Eli

I sensed Sabina’s distress throughout the remaining interviews with Jana’s mate and second-in-command.

We learned little from them other than the fact that her sister was a bitch. She controlled her mate by leading him around by his dick, and her version of a beta was so far up her ass, it was a wonder Jana didn’t have hemorrhoids.

The level of manipulation Jana was capable of was actually impressive. For a single human female to rule over a wealthy and powerful clan like this spoke of her abilities at twisting people around her finger. As far as we could tell, she’d slipped into the clan at sixteen and had been spawning whelps ever since.

That, along with her visions, was why she was the leader.

She had six children to Michael. Six. Even for hyenas, that was unheard of. But she’d led them into an unnecessary battle, and the numbers they so zealously groomed, had been ripped in half after she’d brought them here to win a war she was destined to lose.

There was a backward coming forward kind of logic to their intent. They believed that drawing the pack of naturals into the action would bring us out, and it had worked. Only the fact we had the supernaturals on our side had saved our asses, or we’d be out there, becoming at one with the earth like their fallen. Which was why I knew the loss was destined.

The supernaturals were proof of that.

We’d been fated to fight that war, to win it, and for Knight to bring our dead back to life.

My natural inclination, in the aftermath, was to slaughter the lot of them. They’d all agreed to attack a pack, based on some stupid ‘vision’ their bitch leader had, which meant they were too stupid to live, but I knew that such mass-killings would hurt my mate…so I didn’t.

I let them go.

It went against my better instincts, and my wolf snarled with rage at their release, especially when I handed over a check for three hundred grand to Kim, the new clan leader. A lot battered, a little broken from the clash, she’d accepted the check, which I’d handed her with the warning that if she even so much as entered Washington state again, I’d find out and I’d come and slit her throat myself.

Whether she was scared or not, I’d find out if she attacked in the future. And while it felt ridiculous to let them go, I had a woman who sensed far too much, who felt far too much, to comfort. Sabina had to hurt someone, several someones, in fact, and it was going to weigh on her. What would my ordering their deaths do?

Sometimes, instincts were like pig shit. The stench traveled far and wide, impossible to get off your boots, but if you wanted bacon, you had to deal with it.

So deal with it I did.

As the clan of hyenas ran away, their tails tucked between their legs, I watched them leave, well aware that when the pack gathered tomorrow, there’d be explanations they’d be demanding, justifications expected for the reason for my leniency.

But that was tomorrow.

Another day.

Another time.

The pack of supernaturals, who had fought with us, and all without needing Knight to revive any of their wolves, as well as Ethan and Austin, had the hyenas’ backs and the right and left flanks. As a unit, they charged them onward, making sure they didn’t break off from the group, that they left our land, which placed me alone with Sabina in our quarters.

We both stood on the balcony, watching them go, and when she turned into me, relaxing into me to the extent where it felt like she could have passed out, I clutched at her, wondering what the hell was going on.

Then she blew out a relieved sigh, and rasped, “Mother, I’m glad they’re gone.”

“They stink. That’s for sure,” was all I said, hugging her back and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Come on, you need to get some rest. The last few days have been hard on you.” As I urged her into moving, tucking my arm around her, I muttered, “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I never expected you to close yourself off to me, and to be honest, that was more of a punishment than I could imagine.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“No? Then why did you do it?”

“I think I was shutting them off. It’s only now—” She broke off, but she paused, bringing me to a stop too as she peered up at me. “You know when reception is bad on a radio?”

“Yeah.”

“I had all the pack stuff, the grief and then the stress and the concern, plus that. It was strange.”

“Makes sense. You’re powerful enough to pick up on the way they communicate, but I guess it’s like you don’t speak their language.”

Her eyes widened a little. “That fits. I can feel their presence. Can hear their heartbeats too, so I guess that just added to the chatter.”

I shrugged. “Mate, in all honesty, I’ve never known an omega like you. What you can do boggles my mind, so if you could communicate with all kinds of shifters, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Her lips curved. “You have that much faith in me, huh?”

I wasn’t sure what I’d done or said to earn that smile, but I knew what it meant, especially when she pressed her hand to my chest and slipped it over and up to cup the back of my neck.

“I missed you,” she whispered, leaning up on tiptoe and pressing her mouth to mine.

“I missed you too,” I admitted on a rumble, pulling back only slightly to whisper the words. She moved closer into me, those luscious tits of hers flattening against my pecs, making me ask, “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Seeing as I have zero idea why we had to wait anyway, I’d say I was ready a few weeks ago.”

“You should have spoken with the other women. They would have explained—”

She arched a brow at me. “Nobody gets it. It’s just a cultural thing. An old wives’ tale.”

“Maggie’s an old wife,” I said wryly. “I bet she’d have an answer.”

“I asked. She said when she went through it, she was too horny to care why, just suffered through it.”

I had to laugh at the candid response that was trademark Maggie. “Maybe that’s what it’s about. Through all the sleepless nights, early mornings, the spit up, the diapers, and the endless laundry—admittedly, we don’t have to handle those things—but it’s the Mother’s way of making mates want to reconnect.”

Her nose crinkled. “I didn’t need a milk moon to remember that.”

Grinning, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m glad you’re hungry for me, my mate.”

She sighed. “You know I love it when you call me that.”

“And you know I love that you turn to mush when I do.”

Her laugh was a happy bubble that was such a stark contrast to her melancholy of earlier, and it filled me with relief to know that she didn’t hold what we’d had to do against us.

I wasn’t going to say that she wasn’t affected by it, but I thought she knew we’d had to do what we had to get the answers we needed.

The pack would want a reckoning tomorrow. They’d be demanding answers as to how we managed to revive over forty-three brothers and sisters, and while that was for tomorrow, I was glad we had the dumbass reasoning and a ‘promise’ that the hyenas would never chase up the Krasowski sisters again over their father’s debt.