Page 5 of Mated in Darkness

“I’m fine. If I need help, I will call you. All of you. I can take rogues down on my own, and we know that going into another Pack’s territory means it is better to go one at a time. Especially because we don’t know the Starlight Pack that well.”

The Starlight Pack was in southern Texas, the starting point for my search. I wasn’t sure why I knew that, but it just clung to me, part of my tracking. After all, Spencer was from down there. Maybe he had gone home. Or maybe my wolf was twisting me up into knots because I couldn’t tell.

It wasn’t like I could imagine a golden thread to lead me down there. It was just my wolf pushing me in that direction. But I could be wrong and following the wrong path.

“Where is Nick going?”

“Out to Philadelphia,” Conner said as he hugged Mom. “That’s where he should have been for his business meeting.”

“But if you feel that you need to go down to the Starlight Pack, that’s where he probably is,” my mom said softly.

“Not necessarily. My tracking isn’t as good as Dad’s. I’m going to find him. Even if I have to go back up to Philly.”

“We’ll see,” Dad said, frowning.

“You know my tracking is hit or miss unless I have an emotional connection to my target these days.”

He nodded, but before I could say anything else, my other siblings walked in.

Nico, Addison, Monica, Redmond, and Brodie all tumbled in, laughing and acting like adolescents rather than the twenty-somethings they all were.

My parents went big or went home, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Some of us looked more like Reed than Josh, so we knew who our genetic father was, but both men had raised us, along with our mom. How my mom had gone through labor and delivery so many times, I didn’t know, but I knew that on Mother’s Day she always got the best flowers and a day off. After all, she’d had to help raise us. We were little terrors.

“No more talk of tracking before dinner,” my mom said as she nodded tightly. “We are going to have a good dinner and not have a food fight, as you guys aren’t five anymore, and then we’re going to go to the Pack circle and listen to the Moon Goddess.”

My brows rose. “When is the last time that we did that?” I asked, looking at my sisters.

Both Addison and Monica just shrugged.

“I just feel like we need to do it,” Mom said. “I know it’s weird, but we’re going to go down and stand in the circle as a family. We don’t need to offer a sacrifice or build an altar, that’s not what we do, but I feel like we need to respect the Moon Goddess.”

“Doesn’t she speak directly to Cheyenne and Max now?” Conner asked.

“As they’re the Supreme Alphas, that is true,” Reed said as he helped the others set the table. “It’s not like we can just ask our friends to go draw up a line. And they’re not here anyway.”

I blinked. “Where are they?”

“They’re in DC meeting with the President of the United States. Big things. Then they’re off to the Thames Pack to go meet with that Alpha, Allister.”

I grinned. “How is the Alpha?” I practically purred, and Addison cackled.

“Too old for you,” Josh growled, sounding much more like a shifter than a human.

“Didn’t you go on a date with him?” Monica asked softly.

“We had coffee, and he was nice, but I’m never going to go out on adatedate with the man. I’m not going to mate with the Alpha of the Thames Pack. I would never get used to driving on the wrong side of the road.”

Mom winked. “If he were your mate, we would be happy for you, even though we would miss you. Technology is great, and we can see each other often these days, but I don’t even like you living outside of the house, let alone so far away.”

“The Alpha of the Pack in England is not my mate,” I said drily.

“But he is dreamy,” Monica sighed, and the rest of our brothers groaned.

“You would think we were all teenagers and not full adults all in the process of mating on our own. I mean, our cousins have children. Maybe it’s time we find our mates.”

“I was far older than you by the time I found your dad and mom,” Father said. “In fact, all of my siblings, other than Cailin, were either near one hundred or over it by the time that we found our mates.”

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