RAIDEN ||

I finally have my pups back in my arms, but I didn't expect for him to relay such shocking news about the man I thought had harmed him in some way.

The moment Onyx and I seen the mystery man and Taj standing in front of my pups and another man, we lurched forward, wanting nothing more than to tear apart the men that were keeping our mate from us, but my pups stopped us. He pleaded with us, he wanted to protect the mystery man, he wasn't upset with the fact that Gabe was here instead of back in the pack where he said he would be.

"What?!" I ask my pups in disbelief.

"Liam is my father." He says, making my attention shoot to the man behind him again.

"Explain."

After Liam tells some of his warriors to get clothes for the pride, we take them gratefully and get dressed quickly before he leads us into what I could only assume was his packhouse.

Then Dylan explained everything that happened once they left the pack, the fight with the rogue, the scouting of the first camp, the long journey to the silver river, the fact he thought it was a good idea to split everyone up in different groups.

I growled at him when he told me that. Dylan knew what I asked of him, stay safe, be careful, stay alert and stay with Hunter at all times, yet he couldn't follow my very simple instructions.

Pups quickly recovered his mistake by telling me that he was glad they split up because of what happened after. Apparently he thought I should be happy with the fact that Taj drugged him, then Gabe helped knock him out and cuff him to a table once they carried him back to this Shadow Pack.

His explanation of the events before he arrived here didn't make me feel any better, why the fuck would they? Why would I be happy with two men that I never trusted to begin with, hearing they drugged my mate, put their hands on him and then cuffed him, completely holding him hostage!

I shook my head and tried to grab Taj from behind my pups, but he quickly grabbed me and forced me to listen again.

Pups told me that what Gabe and Taj did was for good reason. I listened to the whole story of his time in some room here and what the wolves told him about the past of his pack.

Shock was the only emotion I felt as I listened to my beautiful mate's words.

Taj is a fucking black leopard. I knew something was off about that guy, there's no good reason why he should have hid his scent. The fact that he was the leopard that Dylan's pack reported didn't surprise me at all once I learned his true identity.

Liam, the mystery man, is Dylan's father, Emilio is his first mate, the trauma of learning about Liam's life was hard to take in. Jade was his mate before Dean's. She left him and kept Dylan away from his true father his whole life. Liam watched him from the borders all of these years, that's freaking heartbreaking.

Hearing his story was like feeling the worst pain you've ever experienced in life. I couldn't even begin to imagine what he's been through, the heartache he's felt, the loneliness he's had to endure, the strength he's had to muster to get through everything that's been forced upon him.

I still didn't know why he left his pack though, pups only told me that he lost an alpha challenge with Dean and that Jade wouldn't come with him, keeping Dylan away from his father.

I looked back at Liam then and saw tears in his eyes as he stared back at me. The other man that stood behind Taj was watching me as well. I noticed he wasn't barring his weight on his right leg, his left eye had a huge scar across it and the pupil of his eye had turned white. He was tilting his head to the left, raising his right ear in the air.

I frowned at the resemblance he held to Dylan.

"Pups." I ask, never taking my eyes off the man behind Taj.

"Yes babe."

"Who is that?" I nod towards the man.

"My brother." My eyes shot to Dylan's as my frown deepened.

I knew my pups had a brother, Garrett, the little shit who I still had to fuck up for his participation in my misery, but the only other brother I knew he had was...

Wait a minute..

"That's Bennett." My eyes widen at my pups words before I look back at the man. I heard Avery scream behind me, I'm sure his reaction was based off the fact that the man in front of us was supposed to be dead.

That's when I noticed his arm was wrapped around Taj's waist, his grip tightened on Taj's shirt and he stepped even closer to Taj's back. Realization floods my mind as I watch their gestures towards each other. Taj leaned into Bennett's touch, the same fucking Bennett that was supposed to be dead and he sighed.

"He's your mate, isn't he?" I ask Taj, he nods confirming my suspicions.

Now all of his actions make sense. Hiding his scent, it wasn't just for his leopard, it was because he was coming for my mate and he didn't want the pack to smell Bennett. Taj's interest in my mate was for the sake of his own mate this whole time. He was getting information on Dylan's pack to learn the ins and outs so he could get my mate back here to his brother and his real father.

At some point, I would have to thank the man, but right now I was wondering if he was the only person responsible for what's happened.

"Pups, was it Taj that left those messages?"

"It was Taj and Gabe, but they did it for Liam. He was trying to get those messages to me and he needed inside help to do it." Pups smiled.

"So everything was for you, but from your father?" I ask, nodding towards the man in question.

"Yes babe, the messages weren't threats, they were to let me know that Liam had always been there and to let me know he loved me." Pups grabs my hands and kisses the back of them. "I'm happy Raiden, really happy and I've forgiven everyone involved because they did it for Liam, for me and for Bennett, everyone here wanted to help get me back to the pack I belong to."

I swallow before nodding, I could see the joy in my mate's eyes and if he could forgive those that did all of this, then I guess I could too.

"What did you mean the pack you belong to pups? Are you not supposed to be the alpha of your other pack?" I ask, he shakes his head then looks at his brother, who's supposed to be dead by the way.

"I'm supposed to the alpha of the Wolf's Claw pack." Bennett tells me.

"So why aren't you? How are you here and if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?"

Taj growls after my questioning and I raise my eyebrow at him before I hear the multitude of growls behind me. The lone leopard wouldn't get very far with his sudden aggression towards me while my family was here.

His eyes travel around the room, taking in every single feline that made up my pride and eventually he slumped back into his place on the couch, besides his mate. I nod in approval before looking back at Bennett.

"The truth was hard for Dylan to take in, but I hope you can process it a little better." Bennett says, shooting Dylan a look before explaining everything to me.

I listened to everything..

Bennett was 19 and Dylan 16 when it happened, wolves they thought were rogues had attacked their pack, come to find out, the wolves were never rogues, they were members of Liam's pack and they weren't attacking to kill, they only wanted to retrieve Bennett and Dylan to bring them to their father.

That day the pack fought together, but Dean and Jake split up from the others and said they were cornered by one end of the river, they called Bennett for help so he rushed to their aid. When he got there, no rogues were present, only Dean and Jake's wolves. As if I didn't already hate his mother for keeping Dylan from his true father, I listened to Bennett tell me that Dean and Jake, the men who raised him, attacked him, in such a way that they clearly attempted to kill him.

They tore into him so aggressively that he lost his hearing in one ear, his eyesight in one eye and lost the full usage of one of his legs. They held no mercy as they brutally attacked the boy they called their family, the boy that was to be their alpha and if that wasn't bad enough, when they thought they successfully killed him, they threw his body in the river.

All to hide their secret.

Suddenly the words of the man that attacked me that night made sense.

Tell Dylan not to trust those around him, some people would do anything to keep a secret.

Taj found Bennett 4 days later, on his solitary journey. Stumbling onto his mate the same way I stumbled upon mine. He attempted to heal Bennett and stayed there for the next 3 days, that's when Liam showed up. Taj fought him to protect his injured mate, but Liam asked him to command him for the truth and he did.

Liam brought Taj and Bennett back here to the Shadow pack, a place he's built all on his own after being forced to go rogue by Dean, Jake and his rogue wolves that surprisingly enough, make up the whole Wolf's Claw pack.

Dean and Jake ordered their warriors to slaughter everyone in Liam's old pack, his family, his friends, everyone except Emilio. The worst part about it all was that Jade knew and she didn't try to stop him.

If you ask me, Jade never actually loved Liam if she allowed Dean to come into his pack, slaughter everyone, take his first mate as a servant and kept his sons away from him. That woman is on shit list now, so pretty much Dylan's whole family, with the exception of Kaylie, are now days away from their limps being ripped from their bodies.

"Well what kind of backwards ass pack are you running, Dylan?" Zahara growled, throwing her hands in the air.

"Mind your tongue, Zahara.... You don't speak to my mate that way." I snarled back at her.

"I'm sorry brother, I didn't mean it that way, I'm just saying his family is backwards."

"Agreed, very backwards." Maisie says, raising her eyebrow.

"None of them can be trusted, they all have to go." Mom says.

"Your mother is right son, that whole pack of wolves can't be trusted at this point, they have to be taken care of." Dad says, pulling mom into his side.

"Wait, wait, can we get introductions first before we all start talking about eliminating a whole wolf pack." Preston announces.

"I guess that would be best." Zahara mumbles.

"Really? You agree with me, little mate?" Preston purred at my sister then grabbed her hand, which Zahara snatched away.

"I agree with you, but that doesn't mean you can touch me. I've told you to keep your manly fingers off me." She growled back at him, but of course all Preston did was take another step towards my sister, standing next to her with a huge smile on his face. Zahara shook her head and rolled her eyes.

These two are comical.

"Introductions please." Mom says, so I nod.

"Pups or I mean Dylan, this is my pride, my family. That's mom, her name is Layla, dad, his name is Adonis, my loud mouthed sisters, Maisie and Zahara, the Jaguar is Preston, he's Zahara's mate, that's Dakota, she's one of the lionesses and Maisie's mate. Then the rest of the lionesses are Hannah, Poka, Jerra, Naomi, Molly, Angel, Clara and Kendra."

I introduce all of my family, pointing to each one before looking back at my mate, who was studying everyone in the room.

"It's nice to meet you all, my name is Dylan, but I guess you knew that." He laughed as did my family.

"This is Gabe, he's my beta, Hunter is my gamma and Roman's mate, Avery, the one you're all still protecting is Gabe's mate, this is Liam, he's my dad, Emilio is Gabe's dad and my dads mate, Bennett is my older brother and this is Taj, my brothers mate."

After all the introductions were made, Liam excused himself to grab a few more pack members he said he would love for everyone to meet. Once he returned, the energy in the room shifted as 4 new beings walked in.

Felines don't have many enemies out there, we tend to stay to ourselves, but the auras of the newcomers caused an unsettling feeling within my stomach.

"Everyone, I wanted you all to meet a few special members here in my pack. This is to show how important differences, coming together, family, loyalty and love is here in the Shadow pack." Liam says as he looks at the 2 men that I immediately recognized as elves.

"This is Quiweeme and Weheil, from their appearance alone, you know they are elves. I'm not sure which kind as they don't tell me much of their past, but I found them by the silver river a few years ago, they were running from mythic collectors, they were being held in an auction facility run by the bad side of the vamps and humans as well."

"This is Alaric, he's the vamp that helped them escape. He's the only vamp I know that hates his kind more than he hates wolves." Liam laughs as he smacks Alaric on the shoulder, who returned his love gesture.

"And this is Eva, she's a witch. I met her in the forbidden forest when I was still a rogue, she was running from her coven because she slaughtered the head warlock and before you all get upset, she had good reason, she tapped into my mind and shared her past, her coven was killing for sport, testing their abilities and taking lives for the sake of practicing their magic, Eva didn't agree with their ways, so she killed the leader and then left... I brought her to my pack and gave her sanctuary."

I looked between them 4 beings, trying to figure out if I could trust them or not. I've never personally met a witch or an elf before. There's been a few vamps that stumbled through my fathers territory, but they never caused any issues with us. I've heard of their hatred for wolves, but I guessed because they never attacked us because they didn't have a problem with felines.

Even with that, I still wasn't sure if they could be trusted.

"So you have a witch, magical elves and a vampire here in your pack.... It seems to me that you could easily take Wolf's claw back and kill everyone involved, so why not take the opportunity?" Dad asks, my eyebrows raise as he had a damn good point that I didn't even think about.

"Adonis, it's a lot more complicated than that." Liam says. "If the mythic collectors got the information that I'm harboring other creatures, they could come here and cause issues, the other thing stopping me is the council. If I were to use Quiweeme, Weheil, Eva or Alaric to help in my challenge against Dean for alpha, that could be seen as breaking the law and I could be imprisoned or worse."

"The only reason I even introduced them to you all is to show you how humble my pack is, how welcoming we are and how I run things around here... anyone who needs a home, is welcome here, Eva has taken to making sure all newcomers have good intentions." Liam smiled at the witch, who returned it with her own.

"The shadow pack is a place of refuge, a place where differences are important and I hope to gain your trust because my son and his gamma are mated to your sons, I hope we all can spend a lot of time together and get to know each other better. I hope one day, we can all become a family because that's the most important thing to me, I've fought for 23 years to get my family back and I intend to keep every single one of my sons safe, which involves both of yours."

My dad stares at Liam for what seemed like forever before he took a few steps forward, completely closing the gap between them. I held my breath until I seen him offer Liam a handshake out of respect. Letting go of the tension in the air, I smile as I watch both dads embrace each other.

Looks like our families are on the right track.

"Umm, I hate to ruin the whole great moment here, but Mr. Adonis, sir, can you tell your lionesses to give me back my mate?" Gabe asks, standing in the corner of the room and far away from the protective circle the lionesses still had around Avery.

Dad released a hearty laughed before asking the lionesses to part their protection over the omega. As soon as they moved, Avery ran towards Gabe, who had his arms open for his mate to jump into.

That went well.

• • •

The next few hours, I stayed close to my mate, never once leaving his side. I don't know what it was, but his scent is really getting to me. He doesn't seem affected at all by me being here, but for me, I couldn't stop inhaling his essence.

I think being apart for 2 weeks after being so attached to him had taken its toll on me and I was growing desperate to scent him, to claim him, to make sure he never left my sight again.

Having my pups back in my arms had my temperature skyrocketing, I was like my own personal furnace, burning to the flame of my mate's presence.

Onyx was growing increasingly agitated, almost like he was struggling with the urge to take our mate right here, right now.

The last few weeks without Dylan in his pack, I was extremely needy. There was 5 days in a row where I had to touch myself in the shower, just to ease the tension in my jewels.

Fuck it's hot in here... and Dylan smells so fucking good right now... fuck!

Sitting across from my mate at one of the tables in the meal hall here, all I could smell was him. Despite the fact that there were at least 100 other creatures here.

The table we were sitting at was in the front of the meal hall, with Liam, Bennett, Taj, my sisters, their mates and my parents on one side and the other side sat the rest of the lionesses, myself, Roman and Hunter.

I hated that Dylan chose to sit across from me, but I couldn't complain about the view. He's fucking breathtaking.

Fuck it's hot!

Never taking my eyes off my mate, I adjust my shirt, suddenly feeling the need to drown myself in a tub of cold water.

He smells so fucking good...

I noticed my breathing had become more ragged than normal, almost like I was forcing my lungs to intake and expel the oxygen I needed.

I looked down because I felt someone touch my hand, that's when I noticed my claws hadn't retracted from earlier, I tried to force them back, but it was no use. I was currently clawing the tablecloth, while Rome's hand sat on top of mine.

"Brother, what's wrong? You feel off."

"What?" I ask, looking back up to see my mate's face. My jaw clenched as I watched him take a sip of his juice, totally engaged in his conversation with Bennett, then he licked his lips.

FUCK....

"Brother?" I blink before looking at Rome.

"What?"

"Your skin is hot as hell... are you alright?"

I look back at my mate. I swallow when he takes a bite of his food, I watch his lips as he chews his mouthful before watching his Adam's apple bob as he swallows.

My pants tighten as my erection grows...

Why the fuck is it so hot in here??

"Raiden." I heard my dads voice, but I didn't register what he said as I tilt my head and continue to stare as Dylan smiles at his brother.

Fuck me man... that smile....

Then he licked his lips again..

A low growl rumbles through my chest and the moment my pups finally meets my gaze, I flew across the table. Landing in his lap, I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him.. hard.

The sudden impact of my body colliding with his sends the chair backwards, crashing onto the floor, I roll our bodies a few times, causing Dylan to hover over me before I hovered over him, never once letting go of his lips. My breathing had grown incredibly ragged. I couldn't stop myself from grinding my pelvis into his.

He tastes so fucking good....

Then my body is ripped from his.