Jana Leigh & Bryce Evans

by Infiltrating the Pack (Shifter Justice)

  “Listen, buddy, I’m not saying we have to ask permission, but we will be dealing with my kind now and it is proper protocol to let them know we are coming. I’ll take care of it. This does not mean we are not going to get to do our job. I know the Alpha and he is a good man, and a strong Alpha. This is my pack, Vander. Every pack in the country is like this. We have certain standards and protocols we follow for the safety of the pack. They won’t let us in at the gate if we don’t go through the Beta first. Okay?” Jewel explained as she looked over at her best friend and partner.

  Jewel could tell Vander was on edge with all the new revelations about Kane and Waverly being his mates. He was human and did not want to understand. He liked being single, or at least that was what he wanted everyone to think. Jewel knew that Vander was looking for somewhere to belong. They had only talked about it when he was drunk, causing diarrhea of the mouth. Jewel never wanted to bring it up to him when they were sober, she knew her friend well enough to know he would claim he was drunk, but she understood. However, this was all going to come to a head very soon, and with mating involved, Jewel hoped her friend could separate what was going on.

  Jewel rolled her eyes and continued, “I knew Waverly as a child, but since she's been back, I hear she is a hardass just like the Alpha and his right hand man so to speak, okay? From what I know, they say she is cool and the Omega of the pack too, which is hard for her. It was one of the reasons the Alpha had sent her to live with his brother.” Vander squinted his eyes and looked at her not knowing what the hell an Omega was.

  “What’s an Omega?” he finally asked, trying not to appear too interested, it was hard though. Vander felt the need to know.

  Kane leaned up making the chair squeak. “The Omega is a very special wolf. They feel all the feelings the pack members are feeling. When they are in pain, she is in pain. When they are happy, she is happy. She can help the members that are in pain and take it away as much as she can. Only a strong Alpha wolf can be an Omega because of all they have to go through. For example, if their mate or child has died, that emotional pain can become too much to bear and she can ease some of that pain. It can give them hope and allow them to breathe again or even sleep soundly without nightmares. The Atlanta Pack is a diverse group of wolves. Some come with the pain they had to endure from other packs that were not so kind to them. Lots of stories and she can feel them all. She is a strong wolf and from what I hear, and she has other powers. Omegas are rare so if you are an Alpha you want one in the pack to help its members. Not every pack has one. So, we may want to look at that angle too. Someone may have taken her just because she is an Omega. We need to find our mate, Vander. Ret and Lex have given me free reign to help with the investigation. For now, I protect Jewel at the same time as finding our mate,” Kane explained.

  “Look, Kane, you are not a part of the police force, and I can’t have you nosing around our investigation like that. However, I will ask our commander to allow you to observe for your Alphas since the Redeemer is involved. And no offense, but I’m not your mate or hers. I will do my job and find her, but…” Vander just stopped talking and got up from his seat.

  Kane and Jewel watched as Vander walked out of the office. Jewel knew him, he was blowing off steam and would be back when he had time to think about it.

  As he walked to the commander’s office to file the request, Jewel knew he was probably confused. Vander had become a police officer for a reason; it was who he was. His mates were going to have to realize that not only did Van have this case going on; his mother was also lingering in the background just waiting to rear her ugly head. He was hanging on by a thread and one little push was gonna be all it took.

  Kane blew out his breath then looked down at the pictures he was holding in his hands. The first one was of Vander’s mother, and the second was a picture of Waverly. Both women had a hold on Vander, but he didn’t even realize it. Kane looked up when Jewel started talking.

  “Kane? Vander is a smart man and he will come around. I always felt he would be in my life more than just being my best friend and partner. We connected the first time I met him. He will come around with you and Waverly. Just keep talking to him. He won’t be able to ignore the mating pull for long. He has already started watching you when you’re not looking. Remember, he is human and only knows what I have told him about mates and mating. He thought that we could only mate with wolves so this is hard for him. So give him some time. You should also know about his mother.”

  “What about her?” Kane asked.

  “That picture the Redeemer left of Vander’s mother showed they were married. He claims they are mates. Needless to say, Vander and his mother don’t have a close relationship. She abandoned him when he was young. However, he is my best friend, and I can tell that he knows you are meant to be together, just let him get his head on straight,” Jewel said.

  “Really?” Kane questioned. Kane looked like he had just won a prize. Kane was finally feeling the hope of actually getting the mating his wolf wanted.

  “Yes, really. Now I’ve got to call Marcus Grant,” Jewel said and smiled.

  “You really going to go through the Beta first?” Kane half smiled at Jewel. Now that she was mated to Retten Wexford and Lex Doyle, it made Jewel an Alpha. Kane knew that Jewel was always upfront and honest. She would do the right thing, well…maybe what she considered the right thing and others considered the right thing would be completely different. Ever since his Alpha mated with her, Kane was continually surprised on the things she did.

  “Of course. They’re still my pack too. I would be pissed off if someone went over my head. Flynn has been good to me over the years. It’s just the way it is. I haven’t been active in a long time, but they were my pack and will always be a part of me. I talk with them on the phone but I don’t go to the pack meetings anymore. Marcus and Flynn have always supported me even when the pack could have helped me in the past with what I went through, they never pressured me to be active in the pack. They keep trying but they didn't demand that I join in the activities.” Jewel pulled her cell phone out and called Flynn Mitchell, the Beta of the Atlanta Pack.

  Chapter Two

  Diane Collins stood in the room where her husband and mate had brought her all those years ago. He taught her about ‘true mates’ and ‘mates’, she was human and had no clue the bond that a true mate had with their spouse, but she had learned. They were mates, which is why she kept her last name. Her husband, only known to her as Josh Campbell, or the Redeemer, refused to allow her his last name unless she proved her worthiness. That was what mates did. Being a ‘true mate’ only meant the female could carry his child; a mate was a kindred soul who was chosen. She was special damn it, not some biological freak who had sniffed others asses.

  She proved she was his mate every time she wiped the world of a worthless female who spread her legs for anyone. Just like Diane had been when Josh found her, strung out on drugs and sleeping with men who didn’t care about her, but she learned. Even though she was human, she understood what her mate wanted to do. Rid the world of impure women who tarnished the mating with strong pure blood wolves. She had been weak. She saw that now.

  It all began years ago, when the first male shifter went outside his race to marry and mate with a human. Since then, the blood of wolves had been tainted. It made them weak, when they should be the strongest of the strong on the planet, ruling the humans. Then the Redeemer was born, to rid the world of women who should only be mating with pure blood wolves, but went out of their race to find a mate. It was absurd.

  In this very room, the Redeemer had shown her the error in her ways, cleansed her soul, and brought her into the Pack he was building. Even though she wasn't his ‘true mate’, she was still human, and would never be worthy to bear him children. For that, he needed a vessel. One that he would choose above all others. Diane knew that she was not his true mate, but she already had a plan for that. But that time was long from now, first they had many things to
accomplish, including making sure her mate’s work was taken care while he was incarcerated.

  Diane pulled her phone from her hip and dialed. His son’s bitch will be coming here, so she could learn. She had no idea that leaving her son with her sister would lead to this, him being involved with immoral and dirty women. Josh assured her that once this was all done, her son would see what she had been working for.

  Then Josh would turn him, and her, like he promised, then they would be a family. Their Pack would rule the continent, the strongest and most pure Pack. The Atlanta Pack was going to be theirs. They just needed to find the shifters’ weakness. The Redeemer wanted to know how to prevent his death so he would be immortal.

  “Bring her to me. And, Josh, the time has come for you to do my mate’s bidding. Go to New York while the Alphas are here. Use their backyard to find men and women to change and join us. The place is riddled with homeless, when you have enough followers, return, and we will take over,” Diane said and grinned. "Soon."

  Chapter Three

  When Vander walked out of the commander’s office, and before leaving the building, he assigned a detective to find his mother. He gave him the last known address and information he had, then walked out of the building. This whole shit had thrown him for a loop. He was going to have to call his aunt and find out if she knew anything.

  His aunt Miriam had raised him, taught him that not everyone was a selfish whore who walked away from her kid on a whim like his mother. He held so many mixed emotions about the woman who gave birth to him. There were times when he just focused on the good times with her since he had so few. That's when he would remember that love had been there for her, if only for a short time. When he was first left with his aunt, he wondered what he had done to make her leave him behind because the change in her had been overnight. But his aunt Miriam had been the rock he had needed in his life, the one who molded him. She had stuck with him, even when he was a prick and tested her to see if she would leave. She didn’t, and for that, he would always be grateful.

  When his mother walked out it had been devastating, and his aunt had picked up the pieces and they moved on. He worried about finding someone who could put up with his abandonment issues. Most of his exes said he had been planning for their break up on their first date. Having mates meant commitment, something he wasn’t sure he could do.

  He felt dizzy being in the room with Kane and all the chatter about mates. He thinks I’m his mate. Not fucking gonna happen unless he wants a fucked up mate. Vander walked outside into the smoking area and sat down at one of the tables. Even though the smoking area was outside, he could still smell the smoke in the air. He was alone for a few minutes until the urge got to one of his co-workers. He never understood the reason people smoked but today he felt the urge to light one up, something, anything to take his mind away from Kane and Waverly.

  Vander felt tired from the lack of sleep, actually for him even considering smoking should have been the first clue. He wanted to go home and crawl in his bed and sleep for a week. On the other hand, maybe he didn’t, his sleeping habits sucked lately.

  He had been having nightmares of the same woman being tortured, now he knew it was Waverly, something he hadn’t told Jewel. The dream always started with Waverly strapped to a steel table without any clothes on. The nightmare followed the same patterns as the Josh Campbell murders, or whatever the fuck his name was.

  Josh Campbell was not his real name, just one he had assumed. For now, they were calling him The Redeemer since that is what he liked to call himself. Until they sorted out who the fuck he was they were stuck calling him that, although Van liked to secretly call him The Prick, after what he had discovered about him. Maybe he would suggest that to Jewel. When he said The Redeemer it stuck in his throat, the sick bastard didn’t deserve a fucking title like that. It was sad when the media named these fuckers, serial killers got off on getting people to name them something like The Redeemer. It gave them power, because the name struck fear in people.

  He wondered if his imagination was becoming something sicker, maybe more evil considering who his mother was involved with. Hell, he could only wonder if her weakness for serial killers had been something that could be passed on. Maybe it was a psychological issue, passed on through the generations. He had yet to go and speak to the Redeemer about his mother. First off, he refused to give the guy an ounce of satisfaction knowing how freaked out he was that Diane was involved. No way did he was want to dig up those old wounds. His mother left him, plain and simple, now she was nothing to him. Vander refused to think about that, instead he focused on the dreams and how much was real.

  Always the same, Waverly strapped to the table with tape over her mouth. The victim was being sliced with a knife, allowed to heal, then cut again. Vander could see the fear and pain in her eyes. She would tilt her head and it appeared she was looking right into his eyes. Vander shuddered from the nightmare that continued to play in his head. He didn’t know how to help her, and that made it even more of a nightmare.

  Is that why he was having the visions, could he somehow be able to tap into her thoughts? Damn it, he was driving himself crazy, instead of just asking the fucking questions he let them roll around in his head and drive him crazy.

  Why him? Why does Kane think they are mates? Vander couldn’t grasp this idea. Vander thought it was crazy back when Kane told him he was his mate and the woman in the picture was their other mate. He still thought they were all crazy, shit. But maybe it wasn’t crazy. What if it was true, Kane, Waverly, and him. What if he was having these dreams and he could somehow communicate with Waverly, maybe they stood a chance at saving her.

  “Hey, buddy. You okay?” Vander slowly opened his eyes at Jewel standing at the door. He could see the concern on her face as she walked outside. He knew Jewel wouldn’t push him in regards to the mate issue with Kane, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t stay out of it either. She was going to ask questions about his mother, it was bound to come up, and soon.

  “Yeah, just needed some air.” Vander stood, masking his emotions. “I am trying to make sense of shit running around in my head.”

  Jewel looked at him closely. “Such as?”

  “Is it possible that I can communicate with Waverly, you know, before we are mated?” Vander asked slowly.

  “What haven’t you told me?” Jewel asked tightly.

  Vander sighed, yep he was about to piss off his best friend, but he had to know. It was bugging the shit out of him. “I have been having dreams.”

  “Dreams? What kind of dreams?” Jewel asked sharply.

  “Before we even knew about Waverly, I had a dream of a woman being tortured. Back when we were in New York, I figured it was because the case was intense and it involved you, anyway. It is always the same, she is being tortured, but the weird part is—she looks right at me, I mean as if she knows I am there, helping her, keeping her strong. It is weird,” Vander said and ran his hands through his hair.

  “Have you talked to her?” Jewel asked.

  “No, each time I just stand there, and stare at her. Hell, I don’t even look at what he is doing or where she is. It’s like I am there only for her to look at. I am so focused, but I can feel her pain, feel that she is pissed and refusing to let them know that she is hurting. It gives them power, and she won’t do it, so she just keeps it inside,” Vander said.

  “Okay, I have no clue if this is even possible. I mean I have never heard of it before, but it doesn’t mean that what you are feeling is wrong or anything. When you mate there is a connection, you know like I told you. You can feel where they are, if they are upset, or in trouble. But that is always after the claiming, maybe it is different with Omegas, I have never actually spoken to anyone about it,” Jewel said and pulled out her phone. “Let me call Ret.”

  Vander paced as his friend called her mate. He wanted someone to tell him he wasn’t crazy, but the more he thought about it, the more he wondered. There was no way t
he dreams were real. He was going to be checking into the loony bin soon. That is what his friend was going to tell him, she had a one-way ticket to the funny farm with his name on it.

  “I got good news and bad news,” Jewel said briskly as she hung up the phone.

  Vander turned and looked at his friend, she didn’t look like she was pulling out the cuffs to secure him so maybe there was some hope.

  “Okay, give me the bad news first,” Vander said.

  “The dreams are real, and Omegas can project to her mates, images and feelings, before they are mated. However, in order to do it, she has to have seen you at one time or another and recognized you on some level as her mate. The only problem is that since she has bonded at least on some level with you, if she dies, you will go crazy,” Jewel said.

  “Huh?” Vander said stunned.

  “Okay, I lied, maybe I should have said, bad news and then more bad news.” Jewel shrugged.

  "Will you say it," Vander was in no mood for jokes, he needed to understand.

  “Once an Omega has made the connection with either of her mates, they will go feral if they don’t complete the bond in a certain amount of time,” Jewel said.

  “Shit, how long?” Vander said.

  “No one knows, it is usually the Omega who initiates the process since they have the power to do it,” Jewel said.

  “Fuck, let’s go and meet her father, I will explain to Kane on the way,” Vander said.

  “Yeah, looks like ready or not you are going to be the mate to the Omega of the Atlanta Pack.” Jewel grinned.

  “What about Kane?” Vander asked.

  “No worries, Ret said the longer you are with Kane, the more likelihood of Waverly sensing her other mate,” Jewel said and patted his arm. “You won’t be alone if you go crazy. That should give you comfort.”

  "Yeah, just loads."