Chapter 24
Jonah got up from the office floor and stepped over the stacks of papers he’d spent hours organizing. He needed to stretch his legs and clear his mind. All that reading and the only thing he’d learned was that shifters were shitty historians.
There were lists of names with dates of birth and death along with ancestors’ and children’s names, but most of the information was incomplete. Sometimes part of the name was missing, sometimes a date. Still other times, everything seemed to be in order until Jonah would come across another paper and see that a person who was listed as having two siblings shared the same parents with three other people. Plus, everything was handwritten and not always in legible penmanship. And coming from a doctor, a complaint about indecipherable handwriting was really saying something.
But the most frustrating part of the search was that Jonah hadn’t found a single reference to anyone named Joan Smith. Zev had warned him that the records were thin and that there was almost no documentation about other packs. And since his mother wasn’t from Etzgadol, the chance of finding anything about her in Zev’s documents was very low. Still, Jonah had hoped for a better outcome.
Pacing around the room loosened Jonah’s muscles. He was breathing easier, feeling a bit less frustrated, and that was when it hit him. There hadn’t been a Joan Smith mentioned in the documents, but that wasn’t the only name he knew. Jonah’s father said his aunt was named Leah. Jonah was sure he’d seen a Leah mentioned somewhere among the papers.
He sat back down and flipped through them until he found a clue in a document at the bottom of the third stack. It was Lori’s family tree. It showed her and Toby, their kids, and both sets of parents. Toby’s mother was named Leah. The family tree used her married name—Leah Harrison—so there was no reference to Smith. But at least it gave Jonah an idea of where to start. He’d come across a few marriage papers, and those had listed the bride and groom’s parents. Maybe he could find Leah Harrison’s marriage papers, and then he’d be able to learn her maiden name.
Ten minutes later, Jonah was clutching a piece of paper that held the closest thing he’d ever had to an answer about his mother’s family. Leah Harrison’s maiden name was Smith. Before marrying Toby’s father, she’d been Leah Smith. Sure, it was a common name, and there were probably tons of Leah Smiths out there. But it was a start, and it was the only lead he had at the moment. Besides, there was no harm in going over to the Harrisons’ place and saying hello, maybe asking a few questions, dropping a name.
With that decision made, Jonah found the Harrisons’ address in the phone book and left a note telling Zev where he was going in case his lover beat him home. Then he headed over to the Harrisons’ house, hoping to find some information about his mother.
Jonah had left Etzgadol a dozen years prior and he’d spent those years in a highly populated metropolitan city, surrounded by bumper-to-bumper traffic, foul-smelling smog, and buildings so tall and condensed that it was sometimes hard to see the sky. Being back in the forest, inhaling the bouquet of fresh air and trees, seeing the bright blue sky, and hearing the sounds of birds chattering all around him—all those things made Jonah wonder how he’d ever survived all that time away from the place that was unquestionably his home. All the reasons his eighteen-year-old self had had for wanting to escape the small town—the slow pace, the simple lifestyle, the quiet surroundings—now sounded like a slice of heaven.
The rocky road curved and led a smiling, happy Jonah to a barn-red farmhouse. He found himself whistling as he pulled his car up next to a nondescript white sedan. The sun was setting in the sky, covering everything in a hazy, orange glow. It was beautiful.
Had he ever felt so fulfilled and whole? He didn’t think so. He knew it wasn’t really the location that had settled his once restless body and cloudy mind; it was Zev. Being with his boyfriend, no, his mate had put Jonah at peace.
He got out of the car and started walking toward the front door, wondering if it really mattered what he would learn from the people inside. Yes, Jonah was curious about his heritage, curious about how he could suddenly turn into a canine, and curious about why this new ability was, according to Zev, a complete contradiction to how things usually worked for shifters. But at the end of the day, the curiosity just seemed idle now. With the fear over losing his mind gone and the deep connection he’d always felt with Zev cemented, Jonah realized that even if he never understood the why and the how of his birth, he’d still be happy with his life.
“Maybe I should just turn around and go home.” He smiled at how quickly he thought of Zev’s cabin as home.
Of course his mate had built the space for them both to share, even showing Jonah the plans during his visits and insisting that they confirm the layout and choose fixtures and furniture together. So, yeah, the cabin was home, their home. Before Jonah could make a final decision about whether or not he should stay at Leah Harrison’s house, a noise caught his attention and sent a shiver of unease down his spine.
He looked around and didn’t see anyone, but he could still hear sounds. He stood still and cocked his head until he heard the sounds again and determined that they were coming from the side of the house. Zev had mentioned the whole heightened-senses thing during the previous day’s impromptu Shifter 101 tutorial, but actually experiencing it was a bit of a shock. Shocking or not, Jonah thought it was pretty cool. He felt a bit like a superhero with special powers.
He smiled at the thought of himself wearing tights and a cape as he walked toward the strange sounds. Jonah’s light, happy feeling vanished in response to the sight that greeted him as soon as he rounded the corner of the Harrisons’ house and stepped into the shadowy side yard.
His father was slumped on the ground, surrounded by four large men. Jonah could see his father’s chest moving up and down, and the knowledge that the man was still breathing went a long way in easing his panic.
The situation got infinitely worse when one of the men towering over Kevin Marvel’s body bent down, hooked beefy arms around his chest, and began dragging the unconscious man toward a large SUV that was parked nearby. Everything Jonah had ever heard on television said getting into a car with a kidnapper was a sure recipe for defeat. He couldn’t let these dangerous men put his father in their vehicle, but his chances of overpowering four men by himself were pretty slim. But whatever the odds, Jonah didn’t have a choice; he had to step in.
“Hey!” Jonah shouted, hoping the knowledge that someone else was there would be enough to scare the men away. “What’re you doing to him? Let him go!”
He walked toward the men as he spoke, getting closer to his unconscious father with every word. Unfortunately, he didn’t get close enough to do much good. As soon as they heard his voice, the four men stopped their walk toward the car and jerked their heads over to look at Jonah.
“Well, look at that. Guess the human wasn’t traveling alone,” the biggest, meanest-looking of the men said. “Chuck, get that one too. We’ll take them both with us.”
One of the men in the group broke away and walked up to Jonah, clearly intending to follow his leader’s order. But this wasn’t Jonah’s first rodeo, and he knew that if he could face off against the men one at a time, he stood a good chance of defeating them. As soon as Chuck, the man sent to retrieve Jonah, was within reach, Jonah clenched his fist and took a swing. His powerful right hook connected with Chuck’s jaw and the man fell to the ground, looking dazed.
The other three men growled, obviously surprised and angry at that unexpected defeat of their comrade. They left Kevin Marvel on the ground and marched toward Jonah. Unfortunately, it seemed that his plan of dealing with the men individually wasn’t going to come to fruition. On the plus side, however, his father was no longer being carted toward the vehicle. Of course, Kevin’s freedom would be just a brief respite if Jonah couldn’t scare off the men or at least slow them down enough to get his father out of there.
He tried to think through the situation. Was there any strategy that would allow him to get his father into the car and away from that yard? Was there anything lying around that he could use as a weapon? Neither question inspired a useful answer, and Jonah’s stomach clenched with worry.
Just as the three oafish bodies were getting uncomfortably close, a dark figure seemingly flew through the air and knocked one of them to the ground. Jonah saw the tall, strong body and long, flowing black hair, and felt a hint of recognition. He didn’t have a chance to think too much on it, though, because seconds later, a brown wolf darted out of the forest and jumped on one of the other men, wrestling him down.
Everyone seemed startled by the unexpected visitors, and for a few seconds, everything froze. Then mass chaos exploded. The hulking man Jonah had hit was still on the ground, but the action around him seemed to have snapped him to attention, because he suddenly began removing his clothes with a speed that reeked of desperation. The two men who’d been taken down tried to do the same while defending themselves against the brown wolf and the incredibly strong black-haired warrior. And the leader of the ruffians took in the scene with wide eyes, momentarily distracted by the unexpected attack on his gang.
Jonah had no doubt the distraction wouldn’t last long and he wanted to take advantage of the situation by going after the mean-looking thug. That was when he saw the man on the ground begin awkwardly changing into a wolf. Jonah wondered why the shifting process he was witnessing looked so much less fluid than what he’d experienced, or, for that matter, why he was witnessing it at all. He’d shifted into a wolf and then back into a human twice, and the changes had been so seamless that the first time he hadn’t even been aware it had happened and the second was done in the blink of an eye. Of course, both times his body had been following Zev’s, acting on instinct rather than changing forms on his own. Still, the writhing man on the ground seemed to be going through a completely different process, one that was uncomfortable at best and painful at worst.
Now was not the time to ask questions. He was dealing with shifters rather than humans, as he’d originally thought. Beating a man in a fistfight was one thing, and even if he had to go up against the two men who weren’t currently being occupied by the brown wolf and the dark-haired man, he might have stood a chance. But these were shifters, not humans, and once they changed into their wolf forms, they’d have claws and fangs, thereby becoming significantly more dangerous.
Jonah’s best odds against them would be to fight as a wolf, rather than as a man. He thought about what Zev had taught him about shifting. He visualized his wolf, tried to reach the animal and talk him into taking over their body. But no matter how hard he concentrated, Jonah couldn’t shift.
Zev. He needed Zev. Just like the night before, Jonah wasn’t able to uncage his wolf on his own, and though he didn’t understand why, he knew his mate was his only hope of drawing out his animal form.
When the man on the ground finally completed the oddly lengthy and wince-inducing change, he looked straight at Jonah. Seeing that vicious glare coming from the massive wolf made Jonah realize his time was almost up. He clenched his fists and held his head high. Whatever else happened, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.