Page 16 of Denying Her Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #3)

Chapter 16

Sawyer

I ’m not sure what to expect as we step into the room, but I brace myself, ready for anything. There isn’t any blood up the walls or overturned furniture—just a girl sitting on the couch, her eyes narrowed at Hester and Cade as if they are her enemy.

The way Jackson crowds close to her shows he’s still feeling possessive over the little blue-haired tau, and the challenging glare he is directing at Hester would usually have me smirking, but my lips remain pulled into a tight line.

Getting too close to this woman is dangerous for him, and for the rest of us. We don’t know if she’s so brainwashed by her time with the Order that she poses a threat.

My brother feels the same. I can tell as he lifts his gaze in my direction. The set of his shoulders and the tension in his body paints a picture that makes me uneasy.

I wonder how long they’ve been in this room, sitting like this. The strain between them is unbearable and my natural urge is to crack a joke.

“Who called for the intervention?” I quip.

Cade snorts, shaking his head at me, but Jackson is not amused. That asshole needs to lighten up.

“It was for you and Roux.” Jackson takes an aim at my head with those words. “But it seems you’ve figured things out.”

Yeah, asshole is too nice of a word for what my pack mate is. I give him a strained smile that is not mirrored in my eyes.

“I didn’t realize you cared so much about my mating habits, Jacks.”

Cade’s eyes narrow on me as he takes me in. Did he not sense the difference in me the moment I walked into the room? Cade is usually so intuitive when it comes to me, which tells me he is more unsettled than he seems.

The mating bond will have changed me—Roux too. Our scents will have combined, just as Halle’s and Cade’s or Tessa’s and Abel’s. There are other, more subtle changes too that I know my brother is picking up on now that his attention has been drawn to it.

A grin tugs at my lips as Cade’s eyes snap to the claiming mark I put on Roux’s neck last night.

“I never… Congratulations.”

I don’t need Cade’s approval, but I’d prefer to have it, so I’m glad he seems genuinely happy for me.

“ Thanks,” I say.

Roux’s pleasure filters through our mating bond and it makes me want to capture her mouth. Though, to be fair, I’ve wanted that from the moment our awareness fused together.

I don’t kiss her, but only because I don’t feel safe enough to let my guard down. I need to keep my wits about me. The tau we captured seems subdued and calm in this moment, but this is not the same person we were dealing with last night.

“What’s an intervention?” the woman asks, glancing at Jackson for answers.

He frowns. “Uh… I’ll explain later.”

My gaze drifts to the only person in the room who hasn’t said a damn word.

Hester .

She’s leaning against the wall, her arms folded over her chest, watching, waiting, but for what?

What is she expecting to happen?

There’s no emotion on her face, not one I can read anyway, which makes the hair on the back of my neck prickle. I don’t like when I can’t read her. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hester poses a danger to us all, especially the tau females at the Sanctuary.

I’m just not sure how… yet.

Roux’s presence at my back scatters my thoughts. I twist awkwardly as my mate slips around to my side. The urge to haul her behind me almost wins, but I shove it down ruthlessly. Roux isn’t defenseless, and I don’t want her to believe I think she is.

Against my better judgment, I do nothing as she steps closer to the danger.

“Hey, how are you today?” Roux stops before she is within the tau’s reach. I’m relieved she does, because any wrong move in Roux’s direction and I’m not responsible for what I’ll do—I’ll even go through Jackson if necessary.

My pack mate isn’t small, not by vargr standards, but I’ve bested him in more sparring sessions than I can count over the years.

The tau glances at Jackson, as if asking for permission to speak. I don’t miss how my pack mate’s jaw clenches at this response.

He doesn’t want her deferring to him and it’s weird she would. The way she has latched onto Jackson is bizarre.

“Confused,” she admits. “Jackson… he told me…” She breaks off, swallowing.

“It’s okay,” he soothes. “You’re safe here, I promise. Everyone here is a friend and good people.”

“There’s nowhere safe from them ,” she murmurs, her eyes closing.

She’s not wrong. The Order are unrelenting and dangerous in their obsession with hybrids. As pups, we were told stories about their organization hunting down wolves that were born ‘wrong’. I never gave it much thought, why would I? It didn’t affect me or anyone I cared about.

But then Halle crashed into our lives and was hunted by these animals who wanted her for her power. It became a deeply personal issue for me, even more so now that Roux has accepted our mating bond.

“I’m sorry for how I was yesterday,” she continues, pushing a strand of blue hair behind her ear. The nervous energy coming from her seems genuine, but I’m not sure I trust this helpless act, considering her previous behavior. “I was so scared.”

I want to believe this woman is a victim in all of this; I want to believe that desperately, but my first priority is protecting my mate, my pack, and Halle. This could all be part of an elaborate plan from the Order to infiltrate the Sanctuary. This woman could be a plant, put into place to discover our plans.

A hundred scenarios run through my mind of the ways the Order could be trying to hurt us through this small woman. The possibilities are endless and it’s hard not to be suspicious.

It sounds paranoid, but I’ve learned those fuckers will stoop to any level to get what they want, and the women here have strong magic that could be exploited.

“No one blames you for how you reacted.” Roux sits on the end of the couch furthest from them, and I stand behind her, ready to protect her if anyone so much as blinks in her direction. “We are friends though. All of us here are tau wolves.”

The woman glances at her and Hester before bringing her attention to Jackson. “All of you?”

“Just the girls,” Jackson says. “We’re vargr.” He points to me and Cade.

“Vargr?”

“The biggest and nastiest wolf breed that exists among our kind.” Cade’s pointed words make Jackson snarl.

My brother clearly wants this woman to know he’s not an easy target, should she decide to test that theory.

“ Cade ,” Roux mutters his name, her tone chastising, but Cade shifts his shoulders, clearly unbothered by the notion he could have upset our guest… or captive. I’m not sure at this moment what she is.

“Do you remember anything?” Hester asks.

The woman’s brow wrinkles. “I don’t… I have memories, but I don’t know what’s real.”

Beneath all the suspicion I have, there is some sympathy. I’m not indifferent to what she must have been through, and while she seems to be disorientated, her loyalties uncertain, I’m sure she didn’t intend to become a puppet of the Order.

Still, this woman had promised to make us all pay for snatching her less than twenty-four hours ago. I’m not sure I trust that she’s forgiven and forgotten everything.

Roux glances at Hester. “Can we use magic to undo whatever has been done to her?”

My stomach twists violently. My mate is capable—more than—but I don’t want Roux poking around in this stranger’s mind. We have no idea how powerful she is.

Hester shakes her head. “Magic could make it worse. It could break her completely. Without knowing what spell was used, it’s a minefield.”

“So we do nothing?”

Hester raises her arms at her side. “This is uncharted territory, Roux. Halle—she broke through the magic binding her mind herself, but she’s lucky she didn’t shred everything she is in the process. Without knowing the spells used to bind her, we could leave her as nothing more than an empty shell.”

“That’s not happening,” Jackson growls. “Find another way.”

“No,” Hester agrees. “It’s not. She knows things that can help us, and she can’t do that if her mind is goo.”

“Down, boy,” I say, ready to stand between Jackson and Hester. He looks ready to launch at her and, while I’m not her biggest fan, a fight between them could put Roux in danger. “We all want the same outcome, even if we’re not all coming at it from the same direction.”

“What if we just take a look, but don’t try to undo anything?” Roux questions. “Would that do anything to her?”

“We can try.”

We all focus back on the woman. She shifts, her eyes darting around. “I feel like I’m in a cage the way you’re all looking at me.”

“I’m sorry. We don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We just want to help you,” Roux says in a soft, soothing voice.

The girl narrows her eyes. “Why? I don’t know any of you and you don’t know me. No one does anything for no payback.”

“That’s not true, honey. People help each other all the time, but we can solve one issue right now. Introductions. I’m Roux. Like you, I’m a tau. My wolf side is stronger than my witch, so I can sometimes shift, but I can’t hold it long.”

“Your name is pretty.”

“Thank you.”

Her brows wrinkle. “I can’t shift. I’ve tried before and they’ve tried too, but my wolf is… stuck.”

They?

The Order.

I don’t even want to contemplate what they did to try to draw her wolf out of her.

“That’s the case for most of us,” Roux assures her. “So don’t worry about that. You have magic though?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you do anything special with it?” When she looks at her blankly, Roux adds, “I can use my magic to conjure something from nothing.” I smell the burned scent of magic in the air before a flower appears on Roux’s open palm. I’ve seen her do this before, but it still stuns me. “I mean… it’s not really from nothing. It’s like I push against the particles in the air to create it. That sounds weird, but I don’t know how else to describe it.”

The tau wolf comes off the couch, releasing her death grip on Jackson, her mouth slack. I tighten my grip on Roux’s neck.

Ease up, wolf, before you snap my spine.

Roux’s voice slides into my mind and I loosen my hold. It takes everything within me to let my mate handle things as the woman steps up to her and her open palm.

The flower is a dark purple, the stem long enough to span from fingertip to wrist. I don’t know what it is, but it’s pretty.

Slowly, she leans down and plucks it off Roux’s palm, bringing it up to her face. Her eyes are locked on the petals as she twists it back and forth. “How did you do that?”

“It’s easy. Are you able to do anything like that?”

Her brows draw together. “In the white room we’re made to use our gifts.”

It’s said so casually it takes me a moment to comprehend her words.

What is the white room?

Well, that sounds sinister and creepy.

“Magic,” Hester corrects. “It’s not a gift. It’s never been a gift.”

Someone clearly doesn’t think the curse that was placed on her and the others is a good thing.

“Magic,” the tau repeats, as if testing it on her tongue. “I went through endless hours of training and learning, but they never showed me this trick.” She offers the flower back to Roux, who takes it from her. “It’s pretty.”

She holds her palm upward and narrows her gaze on it. The familiar burning scent fills the air before a flower identical to Roux’s appears on her palm.

What the…

I know magic isn’t easy to learn. I know it because I’ve seen Roux training with the other women, adapting and honing her power. Everything has to be taught, but this tau mimicked Roux’s magic without any aid.

“What kind of training and learning?” Cade sounds a little breathless as he asks this.

Her eyes slide to him. “The kind that makes you beg for it to stop.”

“Shit,” Jackson mutters.

Even I feel disturbed by her admission. Are the Order torturing these women to draw their magic out of them?

“They hurt you?” Hester asks the question we all want answered.

“Sometimes. It depends how hard we try. Some of the others are reluctant when they first arrive, but they learn the path quickly.”

Those words hang in their air between us all until Roux speaks, breaking through the tension.

“Do you remember anything from before you went to the white room?”

She steps back from Roux, reclaiming her seat next to Jackson, and I am relieved to have space between her and my mate again.

“No.”

“Not even your name?”

The woman’s brows knit together as her fingers move to the nape of her neck where the number 9 is etched into her skin. “I’ve tried to remember that for a long time, but everything is gone. They don’t want us to remember.”

Cade glances at me, his mouth pulled into a grimace. I feel the same way. These tau are being treated like assets, rather than living, breathing people.

My hand, the one not clamped around Roux’s neck, curls into a fist at my side. The day we destroy the Order will be a good one.

“We need to call you something,” Jackson says.

I agree with him. I might not trust her, but I also don’t like referring her as the ‘tau woman’, and we won’t be using that number on her neck either.

“Clover calls me Dove.”

Clover?

First the white room and now Clover. Information might be slow to come, but it is coming.

“Dove.” Jackson smiles at her. “It’s beautiful. Can we call you that too?”

The woman—Dove—ducks her head, smiling. “I never liked it much. It never felt like me, but I don’t have anything else.”

Cade meets my gaze and I can see the silent question in his eyes: What is the white room?

There are so many questions that surround the Order. We know they have some kind of facility where they keep the tau wolves they capture. We know this because Dalton told Halle he planned on taking her there to induce her heat and impregnate her.

The thought of him saying that to her makes a cloud of red film my vision. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him again, but my brother got there first.

“What is the white room?” Cade asks the question that sits on my tongue.

Dove’s nose wrinkles. “It’s where we go to learn.”

“It’s in the facility?” I ask.

“What’s the facility ?” Her confusion isn’t feigned. She’s either genuine, or one hell of an actress.

“The place where you’re… living .”

“Father calls it the Garden.”

Jackson tightens his grip on her hand. The swiping movement of Jackson’s thumb over Dove’s seems to soothe her.

“Who is Father ?” Hester demands, coming off the wall abruptly, her tone sharper than cut glass.

The show of emotion from her has Jackson baring his teeth at her.

“Down, wolf. I’m not going to hurt your little pet,” Hester snaps at him, “but we need to know what she knows.”

“Dove isn’t your project, Hester,” Jackson snaps at her. “She’s traumatized and you demanding shit from her isn’t going to help her remember.”

“She can help us save the others.”

“You want to save us?” Dove asks.

“You’re being held against your will by an organization that wants to use you,” Hester snaps. “Yeah, I want to save you and the others, and I want the Order to suffer for what they’re doing.”

The vehement anger radiating from Hester surprises me. I always got the impression she cared more about trying to use these women than saving them.

“You can’t save them,” Dove says before she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Father will be angry I’ve left.”

“Yeah, let him. You’re nobody’s tool.”

“I’ve never disobeyed before.”

“I don’t believe that,” Roux interjects. “You fought us like a demon yesterday.”

“I thought you were going to hurt me.”

“Go back to Father ,” Hester presses. “Describe him.” She ignores the way Jackson’s body stiffens, but I don’t. My pack mate is vargr, like Cade, Wyatt, and I, meaning he’s big in his human form, but even larger in his wolf. Hester may have magic, but I’m not sure how she’d fare against the might of Jackson’s wolf if he chooses to attack her.

“Old, with white hair.” Roux stiffens beneath my hand on her nape. She’s not the only one; everyone seems to do the same. Dove glances between us. “What?”

“We’ve met him before,” I say, unable to keep the sour tone out of my words.

“What does Father do?” Hester asks.

Dove’s eyes slide toward her, and a ripple of unease goes through her. “He… is Father,” she repeats. “I don’t understand the question.”

“What about Clover? Who is she?” Cade asks.

His tone isn’t sharp, but I know my brother better than anyone in this room. He’s not buying this completely helpless act Dove is giving us; she knows shit, even if she’s not willing to divulge it. Yesterday she was screaming bloody murder at us for taking her from her captors; I refuse to believe she’s being cooperative now out of the goodness of her heart.

There’s a reason for this.

A motive.

I’m not sure what that is, not yet, but it makes me wary of her.

“Clover is…” She breaks off, a smile crossing her lips. “Clover is everything.”

What the fuck does that mean?

“She remembers her life outside of the white room. No one remembers that, but she does.” This part is said with pride.

There’s something almost sinister in the way Dove describes this woman.

Why does Clover remember, but the others don’t?

“Is that normal?”

I squeeze Roux’s nape at her question, needing the closeness between us as that ugly, churning feeling swirls in my gut.

Dove shakes her head before she fiddles with the hem of the tee she’s wearing. One of the girls must have given her fresh clothes because the sleep shorts she’s paired it with are light-years from the white dress she was wearing yesterday when we captured her. I get the impression wherever she’s been doesn’t have a lot of color.

After a moment, she speaks again. “I’m scared.”

“You’re safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Jackson gives the promise in a low voice that seems to resonate through the room as if he had yelled it.

Tears brim in her eyes as she brings her hands up to cover his. “You can’t protect me from him. He knows everything. He’ll think I ran away and he’ll punish me.” Her voice rises an octave. “I have to go back.”

As she tries to stand, Jackson grips her wrist, stopping her. “You can’t.”

“If I go back now, he’ll know I was loyal. He’ll make sure they’re good to me!”

Her desperation makes my gut twist. Jackson’s too, if his expression is any indication. He grabs her face between his hands, forcing her to focus on him. “You can’t go back there, Dove. Not ever.”

“But…”

“No, no buts. That man isn’t your father. He’s using you for his own gain.”

Dove clings to him like he’s the only thing keeping her from falling down. “Why?”

“We don’t know.”

This moment between them feels private, like the kind of closeness that comes from knowing someone for a long time.

“I don’t know why, but I feel safe with you,” she admits before her eyes scrunch closed again.

“I know, and I promise I won’t let anything happen to you, Dove.”

It sounds more like an oath than a promise.

“I know you’re scared,” Roux says, “but I think we can help you, if you’ll let us.”

There’s no way in hell I want Roux to do this, but I understand why she has to. Dove has the right to remember her past, to know who she was before those fucking animals stole everything from her.

“I don’t know. She said it could break my mind.”

“We’re just going to have a look and see what the block is and if we can undo it. We’re not going to do anything else.”

It sounds simple, but I suspect it’s not. When Halle’s mind was blocked, it took her magic exploding to break through. I don’t know a lot about what the women can do; vargr wolves don’t have magic. Alphas and beta males have a slither of it, just enough to carry out the full moon ceremony all wolves go through and to connect chosen mates together.

This is real magic.

Powers gifted to them by the Norse witch, Revna—or so the story goes. Who knows what the fuck really happened?

“If she doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t have to,” Jackson says.

I see the moment Hester’s patience shatters. If she and Jackson were in this room alone, I’m certain she would throttle him.

“Those women need our help, Jackson. Among them, might I remind you, is Halle’s mom.”

I glance at Cade, whose jaw is twitching. I’m glad Halle is in the kitchen because my brother might decide to defend his mate violently, and Jackson would not stand a chance against our alpha.

Or me.

I want Halle to get her mom back in her life. She’d come face to face with her when the Order attacked the Sanctuary, but her mom was like a robot. The lights were on, but the white-haired man was controlling the switch. There was no emotion, no recognition that she was standing in front of her daughter that she left with her sister-in-law all those years ago.

I can’t imagine the thoughts that Halle must have had coming face to face with her mother who she thought was dead, but it makes me want to give her back the only parent she has left.

Jackson blows out a breath. He cares about Halle, and I know he feels responsible for getting these answers for her.

“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to,” he says to Dove, “but if we can restore your memories from before you went to the white room, we need to try. Will you let the girls help you?”

Dove stares at him for a long moment and I wonder what she’s thinking. “Will it hurt?”

Jackson glances over her head toward Hester.

“No,” Hester assures him.

“Okay.” Dove gives a watery smile. “I’ll do it.”

Hester steps up behind Dove, brushing her blue hair from her nape. The 9 etched in black on her skin seems bolder, darker than it did before, a stark reminder that until we know differently, Dove is with the enemy.

Hester lays a hand on the back of Dove’s neck, a slow movement intended not to startle her. Dove flinches even so, twisting back to snap her teeth at Hester.

The flash of amber in her eyes as her wolf fights to the surface has the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention.

“Call your wolf down,” Hester says in a quiet voice, as if she doesn’t want to provoke her more.

“I’m sorry,” Dove says. When she blinks her eyes are a normal color again. “She’s very protective of me.”

I think how my wolf would react if he was backed into a corner like her. It wouldn’t be pretty. I’m not surprised that her wolf rose to the surface like that, even if she can’t shift into her.

“It’s okay,” Hester assures her. “Try to remain calm.”

She closes her eyes as Hester presses her hand against her nape again. The scent of magic fills the air. My nose wrinkles. I hate the way it feels, like it catches the back of my throat.

Dove cries out suddenly, arching her back to throw Hester’s hold off her, but Hester isn’t letting her move.

I sense Jackson’s rage through the pack bond. “You’re hurting her!”

The way he grips Hester’s wrist has me moving toward them. Cade too, but Roux grabs Jackson wrist. I freeze, my heart skittering in my chest. I love Jackson like he’s blood, but his next decisions are going to have consequences.

“Let her work, Jackson.”

“But—”

“No, she has to look and see what is going on, and the binding inside her mind, the magic in place, isn’t going to like it.”

“You told her it wouldn’t hurt,” Jackson accuses.

“I know.”

“You lied.”

“I’m sorry.”

The betrayal in Jackson’s expression has me stepping closer to my mate. I growl a threat under my breath, letting him know if he touches her, I will break his jaw.

My pack mate has the good sense to back down, and Roux removes her hand from his wrist so he can let go of Hester. The heavy rise and fall of his chest is matched by the pull of his lips into a snarl as Dove bucks again. Whimpers escape from her mouth, and Jackson steps back, his hands interlacing behind his head.

“Please stop this,” he says.

“It will be over quickly,” Roux assures him, stepping into his space and grabbing his face. “I know you feel like we’re hurting her, that we’re abusing her, but we’re trying to give Dove her life back.”

Hester hisses like a wild snake, pulling her hand back from Dove’s neck as if she has burned her palm. The curse she mutters under her breath as she cradles it against her chest feels like a nuke being dropped in the center of the room.

Jackson steps around Roux and tugs Dove into his arms. The little tau wolf clings to him, her breathing erratic. Blood drips from her nose collecting above her lip.

“The magic…” Hester stumbles over the words as she back peddles away from Dove. “It’s wrong.”

“What do you mean wrong ?” Jackson asks.

It feels as if the room takes a breath in, holding it and waiting for her next words. The tension is so thick, it clogs my throat. I’ve never seen Hester like this before. Unsettled doesn’t suit her.

“Whatever they used to bind her is like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

I glance at Roux, seeking answers to the riddles Hester is delivering to us, but my mate looks bemused too. “What does that mean?”

“It isn’t a spell cast by a witch or by a tau. It’s…” Her tongue darts out to wet her bottom lip. “It’s…” She breaks off as if the words stick in her throat.

Cold spreads through my body at her fear. Hester has always been such a big character here, seemingly stronger than us all, but in this moment her eyes are wide with terror.

“Hester,” Roux moves into her space, trying to gain her attention. “What is it? What did you feel?”

Her eyes slide to my mate, and I glance at Cade before shifting my gaze to Jackson. Dove is cradled against his chest still, her face buried in his shirt as if this has nothing to do with her.

“I don’t know,” she whispers.