On warm nights such as this, Madisyn often slept on a blanket in her backyard. She liked watching the sunlight drain from the sky and the shadows thicken, liked being part of the relaxing quiet that often descended. As she lay on a blanket on the grass near Bracken’s lodge, she wasn’t quite so relaxed. The forest was far from quiet at night. Crickets chirped, owls screeched, tree frogs croaked, and a damn fox kept screaming its ass off, sounding like a woman getting slaughtered. And if that bat swooped down again, she was going to throw her shoe at it.
However, she did like looking up at the night sky—or what she could see of it through the breaks in the tall shadowed trees. Relatively cloudless, it was currently more of a deep violet than black. It also had very faint traces of blue and gold around the edges. All in all, it was beautiful to look at.
A light breeze whispered over her skin, lifting her hair, slipping through the grass, fluttering the leaves, and gently rocking the tree branches. It brought with it the scents of rich earth, moss, tree sap, and pine needles. She closed her eyes and—
A twig snapped in the distance. She stilled, reaching out with her enhanced senses. Something was padding through the woods, heading her way. She didn’t need to guess who it was. Only a minute ago, a howl had split the air. She’d known instinctively that it was Bracken’s wolf. Sensed that he was calling to her, telling her he was coming home.
When Bracken had left the lodge earlier, she’d expected him to be back within an hour. More than four hours later, she was still waiting for him to show—and still feeling his cold rage through their bond. It was a good thing she hadn’t held off on having dinner until he returned, or she’d be starving right now.
Politely turning down Harley’s offer to eat with her and Jesse, Madisyn had instead helped herself to some microwavable mac and cheese—all while taking a call from a highly anxious Dawn, assuring her that she was fine, and there was no need for Dawn to come all the way down here to check on her.
Dead leaves crunching.
The sound made Madisyn turn her head. The light spilling out of the lodge’s back window illuminated the large gray wolf that slowly padded her way, seeming . . . not tired, but weary. Her brow creased. She wondered if Bracken’s cold rage was somehow draining or weighing the wolf down.
When she’d called Nick not so long ago to ask if everything was okay, he’d replied, “Bracken got the answers he needed, he’ll be with you soon.” He’d waited a beat before adding, “He’s not himself right now. Try to be patient with him.”
Crossing right to her, the wolf nuzzled her hair and licked at her face.
“Ew.” She covered his muzzle and gently pushed it away with one hand while petting his neck with the other. There was a hint of soap in his scent, making her wonder if Bracken had showered at the main lodge before making his way here in his wolf form. She didn’t have to wonder what he’d been washing away from his skin.
The wolf settled beside her on the blanket and rested his head on her chest. She continued to pet him, running her fingers through all that surprisingly soft fur. They stayed there like that for a while. He usually pulled back after some affection from her, but she soon noticed that his eyelids were beginning to droop.
Madisyn arched a brow. “Not planning to shift back soon, huh?” Either Bracken wasn’t ready to talk yet or the wolf needed touch. Maybe it was both. Fine. Bracken was much easier to talk to when he couldn’t butt in anyway. And if he was still stuck in detached mode, she wasn’t in a rush for him to shift back. Maybe he’d be better for having the time to snap out of it. And while she was interested to hear what the hyena had said, she already suspected he was likely to be a lone shifter hired by Archer.
“I noticed the rockery over there by the porch,” she said, knowing Bracken would hear and understand her. It wasn’t there that morning, which meant he’d built it while she was at the shelter. The realization had melted her frustration at his detached manner. “Thank you. My cat had a lot of fun in it while we waited for you.”
The wolf’s eyes flashed human as he licked at her jaw, which she translated into Bracken acknowledging her gratitude and assuring her that she was welcome. Eyelids once more falling shut, the wolf drifted off. Madisyn decided to do the same. Tomorrow. They could talk tomorrow.
Madisyn woke alone. Her stomach growled at the scent of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee.
Apparently, Bracken was cooking. Thanks to the mating bond, she sensed that the cold rage was gone. But since the only thing she was picking up from him was hunger, she couldn’t quite gauge his emotional state.
Getting to her feet, she grabbed the blanket from the ground and dumped it on the porch swing as she made her way into the lodge.
Bracken looked up from where he was loading two plates with food. He stilled, clearly unsure what reception he’d receive, bracing himself for impact. “Morning, baby.”
She could see that he was waiting for her to condemn him for emotionally bailing on her. Waiting for her to yell at him for selfishly making yesterday all about him and what he felt when she’d been the one who’d been attacked. Waiting for her to go to war with him over his very firm statement that he’d be her shadow whenever she left his territory.
God knew he deserved to hear all those things.
The thing was . . . she didn’t want to fight with him. “Next time you swan off leaving me with members of your pack, you and I are gonna have problems. Do you have any idea how chatty Shaya and Ally can be? Harley, Roni, and Gwen all turned up. I like them well enough, but I’m not used to dealing with visitors. I don’t make a good host.”
Bracken let out a long, relieved breath. He crossed to her and took her hands. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I shut down on you. It happens sometimes, and I never know how to undo it. I wasn’t there for you last night. Not physically or emotionally. I didn’t mean to take that long, but it doesn’t change the fact that I left you on a night when you’d just been attacked.”
She frowned. “I can cope on my own for a few hours, Bracken.”
“Doesn’t matter. I still shouldn’t have left you. Not even to speak to that bastard.” Bracken slid his hands under her shirt and skimmed his fingers over the spots where the rake marks had been. Thanks to Ally, there wasn’t even a slight indentation. Just soft, flawless skin. Settled by that, he gave her a soft, light, apologetic kiss. “I really am sorry, baby.”
She placed her hands on his upper arms. “I’m not mad at you for shutting down—you didn’t do it on purpose. I’m not even mad that you didn’t stay with me. It’s natural that you wanted to deal with the hyena. I’m mad that you felt like you’d failed me. When you take on guilt for shit you aren’t responsible for, you relieve the true culprit of some of their guilt. And whether you like it or not, you cannot realistically be with me every moment.”
“Not every moment,” he agreed. “Just the times that you’re not on our territory.”
“You’re going to come to the shelter’s kitchen while I cook? You’re going to follow me to the laundry room while I clean sheets and clothes? You’re going to be there while I scrub the bathrooms or whatever else I might be doing? I don’t have one single duty. I do different things on different days.”
“And I’ll be right there.”
“The only way that’s happening is if you give me a helping hand with that stuff.” She caught his wince before he had the chance to pull it back. “And I’ll only allow it until the Maverick Clan situation has blown over—that’s a good compromise. Speaking of the clan, am I right in thinking that the hyena was hired by Archer?”
“You are.” Bracken gestured at a chair. “Sit down. I’ll tell you the rest while we eat.” Once he’d set their plates and mugs on the table, he sat opposite her. “According to the hyena, whose name was Reggie, he was in fact hired by Archer.”
Noticing he’d referred to the hyena in the past tense, she sipped at her coffee. “So he was a loner?”
“Yes. To earn money and protection, he retrieved things for people. A guy called his burner phone, introduced himself as Archer, gave Reggie instructions, and guaranteed him ‘payment on delivery.’”
“Why would Archer hire a loner when he has so many bears he can call on?”
“It didn’t make sense to me at first either.” Bracken forked some scrambled eggs. “But then I had to wonder if Archer didn’t want to be associated with another failed plan. This way, if the loner fucked up, people would roll their eyes and talk about how loners weren’t reliable. But if one of his bears had again failed, it would have reflected on Archer. He can’t afford to look weaker than he already does. Also, he probably didn’t want to risk us carving up another one of his bears, especially since said bear might have been convinced by us to share certain information, such as Archer’s whereabouts.”
“Where was Reggie supposed to deliver me?” she asked, slicing into her pancake.
“A spot near the marina. Me, Nick, Eli, and Zander checked it out. That’s why I was so late coming to you last night.”
“And?”
Bracken finished chewing his bacon before replying. “And it was clear that several motorcycles had been in that very spot not long before we turned up. They must have hightailed it out of there when Reggie took too long to arrive, figuring that the hyena had messed up somehow.”
She took another sip of her coffee. “Is there any way of finding out where the Maverick Clan is staying?”
“Archer has two MC chapters here in California. Nick asked Donovan to look into whether any of the chapters own any local properties that the clan could potentially be using as a temporary base.”
Placing her cup on the table, she narrowed her eyes. “Tell me you’re not planning to go hunting.”
“I’m not. I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted to—I need to see for myself that you’re safe and well.” The hyena’s attack had stomped right on his overprotective streak, making him ten times worse than he had been before. “I can’t do that if I’m hunting Archer. But I’m not going to sit back and wait for him to make another fucking move either. I warned him to stay away from you, and yeah, I figured he wouldn’t. Still, he had a choice. He didn’t make the right one, and then he sent a loner after you. That’s pretty much a declaration of war right there. So I intend to find out where he is and then do what any male would when someone threatened his mate. Kill him.”
Chewing on a piece of bacon, she lifted her brows. “So you and the rest of the pack are planning to attack? Not just kill him but battle with the clan?”
“We have to, baby. Once I kill Archer—and I will—they’ll appoint a new Alpha. That Alpha will need to do what Archer failed to do and find Daisy as a demonstration of how much stronger he is than Archer. This won’t end unless the entire clan is gone.”
Appetite plummeting, Madisyn lowered her cutlery. “I didn’t want it to come to this. I was really hoping it wouldn’t.”
Pushing aside his plate, Bracken brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “I know. It isn’t your fault that things are heading down this road. Archer could have tried mediation. Could have walked away. Could have been a true fucking Alpha and not taken members from other clans in a weird exertion of dominance. Instead, the son of a bitch sent his sows to go to work on you, turned up at the fucking shelter to take you, tried to have the bodies of my family exhumed, and then had a loner try to kidnap and deliver you to him.
“He’s got to pay for that, Madisyn. I told him that if he didn’t back off, I’d wipe out that clan so thoroughly it would be as if they’d never existed. He always knew what he was risking.”
“He’s also got to pay for those sows ramming their car into you.”
“That too, although I don’t think he ordered that.”
“I just hate that people will be hurt in the battle—some might even die. And for what? Because some asshole who doesn’t deserve to be an Alpha is dragging his allies into the mess, forcing us to drag our allies into the mess. It’s fucked up.”
Bracken patted his thigh. “Come here.” He watched as she pushed up from the table and crossed to him. Settling her on his lap, he kissed her. “Don’t take the weight of this on your shoulders, baby. The guilt isn’t yours.”
“I know. It’s bad enough that I’m taking the weight of the carjacking on my shoulders. Oh, no, wait, that’s you.”
His mouth curved. “Yeah, it’s the pot calling the kettle black when I say shit like that. But I’m still right.”
“I’ll shake off the needless guilt if you will.”
Holding her tight against him, he kissed her forehead. “I’ll give it my best shot.”
“Same here.”
Sliding a hand under her hair, he began to softly massage her nape. Not interested in spending their morning discussing Archer, he said, “On a much lighter note, my wolf liked sleeping next to you just as much as he likes sleeping next to your cat.”
She smiled, and her feline twitched her tail happily. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s going to want to do both those things again.”
“I’m good with that. He’s very snuggly. And he doesn’t snore.”
Bracken’s brow furrowed. “Neither do I.”
“Much.”
“At least I don’t talk in my sleep. What was it you said the other night? Oh yeah. ‘Fuck you, Dumbledore. I want my wand back.’”
She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting a blush. “I do not dream about fictional characters, and I do not talk in my sleep.” Ha, such a lie.
“No? You sure? Because last week, you muttered, ‘Gollum, you best get your magic gophers out of my goddamn rockery.’”
“You make this shit up.”
“It’s true!” He chuckled. “Now tell me, because I’m curious to know: What do magic gophers do?”
She tossed him a haughty look. “Kiss my ass, Slater.”
“Already have, baby. I’ll be happy to do it again.”
They decided to have lunch at the main lodge with the pack, since it would give everyone a chance to ask after Madisyn and stop them from turning up at the lodge one by one. As they neared it, they spotted Kathy standing on the porch, clearly waiting for them.
“If you’re not ready for this talk,” Bracken whispered to Madisyn, “just say so. I’ll tell her to wait.” With all that had gone on, he’d actually forgotten about his agreement to speak with Kathy.
“Nah, let’s get it done,” said Madisyn.
“All right.” But Bracken was resolute that if Kathy said anything to upset Madisyn or again implied that she wasn’t what he needed, he’d end the conversation and wouldn’t give her a second chance to sort out this mess she’d made.
When they came to a stop in front of her, Kathy offered them a wobbly smile. “Hi. I’m glad to see that you’re okay, Madisyn. I heard what happened and . . .” She nervously rubbed her hands together. “Look, I know I’m the last person you both want to see, but I’d just . . . Can we talk? Please?”
Quite frankly shocked by the “please,” since Kathy wasn’t one to beg, Bracken blinked. “We’re listening.”
Kathy drew in a breath through her nose. “First, I apologize for . . .” She trailed off, looking awkward.
“Being a bitch?” Madisyn supplied helpfully.
Kathy winced. “Yes.” She opened her mouth to speak but then seemed to struggle.
“You were never much good at apologies,” said Bracken, though not unkindly.
Kathy gave a humorless, self-deprecating chuckle. “No, I wasn’t.” Gaze drifting to the trees, she sighed. “This is going to be hard for me to say, so excuse me if I stumble through it.” She settled on the porch swing, stiff and unsure. “When my mate died, I was much like you were after your family died, Bracken. Just . . . lost. So very, very lost.”
Draping his arm around Madisyn’s shoulders, Bracken drew her closer, able to imagine just how Kathy must have felt. She was right; he’d been lost. But without Madisyn, he’d be a whole other kind of lost. Not simply adrift, but half a person. Empty. A husk.
“It would have been nice to have had a hug from my mother. A little comfort.” Kathy swallowed. “I didn’t get that. She, um, she was all about the tough love. You may think I’m tough on Roni, and I suppose I am. But my mother was a different level of tough. Didn’t do praise or affection. Didn’t have any warmth in her. Even when my mate died, and I found myself a single mother of three, she was all, ‘These things happen, girl. Deal with the cards you’ve been dealt.’”
Madisyn silently winced in sympathy, thinking how very alone Kathy must have felt. She knew all about alone. She’d thought she preferred it. Thought she craved it, even. But the more time she’d spent with Bracken as they integrated their lives, the more she’d come to realize that she didn’t want to be alone. Didn’t prefer it. She’d simply become used to it.
“Maybe the reason she didn’t comfort you was that she needed you to find your strength, not rely on someone else’s,” Madisyn suggested, her tone soft. “She might have thought it was the only thing that would pull you through the loss of a mate.”
“If so, she’d have been right.” Kathy twisted her fingers. “It’s just that . . . I healed on my own, but it hardened me. Changed me in so many ways. And I don’t like the person I’ve become. She’s too sensitive about change. Too hard. Too slow to accept new people in her world. I didn’t want that for you, Bracken. And I was set on bringing the old you back the way I wished someone had brought the old me back after my mate died.”
Bracken sighed. Okay, yeah, he could understand why she’d acted so stupidly. Maybe if he hadn’t been mated himself, he wouldn’t have properly gotten it. Despite understanding, he didn’t find it an excuse for what she did. But by the look on her face, neither did she. “You’re not too hard, Kathy. I’ve seen you with the pups. There’s a lot more warmth in you than you seem to think.”
“Maybe,” said Kathy, but she’d clearly said it just to humor him. “Anyway, I’m . . . I’m really sorry for what I did. Madisyn fed me a few home truths, and I realized she was right. I treated you with kid gloves, Bracken, just as I did Roni after her attack. I should have learned from my mistake with her that it wasn’t helping you, I just . . . I wanted you to have what I didn’t. Support. Someone to lean on. But everything just went wrong and . . . Again, I’m sorry. To both of you.”
Accepting the earnest apology with a nod, Bracken said, “As long as you never try to come between me and my mate again, we don’t have a problem.”
“You have my solemn promise never to do so,” Kathy swore, her face sober.
Madisyn leaned her head on his shoulder. “As long as you cease trying to smother and fix him, you and I will be fine.”
“No more smothering and fixing,” Kathy agreed.
Eli popped his head out of the door. “You guys done talking? Some of us are starving in here.”
Rolling her eyes, Kathy pushed off the swing. “You don’t know what starving really is, Elijah Axton, so stop acting like you’re wasting away. Honestly, you possess zero patience.”
“Only when I’m hungry,” Eli insisted as she ushered him inside, muttering about him being too much like his father for his own good.
Madisyn looked up at Bracken. “Feel better now that that’s all resolved?”
“Yeah, I do. What she did is still fucked up, but I can see why she did it. Not saying I forgive her. I don’t. Can’t. But I can move past it. You?”
“As I just told her, as long as she stops with the smothering, she and I will be fine.”
“Good.” Bracken gave her a quick kiss. “Let’s eat.” Taking possession of his mate’s hand, he led her into the lodge. Everyone sat at the long kitchen table, chatting among themselves. When they spotted Madisyn, they barely held back from descending on her in concern. A warning look from him kept them in their seats. “She’s fine, as you can all see. No fussing or we’re leaving.”
Mouth twitching, Madisyn took the empty seat that Harley patted. Admiring the spread of various foods, she chewed on her lip, debating what to try first. So it took a few seconds to realize that Bracken was piling food on her plate for her.
“I didn’t get a chance before,” began Harley, “so let me just say it now: thanks for not being a bitch to my cousins at the barbecue.”
“They didn’t do anything wrong,” said Madisyn. “And it was kind of fun to watch Jazz walk in heels. I’m glad I didn’t miss it.”
Harley snickered. “Piper dared her to wear them. Jazz can never resist a dare.”
“I know someone just like that,” said Bracken.
Madisyn tossed him a dark scowl, but he just smiled.
“When are you having your mating ceremony?” asked little Cassidy, licking red sauce from her finger.
Grabbing the carafe of water, Madisyn said, “We haven’t really discussed it yet, sweetie.”
“Can we have a magician?” asked Willow. “You and Bracken don’t have to watch the show if you don’t like magic. We could have the show when you two go home to do . . . What do you call it, Daddy? ‘Bushwhacking’?”
Nick’s water spluttered out of his mouth.
Willow’s nose scrunched up. “I don’t know what it means,” she told Madisyn. “But I heard Daddy say it to Mommy, and she was smiling like it was fun.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Duh. It means sex.”
Willow tilted her head. “What’s that?”
“It’s when adults nap. How could you not know that?”
“Well, they don’t sound like they’re napping when they’re in their room. I think they’re bouncing on the bed, because I heard the springs going like crazy.”
Nick’s head fell forward onto the table with a bang.
“And I think Mommy bounced too hard and hurt Daddy last night, because he said he was gonna spank her.” Willow looked at her mother. “What did you do, Mommy?”
Her face a fire-engine red, Shaya cleared her throat. “Eat your food, Willow.”
With his mate’s face planted against his arm as she silently laughed, Bracken kissed her hair, his own shoulders shaking. Other than the Alpha pair, everyone was stifling smiles and trying their best to contain their laughter. There were actually tears rolling down Harley’s face.
“So the mating ceremony,” said Shaya brightly. “Maybe we could get back to that.”
Composing herself, Madisyn straightened. “As I told Willow, we haven’t made any plans yet.”
“We can wait until all the shit with the Maverick Clan has blown over, if you want,” Bracken offered.
Madisyn looked at him in surprise. “You’d be happy to wait?”
Bracken shrugged. “No disrespect to the ceremony, but it won’t make us more or less mated.” The ceremonial words had no power. “It’s really just a celebration. A tradition. There’s no rush.”
“I’d rather wait.” She didn’t want other things to be on their minds throughout the ceremony.
Setting another plate of toast in the center of the table, Kathy glanced at her daughter. “Is there a reason Eli keeps glaring at you?”
Roni shrugged innocently, digging into her food.
Marcus sighed at his mate, mouth curved. “Okay, what did you do?”
Roni sniffed. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
Guessing that the siblings had played pranks on each other again—something they did with a strange regularity purely for their own amusement—Bracken shook his head.
Marcus raised a brow at Eli. “Well, what did she do?”
Eli put down his cutlery, cheeks flushing. “What did she do? Oh, I’ll tell you. She put freaking mayonnaise into what I thought were custard fucking doughnuts.” He glowered at Roni. “What makes it worse is that I hate mayonnaise.”
Roni put a finger to her chin. “Now why would I do something like that? Oh yeah, maybe it’s because you decorated a sponge in chocolate frosting, sprinkles, nuts, and cream, and made me think it was a goddamn cake!”
“Tell me you didn’t still eat some of the frosting,” Eli dared.
“That’s not the point!”
Shoulders shaking with laughter yet again, Madisyn leaned into Bracken. “Tell me our kids won’t be like that. At least not as adults.”
He curled his arm around her. “According to Vinnie, if we have pallas kits close in age, pranks will be the least of our worries.”
She bit her lip. “Yeah, that’s true.”