Chapter 23 Zera
Zera
The familiar streets of Havenwood opened before Zera like a warm embrace, instantly easing the tension from her shoulders.
After months of working on her synthetic pixie-dust drug using the precursor she’d extracted from the everfrost blossom, she’d finally done it.
She’d created what she called pixels, and with Kraven’s stamp of approval, she was ready to bring it to her old boss, the alpha to the Haven Moon pack.
She hoped for everyone’s sake that this meeting was a success.
“Are you ready?” Maverick asked from beside her in the parking lot of the tavern she’d last set foot in when that druid had nearly killed her and her son.
The memory still made her heart stop when she thought of what might’ve happened had she not called Maverick and accepted help. If that experience had taught her anything, it was that sometimes calling someone for help was okay. She didn’t have to do everything alone.
A whisper of love and affection melted through their bond, as if he’d heard every word coming from her heart and confirmed them to be true. Maverick’s large, smooth hands found hers and gave them a gentle squeeze.
She finally nodded and managed a soft smile at the simple gesture.
Who would have thought she would crave the affectionate touch of a faeboy spy?
That her mate would wind up being a werewolf—once her enemy but now her fiercest confidant?
It wasn’t what she’d imagined would happen when she went on that blind date.
When she first met Maverick, she’d sworn to hate him, but now she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
And neither could Cole, for that matter. The two of them were inseparable. and it warmed her heart to see her son grow and thrive with Maverick’s guidance. Despite the odds against them, they had found a way to make their unconventional family work.
But with the meeting with the Haven Wolf alpha and everything that they stood to lose looming over her, she couldn’t help but worry.
What if Ryker didn’t agree to the deal? What if she couldn’t get the Havenwood territory for Kraven as a distribution point for pixels after she’d promised to deliver it to him?
Would the crime lord come after her? Would her family be in danger yet again?
She had to remind herself that Jade and Sloane lived next door and that Sloane had built impenetrable shields around the entire property and the home that Maverick and she had built together.
A safe haven where Cole could grow up away from all of this.
They were protected in the Havenwood mountains.
It was their own little piece of paradise, close enough that they could keep tabs on things in the Havenwood territory as well as have weekly check-ins with her lab, given by Kraven, on the outskirts of Mystic City.
That was, when she wasn’t in class at the city’s university, where she now attended.
It was about time she finished that faeology and alchemical science degree, and it was all thanks to a little encouragement from Maverick and his assurance that he’d be happy to watch Cole, when her half sister allowed him to, so Zera could go to her classes.
Sloane had also made the whole property hidden from the outside world, a world Zera was working to fix to make safer, not only for her son or herself but for the rest of her pixie kind.
That was the main reason this meeting was so important.
Maverick squeezed her hand once more before releasing it, bringing her back to reality. She looked up at him, and his expression was serious as he met her gaze. “No matter what happens,” he said firmly, “we will face it together.”
His resolve through the bond was a salve to her fears and worries. A peace washed over her, one she wasn’t sure she had ever felt in her whole life, save for that brief and tender moment when she’d first held her son.
She smiled gratefully at him and placed a hand on his cheek. “Promise? Even if all of this goes south?”
Maverick’s storm-filled eyes flickered wolfish gold as he said through the bond, With everything I am.
A flicker of confidence raged through her, and she knew they were an unstoppable force. Mates and partners for life.
“Let’s do this,” she said with a determined nod, and together they hopped out of his old, bare-bones truck—a much more practical vehicle than she’d imagined him having.
She’d joked that, after taking in his penthouse, she expected Maverick to own something much more glamorous or expensive.
He’d laughed and reminded her that his cover identity’s tastes and his own were very different.
He enjoyed the occasional outing into the city, but what he enjoyed most was being in nature.
It was a sentiment she shared with all her heart, and seeing him in his own element on their little piece of land in the mountains had been like coming home.
They had come from two very different backgrounds, but their hearts were truly the same, and by a twist of fate, they had found each other in the least-expected way.
The gray clouds hung low above the surrounding oaks, barren for the winter. A light snow had fallen the previous night, but it was just cold enough for the mist to hang over the ground. Their boots crunched against icy asphalt that was marred by cracks and potholes.
“Zera! You’re alive!”
A whirlwind of energy and pink smacked into her before she could process the voice. Long, slender arms engulfed her as Quinn, Ryker’s werewolf-pixie cousin, engulfed her in a tight hug.
“Hi, Quinn.” Zera laughed despite herself, returning the embrace.
“I tried your faestone so many times!” Quinn cried, her face showing a flurry of emotions that made Zera question whether Quinn was about to laugh or cry. “Where were you? Oh!”
Her eyes finally landed on Maverick. His arms were folded across his muscular build as he took a wide stance. The sleeves of his army green jacket over his white T-shirt strained against his biceps as he regarded Quinn with a mix of amusement and wariness.
Zera couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Quinn, this is Maverick, my…”
“Mate,” Maverick finished for her, a smirk playing on his lips as he extended a hand to Quinn. “Pleasure to meet you.”
A surge of raw emotion crackled through the bond between Maverick and Zera, pulsing with the intensity of something unbreakable. It rippled through the air so that even Quinn must’ve felt the truth of their connection.
“You didn’t mention how hot he was,” Quinn whispered as she looped her arm around Zera and led the way inside the tavern.
Zera felt a flush of heat rise to her cheeks as she elbowed Quinn playfully. “I had other things on my mind besides dishing the details.”
Maverick slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans—it was a miracle that he wasn’t wearing his fighting leathers—as he fell into step beside them, his piercing gaze locked on Zera with an intensity that made her shiver. His subtle smirk hinted at the thrill he took in their newfound intimacy.
They truly had come so far.
Quinn chuckled, tucking her chin-length pink hair behind a pointed ear. “Come on, I’ll show you to Ryker’s office. Careful, though, he’s in a mood.”
“I’d be worried if he wasn’t.” Zera rolled her eyes with a knowing grin as they entered the dimly lit tavern.
“Do tell me about this new project of yours,” Quinn said.
The bar wasn’t open just yet and was empty of patrons, save for a couple of Haven Wolf Pack members playing darts in the back corner. Several muscular wolves sprawled in chairs around a wooden table, nursing tankards of ale and discussing whatever pack members talked about.
Quinn led the way past the bar, where she shared a meaningful look with her cousin Vinny—the half brother to the alpha. He gave her a nod and jerked his head toward the door labeled Pack Members Only.
“Ryker’s in his office. This way,” she said, her rune tattoo on her muscled right shoulder glowing as they passed under the protected door.
Zera couldn’t help but smile at the familiar sights and sounds of the tavern.
The smell of woodsmoke and fresh pine filled the air, and the low rumble of conversation mixed with the occasional clink of glasses.
She’d spent many nights working here, and though that life was a distant past now, it brought back some fond memories.
She’d met Quinn here—the only half pixie other than her son she’d ever met—along with Ryker, who was half demon and half werewolf, which wasn’t a common combination, let alone for an alpha.
Yes, it had been a beautiful part of her life.
They’d made her feel at home despite everything her ex had put her through.
Moving to a place where she knew no one hadn’t been easy, but these were the people who had made it just a bit easier.
And when Cole came along, they had been there to support her and help her navigate being a single mom.
But now, as she took the narrow stairs down to the pit—the pack’s lair with pool tables, a private bar, and, of course, Ryker’s office—she knew it was a past best left there.
She would leave behind every tear she had shed for her ex, every long shift she had taken to support her child, the late nights rocking him to sleep—all of it.
She would do it all again, knowing that it had brought her here, to her life now. Finding her fated mate had just been the glaze on the winter-spiced Bundt cake Maverick promised to bake her in a few days on their first winter solstice.
But it wasn’t only that that had made her life so much better.
Now she was making a difference, creating a world where it was safe for her—and eventually her son—to use their powers out in the open.
A world where she pursued her passions and her desires without anyone holding her back.
And with her degree in the works and this amazing career that allowed her to work in a state-of-the-art lab, there wasn’t anything she couldn’t accomplish.