Page 6 of Fated In Winter

I pushed the thoughts from my head and followed Quinn back down the mountain.

The others followed, but I did my best not to pay attention to them. There was just something about Conner, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what that something was.

We made our way past the Redwood bounds and jumped into the Jeep, Quinn driving towards the Talon den.

“Can you take me to the Central area, not the den, but the neutral grounds where we have the council meetings? Mitchell wanted to meet me there.”

Mitchell was the Beta of the Talon Pack, and my superior.

“No problem. I’m off to go meet with Cameron about a few things.”

Cameron was the Pack’s Enforcer, and though he wasn’t Quinn’s higher up anymore, our Packs were so integrated thanks to our treaties, bonds, and matings, that it was as if we were one Pack with two sets of hierarchies. It worked because our wolves are the ones that make the decisions when it came to Pack dominance and hierarchy like that.

I wasn’t sure if another set of Packs out in the world was like ours, and I didn’t mind. I liked being unique.

I got out of the car, waved at Quinn, and knew I could jog back later if I needed to.

When I got into the building, keeping an eye out for anyone that could come at us, my shoulders relaxed at the sight of Mitchell.

Mitchell might be a mean son of a bitch, and a kick-ass Beta, but he also was a friend. At least a decent acquaintance. After all, people were good about staying away from me, so I wasn’t truly their friend. Or maybe it’s that I stayed away from them. After all, I didn’t want to be hurt. I didn’t want to hurt others.

“Hey, you okay? I heard about the sighting.”

I nodded, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. “I’m okay. I lost Darren when I went to catch Conner from falling off the damn cliff.”

Mitchell’s eyes widened. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, though I think Darren cut him up a bit. He shifted as he fell. I mean, Conner did. I’ve never seen anyone shift that fast in all my years.”

Mitchell nodded. “Conner’s the fastest shifter that I’ve ever seen. Might be the fastest ever. He can do it in a blink, and it’s insane. He probably did that so he didn’t fall to his death.”

“That’s what I figured, but it was still a little muddy from all the snow and he ended up sliding down a bit. I caught him by the wrist, but still.”

“Well, I’m glad you were there for him.” He looked down at his phone. “Nick should be here soon.”

“So we’re having a dual Beta’s meeting for me?”

“You’ll see,” Mitchell said, and I frowned.

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”

“Well, you’ll get used to it,” Nick said as he came forward, a grin on his face.

Nick was the son of the Alpha of the Redwood Pack. That meant he was Conner’s cousin.

There were honestly so many Jamensons and Brentwoods out there these days. It was hard to keep up.

“Your man here?”

“Since he decided to get cut up, he’s back there. Our Healer healed him up, but he’s off rotation for a couple of nights.”

“I’m fine,” a deep voice growled, and my eyes widened.

“What’s going on?” I asked, stiffening. My wolf was at the forefront, alert because her Beta was there, a growl on his voice, and because of him.

Conner Jamenson.

What was it about him?

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