Dane

Mako hands me his newborn son. It was customary in the pack for the Alpha to meet newborns and welcome them into the pack.

Swiping my thumb across his forehead with a tiny drop of my own blood, I officially welcome him as a member of Black Shadow. Mako beams at me, his blue eyes shining in delight.

“Sorry, I had to leave the gate.” He murmurs. “I couldn’t let my mate do this on her own. Though he was already here by the time I arrived.” His mate was allegedly still in the bedroom being checked over by one of the nurses that my sister helped train. Yet I couldn’t scent her presence.

‘We should go and check.’ Aero declares.

‘We will,’ I tell him. ‘We just need to choose the right time.’

“It’s no problem.” I tell Mako, handing his son back.

“Ryken is a good guy.” Mako tells me. “I was so grateful he was passing by.”

“Emerson wasn’t happy though, was he?” Damien asks

“Emerson is never happy.” Mako mutters as he coos over his pup. “The guy wouldn’t be happy if he had a million pounds and women dangling from his arms every second of the day. But things are changing here in the pack. He can’t live in the past forever.”

“Is that right?” Damien questions

“Well it is, isn’t it! We have a Lycan Luna. You are mated to a Wolf. Mallory is mated to a Wolf. Rumour has it that the Hunter is mated to a Lycan too. Everything is changing. Maybe that is what the Moon Goddess has always wanted.”

“The Moon Goddess.” Damien muses. Maybe he was actually starting to side with Brax a bit more. Brax was always talking about higher powers. Whether that was true or not, no one could be certain.

Mako nods, not really getting Damien’s sarcasm. “She has a plan for all of us.”

Damien keeps his mouth shut and turns to the window. “Looks like you have another visitor.”

Brax always knocks in the same way, almost as if it was his own secret code to tell us it was him. I open the door to him and his frown. “Is Maddie okay?”

“She’s sleeping. Klaus said she should be good, though she will have scars.” His hazel eyes flicker to Mako and the pup in his arms and then move back to me. “I have some things I need to discuss with you.”

‘Stay here.’ I link Damien, ‘Do some digging. Tactfully.’ It was so useful being able to link him.

He bobs his head at me as I follow Brax. “Are you sure Maddie is okay?”

“What I said about Madison is true, something weird is going on down at the gate.”

“I’m well aware that Emerson is pissed off with Ryken being there. He made that very clear to Damien and I.”

“It’s more than that. I got the impression Emerson was hiding something but he was also telling the truth about not seeing Madison.”

“But you still think he is involved?”

“I need to do some more digging.”

He turns away, but quickly turns back. “The pup is not Makos, nor was it born today. Maybe yesterday or possibly even the day before Remember they are born with tiny souls.”

“It’s not his?”

“And it’s not his mates either.” He walks away. “You should question that.”

‘Why does he have to be so cryptic?’ Aero frowns

‘It’s just the way he is.’

I make my way back into Mako’s home just as Damien was asking “So you just took him?”

Both sets of eyes move to me.

“You are not going to believe this.” Damien shakes his head.

I sigh, “Where did you find him?”

“In the city, yesterday.” He lowers himself onto the edge of the sofa, cradling the pup.

“But you said your mate went into labour?” I ask, glancing to the stairs and Damien shakes his head at me.

Mako reaches into his pocket and pulls out a scrunched up piece of paper. He holds it out to me. “I should have come to you with this when I found it two days ago.”

е

I glance down at the note, ‘I can’t be here with all those beasts. They are taking over. They are ruining our pack. They will kill us all. I can’t raise my pup here.’ It wasn’t Kira’s writing.

“She took my unborn pup and left.” He takes a deep breath. “When I went into the city, I found this guy, wrapped up and dumped down an

alleyway. I thought it was meant to be