The Talon Pack den was located in central Oregon with their territory reaching into northern California. Most of the Packs across the United States were far older than the country itself, so their boundaries had to do with landmarks rather than arbitrary lines. They shared a neutral territory with the Redwoods, who lived in western Oregon. Thanks to the humans’ national initiatives, the wolves’ forests had been untouched and safe from human eyes for centuries. The den might have been surrounded by wards infused with wolf and witch magic so humans were repelled from the area, but without the trees and the ability to hide from prying eyes, they wouldn’t be as safe as they were.
Or at least as safe as they used to be.
That was one reason they were meeting with Kade and the other Redwoods in their den today. It used to be that only the right people knew about the fact that shifters existed. Now, though, far too many people knew and some were…searching. Human patrols were getting too close to their den as well as the Redwoods’ den, and no amount of magic would save them if technology found them. The majority of the population might not know about shifters, but those who did and weren’t on the wolves’ side, were on a hunt. Those military and even civilian patrols hid themselves as well, so normal humans remained unaware of a potential war on and within their borders.
As it was, too many of the wrong people knew about the existence of wolves. The military had long since known about them and had even used them as soldiers when they could. Some higher-ups in the government knew about them, but not everyone. If certain factions ever found out...well, Gideon didn’t want to think about that. He knew he would be forced to face it eventually—sooner rather than later if the feeling in his gut was any indication—but he wasn’t sure how his people were going to remain safe once the secret was out.
In the thirty years since the Central war had ended and the Redwoods and Talons had formed a treaty, they had been forced to learn to rely on each other through thick or thin. The fact that they were running out of land and methods to conceal their existence meant they would have to rely on each other once again.
Gideon wasn’t sure if they would ever be ready to come out to the humans, but at some point, they might not have a choice in the matter.
Cameras and satellites were far too precise and could track them with the click of a button. Magic went only so far, and he was afraid they’d strained their powers enough as it was.
If they were going to come out to human society, they were going to have to do it their way.
That is, if they could decide on what that way was.
After all, there were more than just the two Packs in the United States and far more than that all over the world. In the past fifteen years since they’d formed the Northwest Council, they’d done their best to open the lines of communication in ways that no one had ever thought possible, and with their Voice of the Wolves, Parker Jamenson, they were at least trying to maintain peace within their own dens.
For some reason, Gideon didn’t think the next battle he fought would be claw against claw. No, the next would be far worse.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn’t have time to think about the end of the world, his world, right then. He pressed his hand against the keypad to unlock his home then walked through the door. He needed to wash off the blood of decisions that were beyond his control. He was in the middle of a world that didn’t make sense—one where rites and rituals of the past warred with the technology and unknowns of his present.
He was almost afraid to see what his future would be.
“Took you long enough to get here,” Walker remarked from his spot in Gideon’s kitchen.
Gideon snorted then peeled off his shirt, ignoring the aches and pains. The fabric stuck to his cuts and dried blood, but he was healing well.
Walker clucked his tongue like a mother hen then rubbed his hands together. “I will Heal these wounds so you’re in top form when there are other wolves about. I don’t want to hear any lip from you.”
Gideon raised a brow. “You’re the one being lippy. Remember, I’m the Alpha. And, hello, I’m the eldest brother. You’re the baby.”
Walker snorted then pressed his hands to Gideon’s wounds. At the sharp warmth, he sucked in a breath then released it slowly.
“We’re over a hundred years old, Gideon. At some point, being younger or older shouldn’t matter. And, I’ll have you know, Brandon is younger than me. So there.”
Gideon smiled at the familiar remark. “You’re like five minutes older than Brandon, and Kameron is another five minutes older than you.”
Walker rolled his eyes then narrowed them as he examined Gideon’s skin. “You’re Healed but don’t go getting sliced up for a couple of days. There’s only so much skin I can knit together at a time.”
Gideon nodded his thanks then headed back to his shower. He was starting to itch from the blood and mud coating his body, and that wasn’t a pleasant feeling. He probably should have been used to it considering how many times he’d been covered in it over his life, but he also hoped he never did.
“Any idea what we’re going to talk about?” Walker asked as he leaned against the bathroom door.
Gideon shrugged out of his clothes then stepped into his shower letting the hot water pound down his back. His muscles ached from the fight and the tension of the unknown.
He closed his eyes and spoke loudly over the hum of the water. Walker probably would have been able to hear him with his sensitive hearing, but he didn’t want his brother to have to strain. “We’re going to talk about plans to come out to the public. Or, at least, plans to make plans. Then we’re going to make sure our underground tunnels are in shape since the connection between the two packs is relatively new.”
No one knew what would happen once the humans found out about the existence of shifters and demons. They’d been planning for years, though, on the eventual outcome of protecting themselves from people who didn’t understand and feared what they didn’t know. It wasn’t like underground tunnels were the perfect way to save his people, but it was only one of their many steps. They needed to be able to hide their most precious and those unable to protect themselves quickly in case the wards went down. They also had other procedures in place, but he needed to talk to Kade to ensure that as much as they could do was being done.
He let out a breath and quickly soaped up, knowing he was running late. Between the lone wolves trying to find a way to stay alive, his Pack watching him more than usual for some reason, and this meeting, he needed a damned weekend off.
He was the Alpha, however, so he knew that would never happen. Alphas didn’t get weekends. Or vacations. Or sleep apparently.
He shut off the water and got out so he could get ready for the meeting. Walker had left him alone, thankfully, and he quickly pulled on a long-sleeved cotton shirt and jeans. With any other Alpha, he’d put on something a little more formal, but this was Kade and his family—Gideon could go with a little comfort and be okay.
When he walked out to his living room to pull on his boots, he sighed. He knew they were there, of course, but his wolf wasn’t in the mood to deal with his entire family in one room.
“I suppose just meeting me at chambers would have been too much for all of you?”
“You love us, brother dearest,” Brynn, his sister and the lone Brentwood female, teased from her perch on the edge of the couch.
Gideon pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, seriously. Why are you all here?”
“Because you need us,” Brandon, his youngest brother and the Talon Omega, said from the couch.
“Do I really need you here?” he asked, knowing he was fighting a lost cause.
“Of course,” Max, his cousin, answered. “We’re all going to the meeting anyway. Why not go together?”
“We’re one big happy family,” Mitchell said dryly.
“What they aren’t saying is that we’re worried about you,” Kameron, his brother and Enforcer, added in.
>
Gideon growled while Ryder closed his eyes and cursed.
“Really, Kameron?” Ryder put in. “I thought we had a plan.”
Gideon stiffened. “A plan? Why the hell would you need a plan to deal with me? Why are you here?”
Brynn stood up and walked toward him. She brushed her long, dark brown hair—the same color as the rest of the Brentwoods—behind her shoulders and blinked up at him with the Brentwood blue eyes.
“You’re our brother, and you’re hurting,” she whispered. They were all wolves so they could hear her clearly. “You had to kill a lone wolf who threatened the border and wouldn’t back down. Now you’re having to make decisions that, as we see it, won’t have an easy outcome. So, Gideon, brother mine, brother ours, we’re here for you. Even if we annoy you to no end. We’re here.”
Gideon narrowed his eyes, even as his heart warmed at her words. Yeah, his siblings and cousins were there for him, but some things were meant for only the Alpha. If he had a mate, he’d be able to lean on her just a little, but since the goddess hadn’t blessed him, he didn’t have that option.
At this point, he wasn’t sure he ever would.
On that depressing thought, he led his family out of his home and headed toward the meeting room. He wanted to get this over with. It wasn’t as though they were going to get anything done anyway. They couldn’t. Not with the rest of the Packs in the US keeping silent. Parker, the Voice of the Wolves, was on a mission at the moment searching for the other Packs and trying to convince them to talk to Gideon and Kade, but Gideon didn’t hold out high hopes. Parker was a Redwood, and though he’d been adopted into the Redwood family, he was the biological son of a mass murderer. Corbin had been the Alpha of the Centrals and had almost destroyed their world.
Some wolves just couldn’t see past that, and Gideon was worried that might hurt their chances of finding a way to make all of the Packs work together. However, he could work on only one problem at a time—even if it felt like he was working on a hundred at once most days.
They made their way as a group to the other side of the den where the Redwoods would be entering the woods. They had to go past the sentries at the wards to be let through, but most of them had done it before. Actually, on second thought, Gideon wasn’t sure who Kade was bringing.
The Redwoods were in the middle of a shift in hierarchy. The younger Jamensons were taking over for their parents slowly but surely. That meant that Kade could be bringing any number of his powerhouse to the table. It didn’t really matter since Gideon had met most of them and liked those he’d met. Not that he’d tell them that. No, he was still the grumpy, badass Alpha to the outside world.
It worked for him.
Kade came up first, a small smile on his face. With so many people and coming into a different den, the ceremony of walking to a meeting was a little ridiculous, and both of them knew it. It had to be done though.
Kade had brought his mate, Melanie, as well as both sets of Betas, Omegas, and Healers with him. He’d left the Enforcers at home to protect the den with countless other wolves apparently. Interesting, but it made sense. As the younger generation came into their powers, they were learning from the older generation. It would be interesting to see how the whole lot of them reacted in the future when the older generation, Kade’s brothers, had to step down fully.
He’d also brought his Heir, his son Finn, with him, which made sense, as well as another wolf. A younger woman who, from the look of her, was a Jamenson, but Gideon wasn’t sure he’d ever met her. Her long chestnut brown hair flowed over her shoulders, blowing slightly in the wind. She wasn’t small. No, she was at least of average height, but where most of the wolves in front of her were all muscle and strength, her body held curves and a softness he didn’t see in most wolves.
Odd, he thought he’d met most, if not all, of the Jamensons. He wondered how this one had slipped by him.
Her cheekbones angled high, and her plump lips thinned into a line when she looked at him. She tilted her head and blinked up at him with bright green eyes, and he froze, his wolf howling.
Shocked, he almost took a step back, and it was only because of his strength as Alpha that he didn’t.
Mate.
That scent, that pull on his wolf.
Mate.
“Gideon, Brentwoods,” Kade said, his voice deep, “I think you’ve met most of us before. Probably not Brie, though. Brie, these are the Brentwoods. Brentwoods, this is Jasper and Willow’s daughter, my niece, Brie.”
She smiled softly, but her eyes were on only him, not on the rest of the Pack or her family. In fact, he was looking only at her, not at Kade or the others.
Holy shit.
He’d just found his mate, and she was a fucking Redwood.
And from the way her wolf reached out to his seeking protection yet wanting to comfort as well, she was a submissive as well.
A Talon Alpha and a Redwood submissive?
Yeah, fate royally sucked.
Find out more in TATTERED LOYALTIES. Out Now.
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Delicate Ink
From New York Times Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Montgomery Ink Series:
Delicate Ink
On the wrong side of thirty, Austin Montgomery is ready to settle down. Unfortunately, his inked sleeves and scruffy beard isn’t the suave business appearance some women crave. Only finding a woman who can deal with his job, as a tattoo artist and owner of Montgomery Ink, his seven meddling siblings, and his own gruff attitude won’t be easy.
Finding a man is the last thing on Sierra Elder’s mind. A recent transplant to Denver, her focus is on opening her own boutique. Wanting to cover up scars that run deeper than her flesh, she finds in Austin a man that truly gets to her—in more ways than one.
Although wary, they embark on a slow, tempestuous burn of a relationship. When blasts from both their pasts intrude on their present, however, it will take more than a promise of what could be to keep them together.
Find out more in Delicate Ink. Out Now.
To make sure you’re up to date on all of Carrie Ann’s releases, sign up for her mailing list HERE.
Love Restored
From New York Times Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Gallagher Brothers Series
Love Restored
In the first of a Montgomery Ink spin-off series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan, a broken man uncovers the truth of what it means to take a second chance with the most unexpected woman…
Graham Gallagher has seen it all. And when tragedy struck, lost it all. He’s been the backbone of his brothers, the one they all rely on in their lives and business. And when it comes to falling in love and creating a life, he knows what it’s like to have it all and watch it crumble. He’s done with looking for another person to warm his bed, but apparently he didn’t learn his lesson because the new piercer at Montgomery Ink tempts him like no other.
Blake Brennen may have been born a trust fund baby, but she’s created a whole new life for herself in the world of ink, piercings, and freedom. Only the ties she’d thought she’d cut long ago aren’t as severed as she’d believed. When she finds Graham constantly in her path, she knows from first glance that he’s the wrong kind of guy for her. Except that Blake excels at making the wrong choice and Graham might be the ultimate temptation for the bad girl she’d thought long buried.
Find out more in Love Restored. Out Now.
To make sure you’re up to date on all of Carrie Ann’s releases, sign up for her mailing list HERE.
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Fractured Silence (Talon Pack Book 5) Page 21