Page 21 of Chasing the Wolf (Dark Wing #7)

Chapter 21

Mackenzie

A s much as I don't want to do it, the first thing should be telling the captain. The captain's office and private "cabin" are on this deck. He has an expansive suite of rooms that rivals any luxury apartment in a major city.

I take my phone out of the pocket of Xavier's shorts, which hangs below my knees. Honestly, I shouldn't put it back—it's pulling the pants off my hips. And the amount of notifications on the crew app is too large to not take a look at. I take a seat in the captain's waiting room and open the app. The well-worn number one on the door shines. It's supposedly good luck to touch it.

My friends’ chat has been very active, from Fiona talking about being sad at missing Pi Day and inviting everyone to the distillery for a girls’ vacation to at least twenty pictures of Daisy setting up the new spa at the hotel in Texas.

I message Colette and tell her I'm fine. But then I click over to a message from Naomi. We're friends, but as she was already mated to Daniel when I came on board, I'm not as close with her. Plus, she works in the public relations department. It's behind the front desk. I don't see her at Java Lava often either, as Daniel always picks up her coffee.

Naomi: Are you friends with Xavier Wilder?

Me: We grew up in the same town.

I cringe. That's not good enough. I erase it and try again.

Me: Yes, more than friends.

That's better. I'm just not ready to say “mate”. . . although we both know it for sure now, so what am I waiting for?

Me: I just found out he's my fated mate. But I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it.

Three dots appear and disappear for Naomi. It takes long enough for her to message back that I'm really thinking I should go in and talk to the captain.

Naomi: Congrats. I'm sure you will do what the two of you figure out is right. Colette told me that you thought you might be mates.

Me: Thanks, but why did you ask?

Naomi: Well, the spa manager let me know that there's a ShifterChat post going viral. A passenger put it up, and it's of Xavier in the Dark Wing spa.

Me: Okay. I mean, that probably happens all the time. He's a billionaire and the face of the company's brand. I'm sure that happens a lot.

It happens a lot. That's something else I have to worry about. On my worry list. A list I haven't thought about in a long time. Because I haven't had to worry about much.

Naomi: There's just a lot of really funny comments on the post.

Me: Like ha ha funny, or weird creepy funny?

Naomi: Threatening. Daniel is on his way to the captain now. But I wanted you to know too.

Me: Yes, thank you.

Naomi: Of course. I'm sure the captain will take care of it.

Me: He will.

Naomi: Let me know if I can do anything to help you. Anything.

Me: I'll let you know.

I flip over to regular texting, something I don't normally do since it costs so much. But then I decide against it and hit the call button instead.

It rings once before Xavier answers. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me too long. I'm honored. Colton always says you never call, only text."

"Yeah, that's normally me. Don't get used to it. Where are you?"

"I'm in the cabin.” Xavier’s tone drops. “Why?"

"Can you come to the captain's office? It's just down the hall."

"Of course. Is he giving you a hard time?"

"No, not at all. I haven't even seen him yet."

"Coming, two minutes."

I hang up and open the ShifterChat app, also something I don't normally do unless we're at port. I click over to the Raw Timberline Skincare company account. And Naomi was right. There's one post with two million views. But in the comments section, an account with the name "revenge.grr." has said some really horrible things about Xavier, Raw Timberline, and the Dark Wing. The original comments are gone, but people are posting screenshots of them. It's horrible. Why do people do that?

Xavier speed-walks in, his brow furrowed.

I wince. "I'm guessing you've already seen it."

"I have, just now. Riley called my personal phone to tell me to turn on my work phone. They promised they wouldn't call, so I knew it must be important." His wolf glows in his eyes.

He's intense. All the softness of him from the room, him holding my hand on the balcony, has vanished. He reminds me of his father in so many of those crowded pack meetings. Where he'd blame the lack of mill profits on the pack. Where he'd beat a member in front of the pack, cubs and all. My stomach twists, and my wolf shrinks into me—her tail between her legs.

"He's not going to harm you. Or anyone on this ship. It's his last-ditch effort. If he can't control me, he's trying to take me down with him. But it won't work."

"We need to talk to the captain." I knock on the door, and it opens instantly.

"Miss Northwood, Mr. Wilder. Come in. I will alert the captain that you're here." Conrad, the captain's tuxedoed butler, ushers us in.

Xavier's eyebrows go up. The first time I met Conrad, it took me aback too. Even though shifters have been out for a long time, as long as I've been around, it's still rude to ask people what they are. But when Hope's mate, Everett, showed up with a butler, Herbert, who looks related to Conrad... the same long nose, white hair, and thin oval face... People did begin to talk. He's an ancestral. Not a shifter, a witch, or a fae. A powerful, immortal race rumored to have more power than any fae. But they choose to serve dragon families. And Conrad makes the best sandwiches on the ship.

I glance at Xavier. He's taking it all in. The suite flows from the captain's office area to the dining room and into the living room before it opens up onto a large terrace. The terrace opens onto the bow of the ship. It's a lot to take in, from the original impressionistic art in front of the captain's desk to the gilded dining room table and the twin silk sofas.

"Can I get you anything to eat?" Conrad asks.

"No, thank you," Xavier says.

Hope told me that when Herbert asks, I should always say yes if it's possible. "Water, please."

Conrad smiles at me, and I do my best to smile back. Though I'm on edge. It's like I'm back at one of the pack meetings before I decided to make a break for it. My parents treated me like a cub. No matter what I said to them, I was wrong. It was miserable. And then I got a random call from a recruiter about joining the Dark Wing. When I do call home, my parents complain about everything. Never once did they say anything about things turning around. Were they trying to keep me from ever wanting to come home? But then, maybe...?

"Of course. Please have a seat. The captain will be up soon." Conrad vanishes down the hallway behind the captain's desk. I've heard there are two guest rooms and a large primary bedroom, along with a kitchen. Hope's suite is big, but the captain's is a lot larger.

I perch on the edge of the cream-colored sofa, Xavier glued to my side, and scroll through the screenshots. "This has your father Stanton all over it."

Xavier leans over my shoulder. "Riley has our social media team getting things taken down as fast as they're put up."

I shake my head. "Why do people keep putting it back up?"

"Drama, but some of it I'm sure is his few loyal henchmen or people he has paid to keep the lies up there." Xavier's working with two phones—the one he's had with him the whole cruise and another one.

"Two phones?"

He puts both down and tilts his head toward me. "Around the third year, the company started taking off. I was working around the clock. That's when I promoted Riley. They bought this one for me." He holds up his black work phone. "They told me the owner of a skincare brand can't have dark circles under his eyes from working day and night. And they got me a second phone with a new number only my friends have. The real trick became trusting that the team would handle things after seven p.m. Or, if I take a vacation, turning the phone off."

"Riley is good for you."

"Riley will be good for us both," he says.

Conrad places two glasses of water and a small tray of various candies on the coffee table in front of us.

The circular metal staircase vibrates with steps as the captain comes up them. His perfectly cut hair appears to be followed by the rest of him. He's wearing his white uniform, complete with his epaulets, today. But he was probably recently down in the lobby signing trading cards. It's something new Naomi came up with: trading cards for most of the officers on the deck. Young passengers can meet the officers and get a card signed.

There's smoke trailing round the captain's head. I'm guessing he already has an idea of what's going on.

Xavier beats me to standing. "Captain. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just wish it had been under other circumstances."

"Mr. Wilder. The same. Mackenzie, I understand congratulations are in order."

"Ah, yes." When your fated mate's crazy father has threatened your new pack and the passengers on board, it's not the time to tell the captain you’re still working out whether you’re going to mate.

"It's your Alpha threatening my ship and my crew?"

"Not my Alpha, not anymore. My brother will be taking care of that soon."

My head whips to Xavier. "Fletcher?"

"Stanton Wilder is an ass. But he's had years to poison people into thinking if they do his work, they'll be rewarded. The plan needed both of us. Running a billion-dollar company and taking care of a pack is a lot," Xavier says.

"Indeed." Smoke rises from the captain's head. An agitated dragon shifter is never a good thing. "What's your brother planning on doing?"

"He's taking out our father tonight. I made a promise to our mother that I would never challenge my father for the pack." But Fletcher's four years younger than me. He never made that promise to her.

"So you're saying Fletcher is going to challenge your dad now, tonight?" Fletcher and I were in the same grade. Though he avoided me. I'm not sure I've ever even spoken to him.

"I'm working on that right now. It was supposed to happen next week. No one was supposed to know I was here, but that went out the window, apparently, when the guest saw me at the spa and made connections." Xavier shakes his head. "I don't want you to worry about this because we'll be able to take him down. Sliding the date of the project by one week isn't going to be easy for Fletcher, but he’ll get it done. We worked too hard and too long on this to let it slip away." Xavier's typing away on his phone—his home phone, not his work one. It vibrates in his hand like an electric shaver.

The captain scowls. "When you threaten what's mine, it isn't over that easily."

“What are you gonna do, Captain?” Xavier asks. “I'm telling you, my brother can handle this. I'm not gonna let him fail.”

“I heard an interview with you that said your brand promise is excellence. Mine is too. My passengers have to know they’re safe. People can’t be thinking that they’re in jeopardy during their vacation; they're less likely to come on vacation. No guests, no fares. No fares, no boat. The livelihood of my pack depends upon this. I will not be threatened. I will not let this happen.”

"We're in the Caribbean,” Xavier says.

"Everett is in Boston right now, shooting a movie. And his brother, my cousin, has a security firm based in New York City. I'll contact them right now, and if they need me, I can be there in less than twelve hours. But the thought of leaving the ship unprotected isn't good either." More smoke circles the captain's head.

"This is for me to handle," Xavier says. "Fletcher and I have been building up to this for a while. We had a public, staged falling out six months ago."

"There's no more ‘just you.’ You're now one of us. Your fated mate is part of my pack. Whether you like it or not, I consider you part of my crew, my family, and pack. I'm protecting Mackenzie, protecting the ship, and protecting you as well. That's how it works." The phone buzzes in the captain’s hand. “Everett can be on his way to Maine in two hours. He's gonna have a team from Stone Security meet him there.”

"I have to let my brother know they're coming," Xavier says.

"Excellent, that's even better. They can work together. Let's sit down. Conrad?" Captain Matthias calls.

Conrad appears with another tray containing a pitcher of lemonade and a tower of sandwiches.

"We'll have a snack and get all the details of this nailed down so we can cut the evil out of your pack. Hopefully, you and your brother will be able to breathe new life into your pack."

"He can't go on anymore. Too many people have been hurt." Xavier grabs my hand.

"That stops today," the captain says.

The two of them power through a list of never-ending contacts and two trays of sandwiches. My head is spinning. I feel more than useless. And while I haven't lived there for a long time, I'm scared for my old packmates. Having a fire-breathing dragon swoop over the town to take out the henchmen? I'm worried about my dad. Not that he's been one of Stanton's right-hand guys for a long time. And Colton hasn't lived at home for ages. But there are still a lot of people I know.

Fletcher confirms that Stanton's still in town, not in the Caribbean, and that they don't seem to suspect anything.

"I need to—" I begin.

"You're excused from all your shifts." The captain looks up from the tablet where Xavier and he are drawing an attack plan.

"Yes. But I'd like to go get some clothes."

Xavier squeezes my hand. "Do you want me to come with you?"

The trail of white smoke above the captain thickens.

"No, I'll be back. I just need to get clothes. I won't mention any of this to anyone." I gesture at the tablet.

He kisses my cheek, and I'm out the door. I feel... less than important. And no, I don't want everything to be about me. What they're doing is good. But I'm torn and feeling a little selfish. Because I don't want to be part of it at all. I cut ties, and I feel bad. I felt bad when I separated from them, but I did it for my own health. Now I'm back in a stew of emotions that has mating or not mating as an additional ingredient. And I don't like it. I don't like it at all.