Page 17 of Chasing Dawn

“True, but what has this pack Alpha done to you?”

All mirth left the room. Vance stood, his posture stiffer and more formal now. “Convocation Member, I would like to formally introduce you to Dawn, Omega of the Truckee-Reno Pack. Several days ago, my beta found her bleeding in the snow, with grievous wounds to her abdomen—killing wounds. Only a miracle from the goddess allowed her to survive.”

“Your Alpha did this?” So far, Alexander didn’t seem overly worried, because shifters injured each other every day. Normally, we would exile them or send them to jail, but executing an Alpha required a far bigger crime.

“No, Alpha,” Dawn whispered. “I should start from the beginning.”

Listening to Dawn’s story a second time might have been worse. The shock factor was no longer there, and all that was left was horror at the details. While her voice wavered around the part where she was cut open by her husband—I wouldn’t ever call that piece of shit her mate—she didn’t cry.

I watched Alexander as she told her story, his face getting harder and harder until he struggled to keep his eyes from shifting to reptilian dragon slits.

He arched a single eyebrow at the part of the story where she used a plane ticket I’d given her five years ago to fly out here, but he didn’t interrupt.

When she was done, she remained stoically standing, even though I could see her knees shaking.

“Thank you for your strength, Omega. Please go and rest. Franklin, take the girl and get her something to eat. Something sweet.” Franklin took Dawn’s hand, and I patted her shoulder reassuringly as she walked past me. She did so fucking well.

When she left, Alexander’s expression contorted into one of rage. “Permission granted. If you can do it, capture him first. I’d like to have a little talk with him before he’s dispatched to meet his maker.”

I made no promises, because I really, really wanted to kill the man myself. “Talbot has also compiled a list of potentially trafficked shifters, mostly kids because that’s what he was searching for.” I lowered my eyes and softened my voice. “It’s a list that is too long, Convocation Member. Something needs to be done, like setting up a taskforce.”

The voice that came out of the screen might have emerged from human-looking lips, but it was nowhere close to being human. “It will be done. Send it to me.”

Talbot was already emailing the list. I watched Alexander open it, his jaw tensing. He looked back at me, his eyes still flashing. Were those flames in his irises?

“Would you like to head this taskforce? If Talbot found this information in a night, I feel like this problem may be more insidious than I would prefer.”

The answer was yes, but I hesitated. “I have unfinished business with the Omega, sir. I want to have this situation wrapped up, and her…” I searched for the right word. “Happy, I guess, before we can work on a project this big.”

“And how do you intend to do that?”

It was time to lay out my plan and hope he went with it. “I want to track down and return the pups that were lost to their mother, then relocate the whole pack to Black Mountain, if possible.”

“And what about the territory they vacate?”

I shrugged. Let it get swallowed by nature for all I cared. “I doubt I’ll be able to relocate the whole pack. From what I remember, the other pack members weren’t quite as good-hearted as Dawn. They are a product of their environment, so I assume some of them will stay.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed on me. “That is a lot of effort for a pack that is several states away from your own territory, especially for a girl who was a stranger up until a few days ago.”

I tried not to wince. “Not a stranger, sir. We met her at a gathering when she was a teen. My betas were quite smitten with her.

“And you, Alpha? What is the girl to you?”

I kept my expression neutral and slid my eyes to Talbot, indicating he should shut the door. I waited as he closed the heavy oak door, essentially making the room soundproof. I held Talbot’s eyes as I spoke to the King of Shifters, the Alpha of Alphas.

“She is my mate, my fated mate.”

Talbot hissed a breath like he’d been sucker punched. I’d never told them, because I’d seen how they were with her, and honestly, at the time, I hoped I was wrong, and I wouldn’t have to take my best friends’ first love away from them because of some weird quirk of fate.

There was no hiding it now though. Dawn was in the den. She’d been injured. The bond I’d pushed down for years came roaring to the front, and there was no stopping it. We’d just have to work it out.

“She is a wolf shifter?”

“Yes.”

“Bears have fated mates?” he asked, but it wasn’t a real question. Any shifter could have a fated mate, it just didn’t happen very often with bears.

I shrugged. “Apparently.”