He knew the instant Cassidy fell asleep. Her body settled closer to his and went limp. Edensaw kissed the top of her head. Tiredness pulled at him but he wasn’t ready to drift off just yet. He looked down at his mate. Even though she’d made him come, it did nothing to settle his mating urge. It only increased it. The need to claim her as his beat at him, but not bad enough that he felt desperate to force her to accept him.
At least he’d managed to convince her to take him to her bed. He hadn’t liked the idea that she thought they should slow down their relationship. He might not be desperate, but not having even this, giving pleasure to one another, would have made his mating urge unbearable. He needed to have his scent all over her, to mark her as his so other males would know she was taken. He didn’t have to worry about his wolf brothers. It was the other werewolves out there he hoped to find that he wanted to get that message across to.
Thinking about the werewolf race descended from he and the others, Edensaw knew they’d have to start searching for them tomorrow. No matter how hard Cassidy thought it would be, the best way was for him and his wolf brothers to walk the streets so they could sniff one out. Their scent would give them away, no matter how much they looked like the mortals around them.
With that plan in mind, Edensaw closed his eyes and tightened his arms around his mate. She sighed. He might have lost all his family while he slept, but he looked forward to starting a new one with Cassidy.
* * * * *
“I still think this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Cassidy said as she walked down one of the streets in downtown Juneau.
“Maybe so, but it is the best way to find one,” Edensaw replied. “If we pick up a scent trail and it isn’t too old, we should be able to follow it right to the source.”
“All right. Then I guess the best places to search next will be at the mall and then some of the bigger grocery stores. The mall will be our first stop since we still need to buy all of you clothes and shoes. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
They’d been walking up and down the main drag for almost an hour and hadn’t met with any success. The Nugget Mall was the next logical step. At least Cassidy thought it would be. But there was no telling if any werewolves would be there shopping at the same time. She had a feeling they’d be hitting the mall for days.
They all piled into her crossover and she made the nine-mile drive to the mall. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday so it promised to be at its busiest. Cassidy usually avoided it on this day of the week since she hated having to deal with crowds. She liked to get in, buy what she needed and get the hell back out without having to wait in lines.
The parking lot ended up being close to full, which meant the mall was guaranteed to be packed as she’d thought it would be. She just hoped the men wouldn’t be too uncomfortable. It had taken some getting used to on their parts to see all the people walking around downtown. This promised to be even worse.
Once they were all out of the car, Edensaw came to her side and laced their fingers together before they started walking toward the mall. He’d seen other couples doing it earlier and had immediately taken her hand after she’d told him most people who were in a relationship walked that way.
After stepping through the mall doors, they worked their way into the crowd of people shopping. Soon they were able to find a clear spot to stand off to the side. Cassidy looked at the men to see them watching everyone who went by.
“You guys okay?” she asked. They each nodded. “Good. It isn’t always this busy. It’s only like this because it’s a Saturday. Since you aren’t familiar with the mall yet, or being in such a crowd, don’t wander off. If you do, it could take a while before we find you. This is a very big place.”
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of leaving you,” Wachei said. “I would not like to get lost in a place like this.”
“Just remember to be on the lookout for any werewolves,” Edensaw added. “And if you do pick up a scent trail before the rest of us, don’t go off on your own. We’ll follow it together.”
With that reminder, Cassidy led the men to the first store she planned to take them. There they picked out the rest of the clothes they would need. Having the wolf brothers try them on in the change rooms was an experience Cassidy wouldn’t soon forget. And she didn’t think the guy who worked in the store would either. When something didn’t fit, they would walk out in their underwear to tell her. She was glad to pay for the items and leave.
The next place they went to was an athletic shoe store. Since she had no idea what sizes they needed, she had to enlist the help of the salesman to measure their feet. He gave their boots a strange look but didn’t make any comment about them. Luckily it didn’t take long for the men to find runners they liked and found comfortable. The boots ended up being put in bags so they could wear the shoes home.
That all accomplished, Cassidy felt about ready for a rest. Not the type of woman who liked to go shopping all the time, she’d found this bout tiring and a strain on her nerves. She headed for one of the benches, needing to sit for a few minutes. The men followed her.
“Give me some time to rest my feet, then we can go on our search,” Cassidy said.
Durlach’s head shot up and he turned it to his right as he took a big sniff of air. “Do you smell that scent?” he asked before dragging in more air through his nose.
Kajakti nodded. “I’ve picked up on it as well.”
Edensaw, Wachei, Ketah and Capac turned in the direction where the other two men stood and nodded before saying they smelled it also.
Cassidy looked from one man to another. “You’re kidding me, right? You aren’t telling me you picked up the scent of a werewolf already?”
“Not one but two,” Edensaw said. “They’re together.”
“And you can smell their scent trail that easily, even though there are hundreds of people here in the mall?”
“Yes. Werewolves have a distinctive scent compared to that of a mortal.”
Cassidy rose to her feet. “All right then. Let’s go find them.”
She thought to let the men take the lead, but Edensaw grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front with him as they walked at a brisk pace through the throngs of people. Cassidy had to almost run to keep up with Edensaw’s long strides.
They came to an abrupt stop in front of a clothing store that looked to cater to younger women. Cassidy watched as the wolf brothers’ gazes turned to two teenage girls who stood just inside it. One was native-looking and the other was white. They both appeared to be around nineteen years old.
“Those two girls are what you’re looking for, are they?” Cassidy asked.
“Yes,” Edensaw said.
Said girls suddenly stopped talking and turned their heads in their direction as if they’d heard what Cassidy and Edensaw had said. They whispered to each other before leaving the store and coming over to where Cassidy and the men stood.
The native girl looked at each of them before she spoke. “Who are you guys? And what do you want with my friend and me?”
“We need you to take us to your pack,” Edensaw answered.
“Why? You should already know where to find our pack leader. Every werewolf new to Juneau knows to go see him.”
Cassidy decided to join the conversation before the men said something about having slept for ten thousand years in an ice cave. The girls didn’t need to know that right now. “Maybe you could give us the address of your pack leader.”
The native girl looked at Cassidy. “You’re mortal. What are you doing with six male werewolves?”
Edensaw answered. “Cassidy is helping us. Plus, she is to be my mate.”
Both the girls’ eyes widened. “Your mate is a mortal?” the white girl asked with surprise lacing her words. “I’ve never heard of one of our kind having a mortal mate before. How would it work? We live so much longer than they do. Like a couple of thousand years longer.”
Cassidy felt the sting of that. It was something she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. Edensaw was immortal. He’d always stay the same. She, on the other hand, would be lucky if she had another sixty years of life left in her.
She dragged her thoughts to the present when Ketah pushed past her and went right up to the native girl and buried his nose in her hair as he took a deep breath. The girl tried to shove him away, but he gave her one last sniff before he turned to look at his wolf brothers with a large smile.
“She’s one of mine,” he said.
The girl pushed him again. “Dude, get the hell out of my personal space. And I’m not yours.”
That didn’t deter Durlach, Capac, Kajakti and Wachei from crowding around the other girl and giving her a good sniff. She gave each of them a shove and let out a very quiet growl as she snapped her teeth at them.
Capac was the one who said, “She’s mine. And she’s a feisty thing too.”
“I’m not yours, asshole. And I’ll be damned if I’m your mate, weirdo,” the white girl said, accompanied by a kick to his thigh.
Obviously not expecting it since he was still beaming with a look of pride on his face, Capac didn’t move out of the way to avoid it. His leg buckled a bit but he recovered quickly.
Kajakti laughed. “I’m glad that one is yours and not mine, Capac. She looks to be a handful.”
Seeing the girls appeared to be about ready to bolt, Cassidy stepped in between them and the men. Edensaw wisely stayed outside the circle.
“Guys, back up and give the girls some breathing room,” she said as she pushed each man away so it was just her and the teenagers standing together. Cassidy looked at them. “Sorry about that. The boys don’t mean anything by it, and Ketah and Capac aren’t referring to you as their mates. It’s something else entirely.”
The native girl crossed her arms and glared at Ketah before she returned her gaze to Cassidy. “All right, then what do they mean with that comment?”
Cassidy gave her a sheepish look. “Well, you see, it’s something I think would be better discussed with your pack leader first. So if you could give us his address, we’d really appreciate it. And what are your names? I’m Cassidy, and this is Edensaw, Wachei, Kajakti and Durlach. And of course you know Ketah and Capac.” She pointed to each of the wolf brothers in turn.
“I’m Lindsey and this is my friend, Amanda. Since you’re with them, and mortals usually don’t know about what we are, I think it would be best if I take you to him. He’s my father.”
Cassidy smiled. “That would be great.”
“You can follow my car.”
“We can do that.”
Cassidy hoped the meeting with the pack leader went well. If anyone could help the wolf brothers fit into the mortal world as werewolves it would be others of their kind.
Chapter Six
They followed the two girls out to the parking lot. Cassidy marked where their car was parked before she ushered the men into the crossover. She also couldn’t get over their luck in finding two werewolves, and that one happened to be the daughter of the pack leader here in Juneau. Cassidy had been sure it would take months to literally sniff one out. Fate had to be on their side it would seem.
Cassidy drove to where the girls waited, then slipped in behind them as Lindsey, who was driving a compact car, headed for the exit that would take them out onto the street. The trip took them to the outskirts of the city where the homes sat on fair size pieces of land.
Pulling into the drive of one, Cassidy noted the large home at the end of it. She’d probably driven by it a thousand times without knowing a werewolf owned it. She parked the crossover behind Lindsey’s car before she and the men got out to join the girls by the front of the house.
“Come inside,” Lindsey said. “My dad should be home.”
They followed her. Cassidy watched Lindsey walk a little farther in before she yelled, “Dad, come here.”
It wasn’t long before she heard a set of footsteps coming from the upper level. A man, also native like Lindsey, came down the stairs that ended at the small foyer. Cassidy assumed this had to be Lindsey’s father, the pack leader. He wore his black hair long and looked no older than about twenty-five, but from what his daughter had said about them living longer than mortals, it didn’t surprise Cassidy all that much. She figured he was older than he looked.
Lindsey’s father looked at them before he turned his gaze onto his daughter. “I thought you’d gone to the mall. And who are they?”
“I
was
at the mall, and that’s where I met them. They wanted to see you.” She then introduced them to her father.
Cassidy held out her hand to shake the pack leader’s, but Edensaw was quick to grab on to it and pull it out of reach. He didn’t let it go, even though she tugged it a few times.
Lindsey’s father was quick to look between Edensaw and Cassidy. “I’m Brice. You must be new in town.”
“I’m not,” Cassidy said. “I’m Cassidy. I’ve lived here my whole life. And technically, the men have as well. Sort of. Would it be okay if we talked to you somewhere private?”
Brice nodded. “Sure. We can go to my den.”
They followed him farther into the house and down a short hallway to a closed door, leaving the two girls in the foyer. Brice opened it and walked inside. Cassidy and the men walked behind him and then divided themselves up between the couch and the two armchairs that were in the large room. Brice pulled out the chair from behind his desk and brought it closer.
“Okay, what is this all about? Cassidy, I know you’re mortal and that they are werewolves. How did you learn what they were? We’ve done our best to keep knowledge of our kind from yours. And the way Edensaw reacted when you tried to shake my hand, I take it you’re his mate.”
“I’m not his mate yet. And we just met a couple of days ago.” She paused. “I’m not sure how to say what I have to say without having you think we’re all nuts.”
Brice nodded, then spoke to the men. “What nation are you from?”
“We’re Tlingit,” Edensaw answered. “And I’m the alpha of our pack.”
“Alpha? Don’t you mean pack leader?” Brice asked. “Where is the rest of your pack?”
Edensaw motioned to the other men. “We are the only members of our pack.”
Brice’s brows drew together. “Just the six of you and no females? Plus, I don’t like the idea of another pack being in my territory.”
“I have no intention of challenging you, but we will remain as we are.”
“Then I have the right to drive you out of Juneau.”
Cassidy sensed the tension between Edensaw and Brice building. It wasn’t going to help them if she didn’t nip it in the bud right now. She butted into their conversation.
“Ah, Brice, sorry to interrupt, but you have no idea where Edensaw and the others have come from and what they truly are.”
“I don’t understand. I thought you said they were from Juneau.”
“They are, sort of, as I said. I…ah…kind of found them in an ice cave on the Mantanuska Glacier. They’d been there, sleeping, for ten thousand years.”
Brice gave her a perplexed look. “What?”
Cassidy sighed before she turned her gaze on Edensaw. “I think you’d better tell him what you are.”
Edensaw nodded, then looked at Brice. “What Cassidy said is true. We are from the time when ice mostly covered the land. We are the sentinels, the first werewolves. All of you who have come after us are our descendants. Our shaman turned us to fight the evil that is to come. We made sure the race of werewolves would live on, then he put my wolf brothers and me to sleep in the ice cave.”
Brice shook his head. “You can’t be them. The story of the sentinels, how they were created and how they slept until they are needed, is only a tale that has been passed down through my family. We are long-lived, but no werewolf has lived for ten thousand years. We can only expect to reach three thousand years of age at most. You can’t be that Edensaw. And the others can’t be the actual Capac, Wachei, Durlach, Ketah and Kajakti.”
“The shaman made us true immortals. And we are what and who we say we are.”
Cassidy could see Brice still wasn’t convinced. As she did, she figured the pack leader was going to need some concrete proof. She was sure he’d see the difference as soon as the wolf brothers took on their other forms.
“Edensaw, I think you and the others should shift.” He nodded.
As the men stood and arranged themselves in the open space in front of Brice, the pack leader said, “It isn’t necessary for them to shift. I already know they’re werewolves from their scent.”
Cassidy stood as well and stepped to the side to get a better look at Brice. “That’s not what they’re going to prove when they do.”
The wolf brothers’ bodies shimmered and blurred as they took on their wolf forms. Once the change was complete, and six black dire wolves look up at Brice, Cassidy saw the pack leader’s gaze skipping from one to the next.
“They’re…they’re…” Brice said before his words trailed off. He wore an expression of shock.
“Dire wolves? Yes.”
Cassidy has told us the wolves we once ran with no longer exist. Is this what you needed to see to make you believe we tell the truth?
Edensaw asked, obviously projecting his thoughts to Brice as well as Cassidy and his wolf brothers.
“Holy shit,” Brice said as he shot to his feet. “You can communicate telepathically while a wolf?”
Ketah took a step closer to Brice.
Yes, we all can. You are descended from me. You are not capable of it?
“No. Plus, I’ve heard of no other werewolf being able to communicate like that once shifted. We understand, keep the same intelligence, but communication is beyond us.” Brice stared down at Ketah. “You’re my ancestor?”
Ketah lifted his lupine head up and down in way of a nod.
Yes. I picked up our shared bloodline through your scent, as I did in your daughter’s. I guess not all of our abilities were passed on to future generations.
“Can you all please shift back?” Brice asked. “I’m not used to having someone talk to me inside my mind.” Once the wolf brothers were again human, he continued as his gaze lingered on Ketah. “What other abilities do you have?”
Edensaw answered. “Besides being truly immortal and telepathic, the shaman promised us we’d be able to bond with the woman meant for us and truly make her our mates.”
“We have the bond. Once we find our mates our mating urge is set off. Once we’ve claimed her fully, a bond joins us together and we aren’t able to stand to be apart from each other for very long. But what do you mean by true mates?”
Edensaw glanced at Cassidy, then focused back on Brice. “We go through the mating urge. Cassidy set mine off when she found us. That is how she woke me up, even though the time wasn’t for us to awaken. As for true mates, I can turn her into a werewolf exactly like me with one bite while I’m in my wolf form. You do not do this with mortal mates?”
Brice stared at Edensaw for a few seconds. He looked as if someone had just sucker punched him. Cassidy wasn’t feeling much better. Edensaw hadn’t told her that part about his being able to make her a werewolf, immortal and all.
“You’re in the throes of the mating urge and you aren’t feeling driven by it?” Brice asked. “And as for the turning part, you’re the first werewolf I’ve known who has a mortal for a mate. We can’t turn them. As far as we knew, the only way to be a werewolf was to be born one.”
“No, my mating urge isn’t controlling me,” Edensaw said. “I feel the need to claim Cassidy as my mate, but I can wait until she is ready to accept me as hers. I had no idea we sentinels would be so different from our descendants.”
Brice shook his head. “And I had no idea you guys actually existed. My generation is the third to have heard of the tale of the sentinels. I haven’t even told my daughter yet. We figured it was just a made-up story.”
“But you believe us now?” Edensaw asked.
“Yes, of course. Another part of the tale is how only the sentinels and the children they sired before going into their long sleep were able to shift into dire wolves.” Brice sat in his chair and everyone else took their seats once more. “So if you guys are real then I suppose the evil you were created to fight against is real as well.”
“Yes, it is. The enemy is werewolves who were created from the darkest of magic. I felt the presence of their evil slowly growing while I slept. If they should rise in numbers, they are a threat not only to werewolves such as yourself but also to the mortals who share this world.”
“And I thought lone wolves were bad,” Brice said with a sigh.
“Lone wolves?” Ketah asked.
“When a werewolf breaks too many pack laws or is violent to others, they are forced to leave the pack and go lone wolf. Not all of them are bad, though. A few are good, who would rather live on their own with no affiliations. I see we’re going to have to teach you what it means to be a modern-day werewolf.”
“I was hoping you would take on that job,” Cassidy said. “I can’t teach them any of that. I didn’t even know werewolves existed until I found them. I’ve introduced them to modern society, helped them to fit in, but that’s all I can do.”
Brice nodded. “You’ve done a great job of that. And it’s understandable that you wouldn’t be able to teach them what else they need to learn. The rest of my pack and I can take care of that.”
Cassidy didn’t look at Edensaw when she asked the next thing on her mind. “Would you be able to find them another place to stay?”
Brice gave her a questioning look. “Are you sure that is what you want? Edensaw is your mate.”
“I don’t think I have much choice. I live in a one-bedroom apartment. I don’t have the space for all of us. I think they’d be more comfortable in a bigger place.”
“No,” Edensaw said. “We will stay with you.”
Cassidy turned her gaze on Edensaw. “You haven’t claimed me yet. I think it would be better if you and the others become more familiar with your kind before we take that step. You said your mating urge isn’t controlling you so maybe it would be better if I stepped out of the picture for a while until you’ve learned what you need to know.”
Edensaw grabbed her around the waist and dragged her onto his lap. He cupped her face and forced her to meet his gaze. “You will not leave me. Yes, my mating urge is manageable, but that would change if I wasn’t with you for days on end. It would make it worse. Just the thought of it makes it dig its claws into me deeper. If we were to do that, I’d take your choice from you as soon as we were reunited. I don’t think I’d be able to help myself.”
Brice cleared his throat. “I have to agree with Edensaw. Being separated from you isn’t what he needs right now.”
Without taking her gaze from Edensaw, Cassidy said, “But you’ll feel stifled at my apartment after a while. I don’t have the wide open spaces for you to roam as you did before you slept. I can’t afford to buy a house on a big chunk of land. And the gold nuggets you all have won’t be enough either.”
“Gold wasn’t the only thing the shaman gave us,” Durlach said as he took off the leather pouch that hung around his neck. He dumped the contents into his hand and held it out. Besides the gold nugget, there were five different types of stones.
Brice stood and came over to Durlach. He picked up each rock, then studied the one shaped like a sugar cube, translucent with a touch of yellow to it. An expression of shock formed on his face.
“Well, here’s another huge surprise,” Brice said. “The other four stones are pieces of jade, garnet, amethyst and rhodonite. But this,” he held up the almost clear stone higher, “this is a diamond. One that looks to be almost two carats.”
“That really is a diamond?” Cassidy asked, probably feeling as shocked as Brice appeared to be. Finding diamonds in Alaska was a rare event. So few had been found over the years.
“From your reactions, I assume a diamond is something good?” Durlach asked.
Brice nodded. “Yes. They’re worth more than the gold. And more than the other stones.”