Mated in Mist (21 page)

“We need to define the narrative,” Amelia continued.

“We can try,” Leah put in. “But people are so scared right now, they don’t know what to listen to. It doesn’t help that Washington has been oddly quiet except for that one speech.”

Ryder let out a small growl. “To me, that means they’re planning something. Or more than one something.”

“Agreed,” Amelia said, her voice solemn.

For the next few hours, they discussed their plans to protect not only their people but also their future. It wouldn’t be easy, and it wouldn’t happen overnight. The Talons and Redwoods didn’t speak for the entire world of wolves, nor did the Coven for all witches. But they were the main voices in this fight because of where things were percolating. Leah knew there was one wolf, a Redwood named Parker, who was out in the world, meeting with other Packs, and keeping things up-to-date. Technology only went so far. Things were starting to move faster toward a confrontation, and at least a new knowing. Leah would be by Ryder’s side for all of it. She refused to stand back and allow the world to change without her. She’d hidden for far too long as it was.

Roland was gone, but his legacy, the idea of a life not on the run, would not fade. She would live that for him because he never had the chance. She would fight for her people, witches
and
wolves.

She’d been given this gift and she wouldn’t lose it.

Once the meeting ended, the tired group of wolves headed out to their vehicles. They’d made plans for speeches, and how they would continue to try and define their narrative, but in reality, it was only the first step. If the government or Humans First came at them, they would have to be prepared to fight. They’d done their best to not kill anyone who tried to hurt them outside of their circles, but soon that might have to change.

They could only protect their families so much without resorting to a result that would end in blood and tears. That result could hurt their images, but as of now, their image was murky anyway.

Politics and media streams hurt her head, and she wanted to go back to the Pack and worry about something a little more insular than the end of the world as she knew it.

Ryder’s arm went around her shoulders as they made their way to their SUV. She leaned in to his hold and inhaled his scent. She couldn’t use her nose the way wolves could, but she still loved the smell of him. He settled her in a way she hadn’t thought possible before.

Brandon moved past them and shook his head. “Next time I’m bringing Kameron and Mitchell. You two and your mating heat are just about killing me.”

Leah bit her lip to keep from laughing, but Ryder had no qualms about chuckling. “You’d rather deal with their icy emotions than our mating?”

Brandon met Ryder’s eyes, and Leah had to hold her breath. “Their pain and ice soothes the heat at times.” With that, the Omega got into the back of the SUV, and Leah leaned in to her mate.

“Maybe we can tone it down for him.”

Ryder kissed her softly then moved back. “Maybe. It’s all so new, though, that I don’t even realize I’m doing it.” He looked over her shoulder and frowned. “Did I give you my tablet?”

She checked her bag and shook her head. “No. Did you leave it in the room?”

Ryder cursed. “Yeah. Fuck. Okay, I’ll be right back. Stay in the car.” He kissed her once more and jogged back to the building.

Leah let out a breath and got into the passenger seat of the SUV, her eyes on the building.

“You don’t have to keep your emotions tamped down around me,” Brandon said from behind her. “I’m the Omega, I feel
everything
. My brother deserves this happiness far more than I can even contemplate. I’d known something was wrong with him, or rather that something was hurting him for years, but I couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t help. The fact that your bond seems to have settled him just a little bit makes any oddness I feel worth it and more.”

Leah turned in her seat to look at Brandon. She didn’t know what she would do if she had to feel every single emotion of the Pack. She could feel the souls of the Pack in her heart as it was, but it was almost muted, as if the goddess were giving her time to figure out how she would help the Talons in the future. However, Brandon, and Gideon for that matter, seemed to have it at full force. 

“You’re not to blame for Ryder keeping his gift a secret.” Ryder had told his family that morning what he’d been hiding all those years. They weren’t happy with him, but they’d banded together to make sure he was cared for. For that matter, Leah didn’t know how she would help him if the spirits got to be too much, but she’d damn well try. He wasn’t alone anymore, and neither was she.

“I wish he’d have told us earlier, but I understand he thought we all needed to have one good memory about our uncles. As well as the fact that he hadn’t wanted to bother anyone with his pain. We’re all idiots when it comes to protecting one another from our faults.” Brandon snorted then stared off into the distance.

She didn’t know his secrets, and it wasn’t her place to ask him about them, but she’d learn one day what it meant to be part of a family. She was a Talon now—a far greater network than merely her mother and brother.

Brandon stiffened then jumped out of the SUV. She followed him, her body on alert.

“What is it?” she asked quietly.

“I thought I heard a crash.” He met Leah’s gaze. “And Ryder should have been back by now.”

She tripped over a rock and righted herself. Goddess, no. She tried to feel the bond and came up short. She still didn’t know how to work with it. It was still so new that sometimes she couldn’t find it. It was there, she knew that at least because she hadn’t felt it break, but she couldn’t find
him
.

She ran after Brandon, the Redwoods on their tails since they hadn’t left yet. If the witches had hurt her mate…she balled her hands into fists, trying to keep her magic under control. They ran into the conference room and came up short.

“He’s not here,” she whispered.

Ryder’s tablet lay on the table, untouched. No one else was in the room; the witches had left the room the same time the wolves had.

“I don’t scent anyone,” Brandon growled out.

“I don’t either,” Finn added. “Fuck. Who the hell took Ryder?”

Her body shook and she reached out to grab the tablet. The metal was cold. No one had touched it since they’d left.

“Where is he?” she whispered. Her magic slid through her, ready to fight. But without knowing
who
to fight, she came up short.

“Finn? Can you come over here?” Charlotte knelt on the floor next to the side door, a frown on her face. “Everyone else keep your distance. I think I scent something, but I don’t want to mix it with others.”

Leah froze but tried not to be annoyed that she couldn’t help. She didn’t have the senses the others did, but hopefully, she’d be able to help in some way.

Finn carefully moved toward his cousin and cursed. “It’s human. Fucking
human
.”

“It’s mixed with Ryder’s scent,” Charlotte added then moved back to Bram’s side.

Leah’s knees buckled but she didn’t fall. Brandon stood at her side, looking as if he were ready to catch her, but she couldn’t look weak.

“We’ll find him,” Leah bit out. “We’ll find him and make those who took him pay.”

Finn met her gaze, his wolf in his eyes. “Hell yeah. They don’t fucking take what’s ours.”

“We’ll need to follow the trail,” Bram put in. “How’s your mating bond?” he asked Leah.

Leah shook her head. “I don’t know how to use it, but I’ll figure it out.”

Because she had to. Someone had taken her mate, her Ryder. And there was no way she’d let that stand. She would find him as he’d found her once before. They were meant for eternity, and she’d be damned if she’d let that eternity end now.

She’d find him.

She had to.

****

Ryder held back a scream. The blade slid into his fingertip as if searching for hidden claws. Fucking humans didn’t understand that it wasn’t an actual wolf right under his skin. It was his
wolf
, another part of his body and soul. They shared his body, but not at the same time. It was magic.

The man currently slicing off parts of Ryder’s skin couldn’t just peel it all away to see his wolf. The goddess had both blessed and cursed them with the magic of their wolves.

Humans would never truly understand, and yet this one wanted to find an analytical and sadistic way to prove that magic truly existed.

Ryder had been a fucking idiot. Seriously. He hadn’t even scented the damn humans until it was too late. He’d gone inside for his tablet and had ended up with four darts in his body. He’d moved fast enough to duck another ten of them, but the humans after him had been prepared.

If he’d been a weaker wolf, he might have died from the amount of drugs coursing through his system. They’d knocked him out and dragged him to whatever building they held him in now. Though his body raged in agony at the slices on his skin and the drugs in his veins, his wolf was at the front, taking in every detail of the place he could.

He was underground in a bunker of some sort, but this was no hovel, it was some high-end expanse. Large cages lined the walls, though they were empty. He didn’t want to know why they were empty. He wouldn’t be able to take it. Bright lights covered the room, bathing it in a sickly glow, and long medical beds dotted the area. The thick belts and leather cuffs attached to each bed weren’t lost on him.

He wasn’t in a place designed to help people. He was in a place where people were studied. Vivisected. Murdered.

He needed to get the fuck out.

“He’s bleeding like the others, but he seems to have a firmer spine,” the butcher in front of him stated coldly.

Ryder let out a growl, just a slight warning before looking over the man’s shoulder at the familiar face in the doorway.

Senator McMaster.

The eagle-eyed, smooth talking politician, who had been the first in power to speak out against the supernatural. The man had subtlety put a firm boundary between humans and those who were not. The Pack had been keeping an eye on him, but it seemed they had missed something crucial.

The man had plans of his own.

“You wolves think you’re the top predator, the top of the food chain, yet you’ve spent the past year hiding, waiting.” McMaster slowly moved toward Ryder, even as the butcher with the knife kept cutting.

The slices burned, and blood flowed from his body, but the man with the knife knew what he was doing. Ryder wouldn’t die from the cuts, but he’d hurt until he did something stupid—like give up key information about his Pack.

That meant Ryder would have to do his best to keep that from happening. No matter the pain. It killed him that he couldn’t feel Leah like he should. The drugs and searing agony made his mind a little muddled—enough that he was having a hard time finding the bond and keeping track of where she was or what she was feeling. Their bond was too new, too fragile. If they’d been mated for years like the Redwoods were,
maybe
Leah and the Talons would have had a chance to find him.

As it was, he was afraid it would be too late.

He’d die with his secrets, die for his Pack, but he’d be damned if he went easily.

“It was really quite exhilarating seeing you change on the screen as you did,” McMaster continued. He gestured toward the empty cages. “The ones that came before you shifted countless times for me, but they didn’t have the same…finesse that you had when you were jumping through fire for that witch.”

Ryder’s wolf held back a whimper at the idea of so many lost wolves. He knew they hadn’t been Talons or Redwoods since there hadn’t been any disappearances, but they could have been Centrals, lone wolves, or countless others. He couldn’t let them die in vain.

“What do you think is so special about me?” he bit out. His fangs threatened to slide through his gums and he inhaled deeply. He couldn’t afford to lose control.

“I think you’re much more special than you allow others to see, Heir of the Talons.”

Ryder bit back a curse. They fucking knew too much. They always had.

“I’m going to see what you look like on the inside, wolf. I want to see what makes you tick. The Humans First movement helps my cause, as does Washington’s inadequacies, but soon, you will know what I want. And before you can do anything about it, you’ll die drowning in your own blood.” McMaster turned to his butcher. “Keep going. I want to see him bleed.”

With that, the politician with the cool smile left him alone with the monster that didn’t scare him as much as McMaster himself.

Ryder met the man’s eyes and refused to scream, refused to growl. They would not win. He might die at their hands, but he wouldn’t lose his pride.

Time seemed to drag on as the man made his cuts. They almost didn’t hurt anymore and that worried him. Ryder pulled at his restraints, but that only made the monster cut deeper. There was no way he would escape this, not without help. He couldn’t sense his mate, his Pack, but if he inhaled deeply enough, he could have sworn he was able to scent them.

Perhaps this was it. This was his death.

He’d never have Leah in his arms again; never see her grow round with his child.

His wolf pushed at him, begging him to hold on, to wait for a time where they could break free. Ryder didn’t give in to the part of his soul that had grown tired; he fought, even if that meant staying where he was.

He was wolf. He was Talon. He was Heir.

He would try to survive because he needed his Leah.

The door opened, and Ryder tried to lift his head, only to find it too heavy. Thick boots sounded on the floor as someone came forward. Ryder couldn’t tell who it was, but he prayed to the goddess it was a way out.

He’d fought all his life to keep his mind sane and his body whole, and now it seemed that a human would be the one to best him. He couldn’t give up...he wouldn’t.

The butcher didn’t look over his shoulder, but Ryder didn’t give anything away. He might not recognize the soldier behind the butcher, but from the way the soldier moved, Ryder didn’t want to halt his plan.