by Lacey Thorn
“She sees auras around shifters. She can look at you and see what you are, even though she’s human.”
He gave her a questioning look.
“It’s a hunter skill. Most of the groups, who go on the hunt together, take a person with them who was born with that unique skill. I’ve heard they actually breed for it. If a male is known to have it, they encourage him to mate with as many women as he can in the hope the kids will have it.”
“They don’t mate,” Calloway uttered with a growl. “They don’t understand the concept.”
“I didn’t mean…” She let her words trickle off. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Are you okay, Calloway?”
Hell, no, he wasn’t. The more he learned about the pride and their members, the more concerned he became for the safety of his mate.
“I should have had you tell me all about the pride while we were driving. I know basic stuff from Gideon, but you know all about them.”
“We were a little busy with other things on the drive,” she murmured, her voice going husky and causing his cock to twitch at the reminder of what they’d been busy doing. They must have stopped half a dozen times along the way to sate their burning need for one another. He was half-tempted to ask for a room first, just so he could take her again and make sure she was even more saturated in his scent.
“How do I look?” Darby asked as they parked in front of a sprawling farmhouse. Reno and Gideon were already out and waiting for them on the porch steps.
“You’re gorgeous,” Calloway told her.
“You’re not even looking at me,” she said with a sigh.
“I don’t have to,” he vowed, moving his gaze to her and taking her in. He reached out and plucked the band from her hair, delighting in the way her curls tumbled around her shoulders. “You always look beautiful.”
“Calloway!”
He pocketed the band, slipping out of the truck and heading around to get her door. There was something in the air. He felt a tug inside him, his beast filled with anticipation and something else he couldn’t explain. He opened the passenger door, lifted Darby down beside him and stayed facing her after he shut the door.
“Calloway?” Her voice was soft, fearful. “You’re pale. What’s going on? What do you need me to do?”
“I can’t…” He shook his head. Whatever was rising inside him was reaching a crescendo pitch. His heart raced. His knees were a bit weak, as if he might pitch down onto them any minute.
Footsteps sounded behind him, and the tug grew stronger, fiercer, ripping the air from his lungs. What the hell was going on?
“Calloway Meyer.”
His name, nothing more, but the command was evident in the voice he’d only heard over the phone so far.
Darby shocked him by stepping around him, placing herself in front of him and facing off with the alpha of the pride.
“Did you do something to him?” she demanded, anger snapping in her voice. His precious mate, who’d been so nervous to meet Utah Pearce, was now practically shouting at him.
“Go with it,” a soft feminine voice called to him. “I had the same reaction.”
Lion. She was a lioness.
“He’s your alpha,” the same voice told him.
He opened his mouth to say, yet again, that he didn’t have an alpha, but his animal seemed to grow tired of his lack of movement. The beast forced Calloway’s body around. It rose to the surface, seeming to search for something only it knew existed. He met the sharp gaze of Utah Pearce and, slowly, sank to his knees. His head bowed while his brain scrambled. His beast proclaiming the other male alpha while Calloway still tried to claim they had none.
“Why don’t the rest of you ever bow before me?” Utah questioned, and Calloway looked up as laughter rang out.
“Because we hauled your ass around a desert,” one red head quipped, a lilt to his voice.
“And saved your ass far too many times to count.” This from a tiny brunette, who stood next to a huge male Calloway could tell was her mate.
“Not to mention—”
“Forget I asked,” Utah said with a shake of his head, cutting off the comment from a tall blond male. The alpha’s eyes sparkled with laughter as he held his palm out to Calloway. “For the record, you never have to bow to me. Ever. We’re all equals here. They’ll be teasing me about this for weeks.”
“Months,” the blond guy quipped.
“Clara, muzzle your mate before I do,” Utah called out to the woman who’d first spoken to Calloway.
“You created that monster,” she returned.
The blond moved quick, scooping her up into his arms. “And you mated me,” he reminded her with bobbing eyebrows and a wolfish grin that had her laughing.
It was everything Calloway had ever wanted as a young man. The camaraderie, the easy acceptance and unfiltered love and friendship they all shared. It was the thing he’d feared those hunters had stolen from him when they’d captured him. He didn’t feel a surge inside him to challenge or fight or kill any of the people surrounding him. He felt…peaceful, accepted.
“Come on,” Utah pulled Calloway’s focus back to him, and Calloway finally took the hand the alpha held out to help him rise. “We’ll head inside. Gideon has told us a little about you, but I prefer to hear everything straight from you. And you, Miss Kline.”
Calloway got the sense Utah Pearce knew much more than he alluded to. It would be interesting to see who his source was. Not that it would matter. They’d have Darby now. A watcher with her finger on the pulse of the database that stored all the information about their species that had ever been recorded.
“Darby,” she corrected. “You can call me Darby. All of you.”
“Tah,” he said, and Darby’s eyes seemed to light up at the invitation to call him by that name.
He clapped Calloway on the shoulder and moved ahead of them, spreading his arms out to encompass the house and Calloway had the impression all the land around it, as well. “This is home. Welcome. We’re glad to have you both here.”
“Are you okay?” Darby whispered as she planted herself against his side, one arm snaking around his waist while she flattened her other hand over his chest. He wondered if she recalled whispering didn’t matter when surrounded by a group of shifters. They’d hear everything, regardless.
“I’m good,” he assured her, and for the first time since his escape from the hunters’ lab, it didn’t feel like a lie.
Chapter Nine
Darby wasn’t sure what to make of Calloway’s reaction to meeting Utah Pearce. Every time she’d spoken of Tah, Calloway had been adamant that the other man wasn’t his alpha then her mate had dropped to his knees the instant he’d been in front of Tah. The reaction had obviously caught Calloway unaware, as well.
“This way,” Tah said, motioning for her and Calloway to proceed him along the hallway. “We can talk in the office then Gideon can show you to the cabin we’ve set up for the two of you. We figured you’d want some privacy.”
“We do,” Calloway answered gruffly.
Tah laughed. “We also have two infants in the house now, so it can get loud.”
“Two?” Darby questioned. She’d known he and his mate had given birth to a daughter. Where had the other infant come from?
“Our resident doctor, Diane Renway, gave birth recently. A daughter. She and Zane are beyond happy.”
Zane Ephraim and his mate had given birth to a baby girl. Darby wasn’t sure if that had been recorded yet.
“I can see your brain working, Darby,” Tah said as he followed them into a wide room with a desk on one side and a comfortable-looking sitting area on the other. “I need to ask you not to document anything here until I approve it. I’m somewhat familiar with watchers—at least, with the job they perform for our kind. I know we’re hoping for a lot from you, but until I know more about those who have access to your information, I need you to protect the members of this pride. Do you understand?”
“Yes,”
Darby assured him. “I’d like to record it all in a journal, with your permission. One I could keep in here, maybe? That way you’ll know where it is at all times.”
“I’ll consider it,” he said, but she got the impression it would be a “no” next time she asked. She understood his need to protect those around him, but the culture she’d grown up in made her cringe at the thought of not keeping records.
“I see you finally made it.” A woman with long, brown hair and vivid-blue eyes stepped in with a baby on her hip. The little girl could have been a replica of her father, and she reached for Tah as soon as her gaze lit on him.
“My girls,” Tah said, scooping the baby into his arms and nestling her against his chest. The baby curled up against her father’s neck, nose buried in his throat, butt lifted in the air and gave a contented sigh as if she’d been waiting impatiently to be in just that spot. Tah bent to give his mate a soft kiss then tugged her against his side.
“Sorry, Regan was demanding her father. I’m Abby, by the way. It’s very nice to meet you both.”
“Abby Lane,” Darby said.
“Pearce,” Tah corrected with a growl, making his mate laugh.
“Pearce, sorry,” Darby corrected. “You’re descended from Ebidiah Lane. You’re a watcher and most likely were fated to find Tah all along.”
“What a lovely thought,” Abby mused, sharing a look with her husband. “I like to think he was always meant to be mine.”
“Always,” he agreed.
“No, I meant…”
They both looked at her, and she let her words die off.
“Sorry. Again. I meant it made sense, because of who Ebidiah Lane was a watcher for. Dale Tahmond.”
They gave her blank stares. After a moment, Abby was the one who asked.
“Who was Dale Tahmond?”
“You don’t know,” Darby whispered. “I wasn’t sure what you knew or even how you came to be in Tah’s path.” She walked around the room, hands flying as she spoke. “God, I’d love to sit and chat with you all day. All the things I know, what you know, things we don’t know. We lost the journals. Well, we didn’t. But some of the journals were lost or stolen. We’re not sure. I’m so sorry for that. You’d have wanted them. But there are other things to tell you. God, I feel like I’ve known you forever.”
Abby blinked a few times. “Um, I’m afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage.”
“I’m sorry. I get a little excited and forget you don’t know everything I do, so it’s nearly impossible for you to follow my train of thought. Plus, I talk a lot. My mate likes it, though.”
Tah threw an incredulous look toward Calloway, but her mate just smiled at her. God, she loved him so much in that moment. She was obviously sounding crazy, and he was still ready to claim her as his.
“She also gets chatty when she’s nervous,” Calloway said. “She’s been anxious about meeting you.”
He held out his hand to her, and she went to him immediately. As soon as she felt his heat, the comfort of his arm as it slipped around his waist, she settled again.
“I’d like to sit and discuss all this with you, as well,” Abby offered. She shared a glance with Tah, appearing to use their link to convey things to her mate that Darby and Calloway weren’t included in. “We’ll find a time, maybe tomorrow, to talk and go over some things. I’d love to know everything you can tell me about Ebidiah Lane.”
“I think you’ll find Dale Tahmond equally fascinating,” Darby told the other woman. Especially when Abby saw the picture of the man her ancestor had died protecting. Darby really wished they’d found his journals.
“I have to ask—and hush, Tah, I know you want to wait for everyone—but I need to know if you’ve ever heard of the Legend of the Paka Watu.” Abby’s intense gaze willed Darby to give her the answer she wanted.
“You are a watcher,” Darby stated softly. “There are many tales of the shifter, strewn across many cultures. Not many know the Legend of the Paka Watu.”
“It’s the one, isn’t it?” Abby demanded.
Darby nodded. “It’s where everything began. Is that what brought you to your Tah?”
Abby nodded. “I knew,” she said then looked at her husband. “I knew it was more than a story.”
“It’s your history. Where all of this first began. The shifter. The hunter. The watcher. The fact you were able to discover that legend and see the truth it held is proof of the watcher blood in your veins. It’s an inherent part of who and what we are.”
“The legend,” Abby began, stepping toward Darby. “I learned much of it when I was in Africa, but I’m betting you have the full tale. There are so many questions I’ve had. Things I need to know.”
“I know the whole story. It was like a bedtime tale growing up,” Darby assured her. “I’m sure I can tell you anything you want to know.”
“I think that’s a conversation better told when the whole group is here,” Tah interrupted. “We all want to know the real legend. We want to know anything and everything you can tell us, Darby. After you’re settled and a few of our members get back, this evening, after dinner, we’ll all gather in the front of the house and speak. Others will have questions. Waiting should give you time to gather your thoughts and be better prepared for all of us.” He turned to Calloway. “Plus, I’ll want you to meet everyone. Reno is my second-in-command. He’ll get with you about strengths and what you can and are willing to do to help around here. We all contribute where we can.”
Calloway nodded. Darby found it interesting to see him engage with Tah. Calloway had been clear that he wasn’t sure he could be in a pride. She knew most of that had to do with the time he’d spent in the lab and what he’d survived while in there. Meeting Tah seemed to have given her mate a new perspective. In fact, he was more relaxed than she’d seen him since he’d realized there was no way out of bringing her to Riverton.
“Sounds good,” Calloway replied.
“In the meantime, there’s the encrypted message I mentioned to you. I’d like you to take a look at it and tell me what it says.”
Darby nodded. “Absolutely. Point me to the computer you want me to use, and I’m on it.”
Tah walked over to the sitting area and picked up a bag Darby hadn’t noticed before. He slid out a laptop and handed it to his mate who’d followed and taken a seat on the spacious couch.
“The message was sent to a secure account I had in place before I even met Tah,” Abby said as she clicked the keys. “It was back when I was still searching for information. Frankly, I’m a little surprised your father knew of it. Though, I guess I shouldn’t be.”
“You’re a descendent of Ebidiah Lane,” Darby reminded. “We kept tabs.”
“There’s so much in that statement I want to question, but I’ll wait,” she added, with a smile meant for her husband. Her gaze went back to the screen. “Here.” She motioned for Darby to come sit beside her. “This is what your father sent.”
Darby sat and helped Abby slide the laptop over. With just a glance, she knew she’d need her flash drive to even have a chance of opening the file. Her father hadn’t meant for anyone other than her to open it.
“Calloway, I need my pack from the truck. It has the flash drive I’ll need to open this.”
“I’ll be right back,” Calloway said, coming over and dropping a kiss on her lips before squeezing her shoulder and heading toward the door.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Gideon said, reminding her he was still in the room. He’d been so quiet she’d forgotten he’d been with them the whole time. That plus her excitement at speaking with Abby.
The rest of the group from outside must have dispersed, going about their normal routine. She knew so much about them and looked forward to knowing the real people behind the stories she’d read and sometimes input in the database. There’d been so much heartache for them, yet their resilience shone through, displayed by the genuine affection and camaraderie shown earlier.
Darby waited until Calloway had gone before speaking again. “Is Gideon going with Calloway because you don’t trust him? Or because he wants to?”
Tah’s brow rose as he stared down at her. It was intimidating, and Darby fought the urge to fidget as she waited for his answer.
“You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you.” His big hand stroked softly down his daughter’s back, soothing the baby who’d responded with a whimper to his sharp tone. When he spoke again, his voice matched that movement, soft and low. “My guess would be that Gideon went with him because he cares. He was with your mate when they were in an unimaginable hell. There’s a bond there the rest of us will never be privy to.”
She nodded. “There is. Calloway told me some of what happened, but I know there are things he’ll never share. I don’t expect him to.”
“I understand your question, Darby,” Abby admitted. “Why should we open our home to a woman we don’t know. For what? Information we probably can’t validate?”
“Something like that,” Darby agreed.
“For one, you’re mated to a male Gideon trusts. I’m sure you’ve read about Gideon, but he’s become family to us. We know him, and I can tell you there aren’t many people he trusts, especially after a recent threat we’ve faced.” Abby paused and shared another private look with her mate, continuing only at his nod. “Another shifter traveled here, but he wasn’t what he seemed. He planned to kidnap one of our pride and take her to a group of hunters. Isaac Erikson stepped in to stop the other shifter and lost his life. Gideon still blames himself for it, despite countless attempts to convince him otherwise.”
“We heard of Isaac’s death,” Darby admitted, unsure how much she should admit to knowing about Isaac and the things he’d done, unsure how much they knew. “I saw his son, Gabriel, when we arrived. It looked as if he’d mated.”
Gabriel Erikson was a man who had taken on the much-revered role of the Angel for the shifters. It was more of an avenging angel, one who righted the wrongs done to families or individuals by hunters. The watchers knew Isaac had personally groomed his eldest son for the role, manipulating Gabriel to do what he wanted. It was much the way he’d manipulated many other people he’d come into contact with. As far as Darby knew, Isaac’s younger son, Daniel, had been left alone for the most part and had taken on the very human role of county sheriff in Riverton.