Tattered Loyalties Read online

  As it was, too many of the wrong people knew about the existence of wolves. The military had long since known about them and had even used them as soldiers when they could. Some higher-ups in the government knew about them, but not everyone. If certain factions ever found out...well, Gideon didn’t want to think about that. He knew he would be forced to face it eventually—sooner rather than later if the feeling in his gut was any indication—but he wasn’t sure how his people were going to remain safe once the secret was out.

  In the thirty years since the Central war had ended and the Redwoods and Talons had formed a treaty, they had been forced to learn to rely on each other through thick or thin. The fact that they were running out of land and methods to conceal their existence meant they would have to rely on each other once again.

  Gideon wasn’t sure if they would ever be ready to come out to the humans, but at some point, they might not have a choice in the matter.

  Cameras and satellites were far too precise and could track them with the click of a button. Magic went only so far, and he was afraid they’d strained their powers enough as it was.

  If they were going to come out to human society, they were going to have to do it their way.

  That is, if they could decide on what that way was.

  After all, there were more than just the two Packs in the United States and far more than that all over the world. In the past fifteen years since they’d formed the Northwest Council, they’d done their best to open the lines of communication in ways that no one had ever thought possible, and with their Voice of the Wolves, Parker Jamenson, they were at least trying to maintain peace within their own dens.

  For some reason, Gideon didn’t think the next battle he fought would be claw against claw. No, the next would be far worse.

  He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn’t have time to think about the end of the world, his world, right then. He pressed his hand against the keypad to unlock his home then walked through the door. He needed to wash off the blood of decisions that were beyond his control. He was in the middle of a world that didn’t make sense—one where rites and rituals of the past warred with the technology and unknowns of his present.

  He was almost afraid to see what his future would be.

  “Took you long enough to get here,” Walker remarked from his spot in Gideon’s kitchen.

  Gideon snorted then peeled off his shirt, ignoring the aches and pains. The fabric stuck to his cuts and dried blood, but he was healing well.

  Walker clucked his tongue like a mother hen then rubbed his hands together. “I will Heal these wounds so you’re in top form when there are other wolves about. I don’t want to hear any lip from you.”

  Gideon raised a brow. “You’re the one being lippy. Remember, I’m the Alpha. And, hello, I’m the eldest brother. You’re the baby.”

  Walker snorted then pressed his hands to Gideon’s wounds. At the sharp warmth, he sucked in a breath then released it slowly.

  “We’re over a hundred years old, Gideon. At some point, being younger or older shouldn’t matter. And, I’ll have you know, Brandon is younger than me. So there.”

  Gideon smiled at the familiar remark. “You’re like five minutes older than Brandon, and Kameron is another five minutes older than you.”

  Walker rolled his eyes then narrowed them as he examined Gideon’s skin. “You’re Healed but don’t go getting sliced up for a couple of days. There’s only so much skin I can knit together at a time.”

  Gideon nodded his thanks then headed back to his shower. He was starting to itch from the blood and mud coating his body, and that wasn’t a pleasant feeling. He probably should have been used to it considering how many times he’d been covered in it over his life, but he also hoped he never did.

  “Any idea what we’re going to talk about?” Walker asked as he leaned against the bathroom door.

  Gideon shrugged out of his clothes then stepped into his shower letting the hot water pound down his back. His muscles ached from the fight and the tension of the unknown.

  He closed his eyes and spoke loudly over the hum of the water. Walker probably would have been able to hear him with his sensitive hearing, but he didn’t want his brother to have to strain. “We’re going to talk about plans to come out to the public. Or, at least, plans to make plans. Then we’re going to make sure our underground tunnels are in shape since the connection between the two packs is relatively new.”

  No one knew what would happen once the humans found out about the existence of shifters and demons. They’d been planning for years, though, on the eventual outcome of protecting themselves from people who didn’t understand and feared what they didn’t know. It wasn’t like underground tunnels were the perfect way to save his people, but it was only one of their many steps. They needed to be able to hide their most precious and those unable to protect themselves quickly in case the wards went down. They also had other procedures in place, but he needed to talk to Kade to ensure that as much as they could do was being done.

  He let out a breath and quickly soaped up, knowing he was running late. Between the lone wolves trying to find a way to stay alive, his Pack watching him more than usual for some reason, and this meeting, he needed a damned weekend off.

  He was the Alpha, however, so he knew that would never happen. Alphas didn’t get weekends. Or vacations. Or sleep apparently.

  He shut off the water and got out so he could get ready for the meeting. Walker had left him alone, thankfully, and he quickly pulled on a long-sleeved cotton shirt and jeans. With any other Alpha, he’d put on something a little more formal, but this was Kade and his family—Gideon could go with a little comfort and be okay.

  When he walked out to his living room to pull on his boots, he sighed. He knew they were there, of course, but his wolf wasn’t in the mood to deal with his entire family in one room.

  “I suppose just meeting me at chambers would have been too much for all of you?”

  “You love us, brother dearest,” Brynn, his sister and the lone Brentwood female, teased from her perch on the edge of the couch.

  Gideon pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, seriously. Why are you all here?”

  “Because you need us,” Brandon, his youngest brother and the Talon Omega, said from the couch.

  “Do I really need you here?” he asked, knowing he was fighting a lost cause.

  “Of course,” Max, his cousin, answered. “We’re all going to the meeting anyway. Why not go together?”

  “We’re one big happy family,” Mitchell said dryly.

  “What they aren’t saying is that we’re worried about you,” Kameron, his brother and Enforcer, added in.

  Gideon growled while Ryder closed his eyes and cursed.

  “Really, Kameron?” Ryder put in. “I thought we had a plan.”

  Gideon stiffened. “A plan? Why the hell would you need a plan to deal with me? Why are you here?”

  Brynn stood up and walked toward him. She brushed her long, dark brown hair—the same color as the rest of the Brentwoods—behind her shoulders and blinked up at him with the Brentwood blue eyes.

  “You’re our brother, and you’re hurting,” she whispered. They were all wolves so they could hear her clearly. “You had to kill a lone wolf who threatened the border and wouldn’t back down. Now you’re having to make decisions that, as we see it, won’t have an easy outcome. So, Gideon, brother mine, brother ours, we’re here for you. Even if we annoy you to no end. We’re here.”

  Gideon narrowed his eyes, even as his heart warmed at her words. Yeah, his siblings and cousins were there for him, but some things were meant for only the Alpha. If he had a mate, he’d be able to lean on her just a little, but since the goddess hadn’t blessed him, he didn’t have that option.

  At this point, he wasn’t sure he ever would.

  On that depressing thought, he led his family out of his home and headed toward the meeting room. He wanted to get this over with. It was
n’t as though they were going to get anything done anyway. They couldn’t. Not with the rest of the Packs in the US keeping silent. Parker, the Voice of the Wolves, was on a mission at the moment searching for the other Packs and trying to convince them to talk to Gideon and Kade, but Gideon didn’t hold out high hopes. Parker was a Redwood, and though he’d been adopted into the Redwood family, he was the biological son of a mass murderer. Corbin had been the Alpha of the Centrals and had almost destroyed their world.

  Some wolves just couldn’t see past that, and Gideon was worried that might hurt their chances of finding a way to make all of the Packs work together. However, he could work on only one problem at a time—even if it felt like he was working on a hundred at once most days.

  They made their way as a group to the other side of the den where the Redwoods would be entering the woods. They had to go past the sentries at the wards to be let through, but most of them had done it before. Actually, on second thought, Gideon wasn’t sure who Kade was bringing.

  The Redwoods were in the middle of a shift in hierarchy. The younger Jamensons were taking over for their parents slowly but surely. That meant that Kade could be bringing any number of his powerhouse to the table. It didn’t really matter since Gideon had met most of them and liked those he’d met. Not that he’d tell them that. No, he was still the grumpy, badass Alpha to the outside world.

  It worked for him.

  Kade came up first, a small smile on his face. With so many people and coming into a different den, the ceremony of walking to a meeting was a little ridiculous, and both of them knew it. It had to be done though.

  Kade had brought his mate, Melanie, as well as both sets of Betas, Omegas, and Healers with him. He’d left the Enforcers at home to protect the den with countless other wolves apparently. Interesting, but it made sense. As the younger generation came into their powers, they were learning from the older generation. It would be interesting to see how the whole lot of them reacted in the future when the older generation, Kade’s brothers, had to step down fully.

  He’d also brought his Heir, his son Finn, with him, which made sense, as well as another wolf. A younger woman who, from the look of her, was a Jamenson, but Gideon wasn’t sure he’d ever met her. Her long chestnut brown hair flowed over her shoulders, blowing slightly in the wind. She wasn’t small. No, she was at least of average height, but where most of the wolves in front of her were all muscle and strength, her body held curves and a softness he didn’t see in most wolves.

  Odd, he thought he’d met most, if not all, of the Jamensons. He wondered how this one had slipped by him.

  Her cheekbones angled high, and her plump lips thinned into a line when she looked at him. She tilted her head and blinked up at him with bright green eyes, and he froze, his wolf howling.

  Shocked, he almost took a step back, and it was only because of his strength as Alpha that he didn’t.

  Mate.

  That scent, that pull on his wolf.

  Mate.

  “Gideon, Brentwoods,” Kade said, his voice deep, “I think you’ve met most of us before. Probably not Brie, though. Brie, these are the Brentwoods. Brentwoods, this is Jasper and Willow’s daughter, my niece, Brie.”

  She smiled softly, but her eyes were on only him, not on the rest of the Pack or her family. In fact, he was looking only at her, not at Kade or the others.

  Holy shit.

  He’d just found his mate, and she was a fucking Redwood.

  And from the way her wolf reached out to his seeking protection yet wanting to comfort as well, she was a submissive as well.

  A Talon Alpha and a Redwood submissive?

  Yeah, fate royally sucked.

  Chapter Two

  No matter how many times she’d thought of this moment, nothing like this had ever crossed Brie Jamenson’s mind. When she was a little girl and pictured finding her mate, she thought it would be all sparkles and happiness. Then she’d heard the story of how her parents had been mated and her image of mating had changed a bit. The start of their mating hadn’t been so romantic. It had been more of a way to save each other’s lives, but they loved each other more with each passing day.

  When she was seventeen, she’d seen the shadow of a man and the long lines of his body. He’d been turned away from her as she stared out the window with her cousin Gina. She’d even commented on how hot his butt was. She’d never seen his face, but she’d known who he was.

  Her mate.

  The one wolf in the entire world that could complete her in every cheesy and romantic way possible. He’d be her protector—she’d be his as well—even if she protected in a different way. They’d grow together as one, learning about each other slowly yet combusting all the same. When she saw the back of him, she’d been on pins and needles to find out his identity and start her journey as a mated wolf. It hadn’t mattered that she was young, she thought, because her mate would let her grow and be whoever she wanted to be. That’s what mates did. After all, she had her parents and uncles and aunts to show her how wonderful mating could be. She wouldn’t accept anything less. Before she figured out who he was, she’d had images of white dresses and flowers in her hair. He’d run his hands through her hair and then get down on one knee, before taking her as his to complete the mating ceremony.

  Then her cousin Gina had told her exactly who that man was.

  Gideon Brentwood.

  The Alpha of the Talon Pack.

  The exact wrong person for a girl like her.

  Luckily she’d never told a soul about the wolf that could have been hers when she grew older. Gina never suspected—at least Brie hoped not. It wasn’t like she had the same mating urge the others in the den had when they found their mates. Those wolves hadn’t been able to hold themselves back and had pounced in the best ways possible. They’d been growly, on edge, and in need of the other person. Some people had found themselves in compromising positions, but Brie would never find herself there.

  Apparently, she’d been too young to truly feel that. She knew deep down that the Alpha would have been the one to entwine with her soul and stand by her side until the end of eternity.

  Too bad that would never happen.

  She wasn’t like the other wolves around her. She wasn’t dominant and didn’t hold a position in the hierarchy. While her cousins were all slowly coming into their powers and bonds, she had been left behind. It wasn’t as if she ever thought she’d become something more than she was though.

  She was strong.

  She was fierce.

  She was also a submissive. Meaning her wolf didn’t want to fight if it didn’t have to. There were other ways to find ranking within the den and other ways to show strength. She used her nurturing instincts and the strength of her heart to love completely, but she wasn’t even a maternal wolf who had the inner strength necessary to protect the pups of the Pack.

  She was just Brie.

  There wasn’t anything wrong with her—she knew that. Yet she was the exact wrong person for an Alpha of a Pack. The Alpha needed a mate by his side who would fight tooth and claw to protect the Pack. She might have the skills to do that because she’d forced herself to learn at a young age, but her wolf wasn’t as strong as the others. She was smaller, softer, and needed to protect in other ways.

  While dominants needed to protect, submissives needed to soothe and care. That’s where her strength lay, and it would never be good enough for an Alpha.

  So she’d spent the better part of fifteen years hiding from the Alpha of the Talon Pack and ensuring they never had to meet. Many things could have happened when and if Gideon ever saw her, and Brie hadn’t wanted to face either the mating urge or risk the pain of rejection when he found her lacking.

  And he would find her lacking.

  It wouldn’t be his fault. His wolf and Pack deserved more than a submissive wolf. It wouldn’t be smart to have a submissive in the role of Alpha female. She’d never heard of it, and honestly, she didn’t think she co
uld do it. It wasn’t that she was afraid of failing. It was that she was afraid of hurting others because of her own selfishness in wanting a mate at all.

  So instead of facing what could happen, she’d done her best to never let it occur in the first place. Fifteen years of her wolf aching and not wanting another wolf hadn’t been easy, and she knew her mother and others had felt something was wrong, but it was the best for everyone. At first she hadn’t been old enough for Gideon, and then it had gotten easier to stay away.

  Or at least that’s what she told herself.

  This night, though, she had no choice. Her uncle Kade, the Redwood Alpha, had wanted her by his side when they went into the Talon den to talk about what they could do for their future. The world was changing, and the wolves needed to change with it. He wanted a submissive to calm down the dominants in case things got too intense. The Omegas would be able to release some of the tension by taking those heightened emotions and siphoning them through their Pack bonds, but even those wolves were far more dominant than she. Her presence could soothe egos and wolves simultaneously.

  That’s what her uncle hoped.

  He might have thought differently if she’d ever shared with him the true reason she never ventured onto Talon land. She should have told them she couldn’t come and even the reason why. Yet she hadn’t been able to hold herself back from this meeting. Maybe she was weak.

  Now she stood by her family outside her den and in front of the Talons…in front of Gideon.

  She’d seen pictures of him over the years of course. She hadn’t been able to stop herself. Her family had met with him numerous times, and her cousin Gina had mated a former Talon wolf, Quinn, so she’d been able to observe through their eyes the role of the Talon Alpha. But none of that prepared her for the shock of seeing him in person.