Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

The pack house was quiet and cool as I walked through the front hall, past the formal dining and living rooms, and back into the row of offices used for business meetings. Since I was the first one in there, I chose the best chair at the head of the table. It was Torin’s seat, but he could fight me for it if he wanted.

The alpha strolled in a few minutes later, looking unruffled. He didn’t say a word about me randomly kneeing him in the balls or about me sitting in his chair. He just chose the seat next to me, and we sat in an awkward silence until the other members arrived.

Mika and Gerad were first, followed by two senior pack members, Jos and Hench. Burly, middle-aged shifters, they were respected due to their many years helping to run Torma.

They had been Victor’s right-hand men, outside of his beta, and Torin had continued the same tradition.

“What is this about?” Jos asked as he leaned toward us, the lights above reflecting off the dirty blond of his hair, which was shaved close to his head.

“I’d like to know that as well,” Hench said shortly. He didn’t lean forward or otherwise engage; the icy blue of his eyes was the same blue of his wolf, which looked like a snow-white husky when he shifted. His hair was just as white, falling to his shoulders, and I always considered him the most beautiful wolf in our pack. His human side was a right old fuckhead, though.

“Simone is missing,” I said bluntly. “At some point just after the stasis was lifted, Simone left her house and hasn’t been seen since.”

Torin, Jos, and Hench, in near unison, nailed the Lewisons with a glare. “You lodged her as being on vacation,” Jos said, pulling out his phone. “I know because I’ve been asking you for weekly updates, and you’ve been logging her itinerary.”

He spun the device around to show what looked like a GPS map with flashing red dots. I figured that these were supposed to mark out Simone’s planned route.

This was the point when Mika paled, her gorgeous brown skin drawn as she sank lower, seemingly defeated. The silence in the room extended, no one willing to be the first to break it.

“We were protecting our daughter. Our family,” Gerad finally said, wrapping his arm around his mate. “I figured I could track her down and get her back here before she was punished for leaving the pack without permission. Simone has never done anything like this before, and with no real money or resources, how far could she have gone?”

A sound of annoyance escaped me, drawing attention away from the Lewisons. “What if she didn’t run away? What if she was taken, and all of this time you wasted in hiding the truth is what screws up our chances of tracking her down? In the end, you wanted to save your family name, and in doing so, you might have lost your damn daughter.”

I was mad. Not just mad but scared, and heartbroken, and lost. Mostly scared, if I was being honest. If anything happened to my best friend, especially if she was in this situation because of me, I would never recover.

Torin cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair agitatedly as he got to his feet. This new development had really thrown him, and I wondered if he was questioning his control over the pack. “Mika and Gerad are to be held in the basement until we have every piece of information about Simone’s whereabouts,” he said gruffly. “And we will begin an immediate full-scale search to track down our missing pack member. If she ran of her own accord, she will henceforth be banished from this pack, but if she was taken, the full force of Torma will come down on those who have touched one of our own.” He lowered his head to meet my gaze. “We will find her, Mera.”

I swallowed roughly. We had to find her; there was just no other option.

Torin, who had clearly been waiting for me to respond to his declaration, shook his head and spun on the spot, storming out. In the wake of their departing alpha, Jos and Hench got to their feet to fulfill his orders. Thankfully, neither Mika nor Gerad fought back, the pair seemingly too broken to care about heading to the prison cells below.

I just hoped they had information to help guide the others in their search. Gerad said he had been conducting his own investigation—there had to be something he could tell them.

Hench closed the door behind them, leaving me alone in the room. I had so many questions still unanswered, but it felt like gears were finally turning. All I had to do was figure out where to put my time and attention.

My planning was interrupted as the door opened, and I looked up, half-expecting to find Torin back in my space again. Only it wasn’t.

An unfamiliar woman closed the door quickly, her gaze darting around as if ensuring we were alone before she focused on me.

“Uh, hello?” I said, getting to my feet. “Can I help you with something?”

She hurried closer, and I took a moment to pay attention to her. She was tall and statuesque, with perfect brown skin, deep, rich emerald eyes, and long, straight black hair.

Not black like Simone’s; it was closer to mine, with deep auburn undertones.

She was stunning. Model perfect. And there was no way she was a Torma local because I’d never forget a face like hers.

“Alpha Wolfe,” she said respectfully, half-bowing her head. “My—”

“Whoa, okay, I’m going to stop you right there.”

Her head shot up, the insanely long eyelashes framing her rich green eyes, caught my attention as she blinked at me.

“I’m Mera Callahan,” I told her. “Not Alpha Wolfe. Or any Wolfe.”

Torin would have done well to change his pretentious and frankly laughable family name, but of course he wouldn’t. Ego and all that.

She smiled, flashing near perfect white teeth that contrasted with the rich brown of her skin and hair. “My apologies. I’ve only been in the pack for a month or so, and in that time, you were always referred to as ‘the alpha-mate Wolfe.’”

My teeth clanked together, but I managed not to growl in this poor woman’s face. “Sorry we haven’t met up until now,” I said, reaching out a hand to shake hers. “I’ve been distracted with a personal matter, but I love seeing new blood in the pack.”

She grasped on to my hand with a firm grip, and there was a nice moment between us before she stepped away. “My name is Samantha Rowland, Sam, actually, and I’m sorry to track you down like this, but I saw you in town today. I work part-time shifts in Henry’s café, and there was talk of you asking about odd happenings around Torma recently.” She paused dramatically, and I barely managed not to shake the information from her. Thankfully, she continued without need for violence. “I think I found something you should look at.”

Holy fucking fuck. Was this my first genuine lead? My wolf bounced in my chest, and it was probably due to the jolt of intrigue and hope that blossomed inside us. The gossip of the main street was finally working in our favor.

“Can you show me now?” I asked, leaning closer as I worked to keep the excitement from my voice. Best not to scare her off yet.

She nodded, a flicker of curiosity in her face, but she didn’t ask me why I was so interested in weird shit around Torma. Probably figured it was an alpha thing.

“Of course,” she said. “My full-time job is as one of the new teachers in the pack school. This oddity is in a basement room, in the lower levels, and… honestly, you should see for yourself.”

Hell fucking yes, I should.

“Let’s go, new friend Sam,” I said, linking my arm through hers so I could get us out of this room fast. “While they’re all distracted.”

Distracted tracking down the most important person in my world, which gave me a chance to continue poking at the mystery of my missing two months. It was essential that I figured it out because I had an uneasy feeling, deep in my gut, that all of it was connected.

Me, Simone, my lost memories, and the new Torma I’d woken up to.

Sam and I made it out of the pack house without running into any other shifters. She was quiet at my side, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. Instead, it almost felt comforting. Like she was secretly supporting me without even realizing it.

When we got into her small white sedan, parked at the back of the lot, she wasted no time pulling onto the road toward the school. It was only a few miles away, but that was enough time to practice my rusty small talk. “How are you finding Torma?” I asked as she drove sedately. “Is everyone treating you well?”

She had both hands on the steering wheel, and it was clear she wasn’t a massive risk-taker because she never removed her eyes from the road to chat. “It’s been wonderful. I petitioned long ago to join Torma, starting from when my mate first rejected me, but it was always a no. And since my pack wouldn’t release me to any alpha weaker than theirs, it left me with very few options. For years, I lived in the same pack as my true mate, watching as he created a life with another. It was torture.”

For a second, I wondered if I’d misheard her. “Your true mate rejected you?”

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, a long time ago. I’m okay now, but it was pretty rough.”

“Yeah, I understand completely,” I breathed.

This caught her attention, and for a brief moment, she actually looked away from the road to meet my eyes. “You understand completely? But how? You’re mated to the alpha and everyone loves and respects you.”

The corners of her eyes pulled into sad lines, and I had the brief idea that she thought I was mocking her. With a shake of my head, I placed my hand on her arm. “When our bond was first realized, Torin rejected me. Quite brutally, actually.”

Sam blinked at me, seemingly as confused as I’d been about her words. “But… But you’re together now?”

I shook my head. “Kinda, not really. I can’t forgive and forget, and with my missing memories, let’s just say… There’s something rotten in Torma and I am not going to rest until I figure out what it is.”

She cleared her throat as she turned her focus back to the road. “I had no idea. The few times I’ve seen you around, you looked so confident and put-together. I figured you were one of those shifters living the fairytale pack life.”

I snorted. “This pack was my prison and hell. I understand your need to escape, far better than you might think.”

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as she breathed deeply. “Rejection is rare,” she finally said, pausing for a beat to safely navigate an intersection, “and for someone as strong and capable as you are, I’m completely stunned Torin wasn’t over the moon to have you as his mate.”

My laughter was dry and cynical as it rasped from me. “My father tried to kill the previous alpha. From that day forward, my family was shit in this pack. Torin wanted to kill me the day I first turned, and the only reason he didn’t was because of—”

The pain hit me harder than ever, my brain sliced into pieces as figurative knives attacked with vengeance. Screams shattered the car and it took me a minute to understand they were mine. Sam, who had not been expecting that at all, careened all over the road as she shouted, “What is it? What’s wrong? Did you see a spider?”

She started screaming too, and if I hadn’t been about to die from the pain, I would have laughed at her apparent fear of spiders. She was a damn wolf shifter; spiders were not a threat to us at all. Alas, logic had nothing to do with true fear.

When Sam finally wrested back control of her car, bringing it to a halt on the side of the road, I managed to stop screaming. “I’m sorry.” I got out, my throat aching before it healed. “It was my memory loss… Every time I try to trigger a memory, the pain is so damn bad, I near pass out.”

Sam pressed a hand to her heaving chest, the long, shiny strands of her hair completely tangled around her face. “That’s truly terrible. I hope it wasn’t anything I said.”

Straightening, I wiped at the drool on my face, sending up a prayer of thanks that I hadn’t pissed myself as well. “It was nothing you said. It’s just the mess that’s my brain, and whoever fucked with me better hope I never regain my memories. Because I’ll be coming for them.”

My voice lowered into a growl, and Sam cleared her throat. “You’re kind of scary. Glad to see your inner wolf wasn’t brutally torn to pieces by your father’s betrayal and the lackluster true mate you got. Wish I could say the same.”

Being called “scary” was a compliment to me, and I took it as such. In truth, my pack’s oppression and bullying ways had forced me to evolve into a shifter who gave zero fucks. The same treatment of Sam had had the opposite effect. I mean, I’d only known her all of half an hour, but already I was painting a picture. From the cautious nature and gentle soul to the sedate button-down shirt and black slacks. Whatever wildness had existed in her soul had been burned away, leaving behind a shifter who took no risks.

Was coming to me with this information the first true step outside of her norm in a long time? If it panned out, I would owe her everything. No matter what happened, one day I would help her reach her full potential.

After all, we rejected mates needed to stick together.