Page 47 of Their Shared Mate
Ignoring the pointless jibe, Raphael checked in with Victor.The fight is finally over. Are you and Claire all right?
She’s upset, but unharmed, Victor reported, his emotions carefully muted.We had visitors.
He had to mean wolves, but how had the fuckers known where to strike? There were over two hundred cabins in this village. How had they known there would be a female in his?We’re dealing with the aftermath. I’ll be home shortly.
Raphael glanced around the room. Most of the bodies had been removed and the furniture that was still functional was being returned to its original position.
“Are you happy now?”
Gabriel’s snarling words dragged Raphael’s attention back to his brother. “Happy about what?”
“I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen.” Gabriel advanced on him, orange eyes flashing in the diffused light of the bunkhouse. “I knew aligning with the cats would bring the wolves to our door.”
Raphael understood his brother’s frustration, but there was no other option. “We have no future without females, and we have no females without the cats.”
“I’m working on other options,” Gabriel argued. “You were too damn impatient to wait.”
Levi jogged down the stairs, lips tight, eyes filled with dread. “They got five of the females,” he informed as he reached the brothers.
“How?” Raphael asked. “You said no one came in or out.”
Levi made a helpless gesture and glanced at Gabriel. “They crawled in through the bedroom window and took the females out the same way. There had to be at least six of them. The extraction was fast and silent.”
Stunned and confused, Raphael tried to imagine how the ‘extraction’ had been accomplished with a hallway full of raptors. “No one heard or saw anything? You just opened the bedroom door and the room was empty?”
“We figured you would want a headcount, so we opened each bedroom door. Room six was empty and the other women insisted that there were five females in there when the night began.”
“Fuck,” Raphael muttered, shaking his head.
“What do you expect?” Gabriel snapped, voice loud and cutting. “The wolves stole the women from the cats, so you stole the women from the wolves. Where the fuck does it end? And how many males died tonight? We lost three. How many wolves paid the price for your stubbornness?”
Ignoring his brother’s outburst, Raphael faced Levi. “Do you have any idea when the women were taken? If we leave right now, we might be able to overtake them in the forest.”
“No goddamn way!” Gabriel shouted. “You arenotgoing after those females. The wolves have just as much right to survive as the cats. Zion should have included them in the alliance.”
“Are you deluded?” Raphael turned back to his brother, fists ready to fly. “The wolves are not worthy of the few females available on this planet. The wolves are savage animals.”
“The wolves are victims of Nuevo Biotech just like us.” Gabriel turned to the room at large and announced, “There will be no retaliation for tonight.” His voice rang with authority and conviction. “The original attack was not sanctioned. This village was founded on political neutrality, and that is the only way we will survive.” He looked Raphael in the eyes and added, “If you defy me again, I will have you arrested.” And then he stormed from the bunkhouse, slamming the door behind him.
Raphael released a shuddering sigh. Gabriel had been against the alliance from the start, so Raphael wasn’t surprised by his attitude. Arguing in front of others, however, was not Gabriel’s usual custom. They were both committed to presenting a united front to the village. Conflict between the leaders was guaranteed to create conflict among the other members of Eagle Village.
A shrill scream echoed through the room, jarring Raphael out of his frustrated reflection. He ran up the stairs and found Patrick wrestling with one of the females. Her long blonde hair whipped around, so Raphael couldn’t see her face.
“I should snap your neck,” Patrick sneered, “but death is too good for the likes of you.” He bent and threw the female over hisshoulder. She screamed and twisted, but Patrick easily subdued her struggles. For just a moment, Patrick’s furious gaze collided with Raphael’s. Then he pivoted on the ball of his foot and ran in the opposite direction. Despite the female’s kicks and punches, Patrick held her firmly.
“Patrick!” Raphael shouted, but the other male ignored him and kept running. A doorway at the end of the hall led to an exterior stairway. If it had been anyone but Patrick, Raphael would have ordered the others to stop him. But Patrick was Gabriel’s second, which meant Gabriel was responsible for Patrick’s behavior. And Gabriel had reasons enough to hate Raphael right now.
After Patrick exited the building, Raphael turned to the nearest raptor and asked, “What the fuck was that about?” Ordinarily, Patrick was laidback and slow to anger. He wasn’t capable of intentionally harming a female. Clearly, this situation wasn’t ordinary.
“He knew her from before,” Dylan explained. “Apparently, she was part of the medical team assigned to his tribe.”
Raphael closed his eyes and tried not to react outwardly. Gabriel and Patrick were from the same tribe. If Patrick recognized Heather from his years in captivity, there was a damn good chance Gabriel would too. “Then how did she end up in the feline village? I was told that only those who were not directly involved in the experiments were allowed to participate in the alliance.”
“Everything changed after the first wolf attack,” a thin young woman with dark brown hair said from a bedroom doorway. Raphael looked down the hall and realized that most of the doors were now open. The women weren’t brave enough to step into the hall, but they were all wondering what the commotion had been about.
“Explain,” Raphael prompted the brunette.
“After the wolves killed our men, the cats made exceptions for women like Heather.”
