Both males were barefoot and in the training center in the lower level of the lodge. Commander Fitzsimmons had approached Dane a few months ago and informed him that Parrish might know critical information about Sigma. Not only that, they still hadn’t gotten the male’s history—where he was from, how long Sigma held him captive, and why he refused to speak a word.
Dane told himself he had been giving the teenage boy time to heal, mentally and physically. That was a lie. To be honest, he was avoiding the kid. His own personal life went to shit a long time ago, and investing all of his time and energy into a damaged future Guardian wasn’t something Dane looked forward to. He’d done it before with past Guardians: trained them, and trained them well, dammit, nursed them through tragedies life threw their way, and mentored them until they turned into capable, powerful leaders. But he had failed a Guardian who had been like a son to him, and he had somehow failed the most important shifter in his life, his mate Irina.
But days after the commander got done telling him that he needed to make progress with Parrish, Bennett had appeared in the woods next to him where Dane often ran his wolf. He shook his head, continuing his instruction with Parrish as they were sparring, and recalled Bennett’s words.
“So, uh,” Bennett had started gruffly, not looking at Dane, “I never did thank you for rescuing my sorry ass and saving me from having to kill Abigail. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it, and she would’ve tried to get us captured again.”
Dane had stood impassive, afraid to run Bennett off if he readily agreed, but the male had continued with a question he never thought Bennett had considered. “You gave her a chance didn’t you? And she chose Sigma over me, right?”
Emotionless, Dane told Bennett the details of Abigail’s last moments. Waiting for Bennett’s face to cloud over with anger, or worse, grief, Dane was shocked to see sad acceptance.
“Yeah, so, it’s taken me over a hundred years to get my head out of my ass and realize neither one of us did anything wrong that day. I’m sorry.”
Dane was too damn proud to cry. Instead, he just inhaled deeply, tilted his head back, and let the sun shine down on his face. Then he put an arm around Bennett’s shoulders. “We live a long time. Sometimes, I think it’s because we wrap ourselves up in our shortcomings and get lost. We need that extra time to get our head out of our asses.”
Chuckling softly, Bennett and Dane gave each other a completely manly hug, while the dust in the air made their eyes water. Yeah, that was it. When Bennett left, Dane had begun his run, flowing into his wolf form.
Considering what he had told Bennett, Dane realized he needed to consider his own words. Parrish couldn’t sit in his suffering and be allowed to remain stagnant.
As soon as Dane had returned from his run, he donned his training clothes, grabbed his staff, and marched to the TV rooms. Shutting off the Xbox and TV, he faced Parrish.
To his surprise, the male hadn’t looked righteous or displeased at the intrusion. He looked resigned, like he’d expected this day to come and would rather have it happen than dread its arrival anymore.
“There’s a locker for you in the locker room,” Dane informed him. “Go get dressed and meet me in ten minutes in the gym.”
The boy nodded and pushed off the couch.
Dane had trained him for the past three months, watching the youth’s physical strength and bearing improve, gauging his mental fortitude.
Parrish needed to start talking, whether he used his voice or hands, whether he was willing or not. It was time for some answers.
“So what are you wearing tomorrow?” Sarah asked Dani, as they were facing one of the security expert’s many screens.
“The weather’s supposed to be gorgeous, right?” Dani looked out of the corner of her eye as she skimmed through old news articles online.
“That’s why we picked the day. My intuition told me it would be the last before a rainy stretch.” Sarah couldn’t wait for her mating ritual. They finished moving Sarah’s stuff to Bennett’s cabin, and she was getting plans ready for planting and purchasing more livestock, and even some chickens, for the hobby farm she was developing.
“And you’ll be holed up inside getting a little mating frenzy on during those days anyway?” Dani asked wryly, making Sarah grin.
“You know it.”
“Enjoy it. Ours was cut short because we had a little Madame G purging to do. But what we did get in was quite memorable.” Dani flashed through the pictures, scanning the articles.
Sarah had told them as much as she knew about her dad’s side of the family. None of them got the impression Sarah’s death was as critical for Sigma as they meant it to be, so they tasked Dani with finding her kin to determine if there were any clues as to why a female hybrid would catch Madame G’s interest enough to kill outright, instead of capturing and using her.
Unfortunately, after tons of research Dani, in her words, “ain’t found shit.” Sarah’s family seemed non-existent. That would be expected of her mom, dad, and brother. But going back further, there was nothing on her grandfather or grandmother, nor her dad’s younger sister, her Aunt Allie.
Sarah’s heart clenched at the memory of her aunt. She wasn’t terribly surprised her grandparents had maintained a secretive, low-key lifestyle. They’d tried to blend as either humans or shifters but hadn’t needed to be on the run.
Flashbacks of barbeques where they would play backyard games arose as Sarah scanned the images Dani was flashing through. Sarah and her aunt always teamed up. Ronnie had been too little play, and Aunt Allie shamelessly cheated, using Sarah’s youth as an excuse. Sarah’s dad had such a soft spot where his little sister was concerned, he good-naturedly went along until they were all rolling on the grass laughing.
Then there were the tickle fights. Aunt Allie would pin down Sarah and Ronnie as they screamed and giggled, and she tickled their bellies and blew loud raspberries on their sides.
Smiling sadly at the memories, Sarah tried not to remember the day her dad felt the omen that spelled something devastating was imminent.
“Can you call the commander here? I think I’m getting close to something.”
Sarah sent out the mental call since Dani could only notify Mercury mentally, and he was out with Bennett on a mission.
Sarah’s brow crinkled as she saw the same town’s name pop up in several articles. Had Dani finally narrowed down the state? Ronnie had gotten some information out of their parents to try to find the tiny town where her grandparents had resided, and where her aunt went to school. Sarah couldn’t safely talk to them without endangering her new identity.
Pictures of young kids popped up as Dani’s fingers flew over the keyboard. She stopped and waited for the commander to enter.
“I was hoping you two could look through these and see if anything makes your senses tingle.” Dani enlarged pictures of kids, mostly group shots of high schoolers at sporting events. “This should be the town where they were last living, and these pictures are around the same time Sarah’s aunt would have been going to school.
The commander and Sarah spent a few seconds on each photograph, her leaning toward the screen in her chair, with the commander standing over her and Dani with his arms crossed.
One picture flashed up, it was grainy and hard to focus on, but when Sarah made out one face, she gasped.
Commander Fitzsimmons dropped his hands to the desktop, focusing on the same face.
“Fuck me,” Dani exhaled. “Is that—?”
“Do you know my aunt?” Sarah was in shock. If they recognized her, that meant they’d seen her since that day, the day she was supposed to have been killed. She leaned forward, pointing to the citing of the picture. “Look, it names the girls in the picture. There she is. They used her full name, Alexandria, but that’s my aunt.”
“Your aunt is—” The commander cut Dani off with a grimness in his voice that gave Sarah the chills.
“Agent X.”
___________
Bennett found love again, but what happens love between two mates fades? Find out in Reclaim.
Thank you for reading. I’d love to know what you thought. Please consider leaving a review at the retailer the book was purchased from.
Marie
Reclaim
The Sigma Menace Novella 3.5
Reclaim
Copyright © 2015 by Lisa Elijah
Copyediting by EbookEditingServices.com
Second Edition Edit by The Killion Group
Cover by Mayhem Cover Creations
The characters, places, and events in this story are fictional. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are coincidental and unintentional.
Created with Vellum
Master Dane Bellamy was once the commander of the West Creek Guardians, a pack of wolf-shifters charged with protecting local shifter packs. Over a century ago, tragedy struck his growing family, driving him away with a fierce need for revenge. He returned to a devastated, withdrawn mate who resented him for leaving her to fulfill his obligations. Now, he’s immersed himself in training the Guardians of his pack, while he and his mate have become nothing more than roommates, until the secret life she’s been living brings danger to their doorstep. Suddenly Dane finds himself not just fighting to save his broken relationship, but their lives as well.
To my parents: Thank you.
Prologue
Time: 150 years ago…
“You’re leaving?” Irina Bellamy was equal parts incredulous and furious but the anger was quickly overtaking her disbelief. The audacity of her mate. Leave? At a time like this?
“They must pay for what they did,” her mate Dane said. Grim lines etched deep into his frown.
Irina could barely keep her eyes open. The silver toxicity should’ve killed her, and she spent most of her recovery up to this point wishing it had. Why had she lived and not their adorable little Kade, with his dark curls and impish smile? Why had she been allowed to live after having her womb and the young life inside carved out of her? Now Dane wanted to leave her, too? She had already lost her son and unborn baby. It wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair.
Struggling to sit upright, Dane shushed her and tried to get her to lie back down. Her wounds stretched and burned with her movement. Being forced to recover the old-fashioned way—time and rest—unable to rely on her wolf-shifter healing abilities due to the silver knives the butchers had used, Irina still had a long recovery ahead of her.
She stared into his determined eyes. He didn’t see her. Those sea-green eyes used to be filled with love and good humor, but now they were filled with duty and thoughts of retribution. Why couldn’t he see? She needed him, with her. She’d had most of her world ripped away and all that remained was readying himself to walk out the door.
“Don’t leave me.” Irina barely managed the words that left her short of breath from the miniscule movements.
Dane’s brow creased. Irina feared he didn’t get it, truly didn’t get it. “You’ll be cared for here by the healers,” he reassured her. He looked down as he fisted his hands, jaw clenched, thinking hard and choosing his words. “I’ll not depart for every mission worrying about my family while I’m gone. Me and the boys are riding out and we’ll extinguish every last one of them.”
Leaning over to give her a soft kiss on the cheek, he smoothed her pale hair off her face. For a brief second, she saw the Dane she’d loved for centuries, before his concerned expression was replaced by one of ruthless resolve.
She reached to grab for him, yearning for his touch, his comfort. But her weakness made her slow and Dane left, not noticing her beckon him. Her hand flopped back down onto the bed, a tear running from the corner of her eye into her hair, followed by another, and another.
Silently weeping, because to do any sobbing in heart-wrenching grief would have been too physically painful, Irina let her tears run as she wondered about a future she didn’t want.
She was stuck in this colony, where the healers came to her only as often as required, their eyes full of sympathy; so much so that few could bear to look at her. Laughter and play of the children filtered in through the open window, and it shattered her already devastated heart. It broke even further as she heard mothers shooing the children away from the building where Irina lay in her private despair.
He’ll not depart worrying about his family. Irina gave a weak disgusted snort despite the pain it brought. What family? Sigma destroyed her family and made it impossible to have any more young. She and Dane had been mated for nearly two centuries before they were blessed by the Sweet Mother with a young boy. They were both over the moon ecstatic when she soon came to bear another babe. Now they were both gone and she was a mere shell of her former self. Perhaps it would be possible for her to return to some sort of life, find a new reason for continuing on. But she’d depend on her mate to do that and she feared his revenge would eat away any heart left in him.
“No one lives.” Commander Dane Bellamy gave the order to the three shifters of his pack accompanying him on this mission. They’d rode out weeks ago, searching for the group of Sigma Agents responsible for the attack on Dane’s pack.
Dane hadn’t approached the Lycan Council, hadn’t officially requested to hunt down the Sigma chapter that came after his pack. He’d lost two Guardians and their families, aside from his own loss.
Dane’s heart twisted and he clenched his eyes shut, willing the swell of grief back down where it wouldn’t affect his work. Worry about Irina made him sick, but the head healer of Half Moon Clan assured him she was past the worst and would continue to mend.
Dane and three other Guardians hid in anticipation, waiting patiently for cloud cover so they could transform into their wolves and use the shadows to silently attack and kill the group of fifteen Sigma members.
Dane addressed the males flanking him. “Once we start, there is no going back. You still have time to turn around.”
Mercury, a male Dane rescued from living as a wolf with a pack of natural wolves, wore a perplexed expression. Dane had explained to him that there was no time to approach the council for permission for his personal vendetta. And if they’d had the time, Dane doubted the council would have approved. Those ancient shifters were too out of touch with the reality packs were facing in the world today.
“I’m in.” Mercury shook his head as if he couldn’t believe any of their team would leave.
And none of them would. Rhys Fitzsimmons, his second in command, and Benjamin Young shook their heads also, retribution shining in their gazes. Though Rhys was closest to him in age, the three Guardians felt almost like sons to him.
With sad resignation, Dane realized that was the only way he would know what fatherhood felt like. The few fleeting years he’d had with Kade were the best in his life and in his matehood, and now they were gone, with no opportunity to experience them again.
Dane outlined how they would attack, how they would kill, and how to hunt down any who got away. When Dane’s vendetta was complete, he would return to the clan and gather Irina. They would move on to their next post—if the council didn’t execute him outright.
With a final nod, he regarded each of his shifters and repeated, “No one lives.”
Chapter 1
Present day, West Creek
Irina leaned back and stretched her arms over her head before going back to the screen in front of her. It all looked good. Time to hit the enter button. This was the most satisfying part of her work. The final moments, when all her hard work was getting sent out to the masses.
She’d gathered quite an audience over the years. Western Romance was still a popular genre, only now the women were saucier, the male’s more virile, and today’s technology let Irina write more than she was able to in the past when she had to snail mail manuscripts and have multiple phone calls with her publisher. No more middleman. Irina pumped the stories out and readers gobbled them up.
Glancing outside, Irina saw it was a beauti
ful day to run and she could think of no better way to celebrate a new book release than to strip down and run the woods she’d grown to love so much.
Though she could work anywhere, Irina hoped they weren’t assigned out of West Creek for at least a century, maybe two. She liked it here and she liked being able to set down roots even more. Assigning Guardians permanent headquarters, instead of being nomadic lawkeepers for their species, was one of the few good decisions the stale, geriatric Lycan Council had made.
Well, that along with not executing her mate all those years ago for defying Guardian procedure. At the time she wouldn’t have been able to survive Dane’s death, but now it was as if he’d been gone to her for years. They were strangers breathing the same air. He didn’t know of her work, they didn’t talk, they didn’t touch…
With a heavy sigh, Irina shed her yellow sundress and stepped outside, transitioning to her fair-colored wolf to run.
The air was fresh, the sun high, and Irina felt free. The council sought ways to punish Dane and his pack over the last hundred-some years, like sending ill-tempered, inexperienced Guardians for training. Their placement in West Creek, known for its rougher crowd of shifters and humans alike, was probably meant as another dig, even though Rhys Fitzsimmons had been pack leader for decades. But the joke was on the council.
West Creek had been a boon to the pack. First, they recruited Jace after helping him rescue his mate, Cassie. The couple joined the pack. Then Mercury, her dear Mercury, discovered his mate, Dani, already carrying his child. She had belonged to Sigma and was looking for a way out when an experiment gave her the means to leave and run to Mercury. Dani was now their security expert, Mercury’s powers were developing nicely, and from what Irina could tell, their little Dante was quite a beloved handful.
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