Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1) (11 page)

He growled, and then tickled her side before she could move out of the way. She giggled against her will. “Stop it.”

He stopped and captured one of her hands in his. “I need to know, Kaya. Do you forgive me for being an idiot and abandoning you, literally, to a pack of wolves at our mating engagement ceremony?”

~~~

Sy held his breath as he waited for Kaya to answer. This was about more than being able to date her or fuck her again. If she forgave him, it could be the beginning of a future he’d long given up. One of having a mate and maybe even cubs, and having someone he could stand beside as an equal, but also take care of.

Even if she said yes, nothing was guaranteed, but just the chance of reclaiming Kaya as his own was good enough for now.

Kaya squeezed his hand and said, “Yes. I forgive you.”

He would focus one-hundred-and-ten percent on Markgen, but only after he kissed her.

Sy leaned over, raised his hand to her face, and lowered his lips to hers. After a long, lingering kiss, he pulled away to see a smile on Kaya’s face. He smiled in return. “I couldn’t help it. I had to kiss you.”

“I know.” She put a hand on his cheek and caressed his skin with her thumb. His inner cougar purred. “But the conversation about what any of this means will have to wait. Let’s go upstairs. I’ll tell you more about Markgen and we can come up with a plan.”

“We? The fierce alpha wolf is going to allow the kitty cat to help her?”

She smiled. “Well, your nine lives will come in handy, if nothing else.”

He grinned, kissed her one more time, and then unlocked the doors. “I think I have six of them left, and if you play your cards right, I might just give one or two of them to you.”

Kaya shook her head and he slipped out of the car. As they made their way to the elevator, he placed a hand on the small of her back. With the heat of his wolf-shifter against his palm, something around his heart lightened.

With the possibility of this woman coming naked into his arms again, as well as her blossoming trust, Sy was happier than he’d been in a long time. He only hoped his luck would last.

Chapter Nine

When Kaya finished telling Sy the ins and outs of GreyFire’s relationship with Markgen, she said, “While you could try to find someone to help us sneak inside their research facility, that would take precious time to put together and I believe there is an easier way to get information. I could set up a meeting to tour and inspect the facility. That way I could park a car in their lot with the necessary equipment and personnel to try and hack into their wireless network for information. If whoever sent the pup wasn’t bright enough to cover their tracks on the flash drive, then they probably won’t suspect shifters are smart enough to try and hack their emails or personal files.”

Sy leaned back in his chair. “Wouldn’t scheduling a meeting seem suspicious, though? That all of the sudden you want to visit this company you haven’t visited in years. If the person who designed the unnamed virus is there, it will set off all kinds of red flags.”

She shook her head. “Not really. I’ve been talking about a visit for months now. I need to meet the doctor in charge of the clinical trials and one of his superiors to finalize the profit percentages for each party, in case we get FDA approval. I think tiptoeing around Markgen will cause a bigger red flag than carrying on with business as usual.”

“You mentioned having someone in the car to hack their network, which I assume you’ll need my help to obtain, but would you be going inside the facility alone?”

“Yes to needing your help for a hacker, but no to going alone. I would need to bring some of GreyFire’s researchers to help with the negotiations.” He opened his mouth and she cut him off. “Having a cougar-shifter there would bring up too many questions. You know that.”

Sy fell silent and Kaya tried not to hold her breath. The glint of shifter alpha male protectiveness was there in his eyes. How he handled this situation would tell her if he could handle her position as clan leader.

Sy finally said, “I know I can’t go, and that kills me, but I trust you. If you think you can handle it, I believe you. All I ask is to have a contingency plan in case the virus is being stored there and you’re exposed.”

A sense of relief filled her at his answer and she nodded. “Of course.” Kaya was about to lay out her plans when her cell phone rang and she answered, “Hello?”

“Kaya, it’s Erika. We have a situation. While the infected pup was transferred successfully last night to our quarantine lab, the pup is now missing. We think someone broke into the lab and stole her.”

Kaya frowned. “What?”

“No one knows who did it. Some of the sentries swept the area for evidence, but nothing unusual came up. I know you left me in charge, but this is big. What do you want me to do?”

Shit.
Any of the wolves who came into contact with the pup could be infected. The virus was airborne as long as the infected wolf was still alive.

But she couldn’t form a plan without more information. “How long has the pup been missing?”

“The last observation was two hours ago.”

“Are any of the clan vehicles missing?”

“No. Jonathan has been trying to track the pup and mysterious thief, but whoever it was, they’re good. He hasn’t been able to determine if they’re still inside the den or if they’re out in the forest. I have someone talking with Kian right now to see if DarkStalker can help us. But Kaya, what should I do? The logical choice is to impose quarantine, but if the thief is still in the den, it’ll let them know we’ve discovered the theft, which will give them time to hide. If the person is in the woods and we ban anyone from leaving the den, we wouldn’t be able to go after them unless Kian’s people helped.”

Neither of the choices were ideal, but Kaya still didn’t have enough information. “I’m going to call Kian right now and then call you back. While I do that, don’t alert anyone to the situation who doesn’t need to know.”

Kaya clicked off her phone and turned to Sy. “Did you catch the conversation?”

He nodded. “Even in human form, my hearing is pretty good. I’m sure Kian will help, but if you want me to talk to him, I can.”

“That would be easier, but if I want to ensure this alliance will work, I need to do it.” She scrolled through her contacts. “But if you can come up with a few ideas of how to flush out the thief, I’ll be happy to hear them when I’m done.”

Sy nodded and Kaya put the phone to her ear. Kian picked up on the second ring. “Kaya?”

“Kian.” She filled in the holes of what he didn’t know and said, “I know the decision to try to make this alliance more than something written on paper happened only days ago, but I need your help. The best way to contain all of this is to quarantine GreyFire’s den. The researchers there will continue to work on a cure, but I need to stay here and work on finding the source, just in case they can’t come up with anything. However, I can only do this if you’re willing to search the woods to look for the thief, just in case he or she escaped.”

The line was silent for a second before Kian said, “I will, but only on two conditions.”

She hadn’t expected anything less. “What conditions?”

“When all of this is over and your clan is safe and virus-free, I want us to sit down and pen out a closer alliance treaty.”

So far, so good. “And the other condition?”

“We’re also going to hold a gathering of both of our clans before the winter snow sets in.”

That was going to be harder to pull off. “Yes to the first condition, and I’ll try my best for the second. While I can get my people to attend the gathering, I can’t guarantee they’ll enjoy it or not try to provoke fights with some of your cougars.”

She could hear the amusement in Kian’s voice. “I expect my people to act about the same, but a fight or two might actually bring them closer together.”

She decided not to question his male logic right now. “So, does this mean you’re going to help?”

“Yes. Give me twenty minutes to organize teams, and then start your quarantine. Also, if there are any of your sentries who are out on duty and need anything while they’re stuck living in the small sentry shelters, they just have to ask.”

It didn’t surprise Kaya that Kian knew the logistics of her perimeter guard. “I really appreciate this, Kian.”

“No worries. Just take care of my brother and try to find the source, and hopefully, the cure.”

Before she could answer, the line went dead.

Rather than focus on that comment, she called Erika and explained the situation. With everything in place on her land, she turned off the phone and turned toward Sylas.

~~~

Sy watched and listened as Kaya calmly set things up with his brother and laid out a plan. Even with a pending disaster, she was quick-witted and cool under pressure. She deserved to be clan leader.

But he forced his mind to focus. Kaya had asked for ideas, and he needed to prove he could be of use to her.

He kept one ear on her conversations to keep track of the new information while he went through the possibilities of how the thief had broken in. Then something hit him, something that Kaya had overlooked.

He waited until she finished talking with her second-in-command. When she turned toward him, he said without preamble, “What if the thief didn’t steal the pup for malicious purposes? Every clan has a soft heart or three who takes in the strays. Could one of your wolves have heard about the pup and found a way to get it out?”

“It’s possible, but wolves as a whole are softhearted when it comes to pups. It’s nearly impossible to pin it down to one or two people.”

He nodded toward her phone. “Give Erika a list to check out, and not just the softhearted ones, but also for any parents who have recently lost a child.”

He waited to see if she’d question his suggestion, but she merely nodded. “Okay, I’ll talk with Erika about that. I also need to find out which researchers are clear of the den to join me in a meeting with Markgen, as well as organize my sentries currently on guard.” She paused and he raised an eyebrow in question. She sighed. “I hate to ask you this, as you’re much more than an errand boy, but if I’m going to make it through all of this without fainting, I could use some coffee and something to eat. Could you help me out and get something for me? I don’t care what, as long as it’s edible.”

He could see how asking him to do this was difficult, but just the fact she’d asked him at all seemed important. Sy didn’t think she asked for help often enough.

He stood up, walked over to her, and framed her lovely, bronze face with his hands. At his touch, her breath hitched and he wished he could act on it. Instead, he said, “Never be afraid to ask me for help, Kaya.” He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. “Although, I may ask for a few favors along the way.”

She frowned. “Favors? I had expected better of you, Sylas—”

He shut her up with a kiss, sucking her bottom lip between his and biting gently. Then he slipped his tongue inside her mouth and tangled with hers for a few seconds before he retreated and said, “I think you’ll like the favors I want to ask for in return. Consider your kiss a down payment.” He gave her one more quick kiss. “I’ll get you some food and coffee, and later you can let me devour you until I’ve had my fill.”

Color flushed her cheeks. “Sy.”

He grinned and released her. “I’ll take that as yes, you’ll let me. Now, do what you need to do to save your clan. I have my cell if something comes up, but I’ll be back soon.”

She reached out and grabbed his hand. “Wait, before you go. Do you think Dave would help us, or at least know someone trustworthy who could?”

“For hacking into Markgen’s network?” Kaya nodded and he continued. “Maybe. When you call him, try mentioning my name and the word ‘burning dawn’.”

She gave him a wry look. “You have a secret code phrase? Seriously?”

Sy shrugged. “It works. He’ll still call me to double-check, but the phrase will make him more apt to believe you.”

She released his hand. “Okay, fine. Can you give me his number?” After he rattled off Dave’s number, she smiled up at him. “Thanks, Sy.”

He cupped her cheek, and then ran his hand to the back of her neck and squeezed. “Anything else?”

She shook her head. “No. Just be careful. Whoever is behind this is probably watching us.”

“No worries. I’m always careful, Kaya-love.”

She smiled at the old endearment. With herculean effort, he released his grip and she started dialing. As he went to grab his wallet, Sy couldn’t stop smiling. Even in private, Kaya was letting him touch her at will. If that wasn’t a good enough sign, she had also asked for his help. If they could just get this damn assignment over with, he could start figuring out a way to win her over for good.

For now, he would have to settle with doing errands and supporting her however he could to prove how serious he was about wanting her. Hopefully, with time, she’d trust him with much more.

Smiling at that thought, he went out the door and headed down the stairs.