Chapter 28

28

" I s it true?" Madd demands as I step through the doorway of the conference room, his angry gaze pinned on me. He rises from his seat, looking murderous as he stalks around the table in my direction. The other members of security squad leadership are seated around it, all looking on with caution as my brother stomps over to where I'm standing just inside the door. What a way to start this meeting.

"Ares just said he brought in one of the hunters today and you went down there to deal with him yourself," my brother huffs, clearly pissed off that he was left out of the loop. "Is he…"

"Just leave it alone, Madd," I interject, stepping in front of him to block the exit.

He grinds to a halt in front of me, raising a brow. "You're fucking with me, right?"

I fold my arms over my chest and lift my chin defiantly, holding my ground. "No, like I told Ares, I don't want anyone else going in there."

"And who died and left you in charge?" he snarls, his upper lip curling back from his teeth.

My carefully constructed composure cracks beneath the condescension in his tone. Madd may be hellbent on doling out revenge to the hunters for taking me, but I'm the one who was kidnapped, damnit. This should be my call. He can take his bad attitude and shove it.

"Last I checked, I was the one held captive by those assholes," I snap back, narrowing my eyes on him angrily. "If anyone deserves revenge, it's me , and I should be able to dole it out how I see fit."

The muscle in his tightly clenched jaw ticks, his Adam's apple bobbing with a hard swallow. My twin stares me down and I stare right back, refusing to give into his silent demand. I won't back down on this. I tell him as much with a single look, daring him to try and challenge me. I can see the turmoil churning in the depths of his dark blue eyes, and while I know he could easily move me out of the way and charge down to the basement holding cell, I also know he won't do it. Because I'm right, and Madd damn well knows I am.

Everyone else in the room is silent as they watch our exchange warily, waiting to see how it'll all play out. Our friends know better than to get involved when it comes to me and my brother. We sort things out on our own; always have. And words aren't needed when the two of us can say everything we want to with a single glance. It's the benefit of being womb-mates; sometimes I swear we know each other better than we even know ourselves.

"Madd," Sloane says gently, coming up behind him and placing a hand on his arm. I hadn't even noticed that she'd gotten up from her seat at the table, but if anyone can help calm the storm that is my twin brother, it's her. His muscles visibly relax, the slightest touch from his mate easing the tension in his shoulders. "Sit down, let's discuss this rationally," she urges, her voice low and hypnotic. The girl knows exactly how to handle her volatile lover, and I give her props for dealing with his bullshit on a daily basis.

Madd heaves a sigh, posture slumping as he pivots on a heel. Slinging an arm around Sloane's shoulders, he moves back toward his seat at the head of the conference table, dropping onto it and pulling her down with him. He arranges her across his lap, his thumb idly rubbing circles against her bare thigh to ground himself, and only then do I move from my post blocking the door, rounding the table to take my usual seat beside him.

While all of us in this room are technically leaders of the six-pack security squad, my brother and I are at the helm. It's a role we fell into being the oldest of our friends and the children of the squad's founder. This is our first meeting since I've been back, and even though Madd hesitated to set it up, questioning whether I'd be ready for this so soon after making it home, I insisted that we push forward. Not only because I'm craving some semblance of normalcy, but also because I know this meeting has to happen, with or without me, and I refuse to be sidelined.

After I woke up last night, there was a revolving door of visitors at the packhouse. I was overwhelmed by how many people came to see me and so damn grateful to have the chance to wrap my arms around my friends and family again. There were a lot of hugs and a lot of tears, but the biggest surprise of the evening was one of my last visitors.

I swore I was seeing a ghost when Tommy Benson stepped inside the packhouse, his face bearing scars from his torture at the hunters' hands. They must've thought he was dead when they dumped him off at the edge of Riverton's territory, pinning a note to his chest that threatened I'd be next. The medics were able to save his life in the nick of time, but since he was so close to death, he'll forever live with the scars of his torment, both psychological and physical. I absolutely lost it the moment I saw him, sobbing apologies into his shirt while he shed tears of his own.

Tommy's guilt over the whole ordeal was palpable. After he was revived, he hadn't been able to shed much light on where I was being held since he was unconscious upon arrival and departure. He told me how much it ate him up inside that he couldn't lead the others to rescue me. Instead, he'd joined the search effort, tirelessly combing the woods for any sign of something familiar.

I'm just glad he's alive. The two of us bonded over our shared trauma, then my girlfriends insisted on spending the night, all of us piling up in my bed. As I began to drift off to sleep, feeling warm and safe and loved, I was hit with a wave of guilt of my own at the echo of Cam's pain through our bond. I tossed and turned all night, and when I woke up, I decided I needed to tell the others about him. Which is another reason why I had Madd set this meeting. I was going to tell him about Cam before heading in, so he'd be prepared, but then I got a call from Ares about apprehending one of the hunters and things went a little off the rails.

"Can we address the real elephant in the room?" Ares asks, slapping his palms against the wooden surface of the table.

My heart stutters in my chest. Shit, this isn't how I wanted Madd to find out.

"Meaning?" my brother asks, arching an inquisitive brow in Ares' direction.

Ares' gaze flickers to me, then returns to my twin. "That the guy I brought back here is a shifter," he supplies, and the whole room draws a collective gasp of shock.

Yeah, welcome to the club.

One by one, they all turn to look at me, my breath stalling and my palms going clammy.

"Avery…" Madd growls, clearly pissed that I conveniently left out that little detail when I filled him in on my time in captivity.

The conference room erupts in muttered curses and outraged declarations, everyone rattled by the bomb Ares just dropped .

"Fuck, it's the shadow pack all over again," Tristan mumbles, scrubbing a hand down his face.

Nash's lip curls in disgust. "You mean to tell me that all this time, this has just been some sick powerplay?"

"How can it be a powerplay if they're just killing other shifters off, though?" Andie asks, her brow creasing in confusion. "I mean, the shadow pack was trying to amass an army, not drive us to extinction!"

"No, it's not like that!" I shout in an attempt to be heard over their ramblings. "He's the only one who's a shifter." The others quiet down, looking to me expectantly, so I take a deep breath and continue. "Well, I think he is," I say, dropping my hands into my lap and wringing them. "I didn't meet that many of the hunters, but the others I did were human. And so was this one, until the night I escaped."

"The full moon," Sloane murmurs, and I can already see the pieces slotting together in her brain. Damn my bestie's psychic intuition.

"Yeah," I breathe, nodding. "He didn't even know until he shifted that night."

"How is that possible?" Ares spits, his lips twisting in a scowl.

I take another steadying breath, trying to sort it all out in my brain before putting it into words. "Well, from what I've gathered, he's only half shifter," I say, staring down at the conference table. "His mom died of cancer, so she couldn't have been a shifter, and he only just found out that his dad isn't his biological father. I've been thinking about it a lot, and the best I can figure is that his wolf must've been dormant until being around me triggered his first shift."

"That doesn't make sense," Madd grumbles. "The hunters have been at this for ten years now. He had to have been around other shifters plenty of times, so why wouldn't he shift until now? He has to be lying, something isn't adding up."

"Unless he's her mate," Sloane surmises .

Everyone falls silent. Madd whips his head sideways to gape at Sloane, but her eyes are still intently fixed on me. "He's your mate, isn't he, Aves?" she asks, giving me a pointed look as she awaits confirmation.

I jerk a nod.

"No," Madd growls, shaking his head adamantly.

I snort a laugh. "Trust me, I had the same reaction when I found out."

He continues shaking his head, refusing to believe it, but in his eyes, I can see he knows it's true. It's all starting to make sense to him- why I've been cagey about some of the details of my captivity; why I didn't want him to go charging into that cell, guns-a-blazing. He understands the chaotic pull of the mate bond all too well, given what he and Sloane went through to find their way back to each other. Hell, a lot of people in this room do.

Javi and Lo were seemingly on opposing sides when they met, not unlike me and Cam. Andie and Nash were entangled in a manic dance of will they , won't they before they figured their shit out and their bond snapped into place. Even Chey and Iver get it- she resisted the bond at first, haunted by her past, but Iver was patient enough to put in the time to help her work through her trauma until she let him in. The couples at this table are prime examples of how fate isn't always fair, but it never makes mistakes.

Archer, Tristan, and Ares have yet to experience the mate bond, but it's only a matter of time before they're caught in the tangled web of fate.

"This has to be some sort of trap," Madd mutters angrily.

I roll my eyes, throwing my head back with an exasperated sigh. "Do you hear yourself right now?! Nobody can control fate, Madd."

"Maybe not, but how do you explain him showing up here?" he fires back, slamming a fist down on the table .

"His people turned on him when they realized what he is," I state calmly.

He shakes his head. "Nah, I'm not buying it."

"It's true," I insist. "They tortured him. I felt his pain through the bond."

The room goes so silent that you could hear a damn pin drop. This isn't the way I wanted to tell them about me and Cam, but it is what it is. They don't have to trust him, but they should trust me .

"I didn't choose this, Madd," I say quietly, sliding my hand over to place it on top of his. "I'm still trying to come to terms with everything, and I…" my voice breaks as I trail off, tears springing to my eyes.

My brother immediately flips his hand over, grabbing onto mine and squeezing. He hates to see me cry.

I take a deep, steadying breath, forcing my tears back and getting my emotions in check.

"Maybe this is all part of fate's larger plan," Archer suggests, ever the level-headed one of the group. It's a stark contrast to his younger brother, Ares. I glance over at him as he swipes a hand along his chin, considering. "A wolf's first instinct is to protect their mate, right? If you two are fated, then it'd be against his nature to put you in danger. Maybe fate put you together so he can help us take down the hunters once and for all."

Ares scoffs in disbelief, but Archer ignores his brother, continuing on.

"Think about it," he says, sweeping his gaze around the table. "Who knows the inner workings of the hunters better than one of their own? If it's true that they turned on him, then he has no reason to protect them anymore. Hell, he'll have his own ax to grind."

"Fair point," Javi agrees. "But how do we know we can trust him?"

"We can't," Madd grumbles .

"He stays in the cell," I say resolutely.

Sloane's brows shoot up in surprise.

"He deserves a taste of his own medicine, anyways," I add, flipping my hair back with a smirk. "We can see if he'll help up with the hunters, but until then, this stays between us. I've got a little bit of my own justice to dole out first."

"You're diabolical," Tristan muses, shaking his head with a low chuckle. The smirk on his lips reminds me so much of his sister Sloane. "Glad to see captivity didn't put out that fire in you."

"Quite the contrary," I cluck. "Being locked in a cage for weeks only made me meaner." My lips curve into a grin and I snap my teeth at him teasingly.

"Alright, so what's the plan, then?" Madd sighs, reluctantly yielding his ground and turning it over to me.

My grin widens as I turn to face my brother. "I'm so glad you asked."