Page 9 of M.A.Y.A
She met his gaze head on. “In a gesture of good faith, I promise to stay if you return with rations,” she said. She wouldn’t have gotten far if she had depleted energy anyway.
“Good,” he replied. Then in a move that had her gasping in surprise, he leaned forward and smelled her hair in one, long sniff. Then he pushed off the bed and left through the single door of the wrecked bedroom.
“Odd,” she mumbled to herself, as she quieted the alert on her forearm. “So very odd.”
ChapterThree
Isaiah stepped outside onto the front porch and used his satellite phone to alert his Beta pack members to meet at the safe house. He asked for provisions, a few extra sets of clothes for himself and Maya, and a detailed report on the clearing where he and Alex found his mate. Then he stood in the small field in front of the house, and while he waited for his Betas to arrive, he made another call. This one was more personal than the rest.
“Hi, son.” His father’s gruff voice answered on the other end of the line. The soothing yet authoritative tone was enough to calm some of the tension Isaiah felt in his shoulders.
“Hi, Dad. How are things going with your retirement trip with Mom?”
“It’s an adjustment not working twenty hours a day, but I could get used to this life.” Isaiah heard the sound of a door opening and closing on the other end of the line. “But that’s not why you’re calling in the middle of the week, is it? What’s so urgent that it couldn’t wait until our Sunday catch up?”
Isaiah rubbed the back of his neck as he began to pace the small porch area. “If I say the words ‘alternate dimension’ and ‘bunker portal’ to you, do you know what they mean?”
There was a long stretch of silence. “You found it.”
Isaiah let out a woosh of air. “Seriously? Don’t you think this is something I should’ve known when you transitioned authority as Alpha of our pack to me?”
“There were just stories,” his father said in his patient way. “Rumors from your great-grandfather. You must admit, it’s hard to believe that there is a tunnel to a different dimension somewhere in shifter territory.”
“I believe it now,” he said. “What do you know?”
His father grumbled like an old, agitated wolf, but answered the question anyway. “Apparently, there was a group of scientists that were trying to bridge alternate realities. They found a cave opening that led to our territory. To close off the opening, a door was installed and then forgotten. The only relevant piece of information my father shared with me when transitioning authority was that the central Den was built close enough to it in an effort to both keep an eye on it, and to allow our wolves an escape route if something ever happened to us. I was never able to find a door to a different dimension in my time as Alpha, and it wasn’t a priority for me to send any Betas to look for it. Son, what’s going on?”
“Someone came through the opening near the Franz Ravine, and they’re warning us about those who will follow.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, you can say that again.” Isaiah shared the information he’d received from Maya, leaving out his mating. He still hadn’t processed that yet and needed more time.
His father let out a woosh of air into the receiver. “If you trust what this Maya automaton is telling you, then you know what you have to do. Help her destroy that opening. Find some way to keep the dimension intruders out.”
Isaiah pinched the bridge of his nose. He would never speak so openly, even with Alex, but this was his father. “I don’t know if I’m prepared for this,” he said quietly.
“You’ve been preparing for this your entire life,” his father said. “Not the exact scenario you’re in, but you have the skills you need. It’s all about making decisions to protect those you love and the pack that looks up to you.”
Isaiah nodded even though his father couldn’t see him. “Thanks, Dad.”
“If you need backup, your mother and I could come home early?—”
“No, that’s okay.” The last thing he wanted was his parents in a situation where he didn’t know the threat level. “When it’s safe, I’ll let you know, and you can visit. But right now, just enjoy your vacation.”
His father’s deep chuckle did more to calm him than any speech could. Hearing him happy was a gift that came with taking over responsibilities for the pack, responsibilities that he’d honor.
“Have fun, Dad.”
“Good luck, son. Oh, and make sure you keep your call to your mother this Sunday. She’s going to want to hear about your new mate.”
The line cut, and Isaiah was left looking stupefied at his phone. How the hell had the old bastard known? With a shake of his head, he tucked his phone in his back pocket. He’d first have to talk to his mate about their situation before he could really explain it to anyone else.
And he’d have to come to terms with it himself.
Wasn’t he thinking that morning that he wasn’t cut out for a mate? Now that he had one, someone he didn’t know at all but was determined to protect, he had to balance his obligations as Alpha and mate.
Both were being threatened, and he couldn’t allow that to happen.
