I sat in an oversized wicker chair on the back porch of the lake house with my legs drawn to my chest. The sky had just started to brighten but the sun hadn’t risen over the trees yet. There was a chill in the air. Fall would soon be there.
Breathing in deep, I cradled my coffee cup in both hands. The warmth from the cup seeped into my palms. It was nice to just sit and enjoy the sounds of nature around me.
When I woke about an hour ago, alone in my bed, Gunner and Eli were gone. I wondered if they had gone off together. I could sense Von and Dare in the house, but I wasn’t ready to face either of them. I needed coffee first. After my first cup, I warded the house and set up magickal traps around the yard, about twenty feet out in all directions.
Tingles of energy nipped at my own. I glanced to the door and frowned. Von filled the doorway with his arms crossed over his bare chest, watching me. “Morning.”
A shadow of a smile formed briefly on his handsome face. “Morning.” He stepped out onto the porch and leaned against the railing. “Did you sleep well?”
Uh oh, small talk. Or was he fishing for information? “I slept okay.”
He nodded but didn’t look at me, so I went back to admiring the lake. It was so calm it looked like a sheet of glass. I didn’t know what to say to him and maybe he didn’t either. Mate or not I still worried that he could betray me. Dare could as well. In fact, I was betting on Dare betraying me over the others since we didn’t have a connection despite what he said about being in because of Von.
After a long moment, Von cursed under his breath before he spoke aloud. “I didn’t recognize you as my mate until you bit me. Your magick claimed me.” He turned to face me, and his hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans. There was no emotion in his features. “I didn’t know a hybrid could do that.”
A full-blooded shifter could claim their mate. Traditionally the male started the mating dance and the female had the final say. Hybrids were different. And it all depended on which half was more dominant. Both my sides were equally strong. It had taken me years to balance the wolf and the magicak within. “I have a theory.”
There was no point in denying his accusations. But I wasn’t confirming them either. Besides he probable already knew how powerful I was. Unless Harrison withheld information from him.
One dark brow lifted. “And that is?”
I sipped my coffee and studied him. “Why didn’t you take me to Harrison? That is your job, right?”
A slight twitch in his features told me I hit a bullseye. I waited, making eye contact and letting him know I was far from a submissive wolf. He was in my territory, I was the alpha at the moment. I wasn’t above showing him I’d win the challenge if he made one.
He broke the eye contact first and relaxed his stance. “Dare made that call after he sensed my reaction to you. We share a sibling bond even though he’s a bear and I’m a tiger. It was formed by our moms. They told us a seer said we would become warriors and be part of a team to save the para races from a great war. I never knew what it meant. Dare and I were too young to protest the binding. Our moms believed we’d need each other to survive.”
I frowned. “How long ago was that?”
“About a year before the fall of the Hybrid Project. Although we didn’t know about it at the time.” He pushed off the railing and sat in the chair next to mine. “It was almost a year to the day we were bound together when the council put out a call for Enforcers. That’s what they called us. The hybrids call us Hunters.”
“You thought that was the team you were destined to join.”
He nodded then sighed. “Yeah. It didn’t take us long to discover it wasn’t. The closer we got to Harrison the more we discovered he was an evil bastard. It’s just hard to know what he has planned. He’ll say one thing and then do something different.”
“He’s unstable.” Damn. Out of all the powers and abilities I possessed, foretelling was not one of them. I’d have to see if Eli had some tea leaves. Even that wasn’t accurate enough to tell me the future. What I needed was to sneak away and visit Reese and compare notes. Form a plan to take down Harrison.
I also needed to get all the guys on the same page. Because I sensed deep down in my soul they were meant to be mine. “Together, all of us are just one part of the team to end the destruction Harrison has planned.”
Von jerked next to me. I could feel his stare boring into me. “What do you mean?”
“Harrison is ordering the killing of hybrids. Did you know that technically you are a hybrid? That somewhere in your bloodline is a witch or a vampire or a demon. There are no pure bloods left. The hybrid project was started by my father as a means to correct the defects from all the cross breeding over the last centuries or even longer. Harrison ended it when a tri species—he created, by the way—grew too powerful for him to control.” I paused to let that sink in. My fury over how brainwashed Harrison had his Hunters rose to the surface. “I bet the mighty council leader told you all the hybrids were out of control and rogues. Did he tell you that they have families? Jobs and lives just like other paras? Did Harrison tell you he was searching for relics to make himself immortal? Why would he want that?”
I stood. Anger woke up my magick and made my wolf pace. I needed to get away from Von for a few. My emotions were battling inside me, confusing me. Hurt and sadness were winning. If Von believed the hybrids were rogue savages that needed to be put down, then he thought that about me.
When Von stood, I whirled around and glared at him. He pursed his lips and advanced toward me. “I don’t know what to believe now that I found you. I scent nothing but the truth coming from you, but you have no proof. Dare and I were barely eighteen when we joined the Enforcers. All we know is what Harrison told us.”
“I don’t want your excuses.” I pushed past him and descended the stairs to the backyard. I wanted to put space between us because I wasn’t sure I’d blast him with magick or kiss him. A few feet from the porch, I turned and said, “Harrison is no longer the man my father met and friended. He’s gone insane and wants absolute power. That’s why he fears the hybrids. We’re more powerful than he’ll ever be.”
Von stared at me, then growled. What the fuck? Whatever. I pointed at him. “If you don’t like the truth, then you can leave. Go back to Harrison and ask him yourself.”
Von launched over the railing and ran toward me. That was when I realized he wasn’t looking at me, but someone behind me. I turned and saw a man in a black hoodie standing at the edge of the tree line. Something was familiar about him. Then I caught the scent of my dad coming from him. “Von, stop!”
He stopped but didn’t take his eyes off the newcomer. Von’s hands were in half shift and he growled at the man. “Who are you?”
The man ignored him and spoke to me. “I have a message from your father.” He lifted his hand and held up a flash drive.
I couldn’t see his face fully because the hoodie shadowed his features. However, I did see the glow of magick in his amber-colored gaze. He released the flash drive. Instead of it falling to the ground, it levitated in the air. Then slowly it floated to me. My interest spiked. He was telekinetic.
When the flash drive reached me Von snatched it out of the air and stood protectively in front of me. Like a shifter protecting his mate. I stepped closer to Von and placed a hand on his biceps. “He’s not going to hurt me.”
I glanced to where the man stood and frowned. He was gone.
Meeting Vons stare, I held my hand out for the flash drive. When he gave it to me, I curled my fingers around it. Finally, something to focus on. I was betting that there was more than just a message on the drive. Otherwise Dad would send a coded message on paper or something.
Anticipation made butterflies swarm in my belly. I rushed past Von to the house. I hoped Eli had a computer.