Chapter 1

• Blaise put the truck into park and blew out some of the tension. As drives went, that one had been intense. Visibility at best was five feet in front of the vehicle. Her truck was built for off-roading and it was a good thing, much of the drive had been through snow that would have bogged down her Alliance ride. Even the few times she could see, she wasn’t sure if she was on a road or making her own. There hadn’t been any gaps that could have been a turnoff, so she hoped this was the place. The snow was blowing so much she couldn’t see anything. Was there a house here? There had to be. Why did they send her here?
• Grabbing her phone, she messaged Kenzo, her boss. Maybe now he’d give her some details. The cryptic instructions she’d been given were to get here any way possible, tell no one, and then she’d be filled in. The strangest part of it was she was told to use her own vehicle and not one from the Alliance. Why? It had taken her a day and the weather had done all it could to prevent her from going anywhere. She hadn’t stopped, afraid she wouldn’t get going again. She couldn’t remember a snowstorm like this before. She kept hoping she’d drive out of it eventually but hadn’t. If anything, the closer she got to this mountain the worse it got.
• Her phone rang, and she answered without pausing to see who it was. It wasn’t like many called her.
• “Blaise.” It was the boss.
• “I made it.” She had already told him that in the message, but after that drive, she’d thought it bared repeating.
• “You used your own vehicle, right?”
• “That’s probably the only reason I got through it.”
• “Good. There’s no way you were tracked then.”
• She grinned, “good luck to anyone tracking anything in this weather.”
• “Yeah, it’s a mess.”
• “Why am I here, Kenzo?” She put the window down a few inches and tried to see through the blowing snow. A gust of wind blew snow in her face. She closed the window.
• “If you’re at the end of the road,” Blaise tried to see if she could go any further, but could only see snow. “Roughly twenty feet into the bush there’s a small shed. I’ll send you the key code to get in. There’s a sled inside to get you up the mountain.”
• Blaise leaned forward and caught glimpses of ‘the mountain’. The wipers were pushing snow, but not able to keep up with it. She was going up there?
• “Raymond says you go straight up from that shed, there’s a trail cut through the trees, so you’ll know if you stray. When you can’t go any further, you hang a left and it will take you to the cabin.”
• “Raymond Hardy?”
• “Yeah. This is his personal getaway spot.”
• Blaise raised both eyebrows and looked out the windshield again. “What am I doing at this cabin?”
• She heard Kenzo suck in a breath and blow it out. “Watching Aiden Tomas’ half-brother, a half-breed, until we can figure out what we’re doing with him.”
• “I’m sorry, did you say Aiden Tomas’ brother is a half-breed?”
• “Yes, I did. Tripp and Amari got him.”
• Blaise stiffened, the exhaustion from her long drive was gone. She opened her mouth and then closed it. “How long have we had him?”
• “Just before the storm hit.”
• “Does Tomas know?”
• “He has to by now.”
• She started to ask if he wanted her to ‘persuade’ information out of him, but he cut her off.
• “Hold on.”
• There were other voices in the background making her wonder where her boss had gotten snowed in. All the teams were stuck in various areas, and their plans to breach Tomas’ locations and free their kind had come to an abrupt halt. No one was happy about it. Blaise had been escorting a few collared rescues when the storm hit. Fortunately for her, the center was near HQ and her own ride had been parked in an underground lot she used when she was there.
• “Tell them to go see if they can find their vehicle and tag it.” He cleared his throat, “sorry, Tripp saw a bit of action this morning.”
• “Everything good?”
• “Yeah. They were somehow tailed in this storm and thought they’d catch them off guard at dawn.”
• Blaise smirked, “How’d that go for them?”
• “Tripp took one out, Amari,” he snorted, “got the drop on the other. Trying to get clean up there right now is going to be a nightmare.”
• Blaise had dealings with Amari a few times and she had nothing but respect for her. “Amari’s out of control, I like her style.”
• Kenzo laughed, “well, her mate, Tripp, isn’t sure he does.”
• Her eyes widened, “they’re mates? That’s awesome.” She chuckled, “he’s outta control too. Good match.” Lately, everyone was finding their fated mate. She rolled her eyes at the thought. A part of her was happy for them, but then there was her reality, which didn’t leave room for happy, gooey thoughts and fantasies of ‘what if’.
• “You can say that because you don’t have to try to control Tripp.”
• “I don’t think anyone can control Tripp, Boss.”
• “Don’t I know it. At least you don’t openly defy every order. Message me when you find the cabin. Graham Watts from Raymond’s team is there right now, but he is needed elsewhere. Take all your gear with you, I don’t know how long you’ll be up there.”
• She nodded, “any instructions on what I can or can not do with the prisoner?”
• “Unknown at this time, we’re waiting on word from Devin Addison. He is tagged though, by Tomas, so he can not leave the Faraday cage he’s in. And have care with your phone, signals can be detected in the rest of the building.”
• “Tomas tagged his brother?”
• “He’s a half-breed, Blaise, given how the Tomas family feels about our kind, we’re still astonished he’s been allowed to live.”
• What kind of life would that be? To share blood with a man that thought of their kind as pets? “Yeah.” Was the only response she gave him. She couldn’t talk about Tomas or what those they rescued went through. It just sent her into a murderous frenzy. Focus on the task.
• “Objective until further notice, keep him safe and alive. You good to head up now, or do you need a short rest?”
• “I’m all aces, boss.”
• “Good. Probably an hour’s ride in this weather, so get your bearings and head up now.”
• “Will do.” She listened as he hung up. “Aiden Tomas’ half-brother.” She blew out a breath, “this is going to be a helluva ride.” She glanced at herself in the mirror her green eyes were flecked with amber, telling her that her cat was close and ready for some fun. At least now she understood the secrecy. Turning the truck off, she stowed her keys in her run pack and grabbed a hair elastic. She made fast work of getting her hair braided and off her face all while avoiding looking at herself in the mirror again. The dark skin on the right side of her body from her jaw down didn’t bother her anymore, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see it either. She’d accepted her life, but then again, she had no choice. No one with a brain dared ever call her a mixed breed, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. The secrecy in her own family regarding that topic told her it was one hundred percent fact and someday, she was going to find out all the nasty details about it.
• She felt the truck rock in a gust of wind and decided to find the snowmobile before hauling all her gear there. She stared at her phone waiting for the code to be sent. Once she had it, she’d put it in her pack.
• Had Kenzo purposely chosen her to do this? Get the abomination to watch the half-breed? She didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t treat her differently and she respected him for that. Besides, she had orders, and she’d carry them through without question. She owed Kenzo a lot, he’d recruited her when she was at a crossroads in her life. One direction on that road would have led to the end of her existence, and further humiliation for her family. Today, she’d proceed like any other day, follow her instructions and not deviate from them. If she got to beat someone or kill something along the way, even better.