Page 18

Chapter 18

Persuasion

KEENAN

L ennox arrives shortly before Rush, Lock and I wrap up our meeting, giving us a summary of his findings in New York.

“I’ll be partnering with the fire investigator to figure out how Greystone’s body got there. Preliminary reports from the Medical Examiner’s office indicate he didn’t die in that fire.”

“My money’s on the missing heart,” Rush says drily.

Lennox replies, “The heart was taken after death. At the moment, we don’t have a cause of death and we don’t have any theories about motive, though it’s looking like an anti-shifter killing.”

“Have there been many of those?” Lock asks, frowning.

“No, but I think this kind of violence has been brewing and unfortunately your plan to connect the wolf shifters of Wolf-Haven with the rest of the world seems to have ignited the movement. Police departments across the globe have been hearing more and more anti-shifter rhetoric. They call themselves the Anti-Shifter Human Rights Association or ASHRA.” Lennox frowns, and, knowing my twin, I realize there’s more.

“Tell us the rest,” I urge him.

He shakes his head. “It’s speculation and I’m not willing to spread rumors if they aren’t true.”

“We’re not detectives,” Lock says, his tone hardening, which usually means he’s about to issue an order. “We don’t need to deal in concrete evidence. Give us the rest and let us decide what to believe.”

Lennox growls. “Opinions without evidence are worthless.” But he gives us the thoughts he’s guarding, “Along with the anti-shifter rhetoric going around, there seems to also be an uprising within the shifter and witch communities. There are rumblings about species superiority and placement on the evolutionary scale.”

“Fuck,” Lock growls, pacing the room. “We fought a war to eliminate speciesism and now it’s cropping up again. And it’s my fault? What am I supposed to do? Deny the shifters of Wolf-Haven their rightful place in this modern world? I won’t do it, but neither can I stomach another war.”

Lennox grips his shoulder. “I’m not sure what the best thing here is, but I will find some answers.”

“Does this have anything to do with Pendle?” Rush has a complicated relationship with the town that nearly killed his mate.

“I don’t know, but I think it’s possible,” Lennox muses. “A lot of these rumblings are similar to what your mate heard when she was in the asylum.”

We fall silent and Lock, looking thoughtful, eventually says, “I’ll need to think about all this and make some decisions. Lennox, report whatever you find. I don’t care if you don’t have clearance from your department, I want to know everything as soon as you know it.”

“Of course,” Lennox agrees, his loyalty to his family first.

“Keenan, I want you to keep your ears open when you’re among the humans. You’ve refused to accept our invitation to stay at the castle with your mate, so please be sure to protect yourselves as best you can. I’m nervous having two members of my family living among humans before we get to the bottom of this. Lennox, your connection to the royal family isn’t widely known, but Keenan, you were splashed across headlines for a week. You could become a target.”

I stifle the urge to tease him for thinking I can’t handle a few angry humans but the sincere concern in his voice stops me. “You have nothing to worry about. We’ll take every precaution.”

After that, we adjourn the meeting, but before leaving, Lennox gives me a cryptic message, “Ran into your mate on my way here. You should go see her.”

Instinct has my back up and I have to take a breath to stop the beast lurking inside me from shouting at my brother that Vanessa is mine and he can stay the fuck out of our business. He means well but he also knows what’s involved in shifter mating. He knows better than to tell me what to do with my mate. I jerk my head in a nod and leave, immediately searching her out.

I climb the stairs to our suite, my thoughts lingering on the conversation I just had with my brothers. There are so many unknowns that we may not see what’s coming until we’re mired in it. For Vanessa’s sake, I’ll have to keep a close eye on the human world.

When I reach the room, I knock before entering. Something in Lennox’s tone, along with Vanessa’s feeble attempts to gain entry into my thoughts, has me worried over her state of mind. Perhaps the wolf bite is paining her more than she let on.

“Come in,” her soft voice calls to me from the other side of the door.

I push it open and step inside, stopping in my tracks. I truly have the most spectacular mate in the world. I know all mates probably say that, but with mine it’s true.

She’s standing at the window, the light of the sunset washing her in colour, lighting up her hair, turning it into fire. Her mouthwatering curves are perfectly packed into a pair of snug jeans that mold to her ass in a way that has me wanting to drop to my knees behind her to worship those two incredible globes.

She lifts a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, her serious gaze meeting mine, her green eyes shining like emeralds. Except they aren’t sparkling from the light, they’re shining from unshed tears.

I rush to her. “What’s wrong?” I inspect every part of her I can see, but other than the bandaged finger, there’s not a mark on her.

She refuses to meet my eyes, turning back to gaze out the window. “It’s very beautiful here.” Her voice is strained.

I probe her mind, but I only see yellow fuzz. She’s attempting to block me, and though I could easily push past her defenses, I decide not to.

I turn her to face me. “Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

She seems to debate with herself before asking, “Do you want to live here, Keenan? Like forever?”

Frowning, I ask, “Where is this coming from?”

She glances at the window. “It’s beautiful and peaceful, and it seems so safe, I can understand why you would want to stay.”

“This has been my home for a long time,” I say cautiously. “I’ve never really lived anywhere else except for short periods of time.” When I’m with a mate, I add silently.

Her sadness deepens and she tries to pull away from me.

“Vanessa, what’s going on?” Still she doesn’t speak. “Tell me or I’ll find out for myself.”

She glares at me then her face crumples and tears trickle from her eyes, running over her cheeks.

I’m devastated by the change in her since we arrived in Wolf-Haven. She’s usually utterly cheerful no matter the situation, but here she’s so subdued. And now this. Her tears are a gut-punch to the soul.

“Please, Vanessa,” I beg her. “You’re killing me.”

“It’s your brothers,” she says on a sob. “I overheard them talking about me. They want to keep me here and they don’t care that I want to be an actor. They don’t care about me as a person, they only care about the mating thing.”

Relief washes through me. Thank god nothing terrible happened. This I can fix.

She thumps me on the chest as she catches my thought. “This is serious! Your brothers want to lock me up and throw away the key.”

I nearly laugh, turning it into a cough so she doesn’t get more pissed at me. My mate does have a flair for the dramatic.

“Sweetheart, my brothers are idiots.” I try to pull her in for a hug, but she resists. Thinking hard, I come up with an idea. “You want me to prove you aren’t locked up in a castle?”

“Are we going back to Mesa?” she asks hopefully.

“We will,” I assure her, “but for now, I want to show you what freedom really looks like.”

She frowns skeptically, so I take her hand and pull her to the door, then remember she’s human and stop. “Grab a sweater.”

She does as I say and returns to me.

“We’ll have to be really quiet so no one sees us.” I’m definitely playing up the danger of sneaking out of the castle. A person can leave, but not without an explanation to the guards, and signing in and out with the castle registry. It’s for the safety of everyone in the castle, but my goal is to show Vanessa that she can come and go as she pleases.

She giggles as I make a show of peeking around every corner and urging her quickly through darkened hallways as I make our way to a side entrance. I stop, pushing Vanessa behind me as I open the heavy door.

A startled guard turns a frown my way, but when he sees me, his expression smooths. I gesture for him to leave and he nods, loping down the stairs and disappearing into the shadows.

Opening the door wide, I pull Vanessa out into the cool evening. The sun has set, leaving a faint glow across the horizon. A gentle breeze washes over us and Vanessa turns her face to it, inhaling the scents from the surrounding greenery.

“Better?” I ask her.

She nods, looking at me with serious eyes. “I guess I was being ridiculous.”

“You weren’t,” I reply gently. “Mating is primal business, and the call does drive shifters to extreme measures. But I’ve had mates before, and I’ve learned how to resist the more violent urges.” Regret still burns within me over the mate I’d kidnapped. She might not have died so young if I’d left her alone.

“It’s not your fault,” Vanessa whispers, sliding into my thoughts. “She was frightened and you were trying to help.”

“So you believe I won’t trap you in the castle?”

She nods. “I should’ve known better, but being here is confusing. I love it but I’m also afraid of it.”

“I understand.” I pull her against my chest and this time she allows my embrace. “I sometimes feel that way in the human world.” After a moment, I hold her at arm’s length. “Now that we’ve dealt with that, let’s go for a run.”