Nash

“I just went in to snag my phone—it was ringing. They grabbed him while I was inside and by the time I got out it was too late.” Other than a raspy voice and tear-swollen eyes, Denali appears calm and composed as she relates the story for the umpteenth time. We’re huddled in one of Sam’s safehouses. He and his mate Layne flew up as soon as they heard the news, and more of their pack and friends are on standby, waiting for orders. Parker and Declan keep checking their phones and leaving to make more calls.

“Any idea who these guys were?” Sam asks.

“I know who.” My lion’s been trying to tell me for days now. That’s why the flashbacks intensified. “There was another with Smyth. A business partner with a Spanish accent.” If I close my eyes I can hear the rich cultured tones rolling over me. I can see the polished black dress shoes and tip of the cane.

“Santiago,” Sam says grimly. “We got everyone last time, except that son-of-a-bitch.”

“Who’s Santiago?” Denali asks.

“He was the money,” Sam announces. “Smyth had the vision. Santiago bankrolled the project.”

“We had the genes,” I add. “A decorated soldier and a strong lioness.” I rub my face and dare a glance at Denali. Right now, she’s trying to stay strong.

“Santiago won’t hurt him,” Sam says. “He’s obsessed with creating clean shifter lines. He thinks Nolan is the start of that.”

“There’s a bit ‘o good news,” Declan murmurs.

“We’ll get him.” Sam stands as voices come to the door. Layne enters first, a petite Asian woman with a faint smell of chemicals. She worked in a Data-X lab until Sam blew it up. A huge wolf is behind her. Jackson—a successful businessman with an info security company. I rise as Jackson approaches me. He’s huge, and dominant, his wolf lighting his eyes. My lion is very aware of him and Layne—who’s more dominant than she looks.

“Nash.” Jackson shakes my hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. My mate and I will put every resource we have at your disposal.” He nods to Denali, including her.

“Thanks,” I say.

I’m so fucking humbled. I’ve done nothing for any of these guys and yet they’re all here to help me.

“Kylie is already searching the cyber underground for any sign of Santiago’s men,” Layne murmurs from the corner.

“We have a helicopter and private jet ready as soon as we have news.”

“Thank you.” Denali lets out a shaky breath. I nod, unable to speak. In the tight space, my animal isn’t happy about so many alphas near my vulnerable mate.

Not that she’s my mate anymore. I thoroughly fucked that up when I abandoned her and left our cub defenseless against the monster who stole him.

“I’m going to go help Kylie,” Jackson says, and Layne follows him out of the room.

“These are your friends?” Denali asks in a whisper.

I shrug. “Friends of friends.” I tighten my fists to keep from reaching for her. I need to touch her, but she shook off my touch when I first arrived. I don’t want to push it.

The door opens again, and a woman slips in. Petite, blonde, human. A wolf enters with her, another giant, dominant male with tattoos on his hands and crawling up his neck. He hovers over the human female, who shares his scent. She also bears his mark.

“Denali?” The woman comes straight to my mate, kneels and takes my mate’s hands. “I’m Amber.” She looks up from her non-threatening position with eyes filled with compassion and some of the tension to leaks out of the room. “I’m here to help find Nolan.”

My mate swallows. “How?”

Amber glances at the big wolf before answering. “I’m psychic. I... see things sometimes. Flashes of people’s experiences.”

“Amber has a gift,” the big wolf says softly. His tattooed hand brushes her hair and Amber seems to draw strength from his touch.

The psychic draws in a breath. “Do you have anything of Nolan’s here? A piece of clothing or something?”

“I do,” Laurie says when no one speaks up. The skinny shifter ambles forward, offering a little toy car. “The wheel fell off and he gave it to me to fix.”

“He must like you,” Denali whispers, tears gathering in her eyes. “It’s his favorite.” Her body shakes a little and I hold her tighter.

“All right.” Amber takes the toy and cups it in her hand. “Can you tell me a little about Nolan?”

Denali’s shaking intensifies. She’s trying, and failing, to hold it together.

“We’ll leave you two alone,” Parker murmurs. He, Declan, and Laurie head for the door. I stand, not sure what to do. Amber immediately takes my place, leaning close to my mate and murmuring with her.

“Nash.” The big wolf offers his hand to shake. “Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Garrett, alpha of the Tucson pack. I’ve got the top guys in my pack here. As soon as we get intel, we’re all ready to fly to find Santiago and fight.”

I can barely nod with gratitude.

Garrett cracks his knuckles. “It’s about time we went after Santiago. He had my sister kidnapped last year. Her mate is alpha in Mexico, where Santiago had his headquarters for many years. They haven’t seen anything of him since he escaped when it all came out.”

Sam slips in and glances at the two females. “Anything?”

“Not yet,” Garrett says in a low voice. Just then Amber sucks in a breath, tilting back her head, eyes closed.

Sam holds out his phone recorder and catches Garrett’s eye, waiting for the big wolf to nod before he kneels close to Amber and turns the recorder on.

“Lots of emotion in here,” Amber mumbles. “Lots of people who care about Nolan. Eyes still closed, she holds out her hand and Denali takes it.

“I sense him. He’s frightened, but safe. Men in black, with guns.” A slight smile crosses her lips. “I think he’s in cub form, so he can bite them if they get too close. I see cage bars—they’re keeping him locked up. But he hasn’t been hurt.”

Denali goes limp like a puppet whose strings have been cut. Her head drops against her and Amber’s hand. I move to squeeze Denali’s shoulder, and she grabs my hand with her free one.

The contact with her runs through me like a jolt of electricity, energizing, harmonizing. My head clears, focus sharpens.

“They’re speaking in Spanish. They’re saying…” Amber falls silent and I fight the urge to demand she tell us what they said. I sure as hell hope she speaks Spanish. As the seconds tick by, her forehead creases. She twitches a little and whimpers. “No—” She ducks her head and raises her arms to protect herself. A few seconds pass.

“Amber?” Garrett rumbles. His own temples are wet with sweat.

The human blows out a breath and lets her arms down with a sigh. “They tranqued him. They’re moving him somewhere. I heard one of the guards say Honduras.” Amber sags. Garrett lifts her, and she curls up in his arms, pressing against his giant body.

“It’s okay, baby,” he murmurs. “You did good.” He looks at Sam. “You got all that?”

“Yeah.” Sam rises. “Jackson and Kylie are sweeping the darknet for anything they can find. I’ll tell them.”

“Thank you,” I tell Amber and Garrett. The wolf nods and carries his half-conscious mate from the room.

“Oh my God.” Denali lets out a breath. The tears she’s bravely kept at bay track down her cheeks. I wrap her in my arms.

Parker and Declan return, carrying bags of food. “Time to fuel up.” They pass around packs of meat.

I accept my share, ripping open the package and taking a bite of raw steak.

“Garrett’s gang went to four grocery stores and cleaned them out,” Parker tells me. “Jackson is still working on getting coordinates with Kylie, but Amber’s intel helped. The jet is almost ready. We’ll head to Garrett’s brother-in-law’s place in Mexico, treat that as HQ.”

I gulp down a mouthful of beef. “All right. After this we’ll roll out.”

“I’ll spread the word.”

“Parker.” I catch his arm before he leaves. “Thanks.” I turn to Declan and Laurie who are waiting by the door. “You too. I can’t—” my throat closes. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“You got it,” Declan says. “Alpha.”

“Alpha,” the other two echo, and for once, I let the title stand.

Denali

I can’t breathe. Can’t think. The trip to Mexico City is a blur. We arrive past dark and drive a couple hours up to Garrett’s sister’s place.

Sedona, Garrett’s youthful sister, greets us on the steps of the palatial hacienda and leads us to a suite of rooms. She’s a wolf, like most of them, and her scent has a tinge of breastmilk to it. She has a nursing pup.

“Carlos is meeting with his pack. They all want to fight.”

“My best fighters are on their way,” Garrett tells her after a big hug. “Kylie’s doing her best to find Santiago’s trail in Honduras. Between her intel and Amber’s visions, we should have a location soon.”

Sedona shows us to our rooms. Amber and Garrett claim one immediately—the human looks dead on her feet. Laurie, Parker, and Declan have disappeared, and after kissing my forehead, Nash heads out, probably to talk to Jackson and Carlos.

“Is there anything I can bring you?” Sedona asks, and I realize she’s talking to me. We’re standing in a beautiful bedroom that I have no energy to appreciate. My ears are filled with cotton, my whole body numb.

“I’m fine. I should try to sleep. I couldn’t on the plane.”

She grimaces sympathetically, touches my shoulder and leaves me alone.

I lie down, but toss and turn, dropping off for a few minutes or so before rising. My lioness wants to prowl. I pad down the hallway, stopping by a half open door. A screen flickers on the far side of the room—footage of some sort. A cell. Whoever’s watching fast forwards until a prisoner comes into view. I stifle a gasp. It’s Nash—but not as I’ve ever seen him. He’s barefooted, bare-chested in ragged fatigues. Body ravaged, emaciated. A shell of the soldier he once was and the fighter he is now. He looks half dead, but for those burning amber eyes.

Breathing hard, I push the door open.

“Denali?” Sam rises from where he was watching the screen. “I didn’t know you were there.”

“Is that—?”

“Footage from Data-X. I’m rewatching for clues.” The young wolf looks exhausted. No—haunted. I try to remember what Nash told me, but all his friends are blending together. Was Sam a prisoner of Data-X, too?

“What did they do to him?”

Sam shrugs. “Testing. Torture.” He absently rubs his arm, wincing as if in pain. “Smyth tried to push the limits of the shifters in his experiments.”

“You were there, too,” I guess. I know Sam’s the connection with the Tucson pack. It fits.

His eyes are ancient in his youthful face. “Yeah.”

We look at each other. There’s nothing more to be said, because we both lived through it. So did Declan and Laurie and Parker. That’s why they stick close to Nash. We’ve all been irreparably damaged by Data-X.

My glance flicks back to the image of Nash. I should’ve gone back for him. I’ll never forgive myself. “I…” I clear my throat. “I didn’t know it got that bad.”

“He’s tough. He survived.”

“Not all of him.” This is what he’s been fighting. My vision blurs.

“You lose a part of yourself when you’re tortured. When someone tries to reduce you to nothing.” Sam turns off the screen, but it’s too late. Nash’s image is burned into my mind forever.

My chest heaves, my lungs like a bird fluttering, trying to take flight from a snare. Everything in me hurts so bad. Our cub missing. My mate damaged, possibly beyond repair.

“I didn’t go back. I was pregnant and so scared. I had no one. It was all I could do to survive.” Even as I repeat my excuses they fall flat, but Sam touches my arm.

“No. Going back would’ve been suicide. I waited and planned for years before I went back for my revenge and I had no one to lose. Not until I met Layne.”

“You’re the one who blew up the labs?”

He nods.

“With Nash?”

He hesitates. “I freed Nash. Then he helped me find Smyth.”

He freed Nash. That’s what I should’ve done. “How do I help him?”

“You don’t do anything. Just be. Be who you are. Be his mate.”

My hand goes to my shoulder, gripping the healed mark hidden under my shirt. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Sam says. “I’m sure you can. If I can heal, so can he.” Somehow, I believe him. He’s young, but he just found his mate, Layne. “He’s broken, Denali. His spirit is fractured, but he just needs his missing pieces. You know what they are?”

I nod. “His son, and his mate.” Nolan...and me.

Agent Dune

It’s completely fucking out of character for him to let anything get personal. Yes, the search for the secret of the labs was personal, but it was more of a gnawing curiosity. A need to understand his past.

It never detoured into caring about something. Desiring a certain outcome.

But somehow, somewhere, he aligned with these misfits. These people who have been experimented on and turned into wolves. Or were they werewolves to begin with and the government was studying them?

Either way, he picked sides. He chose them.

And they were missing one of their own. A small, defenseless child.

And he fucking stood there and watched it happen.

So yeah, it’s now become his duty to get that boy back.

He calls Agent Gray. “What do you have for me?”

“You’re applying a lot of pressure for someone who’s asking a favor.”

“A little boy got kidnapped.” There. He went for honesty for a change. “I need to get him back.”

He hears Gray draw in a breath. Agents don’t know much about other agent’s lives. That’s on purpose. But he always suspected Gray had kids and that’s why she didn’t work in the field.

The clacking of her rapid fire key typing comes over the line. “I have a location on Santiago. It was redacted but I found a way in. He has a villa in Honduras, near La Ceiba. I’m sending the coordinates. He departed the U.S. for Honduras yesterday on a private jet, but there’s no record of a boy. Of course, a kid would be easy to hide.”

“Right. Thank you.”

“You need help getting there?”

He smiled. “No. This is what I do best.”

“That I know. Good luck, Dune.”

In all the years she’d been his handler, she’d never wished him luck. “Thanks, Gray. I might need it.”

“Dune?”

“Yeah?”

“Someone else has been trying to get into that information—searching for Santiago. An outsider—a hacker on the darknet.”

A flush of knowing runs through him.

The wolves.

“Let them in.”

She draws an audible breath. “Okay.”

Damn. Either Agent Gray also knows their government is on the wrong side of this story, or she has way more trust in his decisions than he would’ve thought.

He ends the call and grabs his things. Time to head to Central America.