VIVIANNA
“Beloved, they’re back,” Tristan called from the front of the house.
I was in the kitchen with Maria, helping her make some food for us to eat on the plane.
Private jets were great and all, but since this was a last-minute trip, who knew if there would be anything for us to eat onboard.
The last any of us had eaten for that day was a late breakfast, and a group of hungry werewolves trapped in a small space wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.
The sounds of people coming in the door had me setting aside the knife I was using, giving Maria a look.
“Go on, I can finish this. You have far more important things to do than making sandwiches,” Maria stated, shooing me out of the kitchen. “I can smell the fear coming off those poor women and you know no man will be able to explain it to them in a way that makes sense.”
Now that she mentioned it, I did notice the sharp scent in the air.
I just hadn’t put a name to it yet. Venturing out into the living room, I found Nicole hugging Brady to her chest, while her mother sat next to her on the couch.
They both looked around the house, eyes wide and bodies tense with worry.
Tim sat in an armchair with his head in his hands, looking utterly defeated.
What on earth do you think happened?
My money is on the fact they figured out he’s a werewolf. You don’t get a look like that unless your world has been rocked.
Guess that’s something I can relate to. Hearing you in my head for the first time was rather life changing.
In the best way possible, of course.
Yes, it’s been delightful—nothing’s ever been calm or normal since.
You better not be complaining. I also brought you seven of the sexiest men you’ve ever dreamed of. Not to mention, they’re all pretty damn amazing in bed. You’re welcome.
Chuckling to myself, I had to hand it to her, I couldn’t disagree. I was well loved and well fucked these days. When Nicole’s eyes met mine, I was brought back to the present situation and put aside my daydreams about my mates.
“Hello, I’m Vivianna, but you can call me Viv,” I said, giving them both a soft smile. “I’m sorry we have to meet like this, but your family was in danger. We needed to get you out of there right away.”
“You were at the shop earlier today,” Tim’s wife blurted.
“Yes, I was. I didn’t catch your name though while I was there…” I said, pausing with an expectant look.
She blinked a few times at me, as if she was having trouble understanding what I was asking. “Diane, Diane Truet. What do you mean our family is in danger?”
I glanced over at Tim, who looked up at me with pleading eyes, but I wasn’t going to lie to them for him.
“What I’m about to tell you is going to come as a shock, but if I were in your position, I would want to know.
We here, in this house, including your husband, are werewolves.
In the werewolf community, there is a divide between people who believe that it’s okay to marry a human and those that don’t.
Unfortunately, here in the US, it seems that they tend to frown on that kind of marriage.
They caught wind of your union with Tim, causing them to hunt you down.
People who are against this type of thinking brought him here to this town to keep you safe.
Sadly, he was discovered, partly due to a leak from our pack, which is why we are taking full responsibility in taking care of you.
There is a jet that we’re all going to get on and fly to a safe haven.
From there, you may choose to do what you wish.
If you want to leave, we won’t stop you, but Tim must remain with us. ”
Nicole gaped at me, then turned to her father as if he would tell her it was all a joke. Diane’s eyes welled up with tears and her lip started to quiver, making me feel guilty for just throwing it all out there.
“How much time do we have?” I asked Darius, wherever he was in the house.
“We need to leave in ten or fifteen minutes. Why, what’s up?”
Making my way over to the couch, I sat next to Diane and pulled her against me. “It seems I need to work on my delivery for bad or life-altering news.”
“Everything is set, so take the time you need while we have it,” Darius reassured me.
Diane clung to me like I was her last hope, sobbing into my shirt as I ran a hand up and down her back.
Nicole, on the other hand, wasn’t taking this information as well.
Setting Brady down on the couch, she got up and walked over to her father.
When he raised his head, she slapped him.
The sound echoed throughout the house as everyone held their breath to see how he would respond.
“You lying bastard,” Nicole seethed. “This is why you uprooted us from Wyoming? I can’t believe you would keep something like that from us. What if I suddenly turned into a wolf, or Brady did? What would you have done then?”
“Nicole, neither of you has the mutation. If you did, it would have happened by now. It’s rare for it to transfer, especially to a girl. It was a miracle that you were even born,” Tim started, but Nicole was having none of it.
“Stop lying, there’s no way that you could have a daughter my age when you and mom have only been married for twenty-five years.
It doesn’t make sense, and don’t even get me started on the reaction you had when I told you I was pregnant with Brady.
Sure, it was a one-night stand that went wrong, but you seemed to think it was impossible for me to even have a child,” Nicole ranted, pacing the living room.
“Not that I ever would have guessed that you were a werewolf, but fuck if I didn’t know something was going on. Are you guys even my parents?”
As much as I pitied Tim, he deserved her wrath, because the more she spoke, the more I could relate to her feelings.
“I’m your mother, but Tim isn’t your father,” Diane whispered, causing us all to snap our attention to her.
She sat up and wiped at her eyes, looking her daughter in the face.
“Your father saved us. I was in a cult, and they were doing experiments on me. Most of it I’ve forgotten due to the drugs and other things they used on me.
When I had you, they said the experiment was a failure when you reached two.
They were going to kill you, so I knew I had to escape.
Your father was one of the doctors that worked on the experiment.
He’d always been kind and caring to me, unlike the others who didn’t see me as a human, just a petri dish.
He got us out and we ran until we were discovered once again.
Your father believed if we hid in plain sight, still in Wyoming, they wouldn’t expect it.
It worked until you had Brady. Someone in the hospital must have been watching for DNA or some other marker because it happened so fast. Thankfully, there was an underground network who got us established here for the past four years.
” Diane sniffed as she shifted her gaze to Tim.
“It wasn’t a cult, was it? All those nightmares I had about wolves wanting to eat me were real? ”
Tim stood, only to kneel in front of his wife. “No, sweetie, it wasn’t a cult, and yes, the wolves were real, but they never tried to eat you.”
Out of all the things that could have come out of this whole situation, this was not at all what I was thinking it would be.
I got up, needing to move as I processed everything they’d said.
It made me sick to my stomach. “They wanted another me… but I thought Faulk wasn’t here in the US at that point?
” Sensing my distress, Rik came and wrapped me up in his arms, protecting my back with his own, nuzzling into my neck.
“You’re right. He gave us your case study to follow since your father took your pregnant mother to raise you.
They knew she’d performed the best up to that point, but they wanted more subjects just in case there were complications.
In an odd way, I guess you could say you’re Nicole’s older sister, since we used some of the same binding DNA,” Tim responded.
“When she was two and they still couldn’t find any of the wolf gene in her, they knew the experiment had failed.
They were going to terminate her and try again.
Diane took the baby to term just fine, so they decided why try a different incubator, but I couldn’t let them do that to her.
I’d already fallen in love with her and Nicole, and I knew I had to get them out. ”
Shell shocked by this surprise, I kept staring at Nicole as she did the same to me.
Holy shit, I have a sister… kind of. I never thought I would have any real family after learning about my parents.
The universe has a funny way of surprising us, but how cool is it that we have a sister.
“I hate to rush things, but we need to go,” Darius informed, making me jump at the sound of his voice.
I’d been so lost in my head I hadn’t even known he entered the room.
Rik held me tighter and kissed my neck in reassurance before he stepped back, freeing me from his hold.
Darius came up to me and took my hand, giving it a slight tug to get me to follow him while the others dealt with Tim and his family.
“I have a sister,” I mumbled. “How many of us are out there in the world, having no idea what they did to us?”
“When we take that facility, I know without a doubt, they’ll have all the records of what they’ve done over the years and what other facilities they used.
If I have to spend my entire life doing it, I will figure out that answer for you, my queen,” Darius vowed as he drew my hand up and kissed the back of it.
“But in order to do that, we need to keep you safe, alive, and out of their clutches.”
Hearing my mate be so assuring, as well as protective, was a balm to my shattered heart.
Having them with me and knowing I didn’t have to keep struggling alone was everything I didn’t know I needed right now.
Darius led me out to the SUV we’d used earlier in the day and helped me into the front seat.
With a quick peck on the lips, he headed back into the house.
Soon, the rest of my mates and the ragtag group of rebels followed, with Maria taking up the rear, herding Tim and his family out.
I couldn’t help but smile at the woman, her long gray hair in a braid over her shoulder that reached her hip.
Looking at her, you would have no idea that she had been alive at the same time as Christopher Columbus was, or that she had seen America grow into what it was from the days of the pilgrims. As if sensing my gaze on her, she flicked her deep blue eyes up to me and cocked an eyebrow questioningly.
I just gave her a smile, not really having a real reason for my musings.
Rolling her eyes, she directed her new charges to the car they’d driven here.
Neveah and Nick joined me as the rest of my crew tossed their bags into the back.
We managed to fit into two vehicles, but they were packed to the gills with bodies.
But the less we could separate, the better if we were attacked.
“Kate is very excited to meet everyone. She’s getting the pack house ready for you all to stay in,” Christian shared, breaking the tension in the car. “What she’s really excited about is finally getting to have some like-minded women around for her to hang out with.”
“How you found a mate to put up with you, I will never understand,” Darius muttered.
That surprised me, seeing as all my mates seemed to enjoy having him around. “Have you and Kate been mated long?” I asked.
“Not too terribly long.” Christian sighed. “She kept saying no every time I asked until I finally wore her down. Best day of my life when she said yes.”
“When did you start asking?” I questioned, feeling there was more to this story.
Christian looked at me sheepishly. “When I was sixteen, after we both shifted for the first time. My wolf and I knew that she was the one and only for us, no need to go looking elsewhere. Kate, on the other hand, didn’t see it that way. She wanted to check out her options.”
Smirking, I glanced over at Neveah, who was already following my same train of thought. “Yeah, I think I’m going to like your mate, Christian.”
“Why do I get a bad feeling about this?” Koit piped up from the back. “Like, I’m all for girl power, but putting the three of you together, with Maria added into the mix, is kind of scary.”
Neveah and I burst out laughing. There was nothing scarier than a group of strong-willed women on a mission. Thankfully, we were all on the same side.