Chapters 18 & 19

Chapter 18: Jaxon’s Mating

Wrenley

Fear made her shiver. How had she missed another person there? Were they going to throw her into the pit or carve her with a knife? Maybe the answer was both.

Had it been ten minutes yet? Wrenley didn’t dare take her eyes off the men in front of her. Not even in favor of examining the situation behind her.

Raider had known her bite was from Cain. Surely that should have been enough to deter them, so why did he cover it? What was the advantage of hiding it?

Wrenley took a deep breath and stared at the man with the hunting knife. He was standing slightly in front of the rest, so it seemed appropriate to think that he was in charge. Good. She’d remember his face.

“I suppose you’re of the mind that it doesn’t matter whether I tell you the truth or not, you’re going to believe the accusation regardless of lack of evidence,” Wrenley said, careful to keep her voice light and neutral. And to keep the shake from it.

“There is evidence,” the man said. “A broken chair and a witness.”

“If the witness is Vienna, she’s mad at me that her crush wants me instead of her,” Wrenley said, frowning.

At least one of the men behind the leader fidgeted, his eyes shifting uncomfortably now.

“Does he? And yet, we find you with a different bear,” the leader said.

“I wasn’t aware that I couldn’t have friends,” she said.

She knew immediately that she’d gotten to brazen even before the words finished falling from her lips. A sudden shock jolted through her body, making her seize up before crying out when it started to relent. She could smell the unmistakable scent of singed hair.

“Now,” the leader said, his grin turning more satisfactory at Wrenley’s every twitch. “Are you ready to talk about the chair?”

“I thought we already were,” she muttered.

This time the bite of pain made her jaw rattle as her teeth struck together like she was being shaken. But there was still the electricity of a shock and with it came fire under her skin.

It wasn’t quite such a short burst this time. The first had been a tease. A warning. Lasting maybe five seconds. This one had to be half a minute or more.

Wrenley was nearly on the ground as her body convulsed. Tears leaked from her eyes as she tried to swallow the sob that tore out of her from the pain. Before she’d even stopped shuddering, she was hauled into the chair again and kept there by the heavy hands on her shoulders.

“You do-don’t want annn anssswer,” Wrenley said, trying to string her words together. When she could barely get those five out, she decided the shorter the sentence, the better. “Sssso, whiyyyy b-b-bother askkinngggg?”

“You’re saying you didn’t break the chair?” the leader asked, mockingly. “And an upstanding citizen who has the Primal’s favor says she watched you do it. I don’t suppose you have a witness on your side?”

Wrenley didn’t have time to answer. The pain that whipped through her was different this time though she wasn’t sure where it originated. Her head was suddenly throbbing as darkness licked at her vision and bile rose in her throat. Then there was warm liquid slowly dripping down from her temple.

Her vision spun as she tried to turn herself inward, trying to reach for Cain. He was there. White hot fury filled her, and a very clear undercurrent of fear followed it. The bit from Jaxon was nearly ravenous.

There were voices around her and then snarls. Loud breaks filling the air with howls following. Some squishy sound that made Wrenley nearly vomit.

She closed her eyes and her body slipped slowly from the chair. Oh, the hands had let her go. Maybe she could run now.

Laughter nearly bubbled out of her at the absurdity of it. She couldn’t even see! How was she going to run? She’d probably just run straight into the pit.

Her equilibrium threatened to make her pass out as she was gently picked up and tucked into someone’s arms. The vibration of anger that ran through her felt familiar. Like she’d just touched it recently.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I thought they were taking you to the jail. I’m so sorry.”

Wrenley opened her eyes and there were six or twenty of Raider in front of her. At least, she thought it was him. The voice had been his. But he looked remarkably different.

“What are you?” she slurred, reaching her hand up to touch his strange face with the freaky colored eyes.

He snorted. “I don’t know but I have more questions.”

Her head was throbbing, and she closed her eyes on a smile. She thought maybe she fell asleep, but the gentle hand on her face could only belong to one man. She’d know the touch anywhere.

“Cain,” she murmured.

“Hang on,” he said, voice tight with anger. “Raider has you while I deal with these.”

“There were five,” Raider said.

Wrenley tried to shake her head. “More. One behind me, too. At least one.”

“We’ll get it under control,” Cain assured her.

She didn’t hear any words but more howls and wails of pain. Wrenley managed to open her eyes in time to see several of the men who’d been in front of her shoved into the pit that she’d been standing in front of. They screamed on the way down, their faces bloodied and broken.

The next time she opened her eyes, it was to see Jaxon suddenly turn and shove a long blade through a man’s stomach and then again through his chest in rapid succession. Rawson was suddenly there as he struggled to pull Jaxon away.

It was too late, of course. The man was certainly dead. Jaxon remained still, watching the body as it hit the ground and blood ran free. He was unmoving for perhaps another three minutes. Just as Wrenley blinked – a torturously slow blink as if it took all the energy she had to do so – Jaxon broke free of Rawson’s slacked grip and drove his knife into another man.

She missed most of the action in her sluggish blink. She saw him rip free of Rawson, insert very long blink, and then he was being pulled off a second man by Rawson and Cain this time.

“They probably deserved it,” Raider said.

Jaxon’s words fluttered to her in her haze, and she knew who the men were. “Back,” Wrenley told Raider. They’d been the ones who’d whipped her.

“Back where?” Raider asked.

She tried to answer but the words were painful on her tongue. And then there was no more.

Wrenley thought she was alone when she woke up. The room was peaceful, warm, and there was a gentle drum beat at the side of her head. Bum. Bum. Bum. It was soothing and she sighed contentedly.

She was in a slightly swirly state. Like everything in her felt liquidy or maybe airy. Like she might break away at any moment and her body would dispense into several pieces, never finding its way back together.

But there was no pain. In fact, she didn’t feel anything at all.

Maybe she was already dead.

Well, if that was the case, hopefully the next Fixer was more successful.

Her thoughts stopped as she nearly choked on the idea of leaving Cain. And then her eyes popped open in surprise at how much that disturbed her.

“He’ll be right back,” Rawson said, his voice close to her ear.

Wrenley realized the steady drumbeat was actually Rawson’s heart. She was lying on her side on the bed, pressed against Rawson’s chest. And she had absolutely no awareness of her body to be able to move herself away.

“Easy, Wren,” Rawson said. “They’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t until his words that she realized her heart had started to race. He wasn’t actually touching her except to be pressed up against her. His hands were not on her body, and she was covered. Wait, was she dressed?

“I told him he should have stayed,” Rawson muttered as he rolled away.

Incomprehensible sounds caught in her throat when she no longer felt his heartbeat. A moment later, he moved back against her, and the tension immediately fell away as she tried to catch her breath.

Analyze her response? Not a chance. She’d just suffered through some fucked up electrocution torture. She didn’t give a shit what her response was to Rawson right now.

“Okay, I don’t know what you want,” Rawson said.

“Stay,” she said, her voice hoarse.

She felt him nod and she closed her eyes again. She could still feel Cain within her, but she had no idea what he was doing. All the little bits of Cain she felt, and they were everywhere, was the pleasant warmth and feel of a constant hug. But there was something else there. Something that she suspected had to do with whatever he was currently doing.

And Jaxon was still there! She could feel his irritation and rage as a constant backdrop. A dark thrum. It wasn’t in her like Cain was. It was through Cain that she felt him… did that make sense?

Oh! And it was his fiery anger that had awakened her. She felt it flash brightly through her again, making her vision pulse, which only brought more awareness to the fact that she couldn’t feel her body and she was likely mentally floating around somewhere.

“Cain,” Wrenley croaked.

“They’re looking for Vienna,” Rawson told her. “I kind of hope Jaxon finds her first.”

Cain was a peacemaker. Jaxon was a wildfire.

“Didn’t,” she tried to explain.

Now his hand touched her, gently resting on the side of her head. “Shh. We know you didn’t break anything.”

She didn’t have time to say anything more before the door opened. It wasn’t just Cain and Jaxon but Raider, too. And he was still freaky as fuck right now.

Cain’s face was drawn until he saw her awake and he immediately crawled across the bed to cup her face. “You should still be asleep,” he scolded quietly, brushing his lips across her forehead.

“Is it the pain? Did it wake her?” Jaxon asked. There was a new wave of anger that rushed through her from him, but it was drowned out by his concern.

“No,” Wrenley rasped. “You.”

Jaxon crawled onto the bed behind Cain and leaned over him so that Wrenley could see him. There was confusion in his face. “I woke you?”

“Yes,” she rasped again, this time without much tone in her voice at all.

“She can feel you through the bond,” Cain said, sighing. “That’s… interesting.”

Wrenley couldn’t call forth enough effort to try and speak again but she hoped she could convey her question as to why she could feel Jaxon through their bond.

“So, I bit him,” Cain said, eyelids lowering slightly. “Which is nothing I haven’t done a hundred times before but this time, it created a mate bond. And, apparently, as he can feel you through me, you can feel him in the same way.”

She stared at him for several minutes before her gaze moved up to Jaxon’s. Then she found herself wondering whether the bite had happened while engaged in the same activities hers had been received.

Wrenley was startled not to feel horrified but excited. Heat flooded her cheeks as both men started to smile at her.

“I’m glad you’re not mad,” Cain said. “Though I’m gathering that speaking is a little difficult right now so maybe you’ll yell at me later.”

She closed her eyes, trying to drown out how mortified she was that they could feel her arousal from the thought of them…

“Sleep, Wren,” Cain murmured, pressing his lips to her head again. “We’ll talk when you’re feeling better.”

The next time she woke, she wasn’t surprised to find that the room had darkened. But she was surprised to see that Raider was still there and still freaky. He was watching her with those weird eyes.

“What happened to you?” Wrenley asked, relieved that she could speak in a full sentence.

It also brought awareness back to her body. She could feel herself again and she ached.

“Not a fucking idea and I haven’t figured out how to put it back,” he said, rolling his eyes. But there was a smile touching his lips. “I’m definitely not a bear.”

Wrenley grinned. “Nope. You’re… hot, in a very strange way.”

He grinned. “Thanks, love.”

“Stop,” Jaxon muttered sleepily. “Not yours.”

“Hush,” Wrenley said, pushing herself up. “I’m not yours so you don’t get a say in what I do.”

He huffed in annoyance and turned over to face her.

Her entire body felt bruised, but it wasn’t nearly the level of pain she’d been in when she’d been whipped. This had been pleasantly less traumatizing. Although, at the time it hurt a whole lot worse. It made it feel like her brain was being fried.

“What happened?” she asked as she sat up.

Cain curled up around her, arching his body so his face buried into her thigh. She dropped her hand to triangle her fingers into his hair and he sighed.

“I couldn’t find them,” Raider said, scowling. “And they were looking to you when you sent out a distress call through your bond.”

“Distress,” Cain spat. “Fucking panic and fear. And then the pain was almost blinding.”

“That’s why they’re dead,” Jaxon said. “I have no regrets.”

“Neither do I,” Rawson muttered.

“When I finally caught up with them, you weren’t at the jail,” Raider said, moving the conversation on. “The pit is not something the clans use anymore. But I think they brought you there for a fear tactic more than actually planning to throw you into it.”

“You covered my bite,” I said. “Why?”

Cain perked up at my question.

Raider smiled. “Because they were set on being dicks and I was confident I could find Cain before they got to actually hurting you. I didn’t take into account having to search for them and then search for you.” He sighed, pressing his chin in his palm, his elbow on the arm of the chair. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t quick enough.”

“It’s not your fault. That brings us around to Vienna. Did you get her?”

“No,” all three of them growled.

Rawson chuckled but Wrenley felt the darkness in it.

“Damn bitch has vanished,” Jaxon told her.

“Maybe she joined the Women of Chaos,” Wrenley suggested. “She’s not rejected from an assignment, but she’s certainly rejected.”

“And now a fugitive,” Cain said. “Maybe.”

“Was there actually a broken chair?” she asked.

Raider shook his head. “Nope. The men knew it was a lie. Unfortunately, they’re all dead so we can’t ask them why they brought you in to fucking torture you based on a known lie when they knew they were going to be the ones punished for it.”

“Are they all dead?” Wrenley asked at the same time Jaxon said, “Unfortunately? Seriously? You killed like three of them!”

“You did?” Wrenley asked, wide-eyed.

“I took a few out, yes. Remember when I threatened that if someone rejected my sister, I was going to make bear ribbons out of them?”

She nodded.

“Well, as it turns out, I’m pretty good at doing so. I have claws under the fake skin I was wearing.” He grinned and it gave Wrenley chills.

Except, for the first time, it stirred something else inside her. It wasn’t the same reaction she had to Cain, Jaxon, and Rawson, but it was definitely a draw. An attraction.

Now that he was killing people, Wrenley? She hissed inwardly to herself. What is wrong with you?

As if they had all heard her, the three men on the bed chuckled quietly while Raider’s smile drew further up his face.

“You don’t know what you are?” she asked, hopefully distracting them from whatever she was giving them through the bond.

Raider sighed, shaking his head. “No. But when you’re all healed, we’re having a meeting with the Primals. All fucking five of them. And we’re getting some answers.”

“About you?”

“And this broken, bloody story. I have a feeling that whatever broke this fairy tale came from the Shadelands. And I’m beyond suspicion now. I’m convinced that I’m from there, too. There are more than just monsters out there. There’s whatever I am. And if I made it in, then maybe whatever fucked this place up came from there, too.”

“And if you can wear a person suit, there’s no telling where the break is hiding,” Rawson said.

“Yes, I can wear one, but I can’t seem to put it on again,” Raider said. “Apparently, my anger was enough to break out of it and now I’m stuck.”

“It’s kind of comical the way people look at him,” Cain said, grazing Wrenley’s thigh with his teeth. “Like he’s going to bite them.”

“And I have a strange urge to do so,” Raider said, grinning with a glint of murdurer in his eyes.

Wrenley nodded, examining the part of her that was suddenly a whole lot more interested in Raiden. It’s not like she hadn’t been before. She’d sought him out plenty of times. She liked kissing him.

But now that she had at least part of her mate thing settled, she could feel what probably would have been enough of her own interest in him to begin with. If it hadn’t been for the interfering assignment.

She had liked Raiden! Son of a bitch.

Something in Jaxon’s bond surged again and made her shiver. She looked his way to find he was staring at her. The surge was possession. But it was more than that. Despair. Pleading. Longing. Devotion. And it felt like it was pushed towards her. Not Cain.

“So, tell me about this new bite,” she said, frowning at him.

Jaxon sat up and pulled the shirt he had on over his head. And there it was. A bright red, brand-new wound on his chest. He smirked, covering it with his hand for a moment.

“Not pissed at me anymore?” Cain asked.

“Pissed in general. So many fucking bites and suddenly it works. What the fuck is wrong with the sky?” Jaxon said, sighing heavily.

“You’ve tried that before?” she asked.

All three of the bears on the bed nodded.

“So many times, we lost count,” Cain said quietly. “We tried to bond each other over and over again.”

“And then dipshit took Deputy and it all ended,” Jaxon said.

Ah, there was that note of betrayal, strong and sour and deep. Wrenley twisted to look at Rawson on the other side of her and Cain.

He was staring at Jaxon openly. Even Wrenley, who barely knew him, could see his emotion in his gaze. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Jax. You want me to rescind Deputy? Is that what it will take to convince you to forgive me?”

When Jaxon didn’t respond, Cain shifted so he could look and Wrenley twisted, too. 

He did. Jaxon wanted Rawson to quit.

Chapter 19: Primal Pause

Raider

He had known all along that he wasn’t a bear. He didn’t change into a bear. He didn’t get commands from or have devotion for the sky and its ridiculousness. His disposition, his reactions, his entire demeanor was very different. Even if he hadn’t known he wasn’t a bear, he knew.

There had been other little things over the years, too. For instance, the bears all craved a mate. On a deep, intrinsic, somewhat pathetic level. It was a calling in their blood.

Raider did not. He had no need nor interest in a mate.

And in that same hand, they all wanted families. Children.

Raider – and he couldn’t say this strongly enough – despised children. Except his sister and even that had been somewhat iffy when she was younger.

His moods were very monotone, not giving much of a shit about anything. The only real thing he had experienced over the years was protectiveness towards his sister, especially as she got older, and eyes started to move her way.

There were smaller things, too. Once, when he was twelve or so, something had startled his tribe and a fresh wave of fear settled thickly within their village. And the taste of it made him nearly mad. He was ready to eat someone it tasted so fucking good.

It wasn’t until he saw Wrenley from across the crowd at the Clan Meeting that the craving for a mate hit him. And it hit him hard. Even as he knew that she was meant for someone else, and that they were in the throes of an assignment that she was trying to reject, Raider had wanted her.

That she kept coming around, letting him kiss her, had been encouraging. Had convinced him that she felt the draw, too.

And then this afternoon happened, and everything was now a vibrating mix of frustration, hunger, and anger rolled up into one. He’d never felt such fury. He’d thought it had piqued when the guards had come after her in the park. But when he’d finally found Cain (with Rawson, and Jaxon), and then eventually found Wrenley, his anger flared brightly, and the world turned inside out.

Actually, he’d turned inside out. And now he couldn’t put whatever had been inside him away. The fury was still there, but it was more than that. There were some things that he was sure of.

One, Wrenley was his mate. And somehow, he needed to make that happen. It wasn’t just the obstacle of the bears, it was that he wasn’t a bear and yet he was sure she was his mate. How the fuck was he suppposed to mate her?!

Two, Wrenley finally understood that they had something between them, too. She was just too overwhelmed with the three bears to see it.

Three, he wasn’t a fucking bear. Someone had some answers. If it meant turning into a complete menace until he had them, he was prepared to do so.

And four, the three bears Wrenley had surrounding her seemed to have some long-built angst that was surging to the surface now.

“You really want me to quit?” Rawson asked again.

Raider couldn’t decide if he would based on his tone. If Jaxon said yes, would he?

Raider’s gaze traveled back to Wrenley. If he tried to pull her into his arms, just to touch her, would Cain let him? How much would he have to fight? They hadn’t made him leave yet which seemed encouraging. They knew Raider was invested. They knew he wasn’t going to leave. But did they know that he was going to have Wrenley, too?

“Maybe,” Jaxon said. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

Rawson looked at Cain for a minute before moving across the bed to hover over Jaxon. Not too closely but enough that Jackson couldn’t avoid looking at him.

“Is that really what it will take?” Rawson repeated, his voice quiet.

“Jax,” Cain said, untwisting himself away from where he’d been wrapped around Wrenley. “We know you think that he had moved on from this, but he never did. You never let us talk to you about it. But there have been so many things that we tried to tell you.”

Wrenley was free. She was sitting close to the edge of the bed watching the three bears. Maybe with the men occupied, Raider could scoop her up.

“Like what?” Jaxon asked. He brought his hands around under his head as he looked at them.

“Now you want to hear?” Rawson asked, exasperated.

“If you have something worth saying, I’ll hear it now.”

Okay, as riveting as this boring argument was, Raider’s skin itched to touch Wrenley again. Especially since he’d lost his person suit and was a weird fucking thing now. The itch was strong. It had been a quiet thrum inside him since the moment he saw her. But it was a whole lot more insistent now.

Wrenley glanced his way and Raider grinned. He held a hand out to her, a very clear invitation. She didn’t turn him down as her head tilted to the side. A smile played on her lips.

When she got up from the bed, the bears stopped talking and watched as she approached Raider. She took his hand, and he gently pulled her closer, guiding her into his lap. Her eyes were slightly wider than they had been. The curiosity when she watched him, studied this new look of his, finally got the better of her and she raised her fingers to lightly touch his cheek.

There was no fear in her and Raider smiled. Whatever was in his look made Wrenley shiver and bite her lower lip. To keep himself from biting her lip instead, he slowly turned his face to take the fingers resting on his cheek gently between his teeth, though his gaze was still locked with hers.

He knew that his teeth were impossibly sharp. In his rising anger, he’d bitten his tongue and his cheek, twice. It was already healed, which was fortunate, but it had been irritating to find that newly sharpened teeth took more time to get used to.

His bite was soft, being extremely careful not to break skin as he watched her. Wrenley sucked in a breath, her eyes widening.

“What are you?” she whispered, flexing her fingers in his mouth to feel the sharp edges of his teeth.

Raider couldn’t help his smile, nor the way his cock started to harden under her. And he didn’t try to hide it, either. Instead, he shifted her in his lap, turning her a little more to face him, and making sure her thigh was well over his hardening length.

Her face flushed immediately but her smile widened. Raider sucked on her fingers before letting them go again.

“Should we go find out or you want to sleep some more?” Raider asked.

“Sleep,” Cain said. “It’s almost midnight. I don’t think the Primals will appreciate being woken up right now.”

Oh, they’d stopped talking in favor of watching Raider with Wrenley. The knowledge made Raider’s grin grow further. Would it be too audacious to demand that she be his too right now? Not that he meant to have her physically, but just so they could all get used to the idea.

“Maybe that means you should go, Raider,” Jaxon said, his voice stiff.

“No,” Wrenley said. “If he goes, you do, too.”

Jaxon growled low in his throat, but he didn’t move. Cain got up from the bed, though, and stood at Wrenley’s back. He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders before dropping them to the tops of her arms.

“I assume this means we were right, and you have an interest in my mate,” Cain said.

“Yes,” Raider told him, not taking his eyes from Wrenley’s.

“Three mates are already a lot,” Jaxon said.

“You’re not my mate,” Wrenley insisted. She flinched and scowled at him, making Raider realize that her assignment wasn’t for Cain alone.

Cain sighed. He gently tipped Wrenley’s head back, resting it on his stomach until she could look up at him. She grinned and Raider was licking his lips as he stared at the long line of her exposed neck. His cock twitched, swelling more as he stared.

“Let’s talk about this later, hm?” Cain said.

Raider pulled his eyes from Wrenley, waiting to hear her answer before he spoke.

“Okay. If you plan to accept this new development,” Wrenley said, still smiling up at him. “Then we can talk about it later.”

Cain was probably the only one of the three that wouldn’t have outright refused. And since he was her mate, it was only his voice that mattered right now. His gray eyes met and held Raider’s for a time and still, his expression was open and mostly neutral.

“Is it really new, though?” Cain asked.

Raider was fairly certain the question was rhetoric more than that he was actually looking for an answer. Wrenley answered anyway.

“No. But you guys were so loud I couldn’t feel my own feelings,” she said, the words coming out with frustration. “I accepted an assignment. Now you need to accept that I want someone that has nothing to do with the weirdness that is your sky belief system. And no, I don’t mean that offensively.”

“You haven’t accepted the assignment,” Jaxon retorted.

“I did. I have my mate,” Wrenley argued.

“The assignment is for the three of us. Not just Cain,” he said back.

“And I’m choosing one mate instead of three! Just like it’s supposed to be.” She flinched again, her face scrunching as she let out a harsh breath.

“On your conditions,” Jaxon said through gritted teeth as he slid from the bed. “And if that’s the case, you have a mate. That means no Raider.”

Wrenley narrowed her eyes and brought her face back, her eyes locking with Raider’s. He had to hand it to Jaxon. He’d worked that fine line in pretty well.

Maybe he should have let it be hashed out between the three of them. But there was no fun in that. Besides, his entire being itched to have Wrenley. Touching her, having her in his lap, satisfied some of it, but there was a deeper need that kept rearing up. Wanting more.

“But I’m not a bear,” Raider said. “That means she’s not asking for a second mate.”

“Just a side piece,” Wrenley said, grinning. “Besides. You can stop whining so much. You have a mate now.”

Jaxon growled, his hands clenching together. “I want you, Wren.”

Her shoulders tensed, raising an inch as she pressed her lips together. She started to say something, and the words didn’t come to fruition as she looked up at Cain.

He caressed her cheek, gently stroking the line of her jaw and hooking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay. Okay,” he said soothingly. “Let’s talk about all of this later. We agreed to concentrate on the fairy tale for now, remember? We can deal with the rest of this after it's fixed.”

“I will agree as long as you accept Raider being here,” Wrenley said.

“Fine,” Cain said, shrugging.

“Not fine,” Jaxon said.

“You don’t get a say!” Wrenley said, her voice getting higher. “Just back off, for fuck’s sake.”

This time, it was Jaxon who flinched. And then further when he cringed away. He retreated to the bed with his tail between his legs and crawled on, careful to keep a whole lot of distance between him and Rawson.

Rawson, who hadn’t said a thing.

“The bed is plenty big,” Cain said, gently pulling Wrenley from Raider’s lap and tugging her back to bed. “Or you can stay in the chair.”

“I think I will. I can watch Wren sleep from here,” Raider said.

Jaxon’s growl was cut off almost immediately. It was only now that Raider’s view of the bed wasn’t blocked that he saw Rawson trying to hide his amusement. And it was an excellent view of Wrenley. He enjoyed her flush as she crawled back into bed with Cain wrapping himself around her.

An excellent view.

“Are you sure they’re expecting us?” Wrenley asked as she peeked into the large room where the Primals were gathered around a rug on the floor. “They look like they’re having a picnic.”

“Yes,” Rawson said. “We’re just waiting for the other Deputies.”

“Why?” she asked, glancing back at him.

“More ears. More theories. Just better to have a lot of voices to give their opinions.”

Wrenley narrowed her eyes but didn’t argue. “And those grumpy old men in the corner?”

“Those are Aspen Clan Advisors. I plan to have Jaxon sitting close to them. It’ll be a whole lot more entertaining that way,” Rawson said.

Jaxon had been grumpily quiet, and he refused to so much as look in Raider’s direction. He probably shouldn’t but Raider was burning to continue tormenting him. Since his hand currently rested on Wrenley’s shoulder, just to feel her warmth, Jaxon was already seething under the surface, his gaze locked on where Raider was touching her.

“Alright,” Rawson said. Raider looked up, seeing the gathering of Deputies and Enforcers from the other clans. He smiled slightly at Indigo’s Deputy, Kennedy, and his Enforcer, Blake. “Let’s go.”

Rawson pushed the door open, and the five clan Primals looked up with welcoming smiles. Raider mused how they all looked alike. Old and somewhat withered, but still surely and strong under their heavy layers of formal wear.

“Come in,” Inyas said, patting the ground next to him. “Sit.”

Rawson urged Wrenley to sit close to his Primal. Raider was surprised when Cain gestured for Raider to take the seat next to Wrenley. But he supposed, since the two of them had the most invested into this conversation, it made sense.

The Deputies took seats by their Primals and spanned around the room, growing the intimate group bigger. Cain stayed at Wrenley’s back, close enough that she was almost in his lap.

Primal Inyas went around the group and introduced the visiting clan Primals: Essen of Indigo, Ody, of Kodiac, Iago of Aspen, and Litho of Creek. “And this is our Enforcer’s mate, a Fixer from the Outside, Wrenley,” Inyas finished.

Immediately, the Advisors in the corner started whispering.

“Her mating isn’t done,” Jaxon growled at them, and the group startled, silencing.

For once, Wrenley didn’t argue as she stared warily at Jaxon.

“Who wants to begin?” Inyas asked, bringing the focus back around.

Wrenley looked at Raider and gestured in his direction. “My friend has turned a little freaky,” she said.

Raider grinned, enjoying that half the room shivered at the sight of his teeth. And the other half shivered at the look it gave him. “Everyone has been quick to brush off my questions of origin and I think it’s time we have a conversation. I’m very obviously not a bear. And you know what I am.” Raider stared pointedly at Essen.

The elder bear smiled and bowed his head. “Every so often, we find that one of your kind have been abandoned just inside the fairy tale when they’re especially young. There are a few around, Raider, though you’re the only one within Indigo. And like you, they tend to blend into whatever clan has found them. It’s like your race is somewhat of a chameleon. You adapt to become what your environment thrives on.”

“That’s all well and good. And also, information you should have told me a long time ago when I started asking questions. But that’s not what I want to know. What am I?”

Essen lowered his head again. “Finding adults of your kind is nearly impossible. The one and only time someone from our story has managed, it went quite poorly. Not only because the Shadelands are a very inhospitable place filled with monsters, but because your kind are almost more violent than the monsters we faced.”

Essen had spoken the words gently. As if it would be a horrifying revelation. It wasn’t. Raider wasn’t even surprised. He was almost relieved.

“Before the group of bears came back, barely standing, they managed to get some very basic information,” Essen continued. “You’re a fae, Raider. From what I understand, very dark and very dangerous.”

Raider nodded, his head tilted to the side as he considered this. “Was it the fae who is responsible for breaking your story?” he asked. Not him. Raider knew he hadn’t been responsible since it was already long-time broken when he arrived.

“No.” This time it was Iago who answered. “But we think we agree that what broke our fairy tale came from, or at least through, the Shadelands.”

“Tell us,” Wrenley said, leaning forward eagerly.

“I’m sure you, of all people, know that there are other fairy tales outside of ours,” Iago said. Wrenley nodded. “And I’m convinced that the Shadelands connect them. I think that it’s not just the monsters that can come and go from the Shadelands. And not just the fae.”

“Who are also monsters,” Raider said thoughtfully.

“You look like a monster,” Blake murmured. Raider looked up to find Indigo’s Enforcer smirking at him in amusement.

“I do have sharp teeth and claws,” Raider agreed.

A quiet chuckle went around the group.

“What do you suppose would happen if, say, another fairy tale left their own and took up residence in a new one?” Litho asked.

“You mean a character?” Wrenley asked.

Litho nodded. “A character from a different fairy tale takes up residence here, in our story. It breaks their story, but it really messes with this one since there’s something that seriously doesn’t belong here, and the story tries to reject it.”

“And bleeds?” Wrenley suggested, grinning.

“But Raider doesn’t belong here, either,” Jaxon said.

“No. And yes. Like our young Fixer, he’s from a neutral place. From outside our story, but  not from his own,” Iago said.

“Outside all stories,” Wrenley said, gripping Raiden’s hand in excitement. “So, our coming and going doesn’t hurt anything. But when another story invades ours, the story changes. And like any sickness or infection, its host tries to rid itself. That’s why the trees bleed. The story is trying to flush out the infection.”

“That’s our theory,” Litho said, nodding.

“But what is the infection?” Wrenley asked. “What other story is here?”

Raider already knew their answer. It was confirmed before anyone spoke in the way the pleasure of the conversation turned a little muted.

“That’s the problem,” Ody said. “We don’t know. We haven’t found it yet.”

“But you’re sure this is how your story is broken?” Wrenley asked.

All five Primals nodded.

“Very confident,” Inyas said. “There have been signs pointing to this for a long time. And the presence of the fae showing up from time to time only supported our theory.”

“One more question,” Raider asked. When the room was looking at him, he smiled, enjoying how uncomfortable it made them all. “How do I put the person suit back on?”

There were chuckles around the room again.

“I’ll introduce you to another fae,” Essen said, bowing his head. “There are a few things he can teach you.”

Raider nodded. They had some good answers and narrowed down some details for both Raider and Wrenley. But now the real work began.

Finding who had infected their fairy tale. And hopefully Raider would be able to sink his teeth into the issue and help Wrenley get rid of them while also stretching his new found inner fae. The monster he was had awaken and was fucking hungry.