21

AIDA

"You're sure?"

I widen my eyes and nod for what feels like the ten thousandth time. "Yes! Yes. That is my ex-husband, but he didn't look like that ."

"Delon? Him? That's who you were married to?" Byron stabs his finger for a tenth time at the image on the tablet of a man sitting at the head of a long rustic table. His nose is tilted up haughtily, and what might be bear fur is cloaked around his shoulders.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, again, that is Lonny—Delon. Clearly, you know him, but I'm telling you, he didn't look like that ."

I stab my hand at the picture in the same way Byron did.

When he first scrambled from bed, beautiful and naked, and grabbed a tablet to bring up the image, I'd been just as shocked and confused as he was.

The guy in the photo is dressed like a bootleg nineties rapper beneath the fur. All he needs is a lopsided crown and a bejeweled goblet in one hand, and I'd think this was B-roll from his debut album.

What's also clear from the photo is that the crazy I finally saw is in full force on the man's face as he stares soullessly across the gathering around him.

"And what, exactly, did this little shit look like when you met him?" Byron's tone is dry and unconvinced, but it feels less directed at me and more at his impression of Delon, so I'm not offended when I answer.

"Uh, not like he sells his LP out of his trunk, that's for sure. He looked smart. He wore glasses. He had a job in the sciences as a professor at a community college. I'm not stupid. I'd been to his office on campus and watched him grade student tests. Hell, I helped him grade them a few times. We were married. I was a part of his life, even if only briefly. He was a normal, middle-aged guy at first."

Byron blinks, clearly even more shocked. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but what you're telling me is unbelievable. This man is a shifter. He was a member of my clan. He actually led my clan after trying to kill our chief on some backhanded but technically lawful nonsense. But he's," he pauses, searching for the words, "a fucking idiot to be frank. And I don't mean he isn't smart. I mean, this motherfucker is so fucking inbred that I'd be shocked if he could read, let alone teach a college-level course. He's also about twenty-eight. You're sure—"

I'm shocked by this revelation but still nod emphatically. "Byron, I'm sure."

He sighs. "Okay, baby. Sorry."

He quiets but continues shaking his head, and the anxiety over what he's thinking gets to me.

"What does this mean for us?"

Byron pulls a face. "It doesn't mean shit for us. You're mine. I've already told you that. But I have no idea what it means that he attached himself to you. It can't be a coincidence that you attracted another shifter." He thinks, looking closely at me. "You said before that your first husband noticed something about your smell. Did he ever describe what it was?"

"He just said I smelled nice. It wasn't a thing. Just something he said to me that made me feel good—sexy."

He leans in, sticking his nose into the crook of my neck. The sudden contact is cold and a little wet. It feels animal.

I jerk, but he holds me still, inhaling deeply several times before setting me back.

My gaze goes immediately to his nose, but it's human like it always is. Shrugging, I attempt to wipe away the lingering sensation.

"Don't do that." He's staring at some point to my left, deep in thought, but he waggles a finger at my reaction.

"Do what?"

"Wipe my wolf away. It makes him a little feral, and we need to go see Musa before it gets too late, so I don't have time to fuck you again."

Instinctively, I shrug my shoulder. I can still feel the wet snout-like rub, and I've never really been a dog person.

Byron snaps out of his contemplation and cants his head. The blue of his eyes takes on that glowing quality, and he leaps forward, pouncing me flat to the bed in a motion so swift I don't have time to be afraid.

I'm not afraid, though.

As he rubs his nose along my neck again, a deep purr rumbles from his chest, vibrating against my breasts and making my nipples peak.

My legs part on their own, responding to the sound, and my pussy clenches, getting slick with need.

I sigh, an extended, overdue release, as he enters me slowly, pressing deep and filling the hollow that was left in the middle of my life.

It's a life that doesn't feel so ruined anymore.

For the first time in two years, Zora is safe and looking at me like I'm someone she can rely on. Despite knowing our presence at the compound is unorthodox, Byron's friends have proven that they'll do what's necessary to keep us safe.

Shit.

A realization hits me on the heel of Byron's first thrust, which glides so perfectly along the back of my clit that I have to curl my toes to keep from coming.

"What are you thinking?" He strokes lazily through my passage, giving me the full span of him. The thickness creates a suction that sends tingles through my core, urging my hips up to force him deeper. The sound of our pelvises meeting is slick, the stretch delicious, and the rumble in his chest a constant purr.

His eyes are kind, the depth of the blue shifting between royal and the electric cerulean of his wolf.

Our bodies roll together, the momentum growing faster and faster until he shifts, a strong hand gripping my leg to pull it up and to the side as he starts to plow to the back of my pussy, halting the bridge of my hips, so I'm at his mercy.

I gasp, huffing my moans between our parted lips, and when he groans low in his throat, his lids shuttering those glowing eyes, and grinds down onto my clit, I jerk, the orgasm exploding in me like the slyest of bombs. We stay pressed tight and tremble out our release.

He rolls to the side and sighs, pulling me onto the hard planes of his chest. "You never said."

"Hm?" I sigh, more content than I've felt in years.

"What you were thinking."

Uncertainty fills my mind, but my heart feels so free that I see no reason to keep my revelation to myself. "I was thinking that I love you."

***

"Mom!" Zora launches herself at me when I enter the dining room, and I nearly fall back from the force, laughing and using the momentum as an excuse to hold her tight for a moment.

She pulls away with a bright smile that has my mouth pulling up automatically.

"Hey, baby girl. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." I slide my hand to hers and entwine our fingers, elation lifting my chest when she clenches our bound hands tightly.

"It's only been a day, Mom, but guess what?"

"What?" I answer right away because anything that's got her this excited will either be great or something I will have to veto right away.

"I totally convinced Carmelo to go vegan." She blinks and does a little bounce, which I attempt to humor, but I end up with a confused grin.

"Who's Carmelo, and have you been spending all this time trying to sway these people to veganism?"

Zora laughs and rolls her eyes. "Carmelo is my friend. He's right there." She swings around, waving a hand at a table full of teens, only for her eyes to widen. "Carmelo! Is that a rib?"

A cute little ginger with a sharp fade and honey-brown skin raises his hands in mercy. One clutches a meat-covered bone that might have belonged to some elk. "What? I'm a shifter. I need meat."

Sighing in exasperation, Zora faces me again. "Scratch that. He's still a carnivore."

I smile and give our clasped hands a wiggle. "Can we chat for a second? I'll let you get back to your friends right after."

"Sure. Melo, free yourself from the flesh, dude." She calls over to the boy, who drops the rib with a longing frown.

Chuckling, I lead her to one of the tables out of the way of the rest of the people milling about the room, and we both sit.

"I just wanted to check in with you. This is all a lot."

She smiles and nods. "Yeah. I thought I'd be more freaked out, but I didn't feel like anyone here would hurt me. I mean, they're Byron's people, right?"

The way she says it, like them being Byron's people is enough reason not to be alarmed by ending up in the middle of a clan of wolf shifters.

"You trust him?"

She frowns. "I mean, yeah. Don't you?"

"No, I do. Of course, I do. I haven't trusted anyone this much since your dad, but—after everything that happened before."

She's already shaking her head. "I meant it when I said that he's nothing like Lonny. They are miles apart. I know you just thought I was being difficult, but I never felt right with Delon. But Byron feels right, and I can tell he loves you. I mean, he was willing to fight his son for you."

My eyes widen. "How did you know about that? Oh my god, did you see it?"

I'm less concerned with the violence than the fact that both Byron and Preston were butt ass naked at one point.

"No, Mom," Zora gives a classic teenager toss of her head. "Musa's brother is the guy who leads this place, Kofi. He overheard them saying there was a challenge, and he told us. We tried to sneak away to check it out, but the guy they had watching us was like a hawk."

Relief fills me as I avoid navigating that bit of awkwardness, but then my mind latches onto something she's said. "Wait, Musa told you this?"

Annoyance that one of the adults would let something as irresistible as a fight slip to a bunch of teenagers makes my mouth pinch, but Zora nods and points to the table where Carmelo is sitting.

Across from him, another boy lounges in a chair, his marigold gaze fixed on me.

That's how I find out that Musa is a seventeen-year-old kid.

***

"Nothing. Not even a whiff."

I do my best to hold still as the tall, surprisingly built teenager, his lean but muscular frame a conundrum of man and boy, leans in to sniff me again.

He's got a foot on my height, and the resemblance between him and Kofi is striking. They both share the deep, reddish-brown skin pulled tight over high cheekbones and a square jaw. Their eyes are large and doe-like and framed with heavy lashes. Like his brother, Musa's irises are the color of wildflower honey and streaked through with yellow.

"Same. Did you scent Zora?"

Musa nods, and my brows raise. "Nothing on her either."

"Hm," Byron stares to the side in thought, and I take the opportunity to shift to Musa, my eyes narrowing.

"When, exactly, were you smelling my daughter?"

He chuckles and looks at Byron. "Can I go before she tries to skin me?"

"Do I have a reason to try and skin you?" My eyes narrow further, and he steps back, his hands raised in defense.

"Zora's a cool kid, but I'm not checking for her. If you need to watch out for anyone, it's probably Carmelo. The dude's been eating micro-greens all day because she said eating flesh is inhumane. I tried to tell him we aren't human, so it doesn't apply, but" he shrugs and jogs backward, a grin teasing his mouth, and I shake my head. Shifting his attention to Byron, he nudges his head. "I'll do some research on it, bossman, after the scrimmage. I'll need her DNA."

"Sure. We'll get it over today." Byron waves him off, and I watch him sprint out the door and down the hall. "He's a good kid. Reckless, but good. He's also a fantastic genius. If there's a mystery here, he'll help us figure it out. Let's go ahead and take your blood."

Byron ushers me to a seat and then pulls open a nearby drawer to remove blood drawing equipment.

I hold my arm out, watching as he tightens the tourniquet around my upper arm and tears open an alcohol pad to swipe over my skin.

"You have terrible veins, baby."

"I know." I chuckle as he leans in, examining the surface of my inner elbow closely.

His finger is light as he traces the faint lines, barely making themselves known. "Let's try this one."

Uncapping a needle, he lines the tapered tip along my arm and inserts it, the slight pinch making me wince. From there, he's adept and efficient, getting the vein immediately and filling the vials.

When he's done, he disposes of the used syringe, unwraps my arm, and labels the vials before putting them into a storage system. "Musa will analyze it and get back to us in a few days."

I shake my head, a disbelieving smirk pulling at my mouth. "I can't believe that little boy has performed successful brain surgery."

"Hardly little. The hyaena shifters are a little bigger than us in both forms, but thanks for not mentioning that while he was here. Kid's head is already as big as his appetite—almost."

He chuckles, and I join in, then stop.

"Did you say hyaena?"

He frowns like I've missed something. "Yeah. My clan, me and my sons, we're wolf shifters. Kofi and the rest of the people here are from the continent. They present as hyaenas. I didn't tell you that?"

"What? No, you didn't tell me that!"

Chuckling, he leads me out of the lab. "Then the scrimmage will be a treat."