Prologue
Killian Black turned the key to shut off the engine of his SUV and ran a hand through his cropped jet-black hair. He should move his car into the garage for the day, but he didn’t feel like it. He should shift and let his wolf run through the plush woods surrounding his home in north-central Idaho, but he didn’t have time, nor could he muster up the energy.
He was tired.
Not just weary from a few late nights but a bone-deep exhaustion that only a good meal, a hot shower, and a long day’s sleep could alleviate. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t going to get any of those. He’d be lucky if there was any hot water left at the end of the night. He’d be luckier if his sister, Fionnoula, decided not to attempt to cook tonight and the guys ordered out. And if he were able to sleep three uninterrupted hours, he would consider himself very lucky.
He was the Samhradh Pack Enforcer. The Alpha made the laws, but it was up to Killian to make sure all the wolves in the pack obeyed them.
Wolves, by nature, were obstinate, temperamental creatures that rebuked authority and liked to do whatever they wanted to do on any given day, and that made his job demanding.
For the most part, fear of his wrath kept many of them in line. Over the years, Killian had built a reputation for being the one wolf most other wolves would rather not see come after them. There wasn’t a wolf in the pack that could avoid facing his punishment for breaking the law.
And they all knew it.
Killian looked out the window at the rising sun. He needed to get inside before the daytime locks engaged. Wolves are nocturnal creatures, which meant they’re vulnerable during the daylight hours when they sleep, and all wolves, especially Killian, hated vulnerability.
Rajah Kakkar was Killian’s Sciath, his shield. It was Rajah’s job to keep Killian alive, and Rajah took that appointed role very seriously by making sure their house had the best defenses to protect all of them against any retribution from vengeful wolves. Once the daytime locks engaged, the only way in or out of the house was an emergency exit that had to be opened by someone from the inside. That was the only thing that got Killian off his tail and out of the car.
As he walked up the sidewalk leading to the house, Killian paused when the front door opened, and Rajah held the door ajar with his foot. Rajah filled the doorway and was such an imposing wolf by observation, but those that knew him understood his ominous looks were deceiving.
Rajah was emotional and soft-spoken, taking care to notice others and to think before he acted. To Killian, life was black or white. You either obeyed the laws and he left you alone, or you broke the laws, and he came after you to force punishment upon you. Rajah lived in a world of gray.
Rajah glanced at the sky and folded his thick arms across his massive chest, then his brilliant hazel gaze found Killian’s. Killian walked up the steps to the porch to stand in front of him. Rajah was several inches taller than Killian’s own six foot three and probably out massed him by at least twenty pounds of muscle.
“Cutting it awfully close this time, Kil.” Rajah’s quiet voice was thick with his unique accent. It was mostly English with a hint of his Indian heritage. He was uncharacteristically disheveled. His deeply tanned skin was littered with the night’s growth of beard, and his ordinarily obedient hair fell in messy, thick locks of golden brown around his angular face.
“Don’t start with me Raji. I’ve had a terrible night.” Killian stepped up to the door, but Rajah didn’t step aside to let him enter.
Rajah sniffed the air. “I smell Sabrina’s scent on you.”
Killian grimaced. “Yeah.”
“You finally gave in to her?”
“I … regret doing so, but yeah.”
Rajah lifted a thick eyebrow. “I bet that hurt to admit.”
A growl rumbled from Killian’s chest. “You were right,” he forced out. “Is that what you want to hear from me?”
A look of uncertainty crossed his face before Rajah bowed his head toward Killian. “I meant no disrespect.”
Killian stared at the top of Rajah’s head and let out a loud sigh. Lifting a tired arm, he rested his hand on Rajah’s shoulder. “It’s okay, my friend. I just have not had the best of nights.”
Rajah lifted his head and now looked at him uneasily, as if waiting for some retribution.
Killian dropped his hand and his arm fell to his side. “Sabrina told me before I left that she’s settled on her choice for a companion mate.”
“Let me guess. She chose you.”
Killian nodded.
“What did you tell her?”
“Obviously the wrong thing because she was quite upset with me when I left.” He motioned to Rajah’s large body blocking the way. “Are you going to let me in?”
Rajah still didn’t budge. “That depends.”
“On what? For your sake, Raji, I’m trying to be calm, but I’m tired and need to get Sabrina’s scent off me.”
“You may not want to come in.”
Killian leaned and glanced over the large man’s shoulder, listening to the sounds of the house. When his addled brain registered what he heard, his eyes shot to Rajah’s. “Fin’s cooking?”
Rajah smiled at Killian’s horrified tone. “She’s had another vision and has been waiting for you to come home.”
Killian looked up to the dawning sky and cursed. His eyes leveled with Rajah’s, and he understood now why the male looked so unkempt. While Killian had been out relieving his tension, Rajah had been dealing with Fionnoula’s conniption fit.
The warning alarm went off, indicating that the daytime locks were set to engage, and Rajah stepped aside to let Killian enter before securely closing the door. Killian stood motionless in the great hall while the shutters lowered, and the steel reinforcements secured all the windows and doors.
“Well, there’s no avoiding her now,” Killian mumbled, thinking of both the conversation he was about to have with his sister as well as the so-called meal he was expected to endure. Fionnoula was not known for her culinary skills. The local restaurants had their usual orders stored in their systems.
“You might want to shower before you talk to her. She’ll take your evening with Sabrina personally, and I don’t want her any more upset than she already is. It took me four hours to calm her down this time.” Rajah gave him a pointed look, almost daring Killian to argue.
Fionnoula had the gift of precognition, and the aftereffects gave her migraine-like head pains. Rajah was the one who patiently tended to her and helped her decipher the meaning of what she saw. Luckily, her visions happen infrequently.
Rajah motioned with a jut of his chin for Killian to go upstairs.
“Good idea.” Killian was eager to get Sabrina’s smell off him. The female wolf had been flirting with him for years. Even though she was the only unmated mature female in the pack, Killian had no interest in her for anything other than sexual gratification and had told her as much before he left. Killian’s father had urged him to pursue her, but her scent didn’t call to him. She wasn’t his true mate, and Killian refused to settle for anything less.
Rajah pushed at his shoulder to get him moving, and Killian took the stairs two at a time. He went down the long hall to his room, his sanctuary. No female, other than his mother and sister, had ever been allowed in his room. That honor was reserved for his mate, whenever he found her.
When he’d commissioned the house to be built over twenty years ago, he envisioned an abode for mated couples with apartments large enough to raise pups. To date, however, none of the current occupants of the house were mated.
Flipping the switch to turn on the overhead light of his room, he looked around. His eyes rested on the large bed that occupied the wall closest to him. Six months ago, Fionnoula had a vision, and in it, she claimed she saw Killian’s true mate. The trouble was, Fionnoula had no idea where in the world his mate was. Just knowing she was out there, though, gave Killian hope that one day, he wouldn’t be alone in the large bed.
Killian was not romantic by any stretch of the imagination. He was efficient in his job and almost utilitarian when it came to sex. It was something he did because his body demanded the release. Fionnoula’s declaration that his true mate was out there made the night’s encounter with Sabrina something he regretted. Before tonight, it had been months since he’d last been with a female, and, tonight, Killian had given in to the urgings of his body but now chided himself for the weakness.
Tearing his clothes off and stepping into the shower, he turned the hot water on full blast and waited until the water got so hot it scalded his skin before turning the cold on a little. At least there was still some hot water left. He grabbed his bottle of fragrance-free body wash and scrubbed Sabrina’s scent from his body.
He stayed under the spray for a while, letting the hot water soothe away the fatigue of his muscles. The insistent knock on his bedroom door had him cursing and shutting off the water with a jerk. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stomped, still dripping water, to the door.
“What,” he snarled swinging the door open expecting to see his sister on the other end. Much to Killian’s surprise, Shadow stood on the other side, and he was in human form. The irritation at being interrupted from his shower left Killian instantly. The only reason Shadow came in the house for the day was if something was really wrong.
Shadow rarely changed into his human form. He was a private male, choosing to live out in the woods surrounding the house. Despite knowing the wolf for nearly thirty years, Killian didn’t know a lot about Shadow. He didn’t even know the male’s real name.
“What is it?” Killian barked out, when Shadow didn’t speak right away.
“I’ll be going with you.” Shadow’s voice was quiet and calm with an accent Killian had never been able to place. Shadow was not large for a male wolf, more subtle strength and stealth, but he was deadly—the deadliest wolf Killian knew.
The enigmatic response had Killian raising a thick brow and stepping aside to let the dark wolf into the room.
Shadow hesitated then stepped inside, moving silently over to the dim corner. Shadow was darker skinned than Rajah and, as his name indicated, if there was a dark patch anywhere, the wolf could camouflage himself and blend in to be unseen, literally disappearing into the shadows.
Killian dropped the towel and pulled clothes from the large mahogany dresser opposite the bed. “Where exactly will I be going that I’ll have the pleasure of your company?” He’d planned to get a little much-needed sleep during the day.
Shadow didn’t answer, and as Killian sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and boots, he looked over to the corner Shadow had retreated to but couldn’t see or sense the wolf. Shadow was a male of few words, and the five words he’d said just a few moments ago was more than Killian had heard in nearly a month.
Killian quickly tied his boots and walked out of the room, knowing Shadow would follow at his own pace. Curiously, the dark wolf fell into place beside him as they made their way down the stairs toward the kitchen. There was the smell of something burnt in the air, and Killian had the terrible feeling that was going to be part of last meal.
He was not prepared for the scene he and Shadow walked into upon entering the kitchen. The entire room was in chaos. Fionnoula was peering into the oven, waving one hand in front of her face to clear the thick, black smoke coming from the appliance and trying to pull something extremely offensive smelling from it with the other. The sink was filled with dishes, and the countertops were covered with open boxes and bags. Killian glanced over at Rajah, who was seated at the table with Cooper and Felix. All three watched Fionnoula with worried expressions.
Joshua Cooper was the pack Tracker who had a nose that could track a scent miles away, and once he caught a scent, he would not give up until he found it. Felix Cooper didn’t have his older brother’s tracking skills, but the young wolf pup showed promise with his speed. Even at the tender age of twenty-two, the pup was the fastest wolf in the pack, and he had the endurance to rival a wolf many years his senior.
Upon seeing Shadow next to Killian, Rajah stood. “What’s happened?” He reached for his katar, the large, wicked blade he always had strapped to his thigh.
Killian put his hand up. Rajah sat back down but kept his eye on Shadow as he went around and sat in the place at the table they’d always left for him but he’d very rarely filled. It was the side of the table in the shadows. Killian went around to take his own seat and looked over at his sister.
Fionnoula had pulled the mysterious thing from the oven and was looking back them with consternation. His younger sister had his hair and eye coloring but was six inches shorter than him and was thinner than most other female wolves. All wolves were large and muscular, even the females, and hopefully, Fionnoula would bulk up or Killian feared, without his influence, she could fall into the Omega role with her peculiarities.
Fionnoula dressed in a style Killian had heard her call Goth. Her short black hair stuck up in every direction, and various piercings adorned her ears, eyebrow, nose, and lip. Her dark eyes were lined with black, and her nails and toes were covered with a glossy black polish. Many wolves gravitated toward wearing the color black, and Fionnoula was no exception. Her young, shapely legs were encased in black leggings and the cut off T-shirt she wore showed off the ring she had in her belly button.
“What in the name of the sun is that?” Killian asked her, motioning to the smoking carcass on top of the stove.
Fionnoula looked back at the stove then turned to him. “That, dear brother, is last meal.” She glared, daring him to make another comment. “Where in the name of the sun have you been? Raji’s been home for hours.”
Felix groaned and dropped his head to the table. Cooper smacked him on the arm.
“But I’m hungry,” Felix grumbled.
“I don’t have to answer to you, little sister.” Killian didn’t even try to stop the growl of warning in his voice.
“We’re never going to get pizza now,” Felix groaned, and Cooper discreetly smacked him on the back of his head. Cooper could sense the tension in the room and didn’t want Felix’s comment to set Killian off. Again.
Young male wolves burned calories like water. Food was the only thought on their minds most of the time until they hit maturity. Then they thought of females and food.
Killian glared into his sister’s dark eyes until she backed down. “Raji tells me you’ve had another vision.” He hoped a conversation change would put her a little more at ease, so she didn’t bite someone’s head off when the suggestion to order pizza came up again. He wasn’t going to eat that charcoal carcass and wasn’t about to insist anyone else did either.
Fionnoula folded her gangly arms across her middle and leaned against the counter as if pondering his statement. “What are you planning on doing today?”
Killian scrutinized his sister. “I had planned to sleep. Is there something else I should be doing?”
Fionnoula gave Rajah a discreet glance then settled her gaze back on him. “You need to go to Seattle.”
Killian sat up straighter in his seat. “Seattle? What for?”
“Fionnoula,” Rajah said patiently and calmly to her. “We talked about this earlier.”
“It’s only eight in the morning, Raji. There’s plenty of time.” There was a pleading tone to her voice, and Killian didn’t like the sound of it.
“Time for what?” Killian asked.
Fionnoula turned her gaze from Rajah back to Killian. The fierceness had left her gaze and was replaced by urgency. “I saw her again, Kil. I saw where she was this time. She’s in Seattle.”
Killian tried to keep his exterior calm, but his heart began racing. His mate. His true mate. Just the thought of her sent adrenaline coursing through his body. Sleep was no longer on the agenda. If his true mate was in Seattle, that was where he needed to be.
“Where in Seattle?” Killian asked, all thoughts of pizza gone from his mind. He was instead trying to figure out how to get out of town without anyone seeing him.
Fionnoula shrugged. “She was on a bus numbered 102. I looked it up online, and the website says that it’s an express bus that only runs during peak hours. The placement of the sun put the time in the afternoon. The first southbound bus leaves downtown Seattle at three twenty in the afternoon and ends in the south suburbs somewhere.” Her eyes pleaded with him. “You have to be on that bus, Kil. I have a strong feeling that something bad is going to happen to her today. You need to be there.”
Killian let out a deep-throated growl at the thought of someone harming his mate. He didn’t even know the female, and already he was becoming attached to the idea of her, protective of her.
“Then I’ll drive to Seattle.” He glanced over at Shadow, unsure of how the male knew of the day’s agenda. “And apparently, I’ll have company.”
“Great! Now about ordering pizza for dinner,” Felix said hopefully.
He was tired.
Not just weary from a few late nights but a bone-deep exhaustion that only a good meal, a hot shower, and a long day’s sleep could alleviate. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t going to get any of those. He’d be lucky if there was any hot water left at the end of the night. He’d be luckier if his sister, Fionnoula, decided not to attempt to cook tonight and the guys ordered out. And if he were able to sleep three uninterrupted hours, he would consider himself very lucky.
He was the Samhradh Pack Enforcer. The Alpha made the laws, but it was up to Killian to make sure all the wolves in the pack obeyed them.
Wolves, by nature, were obstinate, temperamental creatures that rebuked authority and liked to do whatever they wanted to do on any given day, and that made his job demanding.
For the most part, fear of his wrath kept many of them in line. Over the years, Killian had built a reputation for being the one wolf most other wolves would rather not see come after them. There wasn’t a wolf in the pack that could avoid facing his punishment for breaking the law.
And they all knew it.
Killian looked out the window at the rising sun. He needed to get inside before the daytime locks engaged. Wolves are nocturnal creatures, which meant they’re vulnerable during the daylight hours when they sleep, and all wolves, especially Killian, hated vulnerability.
Rajah Kakkar was Killian’s Sciath, his shield. It was Rajah’s job to keep Killian alive, and Rajah took that appointed role very seriously by making sure their house had the best defenses to protect all of them against any retribution from vengeful wolves. Once the daytime locks engaged, the only way in or out of the house was an emergency exit that had to be opened by someone from the inside. That was the only thing that got Killian off his tail and out of the car.
As he walked up the sidewalk leading to the house, Killian paused when the front door opened, and Rajah held the door ajar with his foot. Rajah filled the doorway and was such an imposing wolf by observation, but those that knew him understood his ominous looks were deceiving.
Rajah was emotional and soft-spoken, taking care to notice others and to think before he acted. To Killian, life was black or white. You either obeyed the laws and he left you alone, or you broke the laws, and he came after you to force punishment upon you. Rajah lived in a world of gray.
Rajah glanced at the sky and folded his thick arms across his massive chest, then his brilliant hazel gaze found Killian’s. Killian walked up the steps to the porch to stand in front of him. Rajah was several inches taller than Killian’s own six foot three and probably out massed him by at least twenty pounds of muscle.
“Cutting it awfully close this time, Kil.” Rajah’s quiet voice was thick with his unique accent. It was mostly English with a hint of his Indian heritage. He was uncharacteristically disheveled. His deeply tanned skin was littered with the night’s growth of beard, and his ordinarily obedient hair fell in messy, thick locks of golden brown around his angular face.
“Don’t start with me Raji. I’ve had a terrible night.” Killian stepped up to the door, but Rajah didn’t step aside to let him enter.
Rajah sniffed the air. “I smell Sabrina’s scent on you.”
Killian grimaced. “Yeah.”
“You finally gave in to her?”
“I … regret doing so, but yeah.”
Rajah lifted a thick eyebrow. “I bet that hurt to admit.”
A growl rumbled from Killian’s chest. “You were right,” he forced out. “Is that what you want to hear from me?”
A look of uncertainty crossed his face before Rajah bowed his head toward Killian. “I meant no disrespect.”
Killian stared at the top of Rajah’s head and let out a loud sigh. Lifting a tired arm, he rested his hand on Rajah’s shoulder. “It’s okay, my friend. I just have not had the best of nights.”
Rajah lifted his head and now looked at him uneasily, as if waiting for some retribution.
Killian dropped his hand and his arm fell to his side. “Sabrina told me before I left that she’s settled on her choice for a companion mate.”
“Let me guess. She chose you.”
Killian nodded.
“What did you tell her?”
“Obviously the wrong thing because she was quite upset with me when I left.” He motioned to Rajah’s large body blocking the way. “Are you going to let me in?”
Rajah still didn’t budge. “That depends.”
“On what? For your sake, Raji, I’m trying to be calm, but I’m tired and need to get Sabrina’s scent off me.”
“You may not want to come in.”
Killian leaned and glanced over the large man’s shoulder, listening to the sounds of the house. When his addled brain registered what he heard, his eyes shot to Rajah’s. “Fin’s cooking?”
Rajah smiled at Killian’s horrified tone. “She’s had another vision and has been waiting for you to come home.”
Killian looked up to the dawning sky and cursed. His eyes leveled with Rajah’s, and he understood now why the male looked so unkempt. While Killian had been out relieving his tension, Rajah had been dealing with Fionnoula’s conniption fit.
The warning alarm went off, indicating that the daytime locks were set to engage, and Rajah stepped aside to let Killian enter before securely closing the door. Killian stood motionless in the great hall while the shutters lowered, and the steel reinforcements secured all the windows and doors.
“Well, there’s no avoiding her now,” Killian mumbled, thinking of both the conversation he was about to have with his sister as well as the so-called meal he was expected to endure. Fionnoula was not known for her culinary skills. The local restaurants had their usual orders stored in their systems.
“You might want to shower before you talk to her. She’ll take your evening with Sabrina personally, and I don’t want her any more upset than she already is. It took me four hours to calm her down this time.” Rajah gave him a pointed look, almost daring Killian to argue.
Fionnoula had the gift of precognition, and the aftereffects gave her migraine-like head pains. Rajah was the one who patiently tended to her and helped her decipher the meaning of what she saw. Luckily, her visions happen infrequently.
Rajah motioned with a jut of his chin for Killian to go upstairs.
“Good idea.” Killian was eager to get Sabrina’s smell off him. The female wolf had been flirting with him for years. Even though she was the only unmated mature female in the pack, Killian had no interest in her for anything other than sexual gratification and had told her as much before he left. Killian’s father had urged him to pursue her, but her scent didn’t call to him. She wasn’t his true mate, and Killian refused to settle for anything less.
Rajah pushed at his shoulder to get him moving, and Killian took the stairs two at a time. He went down the long hall to his room, his sanctuary. No female, other than his mother and sister, had ever been allowed in his room. That honor was reserved for his mate, whenever he found her.
When he’d commissioned the house to be built over twenty years ago, he envisioned an abode for mated couples with apartments large enough to raise pups. To date, however, none of the current occupants of the house were mated.
Flipping the switch to turn on the overhead light of his room, he looked around. His eyes rested on the large bed that occupied the wall closest to him. Six months ago, Fionnoula had a vision, and in it, she claimed she saw Killian’s true mate. The trouble was, Fionnoula had no idea where in the world his mate was. Just knowing she was out there, though, gave Killian hope that one day, he wouldn’t be alone in the large bed.
Killian was not romantic by any stretch of the imagination. He was efficient in his job and almost utilitarian when it came to sex. It was something he did because his body demanded the release. Fionnoula’s declaration that his true mate was out there made the night’s encounter with Sabrina something he regretted. Before tonight, it had been months since he’d last been with a female, and, tonight, Killian had given in to the urgings of his body but now chided himself for the weakness.
Tearing his clothes off and stepping into the shower, he turned the hot water on full blast and waited until the water got so hot it scalded his skin before turning the cold on a little. At least there was still some hot water left. He grabbed his bottle of fragrance-free body wash and scrubbed Sabrina’s scent from his body.
He stayed under the spray for a while, letting the hot water soothe away the fatigue of his muscles. The insistent knock on his bedroom door had him cursing and shutting off the water with a jerk. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stomped, still dripping water, to the door.
“What,” he snarled swinging the door open expecting to see his sister on the other end. Much to Killian’s surprise, Shadow stood on the other side, and he was in human form. The irritation at being interrupted from his shower left Killian instantly. The only reason Shadow came in the house for the day was if something was really wrong.
Shadow rarely changed into his human form. He was a private male, choosing to live out in the woods surrounding the house. Despite knowing the wolf for nearly thirty years, Killian didn’t know a lot about Shadow. He didn’t even know the male’s real name.
“What is it?” Killian barked out, when Shadow didn’t speak right away.
“I’ll be going with you.” Shadow’s voice was quiet and calm with an accent Killian had never been able to place. Shadow was not large for a male wolf, more subtle strength and stealth, but he was deadly—the deadliest wolf Killian knew.
The enigmatic response had Killian raising a thick brow and stepping aside to let the dark wolf into the room.
Shadow hesitated then stepped inside, moving silently over to the dim corner. Shadow was darker skinned than Rajah and, as his name indicated, if there was a dark patch anywhere, the wolf could camouflage himself and blend in to be unseen, literally disappearing into the shadows.
Killian dropped the towel and pulled clothes from the large mahogany dresser opposite the bed. “Where exactly will I be going that I’ll have the pleasure of your company?” He’d planned to get a little much-needed sleep during the day.
Shadow didn’t answer, and as Killian sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and boots, he looked over to the corner Shadow had retreated to but couldn’t see or sense the wolf. Shadow was a male of few words, and the five words he’d said just a few moments ago was more than Killian had heard in nearly a month.
Killian quickly tied his boots and walked out of the room, knowing Shadow would follow at his own pace. Curiously, the dark wolf fell into place beside him as they made their way down the stairs toward the kitchen. There was the smell of something burnt in the air, and Killian had the terrible feeling that was going to be part of last meal.
He was not prepared for the scene he and Shadow walked into upon entering the kitchen. The entire room was in chaos. Fionnoula was peering into the oven, waving one hand in front of her face to clear the thick, black smoke coming from the appliance and trying to pull something extremely offensive smelling from it with the other. The sink was filled with dishes, and the countertops were covered with open boxes and bags. Killian glanced over at Rajah, who was seated at the table with Cooper and Felix. All three watched Fionnoula with worried expressions.
Joshua Cooper was the pack Tracker who had a nose that could track a scent miles away, and once he caught a scent, he would not give up until he found it. Felix Cooper didn’t have his older brother’s tracking skills, but the young wolf pup showed promise with his speed. Even at the tender age of twenty-two, the pup was the fastest wolf in the pack, and he had the endurance to rival a wolf many years his senior.
Upon seeing Shadow next to Killian, Rajah stood. “What’s happened?” He reached for his katar, the large, wicked blade he always had strapped to his thigh.
Killian put his hand up. Rajah sat back down but kept his eye on Shadow as he went around and sat in the place at the table they’d always left for him but he’d very rarely filled. It was the side of the table in the shadows. Killian went around to take his own seat and looked over at his sister.
Fionnoula had pulled the mysterious thing from the oven and was looking back them with consternation. His younger sister had his hair and eye coloring but was six inches shorter than him and was thinner than most other female wolves. All wolves were large and muscular, even the females, and hopefully, Fionnoula would bulk up or Killian feared, without his influence, she could fall into the Omega role with her peculiarities.
Fionnoula dressed in a style Killian had heard her call Goth. Her short black hair stuck up in every direction, and various piercings adorned her ears, eyebrow, nose, and lip. Her dark eyes were lined with black, and her nails and toes were covered with a glossy black polish. Many wolves gravitated toward wearing the color black, and Fionnoula was no exception. Her young, shapely legs were encased in black leggings and the cut off T-shirt she wore showed off the ring she had in her belly button.
“What in the name of the sun is that?” Killian asked her, motioning to the smoking carcass on top of the stove.
Fionnoula looked back at the stove then turned to him. “That, dear brother, is last meal.” She glared, daring him to make another comment. “Where in the name of the sun have you been? Raji’s been home for hours.”
Felix groaned and dropped his head to the table. Cooper smacked him on the arm.
“But I’m hungry,” Felix grumbled.
“I don’t have to answer to you, little sister.” Killian didn’t even try to stop the growl of warning in his voice.
“We’re never going to get pizza now,” Felix groaned, and Cooper discreetly smacked him on the back of his head. Cooper could sense the tension in the room and didn’t want Felix’s comment to set Killian off. Again.
Young male wolves burned calories like water. Food was the only thought on their minds most of the time until they hit maturity. Then they thought of females and food.
Killian glared into his sister’s dark eyes until she backed down. “Raji tells me you’ve had another vision.” He hoped a conversation change would put her a little more at ease, so she didn’t bite someone’s head off when the suggestion to order pizza came up again. He wasn’t going to eat that charcoal carcass and wasn’t about to insist anyone else did either.
Fionnoula folded her gangly arms across her middle and leaned against the counter as if pondering his statement. “What are you planning on doing today?”
Killian scrutinized his sister. “I had planned to sleep. Is there something else I should be doing?”
Fionnoula gave Rajah a discreet glance then settled her gaze back on him. “You need to go to Seattle.”
Killian sat up straighter in his seat. “Seattle? What for?”
“Fionnoula,” Rajah said patiently and calmly to her. “We talked about this earlier.”
“It’s only eight in the morning, Raji. There’s plenty of time.” There was a pleading tone to her voice, and Killian didn’t like the sound of it.
“Time for what?” Killian asked.
Fionnoula turned her gaze from Rajah back to Killian. The fierceness had left her gaze and was replaced by urgency. “I saw her again, Kil. I saw where she was this time. She’s in Seattle.”
Killian tried to keep his exterior calm, but his heart began racing. His mate. His true mate. Just the thought of her sent adrenaline coursing through his body. Sleep was no longer on the agenda. If his true mate was in Seattle, that was where he needed to be.
“Where in Seattle?” Killian asked, all thoughts of pizza gone from his mind. He was instead trying to figure out how to get out of town without anyone seeing him.
Fionnoula shrugged. “She was on a bus numbered 102. I looked it up online, and the website says that it’s an express bus that only runs during peak hours. The placement of the sun put the time in the afternoon. The first southbound bus leaves downtown Seattle at three twenty in the afternoon and ends in the south suburbs somewhere.” Her eyes pleaded with him. “You have to be on that bus, Kil. I have a strong feeling that something bad is going to happen to her today. You need to be there.”
Killian let out a deep-throated growl at the thought of someone harming his mate. He didn’t even know the female, and already he was becoming attached to the idea of her, protective of her.
“Then I’ll drive to Seattle.” He glanced over at Shadow, unsure of how the male knew of the day’s agenda. “And apparently, I’ll have company.”
“Great! Now about ordering pizza for dinner,” Felix said hopefully.
dreamwriter.earth
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