Claiming His Fire (2 page)

Gates growled again, low and deep. “This shit affects my mate.”

“Not right now, it doesn’t.”

Gates turned away, shifting his glare to some point across the room. “You don’t get it.”

“Try me.”

He spun back, looking somehow less angry and more…scared, almost. A definitive difference from his normal, confident attitude.

“I swore to her that I wouldn’t fail, that I’d keep her safe, that they wouldn’t…”

He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, his hands curling into fists. “They took her from me. Those bastards had their hands on her. If I hadn’t been there, the Fates only know where she would be right now. We didn’t have any idea there were shifters kidnapping Omegas before those fuckers made a play for Kaija. You were there with us…fighting by my side to protect her. You knowing shit and not telling me is…”

He paused, shook his head, and looked away. My stomach knotted as my friend, someone I respected and knew as a brave and strong fighter, broke before my eyes. Damn it, this was why I hadn’t wanted to come back. Not yet…not until the whole Omega business was solved. With Gates’ mate being one of the shewolves targeted, I knew there’d be pressure to speak about things Blaze had deemed top secret. Gates had to be desperate for information. And yes, there was a little buzz about the white wolf Omega who had slipped through the kidnappers’ fingers, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could tell him. Not without defying orders and betraying the trust of my team.

Still, some men just needed a little reassurance to set their soul at ease.

Giving in to my desire to take care of my brother, I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “Nothing I’m working on affects her directly at the moment. If I found out information like that, you’d be one of the first to hear it, my brother. I’d never let any danger come at her if I could help you avoid it.”

Gates sighed, his shoulders sagging. “I know…it’s just been such a fucking mess. We can’t ever truly be comfortable. Either the guys are giving her a tough time and I have to rein in my need to knock their fucking teeth out, or someone brings up the Omega kidnappings. We’ve never gotten the chance to just
be.
There’s always something hanging over us.”

I sat back, silent, the words to reply not within me. Nothing I could say would calm that fear, none of the things I’d learned in medical school could stop his pain. It was something he needed to push through. Something I couldn’t help with.

After a moment, he shook his head, looking a little uncomfortable at his admissions. “I shouldn’t have pushed you like that. I just hate not knowing what all of you are doing about this. I need details.”

“You don’t want to know.” I kept my face stiff, my eyes locked on his. “You really don’t want to know what we’re doing, Gates. Just trust me, we’re working on it. Every day and night, we’re working on tracking these fuckers down.”

I dragged the flyer off the top of my stack of papers and pulled one document to the side, taking a glance at the number that represented Kaija. Her stats rolled out in the row following her unique indicator: her birthdate, her pack status, the date of her brush with the kidnappers. But one column in particular caught my attention. The one with a simple three in it. One of only a handful of threes in that column. The indicator of an Omega with a mate.

“I promise you, Gates,” I said, running a finger down to one of the other threes. “If something comes up that you need to know, you’ll know. But I need you to let me do what Blaze wants without interfering.” Another three, this one more recent than even Gates and Kaija’s mating. A couple that met at our yearly social event, The Gathering. A couple living the hell Gates dreaded.

He stared at my finger as I trailed down the list. His jaw clenched when I turned the page over, finding another sheet with numbers. All Omegas. All in danger. Almost none with mates.

I watched as his eyes bounced from mine to my finger, the numbers on the page too hard to resist.

“There are more shewolves at stake than just Kaija,” I said, my voice quiet but firm. “And the majority” —I tapped another three, the only one on that particular sheet— “don’t have a mate to help keep them safe. You’re her ally, and I’m yours. Trust in that.”

“Yeah…okay.” He glanced at the papers again, his brow pulling together. “Guess I should be glad for that mating bond, right?”

I couldn’t speak, could barely breathe as I stared at a number on the page. The one for the newly mated couple. The one with the missing Omega and the mate without a clue where she was. The biggest secret in all the pages and the case I’d been busting my ass—and my face—on for weeks.

Gates gave me a backslap goodbye as my stomach sank to my toes. I definitely couldn’t tell him about that case. It was more of a secret than the others because of how the kidnappers had been able to get around the mating bond. When a mated pair exchanged blood through bites, they ended up linked somehow. The magic behind it was beyond my knowledgebase, but the fact was a mated shifter could sense or feel where his mate was at all times. Until this last kidnapping when the Omega simply faded off her mate’s radar. He could sense her, but not enough to know which direction she’d been taken, the bond reduced to little more than static. Something we hadn’t known was possible.

Once Gates disappeared into the back of the denhouse, I sighed and slumped against the bar. Damn it, I hadn’t been prepared for so much so soon. The needs of my denmates hadn’t factored into my decision to come back for the charity ride. I’d wanted a few days to clear my head, but after my talk with Gates, I was even more distracted. I had enough on my shoulders without feeling as if Kaija’s safety from the bastards who’d already tried to take her once was resting on my shoulders. And yet, it was. It always had been.

Still, as much as it probably would have pissed off Gates, I was secretly grateful Kaija had been targeted. Her kidnapping, even if it was only for a few moments, had kicked off an investigation into a threat against all Omegas. I’d been out ever since, hunting the kidnappers, tracking them down. Fighting to save our girls.

Powerful female shifters, the Omegas were considered a treasure to the wolf shifter breed for the strength they gave to a pack. But someone had been taking them against their will, leaving a pile of unanswered questions in their wake. Hell, whoever was collecting the women had decimated four packs so far, killing every other packmate. Of course, that was another thing we couldn’t talk about. Much of the shifter community knew about the second pack that had been wiped out, but the others attacked had been kept quiet. The latest one, though not as successful, had also been buried. Layers upon layers of secrets and lies, all covering up the holes in what the packs thought of as the solid foundation of our world.

“You need anything, Shadow?”

I glanced up, meeting the eyes of Klutch. He’d been the manager of the denhouse for years, and he was the road captain on almost all our rides. He was also too kind, too curious, and too observant to pull one over on. It was time to cut and run.

“Nah, man, but thanks. I’m going to hit the rack for a bit.”

I grabbed my papers and headed for the stairs that would take me to my apartment on the second floor. My need for sleep far outweighed my desire to be available for Rebel should he want me to do something. Plus, I had work to get done, rumors to research, and I couldn’t do all that with the other guys around. Not with the shit I’d have to say.

As soon as I stepped through the doorway into the place I called home, the picture of my mother caught my attention. Short and dark, she sat among a group of tigers at the edge of a forest. Last I’d heard, she was somewhere in Malaysia living with two other tiger shifter females. Of course, unlike wolves, tigers weren’t really pack animals, so what she was doing with those two ladies was probably something I didn’t want to think about. Still, she looked happy surrounded by the members of her streak. At ease. Something I envied her for.

Sighing, I slouched off to the bedroom, shucking my clothes along the way and grabbing my favorite ratty sweat pants. I pulled them on quickly, my eyes sticking for a moment at the subtle striping in my groin. Short, thick bands of skin barely a shade darker than the rest crept diagonally from hip to upper thigh in four stripes. Tiger stripes. A birthmark stamped into my skin, subtle and light. Something I’d been fighting to hide most of my life. A secret that, if found out, could get me kicked out of the Feral Breed not by the leadership, but by the guys who fought beside me as brothers.

My unique heritage had been both a blessing and a curse. My tiger side was both terrifying and strong, a better hunter than most wolves, sneaky as all fuck, and one hell of a vicious fighter when called upon, even if I remained in my wolf or human form. But my mixed background had gotten me kicked out of packs and shunned by most wolves when I was younger, so I hid it. Tucked that secret way down deep and left it to rot.

Blaze and Rebel were the only ones who knew about my mother’s breed and how that affected my abilities. Both men understood the impact the added genetic material had on my inner wolf as well as the way other wolf shifters would treat me if they knew. We’d all heard it and seen it before: the isolation, the disgust, the way the judgmental would spit out that ultimate insult…
mutt.
But Blaze and Rebel had accepted me, allowed me to prospect for the Feral Breed and let me earn my colors without bias or hate. Most importantly, they helped me hide the truth from others who wouldn’t be so accepting. Blaze’s mate, Dante, had a similar genetic makeup, though coming from his father’s side and several generations back. Blaze was well-versed in our mixed-up bloodlines, our dual animal natures, and he took full advantage of it.

Blaze had requested my presence in Chicago to help track down the missing women not long after the incident with Kaija. At the time, we’d only been aware of three shewolves involved. But the longer we searched, the more truth came to light, and the more women seemed to have been taken. Seemed, because some packs refused to tell us if the women were Omegas or not. Others had simply disappeared. But as word spread of the danger brewing around the Omegas, the stories began rolling in, other packs too afraid of losing a beloved packmate not to tell someone when things seemed unusual in their area.

My job—my mission, my duty to the breed—was to find what had somehow become the unfindable. Nothing could get in my way of that. Not the fear of having my tiger side revealed, not the risk of being shunned by my Feral Breed brothers for being a mutt. Nothing could get in my way of solving this mystery and returning the Omegas to their packs.

Because every time I looked at those numbers on the page, it was Kaija’s face I saw, and it was the memory of Gates’ pain-filled roar as his mate was taken right in front of his eyes that played through my mind. A sound that haunted me even in my dreams.

The music thumped through the speakers, making the dance floor vibrate with the level of bass. I smiled at the man dancing in front of me. He stepped closer, watching as I swung my hips and turned, as I gave myself over to the music and the energy of the club. To the heat of the place and the people filling it. I liked this, liked his eyes on me, liked the steamy looks he sent me. I liked being the center of attention, even if I didn’t like him all that much.

Doug worked at the bank down the street from the house my sister and I rented. Nice guy, good-looking in a very bland sort of way, but my God, was he dull. He’d spent dinner talking about some kind of dog his parents own. An entire meal discussing dogs…
please.
I preferred the company of cats, and I made sure he knew it. He hadn’t known what to say at that point. Of course, I hadn’t used the word cats. I’d been a bit crasser than that, something he hadn’t seemed impressed with. Not that I cared all that much what he thought about my language and my innuendos. He was a distraction—nothing more, nothing less.

Even after the awkward dinner discussing dogs and not discussing pussies, we ended up at the bar around the corner from where I used to live. Being back in this neighborhood put me on edge, so I’d been drinking and dancing and flirting more than I usually would. Letting myself lose a bit of control with every song, every drink, every smile. Avoiding the possibility of the whos—or whats—could come walking through that door.

Knowing there were men who could turn into wolves hanging out just a block away tended to make me a bit…anxious.

I glanced around the room as I spun, my long hair fanning out around me. The move was easy to pull off as part of my dance, but it was more of an investigative procedure. Out of control or not, I needed to search the bar, to look for that telltale black leather jacket or vest the guys wore. To know if I had more time to enjoy myself or if I needed to head for the door. This was Feral Breed territory, and I was more than happy to keep avoiding that group.

Seeing no sign of motorcycle club leathers, I gave myself back over to the beat. Spinning around, I smiled and pulled Doug closer by the belt loop at his hip. He had that fiery look in his eye as he watched, the one that said he wanted to maybe take this someplace quiet. Someplace more private. And though Doug was a dull boy and not at all the type of guy I’d usually go out with more than once, I was almost considering it. Almost…but not quite. The reality was, Doug would never be the guy for me. Not forever. But for right now…

Doug pulled me closer, his hand sliding over my hip and down my ass.
All
the way down my ass. I pressed closer, catching his eye and smirking. The guy had moves, that was for sure. All night he’d been giving me sexy little touches, small teases that made me burn for more. And this one was no different. He had me riding a knife-edge of desire, one that made me want to fall. Or maybe it wasn’t him… Maybe it was something in the air. Some kind of magick dancing on the night winds.

Leering, lips turned up in a half smile, he squeezed my cheek harder, his fingers brushing between my legs. I wobbled on my six-inch heels, catching my breath as he pressed deep into my flesh. So demanding, not something I usually liked. But this time, I could deal. At least for a few more songs. At least until he made me feel human again.