“Who is she?” Josh demands, the moment I walk in the door. He is stood in the middle of the corridor, his arms crossed, his black wings spread out as his slightly glowing blue eyes wait for my answer. I bet he has been pacing here since he left Adie’s, knowing Josh. I shake my head at him and head to the lounge, and straight to the bar. I need a drink. I don’t know what happened when I caught Adie in my arms on her driveway, but the need to protect her was overwhelming. There was this almost instant connection, and the only thing I can imagine is that she might be my mate. I can’t know for sure until my wolf sees her, but I’ve never had that kind of reaction to anyone before. I hear Josh following me as I go up to the bar and grab the bottle of Scotch off the counter that someone has left out. I grab two glasses before pouring the drink, hearing Josh tapping his foot behind me.
“Have a drink,” I tell Josh and take my own drink to the sofa, sitting on the edge and sipping on it, feeling the burn all down my throat which is damn soothing. What kind of fucked up world is it that my possible mate turns up next door to me when I’m on a mission? I would usually tell Josh, but the way he reacted to Adie, I don’t think telling him she might be sticking around in our lives forever is the best idea.
“Who is she?” he demands, watching me closely. Josh and I grew up together after the war, and there hasn’t been a day we haven’t been in each other’s lives. We literally shared a room as my stepmum took him after he lost his dad, and it was the same for Mich and Nath. We made our own pack, made our own rules and never kept secrets from each other until shit went wrong last year. This mission was meant to help us bond, but that never happened, and now I’m not even sure telling Josh this girl might be my mate is a safe idea. Shit, I don’t think telling Nath and Mich is smart either. None of us want to fuck up this mission, and she could do just that.
“Adelaide, a shifter. Her and her sister walked into the wrong village, that’s all. They aren’t anything to do with our mission,” I tell him what he wants to know, “though her parents left her that house, and I think you should look into her parents’ past and see who they were. Why they would leave a house here for their kids.” I might regret asking Josh to look them up, but he is the best with computers, and he can find anything about anyone quicker than anyone I know.
“Freddy—” Josh starts off, picking up his drink and leaning against the bar.
“You know I hate you—or anyone—calling me that,” I groan, before downing my drink. Only my stepmum and uncle call me that now, purely because I can’t make them stop.
“Shit, old habits,” Josh says, downing his own drink and looking at me seriously. “Adelaide is damn dangerous to have here right at this moment.”
“I am going to contact my aunt and get her to come take Adelaide and her sister to the castle,” I tell him, knowing that is the best thing to do. Even if she isn’t my mate, this place isn’t safe. If she is my mate, there is no fucking way in hell she is staying around here and risking her life. “I would ask Winter and the others to take them in, but with the baby on the way…I think it’s best we don’t worry them. If any of them think we have blown this mission, they will pull us back home and all our work is lost.”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Josh snaps, looking frustrated. “We have been here four months, and we are so damn close.”
“My aunt will help, quietly,” I say, and shrug my shoulders. “The problem will be solved in a week.” I think back to Adie, the moment I caught her in my arms and felt a buzz run over my skin as I looked into her green eyes. She is damn stunning. A woman any man could lose his mind over, and she had to move in next door when we are on a mission. If she was a girl I bumped into back home, it would be a different story.
“Until she goes, we should give her and her sister a protection crystal just in case,” Josh grumbles. “I will get Nath to make one for each of them tomorrow.”
“She doesn’t scent as just a wolf…did you notice anything?” I ask, wondering if Josh could pick something up that I missed.
“I can’t see auras, so no. She looked like a typical gorgeous red head to me,” he muses, and I refrain the primal urge to beat the shit out of my brother for calling her gorgeous.
“I don’t know what she smells of. Even her wolf scent is off. Which is weird considering the amount of half breeds I have met growing up,” I say, moving past his statement about Adie. It’s not like we haven’t shared women before, so I know he wouldn’t fight me for her. I don’t even know if she likes me back, so I don’t know why I am worrying like crazy.
“All the more reason to get her the hell out of here, brother,” Josh retorts. “Call and make it happen.” I watch as Josh storms out of the room, wondering exactly what is making him more pissed off than usual. He never reveals his powers, and yet he was close to it at Adie’s house. Josh doesn’t let his wings out often, only defensively, and that is odd on its own. I pull my phone out my pocket and call my aunt, waiting as it rings and rings. The scotch didn’t help the feeling in the back of my mind, and I try to think about the last time I had blood to drink. It must have been last Monday. I need a real drink, and it might calm me down a tad.
“Hello, my boy! How are you doing, laddy?” My aunt’s thick Scottish accent comes down the phone, and I chuckle before answering her. Hearing her accent always makes me feel at home somehow.
“All good. I need a favour,” I say quickly, getting straight to the point, and she sighs.
“I could have been guessing that, Freddy,” she replies. “Go on, out with it.”
“First off, don’t be telling Uncle J or Winter…or dad about this. You know how they overreact,” I remark. Dad has a temper when his family is threatened, so does Uncle J, but his wolf has more of a bite, and Winter still treats me like a kid she needs to protect. I love them, but they don’t think rationally, and I know they think this mission was too much for us to do so young. Winter and her mates would have done this mission if she weren’t pregnant, and I know they are just looking for a reason to pull us out of this.
“They do not overreact, boy. The last time you asked me not to tell them something, we ended up with one burned-down cottage, a wad of humans who were missing their hair, and two random goats. I wish I had told them, now I think back to it,” she says, and I cringe, remembering Nath’s eighteenth birthday party. That was a good night, just not so much of a good morning when we realised how crazy the night had gone.
“I was a kid, give me a break,” I groan, hearing her laugh. She never lets that story go. “This is a little more serious.”
“Out with it then,” she replies more seriously this time.
“Two sisters have moved into the house next to ours. They are shifters, and if anyone notices them, we are screwed,” I tell her, leaving out the possible mate part. If I told her that, she would tell Uncle J in a heartbeat and bring us all in.
“Now that is a problem. Have you explained they must leave? Whose pack are they from? Why are they not hidden?” she rapidly asks me.
“That’s the problem, they aren’t from any pack. Their parents just died recently, and they have nowhere else to go but the house they are in,” I tell her, hearing her sympathised sigh before she replies.
“They are lucky to be alive. The hunters—” she starts off, but I cut her off. I can’t think of the hunters touching Adie without my wolf stirring and my fangs slowly dropping down. This isn’t going to be easy.
“I know. I need you to take them back with you,” I ask.
“When?” she asks, agreeing straight away, no hesitation. My family is always there for me. Pack means family, and I was taught you do anything for family.
“Next Monday. We are out on a trip, and it is the only time the house won’t be watched. Neither will next door,” I say. “I will tell her to be ready for you, but none of us can be there. We have to keep the boss distracted.”
“I will make the plan. How old are the sisters?” she asks.
“One is a kid, and the other is about our age, I reckon,” I reply.
“A girl looking after a kid at your age…that reminds me of your uncle looking after you as a kid,” she mutters, and I hear a deep grumble of a voice in the background. “Is that Freddy?”
“Jaxson wants to talk to you. Speak soon and good luck,” she says before there is a rustling as the phone is handed over.
“What is wrong? Why didn’t you call me first?” Uncle Jaxson demands, of course thinking something is up without me saying a word. I love Uncle J, but we clash a lot now. I guess it’s because we are both alphas, and neither one of us is willing to give up. Let’s just say practice fighting was fun.
“Nothing is wrong. I wanted to talk to my aunt,” I reply.
“Bullshit,” he states and chuckles.
“You can’t prove it, old man,” I joke, and laugh at the line of swear words that he mutters under his breath. He hates that nickname.
“Seriously, Freds, is the mission going all good? Anything you need? We can get you out in less than ten minutes if you call for us,” he tells me. “Atti is ready to get you out in a second.” Atti is my uncle in a way, or that’s what I ended up calling him. Atti is also a witch, so he can appear anywhere he wants in a moment’s notice. Witches are a pain in the ass to practice fighting against, considering they disappear and reappear in a new place every few seconds. Drives me nuts when Mich does that shit even now.
“Nothing is wrong. Everything is on plan. How is Winter?” I ask, changing the subject with the only subject I know he gets easily distracted by. Winter, his mate, my awesome stepmum. The queen of all the races and one Adie doesn’t even seem to know about. How can she not know about the war? How can she not know about everything that happened when I was a kid? Winter fought for us all, defeating her father with the help of her four mates. I know none of us would be alive if it weren’t for Winter and how brave she is. Everyone knows she is the direct descendant of a fate, a goddess—the goddess that made all the races. She was always destined to be our queen. My dad and her other mates saved us all too, they are the kings. There has been relative peace since the war, and only one enemy left to deal with. That’s why this mission here is so important. It’s to keep peace, something so many of my kind and family have died to find.
“Pregnant and eating chocolate, nothing new,” he replies. “Though she is sleeping at the moment, or I’m sure she would want to say hello. Your aunt is here to help out with the gardens for the nature class at the school.” Ah, that makes sense as to why she is at the castle. My aunt lives on the island, and I didn’t expect her to be around, but if there are any issues with plants, my aunt can talk to them as one of her gifts. I used to think it was strange when I would find my aunt talking to flowers, trees and more as a kid, but you soon get used to it.
“Tell her hello from me and Josh. Tell dad I will call later in the week,” I say. Uncle J doesn’t say he will, but I know my uncle well enough to know he will tell them what I say.
“How is Josh coping?” Uncle J carefully asks. After what happened at the castle just before we left, I know he has good reason to worry. Uncle J has always been careful around Josh, though Winter never let Uncle J push him out. Neither did Atti who quickly became like a father to Josh.
“Good,” I simply reply, even though it’s not all truthful.
“Freddy, I know you’re lying,” Jaxson replies.
“He is keeping it under control. Chill out. I won’t let him go all demon on my ass,” I insist and rub my face, getting annoyed. We can’t help what we are, and I won’t let Josh destroy himself. I just wish Uncle Jaxson could see that. Only Winter and one of her mates, Atti, understand this. Everyone else is just frightened of him. “I gave to go. Shit to do and all.”
“Keep safe,” Jaxson says, and I can tell from his tone he wants to warn me or say something stupid.
“Don’t say it. Josh is a brother to me. End of story,” I remind him. “What happened was an accident, and Nath can stop him if it happens again…which it won’t.”
“He is dangerous,” Uncle J replies. “I only want you safe, and I don’t think you can be safe with him at your side. Not until he learns to control that temper.”
“A lot of people said that about Winter when they discovered what she is, yet you defended her,” I remind him.
“It’s not the same, and you know it,” he tells me. Asshole.
“Later, Uncle J,” I mutter and end the call. I slam the phone on the sofa, and it bounces off, hitting the floor and smashing into pieces. Shit. I need another drink.