Page 18

The insistent buzz of her phone pulled Tala’s attention away from her laptop. She paused the video of Peter MacAllister’s latest speech, in which he advocated for what he called shifter sanctuaries —nothing more than reservations, in Tala’s opinion.

A glance at the caller ID revealed that it was her mother.

Tala quickly accepted the call. “Hi, Mom. How are things with you and the pack? Is anyone pregnant or getting engaged?”

Because that’s what her mother mostly talked about during their weekly calls. She always tried to keep Tala as involved as possible in pack life.

“Oh, I don’t know, Tala.” Her usually warm and easygoing mother sounded strange. “You tell me.”

“Um, what? How would I know?” While Tala regularly exchanged texts with her siblings and cousins, her job made it impossible for her to be involved in pack affairs on a daily basis.

Her mother snarled. “Stop denying it! I saw the video!”

A sinking feeling spiraled through Tala’s gut. “What video?”

“The video of you getting engaged!”

What was she talking about? Tala roughly shook her head. “Why would you think I got enga—” She stopped mid-word when it finally dawned on her. Oh Great Hunter! Her mother had seen the reel of her eating stew from the spoon Faith had held out to her! Now she was in a heap of wolf poop! “You, um, saw that?” was all she could think of to say.

“Of course I saw it! On Instagram! I had to find out from the Internet that my oldest is engaged!” Stomping footsteps indicated that her mother was pacing. “Why didn’t you tell us you found a mate? I’m your mother, Tala.” Her voice became quieter, but that wasn’t any better because now she sounded hurt. “I know I didn’t give birth to you, and maybe that makes you feel—”

“No!” Tala realized she’d been shouting and quickly lowered her voice. “I swear to you that’s not why I didn’t say anything, Ammakki.” She used the word for Mom in the Old Language. “You’re my mother, and I’ll have the pelt of anyone who dares to say different.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us?” her mother asked quietly.

Tala reached up with her free hand and massaged her stiff neck. How was she supposed to explain? Sure, she could say feeding each other was a meaningless romantic gesture to humans, and she’d only done it to humor Faith.

But that wouldn’t explain why she had posted the video on social media, where humans and Wrasa alike would see it, instead of just deleting it afterward. Her mother knew her better than anyone else in the world. She wouldn’t believe that Tala would be so cavalier with Wrasa traditions and her pack’s reputation without a much better reason.

And she had one, but she couldn’t tell her mother that. Madsen had forbidden her from revealing the truth to anyone, and that included her family. “I was going to tell you, but…”

“Is it because she’s human?” her mother asked.

Ugh. This was going from bad to worse. Did her mom know Faith was MacAllister’s daughter? Tala decided not to mention it, just in case her family hadn’t found out yet. “That’s part of it. Until the Wrasa Rights Act passes and interspecies marriage becomes legal, we can’t even get married, so our engagement was more of a symbolic thing.”

“Tala Peterson!” Her mother put a growl into her voice. “Since when do we let humans define our relationships? Just because the government wouldn’t recognize your marriage right now doesn’t mean we can’t have a twere for you two. In fact, your brother and you could celebrate both of your tweres together—make it one big celebration! Ooh! Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“No!” Tala shouted into the phone, then took a steadying breath and repeated more quietly, “No, Ammakki, that’s not a good idea. Rey will think I’m doing it to overshadow his engagement.”

Her mother made a reluctant sound of agreement. “Fine. We’ll let him and Mirella have their twere all to themselves. You and your mate can have yours in a few weeks. I always thought May tweres were the nicest anyway.”

Tala suppressed a desperate groan. “Stop it, Mom. There’s no need for a twere anytime soon. Faith and I…we’re planning a really long engagement.”

“Why’s that?”

“Look, it’s… It’s complicated. There are things you don’t know about her.”

“Well, obviously! How would we know anything about her since you kept her from us?”

“Mom…”

“But that’s going to change.” A note of determination entered her mother’s voice. “We’ll get to know her when you bring her home for your brother’s twere this weekend.”

Absolutely not. No way. She would not take Faith home to introduce her to the pack. Faith had stolen the USB drive and tried to bug her apartment. She was spying for her father—for HASS! She would use the family celebration as an opportunity to gather information MacAllister could use against the Wrasa. Besides, Tala’s standing in the pack was already on shaky ground, and bringing home a human mate wouldn’t help. “That’s not a good idea. Maybe I’ll bring her another time. But Rey’s twere isn’t the time or place to—”

“Nonsense.” Her mother rarely used the authority she had as part of the pack’s alpha couple, but now her voice carried the weight of a centuries-old lineage of leaders. “The twere is a family event, and your fiancée is now part of the family. You’ll bring her so we can give her a proper welcome to the pack.”

“But—”

“Bring her,” her mother repeated. “We’ll sort out any complications together, as a pack, like we always do.”

Tala hung her head. She knew arguing further would be futile. “Yes, Ammakki. I’ll bring her.” Unless, of course, a work obligation called her away at the last minute. Even her parents, powerful alphas in their own right, couldn’t protest when the council sent her on a top secret mission.

“Good,” her mother said. “Tell your mate I look forward to meeting her. I’ll read Humans for Dummies to make sure we’re not accidentally poisoning her.”

Humans for Dummies? That wasn’t a thing, was it?

Before Tala could answer, her mother said “love you” and ended the call.

Groaning, Tala sank against the back of the couch. She nodded grimly to herself. Yes. Jeff Madsen was the only person who could get her out of this clusterfuck.

Hastily, she called him.

“Yes?”

To her surprise, it was Madsen himself, not one of his aides, who answered. Apparently, Operation Make-Believe Mate was the council’s top priority.

“Manark, something unforeseen happened.” Okay, if she had stopped to think about it, she should have expected it. Her pack was big and well-connected. The chances of one of her many cousins stumbling across her new Instagram account were pretty good, and if one pack member knew, it wasn’t long before the entire clan found out. Thinking she could keep this from them had been naive. But Tala had been focused solely on the success of her mission—convincing everyone that she and Faith were a couple. She hadn’t taken into consideration that everyone would include her family.

“Don’t tell me you fucked up the mission!” Madsen snarled.

“No! No, sir. Quite the opposite. Apparently, we were a little too convincing. Now my parents think we’re engaged and insist I bring Faith home to meet them at my brother’s twere.”

Madsen went very quiet. Seconds ticked by like eons while Tala waited for him to explode.

“But it should be easy to remedy, sir,” Tala added when he didn’t speak. “I’ll tell them you need me elsewhere for—”

“Are you out of your mind? Why would you do that?” Madsen huffed. “No. Do what your family suggested and bring her home to meet the pack. This is a great opportunity.”

What? He couldn’t be serious! “Yeah, a great opportunity for Faith to spy on us!”

“Watch your tone, soldier!” Madsen barked.

Tala lowered her head, closed her eyes, and counted to three—first in English, then in the Old Language. “Sir, may I remind you that she stole a USB drive and tried to bug my apartment, not once but twice? What stops her from trying again at my brother’s twere?”

“So what?” Madsen said. “Even if she did that, all she would record would be promises of eternal devotion between two Wrasa lovebirds. Humans love weddings, engagement parties, the whole deal. It’ll help convince humans we’re just like them.”

“It’s an arranged marriage, sir.”

“So? Plenty of human cultures have arranged marriages. Didn’t you read Humans for Dummies ?”

Apparently, that was a thing. “I didn’t have to read it. I worked with humans all my life.”

“Hunting them is not the same as knowing them,” Madsen said. “Your pack owns a huge territory. They can avoid any contacts with humans if they want to.”

“That’s my point, Manark. Taking a human—Faith MacAllister—into our territory is not a good idea,” Tala said. “So far, we had all our dates in places we could control. She came over to my place or we went out for a few hours, then she went home. Having her there for the twere means she’ll have full access to a pack of Syak for three days—Syak who won’t know she can’t be trusted. Anything could happen.”

“Are you saying you can’t handle it?” Madsen asked.

Tala stiffened. “Of course I can.”

“Your brother’s mate is a Saru,” Madsen said. “So you’ll have backup if push comes to shove.”

“With all due respect, sir, I doubt Mirella will be helpful. She works in our IT department. She’s not a field agent, so she’s not trained to control her chemical reactions, and she doesn’t have a mate scent perfume to cover for her. If we tell her about Operation Make-Believe Mate, she’ll accidentally give us away.”

“So we won’t tell her unless it becomes necessary,” Madsen replied. “She can still sweep your parents’ home for bugs after you two leave, if that’ll help you sleep.”

Tala’s stomach felt as if she’d eaten a bag of spicy chilis. “What’ll keep me up at night is having to lie to my pack,” she said quietly. Now she understood how Faith must have felt when she’d had to lie to her best friend.

Madsen sighed. “I know it’s not ideal.”

Not ideal? Tala pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t repeat his words out loud.

“I wish it weren’t necessary, but it is,” Madsen added. “You can tell them once this is all over. I bet they’ll be proud of you.”

Proud wasn’t the first word that came to mind when Tala thought about how her family would feel when they found out her engagement to a human had been a lie. “All right. I’ll do it.”

“Not like you have a choice, Saru.”

Tala grimaced. Leave it to an old alpha to point that out.

Like her mother, he ended the call before she could think of something to say.

Almost instantly, the phone rang again.

Tala nearly hurled it against the wall. She stabbed the accept call button without looking at the caller ID.

~ ~ ~

After fifteen minutes of Faith’s calls going straight to voicemail, Tala finally answered. “What?” she snarled.

Faith wasn’t in the mood to be shouted at. If anyone had a reason to shout, it was her. Only knowing that Chloe was upstairs, asleep, kept her from raising her voice. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I said when my six-year-old asked me if you were my girlfriend!”

A beat of silence stretched between them.

“Let me guess,” Tala finally said. “She saw one of the Instagram posts too.”

“Yeah.”

“What did you tell her?”

Faith hesitated. She should get this over with and tell Tala she was done. But it wasn’t as easy as she had anticipated. Guilt twisted in her stomach. What if Tala and the Wrasa truly had good intentions, and she was about to sabotage them?

If only she had someone she could talk to, but her usual confidant—her father—couldn’t be objective about anything to do with the Wrasa, and she couldn’t discuss it with Sabina either.

Unsure what to do, she allowed Tala’s question to delay the inevitable for a minute. “Uh, I told her…that it’s complicated. Yes, I know, shitty non-answer. But what else was I supposed to say? I’m not going to lie to her, but I can’t very well tell her the truth either.” She ran her free hand through her hair. “I finally ended up telling her we’re just going on some dates.”

“Sounds like you found a satisfying compromise,” Tala said as if she couldn’t see the problem with that.

“No,” Faith replied sharply. “That’s not satisfying at all. Our fake relationship forced me to come out to my daughter. I so wasn’t prepared for that, especially not under these circumstances. I thought if I ever have a girlfriend, I would come out to Chloe by introducing them to each other, but I can’t exactly do that with you.”

“How did it go?” Tala asked more softly than Faith had expected.

“She informed me being bi was perfectly normal since she likes both puppies and kittens.”

Tala chuckled. “Personally, I find canines much more interesting than felines. But I’m glad she took it well.”

“Me too. But that’s not the point.” Faith fisted a handful of her hair. “I told you from the start that I don’t want Chloe being dragged into any of this. That was my one condition. You and your boss promised to keep her out of it.”

Tala made a growly little sound. “We didn’t drag your daughter into this, but people talk. In fact, we want them to. People talking about our forbidden love is what this is all about.”

“Maybe for you,” Faith blurted, then snapped her mouth shut. For her, the goal had never been to convince the world of their supposed love story. She had agreed to their arrangement to gather information on the Wrasa, but she couldn’t very well tell Tala that. “My top priority has always been my daughter. What if she’d seen the comments on your Instagram posts? Have you read them?”

“I did,” Tala said quietly.

“Then you know how hateful they are. I’m not going to expose her to that!”

“Other Wrasa/human couples don’t have that luxury. They can’t just walk away.” The bitterness in Tala’s voice cut like a knife.

“ Other couples? We’re not a couple, Tala!” Faith took several breaths to calm herself down. “Don’t think I’m not sympathetic, but I have to protect my daughter. Tell Mr.Madsen I’m done.”

An enraged howl echoed through the phone. “No! You can’t do that!”

“What are you planning to do to stop me?” Faith fired back. “Kill me?”

Tala went very quiet. “Is that what you still think of me?” she asked in a strained whisper. “That I’m nothing but a bloodthirsty killer?”

At the pain in Tala’s voice, Faith’s anger faded away like a flame being doused by a bucket of ice-cold water. “I…” She flashed back to Tala snatching up a strawberry with a wide grin, to Tala pouting as she lost at Mario Kart, and to the way Tala had kept her warm on the river cruise ship. “No.” She still didn’t know a lot about Tala, but nothing she had learned about her indicated she was the monster Faith’s father had made her out to be. “I don’t think that. But you don’t understand. I’ve got so much more at stake than you. I have a child. I’m not just making decisions for myself. Everything I do will affect Chloe.”

“And you think my actions affect only me?” Tala’s voice went from a whisper to a booming bark that made the phone vibrate in Faith’s hand. “I have an entire species depending on me! The very existence of my kind might rest on my shoulders! Operation Make-Believe Mate is the only thing that can stop humans from taking away our rights and achieve a lasting peace.”

A sound of disbelief escaped Faith. How could their charade have such a huge effect on the course of world history? It seemed ridiculous to think that. “That can’t be true, Tala. Surely politicians have better ways to ensure humans and Wrasa can peacefully live together.”

Tala snorted into the phone. “Have you listened to some of the human politicians lately? They’re not condemning hateful rhetoric. Quite the opposite. Some of them are spewing the same anti-Wrasa nonsense to gain votes, and it’s getting worse by the day. But, of course, keep telling yourself you’re the only one with high stakes.” Beneath the anger, there was something else in Tala’s voice—a deep fear and vulnerability that echoed how Faith felt. “Keep telling yourself your family is the only one who saw our social media posts!”

To be honest, Faith had never paused to consider whether Tala had a family or how they might be affected by their fake relationship. Now she felt like a selfish ass. “Does that mean…your family saw the posts too?”

“Yes.” Tala’s voice sounded as rough as sandpaper scraping over wood.

“Please tell me they already knew you’re gay.”

Tala let out a dismissive huff. “They knew. That’s not the problem. But now they expect me to bring you to my brother’s engagement party so you can meet the pack.”

“What?” Faith swayed on the couch, glad she was already sitting. “Why didn’t you tell them what I told Chloe—that we’ve only been on a few dates, so it’s much too soon to meet the family?”

“My mother would never believe that,” Tala said. “She saw the video.”

Faith couldn’t follow. “What video?”

“The reel of you feeding me a spoonful of the stew.”

“So what?” Faith laughed nervously. “I admit it looked more, um, intimate than I expected. But it’s hardly a marriage proposal.”

Tala cleared her throat. “Actually… That’s exactly what it is. In Wrasa culture, sharing food is like exchanging engagement rings.”

The sofa seemed to tilt beneath Faith. Was that why Tala had arranged the cheeses and meats she had brought to the Mario Kart date on separate plates? “But…but when I threw an olive at you, you snatched it right up! The strawberry too!”

Tala inhaled sharply, as if she hadn’t realized it until now. “I…uh… That was just my quick Wrasa reflexes. I wasn’t thinking, okay?”

“But when I held out the spoon for you to taste the stew, that wasn’t a reflex. Why didn’t you refuse to taste it? And why did you post the video? You knew what every Wrasa would think!”

“I messed up, okay?” The words burst out of Tala. “I need this mission to succeed, and that’s the only thing I was thinking of—how to convince our followers we’re in a relationship. I didn’t stop to consider who else might see the reel.”

Faith slumped against the back of the couch. So they had both gone into this naively, focused only on their goals, and had failed to think through all personal consequences.

Ending this scheme wasn’t going to be as easy as she had thought. It would have consequences too.

What a mess! How could they get out of this?

“Can’t you tell your family the truth?” Faith finally asked.

Tala sighed. “Madsen made it clear that we can’t tell anyone. Besides, I’d have to tell far too many people. We Wrasa live in a small, tightly intertwined world. By now, my pack has probably told every Wrasa within a five-hundred-mile radius of Silver Falls that I’m engaged.”

Wait! Silver Falls? As far as Faith knew, there was just one Silver Falls on the East Coast—and it was only a few miles from where her mother had died, in the Shenandoah National Park.

Was it pure coincidence that Tala’s family lived in that very area? Her father wouldn’t think so.

“Silver Falls, Virginia?” she asked as inconspicuously as possible. “Is that where you grew up?”

“Yeah,” Tala said.

Which meant her family had already lived in the area when Faith’s mother had died.

“Not that it would matter anymore if you just walk away. I can’t let you do that, Faith.” It didn’t sound quite like a threat, but Faith could hear the determination behind it. “Not when we have a real chance to improve the relationship between our kinds. Tell me what it’ll take to get you to continue.”

A few minutes ago, nothing could have changed Faith’s mind. But now two words reverberated through her mind on auto-repeat. Silver Falls. Silver Falls. Silver Falls.

She glanced at the huge framed photo above the fireplace. It showed her at about Chloe’s age, clutching a handful of daisies. Her mother knelt next to her, one arm around her, wearing a daisy chain and beaming into the camera.

If she ended their scheme, she would be giving up a chance to find out what had happened to her mother.

Realistically, it was a very slim chance. Just because Tala’s family lived in the area didn’t mean they knew anything about her mother’s death, even if her father was right and the Wrasa had been involved.

But then again, Tala had said the Wrasa were a tightly intertwined community, so her pack probably knew every shape-shifter in the area. Maybe they’d heard rumors.

And wasn’t a tiny chance better than none at all?

Her father would definitely think so. He would never forgive her if he found out she had rejected an opportunity to spy on the Wrasa in Silver Falls.

Perhaps rightfully so. He needed closure. Even if she couldn’t give him closure about what had happened to her mother, maybe she could at least put his mind at ease about the Wrasa. Surrounded by her family, Tala wouldn’t be able to hide behind a mask of professionalism. She would have a harder time keeping up pretenses.

But what about protecting Chloe? She glanced at the photo next to her mother’s, showing Chloe blowing out the candles on her last birthday.

Well, keeping up this ruse for a few days longer probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. The hateful comments were already out there, and Mia’s parents had promised to make sure their daughter wouldn’t get access to her sister’s Instagram account again.

For now, Chloe was safe.

Plus Chloe needed closure too. It wouldn’t be long before she was old enough to start asking about what had happened to her grandmother, and Faith didn’t have any answers.

Truth be told, she also wanted those answers for herself.

“Faith?” Tala called her name with a hint of impatience. “You still there?”

“I’m here, just thinking.” Faith clutched one of the throw pillows with her free hand. “If I agree to come with you, I have one condition.”

Tala inhaled sharply. “You’ll continue with Operation Make-Believe Mate?”

“On one condition,” Faith repeated.

“What is it?” Tala asked, relief and suspicion mingling in her tone.

“That we don’t post on social media during your brother’s engagement party,” Faith said. “Let’s give all the haters a chance to move on.”

“No problem,” Tala replied without hesitation. “Our traditions forbid photos during most parts of the twere anyway.”

That sounded ominous. “What exactly goes on during a Wrasa engagement party? And I swear to God, if you make a joke about sacrificing a human on a moonlit clearing, I’ll hang up.” Faith forced a lighter tone, trying to get back to the playfulness they had established on their past few dates, but she could tell she hadn’t quite achieved it.

“Nah,” Tala said. “The only thing that’s sacrificed is all restraint at the buffet. There’ll be a lot of food, a lot of toasts and speeches, and a lot of elders coming by to give their blessings.”

Faith breathed a little more easily. “That doesn’t sound so different from human engagement parties.”

“Well…” Tala paused as if she was debating whether she should tell her the truth. “There’s one ritual that is a little different.” Before Faith could ask for details, Tala quickly continued: “But no one would expect you to join us for that. You could stay home and rest.”

Or use the opportunity to search the house for any information about her mother or other matters the Wrasa might not want humans to see.

“Okay,” Faith said through a dry mouth. “I’ll come with you.”

Tala mumbled something that sounded like “Oh thank the Great Hunter,” then asked, “What made you change your mind?”

“I’m not heartless, you know? I realized I was too hasty. And, um, a little selfish. I thought I could just drop everything and walk away, but you’re right—I’m not the only one who’s affected by our charade. If you’re honestly convinced Operation Make-Believe will make a difference for the Wrasa, I’ll hang in there for a while longer.”

“It’ll make a difference for both of our species,” Tala said quietly. “When I approached you at that café and asked you to agree to our plan so your daughter didn’t have to grow up in a world full of hate, I didn’t just say that to manipulate you.”

Faith believed her, and that thought sent a chill down her spine. She was heading into what might be enemy territory. While she didn’t want to assume Tala’s family had anything to do with her mother’s death, she couldn’t rule it out either. She had to keep her guard up. “My other condition still stands too,” she said, her tone firm. “Chloe stays out of this.”

Tala sighed. “I won’t mention her again.”

“Good. So…when is this engagement party supposed to happen?”

“This weekend,” Tala said.

Oh shit. Faith’s pulse drummed a staccato beat in her ears. She wasn’t prepared. “So soon?” she squeaked out.

“Yeah. Sorry for the short notice. I’ll text you the details as soon as I know them.”

“Okay. Talk to you soon. Good night.” Suddenly, Faith couldn’t wait to get off the phone so she could scream into a pillow. This so hadn’t gone according to plan.

“Night,” Tala replied. Just as Faith was about to end the call, she quickly added, “Faith?”

Faith’s heart beat even faster. Would Tala reveal more details about the ominous part of the Wrasa’s engagement ritual? “Yes?”

“Um, thank you,” Tala said, then ended the call before Faith could answer.

Faith dropped her phone onto the couch, reached for her wine glass with both hands, and gulped down the remainder of its contents.

The reality of what she’d just agreed to sank in, cold and heavy. She would go undercover as Tala’s fiancée and spend the day surrounded by a huge pack of Wrasa, in the very area where her mother had died!