Page 2 of Brody
My free hand twitched, instinctively reaching for the notebook I usually kept handy to record such information.A nudge of fate.If only she’d nudged mine in a different direction years ago.
“And yet it’s failing for eighteen males who desperately need their mates,” I noted, unable to keep the clinical edge from my voice.My mind always sought patterns, anomalies, explanations.
“I don’t know what folks are all up in arms about,” Quinn replied, frustration evident.“The spell didn’t bring the fated partners for Brody and Jasper, and they’re members of my pack.”He paused.“Anyway, let’s get back on point.Once you arrive in town, get ready to present.”
“I’ll be ready,” I assured him, squaring my shoulders despite my exhaustion.“I’ll show them that my approach is fundamentally different from Tabia’s.I’m not looking to profit from the unmated males’ suffering.I want to give them time to find their fated partners while preserving their complete identities.”My voice strengthened with conviction.This was my life’s purpose, the core of who I’d become.
“That’s exactly what they need to hear,” Quinn agreed, relief evident in his tone.“With townsfolk, clear, concise, and frequent communication is key.Speaking of communication, let me text you the password to the Ridge private network.It’s the only way to get a cell signal once you enter Black Forest Ridge.”
My cell pinged, the notification brief and bright.
“One more thing.I’m sending Brody to pick you up from the airport.He’ll be outside, holding up a piece of paper with your name.But for another level of security, I’ll have him text you his photo so you know who he is by sight.We can’t be too careful.”
The sudden tension in his voice caught my attention, my senses instantly on alert.“What’s going on, Quinn?What’s with all this precaution?”My gaze swept the airport with new suspicion, cataloging faces, exits, and potential threats.
“I was going to wait for you to get to Black Forest to brief you,” he admitted, voice dropping lower.“But the OIA caught some intel chatter hinting at a plan to kidnap you in the Ridge.”
I laughed dryly, the sound like sandpaper in my throat.“Let me guess.My dear grandmother is the evil mastermind.”The migraine intensified, a steady drumbeat behind my eyes.
“Yes, but how?—”
I cut him off.“My grandmother is a bitter, vengeful woman.A couple of years ago, she tried to hire me to work for her—and offered me millions, actually.When I refused…” I snorted, the sound more feline than human.“Let me put it this way.She was not pleased.Ever since, she’s been working overtime to sabotage my work and business connections, waging all-out war against me.I guess she’s deciding to move to plan B—wipe me off the board completely.”
I tightened my fingers around the phone, but I wasn’t scared of or intimidated by Tabia.She had no love for me, nor I her, not after what she’d done to her own daughter—my mother—and to me.The memory of my mother’s funeral flashed through my mind.Me alone at seventeen, Tabia nowhere to be found.
“So there’s bad blood between you two,” he observed, mastering understatement.
“Yup.”My tongue clicked against the roof of my mouth.“Somehow she knows that I’m close to a breakthrough, and she’s getting fucking desperate to stop me.”A savage smile curved my lips.“And I’m determined to destroy her Big Pharma empire.”My cheetah rumbled with approval at the thought.
“Anyway, enough about my family drama.Brody… he’s one of your pack enforcers, right?”I asked, massaging my temple.The OIA brief was dense with information about the Black Forest pre-feral symptoms crisis and the key players in the area, but right now my brain was fried from twenty hours of travel, the details blurring together.
“Correct.Brody’s also our resident botanical expert.He owns and runs Thornbern Brewstillery, and in his spare time, he has been crafting a tonic that temporarily eases the pre-feral symptoms.His knowledge might complement your scientific approach.Anyway, I’ve got to go.See you in town.”
Our call ended abruptly.I spotted my luggage making another turn on the carousel.
I shoved my cell into my front pocket and hoisted my stuff off the carousel with a grunt.Striding through the small airport, I stopped when my phone pinged.Pulling it out, I read a text from Brody.
BRODY (TEXT): I’m outside, Dr.Dhahabu.
Just for fun, I took a selfie with an exaggerated pouty look and sent it to him.A small rebellion against the day’s tension—see, I can be unprofessional too.When I saw his next text, his selfie, my fingers twitched and I almost dropped my phone.
My lungs seized mid-breath.
The airport around me blurred at the edges, sound receding until all I could hear was the thundering sound.
That face.
Those eyes.
Twenty-five years older but unmistakable.Like a ghost stepping from the shadows of my nightmares.
Brody.The name hit me now with cruel irony.When Quinn had mentioned it on the phone, it had meant nothing to me.How could it?We’d never exchanged names or personal details when we’d met.Just primal recognition.The electric jolt of “mate” that had burned through my blood like wildfire before he’d rejected me and then walked away.
For years, my nightmares had featured a nameless betrayer whose face I couldn’t forget, whose scent lingered in my memory.Now fate had given him a name and brought him back into my life again.
My knees buckled as something wild and foreign erupted inside me, clawing up from depths where I’d buried it under years of careful control.I slammed a hand against the wall, fingers splayed, struggling to remain upright as my feline half stretched and yawned, breaking through chains I’d spent decades forging.Her presence filled every corner of my consciousness, pushing against the boundaries of my skin until I feared I might shift right there in the terminal.The familiar burn started at the base of my spine, racing upward with terrifying speed.
Mate, she purred, the word rippling through my mind with such visceral pleasure that saliva flooded my mouth.A sound I’d silenced since that day in Kenya now returned with the force of a tsunami breaking through paper-thin walls.
