Page 5

FIVE

Reed

I ’d faced down enemies in boardrooms, across the table on deals for expensive high-rise properties, and even those in the ODL who were out for our blood, and yet somehow, the moment I spent watching the news that she was my fated mate sink in for Fiona was the most terrifying few seconds of my life.

She’d been through so much, I’d intended to keep things platonic and get to know her a bit before dropping the bomb on her. Not to mention, I hadn’t had the chance to tell her between her falling asleep and getting called into this goddess-forsaken office.

But there was no taking it back, now. She’d been tossed directly into the fire, with no frying pan in sight. Now I just had to pray she didn’t run away screaming. Did she even know wolves were real? She was human.

“I— What? ”

“Wolf shifters—most shifters, actually—have one other perfect person. The one they’re meant to be with. That person is their fated mate, and if the old stories are to be believed, they hold the other half of each other’s souls.”

Fiona blinked rapidly at Olivia as if she were speaking Chinese instead of English.

“And you’re saying that your wolf —that terrifying, red-eyed wolf I saw just a moment ago—has claimed me as his? Do I even get a say?”

Shame filled me that the first time she saw my wolf I had been in a feral haze, pushed to the edge by the priestess’s threats against her.

“He’s not usually red-eyed, I…” I stopped, not really wanting to have this conversation with an audience. “If the priestess is willing to rescind her baseless threats, I can take you back to my room and explain everything.”

Every head turned toward the priestess, who stood stiffly, strange double-bladed sword still in hand. She walked over to her desk and picked up a phone. “Lisanne. Gather the other high priestesses. We need an emergency meeting, and to test the barrier. We may have a human in our midst.” She dropped the phone without further ado, turning a somber gaze on the group.

“I cannot deny protection to an omega and her pack without forswearing my vows to the Goddess. But know this—if you are wrong about your little pet, if she is human, you place every person in this enclave’s life on the line for hers. I will not force you out, but I implore your compassion. The Order of Maidens cannot withstand another blow. If we must go to war again, we will be wiped out. Our numbers are not so great that we could recover from the might of the entire ODL on our doorstep.”

I bristled at her referring to Fiona as my pet , but before I could say anything stupid, Kane stepped in.

“We will discuss it. Thank you for your hospitality, Priestess. We do not take your grace or your maidens’ lives lightly. If our presence here endangers them, we will leave. Let us know as soon as you can test the barrier’s strength.”

Marciana nodded acknowledgment to Kane and gestured for us to leave her office.

We filed out in heavy silence, my jaw ticking with stress as I carried Fiona out into the courtyard. She placed a gentle hand on my chest, stopping me mid-stride.

“I’m okay to walk.”

“I’m not ready to let you go yet.” The admission was unlike me, but true. She had brought me back from the brink of madness, and being apart from her felt like torture.

“You really don’t see it?” she asked, looking up toward the sky. The sun had risen, and all I saw were clouds scudding along, immune to the petty earthly dramas unfolding beneath them. I stopped and stared up for a moment, wishing I could see it through her eyes.

“What is it you see?” I asked gently, resisting the urge to stroke her cheek. It looked soft as velvet, so alluring, but we were little more than strangers. I felt it in my bones that she was my other half, but she wasn’t a wolf; I had to give her time to come to grips with that.

“Have you ever seen Wicked ?”

I blinked down at her, confused. “The musical? No, I haven’t seen it.” My assistant was a fan, and I’d bought her front-row tickets to see it on Broadway the year it came out, for her birthday. But that was the extent of my experience.

“Well, in Wicked , Glinda the Good rides around inside a shimmery soap bubble, basically. And it looks like that, but… stronger. More like glass than soap, and… sparkling . It’s gorgeous. Pure, somehow.” Her eyes shone as she stared up at the sky.

“It sounds beautiful,” I murmured, resuming my pace back toward my room. Exhaustion was tugging at me, urging me to den up with my mate in the safety of a small, defensible space.

That… might make her think I was insane. The gentlemanly thing to do would be to offer her a room next door to one of the other females, her own space. Or perhaps to room with Olivia, since they seemed to have clicked.

I wanted to straighten my nonexistent collar with everything in me, but the deep sense of agitation I felt at the mere idea of being parted from her right now held me in a chokehold.

I wasn’t sure I had it in me to do the gentlemanly thing when it came to Fiona, much to my shame. The hall with our rooms was quiet, the mood somber as I stepped inside to see my pack mates—minus Leigh and Gael, who were still tucked away in their honeymoon suite, most likely—waiting, staring as we entered.

It took all of my willpower not to tighten my grip on Fiona, to dash into my room and bar the door. But my pack mates had my back, and they’d taken care of her without question when I’d dragged an unconscious human female into their midst. I knew I could trust them, but the protective instincts thrumming through my veins right now were like nothing I’d ever experienced. Over three hundred years of life, and I felt like I hadn’t really drawn my first breath until last night, when our eyes had locked for the first time.

I reluctantly set Fiona on her feet. But the way she smiled up at me was worth it.

“We have to consider the possibility that we need to leave the enclave,” Dirge said without preamble.

“What?” the raven-haired maiden, Elodie, blurted as she stepped into the hall, Gael’s sister right behind her. “Marciana told us to head over here to start our assignment, but she didn’t say anything about leaving yet.”

“Circumstances have changed,” I said, unable to keep the edge of bitterness out of my tone.

“Well, you’d better fill us in,” she said gaily, wholly unbothered by the news that her life as she knew it was about to be uprooted.

“ Human ,” Galyna hissed, eyes glowing as they fixed on Fiona. I snarled as her sword whistled coming out of its sheath.

“Galyna!” Elodie cried, bodily putting herself between her friend and my mate, even as I spun Fiona behind me. “What in the nine hells is wrong with you?”

“Use your nose, Elodie. This fool is going to break the barrier. We have to get the human out of here. I won’t put my family at risk for a human.”

Elodie drew her own double-bladed sword so fast, it blurred, resting the blade’s edge against her comrade’s with a grim expression. “We are sworn to protect them. Put away your weapon.”

“Tell me you can’t smell that she’s human—you know the laws!”

“I know our oath. The enclave’s duty is to serve.”

Galyna snarled, eyes trained immediately past my shoulder, as if she was considering charging around me. But a moment later, she sheathed the sword with a huff and glared at me. “I won’t draw the blood of my own. But you’ve got five minutes to explain her presence, or I will remove you, and Elodie will not stand in my way a second time.”

“I’m sure they’ve got an explanation.” Elodie smiled at us, but she didn’t put her sword away.

Under a red-lipsticked smile was the heart of a fighter, and I wouldn’t forget it.

My control was razor thin, and I was grateful that Dirge filled them in on the fact that Fiona was my mate and that the priestess was aware of her presence here. Galyna remained on edge but agreed not to attack unless the priestess ordered us to leave again.

And then it was the moment of truth. I turned to Fiona, who still stood quietly behind me, and resisted the urge to hustle her through my door. Barely.

“We could all use some rest after last night.” I could see every single thing I’d done so wrong in this situation with perfect clarity, picturing my mother’s disapproving face as if she were standing in front of me, wagging a finger and a list of my failures. “Would you like to room with Olivia? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Fiona frowned up at me, started to speak, and then abruptly stopped. She lifted her chin before she tried again. “You don’t want me to room with you?”

No beating around the bush. I respected the fuck out of that. “I want that more than anything. But you don’t know me yet, and I thought after what you saw earlier… you might be more comfortable rooming with her.”

“You mean the wolf.”

I nodded. What else was there to say? She’d seen me at the absolute worst a wolf could be, and I couldn’t make excuses that would wipe that away. I wasn’t going to gaslight or lie to her.

“I’d still rather stay with you.”

Knock me down with a feather, she was ballsy.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind sharing,” Olivia spoke up from my side, where I hadn’t even noticed her standing.

“I’m sure. Even when he was upset, he didn’t hurt me. Plus, you have a wolf too, right?”

Olivia nodded, smile faltering a little. “She’s very gentle and a little smaller than Shay’s wolf, who you saw earlier.”

I blinked at that. Shay had shown Fiona her wolf? That, at least, helped explain how Fiona was so calm about all of this.

“I’m sure she’s lovely,” Fiona said, grabbing Olivia’s hand to reassure her. “And I appreciate the offer. But… Reed makes me feel safe, somehow. And I think I’d like to stay with him for now. Plus, he promised to explain the whole mates thing.”

“Sure, no problem,” Olivia agreed, but when she spun away, I saw the look of sadness she tried to hide.

Our newest pack mate seemed to be struggling with her place, and I would mention it to Brielle later, to see if she had any ideas on how to make her feel more welcome. But right now… I had to focus on Fiona.

I opened the door to my borrowed room in silence, feeling slightly ashamed about the mess I’d left on the desk last night before heading out to drink away my woes. But she seemed unbothered as she trailed in past me, taking it all in with avid interest.

“Are the rooms here all stone? The room I woke up in was just like this. It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, this citadel was built in the 1400s. The history books tell us it was a collaborative effort between master stone masons from the wolf packs and a local coven of witches.”

Fiona’s eyes went round. “Wait, witches are real too? Like the pointy-hats-and-cauldrons kind?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not close with any, so I can’t say if the cauldron thing is true. But most of them dress pretty normally. You’re more likely to mistake a witch for a hippie than a Hollywood-style witch.”

“Aw, that’s kind of a letdown, honestly.”

I snorted. “You’re taking this all extremely well.”

It wasn’t a false compliment; I didn’t do those. She really had taken a whole lot of information in stride in a short amount of time.

“You might not say that if you saw how I panicked when Shay shifted.” She blushed and looked away, suddenly very interested in studying the corner of my quilt.

“That good, huh?” I asked lightly. I didn’t want her to feel guilty however she’d reacted. She wasn’t running; that was enough to start.

“That good. I may have threatened to call an Uber to escape the wolf-worshipping cult.” Fiona winced as soon as the last word was out, as if I would be offended, but that was the funniest shit I’d heard in nearly a decade.

The laughter started slow, deep in my belly. And by the time it escaped, it was a head-thrown-back belly laugh. She joined in, nerves seeming to melt away as the two of us laughed at the absurdity of the situation.