Page 36 of Mated in Darkness

We didn’t need to go far, as Riaz met us halfway there, and we stepped into the building where Jason was sleeping in another room. I wanted to go there, and I would. I needed to explain to my family and Riaz what had been going on so that I could lead them all to talk about what they needed to, and I could focus on Jason.

Then I would rip out the throats of anybody that came near my mate again. I would avenge the loss of his humanity, because even if Jason hated me for the rest of his life for what I had done, I would kill anybody that came near him. Because that’s who I was, I was a dominant wolf. I was a Redwood wolf. And they would have to deal with it.

I was a Redwood wolf, wasn’t I? It broke my heart, reaching out towards the bonds of my family and my other wolves, and I knew that was the truth.

I was Redwood. Was Jason Starlight? I wasn’t sure. I had never really known of a mating like ours, not while crossing Pack lines. Matings with the Redwoods and Talons, and even the Aspens now, were completely different.

I didn’t know, and we would have to work on it soon to figure it out. But for now, I focused on what I could—my family.

“Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” my father said.

“Your daughter is a strong wolf, and while I know she would be an advantage for our Pack, I’m glad to see she is with our future ally,” Riaz said out of the blue, and I looked between him and Parker, but Parker just grinned as Reed glared a bit, and shook his head.

“Start at the beginning, daughter of mine. I don’t like to be confused.”

I knew he was playing the part of the old man to settle me, and it was working. The sense of familiar and home soothed my wolf. “Okay, I can try.”

I tried to explain about finding Spencer and Jason, about the bite marks and the random rogues that might not be rogues, and the mutant bites that didn’t make any sense. I explained about the commandos that we had met.

And the fact that Jason, a human geneticist that was the friend of the Starlight Pack, was my mate.

And we were only partially mated.

Reed let out a little soft growl before he reached forward and hugged me tightly. “I’m so sorry, daughter of mine. That must’ve been a horrible decision.”

“He’s still not awake, Father. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You will go be by his side, and you will hold his hand. When the time comes, you will talk to him about what happened. He will understand. He is your mate.”

“But I forced it.”

“The Moon Goddess doesn’t make a mistake like that,” Parker replied, and I looked at Parker, and then my father, and I had to wonder if maybe that was true. After all, both of them were in triads, both of them found not one, but two mates, and somehow were making it work. Both sets of matings had been under traumatic and dangerous circumstances, maybe I could do the same. But I didn’t know.

“So you don’t know who these soldiers were?” Reed asked, and Riaz shook his head.

“No. Not yet. We have their bodies. We’re going to find out who they are.”

I let out a breath, my wolf pacing, both of us wanted to go to Jason. “I’m sorry I didn’t leave one alive.”

“Considering they had just stuck a knife into Jason’s stomach, I understand. Between the use of the magic to keep the other wolves away from what was going on and the fact that they also had darts with some kind of serum in it? I’m fine. I understand. We’ll figure it out. Jason will wake up. He will be Pack. We’ll figure it out.”

“He’ll be Redwood Pack,” Parker said, and I blinked, wondering why Parker was so adamant.

“Of course he will, Voice of the Wolves. You don’t need to be dry with me. However, it will make some new ties with the Starlight Pack.”

“So you’re saying that he’ll be Redwood Pack, and the Starlight Pack is just going to let him go, free and easy? Or are you just saying that because you don’t think he’ll even choose that? Because I took this choice from him.”

“Kaylee,” Reed whispered, but it was Riaz who spoke next.

“I’m saying that because I have to believe in the Moon Goddess, just like the rest of you. Our Pack doesn’t have as many fated mates as others. We have secrets of our own,” he said, and I knew the fact that he had said any of that at all was a large calculation and a step towards trust between the two Packs. From the way that my father and Parker looked at one another, they understood that too.

“Jason will understand. There were reasons that we never brought him into our Pack, not just because of the rules of our new world. But because something held us back.”

“You mean so that he could nearly die as a human on the battlefield?”

Riaz cursed under his breath. “No. Because he needed to be with you. Your Pack. And another connection for us to one of the strongest Packs in the world while we struggle to find a new footing in this unhinged version of it, that’s something that I feel like the Moon Goddess is preparing us for.”

“But first, we need Jason to wake up.”

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