I hadn’t met Rachel—Wade and Landry’s human mate—yet, but I’d heard the story from my parents. From what they’d told me, she’d unwittingly put tags in wolves as part of her research work at Granger State—tags which Bob Jenkins, Tim Hollaroy and their cronies used to track and kill them.
“We have no reason to believe Ali hates wolves as much as her father,” Holt rumbled, defensive on behalf of our mate.
“I hate that fucker.” Gibson leaned back in his desk chair and ran a hand over his beard. “Hollaroy’s most likely the guy who killed Landry’s mother, but Jenkins is no saint.”
I worked to swallow. Fuck. Bringing the daughter of someone who had harmed our pack so horribly into the fold could be difficult. What if the pack rejected her? As if we didn’t have enough problems with figuring out how to get our mate to even give us the time of day.
Gibson sighed, then looked at me. “Now you’re telling me you think he’s making meth on his land, and distributing it across the state?”
I nodded. This was one thing I could control. I had facts. Data. “Yes.”
Shifters didn’t need to take drugs. It was pointless because our metabolism burned the chemical effects off too quickly to make them fun, and we couldn’t become addicted. While I was sure Gibson wasn’t thrilled about the fact that drug creation and distribution had most likely started within miles of our land, he didn’t have to worry about an impact on any of his pack.
Except for the impact on me and Holt—namely, the challenges we were going to have in arresting the father of the female we were dying to claim.
“You have proof?” he asked.
“Credible leads to bring me back here to investigate,” I told him.
“And now a mate to keep you here in West Springs.”
Holt had mentioned it only yesterday: that if we found our mate, I’d move back. He’d said it without any expectation of our coming upon her only a few minutes later.
But we had. She was ours. Running into her at the bar the night before only validated what we already knew. Ali Jenkins was our fated mate. The one female who would produce the urge in us to claim and forever mark her with our scent.
It was Ali who didn’t know it yet.
I still had her scent in my head, driving me wild. My wolf would know her anywhere. He was prowling with eagerness to get back to her, not letting me get any sleep the night before, angry that she wasn’t beside us.
Even now, sitting in the alpha’s office and updating him was keeping us from her, but it was far from a waste of time. It was how the pack worked—telling the alpha about threats to the community. Seeking his advice and counsel. Obeying his word.
Although, when it came to scent-matches and their mate, he didn’t have much control. The bond was stronger than even an alpha’s orders.
“I’m relocating, that’s for sure. Our mate’s here, and that’s all the reason I need.” I looked to Holt. “Need a deputy?”
He grinned because I was far too qualified for that subordinate role.
“You two need to lock in that female first thing,” Gibson reminded us grimly.
The smile slipped from Holt’s face. “It will be tricky. Her father wants her nowhere near us,” he said, referencing the convo we’d overheard standing on their porch.
Gibson’s back went straight, his brows down. “How old is she? Is she legal?”
“Twenty-two or three, maybe,” Holt countered.
Gibson relaxed. “Then she can make up her own fucking mind. She doesn’t need her daddy to tell her what to do. Unless you’re her daddies now.”
I knew the alpha and his scent-match were into that kink with their mate, Shelby. If we discovered that was what made Ali hot, then it was our job to fulfill it, but I had a feeling it’d be something different. Our mate was a feisty thing. Bossy. I had a feeling she might like being told what to do. To let that pretty head of hers take a break while we took control.
Holt took off his Stetson, sat it in his lap. “It’s going to be a challenge. There’s a lot at stake here with the meth situation, as well as the ongoing tension with ranchers over wolves. We can’t exactly give her daddy a pass just because she’s our mate, can we?”
“Yeah, and you’re going to have to tell the daughter of an anti-wolf asshole that she’s the mate of not one male, but two, and that you’re both shifters. Who’s to say she’s not going to tell her father or anyone else?” Gibson said.
That was our concern as well.
“Any suggestions?” I asked.
Gibson shook his head. “You need to lock her in. Shift her allegiance from the Jenkins family to the one you’ll make together.”
Neither Holt nor I said anything because that was our plan. We’d stayed up half the night hashing through the situation, and came up with the only answer—to pour everything we had into pleasuring our mate. Saturating her with love. Cherishing her. Proving we would take care of her, that she could trust us.
But asking her to give up her allegiance to her own family? That might be too much.
We didn’t even have our foot in the door with her yet. We’d stated our intentions the night before at the bar, but she’d turned us down. Walked away. I wasn’t going to toss her over my shoulder and kidnap her, no matter how much my wolf liked the concept. She had to consent to be with us. Want us. She might be our mate, but I wouldn’t take her any other way.
I knew Holt agreed.
“Why the hell can’t my pack members find perfectly good shifter mates?” Gibson asked. “If Ali was a she-wolf, you’d have her in your bed and your marks on her neck by now. Everything would be simple and easy.”
My inner wolf growled in frustration thinking about getting Ali between us and seeing our marks on her tanned skin. She was a spirited one, and I imagined she’d be equally so in bed. She’d quickly learn who was in charge in our triad, and it wasn’t her. “No kidding. Fate is fucking fickle.”
“What’s your plan?” he wondered. “I assume you have one.” I was thankful he wasn’t telling us what to do, which was probably why he was a good alpha. He didn’t waste time on micromanaging.
I looked to Holt. Met his gaze.
“Regardless of me quitting the DEA, I have to find the source of the meth. Especially if it’s coming from West Springs.”
“Agreed,” Holt replied. “During the day, we work. At night, we work on Ali.”
Gibson pushed to his feet, and slapped a hand on the top of his desk. “Keep me updated. And for fuck’s sake, get your marks on her. We need her loyalties with the pack before you go arresting her dad.”
ALI
I clicked my tongue to urge my speckled mare, Daisy, forward. It felt great to be back riding the family land again. Being away and working on other ranches only sweetened my homecoming. I relished the views, the waving grass, the familiar mountain peaks that were in my blood. That I’d woken up to every morning of my childhood. Some day, all of this would be mine to run. This was the land where I would raise a family. I imagined a whole bunch of boys running wild out here. A husband, too, I guessed.
Of course, that thought brought the throbbing back between my legs.