Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

“No. It was on the back of the photo in the office.”

The hope shattered, but he covered it up quickly. “Yeah. I…. That’s Gordo’s. He used to act like he didn’t give a shit about all of this, but after he and Mark….” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It was hard on him. I didn’t expect that. I knew the two of you were close, but his anger almost matched my own, and I thought—I don’t know what I thought.”

I didn’t either. Here was this man, this stranger, who claimed we were connected. That we were mates. And I didn’t know him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“You say I was taken. Me. Why?”

He looked over his shoulder at the window. Across the street, Carter started to take a step toward us, but Kelly shook his head. Carter didn’t look happy, but he stayed where he was. The timber wolf bumped his head against Carter’s chest.

Kelly turned back to me, squaring his shoulders. “We think it’s because of your connection with Alpha Hughes. You were part of her pack. Before you came to ours. Years ago. We weren’t here when you arrived. My brothers. Gordo. The others, they thought you were going to spy on them.”

I was shocked. Nothing made sense. “Years?” I asked incredulously. “Are you really trying to tell me I’ve been in this pack for years?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

I put my hand against the wall to hold me up. I breathed through my nose. “Ezra wouldn’t—”

And though he was no longer a wolf, I swore his eyes flashed. “Ezra doesn’t exist. Not like you know him. Not like he led you to believe. His name is Robert Livingstone. I don’t know what you’ve been through or what he’s done to you, but he’s not who you think he is. He’s warped you somehow. Messed with your head. He took all of us away from you.” The last words came out in a thin choke. “He took me away from you. And he took you away from me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t—it doesn’t—it’s not possible.”

“It is,” he said sadly. “And I’m sorry, Robbie.” He took a step toward me. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. I don’t know what it’s like to be in your head right now. All of this, these last few days, I know it sounds crazy. But I have no reason to lie to you. Listen, okay? Listen to my heart.”

I was helpless to do anything but.

“You were gone,” he said, taking another step. “On assignment. Helping Omegas. We’ve got this system. It’s complicated, but think of it as a sort of underground railroad. Long story, but you were helping an Omega get to a pack that would take them in. You went alone because it was just up into Washington. A quick trip.”

He might as well have been talking about someone else. I had no memory of any of it. But his heartbeat never wavered. It was light and quick, like he was nervous, but steady.

“And something happened there,” he continued. “He changed you, whether it be to act as a mole or a weapon, we don’t know.”

He was so close.

I took a step away from him, but my back hit the wall, the photos rattling. I shook my head. “No, that’s not—he wouldn’t do that to me. His name is Ezra. He found me. I was lost and he found me. He gave me a home. He gave me a purpose. He gave me focus—”

“He lied to you,” Kelly said. He sounded like he was pleading. “You have to see that. He’s not who he said he was. He’s not—”

I laughed. It sounded crazed. Everything was spinning out of control. “I’m not who you think I am. Look, I don’t know what they’ve told you, I don’t know what you think—”

“I don’t think,” he snapped at me, and oh, there was anger, fierce and burning. “I know. I know you, Robbie. I see you.”

“Don’t. Don’t you fucking do this. Get out of my head. Get out of my head!

”

I didn’t mean to do what happened next. It just happened.

One moment his eyes were wide and he was reaching for me, hand trembling, and the next he was gasping as I lashed at him, claws out. It was a shallow cut, two grooves on his forearm that immediately filled with blood.

He pulled away quickly, eyes wide and shocked.

A coppery tang filled the air.

A loud roar come from across the street, but I didn’t care. I reached for Kelly again.

And he flinched.