Page 53

EMME

“ O kay,” Cora said, as we made our way into a department store filled to the brim with not only clothing but bags, shoes, makeup, and accessories. “We need to know everything that’s happening in your life. What’s going on with you and the delectable Reeves pack?”

She pulled a dress off the rack, holding it up against herself.

“There’s a lot going on,” I admitted, “and I have no idea where to start to make it all make sense.”

Kassidy leaned over a pile of jeans and waggled her brows at me. “So, you’re happily bonded to Hunt and Kellan, but they mentioned a third bite this morning. Which one?”

Oh fuck. Were they aware of Talon’s existence? I wasn’t sure what information was out in the shifter cities.

“One second,” I said, whipping out my phone and shooting off a text to Hunter.

Emme: Are the girls aware of the new dragon in our midst? Can I tell them?

It wasn’t that I generally checked in with the pack before I talked to Cora, but this was bigger than simply sharing my life. Talon was complicated , and the revelation of his existence would shake up the shifter communities.

Hunter: They don’t know, but there’s no issue telling them. They’re in the trusted inner circle. Just advise them not to speak of it to anyone else.

I got the sense that he didn’t want me to have to keep secrets from my friends, and I loved that about him.

Emme: Thanks, Hurricane. *heart emoji*

Hunter: Anytime, baby girl. Now, finish your shopping so I can take you home. We have plans.

I liked plans with Hunter. I liked them a lot.

Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I shuffled as they watched me closely.

“Sorry,” I said keeping my voice low as I eyed the staff behind the service desk.

Who were thankfully far enough away not to be able to overhear.

“There’s been a new development in our pack, and I wasn’t sure if I could share everything yet. ”

The girls must have picked up on how serious this was from my tone, as they huddled in closer. “When I was taken,” I whispered, and my eyes darted to Kassidy, “your dad forced another shifter to bond me.”

Cora gasped, her hand clutching mine as she stared wide-eyed at me.

The shimmer in her gaze almost had me breaking down, but I held it together.

Kassidy took a second longer to react, her expression turning brittle and angry.

“We need to kill him,” she bit out, which was comforting in the ways she reminded me of Hunter.

“I’ve always hated that motherfucker, and if I could destroy him for you right now, Emme, I would do it without hesitation. ”

Fuck, these two were better friends than I could have ever hoped for.

“Yep, Fletcher needs to die,” I agreed, my voice rasping as I fought down darker emotions, “but there’s more to it than that.

The one he forced to bond with me was meant to be in my quintet all along.

He’s a scent match, and another dragon. He’s…

” I gave a dramatic pause, because if there was ever a moment that needed one, it was this. “…Slade’s twin soul.”

Their eyes grew wider; I was genuinely worried that Cora’s eyeballs might fall out of her head. “Wait, I’m sorry,” she breathed, “I think I might have hit my head when we walked in here because I swear you just said that the scariest shifter in existence has a twin.”

“Yep,” I nodded, unable to suppress a smile. “We’ve got him locked in our containment room until we can figure out what to do with him.”

Kassidy’s previous anger slipped into confusion. “So, if there’s a fifth alpha, how can a quintet work? Is Slade not part of it because the twin got in first? Or can you kill the twin off…? I mean, one dragon shifter is enough for all of us, right?”

The very thought of Talon no longer existing almost took my breath away. The devastation must have shown on my face, as Cora sucked in a deep breath. “Uh oh,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ve fallen for him.”

It was my turn to shake my head. “No, look, we’re far from anything resembling a normal bond, and I’m not over him forcing the bite on me.

But I also understand him a lot better now.

He didn’t choose this path, even though he agrees with Fletcher’s plan.

In some ways, he’s as much a victim as Hunter, Slade, Kassidy, and…

well, me. I have hope that eventually we’ll work it all out. ”

Neither of them looked convinced, but they also weren’t as visibly freaked out as they’d been a second ago.

“How’s Slade taking it all?” Kassidy asked, her expression worried. “I know him fairly well. Or as well as he allows anyone to know him, and this is the kind of fucked-up that sends him spiraling.”

“Yeah, he didn’t take it well to start,” I confirmed, “but he’s getting better and dealing in his own way.

At first, he was raging and focused on torturing his brother for information, but now…

he’s down there with Talon a lot more than any of us realize, and I think they’re bonding.

In their own way. Even though he remains distant. ”

Mostly with me.

Kassidy patted my arm, her expression filled with sympathy.

“He’s as much my brother as Hunter, and he’s always taken on more burden and responsibility than he should.

He’d be blaming himself, I’m sure, and trying to figure out how to fix the situation.

He never wanted to bond to start with, and I bet this has only reiterated the risks he thinks he poses to a pack. ”

It was painful to hear, but I couldn’t argue with her. Slade had made his position very clear. “He doesn’t trust his dragon with me,” I said sadly. “The appearance of his twin has made his own instability worse too, which means he’s less inclined to get any closer to me.”

Slade and I had been making progress before all of this happened, during our prank wars, but he’d been holding me at arm’s length since Texas.

His distance hurt me and my beast more than I’d taken the time to really unwrap.

Ah, fucking hell, I was not about to start crying in a damn department store.

“In other news,” I continued, forcing an upbeat tone, “Finley and I have made some real positive progress.”

Cora jerked her head up, once again visibly shocked—we’d discussed Grouchy Bear before, and she knew how he’d reacted to my initial rejection of them.

“How did that happen?” she asked, but before I could answer, one of the sales staff strolled over, prowling along with a tray of wine glasses.

He was tall, thin, with dark hair and narrow dark eyes.

He struck me as being part of the big cat shifters.

“Ladies,” he said, forced cheerfulness in his tone.

“We’re so thrilled to have you shopping with us this morning.

We have a range of wine here for your tastes, and any additives you might need for extra buzz.

If you require any assistance at all, please just wave us over.

Otherwise, we’ve been told to stay out of your way and give you anything you need. ”

He didn’t slow or breathe through the entire speech, and with a flourish placed the tray on a glass cabinet and hurried away. Hunter clearly had the staff shitting themselves, and they were keen not to spend too much time with us. Good alpha .

Kassidy and Cora didn’t appear to notice or care, as they reached out and snagged a glass. I went for one with bubbles, hoping it would be sweet.

“So, Finley…” Cora continued. “I get the feeling this might be more shocking than the revelation that there’s a whole other dragon shifter in our world.”

That produced a rumbly shot of laughter from Kassidy as she took a sip of her red wine. “Agreed.”

Rubbing my thumb over the condensation on the side of the glass, I shrugged.

“It started when I was taken. Finley found me first, and he fought a damn dragon to get me out. He was stuck in his bear form for a bit, which happens during high stress situations—it’s a trauma response from his past. Of course, the second he turned back into a lumbersnack, he started growling and huffing and puffing at me. ”

Cora’s bark of laughter was very wolf life. “I don’t know whether to love that you called him a lumbersnack or laugh at the fact that you’re mixing up your fairy tales there.”

Kassidy nodded along. “Lumbersnack is so fitting. I’m going to use that in the future. Consider it borrowed.”

“Borrow away,” I said. “I think I heard it in an audiobook once, and it stuck with me. So, yeah, he was raging away, and I honestly… I had enough. This part of me that had been trying to be nice, and hold on to hope… snapped. I proceeded to knee him in the balls hard enough that he probably tasted his future children…”

They both grimaced, and I wasn’t sure if I’d gone too far with that analogy, until Kassidy leaned forward to laugh. “Balls in his mouth. Took me a fucking second.”

Cora’s lips twitched, but she managed to hold it together. “You’re a brave shifter, Emme. That bear scares me almost as much as the dragon. He’s got all this built-up rage.”

It was the truth, but also… not.

“Yeah, well whatever he saw in my face that day, he knew I was washing my hands of him once and for all, and it scared the ever-living shit out of him. He immediately changed his actions, and he’s continued to change them ever since.

He didn’t just say the words, he backed them up. He’s even been going to therapy.”

Cora looked impressed. “What does that mean for you and bonding with him?” she asked. “I assume, based on Hunter and Kellan, that you’re no longer afraid of a completed quintet?”

That was the point I remembered she still didn’t know the entire story.

There’d been so much going on, and only my pack was aware of what had happened in my past. “Shit, I’m so sorry,” I burst out.

“I haven’t shared all of my past with you yet.

I’ve been wanting to tell you for ages, but I had to tell the alphas first. The reason I feared bonding with the pack was that omegas can share their energy with their bonded mates.

Worse than that, they can have it forcibly taken.

It happened to my mom and her pack, and in the end, they took so much that her wolf faded. I found her hanging in the street.”

My words rushed out of me in a huge flood, and my legs felt weaker by the time I finished. It still kind of took my breath away to reveal my past so freely, when I’d spent so many years running and hiding from it.

The girls reached for me, their expressions filled with horror and sorrow.

As they embraced me with their warmth and caring, I forced myself to add, “There’s trauma in her death, don’t get me wrong, but I hated my mom. I don’t feel her loss in the way you would normally with a parent. But I was determined never to follow in her path.”

“What’s changed?” Kassidy asked, her expression dead serious as she pulled back to meet my gaze.

“The Reeves pack is what changed,” I said, feeling the truth in that.

“I shared power with Kellan to save his life and it did nothing. He never craved more. He never tried to take from me again. Hunter and I have been bonded for weeks, and not even once has he shown any sign of wanting power from me. Not to mention I found out a bunch of shit about my mom and that pack, including the fact that they weren’t her true scent matches.

I’ve learned that my situation is never going to be hers, and I won’t risk losing my pack on a maybe of losing my power.

For them, I’d embrace a bigger fear than that. ”

For them, I’d give up everything.