Chapter 21

Asher squatted against the wall far enough away that he could observe her. The reason in his head was to give her space, but the truth was his emotions were all over the place after what she’d told him. That day his world had crashed down on top of him; when he’d hidden, she had followed them. A young girl, younger than him, and she had still followed them. In theory, she shouldn’t have survived that trip, but here she was. He watched her lift her face and inhale slowly, taking the cool air into her lungs. She had balanced on a bumper, most likely at top speeds and at the risk of being caught or run over to follow them.

Daigo came running over and circled the wheelchair a few times, then took off again in the wolf version of the zoomies. This woman that a wild animal had adopted had crawled into the cargo space of a plane without hesitation and endured the horror of the cold temperatures and dark, cramped space to follow her little sister into the unknown.

Journee laughed at the pup, which caught his cat’s attention, her happiness. Up until now, he’d been so silent that Asher was worried about what he might do without conferring with him first. She hadn’t shared everything, but somehow, he knew parts of her story just from the bits she had told him. Most he saw in her eyes as she spoke.

How many times had she almost drowned trying to get off the island? He wasn’t going to ask her, but he knew it was too numerous; it had to be for her to be gone that long. He couldn’t imagine being in the middle of a large body of water with no way to reach shore, but swim and hope exhaustion didn’t overtake you before you reached it. He was a good swimmer, often enjoying a swim after a long run, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do what she had done.

There was no more doubt in his mind of what she had gone through since that day. While she was talking, he’d seen it in her eyes, everything that she’d endured. His cat had felt it too, and now Asher wasn’t sure which one of them was the most messed up about it.

“You said we needed to talk.”

Her voice brought him out of his head. “Yeah.” He studied her for a moment, had the girls helped her brush out her hair. It had been a mess of knots and tangles when she’d shifted. Now it looked silky smooth, and his fingers itched to touch it. He blinked, realizing she was still looking at him. “I just—” he shook his head. “I don’t know how to say it.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Is it bad?”

That was a question. Was it? He opened his mouth to say no, but in his head, he wasn’t sure. After everything she’d been through, this was probably not bad to her, but she had also been alone and hiding all these years. If it had been him, he’d spend the next ten years just running without the confines of water on all sides confining him. “What do you know about true mates?”

She smiled. “My parents were,” she shrugged one shoulder, “what does that have to do with any of this?” She motioned to the building.

Staying still wasn’t working for him. He was up on his feet so fast he got dizzy. “It doesn’t have anything to with the island and the hurt we’re going to put on Tomas when we get him.”

“Tomas?”

Asher sucked in a breath and blew it out fast. “The man that is responsible for taking our kind,” he frowned; that was giving that one-form too much credit. “Aiden Tomas, his family, and organization.”

“I knew it was bad.” She closed her eyes. “All those girls that left were soon replaced with younger ones.” Opening them, she looked at him. “Nichelle told me that the Alliance has been rescuing others.”

He nodded. “We’ve found a lot of places he was keeping them and have been getting them out and shutting them down.”

“Good.” She frowned. “Do you have names?” She sat straighter. “I was wondering if my sister had been found.”

Asher froze. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “I can find out.” He pulled out his phone and pulled up Illias’ number. “What’s her name?” He almost said was, but for her sake, for his own too, he wanted to think she was still alive.

“Emi,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Is that her full name?”

She nodded. “With an i.”

He typed out the message quickly, asking Illias to look up if an Emi Snow had been found at any of the locations they’d hit. Sending it, he closed the screen and then looked at her. “Look, I thought we needed to talk about things, but you know what, you’ve been through too much…”

“I made it back.” She held him with a sad look. “I’ve missed everything.”

Asher exhaled the breath, erasing the rest of what he was going to say. His cat stirred inside of him, he wasn’t happy about the anxiety pouring off her. “Look,” he was over and squatting beside the chair before he knew he planned to move. Daigo came over and climbed into his lap. That made her smile that the pup was using Asher as a step so he could climb into her lap. “My heart aches when I think of what you’ve been through, and I know it’s not over, that you’re going to have to go through more before this is over.” He sucked in a breath and almost forgot what he was going to say when she focused on him so intently with those hazel eyes. “I wished I could just ignore it and not bother you with it, but then it occurred to me that your cat might be trying to convey things to you that you don’t understand because you’ve been away from clan so long.”

“My cat is very anxious and acting strangely, but I thought it was just because I had to force her not to shift back for a few days—but now she’s still being strange.”

Asher nodded. “No doubt that didn’t help.” He cleared his throat. He wasn’t a talker, but now he felt like he didn’t even remember how to do it. “Our cats—we—we’re mates, Journee.” He stood and held up his hand. “Don’t go thinking I’m going to force the issue or anything because I’m not.” He gave his head such a vigorous shake that he should have been dizzy. “I just wanted you to be aware because our animals are going to be” —he frowned as his cat felt like he’d just done a full circle inside his body— “acting strange when we’re near each other.” He snapped his mouth shut, afraid he’d say really stupid things if he kept talking.

It felt like hours that she sat there looking up at him, her eyes searching his face. “That explains some feelings I’ve been having.” She glanced at Daigo as he raced by again. “My cat has been acting strange, but we’ve never been inside or around people for long.” She cleared her throat softly. “I remembered you from when we were kids and thought maybe it was because you were the only person I recognize.” Her brows creased. “What does this mean, Ashe? Is something expected of us?” She motioned to the building. “I don’t remember much about clan life and functioning in a group.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t follow expectations when I was a child either.”

Asher nodded. “I remember.”

She sucked in a breath. “Your family…”

He stopped her with a shake of his head.

“I’m sorry.” She clasped her hands together and kept her head down. “I knew about my parents. That’s probably why I followed my sister. I hoped some of the others were just injured.”

“Where were you when it happened?” Most of that day was blanked out in his memory.

“In a tree.” She grimaced. “I wasn’t much for picking berries.” She sucked in a deep breath, something sad going through her eyes. “You?” Eyes filled with anguish looked back at him.

“My mother screamed to run, so I did.” He’d regret that he had for the rest of his days.

“That’s right.” She nodded. “I remember hearing her.” Her voice was shaking. “I’m glad you did, or you would be…”

Something occurred to him. “Did you see the wolf after he shifted back?”

She stared at the wall behind him for a moment. “I did.” Daigo came over and started to whine. Was he sensing that she was upset? “I didn’t see him after that. He wasn’t one of the ones that came to the island.”

“Blair killed some a while back, maybe he was one of them.”

“I hope he was.” Her expression changed, and his cat stirred, sensing it. “It’s one less for me to kill.”

His cat moved through him, and Asher couldn’t decide if it was from concern or if he was pleased she wanted blood. He squatted beside her again and held her look. “We’ll get them all.” He motioned to the building. “Griffin, I don’t know if you’ve met him yet, but he’s a half-breed and Aiden Tomas’ half-brother.” The look of surprise was easier to see. “He’s been helping us find them all.”

“Does he know where the island is?”

“I don’t think so, but we’ll find it.” He nodded and then looked at the building again, wanting to finish before someone came looking, and he knew they would. She was too important to be left out of sight for too long. “As far anything being expected of you, of us—” He shook his head slightly. “No, there are no expectations from me or others. You just got back and my only objective right now is to find all those responsible.” His cat didn’t like that answer at all, but he wasn’t going to push it. Asher hoped that was because he understood what she’d been through. He had no plans to do anything about the mate thing, not with everything that was going on. He attempted a quick smile to encourage her but was sure he’d failed when she gave him a blank look. “Maybe you can look at pictures of men and see if any of them were the men that day or that went to the island.

She blinked and then nodded. “I can do that.” She leaned closer. “Calum said they were scanning my notebook.” She frowned. “Scanning for what?”

Asher grinned. “Yes.” He stood up. “I guess you’ve missed that part of progress. Computers, cell phones, and other technological advances.” He went behind the chair, gripped the handles, and then leaned down. “Most I barely know how it works, never mind explaining it.” He started to push the chair. “I’ll get Fallan or someone that gets it to explain that to you.”

“Thank you.” She turned and looked at him. “For everything.”

He nodded, not sure that she should be thanking him.

The door opened when they reached it, and Blair stepped out. Journee scrambled out of the chair and would have fallen if Asher hadn’t caught her.

Blair gave him a solemn look. “I can tell she’s met my brother.” Anger filled his expression. He held up his hands. “I am Blair. I am not Lindon, nor am I anything like my brother.” He lowered his hands. “He’s dead.”

Journee’s weight increased in his hold as she relaxed. He bent and lifted her up into his arms. “Grab the chair.” He told Blair as he moved around him toward the door.

“I’m sorry.” Journee held her hand over her face. “I thought it was him.”

“Many do.” He moved aside as Blair opened the door for him. “We found him, and Blair took him out of the equation.”

She moved her hand and gave him a shocked look. “His brother?”

“I had no idea he existed.” Blair wheeled by them and turned the corner that led to the medical area.

“Are you okay?” Asher thought she was far too light in his arms. “Did you hurt your leg?”

She looked annoyed. “I don’t think so. My foot barely touched the ground before you caught me.”

He walked faster, wanting Shaelan to check in anyway. “We’ll get Shaelan to look at it, just to be safe.” If it were him, one minute would be too long to go without shifting or knowing you couldn’t shift. “You don’t want to be stuck on two legs too long.”

She gave him a hard look. “No. I’m already fighting the urge to go for a run.”

“Please don’t try. I…” The words got stuck in his throat when she leaned closer to him and inhaled slowly.

“I like the way you smell.” She blushed. “That probably sounds silly.”

“No.” He cleared his throat. “It’s uh, normal.” He gave her an awkward smile. “You smell great too.” His cat was so happy right now, that Asher just wanted to drop her off in her room and do something. Anything other than being this close to her.

Shaelan was walking down the hall when he went around the corner. “What’s happened?” She rushed toward them.

“She saw Blair and thought he was Lindon.”

She stopped an annoyed look on her face. “I am so glad that man is dead.” She blinked. “Did you try to walk on it?” She was wholly focused on Journee’s leg now.

“No. I think Asher picked me up before I tried.”

“Good.” She held the door open.

Asher put her on the bed and backed up. “I’ll, uh, go see about those pictures to look at.”

Journee nodded and searched his face for a moment like she needed to memorize it.

“I believe the men were looking for you, Asher.” Shaelan bent over Journee’s leg and gently rolled the wide-legged pants up.

“Okay. Yeah.” He stepped back again, and his back hit the wall, “that’s probably why Blair came outside. I’ll go see what’s up.” He pivoted and almost hit his face on the door frame as he left the room fast.