by C. D. Gorri
Not happening. His wolf snared, then went back to growling.
He’d been doing that since they got the call from one of his sentries. The thought of innocent people slaughtered set Kasen’s wolf on a new level of feral.
The Wilde family line was one of the oldest Alpha bloodlines across all species of shifters. Each new Alpha took the powers of the ones before him or her. Over time the power grew stronger with each new generation of Alpha. The more generations, the stronger that power would become.
Most bloodlines died out after thirty generations or so. The Wilde line had over fifty. Kasen was Alpha number fifty and held the power of the forty-nine wolf leaders before him. That amount of power would make the average shifter psychotic.
It was a good thing Kasen wasn’t the average shifter.
Kasen lifted his gaze to his Beta’s a few yards ahead of him. Dalton Cross wasn’t just Kasen’s Beta; he was his stepbrother. Dalt’s mom, Megan, mated Kasen’s dad a few decades ago. Luca—Kasen’s biological brother and the pack healer—and he welcomed their new brother and mother the day they all met.
Soon after Megan and Dax were mated, they had a little girl. Kason and his brother fiercely protected and spoiled their little sister. It didn’t matter that she was twenty-one and an adult.
Pulling out his cell, Kasen snapped a few pics of the family. He had the unfortunate task of notifying the leader of the rebels. Serenity was a beautiful witch who was also as alpha as they come. But most wouldn’t know that at when they first met her.
“I need to let Serenity know.” Kasen slipped his phone back into his pocket.
Dalton nodded and frowned like the mention of the family pained him. Or was it Serenity? “Good luck there. I’ll stay here and help clean up.”
Kasen shook his head at his brother and walked along the trail to his cabin about a mile east. That was another thing that made him want to commit murder. His private home and the pack circle were so close to the murder scene.
A large number of the pack also had homes in the mountains, scattered thought out their territory. Others stayed either in Willow Glen or around the outer edges of town. It was easier to keep tabs on who comes to and leaves their property. It wasn’t uncommon for the humans and rebels to camp out in the woods.
When he reached his two-story, ranch-style cabin, he considered calling Serenity, then decided it would be disrespectful not to deliver the news in person. He dug his keys from his pocket and hit the remote to unlock the Range Rover.
On the drive down the mountain to the center of town, he called Nyla. As expected, she didn’t answer. The female had been avoiding him.
Next, he dialed her brother, Kirk. The leopard male answered on the second ring. Kasen did give him a chance to speak before saying, “Tell her I need her home.”
A chuckle sounded from the other end of the call. “I’m not your mate’s keeper. You know as well as I that no one can make Nyla do anything.”
Kasen gripped the phone tighter. “A family was found murdered about a mile from my home. I need her to track the killer.”
“I’m not your personal tracker!” Nyla yelled in the background.
“Nyla—” Kirk’s tone turned a little serious.
She was one part demon, one part witch, and all sass. She was also just as alpha as he was. His equal on all counts. Including questionable sanity.
He heard a familiar voice in the background right before Nyla said, “Hang up the phone, Kirk. Bye, psycho.”
The line went dead, and he couldn’t help but smile. Too bad he couldn’t enjoy the feeling much longer. He had a killer on the loose. But he knew exactly where Nyla was. That voice in the background was Luna Raines, the Alpha wolf of Ashwood Falls.
If Nyla wouldn’t come to him, he would go to her. It was time for his mate to come home, where she belonged.
Chapter Three
“You shouldn’t tease Kasen like that.”
Luna’s voice held amusement as she stood in the doorway of her home in Ashwood Falls. Nyla grinned and might have squealed in delight a little as she flew at Luna, hugging her tight. When she released her friend, she said, “Kasen will get over it. How are you?”
Luna laughed while shaking her head. “Good. What are you two doing here?”
Nyla glanced at her brother, who had already entered the home and was talking to Rafe and Tanner. “We were in the neighborhood. And you would be pissed if we didn’t visit while we were so close to the den.”
“That is true.” Luna motioned Nyla inside. “Blaine, Graham, and Cam are bringing the triplets over. They need a day to themselves, so of course, I said I’d watch them. Wait until you see all the cuteness. Plus, it’ll be practice for when you have Kasen’s pubs.”
Nyla stopped in the middle of the living room and closed her eyes. There was no way she’d be having anyone’s pubs. Or babies. It wasn’t that she didn’t want kids. She did. Absolutely would love to be a mom. The problem was she would be passing on her soul demon genes, and she didn’t want to burden her children with that kind of darkness.
Although there was a possibility that her kids would be like Kirk, and their wolf halves—if she decided to mate with Kasen—would dominate their demon halves. As far as she understood it, there was a slim chance of that happening.
And Nyla didn’t want to think about it anymore.
Tilting her head slightly, she studied Luna briefly. “What about you?”
She shrugged. “Shifters are different. Females have heat cycles once a year.”
The bright ripple in her aura told Nyla, Luna couldn’t wait. That gave Nyla an idea, which wasn’t always a good thing. “Hey, I could fix that.”
“Fix it? It’s not broken. It’s just how things are. You can’t control it no more than controlling what color eyes you are born with.” Luna sat on the sofa, and Nyla did the same.
“It’s not the same. Sure it might have something to do with genetics, but with a little magic, the natural order of things can be bent.” Nyla grinned and sat back.
Luna lifted her brows and eyed Nyla like she had lost her head. That, of course, was impossible because she lost it somewhere in Faelin’s prison.
Ignoring Luna’s stare, Nyla explained. “I could go find an incubus and take his powers. Not all of it. Only a little. Sex demon magic is some potent shit. Anyway, after I steal a little of the incubus’s power, I could do a ritual to make your heat cycles come more frequently.”
Luna froze and stared at her. “Can you really do that?”
Nyla nodded and looked up when Kirk, Rafe, and Tanner exited the house. “I can. The only trouble would be finding an incubus.”
Of course, there was a high chance that she’d have to sleep with the incubus to get access to his power. That thought was not as appealing as it used to be before she found her mate.
Damn Kasen.
Nyla’s phone rang, and she groaned loudly as she pulled it out of her pocket. It wasn’t Kasen as she thought. It was Serenity, so she answered. “Sup!”
Serenity didn’t laugh and that set off Nyla’s internal warning bells. “What happened?”
“We lost a family this morning. Kasen just left with the news. A few of his sentries found them in the mountains near the pack circle.” Serenity’s tone was strong with a slight crack in it from her emotions.
Nyla knew she was talking about a rebel family, or otherwise, Serenity wouldn’t be calling her. The witch wanted Nyla to track down the killer. She wondered if this was what Kasen had called about earlier when he said he needed her to track down someone. The last she wanted was for him to think he could order her around and use her abilities whenever he wanted.
Serenity was different. She was Nyla’s friend. Besides, whether they were human, shifters, or mutants, the rebels deserved to live in peace, safe from those who wished to harm them.
So when Serenity called and needed a tracker, Nyla was on it. “What do you need me to do?”
“Do you have to ask?”
No, she didn’t. “I’ll call Dalton and get the details, then start tracking the bastard.”
“Thank you.” Serenity hung up.
Nyla stared down at her phone, frowning. She didn’t ask for the family’s name because it didn’t matter. She had grown close to all the families in the rebel camps around Willow Glen. That was where she stayed when she was in between jobs.
It was there or in the alpha house with Kasen. That was not going to happen.
Chapter Four
Nyla pulled her cell out and dialed Dalton. It was Wilde Wolf Pack business, sort of, but it was just Luna her there. And Nyla trusted Luna with her life.
“Nyla.”
She giggled. Dalton always answered the phone with that cautious, questioning tone. He wasn’t afraid of her because Dalt feared no one. It was more like he was wondering why she called him instead of Kasen. Easy. Nyla didn’t want to talk to Kasen.
“Dalton, sup. Tell me everything you know about who murdered the family.”
He let out a big sigh. “Have you talked to Kasen?”
“Nope, I called you.”
“Of course. Well, we know absolutely nothing. Whoever did it was smart enough to clean his scent from the area.” Dalton paused, and then his voice got muffled like he was covering the phone to speak to someone else.
No scent? Well, that would make tracking the creep down. “He either in a magical being, or he has a witch in his pocket.” She thought about it for a moment before saying, “Search the area for more clues. There has to be something there.”
And she needed an object with the killer’s emotional signature on it to track him via a locator spell. She ended the call with Dalton and put her phone away.
Luna asked, “Do you need to go?”
Nyla shook her head. “Not yet.”
If her power of foresight were working, she’d just channel that power and see if she could go into the past to see who did it. However, her foresight was not working. It hadn’t since she escaped captivity. She was more than okay with that up until this moment when she really needed it.
There was a couple of taps on the front door before it opened. Nyla stood and waited for Cameron and her mates, Blaine and Graham, to enter the house. Luna rushed over and took the sleeping bundle from Cameron. Together they were the Alpha triad, representing the big cats of Ashwood Falls.
Cameron was a black jaguar and moved with the grace of a cat. She had long dark brown hair that looked almost black. Her eyes were gold, and Nyla bet they were the same as her cat’s. And she was tall, maybe six feet.
Cameron fixed her golden stare on Nyla and headed straight for her. Nyla made eye contact and held it. Even though she had to look up at the Alpha female, she refused to be intimidated by anyone.
“You must be Nyla.”
“I am, and you are Cameron.”
The female Alpha laughed. “Nothing scares you, does it?”
“Not anymore.” Nyla averted her gaze to watch Luna coo over the tiny blonde girl in her arms. “Can I meet your girls?”
Cameron beamed and the hard-ass enforcer vibe she was putting off melted away to a proud mama one. “Of course. Luna is holding Paige. We confirmed that she is Graham’s biologically.”
Just then, Blaine and Graham walked over, each holding the other two, who seemed to be identical with black hair. Blaine bounced slightly as he said, “This is Hope.”
“And this is Faith,” Graham said, then added, “Would you like to hold her?”
Did birds fly? Heck yeah! Instead of blurting the words out, she glanced at Cameron, who gave her a nod. Shifters were very protective of their children but deadly when it came to them at this age. Especially Alpha heirs.
Nyla heard about one pack that wouldn’t let outsiders in the den for the first year after the birth of the Alpha heir. And Nyla was an outsider in a way. Sure her brother was a member of Ashwood, and Nyla herself lived in Ashwood for a period of her early adult life. So technically, she was a member too. She never thought too much about it until that moment.
Holding her arms like she saw Luna do earlier, Nyla nodded at Cameron’s blond mate. Graham, Nyla knew, was a puma and the brother of the leopard healer’s mate.
Graham settled the small bundle in her arms, and Nyla melted. Big blue eyes stare up at her. Nyla caressed her cheek with her fingertips. When Faith grabbed hold of Nyla’s pinky, images flashed in her mind of her holding her own little one. And Wilde was there.
She must have been making a face because Luna said, “Don’t make faces at her.”
“What? Oh, sorry. I had a vision.” Apparently, her gift of foresight wasn’t broken. It just worked when it wanted.
She looked up at the as the guys set up a playpen-looking bed thingy. Her thoughts turn to the realization she’d been avoiding. Kasen was her mate. She knew that from the moment they met. She’d just escaped captivity so trusting someone she didn’t know just because the Fates said she should wasn’t high on her priority list.
Besides, what could she offer his pack as their Alpha female?
But she wasn’t thinking about Kasen or mating. She was going to enjoy her time with three beautiful babies.
“Isn’t that right? We don’t need no stinky male.” Nyla sign-songed her words, and Faith laughed, making everyone else laugh as well. There was something about a baby’s laughs that was magical and contagious.
A few minutes later, she and Luna had all three babies laughing so loud they didn’t hear the front door open. Nyla lifted her head to see her stepmom standing beside her. “Mom!”
Nyla drew Lisa Walker into a tight hug. “Did Kirk tell you I was here?”
“He did, and I’m disappointed you didn’t at least call me.” She glanced down at the triplets laying on their backs on a blanket in the middle of the floor. “However, I see what distracted you.”
“They are so beautiful and adorable.” Nyla sat on the floor, and Lisa followed. “So much has happened.”
Lisa lopped an arm with Nyla’s, then laced their fingers together. Lisa was the mother Nyla never had. She hated leaving her and Kirk behind. “Dad told you why we had to leave, right?”
“Yes, dear. I understand. And your father and I are still mated.”
That was news to Nyla. It also made her sad. The last time she saw her father was the night he forced her through the portal to the human realm and locked it. That was over five Earth years ago. It was hundreds of years in Hell. She’d tried to open a portal many times and failed. Over and over again.
“He promised me he would come back to me,” Lisa added, giving Nyla’s hand a little squeeze before letting go of it. She leaned forward and babbled to the babies.
“He promised you? As in said those exact words.” Hope bloomed in her chest as she waited for Lisa’s reply.
“He said, ‘I promise you that I will return to you and Kirk.’”
Nyla let out a sigh and smiled a little. Saniel Walker never broke a promise. It was his word, and once said out loud, it became fate. He would be back even if he had to rise from the dead.
“He’ll be back.”
Lisa looked at her and smiled. “I know.”
Faith started fuzzing, so Nyla picked her up and rocked her. It was time for the naps. Nyla could feel their fatigue even though they are too excited to be with Luna and her. Bouncing and walking with Faith, Nyla hummed softly and ran a finger up and down the bridge of her nose.
Soon her eyes closed. Nyla noticed that the other two were drifting off as well. “Wow. Either Faith is the alpha of the three, or they are all connected on a level I’ve never seen.”
“I think it’s a little of both.” Luna stood just as there was another knock on the door. She frowned and said, “The pack must know I have the triplets.”
Nyla let out a sift laugh and walked to the sofa with Faith, not wanting to put her down yet. Before she sat, Kasen’s scent slammed in her, and she jerked her head up, glaring at him. “Why are you here?”
/> Chapter Five
Kasen hadn’t registered Nyla’s question for a good five minutes. His attention was fixed on the vision of his mate holding one of the leopard Alpha’s triplets. How she cradled the infant like she’d done it hundreds of times. Her aura was a calm lavender and her body was relaxed. The image before him was perfect and it made him want to claim her all the more.
“Fine, don’t answer me,” Nyla turned her back to him and went back to cooing over the baby in her arms. In a soft, hushed baby-talk tone, she said, “That big stranger wolf can go back home. Yes, he can.”
Kasen glanced to Luna and then to the other female in the room. He studied her briefly while trying not to appear as if he was a threat. For a moment, he was sure he would fail. After all, he didn’t know this female and his mate was in the room. It didn’t matter that he trusted Luna more than anyone outside his own family. Nor did it matter that Luna adored Nyla and would kill to protect her like a packmate.
Nyla was his.
“Kasen.” Luna’s voice snapped him out of whatever that was.
“Sorry,” He said and nodded at the female he apparently was staring at. At least he hadn’t growled at her. “I didn’t mean to be rude. You must be Lisa Walters.”
“Yes, and you are?”
Kasen’s lips twitched. Of course, Nyla wouldn’t tell her stepmom that she found her mate. He glanced at his mate, who narrowed his gaze on him, daring him to say it. Challenge excepted. “I’m Kasen Wilde, Alpha of the Wilde Wolf Pack and Nyla’s mate.”
Lisa gasped and turned to Nyla. “Why didn’t you say anything? Congrats on finding your mate. This is a big deal. I wish your father were here…Well, maybe not.”
Nyla worked her jaw before smiling at Lisa. “I would have evidentially. Besides, I’m not sure I’m accepting the mating.”