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“I got you,” he said and pulled out his cell. I nodded and turned away. I started for the homes of each young shifter, doing what I promised them recently. I would keep the monsters away from them. If that bastard Aeron thought he and whatever demon could come for my Pack, they both had it wrong. I would protect my Mate, my Pack, and my brothers by sending them both to Hell.
* * *
DEVANA
I moved over to the bed, throwing my bag down and hating that I had my family worried. Watching Dax and his Pack die gutted me when I continued having that vision. For so long, I studied the Rayne Pack shifters and Dax especially. I opened the book of scrolls entrusted to my sister and me by our father to learn the Rayne Pack’s history. The two Alpha parents produced seven Alphas children and the prophecy that came with them. It had drawn me to him from the start. The vivid way the drawing captured his violet eyes haunted me at night before I fell into sleep. It was just something about him standing bloody in one of the most significant wars that destroyed the trust shifters had with Hunters. I never understood why we stayed out of that war, and when I asked about it, I was told it had nothing to do with demons, therefore, nothing to do with Hunters. I turned to the page with the drawing of his face and remembered how those eyes caressed my skin. How his mouth felt on mine as I rubbed up against him placing my feelings into him.
“Shit,” I muttered and slammed the book closed. I threw it on the bed and dug through the bag for my Hunter clothing. I looked toward the bathroom and at the clock ticking on the wall and figured I still had some time before the meeting took place. I read in the book that at 12:12 am, wolf shifter kind comes together for their Pack meetings: unless it was for punishment, it could be immediate. It was close to 9:30 pm now, so I had a few hours to spare. I put the book back inside my bag, grabbed my lavender vanilla sugar scrub and soap. I undressed while walking into the bathroom. It was larger than I thought, with a walk-in shower that seemed to have a button for anything you may need while washing. The double sinks with clean towels and clothes sat in a neat pile. Next to the sinks sat a claw-foot tub opposite the shower, and I forgot about the large shower. I had to relax and reign in my gift to make others feel what I wanted them to feel. “Hell, maybe Dali is right. Being here can’t be a good idea.” I mumbled as I ran the water, letting it get hot. I placed my clothes in a folded pile next to the sink and stepped into the water.
As I slid down, I found the tub was deeper than I thought and moaned at the scalding water massaging my body. I could tell that I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I didn’t want to sit in the tub for too long and pass out, missing the meeting. I had to have been in the water for twenty minutes or so, but I knew I had to get out. I wanted to walk around the Pack lands and find the pit where the meeting will be held that he thinks I am not attending. Quinn did not ask me to be here and not be a part of whatever defense or plans the Pack will decide on doing. I knew the other shifters here did not trust me, so I wanted to be upfront about what I was doing here, not hidden away while Dax spoke for me. This is a turning point for ourkindto reconnect, and that is how I had to look at it. Just thinking his name brought up his violet eyes, massive frames, and powerful hands. My core ached, and I couldn’t stop myself from letting a hand that rested on the side of the tub slip beneath the waters to run over my throbbing clit. I was tall, but Dax was a tree, and I wanted to climb him and feel his heated skin against mine.
“Fuck, Dax…” I moaned as my fingers moved faster.
“Shouldn’t you moan my name when I’m inside you, Mate?” I gasped and leaned forward as my eyes flew open. I used an arm to hide my breast that had been on display beforehand, but I would not give his ass the satisfaction.
“What the fuck, Dax? Does a locked door mean nothing to you?” I gritted. I knew my eyes were flashing with irritation, so the usual green was probably hazel now. His heated gaze ran over me, and I could tell by the bulge in his jeans if I gave in an inch, he would take a mile. I watched as his wolf pulled back inside, barely able to contain the attraction I was throwing off. This was a bad idea, and I should have thought about coming here. He reigned in his hunger and then narrowed his eyes at me as if I had done something.
“Locked doors don’t mean shit when it’s in my home, but fuck all that, Devana. If you think I will not enter after I knocked for ten minutes to check on my Mate, you are seriously mistaken. We will get to that MATE fact later. How about we talk about this,” he growled. That was when I noticed he held up the book of scrolls, and it was opened to the picture I stared at not too long ago.
“Shit!” He raised a single midnight black eyebrow, waiting for an answer I didn’t have. How do you tell a person you have a book about the complete history of his family?
* * *
DAX
I left my Mate in the bathroom to finish up and moved over to the window. I pulled the curtains closed even though she faced away from any other houses on the property. There was still a possibility that someone could be roaming the woods or grounds, and I wasn’t having that. No matter how irritated I was at the moment, no one saw my Mate’s body but me. I didn’t plan on walking inside at first, but I felt a fear I hadn’t before when I didn’t get an answer. I knew once I was inside that I was irrational, but the thoughts of something happening to my Mate on my land had my wolf seeing red. Once inside, I knew exactly what happened and where she was, and the wolf backed away from the edge. I always held tight control over my wolf, but I would have to work on it when it came to my Mate. If I hadn’t gone inside, I would have never spotted that book, and if not for Cassandra, I wouldn’t have known what was inside. I knew the cover and what was written inside of it. What I couldn’t understand was how would Devana had gotten it. This was one of Cassandra’s personal Journals that I teased her about writing. I never tried to see what was written inside, but she told me it was about her and me.
I reached inside her bag, grabbed the journal, which I realized was now a complete book. I opened it, seeing the pages or scrolls inside. I could smell Devana’s scent all over it as if she carried it with her daily. I brought it closer to my nose and found the scroll that most held her scent. I stared at a picture of myself on the night I called for Cassandra to come, but she never did. I knew this was her book, but she was not there. If she wasn’t, then who was to capture this drawing correctly?
“Dax, it’s not okay for you to just go through my things.” Her melodic, slightly accented voice had me turning away from my thoughts. I watched as she carried her clothes to her bag in one hand while holding her towel tightly.
“This isn’t your thing, Devana. This book doesn’t belong to you nor your family.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice, but I failed. I watched as the green eyes flared and her honey brown skin flushed red.
“That book has been in my family since before I was born! Give the book to me, please.”
“This book is about me! Without me even reading it, I know because I fucking know who wrote it!” I saw Devana’s eyes widen at my words.
“I need to get dressed, and you need to leave. You want the book, take it.” She snapped. She turned her back to me and grabbed her clothes that were on the bed.
“Are you sure that is what you want? You don’t want to tell me why your scent is so heavily on my drawing? Or where did your family get this journal of my fucking life? Why would a Hunter family even keep something like this?”
“A journal? What are you talking about, what journal? That book was written to tell the counts of your family. It is not a journal. It is meant to help learn your wolves’ strengths and weaknesses so that younger Hunters can be taught how to survive against your kind. We have stories about all wolf shifter kinds that first walked this earth. This one is just about your family and what happened.”
“So you mean to tell me there isn’t anything inside about Cassandra and me? Nothing at all about the Hunter that wrote this book?” I asked, getting closer to her.
“What? How the hell do you know Cassandra Cross? She wrote the beginning, but I don’t know who else finished it to this point. It has become harder to keep the records.” Finally, I was close enough that she took a step back, craning her neck to look up. Her green eyes danced between grey, green, and brown as she glared up at me.
“What exactly do you mean up until this point? The picture of me drawn in here shouldn’t even exist because not one of you, Hunter, showed up to help with that battle.” I heard the growl, but I couldn’t help it. Devana stepped back again, but my arm grabbed her free hand and stopped her from moving away from me.
“Hunters were there, but they did not feel as if they should interfere with your troubles. So they recorded it but stayed out of the fight,” she whispered. I could feel through the bond-forming that told me that she was reciting something that was said to her. She had no firsthand knowledge of how much damage the Hunters had caused by not stepping in to help.
“You come here and tell me that I am supposed to trust that you, a Hunter, are here to help? You bring the very proof that Hunter’s do not deserve our trust.” Devana held my eyes, not saying a word. I doubted my mating bond at this point. How would I know if she didn’t just come here to do what was done years ago? Devana is a Hunter, and that is someone I could never trust.
“I am here to help, Dax,” she said firmly.
“No. This doesn’t seem right, no matter what my wolf is telling me. You can’t be my Mate because I can’t trust you, Devana. You need to leave. Thank you for at least giving us a heads up about the situation. We can handle it from here. I… I just don’t trust Hunters, and I don’t think that will change.” I let her arm go, taking a step back even though it physically hurt me to do it. I couldn’t get around the fact that Hunters stood and watched as pups died alongside their parents and did nothing. I couldn’t trust my Pack in her hands to find out she would stand by and let it happen again.
“Daxton! Wait! You can’t walk away like this! I am here to help!” Devana moved quickly to get in front of me.
