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Carter

~~

I couldn't believe that Trinity, my cousin, the girl that should be my sister, had been taken. And by the Beta no less. I never trusted him, but I never trust anyone so that was hardly a surprise to anyone else. I was livid that her guards hadn't stopped her from leaving the house, that they weren't there to protect her. But, then again, she had left with someone that they would have trusted. Apparently no one but me and the Alpha had reason not to trust the Beta. But, dammit, I was still pissed off.

Then, in the course of trying to track down my lost little Trinity, we found out where she was most likely at. Or, at least some where she was near. And that was the last place I wanted to go right now.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to go there and sweep my mate off her feet. I wanted nothing more than to go and be with her, but it wasn't the right time yet. I needed to find my family first. I needed to settle this.

But, I was also nervous. I had only met Bryce once during my time in the canyons, and there was no telling if he would recognize me or not. If he did, would he be angry that I was now travelling with the Alpha of another pack? Would he resent me?

Then, if he did recognize me, when I come back for my mate, would he chase me away? Would he fight me for the right to mate with the woman that the Goddess herself said is the only one for me? Would he stand in our way and stop us from being together?

I was scared, I didn't know what to do? I didn't know who to be at the moment. Should I put on my nomad facade and pretend to be who I was before? Or should I tell the truth of who I am and come clean about my mating with Bryce's daughter?

The prospects, the options, none of them were appealing to me. And I was afraid to see her, to let her see me and know we've mated but to not have the time right now. Even if they were to accept me I had to find Trinity first. My family took priority here. GAH! What the hell am I going to do?

All this emotional back and forth has had me twisted up into knots. What the hell am I supposed to do? My wolf was even taking over for me to walk us to the canyons in the middle of the night. This was out of control.

I was sitting on the plane, flying toward the canyons, toward Bryce and his daughter, toward my possible doom, when Reece came over and clapped me on my shoulder before he sat down next to me.

"Is something wrong?" He asked as he gave me an appraising look.

"No." I answered apprehensively. My eyes avoided his.

"Are you worried about Trinity? Or about the fight?" He was focused on his mate, my cousin, our shared family that linked us. If it wasn't for Trinity then I would never trust this man sitting before me, Alpha or not.

"No, neither of those. I know we will find Trinity, and I will kill anyone who hurt her." I spoke calmly, evenly, as I made this declaration. And it was true too, I would kill anyone who was responsible for hurting my family. Even Noah, though I'd never tell him that.

"Then what?" He looked confused as he stared at my tense expression.

"I'm just not looking forward to seeing certain people tonight." I whispered these honest words to him.

"Ahh." He seemed to understand now. "You're worried they will know you lied to them."

"Basically." I hung my head in shame.

"Well, basically you did, but we can smooth things over eventually. But you can always claim to have left and settled in my pack after leaving their pack." He was trying to give me an option, an out, that would help me to make things work.

"True." I thought for a moment. "That might stop some people from hating me." I laughed apprehensively.

"Oh, Reece." Noah called out to him and I stopped listening after that. I needed time to prepare my mental defenses before I came face to face with my mate, and her crazy Alpha father.

Before I was ready, before I was mentally prepared with titanium brain shields, it was time for us to land. And there was no hesitating before going to the pack house. Nope, Bryce had sent along a couple of his lackeys to pick us up at the small private airstip. Oh joy!

We piled into the cars, I could even smell a small trace of my mate inside. She had ridden in this car before. She most likely sat on this seat at some point. Why did that make me smile and want to run away at the same time?

I watched as the Alpha house loomed in front of us, coming nearer and nearer and bringing with it my impending doom.

The front yard still held her scent, traces of it tickling my nose. The entry hall was nearly unbearable. It was obvious that she lived in this house with how strong and overwhelming the scent was. How did other men stand it? How did being around their mate's smell not drive them wild and insane on a daily basis?

The deeper into the house we went, the stronger her scent was. I was going to die with the over abundance of it. My wolf had longed to smell this scent again for so long and now he was howling with joy at the back of my mind. This was bliss and torture all at once.

The good thing was, that Bryce didn't seem to recognize me. It could have been that there was just too much going on, it could have been that he just really didn't remember me because we only met once for like ten seconds. I was hoping for the latter because then I might be able to smooth this over later.

We spent hours discussing the mission that would be taking place. The house and surrounding area that Reece had seen in his vision from the mate mark. Bryce worked mostly with Reece, Noah, and Vincent. The rest of us were working with Bryce's Beta, Gamma, and son.

Jordan, Bryce's son, had been there that day when I had seen my mate. I remembered his voice and his face. I desperately wanted to talk to him about his sister, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. What would I say anyway?

"Jordan isn't it?" My grandfather cut in to speak to the man sitting in front of me. He was around Noah's age, putting him maybe three or four years older than me.

"Yes, Sir?" Jordan spoke politely and with the respect that a former Beta would deserve. He might even remember my Grandfather from back when Reece's father was the Alpha.

"How have things been? I have not seen you or your family in quite a few years? How's your mother, Bree wasn't that her name? Then there were your sisters, Emmalee and the little one, I don't quite remember her name, she was just a baby when I was last here."

"Katie." Jordan was smiling at my grandfather now.

"Yes, that's it, Katie, she was quite the spunky little one. And your sister Emmalee was such a beauty."

"She still is, especially if you listen to her." Jordan laughed. "Everyone is wonderful, thank you for asking. My father always did appreciate the visits that you and the former Alpha of your pack used to make."

"That's good to know. I would like for our packs to be allies once again."

"That would probably help us out too. After the death of your former Alpha, my father stopped trusting anyone. Things have not been the greatest with us trying to isolate ourselves. I would like to see things move in a positive light."

"That sounds like something a great future Alpha would say." My grandfather clapped the other man on the shoulder, eliciting a smile from the younger man. This was not how I viewed my grandfather. He had made Trinity's life hell. He had forbidden her from doing everything. I partially blamed him for this whole mess too. This was just such a surreal experience.

But, my grandfather had opened the floor to discussion. I could talk about Jordan's family without looking like I was prying too much.

"Where is your family?" I asked him, trying to sound offhanded and not truly interested.

"When your Alpha called and explained what had happened and what he wanted, my dad sent my mom and sisters to stay with family for a couple nights. He doesn't want them here if something bad were to go down."

"That was a good decision. Don't need women getting in trouble or being put in danger."

"Like your Luna." I wanted to growl at those words, I wanted to smack him for saying that.

"Exactly like our Luna. But we will find her and I will kill the bastards that took her."

"Why are you so gung ho about it?" he looked at me like I was some strange beast.

"My Luna, Trinity, is my cousin." I spoke carefully, making sure I kept my tone even, I was getting too angry as I thought about what had happened to her.

"Oh." He looked like he wanted to console me after he said that one word but he managed to hold himself back. "I promise, we will do all we can to help you." He gave a nod of his head and the determined look in his eyes told me he was a good man. I was glad my mate had a sensible older brother like him.

We had a plan set and were ready to start the search first thing in the morning. It had been a long, long night. But then we found out the next morning that Reece had been given a mate mark by Trinity. This was a revelation to us all. If Trinity could give a mark then she must have a wolf, something no one even considered to be possible anymore.

After an interesting conversation that morning, we went in search of the house, and found it later in the day.

We managed to take the house by storm, blitzing the warlocks and wolves that were hiding out there. Reece, Noah, and Vincent were the ones who had gone in search of Trinity in the basement.

Thankfully, they had found her, but they needed to battle their way in and out. Also, we learned that the Beta wasn't the only pack member behind the abduction. The two replaced guards and a female that didn't approve of my cousin mating with the Alpha had assisted in the kidnapping. They all paid with their lives, as did the warlocks that tortured Trinity. The only one who made it out was their leader, who also happened to be Trinity's father, a powerful warlock named Gannon Edmond. Hopefully, it was the last we would ever see of him.

After the fight was over, we went back to Bryce's pack house. Trinity had shifted into her wolf and was unconscious.

I was nervous and scared that Bryce's daughter would be back at any time now. But I managed to see Trinity the next morning and rush out of there, heading home, before she could see me and know that I had been part of an enemy pack spying on their family when I scented her. When I got the chance, I would come back and finish this mating for real.

Until then, I just had to calm my wailing wolf.