Chapter 2
CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE BEFORE I REMOVE YOU FROM THE ROOM
The air crackled with an intensity that preceded a storm. My heart raced, my hiss slicing through the tension before I could swallow it back.
"In this instance," she said, her voice smooth as silk yet edged with steel, "I don't mean anything by it other than exactly what I said.
" She eyed the tense forms of my mates, ready to leap to my defense.
"If your mates weren't so defensive from the number of times you've vanished right before their eyes, I'd have a private conversation with you.
But I'm not in the mood to deal with your surly mates. "
I stood frozen, caught between wanting to lash out demonically and the need to protect what was mine.
To protect them from whoever this powerful woman was.
Even though I could sense she'd easily hand my ass to me.
If nothing else, seeing Ro behave since she appeared was my first clue I was in over my head.
"Who are you and why do you have them so defensive? "
"My name is Zandia."
Trux's growl reverberated deeply, more warning than sound, almost shaking the ground beneath us. He didn't move from where he stood, a sentinel of raw power and barely concealed rage.
Zandia flicked her wrist, dismissing him as if he were nothing more than an annoyance. "Think of me as the big bad wolf. Except I won't just huff and blow your house down. I'll gobble you right up."
"Wolf shifter, got it." What was it with shifters and not being upfront about their animal sides? That label did nothing to still the unease that wormed its way into my gut. "That still doesn't tell me why you have them so on edge."
"Very perceptive, little cambion." The patronizing tone cut through the thick tension.
Trux's response was immediate, another fierce, primal snarl that echoed off the walls. Zandia merely turned, her gaze locking onto him with an intensity that sent a shockwave of power surging through the room. I struggled against the oppressive force, my breath catching in my throat.
"Check your attitude before I remove you from the room," she admonished coolly, eyes glinting with an unspoken threat. It was a warning laced with dominance, one that even Trux seemed to feel the weight of. "While your mate is absolutely delicious, I'm not going to take her from you."
The air eased as she shifted her focus back to me, but the undercurrent of danger remained.
"Hear him? Even though he knows better, his animal instinct is overriding it. Every day that passes without completing the mate bond brings him closer to the Hesolga. Watching a partially bound shifter go insane from an unfulfilled mate bond is not pretty. Though it can be entertaining."
My heart pounded, the revelation sinking like a stone in my stomach.
So that was it. That was why Trux had been so surly and irritable lately, why it seemed like we couldn't get along.
I glanced at the team, noting the discomfort etched onto every face, and then my eyes found Seph…
my first friend in the group and my confidante.
She must have been feeling this creeping doom too, the pull of an incomplete bond straining at the edges of her composure. We'd bonded not long after Trux.
Panic clawed at the edges of my thoughts, sending a jolt through my system as I struggled to piece together the timeline. How long had it been since Trux and I had claimed each other the first time?
"Zandia," I said, voice barely above a whisper as the weight of urgency pressed down on me.
"What is the mating process for us?" My heart hammered against my ribcage, and I fought to maintain composure.
Zandia was not just any shifter. Everyone's reactions made that obvious.
Plus, she exuded an aura of ancient knowledge, her eyes holding dark secrets and power.
Her lips curled into a knowing smile. She clicked her tongue, almost in approval. "Finally asking the right question, little cambion."
Zandia's laughter sliced the tension in the room, a sound that seemed rare and haunting. Her eyes gleamed with wicked amusement, and the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Most shifters don't have the faintest clue about the mating process," she said, her voice smooth and unsettling.
"Every pack, every clan, they've spun their own tales, creating elaborate rituals out of whispers and misconceptions.
" She leaned in until she was only an inch from my face, and I suddenly became hyperaware of her hand still holding my jaw, dangerously close to my neck. "So grandiose, so unnecessary."
I swallowed hard. The air felt thick around us, charged with a primal energy that Zandia wore like a second skin.
"Answers," I began, my voice steadier than I felt, "what would it take to get them from you?" My stomach knotted at the thought of bargaining with this predator, yet desperation clawed at me. I needed to know my mates would be okay.
Her gaze pinned me with the precision of a hunter sighting prey. "A trade," she purred, her lips parting to reveal the hint of sharp teeth. "Information for information. Let's not pretend we don't have things to offer each other, Parker."
Heat flushed my cheeks, a flare of anger mixing with the fear snaking through my veins.
I knew the stakes were high, too high to let pride dictate my next move.
What could she want from me? And more importantly, what was I willing to risk?
Every instinct screamed caution, but Trux's darkening mood, Seph's silent pleas… they hammered against my resolve.
"Speak your terms, Zandia," I said, forcing steel into my tone. "What is it you want?"
A glint of triumph flickered across her features, the thrill of the hunt alive in her ancient eyes. She leaned forward; the distance between us evaporated, her presence enveloping me, suffocating and intoxicating all at once.
"Let's find out how much your answers are worth to you, shall we?
" Her words were a velvet caress, a promise wrapped in a threat.
The game had begun, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to play.
But for Trux, for Seph, and the rest of my mates, I'd walk through fire.
Or, in this case, stare into the eyes of the big bad wolf.
"Under no circumstances will you bind yourself to her terms, Parker!" Trux's voice thundered through the room, each word a crack of alpha power splitting the tension.
My temper flared. I whirled on him, my eyes blazing with more than just the flicker of my half-demon heritage. "You don't get to control every facet of my existence, Trux. This isn't just about me… it's about all of us!"
Trux glowered, muscles tensing, hair bristling at the nape of his neck. His nostrils flared, scenting the challenge I'd thrown down between us. The atmosphere crackled, the undercurrent of our connection pulling taut, ready to snap.
"Every decision you make affects the pack. It's not yours alone to bear," he ground out, each word a jagged stone hurled at my feet.
"Sure, but when does it stop being about your command and start being about our choice?
" I shot back. This was a newer, surly side of Trux I wasn't as thrilled to see.
Though it made more sense now that I realized it was the impending Hesolga driving his irrationally protective and confrontational behavior.
The room pulsed with an energy that felt like a prelude to a storm. Trux stood there stoic, yet his eyes betrayed a flicker of something raw and unsettling. I watched him approach, his heavy boots silent on the stone floor, the usual air of command that surrounded him as strong as ever.
"Tell me, Parker," he said, his voice low and gravelly, "what is this team without you?"
His question hit me like a physical blow, leaving a mark deeper than any bruise.
In that moment, the power dynamic shifted.
The Alpha, the leader who commanded teams with a look, appeared before me as something else entirely…
a man driven by the same primal need to protect his own as any shifter of their kind.
Without the commanding presence he always showed, he's left behind a tsunami of emotion and vulnerability.
I had never seen Trux without his armor of authority.
"Without you," he continued, his hands clenched at his sides as if holding onto control by a thread, "there is no team.
No us." Trux, the man who seemed to wield control as easily as he breathed, now stood before me unguarded, his vulnerability laid bare.
"Of course, we are going to protect you with everything we have.
" His words were not a promise but a vow.