay’s desk. “A big one. Scratch that, a huge one.”
Kay looked up from the file he’d been working on. “What do you mean?”
“Have you been on social media sites this morning?”
Kay rolled his eyes. “You know I don’t do social media.”
“Yeah, well, you should, and you should pay more attention to what’s happening around you.”
She thrust her phone into Kay’s hands. He fumbled with it, so she turned it the right way and hit something on the screen. A video started playing, and Kay watched with wide eyes as a guy shifted into a wolf and lunged at someone he thought he’d seen around the mansion.
Laura leaned closer. “That’s Kameron Rhett. He’s the Gillham pack alpha, and a council member.”
“The guy or the wolf?”
“The guy.”
The video didn’t last long, but it was enough to create problems. Laura was right, they were about to have huge complications dumped into their laps, especially with the way Grand and Flynn were whispering together.
Kay handed Laura her phone back. “What do we do?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t think we should do anything until we talk with the council, or at least a member.”
“You think we should go to the mansion?”
“Probably, but people will wonder why we’re going.”
“I’m not sure that matters. We’re both in this, since we’re mated with shifters.”
“You mated your guy?”
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