Hidden Destiny (Redwood Pack) (6 page)

“What?” he whispered, his voice raw. “How…how can that happen? I can
feel
you baby. I
know
we can be mates. How the fuck are you still mated?”

She shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

A broken one.

“Tell me, please. I need to know.”

She tried to hold back, but the tears in his eyes broke her all over again.

Oh God, this man, this strong man with a wolf that had to be stronger than any she’d seen from the way he shifted to the way she felt it prowl against her like an Alpha without a Pack, was crying,
crying
, for her.

For them.

Damn the Fates.

Damn.

Them.

To.

Hell.

“I’m already mated, North…but not fully.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand,” he whispered.

“It…it’s not a full mating because I didn’t mark him. He…he forced me into the mating to begin with.”

North’s eyes widened, and then he took a step toward her, the darkness and fury in his eyes pulling at her. “What. The.
Fuck
?”

“He…Parker’s father…he knew we were potential mates, and he took my will. He forced me to mate with him. He couldn’t force me to bite him though, so he used a special herb and black magic to break the Fates’ will as well. That’s how Parker was conceived. That’s how I’m mated but not. That’s why I can feel you in my heart and my soul, and you can do the same. That’s why we can’t mate…at least while Parker’s father…or sperm donor…is alive.”

North swallowed hard. “Who’s Parker’s father, Lexi?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. Please…” Her voice broke. “Please don’t make me tell you.”

He pulled her closer to him and gripped her chin again, forcing her gaze to his. “Tell me, Lexi. Tell me who I have to kill. I’m going to kill that man for taking you against your will. I’m going to kill that man for taking you away from me before I even knew you existed. Tell me.”

He wasn’t going to be able to kill that man.

No one could.

That was the problem.

They’d all tried and failed.

That’s why she’d been kicked out of the Talons like the other woman before her.

Bay’s mother.

The man who could have been her future held her in his arms, and she couldn’t have him. No matter what he’d said, she knew he didn’t want damaged goods. He wouldn’t want whatever she’d become because of…that man.

“Tell me, Lexi.”

She took a deep breath. This was it. She’d tell him, and her life would be in his hands. Her family would be in his hands.

She looked into those green eyes of his one more time, needing to cement that image in her mind forever. God, it could have been good between them.

“Corbin. Corbin Reyes.”

He blinked at her once then left her standing alone.

It was done.

She was lost.

He was going to fucking kill somebody if he didn’t let out the rage, the darkness, soon. North’s wolf clawed at him, aching for a run, a fight,
something
. When his wolf would calm down for a few seconds between breaths, it would howl in pain, in anguish.

Bile rose in his throat, but he ignored it, ignored the burn, the heat.

This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen.

He knew how mates were supposed to find each other and find their happy endings—or whatever crap his sisters-in-law spouted. He’d thought he knew his destiny.

He was the last single Jamenson brother.

He wasn’t supposed to find
her,
only to find out he would never get the chance to have her.

He’d blinked at Lexi when she’d said
that
name. Fucking blinked and walked away without saying a damn word. He left her standing in the room, her pain radiating off her like it had a tangible essence.

“Fuck!” North yelled, his chest heaving. A thin trail of sweat rolled down his back, and he fisted his hands. He needed to run on four paws and get the adrenaline out of his system. If he didn’t…he wouldn’t be able to control his actions.

His wolf knew this.

The man didn’t want to think about it.

He stood on the edge of where the forest met the open area for the den’s homes. The full moon was long past so it wasn’t the goddess calling him to run. Wolves didn’t need to shift with the moon anyway. They only shifted when they needed to and did on the nights of the full moon as tradition when they could.

Now, though, North needed to
move
.

He pulled his shirt over his head, toed off his shoes, and shucked off his pants in swift movements, leaving a trail of clothes behind him as he moved.

Then he shifted.

It was painful as hell—the same way it was for all wolves.

However, unlike other wolves, he didn’t need to get on all fours and wait for the change to happen.

No, he could run while he shifted.

His wolf was special that way.

He took off on two feet and ended up on four paws. They pounded into the dirt as he picked up speed. He let the light of the crescent moon wash over him, touching his fur through the trees. He jumped over a fallen log and moved even faster.

He just needed to run.

To feel free.

To forget the worries that attacked his soul, his future.

North let the wolf take over, the other part of himself darker, stronger than he’d let others know. His wolf wasn’t evil…far from it. No, his wolf was more primal than even the most dominant of wolves. Yes, all wolves were animals, but werewolves were sentient beings that had full-on conversations with their human halves. His wolf tended to think and act like a true wolf recognizing only prey and not-prey, and the most basic ways to fight battles. Not with words, but with claws and teeth. He knew his wolf stayed at the surface, unlike others. He knew his connection to his wolf was different. He didn’t need to speak to his wolf and hear its thoughts like his brothers. No, his wolf would control him if North wasn’t careful.

He was
always
careful.

He’d almost killed Maddox when they were boys because he hadn’t been careful. He could still remember the shocked look on his twin’s face, a mirror image of his own. North had backed off quickly then ran for his life, afraid Maddox would tell their father and Alpha that North had no control over his wolf.

He’d underestimated his twin though.

Maddox hadn’t told their father what had happened only letting North know that he would if it happened again.

Their twin bond was far stronger than the familiar bonds that held their family together, and though North was grateful for the reprieve, it didn’t make him feel any better about how strong his wolf was.

He ran at an unforgiving pace for over an hour, the scents of forest and its scared inhabitants rushing over him. The prey knew a predator was in their midst and were right to be afraid.

The burn in his muscles echoed the one in his heart, but he couldn’t stop. He needed something more, something to take the darkness from him, but he didn’t know what.

Another scent hit him hard, and he slowed down.

Logan seemed eager to join him for some reason.

Fuck.

North turned on a dime, still in wolf form, hackles raised.

Logan burst through the trees, his black wolf form large and intimidating.

Well, at least it would be intimidating for most.

North wasn’t most.

Logan stopped in front of him, his fangs bared.

North lunged.

His teeth scraped against Logan’s neck but didn’t sink in. He didn’t want to kill the man, only get rid of the rage. Logan pivoted out of the way and nipped at North’s flank. North pulled back and growled, wanting, no,
needing
, to fight.

Logan nodded then moved.

North met him in the middle and clawed at him, the tips of his claws scraping against the flesh beneath Logan’s fur.

They nipped, clawed, and growled at each other, both of them pulling back at just the right moment so they wouldn’t draw blood.

The burn felt good across his skin as the rage poured out of him. Logan growled and started to shift to human form, surprising North.

North changed as well, though faster than the other man.

Not by much though, which again surprised him.

It seemed Logan held secrets of his own.

Before North could blink, he ducked Logan’s fist.

The fight was over on four paws, but not two feet.

North swung his arm, connecting with Logan’s chin. Logan’s head rocked back before he kicked North in the thigh. North’s stance didn’t waver, and he punched the man in the stomach. The breath whooshed out of Logan before he twisted, and North took a fist to the jaw as well.

They fought, fists smashing against flesh, their kicks aiming at parts they wouldn’t break. It wasn’t lost on North that they were both very naked fighting each other, but nudity didn’t matter to wolves. He didn’t even know why he thought about it then.

Finally, they each took a step back, both bruised and bleeding from where their punches, kicks, and claws had hit.

“Feel better?” Logan rasped out, his breath uneven.

Considering they’d both fought to the fullest they could without actually killing each other, North was out of breath too.

The darkness, though, had receded. The run and battle had helped.

It just didn’t help everything.

“Some,” he said, his breath finally even.

“You want to tell me what the fuck that was about?” Logan asked.

They both sat down on the grass between the trees, not bothering to cover up since they didn’t have clothing. Neither looked at the other.

“What do you mean?” North had assumed Lexi had told Logan that he’d broken her—or at least hurt her—and Logan had found him to kick his ass.

He’d have done the same to any bastard who’d done anything like that to Cailin.

“Fuck. I felt your rage from the other side of the house. I left Parker with Lexi and ran to find you.”

North blinked. That hadn’t been what he’d been expecting. His family usually didn’t feel his rage, his darkness. He could hide it from everyone because it seemed only like the strength of his wolf. The only position in the Pack he normally wouldn’t have been able to hide from was the Omega. However, since Maddox was his twin and his brother could
never
feel him, North was able to hide.

Logan, though, there was something wrong with that.

The other wolf let out a breath. “I’m not saying that I have a power to do that, North. My wolf is just closer to the surface than most—same as yours. That’s why I felt it. I was also watching out because if you were to hurt my sister, I’d kill you.”

“I’m not going to hurt Lexi,” he whispered, knowing that was true. No matter what happened or how he dealt with the impact of her confession, he wouldn’t hurt her.

He
couldn’t
hurt her.

“Are you sure about that?” the other man asked, rubbing a hand through his hair. Logan winced and looked at the cut on his inner arm. “How the hell did you cut me here?”

North ignored the first part of Logan’s statement, unable to deal with exactly what Lexi’s brother had meant, and raised a brow. “I’m better, stronger, faster, and cleverer than you?”

Logan snorted. “You can tell yourself anything you want so you can sleep at night, but don’t lie to me.”

“You don’t think I’m better, stronger, faster, and cleverer than you?”

Logan let out a breath, all traces of humor gone from his face. As it was, North had long since lost the humor of this situation. In fact, there wasn’t any. He was just sitting in the middle of the forest with the brother of the woman he’d not only hurt, but lost before he’d even known he’d had a shot.

Fate fucking sucked.

A lot.

“North, what the fuck happened?”

“Don’t you already know?”

Logan’s gaze met his, the angry burning there almost scalding. “I know what she was planning on telling you. I know that she’s been through hell and back because of others. I’ve had to sit back and let her take it without being able to do anything about it because I love my sister more than anything. I know that I’ve had to kill to protect my family, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I know that I left Parker with his mother because she needed someone to hold on to when I came after you, but she will only comfort him and not take his comfort because she doesn’t like to break down—no, she
won’t
—break down in front of her son…or anyone.

“So, yes, I do
know
a few things, but why don’t you lay it out for me?”

The fury slicing across North’s body was nothing compared to the anguish lying beneath Logan’s words. The man could do nothing for his sister more than he already had, and it was killing him.

“I’m going to kill him, Logan,” North began.

“Apparently it’s fated and all that shit, so it better fucking happen,” Logan spat. “Tell me what happened with Lexi, not what’s going to happen in the future. We’ll get to that in a minute.”

“You didn’t just ask her?”

“No. I came after you because I felt that anger. I wanted to take care of it or at least have it directed at me rather than my sister.” He let out a tired breath. “I’d do anything for my family, North.”

“I’d do the same for mine.”

“Then we understand each other. Tell me. Tell me what happened.”

North swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face, wincing as he brushed against his cut lip. He would heal within the hour, at least that small cut, due to his strength and being a werewolf, but the pain helped him focus.

“I thought we were mates. Hell, I thought that I was
finally
going to get what my brothers had. I stayed away when she first came here, or at least as far away as I could, because you guys were just settling in, but I never expected to be forced to stay away forever.”

“She told you to stay away forever then?”

North frowned. “No. Not exactly. Shit. I don’t know. Jesus, Logan. How the hell could this have happened?”

“He fucking took her from our home and raped her, North,” Logan spat. “The Talons, under our old Alpha at least, were weak. At least weaker than the rest of you. Corbin saw her, wanted her despite her protests, and took everything he could from her. Everything.”