Chapter 3

• Guilt. He had moments where that feeling tried to smother him. Zain knew nothing was his fault, but that didn’t stop it from happening when he was stressed. Presently, he was maxed out in that department.
• He had moved his chair to the other side of his desk so he could see the door. Most just walked right in without warning because he was a nobody here, and he was strung too tight right now for that.
• He hadn’t come in at all yesterday—he’d run around and gotten what Deva would need because he felt that Asher was going to find the island. The only time he relaxed while doing it was when he was in the women’s clothing shops. It bothered him that he was an errand boy for the team while they got in on all the action, but at this point, he was okay with quiet and uneventful.
• His phone rang, and he almost hit the carpet beside his desk. This kind of stress couldn’t be good for a body. He answered it and was relieved it was just the reception saying his delivery had arrived. Now he just needed to get the call so he could get it to Deva. She was going to hate what he got for her, but he needed something to make him feel better, and torturing her by buying something she’d never wear worked for him.
• Getting up, he went over to the window and peeked out the blinds. If they’d wanted him dead, they could have shot him through the window any time, but he wasn’t taking chances. Shooting people sniper style wasn’t their M.O., so he was about ninety-nine-point-eight percent sure he was safe standing near the window. Their style was up close and bloody, that he knew without a doubt.
• One moment in time, all those years ago, had changed everything for Zain. He snorted. That wasn’t even his birth name. He closed his eyes and then opened them. No, he wasn’t even going to think it. He wasn’t that person anymore. Of course, he should have let Shepard Addison choose his new name because, to a nine-year-old, Zain sounded neat. The last name—yeah, he’d had a thing for fried chicken back then. He wondered if Jesse knew his history. He didn’t think so, but how could you ask without giving away the fact that you knew secrets? Deadly, life-ending secrets.
• He’d gone over that day a billion times in his head, and just when he thought he’d never have to again, something would happen, and it was all right there again, scrolling through his brain like a movie.
• He’d been playing hide and seek with Illias because that was the least stressful thing he could do for his mother—and he’d promised her that day he would stay out of trouble. He always tried to please her because her underlying sadness ate away at him, even at that age. Being a single mom because some rogue wolf abandoned you right after they found out you were pregnant was a tough gig. His twin sister was angelic, and Zain had tried to be, but some things weren’t his fault. Boys with their best friends somehow, without trying, ended up in trouble. Illias was one of those friends where you could be talking about how cool doing some crazy thing would be, and even though you were just dreaming out loud, Illias was the one to go and do it. They’d been grounded a lot.
• He’d found a great hiding spot and waited and waited some more, but Illias hadn’t found him. He’d watched him go by where he was at least four times. When he’d gone in the wrong direction again, Zain decided to move so he would find him. That was what changed his life—one decision.
• When he’d gone over the hill, one of the clan members had come running out of the trees in wolf form, and they were covered in blood. He’d seen some that went hunting and returned with a little blood on their snout, but this was so much blood. Instead of turning around and going back the way he’d come, he was stupid enough to stand there in awe of the amount of blood as the wolf shifted back to man form. Once the man got his pants on, he saw Zain and took off after him.
• Zain had run by Illias, who started running as well because that’s what friends did. They followed, clueless as to why you were running, but you weren’t alone in doing it. They’d gone to their Alpha, the King, Shepard Addison, and Zain told him what he saw.
• Illias was sent home, and Zain stayed at the king’s house for the rest of the day. His mother and sister were brought to see him. For the entire day, he didn’t even understand why he was there. The king had been on the phone and was upset, and he hadn’t understood why until he heard him talking to his second. Someone had slaughtered several members of the nearby cheetah clan. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together, even for a nine-year-old.
• The next day, he said a tearful goodbye to his mom and sister and then spent a day on planes. He wasn’t good with directions at that point, but later on, he’d figured out that the king had flown him around for no reason because he’d ended up only a few hours away from home.
• That was when Zain Sanders was born.
• He missed his mom and sister—Illias, too, but it was fun being someone else. Where he was, they had treated him great, he had toys, fun, and made a few new friends. Once a week, he was allowed to talk to his mom on the phone, and he didn’t know if she had done it or Illias just showed up, but he was always there when he called.
• That was his life for five years. He only got to see her a few times but was told someday he would be able to come home. Then everything changed—again. Changes that he would never recover from and still hadn’t today. His mother, sister, and Illias were taken. He didn’t know where, but he had a good idea who had taken them. Shepard was slim with the details, but at fourteen, he’d been much faster to figure things out.
• Shortly after the news of them being taken, Illias was brought to see him. His face had been bandaged from the side of his mouth to his neck. It was a scar he’d wear for life because neither of them could shift yet. Illias had told him, in a mumbled voice, because of the bandages, that his mother had fought like a champion and his sister too. The rest of that conversation was that his mother and sister had died protecting his location. Illias had almost died but had managed to get free and get away. He hadn’t seen their faces. There were two males—one old, one young. Zain knew the old one was the man that had chased him that day.
• Why did they wait five years? That’s the part that drove him mad. The king blamed himself and said he should have relocated his family and Illias as well. Zain wanted to know why the older one was still breathing. Shepard said he was handled or dealt with. He’d assumed it meant that he was no longer breathing.
• That day, Illias was taken somewhere new to go to school. Zain didn’t know where. They never discussed it. Even though they weren’t supposed to, they stayed in touch. Secret messages on answering machines. He was thankful that Illias discovered his skills with technology as a teen, or he would have lost all ties to the person he used to be.
• In all the years since then, Shepard Addison had skirted the entire topic, giving Zain answers that were vague and untelling. All he knew was what he was told, that the older man had been dealt with, but there was no mention of the younger one. The older one had not been dealt with in the way he’d suspected. If he had been, they would not have found him on that op. Now, he was dealt with and sitting in a cell with Raymond Hardy’s team glaring at him twenty-four-seven.
• He blinked and realized he was still standing at the window, lost in the past. Taking a deep breath, he went back over to his desk and got his notebook out of his backpack. Time to double-check that he had everything covered. His backup plan had four alternative directions, and he wanted to make sure he knew them step by step in case he needed them.
• He grabbed his phone and debated on asking Illias if he should talk to the wolf prisoner. See if he’d give up who the younger one was. Setting the phone down, he shook his head. Illias would just tell him to stick with the plan. The plan needed altering. If the old one was a prisoner, where was the young one? What was to stop him from seeking more revenge against the two boys who were in the wrong place all those years ago? Nothing. There was nothing stopping them because the man that knew the whole story was missing.