Alpha's Revenge (Shifter Ops 3)

“What happened?”

“Fucker shows up, toys with Adele, but doesn’t hurt her. Then when I show up, he tells me he relinquishes his claim on her. That she’s not his intended.”

“What the fuck?”

“There’s more. He had these weird eyes–almost like a snake’s. I honestly don’t know what kind of creature he could be, but he’s powerful. He used an alpha command on me, and I felt it. I had to work to fight it.”

“Fuck. So he’s paranormal. You think he’s a shifter? Or could he be a vampire?”

“No, he doesn’t smell like a blood-sucker. I’ll get the Tucson pack to check with the leech king, but I’m pretty sure Dieter’s not one of them. He’s some sort of shifter.”

“Lion? Bear?”

“No. Something else. The question is, what?”

“We gotta find out. I don’t know what his agenda is. He had Adele in his clutches. Then he said he was relinquishing her. He’s toying with me.”

“See, that’s a clue. What shifter toys with their prey?”

“I’m not his prey.”

“You’re acting like it,” Deke snaps back. “Never thought I’d see the day I had more sense than you, Sarge. You’ve got a mate. Claim her.”

I feel like puking, remembering what it felt like to tell Adele I wasn’t going to claim her. To know I’d hurt her. “I can’t, Deke.”

“Not claiming her will kill you.”

“And being with me could kill her! I won’t risk it.”

“Bullshit. You can keep her safe. Just like Lance and I protect our mates.”

“I’m the alpha. It’s different for me.”

Deke sighs. “Sarge, you’re out of your damn mind.”

Adele

“Hey, there,” Sadie says when I slide into her car at the Albuquerque airport. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I sink into the seat with a sigh. “I’m sorry I made you come all the way here to get me. I booked a last minute flight, and this airport was all I could get–”

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Sadie pats my knee before putting her hand back on the wheel.

I close my eyes, but I see Rafe the wolf watching me leave. He looked so sad.

Well, I’m sad, too. And he’s the one who broke my heart.

“We have a lot to talk about.” I swallow. I don’t know how I’m going to explain about Rafe, Gabriel, the wolf–

“It’s okay,” Sadie says, as if she’s reading my thoughts. “I know what’s going on. All of it.”

She does? My jaw works up and down before I finally can say, “You do?”

“Oh, yes.” Sadie’s mouth curls into a wry smile as she takes the Santa Fe relief route. “Did you ever wonder why Deke lives in a huge mountain lodge with all his military buddies? Deke was about as antisocial a guy as you can get, but he not only works with them, he lives with them.”

“Well, yeah.” She said it about her man, I didn’t. “I figured he hates people, but he doesn’t hate his military brothers as much as everyone else.”

“There’s that,” Sadie says. “But there’s also…” She raises a brow at me.

And it hits me. “Oh God. Oh my God.” The band of brothers, the tight knit bond. Rafe couldn’t keep the secret of what he is from Deke, would he? And if Rafe trusted Deke enough to tell him, maybe that means Deke isn’t just in on the secret, he shares the secret…

“Yep.” Sadie reads my thoughts once again.

I have to clarify. “Deke’s….a…” I thought of this the whole plane ride from Utah but never suspected I’d be saying it out loud to one of my best friends. “A werewolf?”

“They prefer the term wolf shifter or just shifter. But yeah.”

“Oh my God.” What is my life right now?

“I know. It’s a lot. I felt that way when I found out.”

“You didn’t tell anyone.”

“I couldn’t. No human can know.”

“I got that,” I say. “I won’t tell anyone.” No one would believe me if I did. They'd think I was going crazy.

Maybe I am going crazy. But if I am, Sadie’s in the same boat. I can handle going out of my mind if I’ve got a friend along for the ride.

“Most of the time, if a human finds out the secret–that shifters exist–the shifter gets a vampire to mind wipe the human. Erase the memories.”

A vampire?!

“—But you and me, we’re the exception,” Sadie continues. “We’re special.”

“No,” I choke, Rafe’s words echoing in my mind. “You might be special, but I’m not. He says I’m too fragile to be his mate. He’s not claiming me. What does that even mean?”

“Oh, no.” Sadie throws me a look that seems half-sympathetic, half-worried. “It means he’s crazy.” She checks her rearview mirror. She’s been checking it a lot this drive. “Shifters can’t be made, only born. So maybe it's biology or evolution or…anyway… in all the world, there’s one person they connect to more than any other. Their true love. Their mate.”

“Like soulmate?”

“Exactly, but it’s ten thousand times more intense. All their shifter instincts kick in. It’s more than love. You’re the only one in the universe for them.”