7. Shay

SEVEN

Shay

" W e should step outside." Kane's words broke my reverie, stilled my hands where they were sunk into Dirge's filthy, matted fur. I didn't even care. There was something soothing about touching him, even if he needed about ten baths and a major haircut.

"Not yet," I pleaded, squeezing Dirge's neck a little tighter.

"Just for a few moments. We will return." When I didn't move, he added a hint of alpha command. "Come."

My limbs moved without my permission, releasing Dirge as I rose to my feet like a puppet on strings.

I bit back my irritation. I was trying to moderate my emotions so that Dirge could better control his. He was attuned to me. I knew it instinctually, even though he couldn't say. When I'd gotten upset, he'd comforted me in the only way he could.

Following Kane out of the room on wooden legs was a low point, but I was proud that Dirge didn't move, didn't throw himself back at the door as it shut behind us.

As soon as the door lock ground back into place, the alpha command dropped from my limbs, and I spun to face Kane .

"Why would you do that? I was making progress!"

"I agree," he said, so calmly that it stopped my fury midwindup.

"Okay… so if you agree, then can he come out?"

Kane sighed. "It's not that simple. To knowingly break pack law about something as significant as this, I would need to bring it before my top five."

That was surprisingly fair. I wasn't a hundred percent sure how the Johnson City pack ran, but I vaguely remembered a similar process happening a time or two over the years when a rule was changed. "How soon can you talk to them? And can I wait with Dirge while you do?"

"I think you're correct that he won't hurt you. He seems to have uncanny understanding, for someone who's been feral as long as he has. I'd like you to be there for the beginning of the meeting so you can speak on your own behalf. But in this case… I think seeing that with their own eyes will help convince the five to side in your favor. So, yes. You can wait with him after you speak to them. I just wanted you to be aware of what was happening. You're very dear to my mate, and I don't take that bond lightly. But as Alpha, your protection has to be my top priority, even if you don't like it."

I wanted to bristle at the implication that he knew what was better for me than I did, but I had to grudgingly admit that he knew more about feral wolves. "Where are we meeting them?"

"I've sent for them through the pack bonds. They're already on the way."

We walked back into the monitoring room, where we could see Dirge patiently waiting in the middle of the room, staring up at the camera above the door. My heart ached at seeing him locked up, and determination built in my chest, brick by brick, to get him out of there. A wolf I didn't recognize was first through the door, but Gael was only moments behind him. My heart lifted when Brielle walked in, pressing a quick kiss to Kane's lips before coming to stand beside me and hold my hands tightly in hers. The touch of my pack mate and best friend anchored me in a way that little else could. I only wished that Leigh could also be here, so our trio would be complete.

One friendly face was more than I expected, though, and I'd take it. I'd forgotten that as the Alpha's mate, Brielle automatically became one of the top five.

Reed walked in with a pensive expression, but with his dark hair still wet from a shower. It was one of the few times I'd seen him out of a suit, but he still wore a crisp button-up and smelled of freshly applied cologne. He sank gratefully into the lone chair, sparing a glance for me before watching his brother on the monitors while we waited for the last member of the Pack Blackwater's top five.

My heart sank a little when Julius, one of the pack's senior enforcers, walked through the door. He was a sharp man in every sense of the word, a fact the graying hairs at his temples didn't detract from, and I couldn't imagine him voting to break pack law, not even for a good reason. He was thickly muscled and weathered from too much time in the sun. My pulse pounded loudly in my ears as Julius let the door swing closed behind him without a word.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly. This is an important issue. Quick introductions before we begin—Everyone, this is Shay of the Johnson City pack. You likely recognize her as Brielle's second from the challenge for mating rights last week." A hint of gravel entered his tone when he mentioned the challenge, when he'd come so close to losing his own fated mate. Kane cleared his throat before continuing. "Shay, you already know Brielle, Gael, and Reed. This is Samuel," he paused, pointing to the first wolf through the door. He had swarthy coloring and keen intelligence in his eyes. "He is my fifth, and Julius is my fourth as well as the top enforcer for our pack, after Gael. "

I nodded to the two of them, too tense to say anything. Silence had always been my go-to in times of trouble, and now was no different. Silence, or music. Composing had been my escape ever since I'd become obsessed with music in my teens. Music spoke when words failed me.

"As you all know, Dirge is back. Unfortunately, there has been no change to his feral status, and he remains in wolf form." Kane pointed to the monitors, and every head in the room swiveled to take in the image of the patiently sitting wolf.

"He doesn't look feral at the moment, apart from the eyes," Gael mused.

"I agree, and there are some extenuating circumstances we need to discuss. There has been a request to release him from his cell."

"Seriously?" Samuel's voice was incredulous. "There's a very clear law on this. No skin, no release. What's there to discuss?"

A sharp growl poured through the room at his callous disregard, and it wasn't until Brielle nudged my shoulder with hers that I realized it was me growling like an idiot. I reeled it in, but it took an enormous effort. Clearly, my control was lacking today.

But was it the wound, or the proximity to my unclaimed mate?

"He was getting to it, asshole," Reed snapped, his bloodshot eyes narrowing on the pack's fifth.

Well, at least I wasn't the only one.

"Okay, we're all touchy today." Samuel raised his hands in a calming gesture, shooting a confused, what-the-hell look at Reed.

"As I was saying, there has been a request for his early release," Kane said again, mild censure in his tone at the interruption. "We believe he's returned because his fated mate has been found, and what we first interpreted as the attack of a feral wolf was actually his attempt to protect his mate. "

There was a heavy moment of silence, and then everyone was talking at once. Brielle hung on to my hand like it was going to float away, and her grip was the only thing keeping me still as the testosterone level in the room went through the roof.

"Can a feral wolf even recognize a mate bond?"

"That makes him less stable. There's no fucking way!"

"How do you know?" The last, calmer question from my best friend brought the angry exclamations to a sudden halt. Every head swiveled, none daring to talk over the high alpha's new mate.

Kane sent me a questioning look, but I could no more speak past the hedgehog lodged in my throat than I could sing opera.

"Several things. One, look at him. As soon as she spoke, he settled, even in his feral state. For another thing, her wolf is not feral and has also expressed the desire to claim."

"Even so," Samuel interjected, "he can't actually claim her unless he comes back to himself. As long as the wolf is in control, he's going to be dangerous. Not just because he's feral—he hasn't harmed any human or shifter during his years in the wild, which we all know. But a new mate bond that hasn't been solidified by the claiming? He's going to be unstable, aggressive, and on guard until they go through the claiming rites. If any male touches her—even by accident—he's going to try to tear their arm off."

I drew in a breath through my nose, the weight of those words sinking in. He wasn't wrong. New mate bonds were precious, but it was also a fraught time for any relationship. Until the bonding ceremony was completed, cementing the lifelong bond under the Moon Goddess, another wolf could challenge for mating rights, just as had happened with Brielle and Jasline.

Dirge's wolf waited calmly, his black fur matted and overlong, red eyes glowing menacingly even in the wan fluorescent lighting, and the knot in my throat finally eased as resolve settled into me. He might look terrifying, sure, but I knew in the core of my being that he wasn't here to hurt me, or anyone else in our pack. "That's not going to happen," I said.

The males all turned to look at me for the first time, and Brielle gave my fingers a little squeeze of support as I continued. "Kane and I walked into the room already and he didn't react. He's got control, even though he's not shifted back yet. And if someone will volunteer to go back in with me, I'll prove it."

Silence was the only answer for one heartbeat and then another.

"I'll go," Reed said, meeting my gaze with equal dread and determination. "He's my brother, and I want him released as much as you do. He may not be able to shift back without help, and time around his pack will strengthen those bonds again."

"It should be me," Kane said. Reed bristled under his alpha's assessment.

"He's my brother , Kane." Reed raked a hand through his hair, standing from the chair and stepping into the open space between all of us.

"I know. And that's why it needs to be me. You're too close to it."

Reed growled, the sound starting low, then building as his anger crested and his eyes began to glow ice blue.

"If the situation were reversed, would you want me to turn away your help? I'm strong enough to hold him, even if he snaps. I hold the power of the pack bonds now." Kane tapped his chest, the place where he must feel the immense tangle of power fed to him through all the packs who pledged loyalty to him.

The growling dropped lower in Reed's chest but didn't stop even as he nodded. Reed turned his back to us, letting his head hang loose on his shoulders as he white-knuckle gripped the back of the chair .

"Okay." The word was hoarse, a strain for the usually composed male.

Kane nodded, then turned to me. "Shall we?"

I looked at Brielle, checking to make sure she didn't object to me putting her mate in danger, but all I saw there was compassion.

"You got this." She gave me a quick hug, and then we were back in front of the heavy steel door. Nerves swarmed in my stomach, a sickly sensation I wanted to shake off like water after a swim.

"Whatever you have in mind, move slowly and keep your calm," Kane suggested as the keypad chirped and the lock slid open.

But I didn't focus on that. My hand was already on the handle, pulling the door wide so I could see Dirge.

My mate.

The thought still didn't feel real. Maybe it wouldn't until he was able to shift—to speak to me, to hold me. I craved his touch in a way that went deeper than anything I'd ever experienced, even as a child dreaming of the parents I'd never had.

I needed Dirge with an intensity that bordered on physical sickness. Moving far too quickly, I closed the distance between us, dropping to my knees heedless of the bullet wound in my stomach and the hard concrete floors. I buried my fingers in his fur, letting my forehead fall against his.

A low, contented rumble started in his chest, the sound and gentle vibrations almost like a cat's purr, soothing me. How long we stayed that way or when Kane followed me inside, I couldn't say.

It wasn't until he spoke that I remembered why we'd come back in. "Shay? We should get started."

We had a show to put on.