Chapter 4

Maya made it back to her room the next morning without seeing anyone. She showered and dressed and was on duty, with no one the wiser. Not that her duty was anything special. She was guarding her Luna, ensuring her safety, as if anyone would attack the mate of an alpha during Council proceedings. Then again, stranger things had happened during their history and, while their Luna was a fierce fighter in her time, it made sense to have a guard on her just in case. Even if the job was boring as shit.

At least her Luna was a decent sort and didn't make her job too difficult. Over the next couple of days, while the Council was in session, Maya stayed close to her Luna, while she visited a few friends among the other Lunas, including the Supreme Alpha's mate, and then worked out in the basement where the Council Enforcers had their space. Maya swore she could sense Garrett there, but he was absent, though other enforcers were present to ensure everyone's safety.

The nights were spent with Garrett in his rooms, since Maya didn't want to risk bringing him to her room. It was too close to her pack, and she was risking enough already, with his scent beginning to embed itself in her skin. Her boss and mentor, Isaac, had already given her a look and asked her if she had found someone interesting to spend time with. He added a wink, clearly not bothered by the fact that she spent time elsewhere, so she only smiled and shrugged, not inviting any confidences. Knowing how he felt about true mates, she wasn't ready to share that she was convinced Garrett was her mate.

She would have to talk about it soon. They were from rival packs. One of them would have to leave their pack. Even though their packs shared a border, it was rare that any mating crossed a pack line, even with allied packs, and Dirigo and Saranac were definitely not allies. Not by any stretch of imagination. In fact, most recently they were on opposite sides of an inter-pack war and it had turned ugly. Things had settled, but it was an uneasy truce.

Her Luna flipped a page in her book. "So, who's the wolf?"

Maya froze from her seat across the room. "Excuse me?"

Her Luna looked at her, a gentle smile on her face. "I don't know you well, Maya, but Isaac speaks very highly of you and of your professionalism. So, you wouldn't be sneaking out every night and coming home the next morning with the faint hint of another wolf on you unless it was serious. Am I right?"

Maya's face burned hot, and she wanted to sink right through the seat cushions. "I'm sorry. I have not been neglecting my duties, ma'am."

Her Luna laughed. "Please, call me Lyla. We can be a little informal here. And it was no indictment of your actions. Isaac mentioned you hadn't found a mate among the pack, which can happen especially with strong female wolves. We had hoped this experience would give you exposure to the wider world of shifter politics and maybe meet other wolves. I suspect we were correct?"

Maya nodded. "But we're not ready to talk about it."

Lyla pursed her lips. "Is he your mate? Your true mate?"

Maya hesitated, not sure how much she wanted to share. "I suspect so. It feels like it, but it's—complicated."

Lyla grinned. "Love and mating always are. Have you heard how Duncan and I mated? He was investigating my brother, our alpha, for trafficking female wolves. My brother had set up me for a forced mating to get rid of me. We knew pretty quickly we were mates, but I wasn't interested. Not initially. I didn't want to go from one cage to another."

Maya's eyes widened. "I had heard something, but wasn't sure how much was true."

"It's true. I killed my brother. Eventually. And I accepted the mating. But it happened quickly. Then we had to figure out how to get along and be mates. That was the harder part. Two headstrong wolves, both trying to be in charge." A smile danced along her lips. "But fun too."

Maya didn't know what to say. This was her Luna talking, not one of her friends. So she sat in her chair and nodded, a polite smile on her face. Lyla refocused on her.

"I assume your wolf is not from Dirigo. Isaac is happily mated. Tate and George, our other guards, are close to being mated back home. So, he's from another pack. That makes it tricky. I understand your hesitation in sharing details. We will leave soon, within a day or two, so you'll need to figure out how to handle the situation."

Maya sighed. Lyla was right. How would she handle the mating, if it was that? Garrett had another month in his assignment with the Council and, more importantly, they were from rival packs.

Lyla leaned forward and took Maya's hand. "You don't have to share anything now, but know that I'm always available to talk to, if you need to work through anything. If it is a true mating, I'm sure we can work something out. And don't let anyone say you have to be the one to leave. Plenty of males have left their pack for their female."

Stomping outside the door interrupted them, and the door flung open, crashing against the wall. Her Alpha, Duncan, stormed into the room, his face red and he was growling. Isaac was behind him, pulling the door shut. Lyla jumped to her feet and raced to her mate, her hands rubbing on him in a soothing way.

But Duncan was too agitated and began pacing the sitting room. "Those damned Saranac wolves. Do they think we're stupid? Pushing at our borders, demanding that we give them land, claiming it was theirs all along. They're spoiling for another war, I tell you. And lying about maps. The one Treadway showed was bullshit. Doctored. Counterfeit. Yet he had half of them convinced of his lies, or afraid of him. None of them wanted to go the way of the Tri-States pack and find themselves disbanded."

Lyla continued to try to soothe her mate. "Take it easy, Duncan. You know Simon will see right through Treadway's lies."

Isaac frowned from his post by the door. "He seemed inclined to want to deliberate on the matter and adjourned the session."

Lyla stared at him. "Deliberate? About what?"

Maya also stood. "Did you tell him about the skirmishes we've been dealing with all along the border, the hit-and-run attacks from Saranac?"

Isaac shrugged. "Treadway blamed us for being on his land and so we caused the attacks."

Maya's jaw shut with a click. She could never talk with Garrett about this. He hadn't been home in four years, knew nothing about this. But what would happen when he went home?

"And that damned Shane Colvin, smirking right by Treadway's side."

"Shane? I thought Linc was his Beta," Lyla asked, both the Alpha and Luna finally sitting on the couch.

Duncan nodded. "He is. But Shane came with Treadway to give evidence of our crimes. What bullshit. Those Colvins are so far up Treadway's ass. There isn't a Colvin that hasn't gone bad anywhere in that family tree. Thank the Goddess that they don't reproduce often."

Maya swallowed. Not an auspicious start to her relationship with Garrett. Thank the Goddess that she kept her relationship a secret.

Duncan fixed a look on all of them. "We leave tomorrow. I meet with Simon in the morning, then we leave. I can't be gone from Benedict for too long, not with his control still on edge."

Well, that answered one question for Maya. She had one night to figure out her next steps with Garrett and maybe break her pack at the same time.

* * *

Garrett knocked on the door of the suite, tension riding him hard. A voice commanded, "Enter."

His balls just about climbed back inside of himself at the voice. He had faced down vampires in bloodlust, feral rogue shifters, and witches performing dark magic. Yet the sound of his father's voice threw him back into childhood, with fear and threats looming over his shoulder.

He opened the door and entered. "Father."

His father was seated on the charcoal gray couch, sorting through some papers on the coffee table in front of him. A tumbler of whiskey sat half-filled on a coaster next to him, one ice cube partially melted already. His father never looked up when he walked in and no one else emerged from any of the rooms or appeared to be in the pack suite.

Each pack had their own set of rooms at Council Headquarters to ensure their own space was the same whenever they came to town. Mostly the alpha or beta used it, but occasionally other members of the pack were allowed to use the rooms when they acted on behalf of the pack with the Council. Garrett had only been in these rooms once before—when he was assigned to the Council as an enforcer. His uncle, the Beta of the Saranac pack, had laid out his expectations and duties, while his father leaned against the wall, expression impassive even as Garrett was directed to find intel on other packs and filter it back to his uncle, a direct violation of the neutrality of the Council Enforcers. His uncle didn't care. Neutrality was for pussies and losers. Saranac needed the edge in any upcoming negotiations, though what those could have been eluded Garrett.

He'd checked in occasionally after that day, mostly when his uncle or father found him somewhere, usually unexpectedly or maybe somewhere on Council grounds, though he had rarely been back here. He hadn't much to share though his uncle hoarded information like a dragon hoarded treasure. Garrett was grateful that Council Enforcers were never sent to their former packs to mediate conflict, but he had heard that some enforcers sent to Saranac encountered resistance and even attacks. A disturbing trend, if true.

He stood in front of his father in the familiar military parade rest, as he'd been taught when just a boy. After a solid minute, his father set the papers down and looked up, picking up his glass to take a sip. Garrett couldn't read his expression.

"So, you survived your four years. Not all enforcers do. It's a tough job but you're a Colvin, a Saranac wolf, and we raised you tough."

There may have been a faint note of pride in his voice, but Garrett had never heard it before, so he wasn't sure. And he sure as hell wasn't taking any chances right now. He knew better than most that his father could switch moods on a dime. Another thing the Colvins had in common.

"Thank you, Father."

His father grunted. "You could have brought back more intel but I suppose it was difficult, with Caleb North as your partner. Everyone knows he has no future beyond the Council, so he'll follow the rules more strident than most."

Garrett didn't have a response, so he didn't make one. Though he thought Caleb was one of the finest males he'd ever known. Honorable, a tough fighter, and a formidable strategist. The fact that he was packless should not have been held against him, yet it was.

"Anyway, one month to go. Have you found a mate yet? That was one of the tasks our Beta asked you to do. Find a female to bring fresh blood to the pack. Have you failed in that, too?"

Garrett's stomach clenched as his father paused, his head cocking to the side. Then he set the glass aside and stood, walking around the table to stand next to Garrett. He leaned in and took a sniff.

"It's faint but there. A female, someone I think I know. Have you claimed her yet?"

Garrett swallowed hard. He wasn't ready to share about Maya yet. They had only spent a few days together, but the mating bond was growing stronger. He already felt her absence keenly and could pinpoint her location in the Council building. He swore he could scent her anywhere, and it was taking an extreme amount of restraint not to hunt her down and drag her off to his quarters and claim her.

"No, we're not sure of the bond. In fact, I don't sense one. It's probably just a fling."

His father narrowed his gaze and took a step back. "A fling? Well, you can fuck whomever you want, but you need to settle down with a mate. We'll find you a suitable one when you return. It's time you do your duty and start on the next generation of Colvins. Our pack needs strong leadership and right now, there is only you and Brandon to carry the next generation."

"Our Alpha has not sired anymore children?" Garrett hesitated to speak on the subject because it was a sensitive topic back home and his father could react poorly.

But this time his father only shrugged and settled back onto the couch with his drink. "His only heir remains the female who is too young, too weak to be anything of use beyond a marriage token. No, one of our line could be the next Alpha. You could be the next alpha if you play your cards right. But you need the right female, a couple of pups, and to toughen up a little. I hope the Council took care of the last one."

"You don't have to worry about that. I handled some difficult challenges for the Council."

His father nodded and this time Garrett saw approval. "I heard about the nest of vampires you cleared down south, and the feral pack that was slaughtering wolves. Nice job. Those were tough battles, and you emerged stronger. A worthy leader for Saranac."

Garrett tried to feel pride he had finally earned his father's respect, but it felt hollow, paling in comparison to his growing bond with Maya. Being with his father, hearing the plans for his future in the Saranac pack made him glad he'd kept quiet. He needed to check out the lay of the land, see if his cousin, Brandon, was as volatile as he had been before Garrett left, determine the state of the pack, before introducing Maya as a potential mate.

His pack had long been a traditional one, with rigid gender roles for male and female wolves. But he could change that with the right mate and the right position in the pack. Maya would be a strong partner in that path, ideally suited to help move Saranac into the next century. If she accepted the bond.

He smiled at his father. "I look forward to the opportunity, father."