Page 46 of Mated in Darkness

“Hey, baby girl.” He kissed the top of her head and then moved out of the way so a taller man with broad shoulders and a wide smile could step in, and he hugged her hard. He lifted her off her feet, kissed the top of her head, and Kaylee rolled her eyes at both of them.

I never thought of Kaylee as small. Yes, she was shorter than me, but she had so much power packed within that body of hers, but she never seemed diminutive to me. And yet, seeing her with the two men who had to be her cousin and father, I realized how tiny she was.

And she was all mine.

Damn it.

“Reed, this is my mate, Jason. Jason, this is Reed and Parker.” She looked between us, her voice going slightly high-pitched as she bounced on her toes. “And I’ve never done this before, so let’s not make this awkward. In fact, let’s get out of this small room and meet where Riaz is. I thought you guys were going to be out by the wards and not in here.”

Reed leaned forward and patted his daughter’s hands. “Stop talking so fast. We’re not going to hurt your mate.

“Exactly. We aren’t Conner,” Reed teased, and I looked between the both of them as I stepped closer to Kaylee. Neither Reed nor Parker seemed to care, and my shoulders relaxed marginally. “I’m a little nervous about meeting this Conner.”

“Don’t be,” Reed said. “Conner’s growly, and that’s because he’s a wolf. We’re all a bit growly sometimes. My son is just the growliest of my kids.”

“But not the growliest of the cousins,” Parker said, looking off into the distance.

“I’m never going to get all of your names right, am I?” I asked, as Kaylee slid her hand into mine. My wolf, if that’s what I could call it since I wasn’t really sure yet, settled down at the touch, and I wanted to find out why. I wanted to look at the science and genetics and peel back the layers as to why that was happening.

But then I remembered that maybe it was magic, and I wasn’t supposed to know.

“I can see your mind whirling a million miles a minute. Let’s go meet with Riaz and the others, and then we can talk about what we’re going to do next.” Kaylee squeezed my hand again, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I met Reed’s gaze. “If that’s okay with you, sir.”

Reed’s lips twitched into a smile as Parker threw his head back and laughed.

“Oh, I think the family is going to love you, Jason.”

“What? You’re Kaylee’s father. I assumed I’d have to call you sir.”

“You’re welcome to, but Josh is the growlier one of us. I may be the wolf, but he growls more.” Reed winked, and I shook my head, feeling lost and confused but figured I’d have time to figure it out. First, though, I needed to help find whoever the hell was killing our people. Our people. Because it wasn’t just the Starlight wolves or their humans or witches. I was wolf too. And they had nearly killed me. And I didn’t want to hold back any longer.

We made our way to one of the meeting areas in the den. I hadn’t been on Pack lands often, mostly because they always came to me or I met near the den itself with the Pack members that I was friends with.

There had been no real need for me to hang out in the den, so while I knew certain areas, I had never been in this particular building.

Reed nodded at Riaz, though he didn’t lower his gaze. It wasn’t a sign of aggression, more that Reed was just that strong. I could feel Riaz’s wolf, though, and I knew that Riaz might be the strongest wolf in the room. Reed, Parker, and Kaylee were no slouches either.

It was so odd to be able to feel that, to know that there was a difference, and while I was on the low rung of that ladder for now, my wolf, whatever it was, wanted to get higher.

Things were going to get interesting once I finally shifted.

“We’re sorry about Spencer,” Riaz began, as Brendan came forward.

“He was yours just as he was ours,” Reed said. “But we’re here to find out exactly what the hell is going on and how we’re going to help fix it. You have the Redwoods and the Talons beside you.”

Parker added, “As I’m technically a Talon, I agree with that statement, and both Packs are here to help.”

I would have to ask exactly the connections between the two Packs later, but there wasn’t time for that right then.

“Jason, tell us what you know,” Riaz began, as we all sat down at the table, photos of the dead in front of us and bile rising at my throat. It wasn’t that I was squeamish. It was that I was so angry that we couldn’t figure this out, and we couldn’t stop this, that I was shaking. “Over a year ago now, the Starlight Pack began to find wolves that weren’t rogue but were alone out in the forest. They were killed, bitten, and it looked as if they’d got in a fight with another rogue or otherwise killed in a fight. We weren’t sure. Either way, though, there were black bite marks around the wounds, as if something gnawed on them, and disease began to take root.”

Parker cursed under his breath. “As the Voice of the Wolves, I have contact with every Pack in the world, and I haven’t heard about this outside of this area.”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, that’s a good thing, because we don’t want this to be widespread in case it is contagious and becomes a contagion. That means we have someone hunting near the Starlight land.”

“And they’re taking witches and humans now as well,” Riaz added, as a low growl emanated into the room.

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