Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3) (13 page)

Remaining in his wolf form, he squeezed through a small crevice between two massive rocks and entered the area protected by a circle of towering hills. He halted, absorbing the rich scent of earth and evergreens and crisp water that flowed through the nearby stream. A deeper breath filled his senses with the soft musk of the shifters that lived in the Pack.

Home.

With a pleased growl, he allowed his magic to flow through his veins. A shudder of ecstasy shook his body, power shimmering around him as he shifted into his human form.

Once again he was a dark-haired man with icy blue eyes.

Bypassing the homes that were built among the trees, he entered his lair that was hidden in a shallow cave near the stream. Quickly, he pulled on jeans and a T-shirt before he headed directly to a cabin that was twice the size of the others.

There were solar panels on the roof as well as a large generator at the back. Since the Unseen had to remain off-the-grid, they’d improvised by building their own grid. And Rios needed the majority of the electricity they produced to keep his computer system up and running.

Rios not only used the technology to keep surveillance on their Pack, but he also monitored the shifter compounds from around the world. Plus, he’d hacked into the network of the local SAU to keep track of their movements. 

The jaguar was a god when it came to computers.

In fact, the only one who might be better than Rios was Mira Reese.

His good mood instantly vanished.

Mira was a human female who worked for the CDC in Fort Collins. Over the past two years, he’d made it his mission to seduce her. Not physically. Or at least, not yet. No. It’d been an emotional seduction, using the shy computer expert’s vulnerable feelings for him to convince her to become a spy for the shifters.

He’d deliberately put her in danger, and now she was out of touch.

During his grueling journey from compound to compound, he’d tried to ignore the fact that he hadn’t been able to contact the female. It was the only way to complete his duty without going nuts. Now, he unleashed his iron control and allowed the full impact of his concern for Mira to slam into him.

He was an Alpha of an outlaw Pack that had infiltrated the SAU. He was on the verge of risking open war with the humans. There was no doubt that he was accustomed to carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

But this worry for Mira…

It burned like acid in the pit of his stomach.

Without bothering to knock, he shoved the door of the cabin open and stepped inside.

Rios was already on his feet. There was no way to sneak up on a shifter. Especially not the edgy jaguar who was addicted to coffee and soccer.

The tall, slender male with dark hair clipped close, black eyes, and rich, golden brown skin left the bank of computers that were lined against a paneled wall to stroll forward.

Across the room were more computers and various monitors, and stacks of servers that filled the air with a low hum.

“Welcome back,
amigo
,” the younger male said.

“Have you heard from Mira?” Sinclair demanded in clipped tones.

A dark brow arched, golden eyes glowing with a wry humor.

“Hey, Rios. Good to see you. And thanks for holding down the fort while I was gone,” Rios mocked Sinclair’s lack of manners.

Not that Sinclair gave a shit. He wasn’t Alpha because of his good looks and charming personality.

He was Alpha because he was a ruthless predator that preferred to kill first and ask questions later.

He narrowed his eyes in warning. “Well?”

“Not a word.”

“Damn.”

Rios studied him with a searching gaze. “It’s just been a couple of weeks since you last saw her,” he pointed out. “What’s got you so wound up?”

Sinclair abruptly moved to stand at the window that offered a perfect view of the waterfall. It wasn’t the beauty of nature, however, that had him turning away from his friend. Nope. It was his need to hide his fierce emotions. 

“She’s been taking too many risks lately,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. The last time he’d met with Mira, she’d done her best to dismiss her concerns, but he’d known that she was worried. Hell,
he’d
been worried when she confessed that she’d ordered computers from Novo-Auction that contained hard drives that had survived the purge. It was exactly the sort of thing that would attract the attention of the SAU. Frustration, and something far more dangerous boiled through him. “I’m afraid she’s attracted the attention of our enemies.”

“Fine,” Rios conceded. “I’ll go check on her.”

“No. You stay here.” Sinclair turned. “I’ll go.”

Rios scowled, folding his arms over his chest. Dressed in a Denver Broncos sweatshirt and a pair of loose sweatpants, he should have looked like a typical computer geek. But no one could miss the lethal power that smoldered in his golden eyes and crackled in the air around his lean body.

“You just got back,” he said.

Weariness wrapped around Sinclair like a shroud. He’d barely slept in the past two weeks. But there was no way in hell he was staying here when Mira might need him.

“I’m aware of that,” he forced himself to retort. “I promise I’ll shower and change before I head out.”

Rios refused to be distracted. “That’s not what I meant.”

Sinclair heaved a sigh. “Just spit it out, Rios.”

Rios took a step forward. “You’re the Alpha.”

“And?”

“And if this female’s been compromised then you can’t risk exposing yourself,” Rios said, the air prickling with the heat of the younger male’s inner cat. “Not until we’ve done our Grand Reveal.”

Sinclair blinked. “Grand Reveal?”

Rios gave a wave of his hands. “Every turning point in history has a name,” he explained. “D-Day. Remember the Alamo. Let them eat cake.”

“Hmm.” Sinclair had to admit that the next few days promised to become the stuff written in textbooks. But he wasn’t fond of the title. A grand reveal sounded more like something that happened in a strip club. “I might have to re-think our history program.”

Rios moved to grab Sinclair’s shoulder. “Your place is here, Sinclair,” he said in low tones. “Let someone else take care of the female.”

Sinclair’s hands clenched, the need to find Mira becoming an overwhelming compulsion.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

That was the question, wasn’t it?

Over the past couple of months, he’d become increasingly…aware of Mira. The delicate scent of her skin. The rebellious corkscrew curls that she tried to keep tamed in a braid. The pale skin that he ached to lick from head to toe.

Still, he hadn’t realized just how deeply she’d managed to dig beneath his skin until his calls to her had gone unanswered.

Suddenly, she’d gone from a tool in his plot to save his people, to a vital part of his existence.

How or why, or what it truly meant, wasn’t something he was going to consider.

Not until he was sure she was safe.

“I was the reason she agreed to help us,” he said. “If she’s in trouble, it’s my fault.”

Of course, the damned jaguar wasn’t satisfied. A part of the reason he was second-in-command was the fact that he was capable of sensing hidden emotions.

Which was why he spent so much time alone with his computers.

“You’re a leader,” Rios said. “You can’t be responsible for the decisions made by all of your followers.”

A part of him understood the logic. He had a hundred shifters in his Pack, plus even more allies that were hidden amongst the humans to act as his spies.

Each of them accepted that being a part of the Unseen’s secret plot to destroy the SAU would put them in danger.

“Mira isn’t a follower.” He tried to explain the unexplainable. “She’s a human, not a member of our Pack. Hell, she’s not even a believer of our cause.”

Rios continued to study him with that assessing gaze. “I’m assuming you didn’t force her,” Rios drawled.

“Not technically.”

Rios lifted his brows. “Is there a non-technical way to force someone?”

Sinclair swallowed a growl. Why had he never noticed just how annoying his companion could be?

“I used her attraction to me to coerce her into using her position at the CDC to get the intel we needed,” he admitted.

“Hey, my motto is use it or lose it,” Rios said.

Sinclair rolled his eyes. The handsome jaguar didn’t have to worry about losing it. He’d been breaking female hearts for years.

“I took advantage of her,” Sinclair said in grim tones.

“And now you feel guilty?”

He felt a lot of stuff. Most of it a tangle of emotions he wasn’t prepared to share with anyone.

“Yeah, I feel guilty,” he said.

Rios’s teasing expression settled into somber lines as his hand tightened on Sinclair’s shoulder.

“I get that,
amigo
. But if something happened to you-”

“Then you would take my place,” Sinclair interrupted. “But nothing is going to happen. I’m going to find Mira and bring her here. End of story.”

With a curse, Rios accepted the inevitable. Taking a step back, he squared his shoulders. He might argue with Sinclair when he thought the older male was wrong, but he never forgot who was the Alpha.

Sinclair’s word was law.

“How can I help?” he asked.

“We’re on the clock,” Sinclair said. He, better than anyone, understood that they had limited time to turn public opinion in their direction before the SAU decided that genocide was the only way to control the animals they both feared and hated. “I want you to collect all the intel we have and streamline it into one cohesive document.”

Rios nodded, already distracted as he considered the vast amount of work waiting for him.

“Okay. Is that all?”

Sinclair braced himself. He knew his next request was going to ignite Rios’s very short fuse.

“Then I want you to work with Bree so she fully understands the timeline, as well as the evidence that we have to back up our claims.”

Golden eyes smoldered with the power of his cat as Rios’s breath hissed between his teeth—almost as if he’d been punched in the stomach.

“You can’t be serious.”

Sinclair shrugged. He’d never asked what’d happened between his top lieutenant and the female wolf who passed herself off as a human and worked as a newscaster at a Denver television station.

He just knew that when the two were in the same room, the air prickled with a heat that indicated a desire for naked, sweaty sex…or murder.

Unfortunately, Sinclair didn’t have a choice but to force the two to work together.

“She’s our PR point person, and the only one with access to the media,” he said, his voice warning that he wasn’t offering a suggestion. It was an order. Period. “Who else would we trust to do our…” He grimaced as he tried to remember Rios’s name for the upcoming battle. “Grand Reveal?”

“Fine,” the younger man said.

“This is important, Rios,” he warned. “She’s going to stand before millions of people and denounce the SAU. She has to be fully prepared to answer any question. Got it?”

Rios dipped his head, a bead of sweat trailing down his cheek as Sinclair’s power thundered through the air.

“Got it.”

Less than two hours later, Sinclair was driving his pickup through the streets of Fort Collins. Like most cities, the town was a weird combination of abandoned homes, burned businesses, and tiny pockets of civilization that struggled to remain impervious to the destruction around them.

Slowing, he turned into the little cul-de-sac that had six small homes tucked behind white picket fences. He pulled into Mira’s driveway, turning off the engine as he studied his surroundings.

He half expected Mira to peek out the window, or even open her front door to see who was visiting. When nothing happened, he climbed out of the truck and made a quick sweep around the small brick house with white shutters and a narrow porch complete with a swing.

Nothing looked out of place, but Sinclair’s inner wolf was on full alert as he entered the garage to find her car. There was no scent of Mira inside. Which meant that she was out with friends who’d picked her up. Or…

He gave a sharp shake of his head as he moved to break the lock on the door leading into her house. He couldn’t let his seething fear distract him. Not when he was increasingly convinced that Mira was in trouble.

He wouldn’t do her any damned good if he walked into a trap.

Entering the kitchen, he noticed the lack of dishes. Even the coffee pot was empty. Silently, he moved past the table that was located near the back door, as if Mira preferred to look outside while she was eating.

An odd pang tugged at his heart. He came from a large, noisy Pack, who often ate together in the communal center of the den. The thought of Mira seated alone at the table cut through him like a knife.

Ignoring his strange reaction, Sinclair moved into the living room, the hair on the back of his nape rising at the unmistakable scent of Mira’s blood. A red mist of fury threatened to cloud his brain, and a howl locked in his throat.

Mira had been hurt.

Someone—or many many someones—was going to pay.

It took several minutes to regain command of his composure. Then, fiercely reassuring himself that there wasn’t enough blood to have been from a grievous wound, he headed into the bedroom that carried the light floral scent that belonged distinctly to Mira. 

He was searching for any hint of who might have taken her, along with assuring himself she wasn’t sharing her intimate space with another male, when he caught the sound of the front door being pushed open.

In the blink of an eye, he was back in the living room, moving across the hardwood floor with blinding speed. Just as quickly, he was grasping the intruder by the arms and lifting her off her feet to pin her against the wall.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

The gently rounded face of a human woman in her mid-thirties flushed with fear, her brown eyes that matched her short hair going wide as she gazed down at his feral expression.