Every Guardian and Protector was at the alpha’s home by the time they arrived. Sheriff Lynch was at Talon’s side as she entered the office. Taze was to her left, and she fought the lust she felt when his mating scent crossed her senses. She couldn’t think of him right now, because she had a more pressing issue to announce.
“What did you find out today?” Talon stood from his seat and nodded toward Savage to close the office door.
“Holden Manzelli is a fake name,” she began, standing tall. “We all know that, but what I couldn’t figure out was why the fake name? Wolf alphas have an ego, and they’d want their real name spread to show their enemies who to fear.”
“Understood.” Talon nodded for her to continue.
“Looking at the actions of the Amburo family, I dug through the paperwork to see if maybe Murdock was planning on marrying the sister. You’d think they would have made him sign a prenuptial agreement or something, right?”
“That family has a lot of money,” Talon agreed.
“There wasn’t a thing. Only a power of attorney for the sister to act on her brother’s behalf if he wasn’t around to sign a document.” She ran her hands through her hair and paced a little, finally looking into the eyes of every single Guardian and Protector. Those males and females were her family. She wanted them safe, and they needed to stop the war.
“What are you saying, Calla?” Talon pressed.
“Okay.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Agent Murdock is seeing Magan Amburo. The brother is a known drug lord. He’s made a few trips to the states in a short amount of time. During that time, your capture of Gadaí netted a lot of the drug, Khat. The more I thought about the alias and the Amburo brother, the more I felt the dots connecting.”
She held out her hands as the males surged. They felt her panic, but this time it wasn’t because of her own issues. This was huge news.
“Talon, I have reason to believe that Agent Murdock is Holden Manzelli,” she announced, waiting for the room to calm down when everyone exploded into a volley of curses and heated growls coming from their panthers. “It makes a lot of sense.”
“But he’s human,” Talon reminded her.
“Is he?” she asked with a raised brow. “Hope said he scented of nothing except his expensive cologne. Everyone, even humans, have a specific scent. He doesn’t, and I assure you the oils they use to cover their scent work very well. I have firsthand knowledge of that.”
“I can’t find any reason to dispute your tracking, Calla,” Talon cursed. “If this agent is a wolf, then he’s doing a lot to cover himself when he’s in our presence. Do you think he’s wearing contacts, too?”
“He has to be,” Lucky said as he pushed away from the wall. “I noticed the other night, he kept blinking a lot when we questioned one of the areas where he’d sent us to look for rogues. He was angry, too. That would explain the eye irritation if he was wearing contacts while his eyes shifted.”
“He kept his mouth tightly closed as he told us to not question him,” Storm, who looked like he was barely holding it together, advised. “He could’ve been hiding his canines, and to be honest, I never noticed.”
“Okay, then this changes things,” Talon announced, casting a glance toward the angel. “This may be why you’ve had no visions surrounding Murdock.”
“That’s true, and if we are dealing with a Gadaí alpha working directly with the FBI, there are a lot more things we need to be concerned about. I suggest we all watch our backs and talk to Agent Tabor.”
“Agreed,” Talon replied. “Everyone, be on alert. I will come up with a plan to take him out, and hopefully, after that, the drugs will come off the streets and we can go back to living in peace.”
A round of agreements filled the room as Calla relaxed for the first time since she’d put everything together. When she looked over at Taze, his smile was full of pride. He gave her a short bow and winked right as the alpha dismissed everyone, reminding them he’d be calling everyone back for a meeting at midnight.
She’d been relying a lot more on her panther recently to guide her when it came to mating Taze. The animal had assured her that mating the male was nothing like what had happened to her as a teenager.
She tried to control her mating scent, but there was no use. Evie and Hope gave her hugs and saucy winks as they said their goodbyes. Evie wagged her brows when Taze approached, but took off down the hallway, leaving them alone. She felt an ache in her lower belly as his mating scent greeted her.
There’d been a lot of thinking on her part throughout the day. She was falling for Taze more and more as the days went by. Trusting him was never a problem. It was trusting herself not to fall apart that kept her away, mostly. The need to finalize their mating was coming to a boiling point, and the more time they spent together, the harder it was to fight it.
As she looked over into his eyes, she felt the push from her panther. She needed to talk to him tonight and lay it out there. She may not be a virgin, but she was totally inexperienced. He’d said he would wait for her to initiate contact, and Calla couldn’t think about a better time than immediately.
Taze had never been prouder of someone than he was of Calla in the moment she finally put together the pieces of the war they’d been fighting. The Guardians and Protectors gave her nods of respect as she left the room.
Malaki hugged her and gave a rare show of emotions when he smiled and ruffled her hair. She released him and pushed him out the door, waiting for Hope and Evie to give her some praise. Taze stayed back, waiting until he could be alone with her.
His panther was pacing in his mind at the thought of getting the alpha and stopping the rogues. If they could get Murdock off the streets, they would have to find the rogues within a few weeks or they’d end up having a rash of uncontrollable shifters fighting their way out of the death that would be coming for them.
“Hey,” she said with a huge smile as he approached.
“Hey yourself,” he replied, looking down into her beautiful eyes. She had tiny flecks of amber showing up, telling him her panther was prowling around in her mind. “For the record, I had no doubts in your tracking abilities.”
“I know that,” she blushed and headed toward the back door. Taze followed her until she stopped on the porch, turning around to face him. “You were the one who saw something in me all those years ago that led you to believe I had a natural ability to track. So, I should be thanking you.”
“I know how you can thank me,” he teased.
“What’s that?” she smirked. The female was in a great mood, and he hadn’t seen her smile that much in years. Her happiness at helping her pride was contagious.
“Go back to my place?” he pressed. He wanted to touch her and make love to her. Of course, he was going to stick to his word and let her make the first move, but with each passing day, the need to mate her was getting harder to bear.
“I’d like that, Taze,” she replied.
They ignored the pride as they walked side by side to his cabin. Malaki was sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the back porch, and her brother just watched as they left. Calla had never told him what Malaki had said to her that day, but he assumed it wasn’t anything to upset her.
The panic attacks and anxiety she’d been going through were starting to lessen, and he hoped it was from her time with the human therapist. She told him what she wanted to divulge from the sessions, but some of it she kept to herself. He let her keep the private things she wanted to keep private, because he had a feeling she would tell him more of her story when she was ready.
She walked up the steps to his porch and froze at the door, turning around to stare up at him. Her lips were full and her eyes were heated. His cock responded, thickening in his pants.
“You can’t look at me like that, sweetheart,” he reminded her.
“I wanted to look at you,” she pouted and pushed the door open. The moment he closed them inside, both of their mating scents blended together, and the animals inside them purred. “We need to talk.”
“About?” he drawled.
“Me…us,” she blushed. “Our mating.”
“What about it?”
“I mean…” She paused to clear her throat. “I want to touch you, Taze. It’s becoming harder to fight this, and I keep telling myself that my life with you will be different. My therapist told me not to punish you for the things done to me by someone else.”
“Your therapist is right,” he replied. “You have to remember that those men are dead. The alpha and the Guardians took care of them. They can’t hurt you anymore, and they don’t deserve the space you’re giving them in your mind.”
“That’s what the doctor said, too,” she sighed. “I’m ready to move on with my life, Taze.”
“Move on, how?” he inquired.
“I want to be your mate,” she admitted, but held up her hand to stop him from saying anything else. “I don’t know how this will work. No one knows what will happen when we touch for the first time.”
He watched as scenarios played through her mind. The need to reassure her had him stepping closer. She didn’t shy away from him, and he took that as a good sign.
“Calla Marshall,” he began, looking into her sparking amber eyes. Gods, she was so beautiful. “When we mate, it will be as our ancestors mated. I assure you, it will be intense, but whatever happens, you will be in control. Your beast will guide you. Even in my worst feral state, I would never, and I mean never, do anything to scare you. My panther knows his place in this.”
“He does?”
“Yes,” he smirked. “I’ve been repeating it over and over in his mind. He knows.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” she admitted. Taze felt his beast surge, releasing his scent to calm her. Her eyes darkened as she leaned her head back to look into his sparking amber eyes.
As much as he wanted to touch her, he had a feeling she wasn’t ready. Hell, he didn’t know if she’d ever be ready. She’d never experienced intimacy, and she associated sex with her trauma.
“We start when you are ready,” he told her. “I can wait for you, Calla.”
“I don’t want you to have to wait for me,” she whispered and took a step toward him. He didn’t move…didn’t even breathe as she approached. “I wish I could kiss you.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he groaned. “There is nothing more I want than to have your lips on mine.”
“I crave you,” she added. Her desire and mating scent blended with his own, and his cock hardened painfully.
“I want to kiss you, make love to you.” He paused as his canines thickened in his mouth. His desire for her had finally reached a peak. “After I make love to you, I want to tuck you under my skin to protect you, but I also want to take you to that training facility and have you kick my ass without all of the barriers between us.”
“I want that, too,” she replied. Taze couldn’t move as she slowly brought herself closer to his body, standing on the tips of her toes. This was happening.