Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)(6)

Mandy’s wolf pushed forward ever so slightly—as aggressive as she ever got. She put her hand on Ariel’s arm and did her best to soothe.

“Is he doing any better?” she tried to sound casual, but Ariel saw through her words.

“You should tell him how you feel, Mandy,” her friend and Alpha whispered.

Mandy shook her head. “I think he has enough feelings to deal with at the moment.”

Ariel winced. “I’ve never seen anyone so afraid to touch another person, Mandy. We can’t get near him, and yet every time we go away, he whimpers.” She paused, her wolf in her gaze. “Gibson doesn’t whimper. Ever.”

Mandy’s eyes filled, and she did her best to blink the tears away. “No, he doesn’t. He’s so much stronger than he gives himself credit for and yet…”

“And yet he won’t lean on anyone,” Ariel finished for her.

“Is Cole there?” she asked, speaking of the Feline Tracker that had become friends with Gibson.

“Yes,” Ariel said with a sigh. “Holden is happy at least he’s there. The rest? Not so much. Okay, so Soren is fine with it, but I think that’s mostly because he’s mated to a cat and our Beta. But the other dominant wolves? Most of them don’t want a cat in our business.”

“Which is stupid because we’re all in this together so everything is our business.” Mandy shook her head. “Is there anything we can do?”

Ariel blew out a breath. “I don’t know, but I don’t think all of those dominant wolves near him is helping. They’re trying to figure out who attacked him and why he’s suddenly the Omega and it’s all too much.”

“He was always the Omega,” Mandy said softly. “His wolf just wasn’t ready before this. And maybe the attack put it all out in the open.”

Ariel met Mandy’s gaze. “I agree with you, but not everyone does. It’s so weird for them right now and nothing I do seems to help.” She paused. “I think you need to go to him, Mandy.”

Mandy shook her head, her heart in her throat even as her wolf perked. “I can’t.”

“He might be what you need. You are what he needs.”

Mandy closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying to find her path once more. It used to be easier when it was only one man on her mind, but now that there were two, it was much harder. It wasn’t that being in a ménage within the den would be taboo, it was that she wasn’t the kind of shifter most thought would be in a relationship like that. Of course, she couldn’t find the strength to even talk to them, so it wasn’t as if anything was going to come of it.

“Let’s get to work on our plans,” Mandy said softly. “That much I can do.”

Ariel sighed. “If that’s what you want. But if you ever want to go to him, I’ll go with you. He might need a submissive wolf to calm him, Mandy. But I can find another wolf—”

“No,” Mandy interrupted. Her cheeks heated. “I’ll go to him if he needs it. I don’t want another wolf around him.”

Ariel’s eyes filled with triumph, and Mandy wanted to kick herself. “Good. Now let’s get to work.”

They went to the table and rolled out their plans. Twenty-five years ago when shifters were forced behind walls and branded, they’d done it to protect those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

Those like Mandy.

And yet, she knew those like her were stronger than they thought they were.

Now that their people were on the verge of a rebellion, it wasn’t a matter of if they would get out, but when. And when that happened, they needed to make sure they were ready. Children and those who couldn’t fight needed to be protected.

She wasn’t sure what the world looked like outside these walls. She’d been born into captivity, and the way they lived now was the only way she’d ever known. But one day, she would breathe fresh air and not fear for her life near the walls that were her home. That day would be soon, she thought. Because of the work those in positions of power were doing, as well as those on the outside. The Unseen, the shifters who had hidden instead of being captured, were doing their best to protect their own people. But in so doing, things were changing for everyone.

And when things broke, when the way they lived changed, Mandy would be one of the ones to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. She might be submissive, and her first instinct may not be to fight tooth and claw, but she would show the others she was stronger than they thought. She would also make sure those in the line of fire knew they were needed, knew they had someone to lean on when the time came.

That was her job, and she didn’t take it lightly.

So she and Ariel would make plans for those in their care and do their best to make sure their people would be able to breathe freely once more. While the other shifters in the compound would lay the groundwork and do the actual fighting, there were more things to accomplish than that. That’s where she and Ariel came in.

Hours later, her brain hurt and her back ached, but they had some semblance of a plan. One that could go up in flames in an instant, however, so they would make backups for their backups and include insights from people with more knowledge of the outside world than she had.

“I’m going back to my place to see how Holden and Gibson are holding up,” Ariel said once they were done for the day. “Do you need anything? Want to come?”