Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)(10)

Her eyes widened. “So you’ve never found a mate before now?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t. I found a couple women in my life I could have maybe married, but could never mate. And I would never put my Pack stability at risk being with a woman who couldn’t survive the role as an Alpha’s mate.”

“Survive? What the hell do you mean?”

He closed his eyes. Fuck. He hadn’t meant to put it like that. “You might not realize it, but you’re f*cking strong, Ariel. You had to be to survive what you did. When it’s time, you will find your wolf is strong, as well. My wolf just happened to see it before anyone else did.”

“I’m not sure I believe that,” she whispered.

“That you’re strong? Or that you’re my mate?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer. He didn’t know this woman beyond what she’d told him, but damn, it would hurt if she pushed him away outright. She was hope of something more for him, even if he wasn’t quite sure what that was.

“Both maybe?” She sighed. “How do you know if someone is mated? Is it like a marriage or something? What does it mean? And it scares me that I’m even talking about this, you know. Last time I checked, I was a human trying to find my way in the normal world. This is all a little unbelievable.”

His lips twitched at that. There was no way the world any of them lived in was normal anymore, but he’d let her think that for now. She’d find out the truth soon enough.

He pulled back and held out his forearm. Her gaze traveled to the brand and ink there. When her fingers traced over the ridges of the tribal wolf he sucked in a breath. She moved her hand back, her eyes wide.

“Sorry! Did I hurt you?”

He swallowed hard and shook his head. “No one really touches it,” he said softly. “It’s okay. You asked about mating, and this is part of it. When we are mated, we get the right side of the brand inked with the tattoo that we choose to signify our pair. The life side of the brand is a tattoo of our particular Pack. The brand itself…well it is different than just a tattoo. Each wolf, bear, and cat wears a brand to signify their species.”

She blinked then looked down at her bare arm. “Why would you do that?” she whispered. “It looks like it hurt like hell. Can’t you just smell each other or something?”

He clenched his jaw and tried to relax when she looked up at him. “It was not our choice.”

Her mouth parted, and she reached up to her neck where the absence of a collar stood out like a beacon. That would have to change soon to keep her safe—to keep them all safe.

“What do you know of our history?” he asked.

She frowned. “I know what TV and books tell me. When the Verona Virus hit twenty-five years ago, it wiped out a lot of humanity. That’s when you guys couldn’t hide anymore and came out in force to try to attack us.” She pressed her lips together and winced. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Anyway, the SAU found the cure and then saved the rest of the human civilization by putting the ‘animals’ in cages.” She used air quotes around the word animals to apparently indicate she didn’t quite believe the prevailing propaganda. It didn’t make it any easier to stomach hearing those words from her mouth.

“The SAU is a decrepit and violent organization that uses fear mongering to keep humans unaware of what’s going on around them. If they keep the fear heightened just enough, then humans will turn the other cheek when it comes to locking up, in camps, women and children who have done nothing but be born with the ability to shift.” He let out a small growl, holding out his arm. “The SAU did this to me. They force us to brand children so no one can hide what they are. They are the ones who make us wear collars and try to force us to forget that we are shifters and once held power. Now we don’t even have to power to free ourselves. We are outnumbered and weak because we were the ones who saved you. Not the doctors. But us. The shifters.”

Ariel put her hand on his chest, her palm right above his heartbeat. His wolf calmed immediately, brushing at her touch, nudging beneath his skin.

“I grew up in an SAU orphanage, Holden. My parents died from complications from the virus when I was born. I know the SAU isn’t the perfect pillar of society they claim to be. If I hadn’t known it when I was a child, hungry and alone, I would have damn well known it when they cut me open to see if they could make a shifter.”

Her eyes widened, and she clamped her mouth shut.

He gripped her arms, his wolf coming to the surface. “They’re trying to make shifters?” He couldn’t believe it. Or maybe he could. He wouldn’t put anything past the SAU, but f*ck, this was bad.

“I overheard one of the doctors talking about it when they were putting me under for some tests. I don’t know why they want to do that or why they kidnapped me from my home to do it. The latter probably because I have no family and no close friends due to where I grew up.”

His wolf raged at the thought of her hurt, bleeding, and alone, but the man knew he needed to think about the consequences of what she’d just told him.

“Fuck, Ariel. This is bad. But you need to know how bad first. Shifters came out of hiding because we couldn’t get sick from the Verona Virus. Humans started to notice that whole groups of people and families seemed to have immunity. We came out on our own terms, contrary to the SAU propaganda. We gave what we could and searched for a cure. We might not be fully human, but we aren’t fully animals either. There was no way we would allow people to die while we stood back and did nothing.”