Chapter Fifteen
Joanna
How the fuck was I Marcus’s fated mate?
I sat at my desk and pulled my knees into my chest, glaring at the cloner by my laptop.
This shit didn’t make any sense.
I was a human. A fucking werewolf hunter.
He was an alpha—with a pack he protected from threats like me.
Did he know I was his fated mate when he first offered me the Bite? Was that why he wanted to change me in the first place?
And my response? All wrong. I replayed that night a million times in my head, trying to see if I’d missed any clues.
I described my feelings for him as confusing and terrifying—rightfully so.
And I wasn’t lying when I told Marcus I cared about him in a way that rivaled any other feelings I’d experienced before.
So where did I fuck up? “Right now, that’s enough for me.” What the hell did that mean? What I should’ve said was, I never wanted to be a werewolf. End of story.
But… what did I want?
My phone chimed at just the right time, diverting my hand from my stomach to the pocket of my sweatpants.
It was a text from Malik. Walking up now.
I tried all night to open the cloner, but an error message popped up each time. Malik had more experience with computers than I did, and although my intention was to take the device to him… I hadn’t been able to rise from the chair all morning.
I shoved the phone back in my pocket and quickly tried to stretch out the stiffness in my back before padding across my loft. I swung the door open and regretted it once I realized Malik had brought company.
Dark circles had begun to stain the skin under James’s eyes, while the lines around them appeared deeper since I last saw him.
He took his time studying my face. “You look surprised.”
I closed my gaping mouth, shooting Malik a dirty look from over James’s shoulder.
“It gets worse,” Malik said as they pushed past me.
I stepped through the doorway, the cold air biting at my exposed midriff beneath the cropped sweatshirt. My gaze trailed down the stairs to where Agent Hill ascended. “Which one told you?” I huffed, crossing my arms.
Hill waited until he reached the top step to reply, “The one who was given a government order to tell us when you move. The same way you were given an order to tell us when the Alpha moved.” He squared his shoulders. “Are you going to let me in, Joey?”
I dropped my gaze to the floor in shame and stepped aside for Hill to enter.
Maybe things would’ve been different if Li and the Bureau had gotten involved. But that would’ve forced me to tell them about Latoya, and that hadn’t been an option.
Malik whistled. “To think it took you screwing a werewolf for me to finally step foot into your sanctuary, Little Red.”
I should’ve felt angry, but my discomfort was all I could manage. There were too many people in my loft. “How long did you wait before you went running to James?” I asked Malik.
He dropped onto the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Not long.” He clasped his hands behind his head. “And you should be grateful I did. Deandre is the only one here with enough IT knowledge to crack the damn device.”
“At least you were smart enough to realize that list doesn’t belong in the hands of werewolves,” James added. “We were worried you’d hand it over to Blackwood.”
A surprising sadness sagged through me. My gaze drifted up to Malik as he continued to make himself comfortable.
“You weren’t checking on me last night to make sure I was okay, were you?”
His sharp eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “I can worry about you, Joey. That doesn’t mean I trust you or your ability to do the right thing.”
“But you trust him?” I snapped, gesturing toward Hill. “He works for the people who wrote the damn treaty and then nearly lost it, Malik.” I rubbed my palms against my sweatpants. “But you do you.”
The three men waited in front of the loft as I retrieved the laptop and cloner from my desk. I held up the cloner before setting it down on the kitchenette counter.
“That’s it?” Hill asked as he walked toward me. At my nod, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to power it off.
“Smart,” Malik said, powering his off as well. “No telling what I have on this bad boy,” he muttered. “And Little Red has been lost dick-pic privileges.”
Hill groaned. “Really, man?” he criticized. He removed his suit jacket and draped it on the back of the bar stool, then sat down and plugged the cloner into my laptop with his own USB cable before getting to work.
His fingers flew across the keyboard as green symbols flashed across the screen. He stared at the mountain of pop-ups, his brow furrowed in concentration.
“Your girl’s good,” he said under his breath.
“I’ll be sure to let her know,” I lied. I never wanted to see the Blackwood Pack again.
Ten minutes later, Hill gave his hands a single clap and leaned back on the stool. “We’re in.”
All hunters sighed in relief.
“But there’s a lot to sift through,” Hill continued. “Make yourselves comfortable.”
While Hill worked on organizing the files, Malik looked over his shoulder, and James watched as I brewed the two of us coffee.
His eyes danced from my face to my hands.
He drummed his fingers on the countertop until I slid the steaming mug over to him.
“What happened to us, kid?” he asked, his pained voice low.
He propped his head on one of his hands.
“You used to tell me everything. Now I’m learning about undercover operations from Malik? ”
I shrugged. “I thought you’d be happy we were getting along,” I muttered, taking a sip of the bitter drink. “You always seem to want him around when it’s no secret I don’t.”
James glowered at me. “The stunt you pulled yesterday could’ve gotten you—”
“Leaving my house can get me killed, James,” I huffed, cutting him off.
James leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “You willingly walked into a house full of rogues, Joey. With no backup.”
“I had…” My rebuttal had been too eager, and I swallowed my last words.
“Say it, Joanna,” James demanded. “Please, say it. Say that your backup comprised of the werewolf alpha you foolishly allowed in your bed and the fucking rogue who let you believe she was dead for five years.”
The clicking of the keyboard stopped. Hill looked up, his gaze flicking from James to me.
“You’re friendly with a rogue?” He scrunched up his nose. “Wait… five years?” He brought a hand to his head in concentration, his eyes darting from side to side. Finally, he gasped, shooting to his feet. “Joey, no.”
“Yep,” Malik confirmed, taking over in front of the laptop. “Surprise. Big sis ain’t dead. Crazy, right?”
Had even Malik really kept quiet about Latoya until now?
Why?
If no one trusted me anymore, why were they protecting me and my fucking feelings?
Was it pity? Or because I was a fucking basket case, and they feared I’d lose it?
I slammed my hands on the counter and welcomed the stinging of my palms; it was nothing compared to the burning I expected as the pact’s punishment for not returning the cloner to the shifters.
My eyes stayed glued to the mug in front of me as I spoke to James. “Can we wait until they leave—”
“No,” he spat, rising to his feet. “Finish what you were saying.”
“Latoya is my sister,” I said quietly.
“She’s a rogue!”
“And Marcus can’t hurt me, James.”
“Because you’re sleeping with—?”
“He’s bound to me!” I snarled.
James stepped back as if my words had slapped him across the face. He glanced toward Malik and Hill with his hand extended.
“Did you gentlemen hear what she said?” he tittered. The two men said nothing. James turned back to me, his laughter ceasing when his eyes met mine. “Explain,” he demanded through clenched teeth. “Now.”
“Detective,” Hill tried to intervene.
James shrugged off his hands. “Joey—”
“I’m blood-bound to him, James,” I whispered.
James stilled, his arms falling at his side.
“The night I was first attacked… that was the night of the ceremony… the night I pledged my allegiance to them.”
James’s hand flew to his mouth. He shook his head slowly and barely blinked as he spoke. “This isn’t…” Disappointment dripped from his voice. “What the hell happened to you, Joanna?”
I’d been wondering the same thing.
Forming a blood oath with the werewolf was deplorable, but it was the right thing to do… at the time. The problem was this shit that I was going through now—the feelings that I’d developed…
I knew better than to trust damn werewolves.
I knew better than to form attachments.
But I’d gone and done both.
I raised my head, trying to blink away my tears. “Excuse me.”
James called after me as I sprinted into the bathroom. Instead of responding, I slammed the door shut and collapsed against it, sliding to the floor in a pathetic heap.
I buried my head in my hands.
Don’t you fucking cry, I begged, pressing a hand to my heart.
When would the pain end?
I had no timeline for comparison; I hadn’t stayed. I watched my rejection tear Marcus apart, and I left him a crumbling mess on the ground—thinking I had nothing to worry about.
Using his pain as a distraction, I’d run to the highway, where I hitchhiked a ride with an elderly couple on their way home from visiting their daughter… and their healthy, newborn grandson.
My hand began to slide from over my heart to my stomach.
But thankfully, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Marcus called only once after the party, and that was soon after I ran from him, so I hesitated before begrudgingly accepting Maya’s call. “Predictable,” I spat into the phone. “He has you doing his dirty work. Tell your alpha I’ll talk to him when I’m damn well ready.”
“Joey, I need you to tell me exactly what happened last night,” Maya whispered.
“Joanna!” Hill’s voice on the other side of the door drowned out Maya’s next words.
“Marcus… very strange—”
“Maya, speak up. I can’t hear you.”
“Joanna!” Hill yelled again.
I banged my head back against the door. “I’m not finished, Hill.”
Maya groaned. “Joey, did you hear me?”
Hill pounded on the door.