Chapter 1

Walker

"Ben will be back soon, Shelbs. I really should go. I wouldn"t want him to catch me here like this."

"What? Don"t go. Ben doesn"t mind that you"re here."

"He might if he knew what I was really doing over here. Babe, hold still."

She gave me a confused look just before I heard the growl coming from the front porch.

Ben burst through the door looking angry and ready to rip my throat out.

I smirked. "Never gets old. Look sweetie, Daddy"s home. Just hold still a minute. I"m almost done," I told my adorable goddaughter Mary Alice as she squealed and almost jumped up to greet her father. "Stay still," I reminded her as I painted her last little piggy and blew on her toes to dry the polish faster as she giggled.

"That tickles, Walker."

"What the hell is going on here?"

Shelby looked up and grinned. "Mary Alice and I are having a spa day."

"Dad"s home, Nathan. It"s safe to come out," Zachary yelled.

Nathan peeked his head into the room and sheepishly ran to his father.

"Dad, Walker says we owe it to our ladies to treat them like royalty. He made us paint Mom"s toes and scrub her feet. It was so gross."

"It"s not gross," I argued.

"I"ve got to side with Walker on this one, son. It"s nice to pamper your mom and sister. Think of everything your mom does for us."

"Not you too," he complained.

"But what about Mary Alice? She"s just a sister. She doesn"t do anything for us," Zachary argued.

"I didn"t ask you to spoil your sister. That"s my job," I said, winking at her as she giggled.

"Look at my pretty toes, Daddy."

"Wow, Walker, you"re getting pretty good at that."

I groaned. Payback was coming, and I knew he wasn"t going to go easy on me. I"d purposely made it sound like I"d been up to something with his mate, and that wasn"t the kind of thing Ben Shay was just going to walk away from and pretend never happened. If his kids weren"t present, he would have already kicked my ass for it and we both knew it.

"Alright, princess, I think we"re done here."

She threw her small arms around my neck and kissed my cheek.

"Thanks, Walker. You did great this time."

Then she rose and threw herself into her father"s arms and squealed with delight.

I was proud to be the godfather of Ben and Shelby"s children: Mary Alice, Nathan, and Zachary. I adored these kids, but I would never compare to their father or their mother.

That"s the way it was supposed to be, but it always left me with this hole in my chest that I couldn"t seem to fill no matter what I did.

"Well, I"m going to head home now. You guys behave for your parents."

Shelby rose and hugged me. She was my best friend in the world. It was strange sometimes to remember she was Ben"s mate and the mother of three young pups.

Sometimes when I looked at her, I still saw the young woman her sisters had desperately tried to match me with, but I"d known the second we met that she was never meant to be mine. Sure, she was gorgeous and fun. We"d had a good time, but there was never a spark between us. Plus, her heart had always belonged to Ben.

He may have been her best friend growing up, but I"d quickly taken that role from him when she elevated him to her mate. They were true mates, and while that hadn"t been confirmed when we first met, it was clear her heart still belonged to her first and only love, a true love that gave me relationship goals—someday.

I wasn"t in any hurry to settle down anytime soon. I really did love my life.

I was a proud member of Westin Force Delta. Unlike the others who stayed close to the Pack, I was the guy they sent out on missions away from San Marco where our headquarters resided.

I was an escort.

That wasn"t as bad or seedy as it sounded. I literally escorted the top elite of Westin Pack when they traveled, accompanying them where they went. More like security, not sultry arm candy, though whenever there was a pretty lady in distress, I did aim to please. And I was very good at my job.

Unfortunately for me, all the women most important in the Alpha"s life were happily mated. The only women I escorted that swooned over me these days were under the age of ten.

I grimaced at the thought.

There was a time when there had been great benefits to the job and I was discreet enough to get away with it. Not necessarily with the Alpha"s family, but I"d enjoyed the job perks of being away from San Marco and free to do as I pleased without forming attachments.

Basically, I"d been a perpetual bachelor my whole life, but lately it just didn"t seem to have the same appeal. Maybe it was because all my friends were settling down with mates and starting families. They made it look like a good life, like I was missing out on something.

I didn"t really want a mate. The idea of spending that much time with one person kind of creeped me out. In the past I"d been more of a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy. It was great while it lasted, but there were few exceptions beyond that.

Hell, if it was going to be anyone, it probably would have been Shelby. She was my best friend in the world, and at least I liked her enough for that daily commitment sort of thing. I"d witnessed both the good and the bad sort of relationships. What if I ended up with someone like Tucker"s first mate? Annie had been a monster, a true beast who had treated him horribly. I"d rather just be alone than deal with that. But others didn"t seem to understand that because I was "that" guy, the good guy that all my friends wanted to see settled down with their female friends or family members.

Life would have been easy if I"d fought for Shelby, but she"d never really been mine and never could be. When Ben had returned, I hadn"t stood a chance. Not that I had wanted her in that way. I was comfortable with Shelby. She was like a sister to me now. And I hadn"t been an ass when it came to Ben Shay. I"d quietly stepped aside upon his return and watched as she"d made him grovel and work to get back into her good graces. I appreciated that about her. I wasn"t dumb enough to try to come between true mates anyway.

Shelby was great, the best, everything a man could ask for. She certainly elevated my expectations for a mate. I loved her, but not the kind of love that she shared with Ben. They were perfect together and I adored the little family they"d created. I never wanted to come between them, but I did take evil pleasure in terrorizing him when I could get away with it. Like today when I"d heard him pulling up in the drive and knew he could hear us talking as he walked toward the door.

You"d think he"d be used to it by now. We"d been playing this game for years now. But I could still catch him off guard and get a bit of a jab in every now and then. It helped that the guys on his team constantly harassed him, convinced there had to be more going on between me and Shelby.

There wasn"t, and Ben damn well knew it.

Both of us worked for Westin Force, an elite group of special operations teams housed right here in San Marco. Well, at least our two units were stationed here. There were others all over the world now. It was crazy to see how much Westin Force had grown in the last ten years.

I"d been with them almost since the beginning too.

Originally there had only been Westin Force, one team formed to protect the Alpha, his mate, and the Pack. Kyle Westin hadn"t been my Alpha at the time, but he"d pulled together the best resources he could find and I"d proudly joined the team with my Alpha"s blessing.

Coming here had strengthened alliances with my former Pack too. I was from Longhorn Pack in Texas. Sawyer, my Alpha there, had been a great leader, and at first I didn"t give full allegiance to Kyle, but over the years as I got to know him better, he earned my allegiance. It hadn"t been an easy decision because I had absolutely nothing against Sawyer, but my life was now here in Westin Pack, and I couldn"t imagine that ever changing.

I"d left Longhorn on good terms though and truth be told, if it came down to it, I"d still give my life to protect Sawyer. He may not have my official allegiance any longer, but he still had my utmost respect.

San Marco was my home though.

It hadn"t taken long after I"d settled down here to realize there was a lot more going on in the world than I"d ever dreamed possible. Wolves certainly weren"t the only shifters out there. I"d known that from a young age, but it still hadn"t prepared me for just how many different species of us there are.

But there was more than just that.

I"d learned that there are humans out there that know about our kind regardless of how inconspicuous we tried to be. Some were allies who worked to protect us and keep our secrets. We called them Verndari, but it wasn"t always clear if they were truly on our side or not.

Out of the Verndari also came the Raglan, a rogue faction that had taken to kidnapping and studying our kind. Westin Force had grown quickly as we fought to shut them down. And we had.

The result of that battle had led to a need for multiple units, not just one. We were no longer just protecting the Westins and San Marco. Our reach had spread across the globe and we"d become champions for shifters worldwide—not just wolves, but all shifterkind.

Kyle appointed Patrick O"Connell, one of his Betas, as head of Westin Force and main headquarters remained in San Marco. But as new units were created, the space was quickly becoming cramped, so new satellite sites had been built in neutral territories or land owned by our strongest allies. This gave us a wider operation and allowed teams to be quickly dispersed anywhere throughout the world.

My original unit was called Bravo and remained at main headquarters. Each team was created for a purpose. Overall, we all had the same goals, but every unit was cultivated with a specific skillset and mission in mind. Bravo became the top dogs, even though the bulk of the team were not canines. They are the best of the best, specializing in tactical forces. They travel a lot and focus on cases affecting all shifters, like the Raglan.

When asked, I"d stepped up and started Delta team. Delta was to be the original role of Westin Force, protecting San Marco and the Westin family. I learned fast that leadership wasn"t really of interest to me. It required far too much paperwork, and I much preferred to be out in the field. When Michael came onboard, I happily conceded the role to him.

As I entered headquarters, I nodded to Archie, a mole shifter that headed up our intelligence unit and oversaw the day-to-day operations for our location.

"Check out the new board on your way through. I"m very excited about it." The usual stoic and often frazzled man told me as he pointed to a large electronic board now displayed.

I snorted. As if I could miss it. It was huge and appeared to contain a top ten list of our biggest threats overall. At the top of that list read "Collectors". A bit further down the list a specific Collector by the name of Xavier Fortin was listed. He wasn"t an average Collector but posed as one to acquire witches in order to kill them. It was disgusting, and any one of us would gladly end his life.

I turned and walked down the hall towards the gym where I started each day. It was well into the evening now, but I needed to grab something from my locker before going home. I retrieved it quickly and started back out when I noticed the light was on in Michael"s office. I peeked my head inside to find him working there.

"Hey boss. What are you doing in today? We"re supposed to have the day off, remember?"

He looked up from his desk and smiled.

"Well, you might as well know now, but your mission has been approved. You"ll need to report to Silas in the morning. You"re officially on loan to Bravo for the foreseeable future."

"On loan?" I questioned. "I thought we were working with them on this."

"We are, but Delta will be working from here. We won"t be going on the mission with you. I trust Bravo to have your back."

"I know they will," I assured him. "But what changed?"

He sighed, looking stressed. "We heard from Ravenden. There"s been recent threats and a few disappearances there. The Collectors are getting more brazen if they are going after a full raven Congress like that."

"That"s nothing new. The ravens have been targets for a while now."

"It is when they"re attacking Ravenden now. After their first attempt ended poorly, we thought they"d leave them alone for a while, but it doesn"t appear so. They have to be idiots to keep doing what they are doing there."

We knew this was coming eventually. The Collectors were powerful and rich. It wasn"t in them to back down from an ultimate score. That put all witches at risk, but especially mass assemblies of them like the ravens.

As for the mission, the details had been in the works for over a month. So much was riding on this one job. All units had been brought in for it. I didn"t know what it would mean that Delta was stepping back.

"Is that the only reason?"

The look on Michael"s face told me there was more.

"Kyle got word from the Grand Council today. They"re coming to town, and we don't know why or what it is about. They"ve been unusually quiet for years. So why now? Hopefully it"s nothing serious, but I can"t in good conscious leave the Pack without proper security right now."

"I understand," he said. "I"ll be fine."

I had no doubt that Silas and Michael had already gone over every possible detail.