1
Skye
The low, monotonous hum of the plane’s engine might have been soothing and relaxing if I wasn’t currently feeling like a livewire with the casing stripped away.
Shocked didn’t begin to cover the emotions zipping through me like electric currents in my blood, sending it popping and fizzing as I struggled to digest what Dimitri was telling me.
Dimitri, who had spent the last week pretending to be a dead shifter named Daniel to infiltrate the Alpha Summit. The guy who had pretended to be our friend apparently had a much bigger agenda and a deeper connection to me.
“You’re my brother?” There was no denying the hesitant confusion in my voice as I studied him in the seat across from me.
He had dark hair like I did, but mine was more brown while his was an inky black. My skin still held a soft tan from years spent in New Mexico that hadn’t quite faded, and his skin was more olive toned. We both had green eyes, but his were a pale, almost translucent shade, and mine were the same emerald my mother had. The same eyes almost every single member of the Markham family had.
“Technically I’m your step-brother, I guess,” he amended with a small smile that flashed two rows of even, white teeth. “Your dad adopted me when I was a baby after he married my mother. My father was killed in a border skirmish before I was born.”
“So, your dad cheated on your mom with my mom?” I frowned, trying to figure out the timelines. Dimitri was easily five years older than me, maybe more.
I hadn’t stopped to ask for his birthday when we had met back at the Summit last week.
Last week.
I swallowed around the knot of grief threatening to choke me. Taking deep breaths, I focused on the man in front of me while trying to figure out how to live the next few minutes without the man I loved.
Remy wasn’t just my mate. He was my …
Just mine.
My best friend, my confidant, my protector, and my supporter.
Not knowing where he was, if he was hurt, was slowly killing me. It was like someone had dumped acid in my veins, and I was slowly being eaten alive from the inside. The caustic burn as my emotions devoured me left an empty void in my soul.
I looked down at the bracelet encircling my wrist. The magic bracelet that had muted the bond I shared with my wolf. Because magic was an actual, real thing.
For the first time, I was actually a little thankful for the dainty piece of unbroken silver that molded around the delicate bones of my wrist.
The human pain I felt from the loss of Remy was almost too much to bear. Each breath I sucked into my lungs was harder than the last. Feeling the panic, fear, frustration, and grief from my wolf would have pushed me over the edge.
“Again, technically, yes,” Dimitri answered my question, dragging my attention back to him. The black t-shirt and torn jeans he wore were rumpled and torn, stained in a few places. A cut on his cheek was scabbed over. I hadn’t really paid attention to it before, but clearly he hadn’t escaped unscathed from the explosion that leveled the Spring Summit and likely killed the majority of the Alphas in North America hours earlier.
Dimitri had saved me, and Tate, who had been with us.
Because I was his sister.
He leaned forward with a small shrug. “Mama and our father didn’t marry for love. They married for alliance. They grew up together. Were friends. It made sense. My mother is the strongest female in our pack. She married my bio-dad for love. They were mates. Bonded like you and Remy. After he died, she went off the rails a bit and Dad stepped in to marry her and raise me.”
I flinched at his name, and Dimitri had the decency to look away with a grimace.
“Sorry,” he muttered, his jaw tight. “As soon as we land, I’m hoping Dad will have more info on … survivors.”
I cleared my throat, pushing down the fresh wave of pain. “I’m sorry. About your bio-dad.”
“Don’t be,” Dimitri said with a small shake of his head. “I never knew him. Nikolai Dashkov is my father. He’s the only one I’ve ever had. He’s a great dad, and the best Alpha our pack has had in decades.”
“He cheated on your mom.” Didn’t sound like such a great guy to me.
“Like I said, they didn’t marry for love. They married because it made the most sense at the time,” he replied. His mouth curled into a rueful smile. “Besides, Mama has had her fair share of lovers in their marriage.”
“That’s … weird,” I said after a second. Alphas weren’t exactly known for their ability to share.
Dimitri smirked. “North American packs are different from European packs. Hell, than most packs on every other continent. Most of the Alphas I met at the Summit are small, simple minded men that haven’t learned how to merge their wolf with their man. They spend years battling their wolves into submission.” He snorted and shook his head. “It’s no wonder they have the biggest issues with declining birth rates.”
“How so?” I narrowed my eyes, admittedly curious.
“Females give life,” he said plainly. “Smothering them isn’t helping. In our pack, females are treated as equals. More than equals, honestly. They’re to be respected and admired. Feared and protected.”
A ghost of a smile drifted across my face. “Katy would love that.”
He frowned. “Katy?”
“Remy’s sister,” I said softly. Pain knifed in my chest, my heart bleeding out. “She’s one of my best friends. Her girlfriend, Maren, is one of the females who went missing from our school.”
Disgust curled his lip. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Skye.”
“Do you know where she is?”
Before the world had literally exploded around us, Dimitri had hinted he knew more about the missing shifters than he had told.
He hesitated. “I don’t. I’m sorry. We know women have been missing from the American packs recently. We suspected Damien Valois was behind it, and Elias was helping him in some capacity.”
“The Norwood Alpha.” Dread twisted my frayed nerves into knots.
He nodded.
I leaned back in my chair, looking out the window. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and he was killed in the explosion, too.”
Dimitri sighed quietly. “Skye, the reason I was looking for Remy was because I knew something was about to go down.”
My head snapped around, strands of dark hair that had pulled free of my ponytail fell into my eyes. I pushed them back so I could see him. “You knew about the explosion?”
His jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck pulling taut. “I didn’t know it would be that bad, but I overheard Elias on the phone that morning. He was talking to Damien. Damien and his son left the conference early in the morning. Elias was planning on leaving, too. They had a plane waiting for him and your uncle and that Preston kid.”
I couldn’t hold back the chuckle of complete loathing that exploded from me.
Because of course Damien was behind this. Norwood hated Blackwater. Damien hated Gabe, and Trace hated Remy.
It was a vicious cycle that had left more collateral damage than I could count.
The only people I could possibly hate more than Damien and Trace were my uncle and Preston.
Which was why it made total sense that they were all friends and allies.