Page 51

TALON

M y dragon demanded release.

He didn’t fight my cage often, but when he did, it was often beyond my ability to keep him contained. No, we would hurt her if we shifted. Have patience .

He roared back, and the bass in that rumble suggested he was done with patience. It had been too long since she’d come to us, and now that she was here, we couldn’t let her go.

When her hand went limp in sleep, I internally raged at the bone-deep exhaustion seeping through our bond.

Wanting her to keep resting, I continued to slide the brush through her hair, unsurprised to find I was tired too.

While I had more than enough time down here to get the few hours of sleep I required to function at full strength, without Emmeline it was an empty and restless slumber.

My gaze dragged over the male at her other side and I shelved my relatively minor urge to destroy him.

As if he’d felt that flicker of a threat, his eyes slowly opened and met mine.

He stared into the depths of my beast and didn’t blink or look away.

He held my stare as if he’d battled true evil before and had walked out the other side.

A sliver of respect had me inclining my head, and the bear appeared satisfied enough to close his eyes once more. I felt the calming of his beast, and as his hand drifted up to cover Emme’s, which rested on his chest, he slipped into a true deep sleep.

I found myself stupidly invested in ensuring neither of them were awoken.

Alpha would beat this shit out of me if he sensed these softer emotions, and yet… this instinct to protect them was ingrained as deeply as my instinct to conquer shifters.

For hours I watched over them, my fingers tangled in the silky strands of Emme’s hair, relishing in the moments I caressed a sliver of her soft skin or caught a waft of chocolate and honey.

This omega held me in her clutches, and with that came the sort of power I wasn’t sure she understood she possessed.

His energy reached me a few moments before he silently padded into the room. I never tore my gaze from the omega as he watched us both.

“We all look at her that way,” Slade murmured, his voice so like my own. Dragon touched. “Like we would not only watch the world burn for her but be the fuckers who razed it to the ground.”

That was where Emmeline’s true power stemmed from. We would all turn villain the second anyone threatened her. I just had to ensure Alpha didn’t make that mistake and force my hand against him. Surely, he knew better than to even try.

“What do you want, brother?”

Slade didn’t physically react when I addressed our twin bond, but his scent flared. The connection bothered him, and for that reason alone I continued to remind him of it. “We might need to return to the volcano.”

His statement was the first thing to capture my interest since Emme had entered the room. Reluctantly, I tore my gaze from her to meet his. “Why?”

He kicked his legs a few feet apart and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. “We need to explore the twin soul connection, and my research indicates it might have to take place where our egg was found. With our ancestor’s energy.”

What he said made sense, but I wasn’t interested. “I don’t need to explore anything. I don’t need you or the connection. My beast and I are copacetic, and I can protect my mate just fine.”

Slade scoffed. “I detest a liar. You have a rift too, I can feel it. This might be our chance to claim our true strength and be the mates Emmeline deserves.”

There he went, mentioning the one fucking thing that might get me to consider his idea. “What makes you think I won’t run off to Alpha the moment you free me.”

Slade’s smirk was knowing, and I wished I was close enough to smack it off his face. “Because you obviously could have left any time you wanted. You’re staying for her, and you won’t hurt her like that. I may not trust anything else about you, but I trust that you believe you care about Emme.”

Emme would have to travel with us, otherwise our new bond would cause her pain. Which meant there’d be no bars between us. “What happens with me after we figure out the twin soul connection?”

Slade looked like he’d rather kick me in the nuts than answer, but he had no choice. “What do you want?”

That was not as easy an answer as he might have expected.

I couldn’t return to Alpha without Emme, and yet taking her without her other alphas would cause her pain.

I refused to allow her to return to the weak, broken shifter she’d been in the bunker.

“I want you all to meet with Alpha. Hear him out. Hear his plan out. See if we can negotiate some sort of path forward that we all agree on.” My fingers briefly tightened in her hair, but I kept my hold gentle enough not to wake her.

Slade scent grew stronger as the room heated, and my beast lifted to the surface, searching for energy that I didn’t understand.

“I can’t promise anything without speaking to Hunter, but you should know, if I’m in the same room as your alpha , I’m going to murder him.

What he did to Emme… that must be punished. ”

A part of me couldn’t argue. “That’s between you and Alpha, but just know, I’m not the only shifter who would stand before him. You will have to go through all of us.”

Slade glanced down at Emme. “Maybe you’ll feel differently when we find our twin bond.”

I couldn’t quite figure out why he was so focused on this twin connection, and I had my doubts it’d make any difference to our power, but I was willing to give it a try.

“Fine, I will agree to explore the connection with you, and in return, you will give Alpha your time and a chance to convince you of the new future for shifters.”

We remained locked in a stare-off until eventually he grunted. “Fucking fine. I will choose the meeting place. Non-negotiable.”

“I have to talk to Alpha, but as long as it’s safe for both parties, there’s no reason he’d refuse. He wants you and Hunter on board. You’re his sons as well.”

Slade’s dragon soared to the surface, and my own thundered until I couldn’t tell if he wanted to meet the other beast… or kill it.

“We’re not his sons. We’re nothing to him, and he’s nothing to us. Sentimentality and a deal he made long ago has kept him alive all of these years. But that ran out the second he touched our omega. He should consider us his enemies at best.”

The instinct to destroy anyone who was a risk to Alpha flared, but it was mild. Easily ignored. I was well trained to take out threats, but I found it harder to categorize this pack as a true danger. No doubt that would change the second they attacked him.

Then I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.

“Don’t be my enemy, brother,” I warned him. “It won’t end well.”

The smile that tilted his lips was reminiscent of how I looked when a shifter was about to die. “It absolutely won’t end well. For you .”

He left the room, but I knew he had eyes on us in here. I could hear the whirring of the cameras as they surveyed the containment cells. Slade and I were twin souls, but I didn’t do technology. That wasn’t for me, and I knew very little about it, even if I could easily tune in to its frequencies.

Having been deprived of the outdoors growing up, I preferred nature. Now, it was all I craved. Well, that and this omega sleeping so peacefully beside me.

Slade hadn’t said when he planned for us to head to the origin of our birth, but just the thought of being outside, scenting the air and feeling the energy of the world around us, was enough to calm my beast. If we weren’t removed from these rooms soon, I would have had to leave anyway.

For everyone’s safety.

He was right, though, I would have returned.

I couldn’t leave my sweet mate, not even for Alpha.

Despite being a prisoner here, my time wasn’t the worst I’d experienced. Slade visited most days, and he was done with torture, so we spent our time in terse conversation. He told me about his life growing up with Alpha, and I told him about mine.

His had been far worse in regard to pain and torture, and mine had been far worse in regard to isolation and the expectation of complete obedience. Only one of us held loyalty to Alpha though, and I wondered if mine was due to my belief that the packs needed more structure.

That we were weakening in this current way of being governed.

Slade had suggested at one point that I should go out into the cities and see for myself, and as much as he pissed me off, it was a solid idea. I’d been trained to blindly obey, but in the end, I was stronger than almost all shifters in the world.

Alpha knew I chose to obey, and only because I believed in the agenda.

I’d placed my trust in his word that the cities were a mess and shifters weakening, but I was here now and could see for myself.

“What are you thinking about?”

My gaze jerked down to find Emme staring up at me, the piercing blue of her eyes softer as she blinked the sleepiness from her gaze.

“Could you show me around the cities?” I asked her.

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean? You want to drive around and see Golden Claw?”

That was exactly what I wanted. “Alpha always taught me that we were stronger under a single, powerful alpha’s rule, and I believe that he believes that. But I’m here, and I can assess for myself as well.” My dragon rumbled in my chest, and for once it wasn’t clear what his thoughts were.

Emme turned to fully face me, and as soon as her hand was removed from Finley, he started to stir.

“I can take you into the city,” she murmured, “but I’m not sure how it will prove Fletcher right or wrong.

There are so many packs and shifters, and some are strong, while others hang on the fringe.

But from what I know, the old ways were primitive, with many falling under cruel and barbaric rule.

Now we have structures and new technology. We’ve advanced.”

“That doesn’t sound like advancement,” I growled, just thinking about how confining buildings and technology felt. “We are beasts. Wild at heart. We need to live with the land for the sake of our animals.”

“I agree,” she said with a deep exhalation, “and we have both here. There are forests to run, and other packs to run with, but we also have a human side, right? Just catering to our beasts alone seems shortsighted.”

Another truth, but for me the beast was the more dominant part of my personality. “Does Slade exist in this urban and technology driven world? I mean, does he thrive in it?”

Emme took a second to think that over. “Yeah, I guess he does. He wears suits to work at the office, which is this massive glass skyscraper, but then he’s in his leathers when he trains and patrols with his enforcers.

He also uses like a million cameras to keep us all under surveillance.

” Her expression softened, and I found myself happy to witness her deep respect for my brother.

“He’s a little of everything, which is how most shifters are these days.

Your Alpha’s plan would ensure that all these different sides of us were lost to the beast. Which feels a little… limited.”

My beast was so strong that I never gave any consideration to the other side of being a shifter.

For me, there were no other sides. There was my dragon, and then there was me waiting to release my dragon.

“I’m not sure I have another side,” I admitted, tilting my head back to stare into the darkened ceiling.

I wanted to keep staring into her eyes, but I couldn’t think clearly when I looked upon her.

I sensed her movement, and didn’t physically react when she grasped my hand, holding on tightly. Fires lit in my center like we were about to level the world.

My gaze lowered back to her. “You are so much more than just your beast, Talon. Your life is just beginning, and there’s an entire world to explore out there.

I’ve been limited too. My life was about running and survival.

I didn’t pick up hobbies or interests. I don’t collect plants or weapons like Kellan, I can’t skate or create incredible origami like Finley.

I wouldn’t know where to start with inventing cool shifter tech like Hunter, and I sure as shit can’t work a computer or fight like Slade.

They’re all far more well-rounded than me, but you know what you and I have in common… ?”

“A mate bond?”

She chuckled. “Besides that, and just as a little aside, it’s probably too soon to bring that up so casually.”

Noted .

“What we have in common is time. We still have time to grow and learn about ourselves and our world. We have time to find hobbies and habits and become more productive shifters in this world. All of which could be lost under the control of your Alpha. There, we would be nothing more than his pack to control. We cannot let that stand.”

“Even if it weakens the beast?” I questioned, unable to argue with a lot of her logic. “War could come for us, and most shifters have no idea how to survive it if that happens.”

Finley was fully awake, listening intently, but Emme hadn’t noticed as she stared at me like I was the only shifter in the room.

It was fucking intoxicating to hold her attention so thoroughly.

“There’s more to life than just surviving war.

What if the Alpha’s plan weakens our souls, Talon?

What if it weakens our spirit? You can die in more than just a physical sense.

” Her voice wavered as she finished. “I was dying before I met my pack. I was slowly, day by day, turning into a shell. My spirit was broken, and I didn’t even understand how badly I’d hurt myself and my wolf until I was finally set free. ”

When I met the bear’s gaze over her shoulder, his eyes shone as he nodded his agreement.

For the first time, I started to consider that maybe… just maybe, I stood on the wrong side of this battle.