An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)(3)

Standing here and getting shot at wasn’t helping anyone. They couldn’t just let themselves be taken in, but damn it, there had to be a way to talk to someone, make this…transition easier for everyone. It wasn’t as if they were a complete secret from everyone, but this was getting ridiculous.

They weren’t in a clearing, but rather a gathering of trees that kept some of them hidden. Brynn leaned into Ryder, her wolf aching to get out and fight for the protection of their den.

“They aren’t going to listen to us,” Ryder whispered. “The first people who showed up came with tranq guns that could actually work on us since those darts seem to be freaking huge. Not the best way to start.”

Brynn frowned at the humans trying to surround her family. “They either knew we were already here and are using this as an excuse, or they just come in guns blazing at any threat.”

“They aren’t using actual guns, Brynn,” Ryder said, his voice emotionless.

“I know,” she whispered back. Something far more complicated than the fallout from a live feed of wolves changing into humans and back was going on here. “This was all an excuse to get us. Or something like it. They want us for some reason, and we don’t know what branch of military or government this is. I don’t like this, Ryder.”

“None of us do, and Gideon holding us back is making it worse. Only I don’t know how to make it better.”

Brynn let out a breath then checked her phone. “None of my contacts are calling me back. What the hell is their use after all these years if they aren’t going to help us.”

“We don’t know what’s going on, Brynn. We don’t know who Leo showed the feed to, and we don’t know what others truly saw. The fact that those soldiers are here at all tells us it’s nothing good, but we don’t have the details.”

And the details were where she and Ryder excelled. The rest of her brothers and cousins managed so many other intricacies of the Pack, but she and Ryder handled the details.

“Brynn Brentwood?” a voice called out over the distance. Her wolf stood on alert. Ryder let out a curse, but Brynn didn’t feel the same.

“Finally,” she muttered.

Gideon was at her side in a flash, his mouth in a snarl. “Who the f*ck is that, and what do they want?”

Brynn wiped her hands on her pants and shook her head. “That is Alex Martinez. General Alex Martinez. And he’s here to help us.” She sucked in a breath. “At least I hope so. Trust me?”

Her brother and Alpha studied her face before nodding.

Her wolf whimpered at the show of respect, but Brynn pushed that away. She raised her chin and took one step forward, putting her body outside the coverage of the trees.

“General Martinez, it seems we have a lot to talk about.”

The man who looked much older than Brynn but was over a century younger than her gave her a nod, his jaw tight. “It seems we do.”

The world had changed with one breath; one slip of security, and now Brynn and the Talons would have to figure out the next step.

Or lose it all.





Chapter Two


One Year Later

The bitter taste of burned coffee couldn’t even be covered up by the heavy dose of sugar, caramel, and cream Brynn had added to her cup. Sometimes having an acute sense of taste really sucked.

She licked the remaining whipped cream off her lips and set down her cup; fully aware she wasn’t drinking coffee in private. Nothing in her life was truly private. Not anymore.

Brynn smiled softly and brushed her long black hair from her shoulder, trying to look friendly, innocent, and as if she didn’t have a care in the world. A total lie, but most people chose what they saw rather that what they should see.

The past year had just cemented that reasoning to her. When General Martinez had stepped foot near the Talon land, the game had changed yet again. The humans knew they existed. They knew shifters roamed around them; knew that some turned into so-called monsters. But they didn’t know everything. It was Brynn’s job to make sure they didn’t know everything. Well, Brynn, the rest of her family, and the Redwoods.

Uncle Leo and his men had shifted into wolf form and back again on camera. That was what the public had seen. They’d seen the painful transition of bones breaking and tendons tearing. They saw humans shifted into wolves with claws and fangs. Then they’d seen Brynn and her family fight them in human form. They’d seen the show of strength, but they hadn’t seen the death. The cameras had been destroyed by then. Thank the goddess. The humans had only seen a tiny part of who the shifters were. They hadn’t seen a loving mated couple care for one another, hadn’t seen a pup roll in the grass while chasing his tail.

They’d only seen the pain and fear that came with shifting. Brynn felt that same agony each time she turned wolf, but the bliss that wrapped around her soul when she connected with her shifter half was worth any pain.

Again, not that the humans knew that.

Since the Unveiling—yes, it had a name, thanks to the twenty-four hour media news cycle—her life had been on a rocky path, but she counted herself lucky she hadn’t been strapped to a table to be studied…or killed outright for being different. It didn’t matter that humans called themselves tolerant of all people. To most, Brynn and her family weren’t people. In the hundred and fifty plus years of Brynn’s life, she’d seen the worst of humanity as well as the worst of shifters, but she’d also seen the best. She’d seen the struggles that came with tolerance and acceptance of race, religion, sex, and creed. Life had taken great strides in finding an equality people could live with.