Page 59 of Vicious Luna

“No, it’s not like that!” I shout in an attempt to be heard over their ramblings. “He’s the only one who’s a shifter.” The others quiet down, looking to me expectantly, so I take a deep breath and continue. “Well, I think he is,” I say, dropping my hands into my lap and wringing them. “I didn’t meet that many of the hunters, but the others I did were human. And so was this one, until the night I escaped.”

“The full moon,” Sloane murmurs, and I can already see the pieces slotting together in her brain.Damn my bestie’s psychic intuition.

“Yeah,” I breathe, nodding. “He didn’t even know until he shifted that night.”

“How is that possible?” Ares spits, his lips twisting in a scowl.

I take another steadying breath, trying to sort it all out in my brain before putting it into words. “Well, from what I’ve gathered, he’s only half shifter,” I say, staring down at the conference table. “His mom died of cancer, so she couldn’t have been a shifter, and he only just found out that his dad isn’t his biological father. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and the best I can figure is that his wolf must’ve been dormant until being around me triggered his first shift.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Madd grumbles. “The hunters have been at this for ten years now. He had to have been around other shifters plenty of times, so why wouldn’t he shift until now? He has to be lying, something isn’t adding up.”

“Unless he’s her mate,” Sloane surmises.

Everyone falls silent. Madd whips his head sideways to gape at Sloane, but her eyes are still intently fixed on me. “He’s your mate, isn’t he, Aves?” she asks, giving me a pointed look as she awaits confirmation.

I jerk a nod.

“No,” Madd growls, shaking his head adamantly.

I snort a laugh. “Trust me, I had the same reaction when I found out.”

He continues shaking his head, refusing to believe it, but in his eyes, I can see he knows it’s true. It’s all starting to make sense to him- why I’ve been cagey about some of the details of my captivity; why I didn’t want him to go charging into that cell, guns-a-blazing. He understands the chaotic pull of the mate bond all too well, given what he and Sloane went through to find their way back to each other. Hell, a lot of people in this room do.

Javi and Lo were seemingly on opposing sides when they met, not unlike me and Cam. Andie and Nash were entangled in a manic dance ofwill they,won’t theybefore they figured their shit out and their bond snapped into place. Even Chey and Iver get it- she resisted the bond at first, haunted by her past, but Iver was patient enough to put in the time to help her work through her trauma until she let him in. The couples at this table are prime examples of how fate isn’t always fair, but it never makes mistakes.

Archer, Tristan, and Ares have yet to experience the mate bond, but it’s only a matter of time before they’re caught in the tangled web of fate.

“This has to be some sort of trap,” Madd mutters angrily.

I roll my eyes, throwing my head back with an exasperated sigh. “Do you hear yourself right now?! Nobody can control fate, Madd.”

“Maybe not, but how do you explain him showing up here?” he fires back, slamming a fist down on the table.

“His people turned on him when they realized what he is,” I state calmly.

He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m not buying it.”

“It’s true,” I insist. “They tortured him. I felt his pain through the bond.”

The room goes so silent that you could hear a damn pin drop. This isn’t the way I wanted to tell them about me and Cam, but it is what it is. They don’t have to trust him, but they should trustme.

“I didn’t choose this, Madd,” I say quietly, sliding my hand over to place it on top of his. “I’m still trying to come to terms with everything, and I…” my voice breaks as I trail off, tears springing to my eyes.

My brother immediately flips his hand over, grabbing onto mine and squeezing. He hates to see me cry.

I take a deep, steadying breath, forcing my tears back and getting my emotions in check.

“Maybe this is all part of fate’s larger plan,” Archer suggests, ever the level-headed one of the group. It’s a stark contrast to his younger brother, Ares. I glance over at him as he swipes a hand along his chin, considering. “A wolf’s first instinct is to protect their mate, right? If you two are fated, then it’d be against his nature to put you in danger. Maybe fate put you together so he can help us take down the hunters once and for all.”

Ares scoffs in disbelief, but Archer ignores his brother, continuing on.

“Think about it,” he says, sweeping his gaze around the table. “Who knows the inner workings of the hunters better than one of their own? If it’s true that they turned on him, then he has no reason to protect them anymore. Hell, he’ll have his own ax to grind.”

“Fair point,” Javi agrees. “But how do we know we can trust him?”

“We can’t,” Madd grumbles.

“He stays in the cell,” I say resolutely.

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