Chapter 18

ZACH

Alex parted ways with Zach as soon as they reached the den, stalking off to organize a meeting so that they could inform all the other lieutenants about the human situation.

Zach hesitated for a brief second at the entrance, debating where he should go.

The bullet was still firmly lodged in his thigh, proved by the burning that was steadily growing worse and needed to be attended to, but his instincts were to hunt Anna down.

No matter what she believed, she ~was~ his mate, and that made her vulnerable if they found out about her, a target to whoever was now gunning for Zach.

Pressing a finger into the hole that the bullet had left in his jeans, Zach felt the skin around the wound, cursing when it was hot to the touch.

That sealed the decision, then.

Cursing, Zach strode in the direction of the infirmary, knowing the chances of Anna still being there were slim to none.

As he stepped into the sterile room, his eyes were already scanning for her but fruitlessly.

Instead, he found Mitch half-sitting in his bed, leaning back against two white pillows, and Natalie sitting in a chair at his bedside.

As he walked in, both their heads simultaneously swiveled toward him.

It would have been almost comical if it weren’t for his foul mood and itching need to get the hell out of the room and go find Anna.

Natalie greeted him with a warm smile. She stood up and gestured that he sit on her chair, obviously realizing that Zach would want to speak with Mitch while she fixed up his leg.

“Zach! I’m glad you’re back. I know all about your leg, and I really didn’t want to have to come and find you. Come here and sit.”

Her tone was pleasant but brooked no argument.

As Zach did what she said, casually shucking his pants off before he sat down, Mitch’s eyes watched him warily. Zach couldn’t blame him.

The last time they’d seen each other, Zach had been trying his damnedest to pull Mitch’s intestines out through his stomach.

“Has Anna returned to her quarters?” he asked Natalie, unashamedly putting off the conversation with Mitch for a minute longer.

It wasn’t often he had to admit losing control, and it was damn embarrassing.

His eyes followed Natalie’s movements as she bustled around the room.

“Yes, only after I forced her out. She looked exhausted.”

Zach nodded at those words, aware that they were partly a warning to him, but glad that someone had been looking out for Anna.

He finally turned to look at Mitch, but before he opened his mouth to say anything, the other male cut in.

“Don’t even think about apologizing.” The words were harsh and blunt, and everyone in the room was still.

Zach arched an eyebrow at Mitch, daring him to keep going in that tone.

Mitch bowed his head slightly, acknowledging that was perhaps the wrong tack to take.

He cleared his throat before starting again, his tone softer this time. “What I mean is I was in the wrong, and I’m fully aware of it.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

Zach gave a disbelieving laugh, stretching out his left leg as Natalie rounded the bed, dragging a metal trolley of medical supplies behind her.

She nodded her thanks, kneeling next to him. She placed her palm over the injury, and it immediately began emitting a gold glow.

Mitch continued, his eyes focused on Zach’s face.

“A lot of people suspect what’s going on between you two, but I ~knew~, Zach. I was at the lake that day; I saw what happened.”

Now, it was Mitch’s turn to look down, his expression ashamed.

“I should never have put myself, or her, in a position where your mating instincts would have been triggered, and I know that.”

“He isn’t wrong,” Natalie murmured quietly, the glow gone from her palm, and her fingers now gently probing the skin around the injury.

“I think fault can be placed at both doors here,” Zach murmured, tilting his head up to stare at the ceiling with a soft sigh.

“So, accept my apology too. I’m an alpha. ~Your~ alpha, Mitch. I should have had more control, but my own excuse is that I’ve never been in this position before, that too with a female who doesn’t recognize what’s happening or respond in a typical way—what the…”

He trailed off with a curse, glancing down to see Natalie sitting on her heels, grinning up at him with a bullet clasped in a pair of surgical tweezers.

~Bloody hell, she’d done that quickly.~

“Ow!”

“Ta-da!” She dropped the bullet into a metal dish on her trolley before holding her palm out over Zach’s thigh again, once again emitting the glow.

Zach could feel the healing heat as his skin knitted itself back together, and soon, the pain was completely gone as if he had never been shot.

“I have a theory about Anna’s reaction to the mating process, anyway,” Natalie said conversationally as she stood up, moving the trolley away.

“Is it that Zach sucks and she wishes I were her mate?” Mitch cooed from his bed, his eyelashes fluttering comically.

Zach snarled. “Do you have a fucking death wish?”

“What, too soon?”

Natalie rolled her eyes, holding a palm out to stop them.

“Enough, you two, before you overload with testosterone. No, Zach, I believe it’s all centered around her wolf. I agree with you that she isn’t reacting to the mating like a typical shifter female, but why would she when she doesn’t have a connection to her wolf that a typical female has?

“Anna is missing a vital part of herself, a piece of her soul, if you will, and it’s been gone so long that she doesn’t even realize it’s missing anymore.”

Zach leaned back in his chair, his mind turning the words over and over as he considered their potential meaning. “What do you propose I do?”

“If I’m right about this, Anna won’t feel the mating bond properly until her wolf comes back. Her wolf disappeared when she was blocked from Gray Wing’s pack link, so if we reverse the process and expose her to excessive amounts of energy from our own pack link, maybe we’ll be able to draw the wolf back.

“I’m also betting that the more time you and she spend together, the stronger your natural bond will be. As the alpha, you have the deepest connection to the pack link out of everyone. It stands to reason that if the bond between you two develops of its own accord, then it will feed Anna the energy she needs. Does that make sense?”

Zach nodded thoughtfully, his fingers rubbing against the stubble on his chin. “Yeah, I guess.”

Natalie took a deep breath as if bracing herself and placed her hands on her hips as she faced Zach.

“The biggest issue with our plan is that she can’t leave. Zach, if she leaves Silver River or you scare her off, I think we’ll lose our shot of bringing her wolf back. Permanently.”

“What would that mean for our mating bond?”

Natalie couldn’t give him an answer, but the look on her face was an answer enough to what she thought would happen.

It didn’t matter, though. Zach already knew there was no way he was letting Anna get away, wolf or no wolf.

***

Zach left the infirmary not long after that, his long strides taking him to Anna’s door.

He knew that he should leave her alone, let her recover from the last twenty-four hours.

Natalie had even said that she looked exhausted, but he couldn’t leave this alone. He needed to check on her, make sure she was okay.

And he also couldn’t just let this rest.

He had told her that they were mates, she had laughed in his face, and then, they had been almost killed by bloody humans.

Staring at her door, Zach heaved a heavy sigh, dragging an agitated hand through his hair.

~“Meeting is in one hour.”~

Alex’s voice was brusque, still radiating with anger from the events that had unfolded throughout a day that had started so peacefully.

~“Jon is already working on uncovering what he can about our new human friends.”~

~“Great.”~ Zach was silent for a moment, his eyes still intently focused on the door in front of him, wondering if he should say anything. Fuck it. ~“I’m at Anna’s quarters.”~

There was a snort of laughter in his head, but the only thing Alex said was, ~“Don’t fuck it up.”~

Zach decided that everyone in the pack had entirely too much disrespect for him considering he was the alpha.

First, Theresa had talked to him like he was some wild juvenile and then Mitch and Alex had acted like smartasses.

What was next, some juvenile with barely any hair on his chin challenging him? He might have to start knocking some heads together.

That’d show everyone to stop messing with him.

Zach could feel a tic starting underneath his left eye, and he absently rubbed at it, feeling the fatigue from the day begin to creep into his bones.

He considered turning around and leaving to ask someone else to come and get Anna for the meeting later, but the thought was cut off when the door swung open and green eyes peered up at him in annoyance.

“Were you just going to stand there all day or were you going to knock?”

Zach ignored her waspish tone, trailing his eyes over her body.

She was wearing a green top that made her eyes pop; the gauzy material made him want to bunch the material between his fingers.

Her legs looked exceptionally long in her tight blue jeans, but when his eyes came to her feet, they stopped.

He arched an amused eyebrow as he watched a bare foot tapping impatiently as if she couldn’t wait for him to beat it.

He saw that her toenails were painted in a girly pink color, which was surprising. He definitely had not pegged Anna as a pink kind of girl.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said smoothly, “am I interrupting your busy schedule?”

As soon as he spoke, she crossed her arms defensively across her chest, and suddenly, Zach’s exhaustion was gone; the thrill of the chase was tingling up his spine.

She wasn’t as immune to him as she would have liked to make him believe.

“Are you going to invite me in, or are we having this conversation out here for all and sundry to hear?”

“What conversation? We don’t need to have a conversation. I think we’re good; thanks for stopping by.”

The words were quick, and Anna smiled, although Zach wouldn’t have described it as a pleasant smile.

She moved to step back inside, but before she could shut the door, Zach said very loudly, “Yes, remember, we need to talk about the fact that we’re ma—”

Anna jumped forward, practically climbing his body so that she could slap a palm over his mouth as she hissed, “Shut up!”

It took her a second to realize her position; when Zach smiled under her palm, her eyes widened and a bright red flush crept up her cheeks.

She jerked backward away from him, her eyes darting left and right down the hallway to check if anyone had seen them.

When she saw it was empty, she sighed in relief before glaring back at Zach, grabbing his arm, and dragging him inside.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Anna immediately let go of him as if his skin were burning her fingers.

She stalked around the room, grumbling under her breath while Zach watched her, leaning back against the closed door.

He pressed his lips together tightly, trying to stop the smile that was beginning to curl his lip.

Anna was in an unpredictable mood, not that he minded this new side of her, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate the humor on his part, especially if she thought it was because he found ~her~ amusing.

“Well, what do you want to talk about, then, hmm?” She finally stopped pacing, spinning to face him, her expression furious.

“You left me at the infirmary hours ago, haven’t tried to contact me since, and you’ve been blocked—whatever. Now you want to talk, so talk.”

She had cut herself off before she could finish that sentence, but as she spoke, she had raised her hand and rubbed at a spot just under her collarbone as if it ached. Zach felt guilt stab through him, knowing immediately what she had been planning to say.

When the attack had happened, she had started feeling his guilt about the situation with Mitch and about how the whole day in general had turned to complete shit.

It was another clear sign that the mating was moving to the next step, even though her wolf was still MIA.

He hadn’t wanted her to share the burden of his feelings, especially knowing that he would have to then deal with the humans and the furious anger that that situation would bring, and so, he had effectively put up a wall between them, closing off the burgeoning psychic bond.

What he hadn’t taken into account was that she would be able to feel it or that it would hurt her, just as it did him.

He assumed that she wasn’t far enough into the mating, but that was stupid, he realized now.

If she could sense his feelings, she’d definitely sense the connection on some level and notice it was suddenly gone.

He wondered for a moment whether knowing that she would feel it would have changed his mind about blocking the connection earlier, but he wasn’t sure it would have.

It was still clear that Anna wasn’t ready for the realities of what it meant to be an alpha and the responsibilities that came with that title.

He must have been silent too long because she gave a loud, frustrated groan and threw her arms up into the air.

“If you’re just going to stand there like a big, silent…nincompoop, then why are you even here?!” she demanded, fisting her hands on her hips, her eyes almost sparking at him.

“Nincompoop? Did you just call me a nincompoop?” He gaped at her, gobsmacked, before throwing his head back in laughter.

She growled at him, marching forward with her finger out as if she were going to poke him in the chest.

Just before she reached him, Zach dropped the mental wall, finally unblocking that small connection between them.

She felt it instantly, halting with a small gasp, her hand flying back to that spot on her chest.

Her face smoothed out, lines of tension disappearing and an expression of relief crossing over her face.

Zach was grateful she was so expressive and easy to read. It definitely made his job easier.

With his back against the door, Zach crossed one leg casually over the other and just watched her. After a long, silent minute, she looked up.

“It’s not normal, is it?” Her voice was quiet and small, and her eyes were sad as they trailed over his face as if searching for something.

“Feeling whatever this is between us.” Her hand gestured shakily between their two bodies.

“Not all shifters can do that with each other? Other pack members don’t have this connection with you?”

Zach shook his head slowly, hating that sadness, feeling it like a punch to the gut.

He wanted to pull her into his arms, comfort her, and it gutted him that he couldn’t.

“No, another shifter has never had this kind of connection with me before. Don’t worry, it’s a little disconcerting for me, as well.”

He threw a lighthearted wink at her, trying to lighten the mood. “It’s a sign that the mating is progressing.”

She nodded almost absentmindedly, her arms wrapped around herself.

“Okay... okay. Why did you block it?” She might as well have asked, “Why did you hurt me, then?”

Zach winced, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I didn’t expect you to start experiencing my emotions right at that moment, to be honest, and I didn’t want you to have to deal with the shitshow that was going on up here.” He tapped his temples, giving her a self-deprecating smile.

Anna shrugged and opened her mouth as if to argue before shrugging again and looking away.

Suddenly, she wasn’t so easy to read, and Zach would have happily killed someone—he wondered if Daniel had finished with Dawson yet—to know what was going on in her head right then.

Zach pushed away from the door, standing straight and taking a step toward her.

He stopped when she held out an arm straight, palm out, as if to ward him off.

“Anna, this is something we need to have a serious discussion about. It’s happening, whether we like it or not.”

“Everyone says the female knows about the mating well after the male. I get that, but shouldn’t I feel...~more~ than this by now?”

Anna was rightfully confused, but Zach still felt the sting of her words and struggled to keep the flinch out of his expression.

His pride was seriously not going to survive this mating.

“I’m attracted”—she coughed awkwardly around the words, making Zach smile—“to you, but I don’t think I’m your true mate. But I can feel the connection, and I ~felt~ it when you blocked me. I should have been sitting in the infirmary comforting Mitch, looking after him; instead, all I could think about was you.”

Zach felt a smirk curling his lip and quickly turned his head to the side so she wouldn’t see, but she must have felt the smug satisfaction through the bond because in the next second, she was glaring hotly at him with her hands back on her hips.

“Seriously?! Is that the only thing you heard?!”

He quickly held his hands up placatingly.

“Actually, Natalie and I have a theory about all of this. We believe, or well, she believes, that it’s all to do with your missing wolf.”

Anna’s expression turned thoughtful, and she walked over to the bed and sat down, her eyes watching Zach intently.

Before any ideas about her and that suddenly very inviting bed could override his brain, Zach walked to the kitchenette on the other side of the room, busying himself with getting a glass of water.

“Natalie thinks that since you were deprived of pack energy for so long, the solution is to do the opposite and overload you with it.”

“And it’ll bring my wolf back and snap the connection between us fully into place?” she guessed.

“Maybe.” He shrugged, downing the glass of water before placing the glass back on the bench.

“She wants to see you several times a week to ‘infuse’”—he made air quotes—“you with energy, and she wants us to spend more time together.”

“Because?” Her tone was wholly suspicious.

“Careful, your enthusiasm may just overwhelm me,” Zach remarked dryly.

“As the alpha, I’m the anchor, for lack of a better term, of the pack link. Energy flows in a continued circuit between the other pack members and me. Natalie believes that if we grow closer naturally, even without your wolf, you may be more likely to develop a deeper connection to the pack and—”

“And a stronger energy link,” she finished, looking hopeful for the first time as Zach nodded his agreement.

“It’s all just theory, but it’s better than nothing, Anna.”

“Okay, I’ll try it, but there’s still the other issue.” She chewed on her bottom lip, looking at Zach nervously from under her lashes.

He stared at her, wondering if she’d let him chew on her lip, before shaking his head to focus back on the conversation.

It was getting harder. This whole room was filled with her scent, and the longer he spent near her, the harder it was to stay away from her.

She wouldn’t appreciate any kind of physical closeness from him right now, even though physical touch was inherent to shifter nature and was something they all craved.

Zach guessed that touch was something Anna had been deprived of as a child and taught that she didn’t need.

Now, he worried that if he overwhelmed her with affection, physical or otherwise, he’d just send her running, scared.

He wasn’t prepared to do that, not when he’d just gotten her to finally admit that they were mates.

“What other issue?” he asked when she didn’t continue but stared at him in silence.

“Even if my wolf does come, I don’t think I’d be a good mate for you, Zach,” she finally commented quietly, her tone serious.

She almost looked sympathetic, as if she were trying to let him down gently. Zach bit the inside of his cheek hard to stop the laugh from coming out.

It was clear that she didn’t know shifter nature well and even clearer that she didn’t know Zach’s nature.

There was no letting him down and there was no getting away from him.

“Mates are predestined, Anna. Someone who knows a lot more than either of us decided our souls should be connected because they complement one another. They are two halves of a whole, but I think only time will make you see that.”

Zach gave her a gentle smile, trying to be reassuring, but she only shook her head in denial.

“That might have been the case if I had grown up normally, but you know that I didn’t. I don’t even know how to be a shifter. There’s no way I can be a mate to someone, let alone an ~alpha’s~ mate. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do now.”

She blinked furiously, her eyes suddenly looking bright, and Zach felt his gut clench as he realized they were filling with tears that she was desperately trying to hold in.

He was unable to stop himself from going to her this time. He strode toward her in three quick steps and dropped to his knees in front of her.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body tightly into his.

She shuddered against him, burying her face against his neck before he heard a quiet murmur.

“I was thinking I should leave, find a different pack or go off by myself. With the humans attacking, you need to be focused, Zach. I’ll make you weak—”

Stroking a hand down the back of her head, Zach smiled softly as he cut her off, saying with the utmost confidence, “There is nowhere that you could go, nowhere that you could hide that I wouldn’t find you. You leave, Anna, and I’ll drag you right back here where you belong.”

He gripped her chin, tilting her head back so that he could look down into her face. “That’s a promise.”

She stared back at him, their faces close enough that their noses almost touched.

She opened her mouth and Zach waited, wondering if she would agree to or protest his declaration, but before she could say a word, there was an abrupt knock at the door.

Anna jerked backward, pulling out of Zach’s hold, and he cursed inwardly.

“Yoo-hoo, lovebirds! Time for a meeting, and we’ve all been invited!” Theresa called out cheerfully, perfect timing as always.