24

AIDA

Damn, this girl is cold.

Valeena eyes me from the head of the table, and there's nothing to read on her face.

My mind flashes with the image of a big-toothed girl, her hair in thick plaits, her eyes reflecting a cleverness only matched by her kindness.

That girl isn't this woman who smiled in my face, conjured tears at our reunion, and then pulled a vicious-looking gun on me within five minutes.

Since that summer we met, if I've lived five lives as myself, this woman has metamorphosed into someone else.

When she still doesn't respond, her husband shakes his head again, like her stubbornness both annoys and fills him with pride.

"We'd be happy if you shared what you could. It might make this situation a little less suspect."

So I do.

I start at the beginning, not from birth, but from that summer of driving around two laughing girls and taking them to the mall, where they got their ears pierced at a little kiosk by some apathetic teenager working a summer job.

From there, I go through college and meeting Malik. I tell them about Zora, and Samiah's eyes light with excitement. I push through the story of Malik's diagnosis and losing him. It isn't until I get to my second marriage that I pause.

"You can't hesitate, baby. I'm here. Keep going." Byron covers my hand, lending me his strength.

When Valeena pulled that gun on me, I saw him tense, the cords in his neck bulging like he was holding back some unseen force.

His wolf, I'm assuming. It's the same reaction he had in the lab when Maxim threatened me.

I'd been terrified then that he would try to defend me and get hurt, but I'd also felt the quiet reassurance he offered, letting me know everything would be okay.

"Shortly after my husband died, I met a man. I wasn't expecting it, but he attached himself to me, and we ended up getting married. I won't go into all the details, but he turned bad quickly— really quickly and really bad." I rush to give the overview of what went down at my job, working up the courage to divulge the part I dread most. "The thing is, his name was, uh—" I stall again, swallowing to work down the stone in my throat.

"Who?" Godwin's frowning between me and Byron, and at this moment, I hate that I've dragged him into my mess.

Sparing me from having to force out the words, Byron meets his chief's gaze and delivers the answer without faltering. "It was Delon."

Then all fucking chaos breaks loose.

"Delon? I fucking knew it!" Valeena jumps from the table, her hand swinging up with another gun.

"Where the hell are you pulling those from—" Godwin's words are cut off as Byron snarls into his wolf, his body folding in a blur of fur.

He clamps onto the leg of my chair with his mouth, sliding me away from the table and putting his body in front of mine so fast that I don't have time to process what's happening fully.

Twin growls sound out, and I draw back when I realize the other two wolves, Samiah's mates, have also shifted. They're blocking her from Byron, their gazes fixed on him while he's fixed on Valeena.

"Everyone calm the fuck down." Godwin's voice takes on a timber that has all three wolves hunching and easing up on their hostility. Byron doesn't shift back but cautiously lowers to his haunches in front of me. Samiah's mates do the same; one big black body and one big brown body shield her from view.

"Calm down? She just walked in here and told us she was married to Delon, of all people, and you're going to tell me I'm still overreacting? Who the fuck in their right mind would marry Delon?"

"I'm not going to tell you that, baby. I am going to tell you that I've known this man my whole life. He is like an older brother to me, and he would never put this clan in danger. He wasn't even going to come here. I told him to bring her. So chill, please, so we can get to the bottom of this."

Valeena's mouth tightens mutinously, and Godwin waves a hand hopelessly.

"Plus, babe. You know how you get. Come on." He gives her a pointed look, and her eyes narrow.

"Okay, first of all. I do not get any way ."

"You get super murder-ey, Valeena."

"I do not!" Her affront is undermined by what might be a softening of her bearing. She glances at me and then back to her husband before flipping the safety on the gun and slapping it into his outstretched hand. "Fine, but get them some clothes before they shift back."

Godwin levels a look at her, and she hunches her shoulders.

"I'm not going to kill anyone before you get back. Go on, Puppy." She waves him off like the meddlesome pet she's referred to.

He rolls his eyes and leaves the room, marching down the hall with steps that are quick enough to indicate he doesn't quite believe she won't spill blood while he's gone.

"It's nothing personal. I just really love my family."

My gaze shifts from where Godwin has disappeared back to her. "I'm your family, and I love him, too." I indicate Byron.

Valeena arches a brow. "We'll see."

I'm not sure why, but I smirk. Mainly because this girl is badass. For obvious reasons, I'm proud of that.

Everyone else remains quiet. Samiah sits unmoving in her chair. I can't tell what she's doing because her wolves still have her in a protective huddle.

Soft fur brushes my hand, and I look over to find Byron's bright blue gaze. He nuzzles my hand, and I smooth over his fur, curling my fingers in the thick strands as I offer a reassuring smile.

Leaning my mouth at his ear, I whisper, "It'll be fine, he says. They're going to love you, he says. You're lucky I love you ."

The warm swipe of his tongue startles me back, and I sputter, my mouth turning down as his wolf saliva cools on my lips.

"Did—did you just?"

"Lick your face? Yup. I swear, if I didn't see them in human form, I'd have questions about this being a Black wolf clan." Valeena's deadpan delivery startles another reaction from me, and I laugh, cackling harder than I probably should, considering she still wants to kill me.

I sober just as Godwin walks back in, holding what looks like three pairs of sweatpants. He drops a pair each in front of Samiah's wolves before coming over and lowering one to the ground at Byron's paws.

"If you all are laughing, I can assume it's safe for them to shift back?"

There's a swish and a quiet pop as the three wolves fold back into men. The two wolves across from me immediately step into the pants, pulling them up thickly muscled legs and settling them low on their hips, but not before I get a glimpse of some impressive packages.

I make a face of appreciation, and my eyes continue up.

When I get to their faces, they're watching me.

Caught, I paste on my most clinical smile. "I'm a doctor. Don't worry."

They both grunt and assume a similar position of legs spread, arms crossed over their massive bare chests. Still blocking Samiah.

"I can't see," she carps from behind them, and the slightly taller one with the short, curly fade snorts.

"We can see."

"Jesus. Nonsense from every side," she mumbles from behind them.

A second later, Byron's big body straightens, and from the corner of my eyes, I spy the heavy hang of his dick before he flips the pant band to his waist.

"I understand why you feel protective and suspicious, but Aida isn't our enemy. The better question is how the hell Delon ended up meeting your cousin, of all people, hundreds of miles away from here. I don't think the answer is that he somehow recruited her to be an assassin." Tilting his head and leveling a knowing glance at his chief, he smiles. "Congratulations, by the way. Did you spray yourself to hide it?"

He sounds calm enough, but I can tell by the angle of his body that he's still poised to jump in front of me if need be.

Valeena casts her gaze to the side. "People act like I'm made of glass when they know." Exhaling, she hitches a shoulder. "Fine. I'll ease up. I was tired of sucking my stomach in any way."

My gaze drops to the lower part of her torso, and sure enough, there's a little bulge there where it wasn't before.

She's…pregnant?

***

"A professor?" Valeena snorts and looks to Godwin for confirmation.

He looks just as skeptical. "I didn't think that dude could read, but honestly, he was such a massive dick. I didn't get to know him that well, even though he was my cousin."

"All I can tell you is the Delon I knew had a steady, respectable, if not prestigious, job and seemed completely normal until he went batshit crazy."

"Hm, that tracks," Valeena relents with a tilt of her head. "And I guess with his shifter gland gone, there would have been no way you would have accidentally seen him shift."

I look between her and Godwin. "He didn't have a wolf gland?"

"No, he did. Until I tore it out with my teeth." When I look horrified, Godwin waves it away. "It was clan stuff, a challenge. I probably should have killed him."

This information triggers something, and I press a hand to the back of my neck. "He had a scar here. He said he was from a car accident."

"No, until he lost that fight with me, he could shift like any of us." Godwin provides.

"You have a gland as well?" I direct this to Valeena, fascinated by this new understanding of shifter biology.

"No gland. We have some shifter in us. I wouldn't be able to get pregnant otherwise. At first, we thought it was due to a human-shifter reproduction, but Samiah's been mapping the genes of full shifters and our code, and it looks more like there's a recessive, human-like expression passed through some lines. They expressed fewer and fewer shifter traits until they appeared primarily human, except that they weren't. At least not genetically.

"And you think this is an anomaly that runs matriarchally?"

"Still working on that theory," Samiah chimes in. "But it's looking like it."

I sit back, so many thoughts trying to weave into sense in my mind. Science, folklore, and my new reality clash in violence that nearly gives me a headache.

I rub the space between my brows as I think out loud. "If that's the case, does that mean people with this recessive expression can reproduce with humans? It would have to, right? And does that then mean that there's the potential for wolf traits to express randomly at some later time?" This opens so many fascinating possibilities for how our groups have interacted in the past.

"No clue, but clearly, we aren't the only ones tracking recessive wolf genetics."

Lowering my hand, I frown at Samiah. "What do you mean?"

She looks between the groups as if the answer is evident before shaking her head. "Delon. He didn't just end up meeting you. I think it's pretty obvious he tracked my and Valeena's family line and ‘ran into you' on purpose." She does air quotation marks on my unfortunate meeting with Delon.

"Why?" I'm usually really quick on the uptake, but I can't make sense of it.

However, Godwin leans in, his frown dubious. "You think he did all of that to get back at you and Valeena?"

"No, good lord," Samiah grumbles, and I get the impression that despite her being exceptionally brilliant, people still undermine her. "When you beat Delon, you ripped out his shifter gland. You took away his ability to turn into a wolf and effectively turned him into a regular ass man."

"Okay, and marrying Aida was going to do what?" Godwin shakes his head.

I'm also trying to grasp whatever theory she's dangling in front of us.

"Girl, just spit it out. We aren't all geniuses." Valeena throws up an exasperated hand, and Godwin slaps a palm to his chest.

"Damn, baby. Ouch."

Byron's somber voice cuts through his teasing. "He didn't marry Aida to get back at anyone, not directly anyway." He meets my gaze, his smile tight. "You told me he was hyper-focused on getting you pregnant."

"Yeah." I nod. "He got weird about it. Crazy about it, obviously."

Meeting the expectant gazes of the others, he continues. "He married her so he could get her pregnant."

Samiah's mate with the locs shakes his head. "What would that accomplish?"

"A shifter gland," her other mate supplies, his jaw tight with suppressed anger.

It seems like something dawns on all of their faces simultaneously, and Samiah nods her head.

"I don't have a gland." I frown. "And I wasn't even working for Genesis then, so it's not like I could synthesize the hormone for him. That wasn't even on my radar."

"That might be the only coincidence in this whole thing," Samiah offers. "But it wasn't your work he was after or your gland."

"Whose then?" I follow the emphasis, but the moment I say it, everything clicks into place. My gaze strays to the connected living room where Godwin and Valeena's children are napping on a mat on the floor.

Their little furry bellies rise and fall in a slow, steady rhythm.

I turn wide eyes on Byron, and horror clogs my throat. He nods.

"I think he hoped any cubs you had would be born with a gland. It would be easy to source it from a child since they can't control their shift. That was my one trump card when Genesis took me. They couldn't get a sample unless I shifted, and very few things can force a shift in someone like me. Fucking with my mate, obviously, but not much else."

"Is it even possible for him to do that?"

The soft swish that I've come to recognize as the sound of a shift cuts through the space, and a wolf stands in the place where Valeena sat. Godwin stands and walks to grab a throw from the couch, arriving just in time for Valeena to shift back.

He drops the light blanket around her shoulders and retakes his seat.

"I don't have a gland, but when I'm pregnant, I can shift."

I blink, the scientist in me wanting to ask a million questions, to ask for blood samples, to ask for permission to map out her entire being. Instead, I look at Samiah. She's pregnant, too.

She shakes her head with a rueful smile. "No such luck. Although, I did manage to synthesize the hormone and obtain a short-term shift."

My brows lift in surprise as I store away the information that my younger cousin seems to have inherited the same knack for science that I did.

"So does that mean your kids don't have a gland?"

She shrugs, and I can tell she's a little uncomfortable with that thought, but like they are in tune with whatever is going on in her mind, each of her guys grabs one of her hands.

"Musa said he didn't smell anything on me. You said his nose was the best."

"Not the best, but close." Byron meets Godwin's gaze. "Kofi kept asking if there was something wrong with my nose. I thought it was because she was pregnant, and I hadn't mentioned it."

"You think he smelled shifter on her?"

Byron shrugs. "Who knows? Damn it, hold on." He pulls out a satellite phone. The device is slim and technologically advanced, as is much of the equipment I've spied among the shifters. After tapping in a receiving number he puts the phone to his ear. "Yeah, Kofi. Was that shit about my nose because she's a shifter?" He pauses, his brow creased in annoyance. After listening for a moment, his expression opens in surprise before shifting quickly back to exasperation. "Dude, for the love of all that's good. Please, just be straight next time. I'm not sure how the most forthcoming shifter I know can also be the most enigmatic. Yeah, talk to you later, too. Wait," he adds before Kofi can sign off. "How's Zora?"

I smile. I was wondering the same thing, but I didn't want to toss my mama worry into Byron's quest for answers.

"Okay, good. What? Musa?" Byron's gaze shifts quickly to me before focusing forward again. "Yeah, we can deal with that when we get back. Thanks, Kof." He taps off the phone, shaking his head. "He smelled Valeena on you." When I frown, he elaborates. "He smelled that you all were kin."

"And he didn't say anything?" Godwin looks equally perplexed, but when Byron shakes his head with a sigh, Godwin chuckles. "I mean, it's Kofi."

"Yeah, it's Kofi."

"Either way, I can honestly say that Delon is psychotic enough to stalk down some relative of yours, Valeena, with the hope of having access to his wolf again. No shifter community was going to take him in. That would have been his only shot." Godwin concludes, and the others nod.

"And you had no idea Delon was a shifter?" Valeena's eyes narrow on me again, but she hasn't pulled another gun, so I count that as progress toward gaining her trust.

"I didn't even know Byron was a wolf until he shifted at the Genesis labs, and I thought I had a concussion."

"It's true," Byron speaks from beside me. "We were fate dreaming for a while before she would even entertain the idea of what I am. She just thought she was having the best wet dreams of her life."

Samiah snorts out a laugh from behind her shifter wall, and I shoot Byron a look that he returns with a wink.

"So Delon hunted you down, betting that you would carry the same genetic anomaly as me and Samiah, married you, tried to get you pregnant, terrorized you when he couldn't—"

"I didn't say he couldn't." I don't know why I blurt this out.

This is the only part of the story I've been holding to myself. It doesn't even matter in the long run, but it feels like almost a relief to voice the most violent part of my interaction with Delon.

I feel Byron's gaze burning into me, and Valeena's eyes narrow in suspicion again.

"I thought you said he tried, and when he couldn't, he held you hostage at work?"

"Yeah, and forced them to do it for him." I shift uncomfortably but hold eye contact with Valeena. "And they did."

Her eyes widen. "What?"

I shrug, the humiliation of going through it making me snappy at having to justify knowing a man I didn't actually know. "They did it. He had a gun in their faces. They were scared. You've said it yourself that Delon's psychotic. Believe me, no one in that lab thought he wouldn't make good on the promise to hurt us if we didn't do what he wanted, so I swallowed my shame, crawled on a tablet, and let one of my colleagues insert another man's semen inside of me. Pretty fucking traumatizing. I wouldn't recommend it. And," I suck in a stabilizing breath, "it worked."

Valeena's eyes nearly bug out of her head. She opens her mouth but then shuts it like she realizes any words of shock or comfort from her will ring pretty hollow after she spent the past hour holding me at gunpoint and adding another layer of trauma to my life.

"I found out shortly before his first court date, and since we were married, I was forced to disclose, which turned into another ordeal when he tried to sue to force me to carry to term."

The room is silent now.

I've shifted my gaze away from anyone's direct line of sight as I provide the resolution on autopilot. "It didn't matter. Nature intervened, and I miscarried shortly into my first trimester."

"I, um—"

"You think that's all?" I cut Valeena off with a look of amused curiosity. Chuckling, I shake my head. "Once he knew he could get me pregnant, I had to endure months of tormenting calls to my home and my daughter's school, threatening us both. Then there was the monthly ‘deposit,'" I make air quotation marks, "mailed to my house, coupled with some threatening communication that if I didn't try to get myself pregnant for him, he would send someone to hurt us. I spent most of my savings on security in the first few months until I could convince myself he couldn't make good on his threats. But by then, the damage had been done. My career was effectively over. I was fired. I was deemed too high risk for other jobs I applied to. Zora, my daughter, was humiliated and hated me—"

‘That's enough!" Byron's fist hits the table with a splintering thump, leaving a deep crevice in the wood. His other hand covers mine.

They're shaking.

I didn't realize.

My heart beats fast, recounting the anxiety of hearing the phone ring and knowing it would be Delon on the other end or pulling up to Zora's school only for her to be escorted out by the principal, her face tight with resentment because Delon had called again.

"She's told you more than you need to know, and with all the fucking respect I can muster at the moment, I'd like to point out that when you showed up here, Valeena, we accepted you with no questions asked. And if we're being honest, your background would have fit the profile of a covert assassin more than Aida's."

Valeenah looks ashamed as she breaks eye contact to look at the table.

"He's right, baby." Godwin shrugs apologetically when she guiltily meets his gaze.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Valeena's voice is choked, and she pushes her heavy curls back from her face. "I knew the moment I smelled your cubs that you weren't a threat, but I just." She shakes her head as if to dispel the truth of her intentions.

"You were mad at me."

Her eyes snap to mine, ready to deny it, but they are also wide and vulnerable. I probably wouldn't have recognized it if I hadn't lived with a resentful teenager for the past year.

Tears shine in her eyes, and she angles her head back to keep them from falling.

"I don't know what happened to you after that summer, but I can't imagine it was good. However, if I had known, if my mother had known, we would have come for you. You know that, right?"