Identities

Jaxon

~DING DONG! DING DONG!~

The old clock’s chime echoed through the stone door of the hidden cave beneath the grand staircase of Fort Vulpes. It was five in the morning.

Daylight was on its way.

If we were going to slip away under the cover of darkness, we had to move now.

But I didn’t want to go.

How could I?

Quinn, my mate, had made it clear she didn’t care if I stayed or left.

She seemed just as fine with me leaving and never returning as she would be if I stayed.

I couldn’t understand it.

Just over a week ago, we’d arrived at this damned fort, closer than ever.

The strife that had weakened Shadow Moon Pack had only made our mating bond stronger. It had shown us how perfect we were for each other in so many ways.

But then her damn aunt got her hooks into her.

She kept her away from me.

Stopped our communication.

We hadn’t even had a chance to talk about everything that had happened over the past week.

No matter how hard I tried to get her alone, she was always under Aunt Jodie’s control.

Even the night we had sex, she didn’t say a word to me.

It was strange.

The only explanation I could think of was that her aunt had turned her against me.

I wanted to stay and solve the mystery.

I wanted to show her that whatever her aunt had said or done—it didn’t matter.

Our bond was stronger.

But every minute I spent at Fort Vulpes was another minute that damn Anthony had to take control of my pack.

I couldn’t let that happen, regardless of what was going on with Quinn.

An Alpha’s first duty is to his pack.

To the legacy of his father, and his father’s father.

Heartache had no place here.

Even though it was burning in my chest.

But I was worried that Quinn wasn’t the only one in trouble.

Zara and Harper were supposed to have come back to this cave with Sky almost an hour ago.

But I hadn’t heard from them.

I feared the worst.

Every second we spent on Vulpes pack territory was borrowed time.

We were exposed.

I prayed that we still had time to avoid whatever Alpha Jodie and her band of rogue wolves had planned for us.

Just then, I heard the boulder at the entrance start to move.

I gritted my teeth and prepared to shift into wolf form, thinking I’d been found.

I was relieved to see it was Zara. But Harper and Sky weren’t with her.

“Where are the others?” I asked as she rolled the rock back into place.

“Sky and Harper didn’t come back?” she asked, her voice heavy with worry.

I shook my head.

“I’ve looked everywhere for them. I thought they must have found each other and come back. What about Quinn?”

I sighed. “Her Aunt Jodie has done something to her. She wants to stay here.”

Zara looked shocked. “I have a bad feeling about this. Something wicked is happening here. What are we going to do?”

“If we’re going to have any chance of stopping Alpha Anthony, we can’t stay here much longer. I need you to start heading back to the pack.”

“Me? Go back?”

“Yes,” I said firmly. “There’s no point in you staying here and risking your life. I’ll look for Harper and Sky.”

“Sorry, Alpha.” Zara stamped her foot defiantly. “But I’m not leaving until you do. If something is going on, you’ll need all the help you can get.”

“I can’t promise you that you’ll come out of this unscathed,” I said seriously. “I don’t know what we’re up against.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll face it better together,” Zara said wisely.

I wanted to argue with her.

But she was right.

If we were going to get out of this alive, we had to do it together.

“Alright,” I sighed, “we need to go back out there and find Harper and Sky.”

“And…Quinn? Do you think there’s anything we can do to convince her to come home?”

“We could easily convince Quinn to come with us,” I said. “But whoever her aunt has turned her into is a lost cause.”

Quinn

“Goddammit!” I yelled, burying my face in my hands.

Another attempt to reach my father in the spirit realm had failed.

My head was pounding.

My body was begging for sleep.

But I couldn’t.

My heart wouldn’t let me.

Each attempt brought me closer to communicating with my father’s spirit.

I could feel how close I was.

It was almost taunting me.

I centered myself one last time.

I remembered my aunt’s instructions.

~Block out my feelings, my fears, and worries. Find peace within myself. Connect with the deepest, darkest parts of my subconscious. Then reach out to the ghostly presence that is part of me.~

I focused hard.

My mind was empty.

I had left my comfortable bedroom behind.

I was floating in complete darkness.

An endless void that was the gateway to the unknown depths of the spirit realm.

Then I called out to him again, putting all my energy into the mindlink.

~Father… It's me, Quinn. Your daughter… Father… I need to talk to you… I need to…~

I kept calling to him.

But this time felt different.

There was a connection I hadn’t felt before.

I couldn’t quite identify it.

But it electrified me.

Waves of energy flowed through my body as I felt another presence fill me.

A familiar presence.

My body started to shake.

It was like I had lost control of all my senses.

Then suddenly, everything came rushing back to me.

I woke up, my mind spinning.

My eyes blinked open.

And there he was, right in front of me. My dad.

His face was clearer than it had ever been.

He didn’t feel like a ghost anymore.

He was here. Right here.

“D...Dad?” I stuttered.

“Quinn… my girl! Finally, you see me as I’ve been seeing you!”

Tears poured down my face as I threw my arms around him.

His hug was warm and comforting. Like nothing I’d ever felt before.

I’d dreamed of this moment for years.

Of a day when I’d get to hug the man who gave me life.

I never thought it could really happen.

But today, it did.

“Oh, my sweet Quinn… You’ve grown up so beautiful. You look so much like your mother,” my dad said, wiping a tear from my cheek.

“Really?” I cried. “She always told me I was your spitting image.”

“Well, we both see the best parts of each other in you,” he grinned.

“Dad… I… I have so much I want to say. So much I want to ask.”

He took my hands and held them tight, “And now you’ll have every chance to ask them. You’ve taken to your Aunt Jodie’s training so well.”

“I wouldn’t stop until I could finally reach you. Nothing has ever felt so important.” I looked him straight in the eye.

“There aren’t many daughters who would go to such lengths for a man they never knew.”

“I had to know you, Dad. If there was any chance at all. It's all I've ever wanted. For as long as I can remember. All those lonely years in that cabin. I dreamt that if you were there, things might have been better. More normal.”

My dad sighed. “From the spirit realm, I could see how hard those years were on you. I know your mom was just trying to protect you. She never really got that part of my life. And after what happened to me, I can’t say I blame her.”

“Dad… there’s something I need to know.”

“Anything,” he said, giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“About what happened to you… Aunt Jodie said that you were killed by members of your own pack. Of… Shadow Moon. Is that true?”

He sighed deeply and looked down, “I’m afraid it is. Alpha Galahad set the perfect trap for me. He used my loved ones as bait.”

My heart stopped.

His words echoed in my ears.

I knew my aunt had said it was true.

But hearing my dad confirm that the pack I’d joined was responsible for his death was too much to bear.

Any hope I had left for my place in Shadow Moon was gone.

I didn’t want anything to do with them.

Their members.

Or their Alpha—the son of my dad’s killer.

But I didn’t need them anymore. Any of them. I had a new pack.

I had a new family.

One that I’d been waiting for.