Chapter 9
Emma
Brandt and I stayed in the spring until we began to fall asleep.
My body had never felt so content to be with him.
Not even before I left had I ever remembered being so complete.
Perhaps I needed the time away to truly appreciate how wonderful and perfect Brandt was for me.
There was no denying our mates any longer—we would be together for the rest of our lives.
I woke to his large, yet soft hand brushing against my shoulder. We’d slept in our room once we returned, and although it was only for a few hours, it was the best sleep I’d had in a long time.
“Emma, wake up,” he whispered.
“Do I have to?” I grumbled.
Through his laughter, he kissed my cheek. “Yes.”
I opened one eye just wide enough to see that it wasn’t very bright outside yet. “What time is it?”
“Seven.”
“In the morning?”
He laughed again. “Yes. Get up.” I mumbled something incoherent, so he shook me again. “Please, it’s important.”
Curiosity getting the best of me, I pushed the covers back and exposed my naked body to Brandt. He watched me closely, eyes eating up every inch like he’d never be filled. I was on my side, but I slowly rolled onto my back and spread my legs a little wider, pushing my hips up into the air.
He cleared his throat and bit his lip. I heard the low rumble and found myself getting wet already.
“Can I interest you in something else?” I teased.
Brandt let out a moan and dropped his head into his hands. A piece of paper dangled from his fingers while he stayed crouched on the floor next to the bed. “You’re killing me, Emma.”
“I know.”
He looked up at me with such a brilliant smile, my insides melted away into mush. Heart pounding and sex throbbing for him, I wished we could stay locked up in this room forever.
Brandt let his hand, the one not holding the paper, fall onto my stomach, and he slowly slid it down between my legs.
When his finger slipped into my wetness, he sucked in a quick breath.
He gently rubbed back and forth, covering my whole area, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment.
But it ended too quickly when Brandt jumped to his feet and walked to the end of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I pleaded. My body craved his so badly right now, it physically hurt to have him be so far away.
“Believe me, there’s nothing else I’d rather do more than jump on that bed and fuck you into oblivion.”
My sex throbbed again with his words, and I saw his nostrils flare at the number of pheromones I was releasing.
“But I found this attached to the mailbox this morning, and I need to take care of it now.” He held out the letter, the worried look in his eyes telling me that this was something serious.
“Oh no, what happened?” I asked, sitting up and crawling to the end of the bed so I could grab the letter. “Is someone else hurt?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Scanning the handwritten note, I read it two times before saying anything. “Scarlett Kani? The enforcer of the Tik’a pack?”
“Looks like it.” Brandt took back the letter and examined it again. “She’s good people. And this,” he flicked the paper, “this could give us the answers we need to find Dixon’s killer.”
While I hadn’t forgotten about Dixon’s death, after the events of last night, it felt like it had been more than a day.
Deep sadness took hold of my chest, and I did my best to push it back down now.
Being sad wouldn’t bring Dixon back, but I could at least help Brandt get some answers and feel like I was contributing to the clan again.
“Can you trust her?”
“What do you mean?” Brandt said, distracted by something else.
“I mean, she’s asking you to come onto their territory and speak with them. It could be a trap.”
He sighed and dragged his gaze over my breasts. They tingled with that look. “I don’t know. Do you think it’s a trap?”
I shook my head. “Scarlett’s never been a liar.
She’s robotic and practical, not a schemer.
” While I hadn’t talked to Scarlett in many years, her reputation as a fair leader and enforcer had always taken precedence.
Her uncle was the pack alpha, but rumor had it that she was the one running the show.
“That’s what I think, too.” Brandt read the letter again. “If she’s suggesting a meeting, I think we need to go.”
“Have you told your brothers or Derrick?”
“No.”
“Are you going to?”
“No,” he said a little too quickly. “I’m telling you.”
My heart swelled with warmth and pride. Brandt, the presumed alpha, and my mate trusted me with this news before all others. Bo had been right, I would need to be a strong partner for Brandt because Brandt would treat me as an equal. And I loved him so much for that right now.
“All right. We should go then,” I said, jumping out of bed and running into the closet where I’d stored my bag. In a few minutes, I had my jeans and T-shirt on, pulled my hair back into a ponytail, and slipped on my sandals.
When I emerged, Brandt stood still, smiling down at me in that hungry way again. “What?” I asked.
“I love you,” he said.
“Well, good,” I teased, pressing up to my toes so I could kiss him, “because I love you too.” Slapping his tight ass, I walked past him and stepped into the hallway. “Come on, let’s go talk to a werewolf.”
The pack’s land bordered our own, but with the lack of roads traveling between the two areas, it took us a little more than an hour before we arrived outside the trailer park where most of their members lived.
Brandt pulled to a stop near the sign that said Bristling Pine Estates.
Carved out in a single piece of cedar, the letters had been burned into the wood, and the ground around it was landscaped with fresh flowers in full bloom for the summer.
“Are we sure about this?” Brandt asked.
I reached over and squeezed his thigh. “Yes. We have to trust someone.”
Brandt pulled forward, and the second we crossed into the park, I swear I felt a tingle in the air. Like magic, only not. I didn’t say anything, fearing that Brandt would just laugh at me and say I was being overly cautious.
Each trailer had been covered in wood siding, making the buildings look like they’d always been a part of the forest. Small, yet manicured plots of grass surrounded every trailer, the only difference being the color of the doors on each house.
As we rounded the first turn, several tall but skinny men stepped into the road in front of us.
Their dark hair, bright green eyes, and warning glares had Brandt stopping as soon as he could.
“Here we go,” he muttered.
“Yep,” I added, trying to make myself leave his truck and face whatever it was Scarlett wanted us here for.
Brandt opened his door and had one foot on the dirt road before his cell phone rang. Pulling it from his back pocket, he glanced at the screen and then quickly silenced the call. He placed the phone in the center console and turned away from me.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Derrick.”
“Should you answer?”
Brandt glanced up ahead at the crowd of wolf shifters gathering in front of us. “It would be rude.”
With a nod, I agreed with his point and jumped out the door.
We met in front of the truck, where Brandt grabbed my hand and held on tight.
At least twenty wolves in human form stood in front of us, but my bear sensed a few animals lingering in the woods nearby.
I suddenly felt uneasy and wanted to shift into my bear so that I could protect us if anything went wrong.
“There is no need to be frightened,” a sharp female voice said from somewhere up ahead. “You are a guest and you have my word, no harm will come to you here.”
“Scarlett?” Brandt asked.
The men didn’t move when a tall, slim but athletic Kenaitze female with a long, dark braid hanging on one side of her body weaved her way through them.
She wore all black from her shoes to her leather vest, and her eyes glowed a greenish-yellowish color when the sunlight hit them just right.
“Brandt Callaghan,” she nodded. “Thank you for coming.”
He replied with a slight head bob and squeezed my hand even tighter. “Can we speak somewhere private?” he asked.
Scarlett smiled, her perfect teeth showing through. She was beautiful, and despite being the pack enforcer, she appeared to have the confidence of a successful woman as well. “Please, follow me.” She waved us forward and then turned her back—a sign that even two grizzlies didn’t concern her.
The men parted as we stepped through. Scarlett led us toward the last trailer at the end of the road.
She walked with only one other, a teenage boy who spoke close to her ear so that we couldn’t hear.
A group of young children rushed up to our sides and quickly surrounded us in a circle of laughter and squeals.
They chatted in their native Dena’ina language, a dialect only a small number of Kenaitze still spoke.
I had known that they kept their language alive in this particular shifter pack, and I’d always loved that the elders had passed all traditions on to their young ones—both animal and human traditions alike.
An elderly woman shuffled over from the front porch of one of the trailers and yelled at the children.
She shooed them away and after a few minutes, they complied.
Smiling kindly at us, her eyes traveled to our clasped hands and then focused just on me.
She lifted her hands to the sky and twirled in a circle three times, chanting the same few words over and over.
I only caught one of them, chadaka’a, and knew that it was one of their words for bear.
Brandt leaned into me and whispered in my ear. “I think we’re being blessed.”
“Really?” I asked, eyes still on the woman.
She continued to chant and stomp her feet and then finally she came to a rest by my side. Suddenly, she rested one hand on our clasped hands and one hand on my stomach. “Un ni?qetni. Qaduni?hdetnesh.”