Page 13 of An Unexpected Claim

I continued to study her before finally responding. “You have a point,” I conceded. “What you’re saying sounds rather improbable, but better to be safe than sorry.” I doubted my resources were the help she needed, but I would look into it for her anyway.

I stroked my beard and leaned back in my seat. The amulets were created by witches, so it seemed like that avenue would yield the best help. “You know, your best bet would be to go to the head of the Witch Council with this,” I suggested. They located near Russia, and considering her heritage, it surprised me that she hadn’t already had a contact on the Council. Then again, she’d been residing in another realm for a long time.

She stiffened for a fraction of a second before dissolving into a relaxed, easy state. Her ability to hide her thoughts and emotions behind a mask of serenity was impressive.“Maybe I’ll do that,” she replied with a noncommittal shrug.

“All right,” I agreed as I stood. “While I’m not confident that I’ll be able to find out anything that you wouldn’t learn faster from them, I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” A thought occurred to me. If this vampire was using NYC portals, perhaps the king of theMonarchie du Sang—the French vampire dynasty—would be able to help her in her search. Despite living in France the majority of the time, Lucien owned a nightclub in the city—The CrimsonCalice. His brother Phillipé resided here most of the time though, and nothing happened in this city without their knowledge. Still…she was a slayer, so I didn’t know how she’d react to my suggestion. “Have you thought about reaching out to the vampires here in New York?” I asked, being deliberately vague.

Something resembling fear flared in her eyes for only a moment before it disappeared behind her wall. “I’d rather not deal with any more of the living dead than is strictly necessary.” She smiled sweetly—not fooling me for a second—and added, “‘Strictly necessary’ being the equivalent of a stake to the heart.”

My eyebrows rose as I hid my fight not to smile. I’d never met anyone quite like this witch. I stroked my beard again, continuing to assess her. “You are very unique, Rowan.”

She tossed her head and flicked her long, purple hair over her shoulder, then smiled and winked. “You bet your ass, baby. There’s no one like me.”

“So I’ve noticed,” I said with a chuckle. “Come on, I’ll walk you down. I’m meeting a friend for a drink.”

Chapter Six

Nathan

Igrunted in frustration as I shoved another file aside and opened a new one, ignoring my exhaustion. Tanner dropped the files off a month ago, and I still hadn’t found a decent replacement for the open position at KBO. Not that I’d had an abundance of spare time.

After my meeting with Rowan, I’d met Jax in the lobby and almost had my head ripped off for holding him back when he tried to follow the witch. Until he’d made it clear that she was his true mate, at which point I’d had no choice but to let him go. I’d warned him that her situation was complicated and, from the time I’d spent with her, I’d had a very strong feeling that she wouldn’t be very receptive to the idea of a mate. Particularly a possessive, jealous, overly protective shifter.

However, I understood his determination. Finding one’s true mate was a rarity.

For our breed of shifters—born, not bitten—we didn’t have “fated mates.” Thankfully, because once bitten shifters met their other half, their physical desires were solely directed at their mate. The male lost the use of his equipment unless he was using it with his mate. If one rejected the other, that was it. Their lives became lonely and celibate.

Luckily, born shifters, like my pack, were given the ability to choose our mate, though each of us was created specifically for a “true mate”, that didn’t mean we would find love with them, assuming we even crossed paths with them in this giant universe. We had the ability to mate and imprint with someone else, choosing who we loved and who we fucked.

Most of the time though, when true mates met and both were single, the physical and emotional pull between them was impossible not to explore. Not that I’d had experience with it myself, but I’d seen it. My parents were true mates, and their devotion had never wavered.

I appreciated what they had between them, but I had no interest in finding a mate. I wouldn’t know what the hell to do with them—other than fucking.

However, considering the evidence, I hadn’t been surprised when Jax and Rowan showed up in Silver Lake a few days later, already in the early stages of the mating process. They’d brought her friend, Emerald, here to protect her from the vamp Rowan was hunting and only stayed a few days.

I’d confirmed her story and identity with Jude and continued to reach out to my contacts for any information that might help her. But I knew she was holding back a lot, and my blind spots made it harder because I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.

All the while we’d been developing new tech at KBO. We always were, but we’d run into some glitches on a project creating special headgear. We’d smoothed them out just in time because only a few days later, I’d received a message from Sapphire that the beacon from Makayla’s new amulet had been activated.

Asher and I had loaded up and used my stone to cross realms. We’d discovered that Makayla had been chasing down a trafficking ring but had uncovered an entire conspiracy involving experimentation on shifters in an attempt to create some kind of super-soldier. Jude had sent the signal—because the asshole had still had the amulet—when he, Makayla, and her new mate had all managed to land themselves in the hands of the enemy.

After rescuing them, I’d asked my father—the former Silver Lake Alpha—to take care of the pack so I could spend a couple of weeks in the other realm helping Jude to clean up the last of the organization. When I’d returned, I’d brought a new wolf to my pack, a broken woman who needed a fresh start. There was another reason involving Asher, but I wasn’t going to interfere unless absolutely necessary.

Now I blew out a frustrated breath and ran my hands through my loose hair before twisting it up in a bun. My wolf growled and pushed against me, urging me to go for the run I’d promised him, and I acknowledged that we could both use it. A glance at my watch revealed that I had two hours until my teleconference with an alpha in Anchorage who was also on the SC. The supernatural community was growing more restless, especially as the votes coming up split or with unexpected results increased. The missing members—now up to two—still hadn’t been found. And I’d heard chatter about anti-shifter activity, though we hadn’t been able to pin down who or where. It was speculation at the moment.

Yeah, I needed a run. A knock on my door made me scowl and my mood dipped even further when I opened it to find Tanner wearing a similar expression. “I’m going to kill him,” I growled. Even without the pack link, I knew why Tanner had come. Only one person pissed him off this much lately.

“Not if I do it first,” Tanner replied, his tone murderous.

“How long?”

“Lisa called me five minutes ago. She noticed the hole in the system right away, but he screwed up so thoroughly that she could only patch it while she tried to figure out exactly what he did.”

“Get his ass in my office, deactivate his security badge, and wipe his computer.”

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