Chapter 2
Zeke
"I swear, I see you once a week, but it’s like you’re bigger every time!" Tara hesitates before reaching out to touch Nora’s swollen belly. "Can I?"
"Go right ahead," Nora answers with a smile.
"You are going to be so spoiled," Tara promises. "I am going to be the best aunt in the entire world."
Kyran—Tara’s mate—winds his arms around her from behind, and I can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
I love my siblings, and I am so happy for my younger brother, Cole, and his twin, Tara, for finding their mates, but I can’t help feeling sad about not having found mine.
Cole groans dramatically. "Could you please not spoil my kid too much?” He keeps talking, and my siblings laugh and chat, but my mind is a million miles away. The weird feeling from earlier is getting stronger.
Lifting my hand, I rub my chest where it feels like something is pulling me forward. Looking out the window, I think about going on another run.
That always clears my head. Right now, sitting around all of these happy couples, that feels better than feeling sorry for myself.
When I turn back to my siblings, I realize Tara is staring at me with a worried look in her eyes.
"What were you talking about?" I ask, sensing that I’ve missed part of the conversation.
Declan notices, too. "Are you okay? You seem distracted."
"It’s your turn to cook dinner," Cole informs me before I have time to respond. "Remember? You’re going to cook for everyone tonight?"
Right. Nearly every week, we have a big family dinner. We always shift responsibility for who’s supposed to cook it. Over the years, we’ve learned everyone’s specialties, and mine just so happens to be carbonara.
How could I have forgotten so easily?
"I can do it, if he doesn’t mind," Tara offers, giving me a soft smile.
"She’s been doing really amazing things with fresh bread lately," Kyran announces. "Though I guess you would need the time to pull that together, wouldn’t you?"
Tara ignores her mate’s remark and continues to stare at me.
The room falls into an uncomfortable silence, which is disturbed by Declan’s phone ringing. He answers the call and brings the phone to his ear. The way his eyebrows draw together tells me this is not a good call.
Something in my gut perks up seeing that. I’m not happy about it, by any means. But the strange feeling in my chest is somehow quelled seeing his reaction. Like I know this feeling is somehow related.
"I’ll head out, see if I can track them," he finally says, before ending the call.
"Track who?" Cole asks before I can.
"Apparently, a lone wolf has been scented in our territory. I have a general location." Frowning, he adds, "I guess dinner will have to wait, anyway."
"We can help you," Kyran offers, and Declan nods his head in agreement.
Cole stays with Nora while the rest of us head out, shifting so we can pick up the scent more easily.
As soon as I’m back in wolf form, the pull gets much stronger than before. Usually, I remain in full control when I shift, but for some reason, it feels like my wolf is in charge right now while I’m simply in the passenger seat.
I start running ahead in front of everyone, which is usually a position reserved for Declan, our pack’s Alpha.
I might be on the receiving end of his wrath after this, but that’s a problem for later. I run forward with an urgency I’ve never felt before. Not even during battles with other packs or rival Alphas who wanted to try to take over our territory.
This is wholly different. Somehow, it feels like the most important thing in the world.
The scent grows stronger the farther we head into the forest. My wolf is on edge, and my mind is in disarray as I try to understand what is happening.
I keep pushing forward, following the sweetest scent ever to exist, only to realize that the pull and the scent are coming from the same direction.
My heart races, blood rushing through my veins, and I feel hotter than normal.
After a while, we come to a small clearing.
And then I see her.
I stop dead in my tracks, bringing the rest of my family to a stop behind me. My world shifts as I recognize what my wolf already knew.
She is pale, naked, and curled up at the base of a towering pine. Even from a distance, I can see she is covered in bruises and what looks like welts around her wrists and ankles. She’s asleep—or unconscious; it’s tough to tell from a distance. Either way, she needs help. She needs… me, her mate.
We all shift back into human form.
Tara moves forward, but I hold out my hand, motioning for her to stop. "Leave her. Leave us," I tell her, my voice coming out rougher than I intend.
"What? Why?" she asks.
Keeping my eyes on my mate, I repeat, "Leave us. Go home."
“I don’t understand,” Tara pushes on.
My body heaves with a sigh. "She’s my mate."
There’s a moment of stunned silence from everyone around me. Declan steps forward and looks between us, giving me a curt nod before walking back to the group. “Let’s give them some time.”
I barely register the sound of their footsteps fading away. All I can focus on is her.
What the hell happened to her?
Her skin is stark white, as if she’s been kept far from the sun her entire life. It’s far too easy to spot the raised welts around her wrists and bumps all over her arms with small needle pricks in them.
She was drugged, I realize. Even without the pricks on her arms, I can smell something in her system. It’s sickly sweet, subduing her.
Seeing her like this enrages me. My blood boils, and I’m struck with a sudden urge to leave her here and hunt down whoever did this to her. Whoever would dare hurt my mate deserves to be ripped to shreds and left for the vultures to pick apart.
I can almost feel her pain: tired muscles, bruised skin, and a deep hunger.
But behind all of that is my wolf howling inside me. I don’t need to talk to my family to know what this means. I’ve found my mate, and my wolf wants to claim her. To mate with her once and for all.
It’s all-consuming. Every cell in my body is telling me that it’s time to seal this bond now that my mate is within arm’s reach of me.
But looking at her now, she’s too injured. I don’t know what she’s been through, and I don’t even want to try to imagine it.
I have to take care of her first.
She has to know that I’m safe. That I’m not going to hurt her like whoever it is that did all of this to her. Only then will I be able to seal our bond.
I kneel beside her to pick her up and carry her home. The moment my skin touches hers, a zap of electricity forms between us. This is what I’ve been waiting for. She’s who I’ve been waiting for.
As soon as I pick her up, her hair tangles around my arm, and I see just how long it is. It’s a mousy brown, straight, and nearly trailing the underbrush below us as I carry her. Twigs and leaves are tangled in the strands.
Looking down at her face now, I can tell she’s beautiful. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I don’t even need to see her eyes to know that.
“We’re going to take care of you,” I whisper, hoping she can hear my voice through her unconsciousness.
I walk back to the house with purpose. It sprawls on our land before me, and as soon as I see it, I quicken my pace.
Excitement grows in my chest at the idea of her waking up and taking her on a tour of the house or spending time with her in the backyard stargazing late at night. I can’t wait to get to know her and to share my life with her.
Declan and the others are standing on the porch as I approach.
“Call Doc,” I say to them as I walk through the open front door and carry her down the hall toward my room.
Nobody comes inside to see her other than me. But after a while, Declan knocks on the door and opens it. Doc Peterson stands behind him, an oversized medical bag in hand.
I’ve known him my entire life. Doc’s seen some gruesome things. But the worry in his eyes as he looks at my mate makes my heart sink.
“And you found her in the woods like this?” Doc asks, clearly already having been briefed by Declan.
We explain everything. I point out the lacerations on her arms and the bruises. As soon as he sees the syringe marks, coupled with my account of the smell of drugs in her system, Doc shuffles around in his bag.
He pulls out a bag of fluids and a few other vials of liquids. “We can’t know what happened to her until she wakes up. But what I’m going to give her will flush out any sedatives in her system as well as help move the drugs through her faster.”
Doc is careful as he pulls her arm toward him, pressing his fingers against the blue-green vein clearly visible under her pale skin. He tries to avoid the other marks from syringes along her arm, but it’s difficult.
As the needle from the syringe presses against her skin, I hear a gasp. I look at her face, seeing her beautiful hazel eyes filled with fear.
“She’s awake!”