Paranormal Wars: Stone Haven 3

Mating Forged in Fire

Maui Knight can’t believe he’s found his mate when he saves Ian
Carmichael from the psy labs. The need to keep his mate safe has

Maui denying Ian’s request to go get his sister away from Ian’s
father. Maui hadn’t counted on Ian’s determination to save his
sister from their father’s dishonorable intentions.

Ian Carmichael runs from the safety of the Alliance Territory in
order to bring his sister back with him. From the moment he

enters his childhood home things go horribly wrong. He saved his
sister but managed to get recaptured by the psy. The last time

he’d been imprisoned by the psy they had tortured him, this time
they took that torture to a whole new level. What’s even worse is

they’ve changed him.

Ian’s only hope is that Maui will once more rescue him. Even if he
does Ian isn’t sure Maui can love who Ian’s become.

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Futuristic, Paranormal, Science
Fiction, Shape-shifter
Length: 42,145 words

MATING FORGED IN FIRE

Paranormal Wars: Stone Haven 3

Shea Balik

EROTIC ROMANCE

MANLOVE

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www.SirenPublishing.com

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IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove


MATING FORGED IN FIRE
Copyright © 2014 by Shea Balik
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-879-9

First E-book Publication: June 2014

Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of Mating Forged in Fire by Shea
Balik from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you.
Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or
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DEDICATION

To my friends M and P for your constant support and

encouragement even when others thought I was a little crazy for
changing my life in order to do this.

MATING FORGED IN FIRE

Paranormal Wars: Stone Haven 3

SHEA BALIK

Copyright © 2014

Prologue

There are moments in a person’s life when their entire existence is

changed irrevocably, when, no matter how hard a person fights, there
is just no stopping it. Like a runaway freight train, it plows into you
leaving you reeling from its effects.

It wasn’t something Ian had ever thought could happen, he didn’t

even know it was a possibility that he could end up where he was, yet
here he was. Just seven years ago his whole world had been turned
upside down and every day since then he fought his circumstances
with every molecule in his body. Not that it ever worked, but he had
been determined to make something out of his life. Until now. Now
he was ready to give up.

It all started when his mother was hit by a drunk driver while

walking home from the grocery store. His father had just gotten a
small promotion and she’d wanted to celebrate with his favorite meal,
pot roast.

She’d been killed instantly. Ian and his sister Shayla did their best

to stay out of their father’s way after that. He’d never been an
especially warm father but their mom had softened out his rougher
edges. From that moment their father had turned into someone they
didn’t recognize.

Mating Forged in Fire

9

He drank often, stayed out late, at times not coming home for days

at a time. As the oldest Ian made sure Shayla was taken care of,
getting her to school, making sure she did her homework and finding
ways to make sure she ate, which wasn’t always easy since their
father never thought to give them money or bring home groceries.

Ian got a job as soon as he realized it would be up to him to

provide food for them both. For the most part he and Shayla were
fine. They relied on each other and just stayed out of their father’s
way. Ian had a harder time dealing with their strained relationship and
worked at getting the man’s attention.

Even if it was in a small way, Ian couldn’t seem to help himself

but to try to reach out to the man. He was Ian’s father after all and
before his mother’s death Ian had loved him. Every day he did
something, hoping he would eventually look at Ian with love once
more but it just never seemed to happen.

About a year ago Ian noticed his father looking at his own

daughter, Ian’s sister, Shayla, with lust. She was nearly eighteen and
Ian knew he had to get her out of there before his father acted on
those feelings. There had been a chance his father wouldn’t wait until
she was of legal age but if Ian tried to run off with Shayla before then
and they were caught Ian would most likely be charged with
kidnapping. Without Ian no one would be able to help Shayla.

So he watched over his sister, teaching her enough self-defense to

rip the balls from their father’s body if he tried anything. He also
started to make plans to leave with Shayla the night before she turned
eighteen. Ian had to hope his father wouldn’t make a move before
then.

One week before her eighteenth birthday Ian came home to find a

white van in front of their house. Something told him to run but he
couldn’t leave his sister there alone. So he did what he’d always done
since his mother’s death, he straightened his shoulders, took a deep
breath, and braced himself for whatever was about to happen.

10

Shea Balik

Ian made a promise to himself to be as brave as his mother always

said he was. It was what got him through her death and raising
Shayla. There were many times when he’d had to take on disgusting
jobs, like cleaning the rooms at a motel that rented rooms by the hour,
but he refused to give in no matter how much he’d wanted to just give
up.

Allowing himself a minute to gather his courage, he stared up at

the place he’d called home his whole life. When it had become clear
Ian’s father wasn’t going to take care of the yard or any of the repairs,
Ian had taken on those chores. It wasn’t perfect, the paint was chipped
in more places than not and could use a new coat, but the yard was
well trimmed. His mother’s prized flower beds were still alive and
fairly weed free.

His eyes sought out those flowers now, needing a little of his

mother’s love at the moment. The sight of those bright yellow roses
made him smile as he remembered how she used to take such good
care of them. Praying he was wrong he opened the door to the
screened-in porch.

As he entered the front door he knew his instincts had been spot

on for his father stood at the entrance to the kitchen casually leaning
against the doorjamb with a smile that could only be described as evil.
“Welcome home, boy, I have a surprise for you.”

He didn’t even want to ask but knew it wouldn’t make any

difference if he’d kept silent so he responded in his usual sarcastic
way. “You’ve decided that your sick lust for Shayla is wrong and are
going into treatment?” It was the first time any of them had admitted
what his father was feeling for Shayla but in his gut Ian knew
whatever was about to happen wasn’t going to end well for him so he
might as well just get his digs in now.

For a moment he thought he might have finally pushed the man

over the edge and he was about to have a heart attack based on just
how red his face turned. It almost looked as if he’d stopped breathing

Mating Forged in Fire

11

but Ian’s luck just wasn’t that good. “How dare you accuse me of
something so perverted when you’re the one who likes to fuck men?”

Why his father was acting like he cared one way or the other that

Ian was gay, Ian wasn’t sure. Ian hadn’t made any secret of his sexual
orientation. Hell, he’d had boyfriends here in the house for dinner.
“At least I don’t lust after my own family.”

His father snarled but Ian couldn’t have cared less. “I’ve been out

since I was fifteen years old. Why act like it matters now?”

A large man stepped into the room just then. “Why don’t you let

me take over, Harold?” the man said to Ian’s father, who just nodded
with what looked like a bit of fear in his eyes.

When the man turned to face Ian, he could understand his father’s

look of fear. The man’s eyes looked cold, dead, as if he didn’t care if
he killed you or talked to you. There was just no emotion.

“Now, Ian, for whatever his reasons are, your father wants you out

of his house, never to return.” That didn’t exactly surprise Ian since
he couldn’t have Ian around while he was raping his own daughter.
“So he has agreed to let you be a part of an experiment the psy are
conducting for a small fee.”

Okay, now Ian was shocked as he looked past the scary man to

stare at his father. “You sold me to the psy?” he asked in disbelief.

The man answered for his father. “Exactly.”
Ian didn’t say anything, he just ran, hitting the screen door with

his hand to pop it open, not willing to slow down to open it correctly.
He didn’t even make it off the porch before he felt an arm grab him
from behind but it was the slight prick of a needle in his neck that
made him aware he wasn’t getting out of this, not that he stopped
fighting.

Almost immediately he felt his body getting heavier making

fighting useless as he just couldn’t get his limbs to cooperate. He felt
someone pick him up and throw him over his shoulder. His eyes
landed on his father who once more looked smug. Just before

12

Shea Balik

darkness washed over him he heard his father say, “I’ll take good care
of Shayla.”

Mating Forged in Fire

13

Chapter 1

That had been just over a year ago and during the past year Ian

had been poked, prodded, and had enough blood taken to feed an
army of vampires, if there were vampires anyway. He’d also been
used as a plaything by the psy. Their favorite game was to take over
his mind and force him to have sex with the soldiers who were
stationed there. Ian found that ironic since the psy were vehement in
their antigay propaganda.

Every time as he was forced to do their bidding he fought as hard

as he could. Several times he’d attempted escape, determined to get
back to Shayla but he never even made it past the doors.

It had been a year since he’d been allowed to see the sun as he

wasn’t allowed outside. There were no windows as the lab was built
underground. The only bright spot in this hellhole was J.J. Well, his
real name was Jason Jackovich but Ian had shortened it. He was
another prisoner that Ian had made fast friends with and probably the
only reason Ian was still sane.

Every atrocity they suffered at the hands of the psy they told each

other in vivid detail. It was their only way to purge what happened to
them. Not that they ever forgot but it seemed to help to know they
weren’t the only ones it was happening to. In fact there were nearly a
hundred prisoners and as time passed they all started sharing their
stories. They tried to look out for each other. Not that it helped much
since the psy could easily enter their heads and force them to do as the
psy pleased. But they could be here for each other when they were
brought back to their cells.

14

Shea Balik

Recently prisoners were no longer coming back. Jason and Ian

had tried to figure out what was happening but the psy weren’t saying
anything. They were terrified. Each night they held hands with their
bodies pressed against the bars as they tried to comfort each other.
Even though they had pretty much given up on the Gods they still
prayed to whatever God would listen that they would make it out of
here alive.

It was just a few weeks ago that Jason had come back nearly

catatonic, unable to speak about what he’d seen. He kept mumbling
something about monsters but no matter how much Ian tried he just
couldn’t snap his friend out of it. Each time they took Jason he
became more and more withdrawn, just staring into space. Then, like
the others, Jason had been taken and hadn’t returned.

Ian had gone berserk, fighting everyone who dared to come near

him even harder than before. The doctor that was in charge of the
experiments they were running decided to show Ian what was
happening. Ian liked to believe he did it out of compassion but in
reality he probably did it to scare the shit out of him.

One day, instead of being taken to the examination room, Dr.

Reid, who they secretly called Dr. Frankenstein, took him down to
level five. He took Ian into a room similar to the level four, which
was where he was held. There were cages that lined each side of a
hallway that held prisoners, except these cages were bigger.

As they started to pass the first cage Ian looked inside and stopped

in his tracks for it wasn’t humans they were holding. Inside the first
cage was what could only be described as a monster.

Ian found himself rooted to the spot even though the doctor had

gone further down the line of cages until he stood before one about
halfway down. “Jason, I brought Ian to see you.”

That got Ian’s feet working again. Not willing to look at the other

cages he rushed down to the one Dr. Reid was in front of. “Jason,” he
said just as he got his first look into the cage. He heard himself give
an unmanly squeak as he looked at a seven-foot creature that looked

Mating Forged in Fire

15

somewhat like a bear if he had to guess, but unlike any bear Ian had
ever seen.

“Ian,” the creature Dr. Reid called Jason said, or at least that’s

what it sounded like. The bear-like creature grabbed the bars of his
cage as he tried to talk but it was coming out too garbled, like he was
growling more than talking.

It was the fact that the creature was trying to talk that had Ian

taking a closer look at it. That was when he noticed the pleading eyes,
the same cinnamon-colored eyes of his friend. “Oh my God. Jason,
what did they do to you?” He turned on the doctor. “What did you do
to him?” he yelled.

That seemed to get several of the creatures in the other cages

agitated and they started to growl and shake the bars of their cages.
Dr. Reid just took Ian’s hand in his and pulled him back down the
corridor. “We have to get out of here before the soldiers come to find
out what is happening.”

Too surprised by everything he’d just seen to fight the doctor, he

was dragged out of the room and into the examination room before he
was able to think again. Yanking his hand away he put as much space
between them as possible. “You did this. How? Why?” he asked, not
even sure he wanted to know the answer.

The doctor at least had the decency to look ashamed of what he’d

done, or at least Ian hoped that was shame. “I didn’t have a choice,”
he said through gritted teeth. “It may seem hard to believe but I’m just
as much a prisoner as you are.”

“Yeah right,” Ian said with his full sarcasm mode in play. “Even if

you were a prisoner how can they force you to do anything? You’re a
psy. They can’t control you like they do us,” Ian snapped out.

Dr. Reid’s shoulders drooped as he leaned heavily against the

wall. “It doesn’t matter. The point is I don’t have a choice.”

Ian was fed up with all that had happened to him and if what was

happening to the other prisoners was any indication, he was about to

16

Shea Balik

be turned into some kind of monster as well, so he wasn’t willing to
back down from the man.

He strode right up to the doctor and got in his face. “There is

nothing in this world that would make me do the sick, twisted things
you are doing to us. You’ve been torturing us every day with needles,
pumping us full of Gods only know what and then you stand by as the
guards use us as their personal sex toys. So you can sit there all high
and mighty thinking you don’t have a choice but you do. You are just
as evil as they are. So tell me what could possibly make you do this?”

“They have my parents, my brother, and my sister,” he whispered

as if afraid by saying the words out loud would make them more real
than they already were. “If I don’t do what they want they said they
would start cutting off various body parts and send them to me until I
did as they asked When I didn’t do as they asked, they sent me my
father’s finger with his wedding ring still on it.”

“Aw hell,” Ian cursed.
That was the one and only time they had ever talked about why

the doctor was doing what he was doing. They never dared bring it up
again, afraid someone might hear them. Since that time, they stayed
doctor and prisoner with no personal comments said again. Hell, they
didn’t acknowledge with even a gesture that the doctor had told his
deepest, darkest secret.

Ian was in his cell waiting for Dr. Reid to come get him for his

next appointment with the man when the doctor was stopped by the
commander of the lab, the same emotionless man who’d taken Ian
just over a year ago. “Dr. Reid, we need to know how quickly you can
make more creatures. We lost everyone in the battle.”

Ian gasped in shocked. Jason.
The doctor glanced in Ian’s direction but didn’t say anything

about his reaction. “There were no survivors?” he asked the
commander, or Lucifer as Ian and Jason referred to him. The guy
didn’t have a kind bone in his body. In fact he seemed to get his rocks
off by how much torture he could inflict on the prisoners.

Mating Forged in Fire

17

The commander shrugged as if it didn’t really matter. “We can’t

be sure if any have survived as the Alliance burned them into ash. It’s
hard to do a body count but we doubt any survived.”

As much as he tried to fight it, since showing emotion was

something they could and would use against him, Ian just couldn’t
stop the tears from trickling down his cheeks as he listened. He kept
his head bent, hoping no one would notice, but his friend deserved his
tears, even if it got Ian punished.

“We feel this lab has been compromised so we need to evacuate.

You will be leaving within the hour, in order to ensure you aren’t
captured, but we need to know how to transport the recently
transitioned.” Ian’s head snapped up at those words.

Maybe Jason hadn’t been sent with the others, maybe he was still

here. The doctor’s eyes met his at that point. As if sensing Ian’s hope
he dashed them with a slight shake of his head while Lucifer was
writing in his tablet the instructions the doctor was giving him.

Once the commander put in the instructions he said, “Like I said,

you will be leaving within the hour. Once you’re at the new location
you’ll have the rest of the day to set up the new lab. We expect you to
start transitioning the humans there tomorrow morning. Apparently,
the Alliance isn’t willing to save the creatures so we’ll need as many
creatures as possible.”

“If they are just going to kill them, how does creating more help?”

Dr. Reid asked.

“The Alliance only kills what they fear they can’t beat, which

means these creatures are strong enough to take them on.” Lucifer
didn’t bother to stick around any longer to explain that twisted logic.

Dr. Reid didn’t say anything to Ian but Ian saw the compassion in

his eyes. In some odd way, that look offered Ian comfort as he grieved
for his friend.

18

Shea Balik

Chapter 2

Ever since learning from the Alpha’s mate, Seth, that the psy were

still conducting experiments on paranormals and humans Maui
Knight had been itching to destroy their labs. He’d spent his first
thirty years in the hell of a human run lab being tortured for what the
humans called science.

It all started three hundred years ago in 2012, when the three races

were born into this world. The Gods, in their infinite wisdom, created
three new races to save the Earth, but what they clearly didn’t
consider was how much the humans were going to freak the hell out.

The three new races were called paranormals and consisted of

shifters, mystics, and psy. Shifters shared their bodies with an animal
in order to commune with various animals to help stop the widespread
extinction of several different species. Mystics could control one of
the elements—fire, wind, earth, water—in order to restore Earth’s
natural balance. The psy were given the gift of mind control in order
to help change the humans’ distorted way of thinking.

Maui was a fire mystic. He could manipulate fire, both creating it

and extinguishing it. He had to admit of all of the abilities to have his
was probably the coolest. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the others
but he knew he was one of the more destructive forces on this Earth.
Not that he let it go to his head. Hell, his friends ensured he didn’t get
a big ego, especially his Alpha, the man who saved him all those
years ago, Alek Rykov.

Unfortunately for the shifters and mystics their births were not

considered normal. For less than a minute after birth the shifters
changed into their animal and the mystics turned into their element.

Mating Forged in Fire

19

Once the governments heard this was happening they went out

and either killed the infants or took them into custody. By claiming
national security when the parents dared to protest, the governments
got away with it by spreading widespread panic among the populace.

Admittedly this was made much easier since the mystics, mainly

the fire mystics, had put hundreds in danger. When mystics changed
into their element it often created a mess, especially when the wind
and fire mystics were born around the same time in the same hospital.

As the fire mystics were born they would erupt into flames.

Scared at the sight of a baby engulfed in a blaze, those witnessing the
phenomenon would scream. That first transformation was just a show
of the element but didn’t generate any heat, so it didn’t burn.

Often the infant would be dropped and chaos would ensue at the

unexpected sight which would startle the newborn. Scared, the baby’s
defensive mechanism kicked in, in an effort to protect itself turning
that benign flame into a real one. The cycle would just perpetuate as
blankets and bedding caught on fire causing the others in the room to
become hysterical, terrifying the infant even more, and the fire turned
into an inferno.

If a wind mystic was born around the same time in that same

hospital, which happened only a few times, they would become
startled by all the commotion and their element of wind would whip
through the building. The next thing the humans knew the entire
structure would be up in flames, killing dozens if not hundreds of
people.

The human governments used these disasters as reasons why it

was necessary to “study” all paranormals. The only ones that were
spared were the psy, who had been born with the ability to enter a
human’s mind to help control thoughts, emotions, sometimes even
able to move objects. Since there was no outward sign that they were
different the humans hadn’t even known they existed.

There were many who escaped capture from the human

government and kept hidden by their parents but no one knew how to

20

Shea Balik

stop what the governments were doing to the others. That is, until
Alek Rykov decided to take action and free the paranormals.

Maui had been born in 2072, sixty years after the first paranormal

was born. He was taken prisoner within minutes of being born.
According to his file, his parents had been the ones to make the call to
have him taken. As much as he wanted to hate them, he didn’t.

It would be too easy to blame them, but if there was one thing

Maui learned from being tortured for the first forty years of his life it
was that life was never easy. Every day there is a choice to be made to
live life or to give up and Maui had decided early on he’d live it. It
was why he’d fought his captors every second of every day.

It didn’t make his life any easier, although he knew he was often

skipped for certain experiments because he was deemed too volatile,
but it was something he felt compelled to do. He was not one who
was just going to lie there and take whatever they did to him. Most
did and it just led to more experiments, more poking, more prodding,
more hell.

So he fought with every breath inside him. The only time he

couldn’t fight was when they knocked him out but even then he did
damage to the ones giving him the injections. Eventually he learned to
use his ability with the drugs inside him. He may not always have
been able to create a flame but he could heat up his body enough to
burn whoever touched him. Sometimes he was able to burn right
through the drugs they were giving him to suppress his ability.

When Alek Rykov showed up to free him, he along with another

prisoner, Wolfe, who’d been fighting just like Maui had immediately
befriended the tiger shifter, swearing to not only help him free other
shifters but also to stay by the man’s side to protect him. There was
just something about the man that Maui and Wolfe responded to.
They understood that one day the tiger shifter would become the
Alpha Primus, the most powerful man in the paranormal world.

They fought long and hard to free the others and force the human

governments to stop their heinous experiments. A war unlike any the

Mating Forged in Fire

21

planet had ever seen before ensued leaving a quarter of the human
population dead before they capitulated to the paranormals’ demands.
After much negotiating between Alek and the top officials of various
governments it was decided the paranormals would live, for the most
part, separate from the humans to help the humans feel safer.

This seemed to piss off the psy, who up until the war had been

completely anonymous. They demanded the humans be eradicated
from the planet, stating the Gods created the paranormal race to save
the Earth. Since the humans had been destroying it, they needed to be
eliminated. Alek refused and another war ensued, this time between
the Alliance, made up of shifters and mystics, and the psy, who used
humans as their cannon fodder.

It had been a bloody war that left little peace in the world with the

exception of their slice of land, which used to be known as the
northwestern United States and the western half of Canada. Not even
the psy were brave enough to fight Alek on his own turf. Maui was
still involved in the battles going on around the world but when he
came home to Stone Haven, the capital of their territory, he knew
peace, even if were for only a few days or weeks.

All of that changed when Seth Tilton sought refuge with Alek.

He’d been running from his own kind, the psy. It was Seth who told
them the psy had continued capturing the shifters and mystics to
experiment on them. Apparently the psy weren’t happy that they were
the only paranormal without a long lifespan.

No one was sure if shifters and mystics even died of natural

causes as Alek had been born that fateful day in 2012. He was three
hundred years old and didn’t look a day over thirty. The psy were
trying to find a way to increase their lifespans but so far had been
unsuccessful.

What they did manage to do was create were-creatures, humans

genetically transformed into what amounted to creatures that
resembled the old Hollywood movies from the twentieth century

22

Shea Balik

called werewolves, except they weren’t just wolves, but bears,
crocodiles, pretty much any animal with aggressive tendencies.

The creatures were strong, stronger than most of the natural-born

shifters with the unfortunate side effect of being able to be controlled
by the psy. After defeating the were-creatures the Alliance managed
to take one alive.

Dr. Adam Pratt, the head doctor of the Alliance and part of Alek’s

inner circle, had gone to investigate if these creatures were more
animal or human. Much to everyone’s amazement their prisoner,
Jason, ended up being Adam’s mate and he was very much human.
The weres were a lot like shifters but instead of turning fully into an
animal they turned somewhere halfway between.

Now they waited on the sandy terrain for word from Alek to start

another battle to destroy the lab where these creatures were created. It
wouldn’t be easy since Alek was determined to save these altered
humans that were victims of the psy’s sick experiments. Assuming
they could be saved, they would be taken deep into Alliance territory
so the psy couldn’t keep controlling them, but that was a big if.

Maui’s earpiece clicked to life. “Team One, in place.” Maui was

in charge of Team Two, who would storm the facility moments after
Team One took out the outside guards and Team Three threw in the
grenades. These weren’t just any grenades. They had high-powered
sedatives that would work within seconds of detonation. They were
powerful enough to take down the humans who had been changed
into creatures, but in order to make it that powerful it would mean any
humans that hadn’t been changed would die if they breathed it in. So
Maui’s team was to get in, find the humans who hadn’t been changed,
and give them the extra gas masks they carried with them.

Team Three would follow Maui’s team to reach the humans who

had been changed. They would also carry extra gas masks, but the
fact was they would not only take out the guards inside but carry out
the creatures, which meant every member of Team Three was a
shifter who could carry at least twice their weight.

Mating Forged in Fire

23

After the other two teams checked in Alek gave the go ahead to

Team One. They would only start killing the guards when they were
sure they could take out each one quickly so as not to risk the other
two teams.

Maui stood there at the ready, adrenaline coursing through his

body as he waited for the go ahead, when there was a flurry of activity
over the communications. “We have incoming,” one soldier said.
Another said, “Convoy coming down the road, I count five.”

Alek’s voice was heard over the chatter. “Everyone stand down.

Rangi, I want a report immediately,” he demanded of their
coordinator.

“Yes, Alpha,” Rangi responded over COBI—Communication

Operations with Biometric Interface. Basically, it was a glorified
earpiece.

Now that the stand-down order was given Maui concentrated on

relaxing his body. It could be minutes but more likely at least an hour,
until Rangi and Alek figured out what was going, which wouldn’t
make staying hidden easy. His team was barely hidden on the south
side of the building. The building had been built on a small knoll.
Well, it had been built under the knoll, as most of the building was
underground, but the main entrance was on top of the knoll. This
allowed limited coverage for Maui’s team but with the new element
of a convoy it was better to be safe than sorry.

Alek would want to know as much as possible about who was

coming before sending his people inside. It was one of the things
Maui always appreciated about Alek. The man put his people’s safety
first, even if it meant he put his own life at risk.

Alek’s constant need to put himself in danger was the only point

of contention Maui had with his Alpha. He could appreciate the man’s
determination to keep his own people safe, but it would do them no
good if their Alpha died. Hell, the whole Alliance would fall apart
around their ears if anything happened to Alek.

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Shea Balik

Still the man wouldn’t hear of standing back and sitting on the

sidelines if he thought he was needed. It had put Wolfe and Maui in
some of the most dangerous situations in order to have Alek’s back
but Maui wouldn’t have it any other way. For all his bitching that the
Alpha needed to keep himself safe, Maui admired him for being
willing to risk his life for others.

For this mission it had been decided that Alek would run it from

their command post just out of sight of the lab, but Maui knew that
was about to change. Whenever the variables of a mission changed,
Alek put himself in the line of fire, determined to save every one of
his soldiers.

Mating Forged in Fire

25

Chapter 3

Nearly an hour went by but eventually it was decided to continue

with the mission with a few changes. Alek’s voice came over COBI.
“Okay, plan has changed. Teams One, Two, and Three attack as one.
Team One, you are to take out the original guards, team Three take
out the guards that are protecting the trucks, Team Two go in, toss the
chemical grenades, but get your asses to cover quickly as there are
more soldiers in there than we had planned.

“Once the initial wave of psy come out the door, Team Two and

Three are with me and we go in. Make sure each of you has two more
masks for any humans you find. Team One will cover our backs. I
don’t have to tell you that I expect everyone to watch each other’s
backs and I expect each of you to make it out of here alive.” He said
the last part with a growl as if by his will alone every member under
him would be safe.

Maui knew the man actually believed it was up to him alone to

keep them safe even though realistically that just wasn’t possible. Still
Maui thanked the Gods for putting him with this amazing man, for he
wasn’t sure what would have happened to him if it weren’t for Alek.
The man didn’t just save his life almost two hundred years ago, he
saved his sanity.

Each person in Maui’s team was in position and ready with their

gas masks on, for once they threw the grenades the gas would spread
with amazing speed and could easily knock them out if they weren’t
protected.

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Shea Balik

While waiting for word from Alek the ground beneath him started

to shake. Well, it wouldn’t be ideal timing to have an earthquake now
but it might help disorient the psy to give the Alliance an edge.

“Adam,” Alek’s voice shouted through Maui’s earpiece. Maui and

Wolfe were always connected to everything Alek said. In case the
Alpha was in trouble, they would know right away and be able to get
to him quickly.

Maui looked up and watched in horror as Adam ran toward the

lab. They had gotten word that Jason had run from their facility in
Lake Louise to come here. It was believed Jason wanted to save those
he’d been imprisoned with. Adam had run after him and hoped to cut
him off before getting to the lab. Apparently Adam was too late as he
was running into the enemy’s hands as if the hounds of hell were on
his heels.

Alek shouted orders just as Adam reached the door. “Mission is a

go but one of ours is in the playing field so watch who you shoot.” At
least one good thing would come from this clusterfuck. Alek had still
been at the command post and unable to get here fast enough to go
inside.

Gunfire erupted, signaling Maui’s team to start their mission.

Running full out they reached the doors moments after Adam had
gone through them. He could only hope the doctor knew what he was
doing. Throwing their grenades his team made their way to the other
side of the entrance.

They would wait for the first wave of psy to try and make their

way out of the building before going in behind their backs. Team One
would take care of those that came out of the doors while his team
and Team Three would take care of everyone else inside. Well, if the
gas didn’t get to them first.

Six men came barreling out the doors before collapsing from the

gas they’d already inhaled. Maui didn’t wait for Team Three to catch
up, as they were still on their way after having taken out the guards on

Mating Forged in Fire

27

the trucks. Pushing their way in, they found bodies everywhere,
smoke thick enough that it made traversing the floor difficult.

With a little effort they found the stairwell and made their way

down. Several of his men peeled off when they made their way down
to the next level to secure the floor but they knew the humans were
down on level four. Once they reached the right level Maui took point
going through the doors.

The gas hadn’t gotten down to this level yet but it was closing in

on them on the stairwell not to mention the air-conditioning system
would have it flooding the level in the next minute or two. Several
guards met them with guns but Maui and his team took them out in
seconds. Grabbing the keys to the cells Maui and his men efficiently
opened doors handing the inhabitants masks, ordering them to put
them on.

Too afraid of the large men wearing gas masks, who looked a hell

of a lot scarier than the guards they just killed, the humans did as
ordered. Maui would have liked to have taken the time to explain who
they were but time was not on their side. Smoke was clearly visible
coming out of the air vents on the ceiling.

At the last door he shoved the mask through the bars before trying

to open them as he knew they were out of time. “Put this on,” he
shouted to be heard around his mask.

He expected his orders to be carried out, so he wasn’t prepared for

the person inside to talk back to him. “Who in the hell do you think
you are to order me to do anything?”

Maui’s head snapped up from where it was bent to fit the correct

key into the lock as he tried to open the cell. What he saw took his
breath away. There stood a five-foot-six-inch avenging angel.
Golden-blond hair swirled around his shoulders, feet were braced
shoulder width apart, and his fists were planted on his hips. But it was
those blue eyes, the color of the deepest part of the ocean and spitting
fire at him for daring to tell him what to do, that completely
captivated Maui.

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Shea Balik

Before he could get his brain to reengage the ground beneath them

shook violently tossing the human in the cell onto his butt. Maui
wanted to laugh at the look on this man’s face as he looked at the
ground as if willing to take it on for putting him in that position. He
choked back his amusement, instead opening the door to help the man
back to his feet.

Putting the gas mask back into the man’s hands he said, “You

need to put this on. Gas is filling this room and it could kill you.”

The man’s eyes got really large as he suddenly started coughing

violently. Not wasting a second Maui grabbed the mask and put it on
his little angel. Suddenly the floor pitched hard enough to knock the
man back onto the ground while Maui gripped the bars of the cell to
keep himself upright.

Not giving the man a choice Maui picked him up, cradling him in

his arms just as the spitfire passed out. That wasn’t good. Striding out
of the cell he watched in horror as a crack literally ran down one wall
and kept going across the very floor they were standing on.

“Well that can’t be good,” he said to the others. “Let’s bug out,

people.” He led the others out the door only to practically run smack
dab into Adam. “Your work?” he asked the Earth mystic.

Adam just nodded, stunned as if even he couldn’t believe he was

doing this.

“Nice,” Maui said before he started giving orders for everyone to

move fast for he knew there were only moments before this building
would collapse all around them.

After one set of stairs he knew the humans weren’t going to be

able to keep up, so he threw the man in his arms over one shoulder
and picked up another human to put over his other shoulder as he
gave the order for the men in his unit to carry the other humans.

He could feel the concrete beneath him crumbling as they raced

up the stairs. He was never so glad to see the door at the top of the
stairs. Slamming them open they raced through the bodies that littered

Mating Forged in Fire

29

the main floor not stopping for anything until they reached their
command post just over a small hill.

He handed off the second human he was carrying but when

someone tried to take his little angel he pulled away holding on to the
man tightly. Stripping off his gas mask with one hand he said, “I’ll
take care of this one.”

Gently, with more care then he ever remembered using on anyone,

he took his angel off his shoulder and placed him onto a cot that had
been set up for the injured. A field medic came over to check on him.
“He was the last to put on the gas mask and I’m afraid he inhaled
some of the gas.”

The medic just nodded his understanding but continued to check

the man’s vitals. After a close examination the medic hooked up some
wires to check the man’s heart. “He will be out for a while but I think
he’ll be okay. We’ll keep a close eye on him to make sure nothing
changes.”

Maui couldn’t even speak he was so scared to even think about his

little angel not opening his beautiful blue eyes again ready to
challenge whoever got in his way.

An oxygen mask was placed over his mouth. “We’ll give him

oxygen and keep the monitor on him to be safe.” The medic must
have seen Maui’s concern for he placed his hand on Maui’s arm,
giving him a reassuring squeeze. “I will stay close on our way to the
lake,” the medic told him.

Maui just nodded as he gripped his little angel’s hand as if by

holding on Maui could keep this man alive.

* * * *

The trip to one of the Alliance’s hideaways for psy prisoners,

Lake Louise, was pure hell for Maui. He couldn’t take his eyes off the
man whose hand he continued to hold. When the monitor that was
attached to his little angel started beeping, Maui swore his own heart

30

Shea Balik

stopped beating until the medic managed to get the man’s vitals to
return to normal once more.

The nearly one thousand miles would only take four hours with

the vehicles designed by the Alliance, specifically engineers who
Alek recruited to live in Stone Haven where Alek established a sort of
think tank to come up with technology that was far superior to
anything else out there. One of his pet projects had been converting
vehicles that were old junkers into vehicles that ran on clean energy
and were fast.

Maui had never understood his Alpha’s obsession with going

faster. Whenever possible Maui learned to never ride in a vehicle
Alek was driving for the man seemed determined to drive as fast and
dangerously as possible until Maui threw up, which unfortunately he
almost always did.

But now he didn’t even notice the excessive speeds the soldiers

were traveling at. All he could think about was not losing this angel
he was watching over. Maui was at a loss as to how this man
completely captivated him with his smart mouth and reckless bravery.

As they arrived at Lake Louise he didn’t bother letting the medic

transport this man who was becoming more precious to him than
seemed normal. Instead he strode into the building with the man in his
arms, following the directions Rangi spoke into his earpiece down the
various hallways to the medical wing to have the unconscious man in
his arms looked at by a doctor.

He would have preferred Adam look at his little angel but Maui

understood the man had to take care of his own mate first. He
suddenly stopped in his tracks causing Alek, who had been following
him, to swear as he almost ran right into Maui. “Damn it, Maui, warn
me when you’re going to do that,” his Alpha snarled.

But Maui was hardly paying attention for it was as if a light bulb

suddenly went off in his head. He wasn’t sure how it was even
possible or even if he wanted it to be possible but he knew deep in his
soul it was undeniably true.

Mating Forged in Fire

31

Alek chuckled before slapping him on the back. “I take it you just

realized this man is your mate.”

Maui just looked at him not sure if he could even speak at this

moment.

“It’s all over your face, I imagine I had that same look when I first

met Seth and realized he was my mate.” Opening the door they had
been headed for he waved his hand to let Maui in first. “Time’s a
wasting.”

He still wasn’t sure what was happening as his brain seemed to

have shut down but he’d been following Alek’s orders for so long it
was second nature to do so now. He carried his mate into the room
that had been set up for them.

One of the doctors was standing there waiting on them and

indicated Maui should put the man in his arms down on the hospital
bed but he found he didn’t want to. If he had his choice he’d never let
this angel out of his arms again. So he stood there glancing between
the bed and his mate, not sure what he should do.

As if sensing his trouble Alek came over and took the choice out

of his hands by giving him an order. “Put him on the bed, Maui.”

Since he was Alek’s enforcer he’d heard Alek use his Alpha voice

often but it was usually on others. Having it used on him he now
knew why people scrambled to obey when it was directed at them. As
if he were a mindless drone he did exactly what his Alpha
commanded. It wasn’t until his mate was no longer in his arms that
Maui realized what had happened.

The emptiness he felt at the loss of his mate’s body was a physical

ache Maui didn’t want to feel and almost went to pick his little angel
up once more but Alek’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. Looking
up at his Alpha, Alek calmly said, “Let the doctor look at him, then
you can hold him again.”

He knew it was the right thing to do but he had to fight every

instinct in him to do it. Was this how Alek felt about Seth? If so he

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Shea Balik

probably owed the man an apology for laughing behind his back at
how he bent over backward for his mate.

Mating Forged in Fire

33

Chapter 4

Ian felt the familiar grogginess of being drugged again. Over the

last year he’d had it happen to him more often than he could count.
From all that experience the one thing he learned was to wake up as
slowly as possible. So he just lay there with his eyes closed letting his
senses start to come back to him.

“I think he should wake up soon but it’s hard to know for sure

since I don’t know how much of the sedative he was exposed to.” Ian
couldn’t be sure who was talking but he figured it was about him so
he paid attention.

“Did the drug do any damage?” said a voice that was so smooth

Ian literally felt like it was licking over his body like a flame, lighting
his nerves on fire. Even though he wanted to open his eyes to get a
look at the guy Ian knew it would only cause him more pain if he
pushed his body awake too fast.

The first voice, who Ian thought must be either a doctor or nurse,

said, “We’ve run a bunch of tests that all came back negative but the
fact is we won’t know for sure until he wakes up.”

“Thank you, doctor,” the man whose voice was causing Ian’s dick

to twitch said.

Now that more of Ian’s senses were starting to come back to him

he realized the guy with the amazing voice was really close so he
wasn’t too surprised when he felt his hand being squeezed. The touch
soothed him even though he hadn’t realized how tense he was.

Of course being a prisoner of the psy tended to leave one tense all

the time so it wasn’t any wonder he was. The big question was why
this man had such an effect on him. Ian couldn’t ever remember a

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Shea Balik

time when anyone, even his sister whom he loved above everyone
else, had him feeling so at peace.

“Angel,” the sexy voice started, “I need you to wake up. Let me

see those beautiful blue eyes.”

His words didn’t make sense to Ian. How could he know what

color his eyes were when Ian couldn’t remember hearing that voice
before? Not that it mattered. Ian couldn’t deny the man’s plea so he
opened his eyelids to meet the most unusual copper-colored eyes he’d
ever seen attached to a breathtaking man.

“Thanks Gods,” the man whispered before lifting Ian’s hand to

kiss his knuckles. “Doctor,” he called never taking his eyes off Ian’s.

When the doctor stepped over and flashed a penlight in his eyes

Ian finally took his eyes off the man, who Ian could spend the rest of
his life looking at and never tire. When his gaze was blocked by the
doctor’s examination it was then that he realized this wasn’t the psy
prison he’d been in for the last year.

The light coming from the windows on the far wall was the first

clue. The soft blue color on the walls was the second clue. The psy
never bothered to decorate their prison. Everything had either been
white or dingy gray. The soft bed he was lying on had Ian wondering
if he’d died and gone to heaven.

Not that he cared. As long as he got to see the sun, Ian didn’t care

where he was. Desperate to be out in it and feel its rays on his skin he
tried to get out of bed to go to the window but a hand on his chest
stopped him.

His gaze dropped to the hand that was holding him down before

he followed the arm to the man sitting next to him, still holding Ian’s
hand with his other hand. “I promise to help you get up in a minute
but let the doctor finish looking you over first,” the man requested.
Well, Ian preferred to think of it as a request but he knew a command
when he heard one. So he lay back down to the let doctor continue.

To give the doctor credit he didn’t prolong Ian’s confinement to

the bed, only asking a few questions about how he was feeling,

Mating Forged in Fire

35

checking some reflexes, then seemed to declare him good to go. Ian
didn’t waste any time swinging his legs over the side of the bed. As
he stood his legs suddenly wouldn’t hold him any longer and the
room spun around.

Strong arms lifted him into a place Ian could see staying, against

the stunningly handsome man’s chest. Cradled in strong arms as if Ian
were a precious gift he felt safe for the first time in a long time and let
his head rest in the hollow of the man’s throat. Ian took a deep breath
of the man’s heady scent as he tried to get closer.

The man who was holding him talked once more to the doctor,

who assured it was normal to be lightheaded after all he’d been
through. Ian felt the man nod to the doctor before he strode out of the
room.

Ian wasn’t sure what was happening to him. Since his mother’s

death he’d been extremely independent, never allowing anyone to tell
him what to do or coddle him, but he found himself willing to let this
man take care of him as if he were a child. It was a little disconcerting
but since the drugs he was given were still in his system he decided to
just go along for the ride.

As he was carried out of the room they soon passed a door that

was open to the outside. He lifted his head to look up at the man
carrying him. “Can we go outside for a while?” he asked.

The man’s eyes softened. “Sure, angel.”
Ian wasn’t sure why the man kept calling him angel, for there was

one thing Ian knew, he wasn’t an angel, for no angel would have had
to live in the hell he’d been in for the last year. The weird thing was
Ian liked the name. He’d never been someone who liked his
boyfriends calling him endearments but from this man he did.

The sun hit his face and Ian sighed as he lifted his face toward it.

The entire building they were in seemed to have a giant porch
surrounding it with various chairs and benches to sit on. The man,
whose name Ian needed to find out, chose a rocking chair with a stool
that rocked also.

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Shea Balik

Ian expected him to set him in it but instead he sat down and

arranged Ian to sit on his lap. Ian wasn’t sure how he felt about sitting
on someone’s lap but when the man pulled him snugly against his
chest he found he didn’t want to fight it so he relaxed against him.

Drinking in the fresh air, Ian gazed out across an expansive lawn

that looked well cared for. Just beyond the lawn were trees that were
so dense Ian suspected it was a forest. Having lived in Salt Lake City
his whole life, Ian enjoyed hiking in the surrounding mountains and
was itching to hike through these woods.

That thought brought him back to where he was, or he should say

wondering where he was. “Who are you?” Ian blurted out.

The man chuckled a little before answering. “That’s the first thing

I liked about you, your bravery. My name is Maui. What about you?”

Huh? “I haven’t even met you before a few minutes ago so how

can you know if I’m brave?” Maui—What kind of name is that?—
started stroking his leg as if petting him. Again, Ian knew he should
be upset at someone treating him like a favorite pet but he couldn’t
find the energy to care.

“Actually I was the one that opened the cage to rescue you from

the psy. I was the one you yelled at for asking you to put on a gas
mask,” Maui said.

His words triggered his memory of how Ian came to be free of the

psy. He remembered feeling the ground shake, afraid they’d be buried
alive from an earthquake. Ian had tried to beg the guards to let them
out but they’d ignored him as orders to defend against an attack were
blaring from their walkie-talkies. Then the biggest, scariest men came
storming through the doors shooting the guards.

Placing his hands on his hips, which would have been more

effective if he wasn’t sitting on the man’s lap, Ian accused, “You
demanded, not asked, and you scared the crap out of us.”

Maui shrugged his shoulders. “In fairness we were running out of

time, and because you didn’t listen to me you ended up breathing in a

Mating Forged in Fire

37

very dangerous sedative, one that was made for shifters and could kill
humans.”

Oh. Not willing to admit he had been in the wrong, Ian said,

“Well, you should have explained that.”

“What part of ‘no time’ don’t you understand?” Maui shot back.
He had a point but Ian wasn’t one to give up that easily. “It would

have saved time had you just said that instead of arguing with me. My
name is Ian by the way, and what kind of name is Maui?” He hoped
the change of topic would distract Maui enough for him to drop who
was at fault.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ian. Since I didn’t have a name when I was

rescued from the human labs I came up with the name Maui because
it seemed to fit me.” Ian was relieved Maui allowed his change of
subject but found himself at a loss at Maui’s words.

Everyone knew about the human labs but those had been closed

after the Great War ended over a hundred years ago. That meant Maui
wasn’t human. Ian had a sudden need to get off the man who had
helped him. Scrabbling back to his feet he had a wave of dizziness
and had to grab onto the railing to stay standing.

Maui was up out of the chair and grabbing onto Ian to hold him

upright before Ian was aware he’d moved. Instead of insisting Ian sit
on his lap again, Maui moved him over to the chair, letting Ian sit by
himself while he murmured, “It’s okay, just breathe,” to Ian.

The fact that he’d been afraid enough to want to put distance

between them but in the same breath wanted the man close was
confusing for Ian and he was having a hard time processing his
feelings. It was as if he were on some crazy roller coaster ride that had
him going both upside down and right side up at the same time.

Not liking this feeling he pushed Maui away. “Give me some

space,” he demanded.

For several minutes he just sat there with his head bowed as he

tried to get his bearings back. His head was spinning, not just from the
dizziness but from too much information. He hadn’t been prepared for

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Shea Balik

meeting another paranormal. It was actually stupid of him to not think
that whoever beat the psy would have to be another paranormal.
Anyone else, the psy would have been able to control before they
could have gotten into the building.

Yet he hadn’t taken that into account while sitting on Maui’s lap.

Hell, the only thing he’d been thinking was how much he wanted to
ride the man’s cock, which was weird since he hadn’t thought he’d
ever want to have sex again after having been raped over and over
again by the psy.

He’d been quite surprised to find he had those feelings of desire

again. Prior to the psy imprisoning him Ian slept with plenty of men,
not that he was a slut but still he’d had his share of boyfriends and
enjoyed sex a lot. But after being used by the psy as their sex toy he
found he didn’t want to have sex ever again. Yet here he was free for
the first time and the first thing that had popped up was his dick.

He just wasn’t sure he could reconcile the attraction with another

paranormal. The psy had used and manipulated him for over a year,
not just raping his body but also his mind. Could he handle being
around another paranormal? Logically he knew it wasn’t fair to blame
Maui for what the psy had done but knowing that and feeling that
were two different things.

Gods he hated his father for what the man had done to him. It was

a gift that just kept on giving by tearing him apart piece by piece. Ian
had always thought he was strong but with each new experience he
was finding out that wasn’t true and if he was honest with himself he
wasn’t entirely sure how much more he could take before he
completely lost it.

From a very young age he’d had to bear the brunt of bullying by

the other kids thanks to his parents, who may not have meant to
burden him as they did, though that didn’t change the fact that he’d
been the butt of jokes, teased mercilessly until he was crying. His
mother had wanted to give him a name that meant something so they
chose Ignatius, which meant fiery one. He probably could have dealt

Mating Forged in Fire

39

with that if he’d been given a more common middle name but not
only did his parents not give him that, they also gave him three
horrible names—Ignatius Archibald Nicodemus Carmichael.

Try growing up with that mouthful. What was worse was that his

mother had loved his name, thinking it meant something about his
character or something. He’d hated it. Eventually he managed to get
others to call him Ian. Even his sister, who’d felt bad for him, called
him Ian. But not his parents. Oh no, they had insisted on calling him
by his name—not just his first name but his full name.

At least until his mother died. After she was gone Ian’s father just

didn’t care about much of anything and went along with his
nickname. That was the point where all their lives had changed, that
one moment when his mother had been walking across the street to
hurry home to make dinner and had crossed right in front of a car.
That was the one point in time where his life had turned as horrible as
his name.

A sob broke the quietness of the outdoors jarring Ian back to

reality. He was surprised to realize it was he who was crying but even
more shocked to find himself back in Maui’s arms.

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Shea Balik

Chapter 5

“Shh, angel, whatever it is I’m here to help,” Maui murmured in

Ian’s ear. Calmly he caressed Ian’s back with one hand while the
other was being held in a death grip.

It had crushed him that Ian had been afraid of him, even if it was

only momentarily. The feel of his mate taking comfort from him even
though he’d clearly been scared moments before had soothed the fire
that burned within. Maui couldn’t exactly blame the guy for not
trusting paranormals after what the psy did to him but he wasn’t about
to be pushed away.

“My real name is Ignatius Archibald Nicodemus Carmichael,” Ian

quietly said.

Ian’s body slightly tensed as if bracing himself for Maui’s

reaction. What Maui couldn’t understand was what he was expecting.
Considering many of the older paranormal world had been raised in
human labs with no names given to them, they had been allowed to
name themselves when they’d been freed.

Not having experience with names, they all floundered to find a

name so many had the strangest names. He was just one example.
Maui. He’d taken the name after the Hawaiian God of fire. Since he
was a fire mystic he felt it fit but he knew the name was considered
strange. Still he could imagine in the human world Ian’s full name
was not easy to deal with.

He continued to rub Ian’s back but he gave the hand that was

gripping his a little squeeze of understanding. “That had to be a hard
name to grow up with.”

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41

A bark of laughter erupted from Ian’s body. “You have no idea. I

was teased, bullied, and pushed around. Most days I cried myself to
sleep at night wishing I was anybody but who I was, praying to the
Gods to change my life, but every morning I woke up having to face
another day of hell.”

Maui wished he could go back in time to save his mate that pain

but he knew it made the man into who he was today, which to Maui
was everything he’d ever hoped for in a mate.

“I didn’t know how to stand up for myself, nor did I want to.” His

body gave a slight shudder before saying, “I just wanted to be like the
other kids, ya know?”

Maui nodded his head against the top of Ian’s even though he

really didn’t as his own childhood had been spent in a human
laboratory.

“When I was seven I asked my teachers to call me Ian. It took

another year or so before it really caught on but eventually most
people forgot what my real name was. My parents, especially my
mom, refused to call me by my nickname but because we were
relatively poor they both had to work long hours, so they weren’t
around my school or friends too often.”

Ian relaxed into Maui’s embrace as he told his story, which Maui

took as a sign of trust. Ian’s hand rested against Maui’s chest gently
petting him as he talked. “My mom died when I was sixteen.”

Damn that was rough. Wrapping his little angel tighter in his

embrace he offered what comfort he could. “I’m so sorry, angel.”

Maui wasn’t sure Ian heard his words as he continued his story.

“That was when things changed. I finally understood what my mother
had been telling me about wanting a name I had to live up to. So I
decided I would do whatever it took to live up to the name she gave
me when I was born.”

With each word Maui’s heart kept breaking for his sweet mate.

With a gentle kiss to the top of Ian’s head, Maui asked, “What does
your name mean?”

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Shea Balik

“Well basically the name means to be fiery, bold, and to be a

victory for others, which I still don’t exactly get. I could do the first
two names and with each day I did exactly that, going after what I
wanted and never backing down from someone just because they
were bigger or stronger than I was,” he said with just a hint of pride in
his voice.

“It fits you perfectly then. I’ve never met anyone who was as

determined as you to live life by your own rules. It was what caught
my attention first. Everyone else just put on the masks we gave but
you stood up for yourself, not allowing anyone to dictate to you.”
Even if it could have gotten the man killed, Maui had been impressed
at Ian’s resolve to not back down.

Ian sat up to look into Maui’s eyes. “I thought you said I almost

got myself killed by questioning you?”

Maui reached up his hand to sweep back a few strands of hair that

were blocking those breathtaking blue eyes. “You did but that doesn’t
mean I wasn’t captivated by your bravery. Based on the expressions
of the others we were probably downright terrifying, especially since
we killed the psy guarding you before your very eyes. But you didn’t
back down.”

Maui’s thumb caressed Ian’s jaw as his hand held onto Ian’s neck.

“You were absolutely stunning as you stood up to me.”

Leaning forward, Maui placed his lips a breath away from Ian’s

giving the man a moment to pull away if he wanted. Relieved when
he didn’t, Maui closed the remaining distance to kiss those plump red
lips. As his mouth touched Ian’s a jolt of pleasure shot through his
body, as if the physical contact confirmed their connection as mates.

Ian gasped, clearly having felt it also, Maui took full advantage of

his angel’s lips parting to thrust his tongue deep within the recesses of
Ian’s mouth. Ian’s flavor burst across his taste buds causing Maui to
crave more. His thumb gently pushed down on Ian’s jaw to open him
further to Maui’s exploration.

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43

It was as if he couldn’t get enough of his angel. Maui devoured

every inch of Ian’s mouth. His cock jerked at the feel of his tongue
being sucked on like Ian couldn’t get enough. With both hands he
tilted Ian’s head until it was at the perfect angle to delve deeper.

The sudden need for oxygen had him pulling back just far enough

to allow them to breathe. Panting, Maui rested their foreheads
together as he worried he’d pushed Ian too fast but every cell in his
body was screaming at him to claim his mate.

As much as he wanted to kiss Ian again, Maui knew he had to

make sure his mate was on the same page. Scanning Ian’s face his
dick got even harder at his mate’s flushed cheeks and dazed eyes.
He’d done that to his mate and damn if he didn’t want to do so much
more.

But first he had to be sure Ian was ready for more. “Angel, am I

going too fast?”

He saw confusion in Ian’s eyes before those deep blue orbs

softened. Ian leaned forward to press his mouth against Maui’s briefly
before saying, “Thank you for asking but I’m fine.” Those luscious
lips captured Maui’s once more.

When Maui felt Ian’s tongue brush across his lips he opened his

mouth letting his mate set the pace. A fire unlike anything he’d ever
experienced flickered deep within Maui setting his every nerve
ablaze. The glide of his mate’s tongue against his as Ian explored his
mouth was the most erotic thing Maui had ever experienced.

His cock got impossibly hard as it tried to punch a hole in his

pants to get to Ian. As if sensing what Maui was feeling, Ian turned to
straddle Maui’s hips, settling that pert ass right on his dick. A groan
of pure pleasure erupted from Maui’s mouth as his mate rubbed
against him creating a wonderful friction.

Fuck. He needed to feel his angel’s ass wrapped around his cock

more than he needed his next breath and considering his lungs were
deprived of air from the kiss they were still engaged in, that was
saying something. There was no way he was going to be able to stop

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Shea Balik

himself from burying himself balls deep within Ian’s body in the next
few minutes and he’d be damned if he was going to take his mate for
the first time on the porch where anyone could walk up.

Standing up, he was pleased when Ian wrapped his legs more

firmly around his waist as he strode back into the building not
stopping even when he heard the catcalls sent their way. He didn’t
think a bomb going off would have stopped him from taking his mate
and based on the way his angel continued to rub his cock against
Maui’s abs, Ian felt the same way.

Relieved to finally get to his room, Maui slammed the door shut

with his foot not stopping until he was next to the bed. With Ian
wrapped around him like a monkey, Maui wasn’t sure how they were
going to get their clothes off, especially since he didn’t want the man
to let go but the need to have skin against skin rode him hard.

Gripping Ian’s shirt in his hands he ripped it off the man. “Fuck,”

Ian whispered against his lips before devouring his mouth once more.

Now that there was skin for Maui to touch he explored every inch

with his hands. His mouth watered as he imagined tasting all that
silky smooth skin. That thought was enough to pull Maui from their
scorching hot kiss. The whimper of dismay that came from Ian had
Maui nearly losing his mind.

Dropping them both onto the bed without breaking their embrace

Maui mapped Ian’s body with his lips, nipping with his teeth before
soothing the sting with his tongue. Each moan that poured from Ian
heightened the pleasure until Maui was burning from it. When Ian’s
tongue licked a similar path along Maui’s shoulder he would swear it
was like a flame scorching across his body.

He couldn’t help but be pleased when Ian screamed out Maui’s

name, his body arching into Maui’s when he bit down on his nipples.
Soothing the little hurt by bathing the nipple with his tongue he
relished the noised of desire coming from Ian. He’d known that mates
had a special connection but this went so far beyond anything Maui

Mating Forged in Fire

45

had ever experienced he wasn’t sure how anyone survived this much
pleasure.

Special attention was paid to each of Ian’s sensitive areas,

especially the ones that made his angel scream out Maui’s name like
he was a God. When he was inches from his mate’s cock, Maui
chuckled at how Ian was straining to get closer. He nipped Ian’s hip
in reprimand, pleased when his mate whimpered, begging Maui
without words to give his neglected prick attention.

When Maui didn’t do as Ian wanted he started begging in earnest,

“Please Maui…”

Oh fuck. Hearing his sweet little mate beg was something Maui

could see becoming addicted to. “What do you want, angel?” he asked
wanting to hear his mate beg some more.

A little cry of frustration fell from those kiss-swollen lips. “Please

suck my cock.”

Yeah, that’s what Maui wanted to hear, his mate beg for exactly

what he wanted. Ian’s cock was flowing with pre-cum. Licking his
lips in anticipation, Maui gave his mate exactly what he wanted as he
popped the head of Ian’s dick into his mouth.

The most heavenly flavors flowed over his taste buds, so sweet

and salty Maui was sure it would be his new favorite treat.
Determined to get every bit of fluid, Maui speared his tongue into
Ian’s little slit.

“Fuck yes,” his angel exclaimed as he arched his hips off the bed

trying to drive his cock deeper into Maui’s mouth. Determined to be
in control Maui held Ian’s hips to the bed not allowing him thrust.
Then, to drive his mate completely out of his mind, he swallowed his
dick to the root.

Ian tried to jerk his hips off the bed once more but Maui held him

firmly as he set the pace bobbing his head up and down his mate’s
cock. The sweetest cries of pleasure came from Ian. The need to bury
himself within his mate’s hot little body wasn’t something Maui was

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Shea Balik

sure he could control much longer, reaching for the tube of lube in his
bedside drawer, Maui made quick work of preparing his mate’s body.

Plunging two fingers into his mate’s tight hole was like sticking

his fingers into an inferno. Ian’s channel was so hot, so tight Maui
wasn’t sure he’d even be able to get his cock buried inside his mate
before coming. Determined to give his mate as much pleasure as
possible, Maui carefully stretched him.

“Oh Gods, please, Maui, please fuck me,” Ian pleaded.
Not able to deny his mate, Maui stripped off his pants before

surging up Ian’s body. Taking those lush lips with his own, Maui
lined up his cock against Ian’s puckered hole. As much as he wanted
to thrust forward and bury himself balls deep within his mate’s body,
Maui had to be sure Ian understood what was about to happen.

Pulling back from the kiss he stared into Ian’s passion-filled eyes.

“Angel, I need you to know what’s about to happen.”

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47

Chapter 6

Ian’s body was screaming for something only Maui could give.

“I’m perfectly aware you’re about to fuck me, so stick your cock in
my ass already,” he pleaded even though he knew deep down that
wasn’t what Maui meant. But he found himself unable to deal with it.

It was unlike him to bury his head in the sand but after being

beaten down literally and figuratively so much in the past year he was
finding himself more timid than he was comfortable with. Ian just
wanted to lose himself in sex and not have to think about anything.

Heat unlike anything Ian had ever felt before licked a path up his

body. His eyes widened in horror as he looked down to find the two
of them engulfed in flames. Maybe he should have listened to that
inner voice that told him not to ignore Maui’s words.

A scream lodged in his throat stopped only by Maui’s cock

thrusting deep into his body. The heat of Maui’s dick impaling him
changed the scream of surprise into one of pleasure as the man started
to move inside him. Since Maui didn’t even seem to notice the
flames, Ian felt he must have imagined them even if they seemed to
blaze a path across his body. Ian squeezed his eyes closed praying
when he opened them the flames would no longer be there.

No luck. In fact they seemed to grow in intensity as their passion

grew. It was surreal, in his head. Ian was terrified of what was
happening but it didn’t seem to matter. The only thing that mattered
was Maui’s body as he claimed Ian as his own. Each thrust had Ian
begging for more with incoherent babbling.

The feel of Maui’s cock sliding in and out of his body had Ian

writhing beneath him urging Maui on. Ian stroked his hands over

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Shea Balik

Maui’s firm muscles fascinated as the fire burned brighter with each
touch. Sweat drenched them both but Ian’s brain was starting to
understand the flames weren’t actually burning them. Instead they
seemed to increase their desires.

It was as if dozens of fingers were stroking every part of Ian’s

body wringing every drop of pleasure from him. The need to find
release was bordering on pain as he met Maui thrust for thrust,
striving to reach the end but needing something more to push him
over.

As if sensing Ian’s need, Maui grasped his chin forcing Ian to look

into his lust-filled gaze. “By the will of the Gods I take this man as
my own for all eternity.” Ian wasn’t sure what Maui was talking about
but as if a switch had been flipped something deep inside locked into
place.

He felt the telltale tingling sensation deep within signaling his

impeding orgasm but on a much higher scale than he’d ever
experienced. The intense pleasure shot up and down his spine, his
balls tightening even further until his cock exploded between their
bodies.

For a moment he would have sworn he’d touched heaven as his

vision went white and bliss enveloped him. There was a moment he
wasn’t even sure he was still alive, but what a way to go, with his ass
clamped down on Maui’s cock. He heard Maui’s roar as he filled Ian
with his seed but it was as if cotton were in Ian’s ears for the euphoria
that consumed Ian left him floating.

It wasn’t until something burned his skin on the right side of his

neck that Ian finally came back down from his high. Reaching his
hand up he touched his neck trying to figure out what had happened.

Maui pulled his hand away looking down at Ian’s neck with

possessiveness. “It’s my mark,” he said with pride.

What? “M–mark?” Ian wasn’t sure what that meant but he was

starting to realize he shouldn’t have stuck his head in the sand when
Maui asked if he understood what was about to happen.

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49

Maui’s eyes had changed to molten lava when he turned them on

Ian. “It means you’re my mate.”

“Wh–wh…” Ian couldn’t even get the words out because he knew

in that moment there was no way he could face what had happened.
Sure that’s what got him in this mess to begin with but it was as if
everything seemed to suddenly make sense and Ian didn’t like what it
meant.

Those words Maui said during sex came back to him. “By the will

of the Gods I take this man as my own.” It was a vow. His head spun
as he desperately tried to suck air into his lungs. The feeling of being
suffocated had him pushing hard against Maui’s body.

At first Maui wouldn’t get off him and Ian vaguely heard the man

trying to calm Ian down, but he was panicked and there was no
calming him down. Frantic, he yelled, “Get off!” over and over again
until Maui finally did.

Ian jumped out of the bed running to the first open door, which

thankfully was the bathroom. He may have wanted to get away from
Maui but running through the halls naked and covered in spunk
wasn’t a good plan. He slammed the door shut, locking it to make
sure Maui couldn’t follow before he sank onto the dark green marble
floor in the far corner of the bathroom. His body was shaking so hard
he was afraid he was going to literally come apart.

The door shook as Maui pounded on it. “Ian, angel, please let me

in. You’re scaring me, angel.”

Maui was scared? Ian was way past scared, he was petrified. How

did he keep getting into these messes? It was like he was a disaster
magnet or something. There was no way this would have happened to
a normal person. Ever since his mother died Ian had always been
careful, never allowing himself to become too involved with anyone,
never letting himself have feelings for anyone but his sister.

He’d learned his lesson when his mother, whom he’d loved more

than anyone on this earth, had died. Not only had she left him
devastated but he’d watched his father go from a good man—well, a

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decent man—to a monster who never got over his wife’s death, who
then turned his loneliness into some sick perverted desire for the
man’s own daughter. No, Ian wasn’t going to ever go through that.

He made a promise to never get involved with someone that

deeply, except he just did with Maui. He may not exactly understand
what a mate was but he understood it was like a marriage and he’d be
expected to love Maui.

The smell of burning wood had him jerking his head toward the

door to find Maui walking through a wall of fire as the door
disintegrated in seconds. Before he could stop him, Maui pulled Ian
into his arms. “Sshh, angel, whatever it is I promise to make it better.”

Once more Ian pushed away from Maui. This time he caught the

pain that filled those copper orbs almost stopping him, but the thought
of what his father had been willing to do to his own daughter
propelled him to back away from the one man whose arms he found
comfort in. A comfort he hadn’t felt since his mother died.

Even though the fire was no longer burning the doorway it still

felt hot when he ran through it. Opening one of the drawers in the
dresser by the window Ian found a pair of sweatpants that he quickly
put on, needing the barrier.

“Angel, please talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s

wrong.” Ian hated that Maui’s voice sounded so wounded, but he
couldn’t change his mind, he just couldn’t.

“That’s just it, Maui, you can’t fix it. You’re the problem.” Okay,

maybe that was too harsh, especially when Ian saw the pain in Maui’s
eyes. Ian wanted nothing more than to go comfort the man. No, he
had to stay strong. None of this would have been necessary if Maui
hadn’t bound them together. Sure Ian should have been man enough
to face what Maui had tried to tell him, but still it wasn’t his fault, he
hadn’t agreed to this.

“You had no right mating me without telling me what was

happening,” he shouted before storming from the room, not able to
continue looking at the hurt he was causing Maui a second longer.

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51

Ian ran into what had to be the longest hallway he’d ever seen.

Was this some sort of hotel? He didn’t know where he was going but
his goal was to get as far away from Maui as possible, which was
probably why he wasn’t really paying much attention to where he was
going and plowed into a wall. No, not a wall. Walls don’t normally
wear clothes. Ian craned his neck up, and up, and up to see what had
to be the largest person he’d ever met.

With a yelp of surprise, Ian jumped back several feet, for even

though the guy didn’t look angry, Ian wasn’t taking any chances with
a man who could probably squash him like a bug. He might have a lot
of balls but even he knew when to back away from a scary giant.

“Are you okay?” the large man asked as he reached out to steady

Ian.

“Ye–yeah. I–I’m f–fine.” Maybe not the smoothest answer but Ian

was giving himself lots of points for being able to even speak.

The man didn’t look like he believed him but at this point Ian

didn’t really care. As long as the man let Ian walk away, he could
think Ian was bat-shit crazy. He took another step backward to run
into another wall, except walls didn’t have hands that gripped Ian’s
hips.

“It’s okay, angel, it’s just me,” Maui said from behind him. Before

Ian could even respond Maui introduced him to the giant in front of
him. “Alek, I would like you to meet my mate, Ian. Ian, this is the
Alpha Primus, Aleksi Rykov.”

“Congratulations, Maui.” The man pulled Maui into a hug that

would have crushed a normal person. When the Alpha turned toward
Ian, he was afraid the man was going to do just that but he instead
held out his hand. Tentatively Ian clasped it with his own worried he
may not get the hand back without it being mangled by the large hand
that engulfed it.

He was relieved when Alek seemed to hold back his strength to

give him a firm handshake. “Any mate of my enforcer can call me
Alek. Welcome to the family.”

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Shea Balik

That just figures. Ian not only managed to get mated to a

paranormal but an enforcer for the fucking Alpha Primus to boot.
Now he would be trapped forever to the man. There was no way he
could run from someone like Maui.

Not wanting to think about it Ian blurted out the first thing that

came to mind. “So do you like milk?”

The Alpha seemed to be stymied at Ian’s question at first as he

just gaped at Ian for several moments. Finally he just answered the
question. “Yes.”

Ian wasn’t sure why the Alpha thought it was a weird question.

Since the man was a Siberian Tiger shifter, or at least that’s what he’d
ready in one of his favorite tabloids, that meant the man was
technically a cat and cats liked milk. Ian just wondered if it was true
for feline shifters too. Maybe he would bring the man a glass when he
pissed the Alpha off, because there was one thing Ian was good at and
that was getting others angry.

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Chapter 7

Maui was having a hard time controlling his need to laugh at Ian’s

question. He may not know his mate really well but he was starting to
understand how his mind worked. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if
his angel started bringing Alek milk every day. What made the whole
thing even funnier was Alek had no idea why Ian asked about milk.

Afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold it in any longer, he changed the

subject. “Everything seems quiet. Is there anything you need us to
do?” He was actually asking in an effort to distract Ian so he wouldn’t
feel the need to run from him again.

Alek explained that Adam had needed to use sedatives in order to

calm down the were-creatures. Once they started to wake up,
everyone would be needed to try and keep the weres calm. “Until
then, if you could go help Rangi try to sort through all the information
we got from the laboratory, I would appreciate it.”

“Some of those who were changed were my friends and I want to

help in any way I can,” Ian said. Maui couldn’t stop his beaming
smile when his mate offered to pitch in. The fact that Ian wasn’t
trying to run any longer was a plus.

“Thanks, Ian. I have no doubt they will appreciate seeing a

friendly face when they wake up. For now you might want to go with
Maui to see if you can help Rangi,” Alek encouraged.

Ian just nodded.
“No problem, boss,” Maui said.
“Stop calling me boss,” Alek snarled as he passed him.

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Shea Balik

Maui just smiled at him, especially when he heard Seth laughing

as he approached. “You know one day he’s going to beat you if you
keep calling him that.”

Maui shrugged. “He already has, many times.” Seth looked at him

in shock, as the Alpha’s mate had only been kidding. Leaning a little
closer he whispered, even though he knew Alek could still hear him,
“It is still worth it.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed as he stalked toward Alek. “You beat him

for calling you boss?” Maui was impressed at Seth’s steely voice. It
almost sounded as imposing as Alek’s Alpha voice. Maui almost
choked on his laughter when Seth turned back to Maui. “I’m sure
after I talk with Alek he will be apologizing for his bullying,” he said
winking at Maui before turning back to Alek.

For the first time since Maui met Alek he truly felt sorry for the

guy. Seth was a handful and then some. Seth wasn’t one to be cowed
easily and stood up when he felt something was wrong and did
something about, even if it meant endangering his life.

Even though he wouldn’t mind seeing Alek have his ass handed to

him, he took Ian’s hand and got out of there. As proud as he was of
his mate for being a lot like Seth in that regard he worried about his
biggest disadvantage. He was human. Not that Maui had a problem
with humans but it made Ian more vulnerable in their world.

The Lake Louise facility was a two-story building that had four

distinct wings. The wing they were in was for the Alpha and his most
trusted. In the center of the building were four conference rooms, with
a door opening to one of the wings. There was a hall in front of the
conference rooms that went around the entire building keeping
everything connected.

Opening the conference room door at the end of their hallway he

saw Rangi already hard at work trying to sift through the never-
ending piles of data they’d gotten from the psy. Three walls held large
projector screens that were sized to each wall. From there varying

Mating Forged in Fire

55

images were placed on those screens, so it almost looked like there
were hundreds of computer screens being displayed.

“Hey, Maui, I heard you found your mate, is this him?” Rangi

asked when he’d finished talking with one of his men.

Pride filled Maui as Ian strode right up to Rangi and stuck his

hand out. “My name is Ian. Can I ask what all this is?”

Rangi took the offered hand in a quick pressing of flesh before

answering his question. “When we raided the psy lab, we were able to
take most of their computers with us.” Pointing to the middle screen
he said, “This is the raw data that my men and I are decrypting and
sorting. The right screen is anything pertaining to their experiments,
especially the weres. The left is anything else.”

Ian’s focus stayed on the screen on the right as he took in all the

information there. “You’re looking for how he changes humans into
weres.” It was a statement, not a question, but Rangi answered
anyway. “Yes.”

Ian shook his head. “You won’t find it.”
Both Maui and Rangi just stared at Ian. “How do you know that?”

Maui asked carefully. He hoped it wasn’t because Ian was somehow a
part of it. Not that it would have changed anything. Ian was his mate
and Maui would fight the entire psy army, even Ian himself, to keep
the man by his side.

“Dr. Reid would never allow anyone to know the formula,” he

said so matter-of-factly it was as if he knew this Dr. Reid on a
personal level. Jealousy reared its ugly head as Maui wanted to
explode with the thought of Ian having been lovers with this doctor.

Rangi must have sensed just how upset Maui was, or maybe he

just looked at Maui and saw the flames engulf his hands as Maui tried
to keep his ability under control. “Why would he tell you this?”

Ian shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not really sure. I think the guilt

over what he was doing was getting to him and he just wanted
someone to know how sorry he was.”

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Relief flooded Maui, the flames quickly dying. He may have only

just met Ian but already he knew he was falling hard for his angel.
The need to touch his mate had Maui stepping behind Ian. He’d
wanted to wrap the man in his arms. Afraid after Ian ran before to get
too close he settled for placing his hands on Ian’s shoulders.

When Ian didn’t even flinch at the contact Maui found himself

wanting to do a happy dance at his mate’s acceptance of his touch but
he kept himself still. “You need to find Dr. Reid,” Ian said. “Without
him, the psy would have no way of changing humans into animals.”

“Weres,” Rangi corrected.
“Huh?” Ian asked.
“The altered humans are being called ‘were’ since they resemble

the old Hollywood werewolves,” Maui answered as he inched his
body against Ian’s until the man was nestled against him.

Rangi pointed to a series of information. “We may not know

exactly how this Dr. Reid did it but he left a lot of information on
their reactions to different stimuli, so we may be able to help them
learn to control their animals.”

Maui tried to make sense of what he was reading but he would be

the first to admit, science was not his forte. Give him war strategies or
weapon schematics and he’d be right at home. “So what is the plan?”

Rangi shook his head. “To be honest, I have no idea what any of

this really means. I’m waiting for Adam.”

Maui knew Adam was with his mate, Jason, probably having his

balls handed to him for knocking the guy out. “How is his mate?”

“Physically he’s fine. I just hope Adam was able to make Jason

understand his reasons for sedating him,” Rangi said.

Maui had felt Ian stiffen while they talked. He just hoped he

wasn’t getting the idea they routinely sedated their mates. “Well,
while we wait, do you want us to help?”

A look of horror crossed Rangi’s face. “No,” he practically

shouted. “The last time I let you near my computers you almost
burned them down.”

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57

Maui shrugged. “They should have done what I asked.”
Rangi’s mouth dropped open at his casual statement. “They aren’t

alive. They don’t follow orders.”

Maui felt Ian’s body shake slightly at their antics. His heart

lightened at making his mate laugh. “If they knew what was good for
them they would.”

Rangi’s face was red with frustration as he pointed his finger

toward the door. “Either leave or sit over there and don’t. Touch.
Anything.”

“Spoilsport,” Maui said, pouting, as he and Ian went to the door.

As much as he wanted to deny Rangi’s words, Maui knew the Eagle
Shifter was right. He didn’t get along with computers.

They were halfway to the door when it opened to admit Adam and

his mate, Jason. “J.J., thank Gods you’re okay!” Ian exclaimed as he
ran into the arms of Adam’s mate. “When you didn’t come back after
the battle I thought for sure those horrible psy were right when they
said everyone had died.” Tears fell from Ian’s eyes as he hugged
Jason as if he were the man’s lifeline.

Maui’s jealousy raged through his system so fast that he almost

couldn’t control it until he felt the ground vibrate under his feet.

“Please tell me they were wrong about the others,” Ian pleaded,

never releasing his tight grip on Jason.

The vibration turned into shaking as the intensity increased. Maui

looked over at Adam as he realized his friend was having the same
reaction, except he wasn’t controlling his ability. That knowledge
actually helped Maui to control his fire as he watched Adam realize
what he was doing and run from the room.

When he heard Jason murmur an apology to Ian before chasing

after Adam, Maui grabbed his mate, threw him over his shoulder and
strode from the room. He didn’t care if they looked at him as if he
were crazy. He was going to prove to Ian once and for all who he
belonged to.

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Chapter 8

Ian had been so surprised to see J.J. alive he didn’t even think

about what he was doing. He just ran over to his friend, threw his
arms around the man, and thanked the Gods he was alive. He wasn’t
sure he would have done anything different if he’d known the kind of
reaction his actions were going to get. J.J. was his friend and Ian had
thought the man dead. It’s not his fault if this Adam he’d heard Rangi
and Maui talking about was insecure and jealous.

As he felt his body being tossed over Maui’s shoulder like a sack

of potatoes he was stunned to realize his own mate was just as
jealous. What was worse, Ian actually felt a bit happy about that. That
was not something Ian had ever tolerated in the past. Jealousy equated
to controlling and Ian wasn’t about to be told what he could or could
not do.

By the time they got back to their room he’d managed to get

himself from happy to annoyed once more and was ready to give
Maui a piece of his mind. That is until he was literally thrown on the
bed with Maui coming down on top of him pinning him against the
mattress before slamming his lips on Ian’s in a brand of ownership.

Yeah, the lecture could wait.
Maui’s kiss only deepened the longer it went, his tongue sliding

against Ian’s coaxing it out to play. Ian was game for that as he gave
back as good as he got. Heat scorched his body when their naked
cocks slid against each other forcing Ian to clamp down on the
orgasm threatening to rip through his body.

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59

Pulling his mouth from Maui’s, Ian looked down at their bare

bodies. “How did you get our clothes off without me noticing?” he
asked.

Maui chuckled. “I burned them off.”
Ian knew his eyes were wide as saucers as he thought about the

implication of Maui setting his body on fire but the more he thought
about it he knew Maui wouldn’t hurt him. “Fuck, that’s hot.” Who
knew he’d be turned on by being lit on fire?

Rough, callused hands slid down his body, scorching a path from

his neck to his dick, where Maui stroked Ian’s cock in his firm grip.
Ian’s body arched off the bed as he desperately tried to get closer to
that wonderful touch. But no matter how much he writhed under
Maui, the man never let Ian take any control over what he was doing.
He kept the pace consistent, not letting Ian get any closer to finding
his release. Instead he tormented Ian to within an inch of his life.

When Maui’s other hand started playing with his pucker but

refused to breach him, Ian screamed in frustration. “Look at me,
angel,” Maui’s husky voice demanded.

Ian opened his eyes to stare into those copper depths that he

would swear were ablaze. When one finger slid deep within his body
Ian knew he was going to lose his mind if Maui didn’t fuck him soon.
“Please,” Ian begged.

He wanted to smack the smile that appeared on Maui’s face at his

begging but he was beyond being able to do such as simple task. Still
he would make Maui pay for it later, especially if the man didn’t fuck
him soon.

“What do you want, angel?” Maui asked as if he didn’t already

know. Ian wasn’t about to saying anything more but then Maui slid in
a second finger grazing his sweet spot.

“Fuck!” Ian yelled out while he pushed his ass down against those

invading fingers. He couldn’t stop his babbling after that as he begged
Maui. “Gods please just shove that fat cock inside me now.” He
wasn’t proud of giving in so fast and doing exactly what Maui wanted

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but who could blame him? The man knew exactly how to play Ian’s
body.

He almost wept when those fingers left his body but the feel of

that cock pressed up against his entrance made his body sing in
relief—that is, until he realized Maui wasn’t pushing in.

Ian looked at Maui, pleading with his eyes as he just didn’t think

he could speak anymore. What little breath he had was stolen when he
saw the fire burning around them as Maui’s raw desire showed in
those copper depths.

“Tell me who you belong to,” Maui demanded, his voice so thick

with passion it sounded like someone had rubbed sandpaper against
his vocal cords.

In any normal situation, Ian would have balked at the question but

right now he answered honestly. “You, I belong to you, Maui.”

Maui plunged deep into Ian’s body as he showed Ian just how

right his answer was. “That’s it, angel, squeeze my cock with that
tight little ass.”

Oh fuck! Maui’s dirty talk drove Ian right over the edge as his

cock spurted between them and his ass clamped down hard on Maui’s
dick.

Maui’s cock started pummeling Ian’s ass even harder as he rode

out Ian’s climax. Just as Ian was coming down, Maui shouted out
driving his prick deep within Ian’s body to fill Ian up with his seed
before collapsing on top of him.

As heavy as the man was Ian liked feeling Maui’s weight atop

him but was still grateful when he finally rolled off. He was even
happier when Maui pulled him into those strong arms tucking Ian into
his body as if Ian were the most precious thing in the world.

Maybe he should give this mating thing a chance. After all, Maui

had treated him better than anyone in his entire life, even his sister,
who in fairness was four years younger than Ian. The thought of
Shayla had Ian worrying about her. He had to go save her from their
father’s clutches.

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He wasn’t sure how to bring rescuing his sister up to Maui. Ian

was tired of letting the psy’s torture keep him from being who he was,
so he decided to take the bull by the horns. “Maui, I need to go get my
sister from Salt Lake City and bring her back here.”

“Now isn’t a good time, angel, with us destroying the psy’s lab

and rescuing all the were-creatures we expect them to retaliate.
Maybe in a couple of days,” he mumbled, half-asleep.

What he said made sense, but what if his sister was in danger? It

was only a couple of days and it wouldn’t do any good if he got
himself killed trying to rescue his sister. Not that he wouldn’t give his
life for hers, but without him who would care enough to get her away
from their father?

Wrapped in Maui’s arms, Ian let his body relax as he drifted off to

sleep secure in the knowledge his mate wouldn’t let him down.

* * * *

“No,” Maui said a week later when Ian brought up the subject of

his sister once more. “I told you before it isn’t safe and there is no
way I am going to let you put yourself in that kind of danger.”

Ian had tried to explain why he needed to get his sister but Maui

refused to even listen just telling him he wasn’t permitted to leave the
compound, much less go into human territory where the psy could be
waiting for him.

“But…” Ian tried once more.
“No.” The word reverberated through the room. “I am not going

to discuss this with you further, Ian.” Maui just walked out of the
room as if what Ian wanted meant nothing.

Something deep inside Ian broke. He wasn’t sure if it was the trust

he’d placed in his mate or his heart. The need to be outside with the
sun warming him drove him to the front porch. Despair weighed him
down, his feet just shuffling forward to the stairs. With each step

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down his body felt heavier and heavier until he just sat halfway down
on one of the steps.

Ian was so distraught he barely even registered the warmth of the

sun on his skin. The trees he spent hours enjoying didn’t even interest
him. No longer sure what to do, he leaned against the banister
wondering where he’d gone wrong.

How could he have been so wrong to believe Maui wasn’t like

everyone else? Maybe it was Ian, maybe there was something wrong
with him that made people step all over him.

He’d been here a week and hadn’t made any new friends. Jason

still talked to him but he was so busy working with Seth to try and
keep the psy from taking over his mind that he didn’t have much time
for Ian. He’d understood so he tried to make other friends. No matter
how much Ian tried everyone seemed to take his offers of friendship
wrong.

He’d left really big sticks for Wolfe to run after. He was a wolf

shifter, which meant he was a canine and canines liked to chase
things, but instead the man threw the stick at Ian, yelling that he
wasn’t a dog. Thankfully Maui was there and the stick burned to ash
before it hit Ian, but the man had scared the crap out of him.

He’d got fish from the lake, which grossed Ian out, and left them

outside Rangi’s room but he’d heard the man yelling at Maui that his
mate was insane and needed to be institutionalized. Ian just didn’t
understand why. Eagles ate fish, he knew they did, he looked it up, so
why didn’t anyone appreciate his gifts?

Even the Alpha kept looking at him weirdly when he left him

bowls of milk on his desk. He even laughed when Ian left him a ball
of yarn. It was better than having things thrown at him or told he was
insane but he still didn’t like being laughed at any better.

“Hey, Ian,” Jason said as he sat next to him.
As much as he liked spending time with Jason, Ian just wanted to

be alone right now so he just gave him a small smile hoping his friend
would get the hint and leave.

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63

“Thanks for the honey. My bear can’t wait to eat it.” Apparently

Jason didn’t get the hint as he continued to sit there.

Ian had left Jason a jar of honey and Adam a box of dirt with

flower seeds. He was grateful for his friend understanding his gift,
even if he figured Jason was just trying to be nice. “You’re welcome
but you don’t have to be nice. Wolfe already told me none of you like
my gifts.” Which was probably Ian’s most embarrassing moment
here—well, so far anyway.

When Jason tried to protest Ian told him about his most recent

mess-up. He had been trying to make it up to the wolf shifter for the
sticks, which hadn’t been appreciated so he’d decided to leave the
man raw meat instead. After all, who didn’t like meat? If he wanted it
for his wolf, he could just eat it raw, or he could cook it if he’d
preferred.

Ian knew it would be the perfect apology and looked forward to

Wolfe befriending him after that. Since the shifter was Maui’s best
friend Ian tried really hard to get the guy to like him but every
overture was met with disdain by the wolf.

Unfortunately nothing ever worked out the way Ian planned. He

had to leave the meat on Wolfe’s front porch because Ian would never
enter someone’s home without permission, but he hadn’t known the
shifter was out on patrol. By the time Wolfe had gotten home animals
were crawling all over his porch eating the gift.

When Jason laughed at Ian’s story he had to admit it hurt to know

his only friend was laughing at him too. Of course it hurt more when
Maui didn’t defend him when Wolfe had told him no one liked his
gifts. Shouldn’t his mate be the one person who had his back?

Now Wolfe stayed clear of Ian, often running the other way when

he saw Ian coming. He hadn’t thought it was that bad. Sure a couple
of those animals had been skunks but it wasn’t Ian’s fault Wolfe
scared them so bad they sprayed his house. Ian was still not sure how
his house had burned to the ground. He was just glad that couldn’t be
blamed on him.

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Jason, clearly seeing Ian was upset, explained his laughter. “I’m

sorry. I’m not laughing at you. I just think it’s karma since the guy
clearly doesn’t appreciate when someone is trying to be nice.”

Ian wished he could believe Jason, but right now he wasn’t sure

what to believe. He’d always been a lousy judge of character. A part
of that was he wanted so much for others to like him that he went out
of his way to try and make friends, any friends, even ones who
weren’t that nice.

Gods, he missed his sister. She was so much better at judging

people’s intentions than he was. It was clear the people around here
didn’t want him. Sure Maui liked fucking him but other than that the
man didn’t seem to care if Ian was around or not. Most of the time his
mate had no clue Ian was even in the same room unless he was horny.

“Do you think if I asked the Alpha he’d let me go back home?” he

asked Jason.

“Why would you…oh, your sister.” Jason knew all about his sister

and the sick perverted things his father wanted to do with her. After a
year being in a cage next to each other there was very little they didn’t
know about each other. “You seem to be pretty close with Maui, why
don’t you ask him?”

If only that would have worked, but Ian was beginning to wonder

if Maui would ever care enough about him to actually listen to him for
once. Okay, maybe he was overreacting just a bit but he didn’t think it
was too much to ask for a man, who claims to hold his mate above all
others, to talk to him every once in a while.

No matter what Maui said Ian knew he had no choice, he had to

go save his sister. Jason had escaped from here once. Maybe he would
be willing to help. “Will you help me get to her?”

He was so surprised when Jason agreed that he threw his arms

around him in a big hug but jumped back when Seth walked passed.
“Better watch it or your mates will go all caveman on you for daring
to touch someone other than them.” Sarcasm practically dripped from
each word as Seth spoke.

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65

Apparently somebody’s panties were in a twist.

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Chapter 9

Ian wasn’t quite sure how he’d lucked out to not only have Jason

along but Seth too. He felt bad using the fight Seth had clearly had
with Alek to his advantage. With Jason being a were-bear and Seth a
telekinetic psy Ian had a really good chance of getting his sister away
from his father.

Entering Salt Lake City was depressing. Many of the buildings

were literally falling apart. Those that were still standing looked like a
stiff breeze would topple them. Ian had grown up in this city but
living here he hadn’t really noticed the obvious decay.

After being gone for a year and seeing it, he saw for what it was—

a dump. He knew most cities suffered the same fate as the psy used
their mind tricks to get the money allocated for improvement to be
given to them but it was still sad to see.

The closer they got to his old neighborhood the more anxious he

became. He knew there was a good chance he would have to fight his
father in order to get his sister back and Ian had come prepared. In the
small of his back was one of Maui’s knives.

After his mother’s death, Ian had learned how to defend himself.

Knives had become his specialty, since they were easy to get his
hands on. He would have preferred a gun but they cost money that he
hadn’t had. Any money he’d made growing up went toward food and
clothes for Shayla and himself.

It wasn’t something he’d ever thought he’d have to use, especially

against his own father, but somehow Ian knew he would need the
knife this time so he had it tucked in the small of his back. He only

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67

hoped he would actually be able to go through with it. Practicing was
one thing. Actually cutting someone was something else.

As they pulled up to the home he grew up in, Ian was a bit

surprised to see it in such disrepair. He knew his father didn’t care
enough to keep it looking nice but it looked like Ian had been gone for
ten years, not just one.

Nervousness gripped him as he entered the house. He wasn’t sure

what he’d been expecting but it hadn’t been the pigsty he was staring
at now. Not seeing his father or sister he went from room to room,
dismayed by the junk that littered the floors of his once immaculate
home.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing, boy,” his father

shouted from what used to be the dining room but now just held a
card table and chairs.

For a moment Ian stood there in shock at what he was seeing. His

father, who stood to confront them, looked dirty and unwashed. He
was dressed in just his boxers and a dingy T-shirt. How his father
could allow himself to become this person Ian had no idea but he was
here for only one reason, to get his sister back.

Ian’s hands clenched into fists as he squared off against the man.

“I’m here for Shayla, father.”

His father stalked closer with a sneer on his face. Before he could

get too close Jason growled a warning, which seemed to have stunned
the man for an instant before his sneer was back. “So you conned one
of those filthy shifters into helping you because you aren’t man
enough to face me yourself.”

Ian hated that his friend was being insulted but he wasn’t about to

back down. “I have no problem facing you, you piece of shit, but
since you called the psy the last time I was here, I brought
reinforcements. Now, where is Shayla?”

His father laughed. “You’re too late to save her.”
No! There was no way Ian would accept his sister was dead. The

man had to be lying. Determined to make him tell him where she was

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Ian told him in no uncertain terms, “I will kill you if anything
happened to her.”

His father became enraged at the threat. “You dare to threaten

me?” Even Jason’s growls of warning didn’t stop the man from
getting in Ian’s face. “I should have killed you instead of selling you
to the psy.” His hand wrapped around Ian’s throat, lifting him off the
floor clearly trying to choke the life out of him.

As his father lifted him off the ground, Ian’s hand wrapped around

the hilt of the knife tucked into the back of his pants. Without
hesitation he thrust it deep within the man’s chest.

Not knowing Ian was prepared to defend himself Jason shredded

the man’s arm and Seth used his psy ability to throw him across the
room using telekinesis. With the knife still held tightly in Ian’s grip
there was nothing to stop the blood from pouring out of his father’s
chest. How would Ian find his sister now?

* * * *

Maui knew he’d fucked up with Ian. How he could just dismiss

his mate like that was beyond him. It was just that when he thought
about his mate out there, away from Alliance territory his heart
pounded in his chest until it felt like it was going to burst free. There
was no way he could allow his angel to be put in harm’s way.

That didn’t excuse the way he just ignored his mate’s request.

Clearly there was a reason why he wanted to get to his sister and
Maui hadn’t even bothered to listen long enough to find out. Now that
he’d had time to calm down he knew he needed to do some groveling
but first he needed to make arrangements to do as Ian asked.

It took him a while but he finally found Alek, who looked a little

haggard, which was unusual for the Alpha. If anyone could stay calm
and collected during any situation it was Alek. The only time he’d
ever seen his friend lose it was when his mate had been in danger.

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69

As he watched Alek open every door along the corridor Maui

knew something was up. “Alek, what’s going on?” he asked.

The Alpha’s shoulders stiffened as his face turned pink. Maui

wasn’t sure he’d ever seen his friend look embarrassed. He was
usually so self-assured that nothing made the man uncomfortable
enough to show it.

Alek’s eyes shifted up and down the hallway as if hoping to find

an escape from this conversation. “I might have been a little
overbearing with Seth and now I’m trying to find him to apologize,”
he said so quietly Maui had to strain to hear him.

Maui couldn’t resist teasing his friend. “You? Overbearing? You

must be wrong.”

A low rumble of warning came from Alek. “What do you want,

Maui?” Alek asked, clearly not willing to engage in Maui’s jokes.

Now that Alek brought it back to him, Maui felt a little sheepish at

making fun of the man when he was in the same situation. Instead of
admitting it he said, “Ian wants to bring his sister here. He thinks
she’s in some sort of trouble and is hoping you won’t mind having
another human living here.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. Sure Maui didn’t actually know the sister

was in trouble but considering how desperate Ian looked there had to
be a reason, right? Gods, Maui was such an ass not to have even
found out. As soon as he got permission from Alek to bring back
Ian’s sister he would go apologize to his mate.

“Sure,” Alek said.
Alek went back to opening the rest of the doors in the residential

wing and had Maui curious. “Alek, what are you doing?”

Alek threw his hands up in the air out of frustration as he whirled

back to Maui. “I told you. I’m looking for Seth to apologize,” he said
as if it should have been obvious, which it was. What Maui didn’t
understand was why.

“Why don’t you just use COBI?” Everyone was required to wear

their earpiece at all times, especially now that they had hostile weres

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in the building. The only exception was when they were in their own
rooms. So if Seth wasn’t in his room, which he hoped Alek had
enough sense to look in first, then Seth should be able to be reached
through the com.

“I tried that,” he growled out. His cheeks flushed once more as he

admitted, “He’s not answering.”

Oh wow, Alek must really be in the doghouse if Seth isn’t

answering him. “Well, I’m going to go find Ian to tell him the good
news about his sister, maybe he’s with him.”

“I already tried Ian and Jason but I can’t find them either,” he said

as he continued down the hall checking the doors.

“I’m sorry, did you just tell me our mates are missing?” Maui

didn’t want to panic but he had to admit his heart skipped a beat at
Alek’s words.

Another door was opened before being shut after Alek scanned

the room. “I tried Jason’s through COBI and he’s not answering
either.” How Alek could be so calm when clearly something was
wrong Maui wasn’t sure.

Ian hadn’t gotten his com unit yet. He was scheduled late this

afternoon to get it but until then Maui had no way of knowing where
his mate was. The need to see for himself pushed Maui to race in the
other direction toward his room. Flinging the door open he rushed
inside. His heart dropped into stomach when it was empty.

Not willing to give up he searched the bathroom, under the bed, in

the closet, behind the curtains. He had no idea why Ian would be
under the bed or behind the curtains but Maui wasn’t leaving any
stone unturned.

The reality of the situation hit him hard. Ian left to get his sister.

He had no proof but deep down he knew it to be true. Ian had sounded
desperate to get to her and Maui had ignored him. If anything
happened to him…

Not able to think about that, Maui ran back to where Alek

continued to check all the rooms.

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71

He explained where he thought their mates went to Alek, who

surprisingly didn’t kill him for allowing this to happen. “Did you ask
Rangi to locate him?” Maui asked.

Alek didn’t answer, he just took off toward the conference room

Rangi had taken over to sort through the information they had gotten
from the psy lab they had destroyed. The door bounced off the wall as
Alek slammed it open.

Seeing Adam standing there with Rangi, Alek asked, “Have you

seen your mate?”

It was clear Adam had no idea what Alek was talking about but

when he tried to get a hold of Jason with no luck they turned to Rangi
to perform a miracle. That miracle wasn’t to be found though as both
Seth’s and Jason’s earpieces were turned off, which meant the
tracking on them was also off.

After searching the GPS unit on all the vehicles they found one

not on the property. As they watched the satellite zoom down to it, the
air left Maui’s body when he saw a GPS unit that was supposed to be
on one of their ATVs instead in the back of pickup truck on a farm at
least three hundred miles northwest of Lake Louise.

His angel left him.
“But none of the alerts sounded, so how did they get taken?”

Adam asked, stunned at what was happening.

Gods, he didn’t want to tell his friends that this was all his fault

but it wouldn’t make it any less true. “We think they ran,” he choked
out.

How could he have done this to his angel? Gods he was an ass and

if he managed to get his mate back in his arms safely he would make
sure Ian knew just how much he loved him.

He heard Adam ask, “Why would all three leave?”
“I think they went to get Ian’s sister.” And he would kill anyone if

they lay one hand on his mate. Seeing their confusion Maui explained
why Ian had left and where he thought they would have gone.

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When he was done he wasn’t surprised when Adam said, “You

understand if anything happens to my mate I will bury you so deep no
one will ever find your body.” Nor could he blame him, for if
anything happened to Ian the Gods themselves wouldn’t be able to
stop Maui from destroying whoever touched him.

* * * *

So far this trip had been a complete clusterfuck. After his father

died they had searched his house hoping to find a clue as to Shayla’s
whereabouts but found nothing. Hell, he wasn’t even sure she was
still alive. What if his father sold her to the psy too?

Seth and Jason had snapped him out of his morose thoughts and

forced him to think of where she might have gone to hide. There was
one place, where they used to go camping when their mom was still
alive. After her death Ian would take Shayla there whenever they
needed to get away or just remember their mom.

Now they were racing across Salt Lake City to the mountains,

hoping she had run there to wait for Ian to find her. He knew it was a
long shot as he’d been gone for a year and his sister had probably
figured he wouldn’t be returning. Still, he had to try.

Unfortunately they had attracted the attention of the psy, who

were chasing them up the mountain pass doing their best to run them
off the road. Ian was useless as the psy chasing them had taken over
his mind. He still knew what was going on and tried his damnedest to
push the psy out of his head but he knew from past experience it was
a useless endeavor.

“Jason, I need you to drive!” Ian heard Seth yell. He slammed the

car to a screeching halt and Ian had almost fallen out of the vehicle.
The next thing he knew the psy were out of his head and they were
racing further up the mountain.

He was glad he’d allowed Jason to contact Adam through COBI

and let them know where they were. He’d been a little disappointed

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that Maui hadn’t asked about him but he guessed his mate didn’t want
to have anything more to do with him. Since they were being chased
by the psy there was a good chance his mate would get his wish.

The odds of Ian getting out of this alive were slim to none and he

was okay with that. As long as they got Shayla to safety he would be
happy. Sure he wished he could have had more time with Maui, but
since the man was clearly getting tired of Ian he figured it wasn’t
meant to be.

As they reached the clearing he made Seth and Jason promise they

would do whatever it took to save Shayla for she was the only thing
that mattered. He was relieved when they agreed, although he figured
they were planning on saving him too. But something told him it just
wasn’t going to happen.

“Ian!” Shayla screamed as she came rushing from the woods to

throw her arms around Ian’s neck. He held onto her like the lifeline
she was. Thank Gods!

His petite blond sister may have been small but her hugs were

always fierce. The feel of her tight embrace was a balm to his soul.
He’d missed her so much. They had depended on each other for so
long he’d felt like a part of himself had been missing for the past year.

“Are you okay?” he asked, although she was holding him so

tightly it was hard to get air in his lungs. Not that he was complaining,
as long as she was finally with him again he wouldn’t say a word
about his need for oxygen.

She stepped back and rolled her eyes at him. “I’m fine big brother.

You taught me how to survive out here. I knew if I just waited long
enough you’d come find me.” Once more she gave him a bear hug.
Thank Gods he’d been more prepared and filled his lungs up before
her arms went around him.

He wished they could have a longer reunion but they needed to

get back to the clearing to wait for the Alliance to rescue them. But
the psy were already there waiting for them. Ian’s mind screamed at

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the psy that immediately took him over. He didn’t care about himself
but he saw Shayla being controlled too.

He hated this, when they made him do things he didn’t want, but

there was nothing he could do to stop them. The worst part was being
aware of everything while not being able to fight.

Suddenly his body was thrown against a tree. The feel of vines

and limbs snaking around his body to hold him in place was creepy
but he knew this was Seth’s doing. His friend couldn’t stop the other
psy from entering his mind but he could stop them from forcing him
to go with them if he was tied down by moving him telekinetically.
Once he was literally strapped to a tree Seth would be able to use his
abilities to hopefully keep the other psy away from them until Maui
and the others got here.

Relieved when he felt Shayla’s body next to his Ian prayed Seth

would be able to keep them safe. His body struggled against its bonds
as the psy who controlled him ordered but it was no use. Seth had him
tied up tight.

The sound of bullets had Ian scared. Tied up as they were there

was no way he or Shayla could avoid being hit if the psy turned their
guns on them. Through eyes that weren’t controlled by him he saw
the psy shooting at Seth and Jason.

It was distracting Ian’s friends from protecting him and Shayla.

This allowed the two psy who were controlling his sister and him to
come over to cut them free. Ian tried to fight once more but he
couldn’t budge the man inside his brain.

“You thought you could get away from us?” one of them asked.

“We have a special experiment for you now that you’ve mated.”

Ian had no idea what he was talking about, not that he could have

answered anyway since the same psy who was talking to him was
controlling him. Just as they cut him free, Jason rushed over with Seth
right behind shielding them by using his telekinesis to stop the bullets
from hitting them. Jason didn’t waste time. He just knocked the guy
out.

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Suddenly Ian’s mind was free of the psy’s hold. Grabbing onto

Jason he said, “Remember your promise.” How he knew he couldn’t
say but somehow Ian knew he wasn’t getting out of this. He just
wasn’t that lucky. Within seconds of reminding Jason, Ian felt another
psy enter his mind. This time the psy decided to shut his mind down
and everything went dark.

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Chapter 10

Maui’s nerves were strung tight as he watched the fight below

them as they came in for a landing. Adam was using his powers to
manipulate the earth beneath them but Maui couldn’t do anything
with his fire ability as he would have to burn a hole through their
aircraft first.

Just as they touched down he watched in disbelief as Ian was

thrown into a Humvee as it drove off. Rushing out the door of the
aircraft as it popped open, he searched in vain for any sign of the
Humvee. The second one had left just as the aircraft’s door had
opened but Maui wasn’t fast enough to stop the psy.

Anger burned through him as his fire took control and shot out of

his body at an alarming rate. He knew he needed to get it under
control but he just couldn’t. All he could see was Ian being taken
from him by the very people who had tortured him for over a year.

There was nothing he wouldn’t do to get his mate back, including

burning down everything on this Earth to find him. Heat surrounded
him but due to his nature he didn’t really feel it. Fire continued to
flow off his body setting the entire forest around them ablaze, but
Maui didn’t care.

Using the fire he created a path through the forest searching for

his mate even though he knew it would be useless. There was just too
much ground to cover and they’d had too big of a lead. Still he had to
try.

A hole beneath him opened up swallowing him whole,

extinguishing the flames and cooling him off. At first he wanted to

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kill Alek, who he was sure ordered Adam to put him in this hole, and
Adam for agreeing to it. But he knew it had been the right thing to do.

But the longer he stayed covered by the earth, the more the

despair of losing his mate consumed him. There was no way he could
live without his angel. He didn’t even want to try. To make matters
worse it was all his fault. If he’d just listened to his mate Ian wouldn’t
have felt the need to save his sister without protection.

He felt himself losing consciousness as there was no air left for

him to breathe. He knew his friends would pull him out before he died
but a part of him hoped they wouldn’t for he couldn’t live without his
mate, and with the psy getting a hold of him for a second time, Maui
was worried they wouldn’t keep him alive.

* * * *

Maui woke in his own room, in his house at Stone Haven. Alek

stood at the windows looking out at the forest that surrounded his
home. As Maui’s mind relived the horror of losing his mate once
more the room heated up and Alek turned to him with a hard stare.

“Stop,” he said using his Alpha voice.
It was weird. As much as Maui’s very soul didn’t want to obey, he

still found himself doing exactly as Alek said. It was one of the
reasons the man was the Alpha Primus of the Alliance, no one could
ever out-Alpha him.

That didn’t mean Maui wasn’t pissed at the man for trying to

control him. “You have no right to tell me what to do.” Okay, maybe
not the smartest thing to say to the powerful Alpha. But after losing
his mate Maui didn’t have anything left to lose.

“Watch it,” Alek snarled. “You may be my friend but there is only

so much I will take before I wipe the floor with you.”

Now that’s what Maui never understood. Sure, for a shifter, the

man was powerful and Maui doubted any other shifter could take the

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man. But Maui wasn’t a shifter. All he had to do was set the house on
fire with no escape route and Alek would be toast.

As if knowing exactly what he was thinking Alek grabbed him

around the throat, pulled him out of the bed, and slammed him against
the wall with his feet dangling in the air before Maui even knew the
man had moved. “Try it and you will find out what an Alpha can
really do,” he said before releasing Maui to drop to the floor in a
heap.

What was he doing? He didn’t want to fight his friend. Hell, the

man had saved his life by getting him out of those labs. He just
wanted his angel back. Tears sprang to his eyes as he thought about
his mate.

When Alek’s arms wrapped around him, he couldn’t stop himself

from sagging into his Alpha and letting the tears flow. “I promise I
will do everything in my power to get him back for you,” Alek
assured him.

As much as Maui wanted to believe him he was afraid even his

Alpha wouldn’t be able to save Ian. He knew his mate wasn’t going to
just accept being kept a prisoner again and would end up pissing off
the wrong person. Not that Maui could blame him. Hell, he was
always proud of his mate when he stood up for himself, something
else he hadn’t told his angel.

Gut-wrenching sobs wracked his body as he thought of all the

things he hadn’t told his mate. The fact that he loved the man with
every breath in his body was at the top of that list. He had to find Ian,
if only to tell his mate that he loved him. Maui wouldn’t be able to
live with himself if Ian died thinking his own mate didn’t love him.

Pulling away from Alek he ran the back of his hand across his

face. “How do I find him?” he asked of his friend.

“’Bout time you came to your senses,” Alek exclaimed, slapping

Maui on the back.

The Alpha rolled to his feet with the grace of the feline he was

and held out his hand to Maui. Not that Maui needed help off the floor

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79

but he did need the man’s help if he was going to get his mate back.
Accepting the hand, he allowed Alek to pull him off the floor.

“Everyone’s in the communication room waiting for us,” Alek

said as they walked outside to the vehicle Alek had waiting. As much
as Maui wanted to hurry and get back to town, he didn’t want to get
on the ATV with Alek behind the wheel. But he sucked it up and
climbed into the passenger seat just as Alek took off like a shot.

Alek slammed on the brakes right in front of his office and Maui

jumped out running for the bushes so he didn’t throw up all over the
sidewalk. He heard Alek laughing as he passed. “You would think
after all these years you would have gotten used to going fast by
now.”

As much as Maui wanted to cuss Alek out, like he always did, he

just didn’t have the heart, The only thing he wanted was his mate in
his arms. Rushing to the basement where Alek had set up the entire
floor for Rangi’s use he stepped through the doors to see Rangi,
Wolfe, Adam, Seth, and Jason working to find Ian.

He actually smiled knowing his friends cared enough to help him,

even when he was too distraught to help himself. He’d been such an
idiot to think they wouldn’t find Ian, if for no other reason than that
he and his friends would never accept anything else. As they all
turned to look at him as he came through the door he said, “Thank
you.”

Each of them gave him a nod before returning back to what they

were doing. Rangi stepped over to him to catch him up on what they
were doing. Seth had given them a list of all the locations of labs that
he knew about. Rangi repositioned satellites to spy on these areas and
Wolfe sent out soldiers from their own territory to spy on these labs.

They had found out two of these labs were actually located in the

Alliance held Southern Territory, the area that used to be Mexico,
Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Alek hadn’t really approved of the
Alpha, Raptor, a vulture shifter, in that territory but since the man

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hadn’t done anything to force Alek to get involved he’d left the man
alone. Now he was kicking himself for not following his instincts.

This was the reason they trusted only their own soldiers but so far

nothing had been found. Oh the labs were there but they knew Ian
would have been taken to the lab with Dr. Reid and so far they hadn’t
been able to find the man since he’d disappeared from the lab in
Wells. They knew what he looked like because both Ian and Jason
had identified the man when they were still at Lake Louise.

Now Seth was pouring over maps with Jason’s help in order to try

and see if there was something that might jog his memory about other
possible locations but so far it hadn’t worked. Not willing to dwell on
the negative, Maui dove in and helped to go over the hours of
surveillance hoping to find something that would lead them in the
right direction.

Sometime later Jason came over with a blonde girl who looked so

much like Ian that Maui knew this must be his mate’s sister. “Maui, I
wanted to introduce you to Ian’s sister, Shayla.”

Maui honestly didn’t know what to say to her. Because of him her

brother was recaptured by the psy. How did someone apologize for
that? But she didn’t ask him for an apology. Instead she hugged him.
“If there is one thing I know about my brother, he has more bravery
than sense. The others told me you think this is your fault but I
promise you it isn’t.”

He couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down his cheeks at her kind

words, even if they weren’t true. Maui knew he was to blame and he
was man enough to admit it. Gently he pulled back from her. “As
much as I appreciate you trying to comfort me, I know better. It was
because I didn’t listen to him that he felt the need to go out without
Alliance protection.”

He could see that Shayla was going to protest his words but he

stopped her with a shake of his head. “It’s true but I promise if…no,
when we get him back I will make sure he understands he is the most
important person in my life. Every day I will let him know just how

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much I love and cherish him.” Not wanting to break down further he
turned away from her to go back to searching the surveillance tapes.

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Chapter 11

Every day was like a new form of hell as the psy came up with

new and inventive ways to torture Ian. No, it wasn’t like hell, this was
worse than hell. At first they took turns slapping him around. He was
sure they were going to rape him but the constant beatings actually
worked in his favor as he was too bruised and bloody for them to
want fuck him.

They kept this up for the first week, or at least Ian thought it had

been a week. It was hard to be sure as he was once more underground.
That was when he first saw Dr. Reid, who treated his various wounds
as best he could. Ian could see the pity in the man’s eyes and the
desire to do something about it, but Ian knew with the man’s family
on the line he would stay silent, and Ian just couldn’t blame him as he
would have done anything for his own sister.

The second week they kept him naked in a dark dank room that

looked a lot like some sort of dungeon with the air conditioning up
high. Apparently they wanted to freeze him to death. Eventually they
pulled him out of that room in favor of a room that not only had stone
walls like the other room but a dirt floor.

For the last several days he hadn’t seen anyone. He wasn’t

entirely sure how long he’d been there with no way to mark the
passage of time. No one came in to give him food or water. For all he
knew they’d left him here to rot. He wasn’t even sure why he was
hanging on. It would be so much easier to let himself die. Every time
he allowed himself to give up, something inside him would force him
to think about Maui, about how much he loved the man. He wasn’t

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sure his mate even wanted him but he would do anything, even suffer
through the psy’s torture, to see him one more time.

A scrape of metal against the outside door indicated Ian was about

to have a visitor. Maybe they were finally coming to just kill him. No
matter how many times he asked they wouldn’t tell him why he was
being treated like this. Even though he’d hated it, during his last
captivity he’d understood the rape and the experiments. Well, he
hadn’t exactly understood the experiments but he got why they were
using him that way.

But this, well he just didn’t understand, unless they were trying to

punish him into cooperating more, but it wasn’t like he had much
choice when all they had to do was go into his head and force him to
do whatever they wanted. For all the psy did to him, he’d never
known any of the prisoners to go through what he was being forced to
endure.

A stream of light nearly blinded him as the door opened. The only

light he’d had since being thrown in here had been what filtered under
the door, which wasn’t much, just enough to tell him if his eyes were
open or closed. Closing his eyes against the brightness he waited, for
what he didn’t know, but in his weakened state he knew there was no
way he could hope to resist whatever they decided to do to him.

“When was the last time you fed him?” Ian knew that voice. His

eyes opened slightly to gaze up at Dr. Reid. Ian didn’t know if that
was good news or not as the doctor would do whatever the psy asked
of him. The tone the doctor used said he didn’t care about when he’d
last eaten except in a professional capacity.

“A hundred and ten hours, sir,” one of the soldiers with the doctor

answered.

He saw Dr. Reid nod once then ordered the three men with him to

bring Ian to his lab. Without even looking at Ian the doctor turned on
his heel and strode away. He doubted the man was here to help him
but maybe Ian could get some answers from him.

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One of the guards unlocked the cuffs around his hands that were

chained against the wall near his head. Not caring about his comfort
the other two guards each grabbed him under his arms and dragged
him along. He would have walked, but his legs just couldn’t hold his
weight so he let them drag him, his legs and feet getting scraped and
bloodied along the concrete floor.

As they reached the lab the three soldiers picked him up and

tossed him onto an exam table before strapping him down once more.
Pain exploded through his entire body with each new movement. He
knew his feet were bleeding, but he didn’t have the strength to look at
them to see just how bad they were, not that he could have even lifted
his head once they’d strapped him to the table.

Once done, the three soldiers just left him there. He knew he

should look around to see if there was anything he could use to free
himself but he was so exhausted he’d fallen asleep as soon as the door
closed.

The feel of a wet cloth running down his face had him believing

for just an instant he was back in Maui’s arms as his mate cleaned and
cared for him after sex, but one look at Dr. Reid’s expressionless face
brought him quickly back to reality. The pain that had been with him
for so long came back like a fist to his gut.

He gasped as it washed over him, hoping the doctor would be kind

enough to give him something for it. “I’m sorry, Ian, but there’s
nothing I can do for the pain.” Dr. Reid murmured so low Ian wasn’t
sure he’d heard him.

Glancing up at the doctor he was a little surprised to see pity in

the man’s eyes. A part of him wanted to beg the doctor for some sort
of relief but he knew it was useless and he refused to let the psy know
just how much they’d broken him. Instead he asked, “Why?”

Dr. Reid paused in cleaning Ian up for just a moment before a

slight shake of his head told Ian everything he needed to know, they
were being watched. It was clear the doctor knew why they were

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85

torturing Ian and if he got the chance Ian knew Dr. Reid would tell
him but he couldn’t now.

As much as Ian wanted to rant at the doctor, this man was as much

a prisoner as Ian was. Maybe at some point the doctor could help him,
but now wasn’t the time to rebel against him, not that Ian could have
done much as he was strapped down to a table.

While Dr. Reid worked at cleaning him, Ian took stock of his

body, or at least as much as he could. The pain was intense causing
him to not be able to feel his entire body, like his feet—oh, they
throbbed in pain, but he had no idea if there were straps holding them
down or not.

He counted six straps, one holding each wrist, two across his

chest, one across his forehead and another at his hips, but after that he
just couldn’t feel anything. He prayed he still had use of his legs.
Hell, after what they’d put him through he hoped they hadn’t
amputated his legs. He didn’t think so but with the psy one never
knew.

Ian almost cried out in relief when he felt the cloth the doctor was

using against his legs as the doctor finished cleaning him. At least he
knew they were still there. Once done Dr. Reid walked away, Ian
assumed to put away the cloth and the bowl of water he’d been using,
but the ping of metal instruments on a metal tray had him tensing.

His body jerked when he felt the doctor’s hand touch Ian’s arm.

The prick of a needle as Dr. Reid started an IV had Ian curious. The
slight stroke of the doctor’s fingers as if the man was reassuring him
had Ian relaxing a little. Ian wasn’t sure why but he trusted the doctor
to let him know when he was about to do something Ian wouldn’t
like.

Maybe he shouldn’t, as the doctor was technically a psy, but after

Dr. Reid had told Ian he was being held against his will to save his
family Ian trusted him. Within minutes Ian felt his eyes dropping once
more as darkness descended.

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“I said one bag of fluid, doctor, and I meant it.” Ian jolted awake

when the door banged opened and a voice spoke harshly to Dr. Reid.

“You said he needed to be kept alive to see what he could

withstand.” Ian kept his eyes closed as he listened intently. “Based on
the next stage, he will need at least two bags to make sure he
survives.”

“I don’t care if he survives, I just want to know how much a

mated human can endure,” the other voice demanded.

So that’s what the torture was about. They somehow knew Ian

was mated and were experimenting on his body’s reaction to the
torture. For what purpose Ian wasn’t sure but then again the psy didn’t
usually make much sense.

“You said you wanted him to be changed in the end to see what

would happen. If that is the goal he has to survive that long.” It was
clear to Ian Dr. Reid was trying to help him as much as he could and
getting into trouble for it.

What worried Ian the most was they planned to change him into

one of the were-creatures. He’d seen what the others had gone
through during that week he’d been with the Alliance and most of
them were still having a hard time dealing with the animal that had
been thrust upon them. At the time, he’d thanked the Gods he hadn’t
been changed but apparently he wasn’t to continue to be lucky.

Would Maui even like him if he was a were? What if Ian managed

to get out of here and Maui was repulsed by what the psy had done to
Ian? He could tell by the heated argument the doctor was trying to
save Ian’s life for it was obvious he wouldn’t survive much longer.
Maybe he should tell the doctor to just let him die.

After all what did he have to live for? He wasn’t even sure Maui

still wanted Ian around but if Ian changed into a were he doubted the
man would have anything to do with him. It just wasn’t worth living
through all the torture to find out the man didn’t want him.

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“Fine, one more bag, but I’m warning you, Dr. Reid, I’ll be

watching every move you make,” the angry man said as he stormed
out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Dr. Reid switched out the empty bag to replace it with a full one.

Ian had watched him work but hadn’t said a word about what he’d
heard. Instead he asked, “What’s in the bag?”

“Basically its glucose,” the doctor answered automatically.
So they were feeding him and unless Ian was crazy, the pain was

much less, so he guessed the doctor had put some sort of pain killer in
the IV, probably without the psy knowing. Ian didn’t really care at the
moment, he was just happy to not feel as the darkness claimed him
once more.

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Chapter 12

“I said to calm the fuck down,” Alek shouted at Maui.
Maui had been getting more and more frustrated as one lead after

another died and he still didn’t have his mate back. They had been
following Seth’s parents, hoping they would visit whatever lab Dr.
Reid had been taken to but after three weeks they hadn’t left Atlanta.

The stress was too much for Maui to deal with and he once more

lost control of his fire, igniting the computers, table, floor and ceiling.
But Alek’s Alpha voice wasn’t doing the trick and the fire raged
around him. He knew he had to stop it. If he lit enough of the room on
fire everyone else would be trapped and die.

Water flooded Maui’s body, including everything that he’d set on

fire as the water mystics that were guarding him did their job. They
were there because as more and more time passed Maui had less and
less control. Steam billowed over him enveloping the entire room in
its heat.

“Gods damn it, Maui,” Rangi snapped. “I just finished replacing

the last set of computers you melted.”

Alek, who understood what it was like to have a mate, suggested,

“Maybe you should go back in the box.”

The box had been built by Alek’s scientists in the past couple of

weeks to withstand Maui’s outbursts. It was made out of a clear fire-
proof material that so far had remained intact with one exception.
Maui was a strong mystic, the strongest they knew about.

During his captivity by the humans he’d learned to control and

channel his gift to a scary level. It was one of the reasons he’d named
himself after the God of Fire, he knew he was one of the few people

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on Earth who could actually destroy it. The problem was he had little
control with his mate in danger.

So after destroying dozens of computers, walls and the ceiling,

they moved their communications center to the building that had
stored most of their ATVs and SUVs. It was made of brick and could
withstand some of the blaze. To make things more safe, Alek also had
the box put in.

Because it was clear knew what was happening. There was a

computer monitor in one of the walls that could be manipulated by his
hands allowing him to help. Only once did the box fail. That was just
two days ago when Maui’s frustration level had reached an all-time
high.

Not surprisingly it was Shayla who calmed him down when

nothing else would. Even as the flames raged so hot they melted the
fireproof box, she stood there just outside the worst of the heat and
waited for him to notice her. Once he saw her he was able to tamp
down the blaze, not completely but enough that the water mystics
were able to get control of the inferno.

Even with water being poured on him the flames still engulfed

him in their embrace, giving him comfort in his time of need. But
Shayla would step closer, until she was less than a foot from him. He
knew she had to feel the heat but she wouldn’t even flinch. Instead
she’d talk to him. It was never the same story but it was always about
Ian.

He’d already known his mate was brave but Shayla confirmed just

how strong he really was. How he’d stepped up when their mom died
and raised Shayla. She also told Maui some of the funnier things his
mate had done to make people like him. He noticed the others listened
to how much Ian just wanted to be liked but sometimes his delivery
wasn’t great.

Maybe now they would understand Ian didn’t mean any insult

with his “gifts,” he was just trying to make friends. If he ever got his

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mate back he’d make sure each and every person Ian had tried to
make friends with thanked him for those gifts.

Now there was a new box and he went into it reluctantly. He knew

it was safer for everyone but he wanted to be outside finding his mate,
not stuck in some box.

When he saw Shayla come closer he actually smiled. Maybe if he

was lucky she would tell him another story about Ian. But before she
could say anything Rangi called out, “I found him.”

Maui’s heart stopped for a moment before it started to race. His

eyes snapped to the screen where five images of Dr. Reid either was
leaving or entering what looked like a house. Each time he raised his
face to the sky, as if he were soaking in the sun.

Finally they found where the psy were keeping his angel. They’d

known Ian would never be allowed outside so their only hope was
finding this Dr. Reid and they finally did it. For the last three weeks
they had pored over satellite images trying to find some link to Dr.
Reid. It had been frustrating to fail each day, knowing he was letting
his mate down.

Since there were soldiers standing guard at various points all

around the property, it was clear this wasn’t just a house. Retasking a
satellite over the property they were able to see a building under the
house that was six stories deep and as wide as a football field.

“Fuck me,” he whispered at the size of the place. “Where is this?”
Rangi’s face at first paled then turned red in fury. “San Felipe,

deep in Raptor’s territory.”

That was the third psy lab they’d found in Raptor’s territory,

which meant Alek would need to kill the shifter for allowing the
enemy to experiment in Alliance territory because there was no doubt
Raptor knew what was happening. The man didn’t allow anyone to
make a move without his knowing about it first. As much as Maui
would love to get his hands on the shifter, first things first, they
needed to save Ian.

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Alek’s jaw clenched as he stared at the screen. “Let’s mount up,”

he said as he strode from the room.

Rangi disengaged Maui’s cage as he gave the orders to nearly a

hundred people in order for Maui to go get his mate. Maui followed
Alek out with Wolfe at his side.

As they geared up, Wolfe’s hand came down on Maui’s shoulder.

“We’ll get your mate back.” It was a promise that Maui was counting
on.

Neither said another word as they strode outside just as ten

vehicles pulled up to take them to their aircraft. Because the location
was so far away they would use a much bigger aircraft than they
usually used. This aircraft was built to accommodate at least a
hundred soldiers, all their tactical gear, and three vehicles. What
distinguished it from any other aircraft the humans or psy had was
that it was virtually invisible.

Obviously it could be seen by the naked eye, as he was staring at

it now. But in the sky it was invisible not only to the naked eye, as
underneath reflected what was around the aircraft, but also to radar. It
also made little to no sound, so no one would know they were coming
until they were already there. The only issue was takeoff and landing
needed a bit more room than one of the smaller aircraft, not much but
still it would prove a little more difficult to get close enough to the
target without being seen.

In order to counter this, it had been decided they would parachute

in, take over the lab, allowing the aircraft to land in safety, and then
take them all home. It would leave them more vulnerable as they
would have no way out if they needed to retreat but Maui had no
plans on leaving without his mate so that wasn’t a problem for him.

Stepping into the aircraft, he took his seat to one side of Alek

while Wolfe took the other. The screen at the front of the plane came
to life just as they took off and Rangi came on the screen. “Okay,
everything is arranged. You will arrive in just over an hour. Satellites

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have been retasked to keep you invisible and to keep an eye on the
target.”

The screen toggled to a view of the house hiding the lab they were

about to infiltrate. “The doctor arrived maybe thirty minutes ago, so
he should still be there when we take out the lab.” A picture of him
entering the house along with a clear picture of him appeared. “The
goal is to take him alive. I cannot tell you how imperative that is.
There is too much we don’t know about the weres, but no matter
what, the doctor cannot be left behind and alive, so if we can’t capture
him, kill him.”

Wolfe growled low in his throat at that statement. Maui looked

over at him but his friend refused to look at him.

A broader view of the target was shown next. Several red dots

appeared around the outside of the building. “These are where the
guards are stationed, from what we can tell they are only keeping six
men outside.”

“That doesn’t seem like a lot of protection considering what they

are doing in there,” said Viper, a snake shifter, who they had saved
from one of the last labs that had been freed during the Great War.

Rangi’s face appeared on the right upper corner of the screen.

“We believe they are trying not to draw attention to themselves.
Because they are in Alliance territory, they probably feel they are
relatively safe as long as no one else knows they are there.”

Several shots of the guards appeared on the screen. “So far these

are guards we have been able to identify.” About a third of the
pictures disappeared. “These are the guards that are shifters and
mystics.”

Several curses were heard around the cabin.
Alek’s hands tightened on the armrests of his chair, Maui heard it

crack as it broke under the strain. “Where is Raptor?” Alek
demanded.

A picture of the man’s house appeared on the screen, his backyard

filled with several people as they sat around a pool. The image

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narrowed until the face of Raptor was seen laughing with General
Ralston, the sick bastard who had wanted Alek’s mate, Seth, as his
personal plaything.

“His house in Juárez. I will keep him under surveillance until we

have time to go after him,” Rangi stated.

As much as Maui would love to kill the sick fuck for allowing the

psy to use Alliance territory to do their experiments, he wanted his
mate back and safe first. Alek apparently agreed as he said, “Good.
We’ll get Raptor after we get Ian safely home.”

Rangi gave the plan of attack, with the screen showing everyone

their positions once they landed. Since it was night as they were
flying overhead, they were using dark camouflage parachutes and
clothing. The darkness would offer them a better chance of being
undetected, on the other hand it would make things harder for them to
see.

The shifters had enhanced night vision but the mystics didn’t so it

was decided to use a light bomb. Once they were in position they
would take out any advantage the enemy had. The light bomb was
created by Alek’s scientists. Like a grenade it was thrown and
seconds later it exploded, but instead of it being filled with explosives
it had enough light to change the night to day.

The outside guards would be taken out before they lit up the night.

Once the light was activated, any guards immediately inside would
most likely come out to see what was going on, they too would be
taken out. Then the same sedatives they had used previously would be
used here but this lab was a lot bigger so they would only work on the
first and possibly second floor.

Since the lab was so deep even their ground-penetrating radar was

having a hard time mapping out the place so they brought Adam. His
new abilities to see inside the building by using the dirt surrounding it
would give them an advantage, especially since he would be able to
tell them where the enemy was positioned. Jason was also there,

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mainly to protect his mate. Having perfected the art of keeping the
psy out of his head he was turning out to be a great soldier.

Six teams would go in while two others would keep the outside

secure, taking out any of the enemy who managed to come topside.
Each of the six teams would take a floor. Maui was hoping Adam
would be able to find Ian fairly fast so his team could infiltrate that
floor but if not he would just have to trust the others to keep his mate
safe.

Once the building was secure, the aircraft would land, as there

was plenty of landing space around the building. They would load up
any humans and were-creatures that were currently prisoners and take
them back to Lake Louise. Of course they would also destroy the lab.

Checking his watch, Maui saw he had another fifteen minutes

before it was time to go to the back to jump. Time seemed to crawl as
he waited. The need to get his mate back was almost too much as he
prayed to the Gods for Ian to be okay.

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Chapter 13

“I did not give you permission to change him yet, doctor,” the

same angry voice from earlier yelled.

Fuck, does the man have to be so loud? Ian tried to cover his ears

to block the sound but couldn’t move his hands. Oh, right, he was
strapped down to a table in the lab.

“You didn’t tell me not to do it either. Since we were going to

change him anyway I figured why not get it out of the way while I did
the others.” Something about what Dr. Reid was saying was niggling
at Ian’s memory.

Metal crashed into the wall before falling to the floor. “You damn

well knew I wanted to see what else he could endure before we
changed him.” That voice just seemed to keep getting louder. What
was weird was Ian could have sworn he heard a fast thudding, like a
heartbeat in the background.

“You seemed more intent on killing him than changing him and I

have my orders as well,” Dr. Reid pointed out.

The thudding suddenly got faster, like it was trying to break out of

someone’s chest. “Killing me will only result in your death, General
Harcourt.”

Ian’s eyes popped open. Dr. Reid was shoved against a wall with

a knife against his neck by the sadistic fuck who enjoyed torturing
Ian.

“I run this facility, doctor. Don’t forget that,” the general said with

a low growl.

“True, but without me, our leaders won’t be able to change the

humans. Now tell me, general, who do you think is more valuable,

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you or me?” Dr. Reid was definitely playing with fire but he got his
point across as the general stormed out of the room.

The thudding slowly returned to normal as Dr. Reid took several

steadying breaths. Yep, Ian could hear his heartbeat, but that was
impossible. Letting out a groan his head hurt trying to figure out what
was going on. Fuck he was hot, were they trying to cook him?

“Ian, you’re awake,” Dr. Reid said as he started checking his

pulse, blood pressure, and temperature.

Ian really hated being poked and prodded but if it was between

this and the torture General Harcourt seemed to enjoy he guessed this
was better. “Hey, doc, why am I so hot?” It hadn’t really been the
question he’d wanted to ask but the heat was becoming unbearable.

The doctor’s face bled of all color as he continued to check Ian’s

vitals. Clearly something was going on but…wait, the general
mentioned a change. Oh, hell no. Ian pinned Dr. Reid with a glare as
he asked, “Did you change me?”

The answer was clearly written all over the man’s face. This

couldn’t be happening. Ian didn’t want to be different, he didn’t want
to be a freak, he just wanted to be human.

Anger filled him as he thought about everything he’d seen the

others go through. Maui would never want him now. Before he could
hope to change the man’s mind but that wouldn’t happen if he was a
freak. With each thought he felt a red haze of rage infuse his entire
body until he started fighting his bonds with everything in him.

He heard Dr. Reid call out to him to calm down but there was no

way that was happening. Even the pinch of a needle in his arm,
indicating Dr. Reid was sedating him didn’t calm him, instead he
seemed to get madder until his restraints lay shredded around him.

Jumping off the table he faced the man who’d ruined his life. The

fear in the man’s face fed his desire to kill. He took one step toward
the man but his leg suddenly wouldn’t hold him and he collapsed to
the floor.

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As he lay there he saw the fur on his arms and legs. It was dark

brown, nearly black in color. Looking down at his chest it almost
looked leather in appearance. His hands were also leathery, with
claws sticking out of his fingers. He just looked at his body in stunned
silence until the tears came. Looking up at the doctor he asked, “What
animal?”

Ian saw the sorrow in the man’s eyes as he answered, “Gorilla.”
“But I don’t even like bananas,” he complained.
Dr. Reid just stared at him like he was crazy. It was the same look

all the others gave him when he’d tried to give them things, like the
milk for the Alpha, or the dirt for Adam.

The only one who’d never given him that look was Maui, he

seemed to understand Ian. Tears ran down his face as he thought
about never seeing his mate again. When he went to wipe the
moisture away he once more saw the hand that wasn’t his, or at least
it wasn’t meant to be his.

Dr. Reid took Ian’s deformed hand into his own. “It was the only

way to save you and I just couldn’t watch you die, too.”

He knew the doctor hadn’t done it to be malicious but Ian didn’t

want this. As much as he hated what had happened to him he couldn’t
hold the doctor responsible. “I know,” was all he said.

Maybe never seeing Maui again was for the best since there was

no way he would ever be able to love Ian now. Not wanting to deal
with any of this he laid his head down on the doctor’s lap and let the
sedative take him under.

* * * *

As much as Maui hated fast speeds, he hated jumping out of

planes more. There was no worse feeling than giving up all control to
a piece of fabric, even if Alek’s group of scientists insisted the fabric
was virtually indestructible. Yet here he was hurtling down toward
Earth, praying when he pulled the cord, the chute would open.

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Worse because of the stealth they were using, the parachute was a

streamlined version. Basically there wasn’t as much fabric so as not to
be easily seen from the ground.

A soft beep in his ear told him it was time to pull the cord, with a

quick prayer he pulled. Relief filled him as he heard the rustle of
fabric as it released from the pack. His body jerked up as the
parachute slowed his descent. He quickly gave thanks to the Gods
before scanning the landscape for any problems they hadn’t been
prepared for.

Within minutes he landed. With quick efficient movements he

rolled up the fabric, stashing it back in the pack. He may hate jumping
out of planes but he’d still logged in thousands of hours doing it,
making sure he was ready whenever he was needed. It was a part of
being an Alliance soldier, especially since he was Alek’s lead
enforcer.

Jogging a short distance he met up with his team, who would be

coming in from the Northeast. They would take out one of the guards
as they made their way to the entrance of the underground lab. After
five minutes his team was gathered and they waited for the signal that
the other seven teams had landed safely and were ready to attack.

Each team checked in one by one as they got to their designated

areas. Once they were all ready Alek gave the command. “Each of
you know your route. If there are any surprises let me know
immediately. Once you have taken down the guards in your sector
and are at the next point report in.”

Silently they swarmed the surrounding landscape toward the

house that would gain them entrance into the lab. Each member of
Maui’s team moved with stealth for they couldn’t afford to make a
sound as they were sitting ducks in the open area they now crossed.

In this desert climate there were no more than a few cacti to shield

them if the enemy were to open fire upon them. After traveling close
to a mile they were nearly upon the house when Rangi’s voice came

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over their earpieces. “Hold up. We have activity from the guards.
They appear to be moving to the southwest corner of the house.”

Maui and his men squatted down as they waited for further

instructions. Since they were coming in from the northeast, their team
would be expected to sit tight until teams closer to the activity could
find out what was going on.

As he looked at the dimly lit house Maui was struck by just how

ordinary it looked. An old-fashioned clapboard house that looked like
it had been built several hundred years ago. From all outside
appearances it looked like a well-loved home whose owners took
pride in where they lived. There was no way anyone would have
guessed from the outside that this house covered the entrance to a
psy-run laboratory, especially one that was as big as this one was.

“Okay, it looks like five of the guards are standing around talking

and drinking,” Alek informed them.

“Where’s the sixth guard?” Maui asked, keeping his voice low so

it wouldn’t carry.

Rangi answered, “We reviewed the tapes. The sixth guy went in

about thirty minutes ago and hasn’t come back out.”

“Okay, Teams One and Two, you are with me, we go in and take

them out. All other teams proceed to the next point and wait,” Alek
ordered.

Teams One and Two had come in on the southwest and south

sides of the house and would be closest to the guards. As much as
Maui wanted to be the one to take out the guards in retribution for his
mate, he knew his team was just too far away to be effective. Using
hand gestures he led his team to the rendezvous just outside the front
door.

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Chapter 14

At the next rendezvous point they met up with Teams Five and

Six. All three groups would be entering through the front of the
house. They sat and waited for ten minutes before they felt the signal,
Adam’s power made the ground tremble beneath their feet. Team Five
tossed their light grenades, three in total, one on each corner and one
at the front door, while Team Two did the same at the back of the
house.

Mentally Maui counted to three before the night turned into day.

Soldiers came running out of the house to see what was going on but
Team Six was ready for them shooting them down. As soon as the
psy’s stampede out the door slowed, Maui’s team stormed in with
Team Five and Six right behind. Teams One, Two, and Three were
doing the same at the back of the house while Teams Seven and Eight
each took one side of the house in case anyone tried to use the
windows.

They encountered very few guards on the inside allowing their

teams to clear the house quickly. Over his earpiece Maui heard each
of the teams checking in. Team Eight spanned around the house to
guard it against incoming intruders. Team Seven left two men at the
front and back doors while the rest came inside to watch the backs of
those entering the lab.

Meeting up with Alek, Adam, Jason, and Wolfe at what Adam

indicated was the entrance to the lab he waited while Adam gave him
a quick rundown of what was waiting for them beyond that door.

Adam’s gaze wasn’t focused on anything as he started listing how

many guards and prisoners were on each floor. “Subfloors one and

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two look like barracks, I count ten people on each floor at the present
time. Subfloor three I’m guessing is the cafeteria, only three people
are there in what looks like a kitchen.”

As much as Maui knew they needed all this information he was

having a hard time not snapping at his friend to get to where Ian was.
As if sensing his agitation Jason shifted his body so he was partially
between Maui and Adam. Realizing he was getting too worked up,
Maui took a deep breath willing himself to remain calm and
clearheaded.

Adam continued as if he wasn’t even aware of what was

happening right in front of him. “Four and five are cages and based on
the heat signatures it looks like the psy have been busy. Four is
mostly humans but there are a few were signatures down there. Five is
completely filled with weres. I would say at least thirty.”

“Fuck,” Alek, Wolfe, and Maui all whispered.
As if they hadn’t spoken Adam continued. “The last floor is

offices, the lab and it looks like they know we are here. At least
twenty soldiers are waiting for us down there.” Adam’s eyes suddenly
focused on Maui. “I can’t be sure but I think Ian is in that lab.”

Maui knew this was likely to be a suicide mission. With so many

soldiers waiting for them, they wouldn’t be able to get past the
doorway before they were mowed down. Alek looked at him for
several moments as if deciding on something. Whether it was the
resolve in Maui’s eyes or his Alpha knowing he’d risk everything if
his Seth had been down there Maui didn’t know, but Alek started
giving orders.

“Teams Three and Six I want you to secure levels one, two and

three. Team Five take level four and get those humans out of here
before you let the weres loose. Wolfe, take Team Two and clear level
five, use the sedatives if you need to.

“Rangi, we need more transportation here.” Alek didn’t wait for a

response before turning back to Maui. “Both our teams will head to
level six.”

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Maui just nodded to his Alpha, too emotional to give more of a

response. He knew what Alek was risking to go down there and even
though he’d followed his friend into the depths of hell more than once
it was heartening to know Alek would do the same for him.

As a unit they made their way down into the lab, each team

peeling off as they made it to their assigned level. When they reached
level four Adam stopped them. “There’s another way into the lab.”
Gunfire could be heard all around them as Team Five stormed level
four taking out the few guards that had been watching over the
prisoners.

“Where?” Alek asked.
Adam turned to Wolfe. “I need your team to wait until we get into

position. Then when you get down to level five, I need several of you
to continue on to level six and make as much noise as possible. They
have to believe we are coming that way, but don’t actually go all the
way down, they are more than prepared for us.”

Wolfe nodded.
Adam led Teams One and Four down the corridor of cages where

the humans and a few were-creatures were being held. Maui was
appalled at the conditions they kept the humans in. Most of them
looked like they hadn’t been fed in days. The weres weren’t much
better, as they all had wild looks in their eyes.

“Make sure to sedate the weres,” Alek ordered over his com unit.
Clearly he saw the same thing. They had the look of a cornered

animal and one thing they knew after nearly three hundred years of
experience with shifters, there was no calming a terrified animal.

Adam and Jason stopped at the far wall. “Why have we stopped?”

Maui asked, frustrated at the time they were wasting.

“There’s a ramp leading down to level six behind this wall, we

just have to figure out how to get it open,” Adam answered.

Now Maui felt like an ass for losing patience with his friend. He

knew worry for his mate was behind it but it wasn’t a good excuse.
The one thing Maui had always been good at was controlling his

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emotions but when his angel stood up to him, questioning him, Maui
had fallen hopelessly in love with the man. Now it appeared all
rational thought fled whenever his mate was involved.

Adam chuckled. “There’s nothing like a mate to make your world

turn completely upside down.”

“Hey,” Jason exclaimed indignantly.
Adam leaned over to place a sweet kiss to his mate’s lips. “I

didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he said, clearly trying to placate Jason.

Jason snorted. “You sure made it sound that way.”
“If you’re trying to open the wall, you need push up the third hook

on the coat rack,” a human Team Five was evacuating told them
before being escorted upstairs.

Jason, who was closest reached out to do as the man said. Without

a sound the rock-looking wall slid across the floor. Why the psy
would make a secret passage in a lab that was underground, hidden by
what seemed like a normal house Maui had no idea.

“Well, Adam,” Alek said.
The trembling under their feet was slight, more like a vibration as

Adam used his power. Hopefully the psy wouldn’t be able to figure
out what they were up to. Adam shook his head. “No one has figured
out what we’re doing.”

“Wolfe, we are go,” Alek said into COBI.
Without another word they made their way into the tunnel. Adam,

who was now behind them, tapped Maui’s shoulder when they were
closing in on the exit. Slowing down they cautiously came to another
wall blocking their way.

“Fuck,” Maui muttered under his breath.
Alek turned to the others. “Any ideas?”
As one they all turned to the walls and started running their hands

over the surface trying to find the trip. Maui’s hand hit against a rock
that seemed to be sticking out of an otherwise flat wall. Pushing on it
he watched a door slide open.

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Back in formation they made their way out into a room that based

on the gurneys, wheelchairs and IV stands, Maui would guess it to be
a supply closet of some sort. There were two doors out of the room.
Adam shook his head at the door to the left and pointed to the one on
the right, indicating that was the door they wanted.

Maui trusted his friend and opened the door. He hadn’t been

expecting to walk into the lab or to see a man covered in fur with
features of a gorilla turn to him with fear in his eyes. He knew is his
heart this was Ian, what he looked like didn’t matter to Maui for he
would love his mate no matter what. The fact that his mate was
holding hands with another man, especially since that man was the
enemy did.

Maui was fighting his element as flames erupted from his hands.

Ian’s head turned and their gazes met. When Ian jumped up and ran to
Maui, throwing himself into his arms, Maui started to calm down. The
feel of his angel finally back in his arms was all Maui needed to get
his ability back under control.

“Thank Gods you found me,” Ian whispered as he held on tight,

which when in human form wouldn’t have crushed Maui as it did in
this new were-form.

“Uh, angel, can you maybe not hold on so tight?” Maui asked as

he struggled to breathe while Ian was crushing his lungs.

The look of dejection on his angel’s face as he let go of Maui was

too much for him to bear. Hauling Ian back into his arms he
whispered into his ear, “I didn’t say let go, I just said not so hard.
You’re a lot stronger now.”

He didn’t like the stiff way Ian held himself but knew there was

no time to talk about it now. They had to get out of here and quickly.
It would only be a matter of time before the psy realized they weren’t
coming down those stairs.

“Dr. Reid, I presume,” Alek asked of the man who’d been holding

Ian’s hand.

The man in question nodded but didn’t bother to say anything.

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“Then you’re coming with us,” Alek said as he directed the others

to start heading out.

Maui started leading Ian to the door that would take them back to

the supply room when he heard the doctor tell Alek he wasn’t going.

A warning growl was heard from Alek. “That isn’t your choice,

just as what you have done to those humans wasn’t their choice.”

Not caring if the doctor was willing or not Alek knocked him out

with one punch. Maui, Adam, and Jason just stood there staring at
their Alpha with their mouths hanging open. Why Maui was taken
aback was beyond him. After serving under Alek for so long he really
shouldn’t be surprised at anything Alek did.

Alek may not believe in using violence unless it was necessary,

but Maui had learned some things would cause his friend to lash out.
He wasn’t sure what did it this time but if he had to guess it was
because the doctor had done things that should never have been done.

Before entering the tunnel Alek turned to Adam, “Are there any

other innocents down here?”

Adam just shook his head before heading back up to level four.
Once back upstairs Alek put the call out to Wolfe to expect the

psy to come looking.

“Not to worry boss, we are carrying the last of the weres out now.

You can start the demolition any time,” Wolfe said.

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Chapter 15

Level four had already been cleared so the two teams headed on

out. Just as they made their way to the stairs they heard gunfire below
them.

“Shit, we could use some help down here.” Wolfe’s voice came

through their earpieces.

Alek handed the doctor to one of the soldiers from Maui’s team.

“Team Four head back up. Team One with me.” Without waiting to
see if anyone followed his directions Alek headed down to help
Wolfe.

Not willing to be separated from his mate again, even though he

knew he should help, Maui led his team back upstairs. Once they
cleared the house he called Rangi. “How long on the second plane?”

The plane they had flown there was already taking off as it had

been filled with the humans and were-prisoners, along with two of the
teams to keep watch over them. The rest of the teams stood guard just
outside the house as they waited for instructions from Alek.

“Ten minutes,” Rangi’s voice said in his ear.
With nothing to do but worry as his Alpha and best friend were

down fighting his fight, Maui’s watched the front door praying
everyone would make it out. It galled him that he wasn’t down there
but the need to make sure his mate was kept out of harm’s way had
Maui doing something he’d never allowed himself to do, he backed
down and waited.

Even when he was a prisoner at the humans’ hands all those years

ago, he fought with everything he had in him. Ian’s hand touched his

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arm gently, the feel of the leathery skin against his reminded him
what his mate had been through down in that lab.

Rage raced through his veins at the thought of his mate being

harmed and he felt the telltale tale signs of his element racing across
his skin. He knew he needed to get control but the thoughts of what
Ian had to have endured wouldn’t stop tormenting him.

“Maui, you have to stop.” He heard Ian but even his mate’s touch

wasn’t enough to stop the fury he felt. “If you don’t want me anymore
just say so, I’ll understand.”

Wait, what? The blaze surrounding him went out instantly as he

looked at Ian. “Why wouldn’t I want you?” Maui felt like he’d missed
something but couldn’t figure out what.

“I know I’m a freak now and if you don’t want to be with me I

just want you to know it’s okay.” His mate’s voice broke before he
went on. “I’ll understand.”

Fuck. Here he’d been obsessing on how he felt about what his

mate had gone through instead of helping Ian deal with what he’d
actually experienced. What a selfish ass he was.

Dragging his mate into his arms he kissed him with all the

passion, all the love he had inside him, hoping to make Ian understand
just how much he wanted the man. He thrust his tongue deep within
his mouth, which was a little weird as Ian’s mouth was shaped
differently in his were-form.

Not that Maui was complaining, he’d take Ian any way he could

get the man, but it would take some getting used to. His hands ran
down Ian’s arm, his fur soft and thick. With his other arm wrapped
around Ian’s waist he pulled his mate closer until there wasn’t even
air between them.

Gunfire pulled Maui from his mate’s embrace. Turning back to

the house he saw two psy running out the door gunned down before
they made it more than a half dozen steps. As much as Maui wanted
to alleviate Ian’s feelings he knew he had to focus on what was
happening around them.

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“Maui, help,” Jason called out to him.
Not letting go of Ian’s hand he pulled him along as he went to

check on Jason. He was kneeling on the ground with Adam’s head in
his lap. The concern etched on his face told Maui something was
wrong.

“What happened?” he asked as he knelt down next to the doctor.
Tears were falling from Jason’s eyes. “I don’t know. Adam said

he wasn’t feeling good, something about too much power.”

The amount of effort Adam had used in mapping out the lab so

they would know where the enemy was had burned the man out. He’d
be no good to destroy the lab once they got their people out of there.
“It’s okay, Jason, he just used too much energy using his powers for
so long. He’ll be fine once he’s had a chance to rest. Right now you
just need to stay here and protect him until the plane lands.”

Jason nodded as he was too emotional to say anything.
Maui stepped away from the pair as he contacted Alek. “Alpha,

Adam is not going to be able to execute the plan.”

A growl of frustration came over the line. “Wolfe and I are on our

way up but we have at least six psy hot on our tails.”

“We’ll be ready for them,” Maui answered back before shouting

out orders to his men.

He watched as Alek and Wolfe ran from the building. Gunfire

erupted as the psy chasing them tried to stop them but the Alliance
was too well prepared killing the enemy before they even cleared the
doorway.

A cry from Ian had Maui turning to look at his mate. Blood ran

down Ian’s chest as Ian tried to put pressure on the wound with his
hand. His mate’s face was twisted in agony. His legs buckled but
Maui was there catching him before he hit the ground to gently lower
on his back.

“Ian, Ian, please, angel, you have to be okay.” As much as Maui

tried to make his brain function in order to help his mate, he just

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couldn’t make it work. One of the field medics rushed over quickly
slapping on a pressure bandage and he rolled Ian onto his side.

“It’s a through and through, sir,” the man said as he put another

bandage on Ian’s back.

Alek came over forcing Maui back as he allowed the medic to

work. A second medic came over to help. “Shit, he stopped
breathing.”

Maui’s entire world erupted in a blaze of fury as he let his element

take over. He looked over at the house that shielded what the psy
were doing. Imagining it engulfed in flames and in the next second it
was. But he knew that would never be enough for the real fortress was
beneath the very ground they stood on.

Flames leapt higher until they reached fifty feet into the air. He

could hear the medics working on his mate as they worked feverishly
on him to get him breathing again but it wasn’t working. The thought
of living without his mate in this world had the fire before him
burning brighter.

All of Maui’s wrath fed the flames until they were so intense his

men had to pull back even further or risk being singed from the
flames.

“Shit, his heart stopped.” Maui didn’t hear anything else as he

gave himself over to his fire. The need to make the psy pay for what
they’d done to his mate turned the house to ash within minutes. Not
even a shell of the house could be seen and yet the flames continued
to build.

His thoughts turned to the building below and the flames suddenly

shot down into the ground. It only took seconds for everything inside
to be incinerated. A hole opened up as the building was no longer
there to hold up the earth above it.

“Maui,” it was softly spoken but the sound of his mate’s voice

doused the flames as Maui raced to Ian’s side.

One of the medics got out of the way so Maui could be next to his

mate. Those beautiful blue eyes were open staring at Maui. Maui held

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Ian’s leathery hand in his own as he silently thanked the Gods for
saving his mate.

“Angel, please don’t leave me,” he begged his mate.
Ian’s head dipped slightly before his eyes closed once more and

his hand went lax. Maui looked up at the medic closest to him
needing answers to questions he was too afraid to ask. “He’s okay.
Since he was recently changed we thought it best to give him a pain
killer until he can be taught to shift.”

Shifting was something natural born shifters seemed to innately

know how to do. With weres, they were finding out it took time to
learn as they weren’t meant to live with animal inside of them. After
rescuing the first group of weres a shifter was assigned to each were
in order to help them through the transformation. The shift was
exactly the same as a shifter turned completely into their animal and
they were turned into a combination of their animal and human halves
but the mechanics were the same.

Relieved that his mate would live Maui continued to hold his

mate’s hand until Alek told him the second plane was here and it was
time to go. Maui looked up at the plane sitting just a short distance
away, surprised it was there. Sure the aircraft was nearly silent but it
still made enough noise that he would normally have heard it.

Bending over, Maui put his hands under his mate and lifted him in

his arms. He staggered a bit under the weight as Ian was a lot heavier
in were-form then he was as a human but Maui refused to allow
anyone else to touch his mate.

Once on board he laid Ian down on one of the cots they had tied to

the floor of the aircraft and strapped him in. Alek tried to insist Maui
take a seat but he refused to leave his mate, even for the few minutes
it would take to lift off.

The entire flight Maui watched Ian for any signs of discomfort but

his mate never moved. He often stared at his mate’s chest, making
sure it moved up and down, worried Ian would stop breathing once
more.

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He’d never felt so relieved than when they landed. Maybe now

that they were home things could get back to normal. Not that Maui
knew what normal was anymore. Since meeting his mate his world
had been turned upside down. Huh. He hated to admit but Adam had
been right, nothing would ever be the same now that he’d found his
mate. Of course Maui thanked the Gods for bringing his angel to him
but it didn’t mean things would be easy.

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Chapter 16

Ian jerked awake, sitting up in bed. Please let it have been a

nightmare. He lifted his hands in front of his face. Relief flooded
through him as he looked at the pale flesh that covered his hand.
Maybe it really had been a bad dream.

“Good morning, angel,” the sexiest voice Ian had ever heard said

next to him.

Looking over at Maui, who lay next to him on an enormous bed,

Ian couldn’t help but smile at his mate. The Gods couldn’t have
created a more perfect man in his opinion. “Good morning,” he said
as he leaned over for a kiss.

He was a little disappointed Maui kept the kiss brief but decided

not to worry about it. As long as the nightmare, which had seemed so
real, was nothing more than a dream Ian wasn’t going to worry about
anything. A grunt of disapproval sounded inside his head at the
thought of ignoring his dream.

Ian wasn’t one to hide his head in the sand but for this morning he

was more than willing to ignore whatever the grunt meant, especially
since it sounded suspiciously like the grunt of the gorilla he’d dreamt
about.

Quickly he climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom to

shower. Why it seemed so imperative that he kept moving he couldn’t
say but Ian went with it. As he lathered his body the glass door
opened to admit his gorgeously naked mate. Now that’s something
Ian wouldn’t mind getting lost in.

Giving Maui one of his most sultry smiles he made room for his

mate. The feel of those strong arms wrapping around him had all of

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Ian’s worries disappearing. He tilted his head back to accept a kiss
from the man he’d fallen head over heels in love with, Ian moaned in
appreciation as Maui’s tongue drove deeply into his mouth.

Ian reached around Maui’s body to grab that firm ass in his hands,

pulling the man closer. Need quickly ignited Ian’s body as his body
slid against his mate’s. Another moan of arousal slipped from his
mouth at the feel of their wet bodies coming together. Was there
anything better than the feel of two slick bodies rubbing against each
other?

“Angel, we need to talk,” Maui said against Ian’s lips.
Ian tensed but refused to think about why. Instead he gripped his

lover’s thick cock, gently stroking it. Sure he was playing dirty but if
it got Ian what he wanted he didn’t care. “First I want this cock
shoved deep in my ass until I’m screaming your name.”

Maui lifted him up, slamming his back against the shower wall as

his mouth took Ian’s, branding him as Maui’s. There was nothing he
loved more than the way his mate manhandled him. Ian’s arms twined
around Maui’s neck holding on as his mate showed Ian just who he
belonged to.

The feel of Maui’s strong hands sliding down his body ignited

every cell in Ian’s body with desire so strong he thought for sure it
would consume him. The need to be closer had Ian wrapping his legs
around Maui’s waist, which brought their pricks in perfect alignment.

Maui moaned as their cocks rubbed together emboldening Ian to

continue humping against his mate. Ian tilted his head to the side
when Maui’s lips found the spot on his neck where Maui had marked
him. His dick jerked as his mate sucked on the sensitive area.

“Please,” Ian whimpered.
He felt Maui smile against his skin before reaching for the

waterproof lube they kept in the shower. When Maui thrust his finger
deep within his ass, Ian’s dick pulsed with need. As his mate added
another finger Ian was sure he wouldn’t be able to last. When Maui

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brushed Ian’s prostate he shouted Maui’s name as his cock erupted
between their bodies.

Maui’s hands lifted Ian a little higher before slamming him back

down, impaling Ian with one deep thrust. “Fuck, Ian,” Maui yelled as
he filled Ian with his seed.

A need so basic inside Ian drove him to make Maui his. Not

understanding what he was doing, and not really thinking enough to
question it Ian dropped his mouth on Maui’s shoulder before sinking
his canines deep within his mate’s neck.

He heard Maui shout before more cum spurted out of the man’s

cock deep inside Ian. Loving that his mate responded to him like that
Ian’s dick twitched before another stream of spunk covered their
stomachs.

Euphoria filled him as he thought of this man belonging to him,

which had Ian smiling like an idiot. Both of them stood under the
spray panting heavily clinging to each other as if afraid to let go.

Suddenly his actions hit him hard. It hadn’t been a dream, he was

no longer human. Panic overcame him as he fought to get out of
Maui’s grasp.

Maui didn’t let go, instead he tried to calm Ian down but he was

way beyond that point. Terrified of what it meant for him to have
changed into a were he needed to get away, away from his mate, away
from the Alliance, just away.

The animal inside him felt his panic and took over. The next thing

Ian knew he was back in his weregorilla form. Terrified at his
complete loss of control over his shifting he pushed against Maui. Not
knowing his own strength he ended up throwing his mate through the
shower door into the wall on the far side of the bathroom.

“Oh Gods, Maui, I–I’m so so–sorry,” he stuttered as he fled.
As he got to the door of their room he tried to grasp the knob and

turn it but his hands wouldn’t cooperate. He heard the grunts he was
making as his gorilla pounded on the door, desperately trying to get to

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freedom. But in a place designed for shifters the door was too strong
even for his animal to break down.

Spinning he frantically looked for a way to escape. His eyes

landed on the big bay window that he’d always liked to sit at while he
read. He ran over to the window and jumped on the seat ready to flee.

“Angel, stop,” Maui called from the bathroom door.
Ian turned to face his mate but he knew without a doubt that his

mate could never accept him like this. How could he when Ian
couldn’t stand what he’d become?

Anguish filled him at leaving Maui, his gorilla beat against him to

not leave his mate but Ian knew it was for the best. “I’m sorry,” he
tried to say but he knew it sounded garbled as he hadn’t figured out
how to speak well in this form. Allowing himself one last look at the
love of his life Ian turned and jumped through the window.

He felt the glass dig into him but because of the thick fur that

covered his body it didn’t do more than scratch him. He had just made
it to the line of trees when an enormous tiger leapt in front of him. His
gorilla roared while thumping at his chest to warn the tiger off but it
just stood there.

His gorilla wanted to lie down and show its stomach to the Alpha

tiger but Ian refused to back down. He charged the tiger but at the last
minute jumped up into the trees. Not used to his body it was difficult
to make his way among the branches but he was determined. The
trouble was, so was the Alpha. He may not have been able to follow
Ian up in the trees, since his tiger was too big for the tree limbs to
hold him, but he could follow along the ground.

It took a lot of effort to jump from tree to tree but he was getting

the hang of it. Ian never knew just how exhausting this could be and
he wasn’t sure he could keep going. Out of breath he rested against
one of the trees breathing heavily all the while scanning the
surrounding landscape hoping to see a way out.

“I know this is scary. No, that’s not true. I don’t know, I’ve been a

shifter my entire life so I’ve never had to figure out what I was. What

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I do know is here you have people who care for you and will help you
through this.” Ian looked down at Alek, who had shifted back to his
human form when Ian had stopped.

“I don’t want to be a were. I want to be human,” he yelled down

to the Alpha.

“But you’re no longer human,” Maui said as he came upon them.

Trailing behind him was Jason, Seth, Adam, and Shayla. Oh Gods, his
sister. He hadn’t wanted her to see him like this. Tears blurred his
vision as he willed her to turn away from him but she didn’t.

She stepped even closer until she was under the tree he was in.

“After Mom died, I fell apart. I thought my world was over but you
wouldn’t let me wallow in self-pity. Instead you showed me the
importance of facing life head on and never backing down, even when
my own father tried to rape me.”

Jason stepped up next. “When you were first brought in to the cell

next me I had already given up. But you told me they only win if they
break your spirit. It was you buddy who gave me the courage to keep
fighting, to accept what they’d done to me.”

Jason’s body shifted until he stood before them as were-bear. “Is

it what I wanted for my life, no, but you were the one who’d taught
me that courage was in facing every challenge life threw at you.”

“You are the bravest, most determined person I’ve ever met,”

Maui called from below. “You’ve challenged me from the first
moment we met.” Shaking his head he said, “I know this is scary.
Hell, angel, I wish for your sake it hadn’t happened but it did.”

What they said was true. It galled Ian that he was running when he

swore he faced life head on. Worse since his father sold him to the
psy he’d found himself hiding more and more. When his mother had
died he’d felt completely abandoned. Not only did she leave him but
his father could barely tolerate him. He’d effectively lost both parents.

Thank Gods for Shayla, the only family he really had left that he

knew loved him, but she was his younger sister. With Ian having to

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take on the role of parent with her he never knew if she loved him for
protecting her or for who he was.

Now he’d finally found someone who loved him, warts and all,

but instead of accepting that Maui loved him he was worried his mate
wouldn’t love all the parts of him. So when Ian had been changed into
a were he ran, he had been too afraid of his mate rejecting him.

It had been the most cowardly act he’d ever committed, yet Ian’s

instinct was to still run. For all his talk of being brave and facing life
head on, deep down he was a coward. This was the first time he’d let
his heart become involved with anyone and he was too scared to risk
being hurt.

The branches rustled below and Ian looked down to see Maui

climbing up to him. The ground below was empty, although Ian was
sure the Alpha was nearby. As he watched his mate climb steadily up
the tree Ian felt his heart squeeze in his chest.

Gods, he loved this man.
Once Maui reached his side Ian decided it was time to be honest

with his mate. “I’m scared.”

Maui reached out his hand to cup Ian’s face. “I know, angel.”
Ian let his head lean into his mate’s hand needing the connection.

“What if you can’t love me like this?”

Maui smiled and shook his head. “I already love you, no matter

what you look like.”

“What if I don’t like what I am?” Ian confessed his biggest fear.
“What if you do like what you are?” Maui countered.
That question stopped Ian in his tracks. In all this he’d never once

thought about what it would actually be like as a were. Maybe he’d
been looking at this all wrong. “You know I love you right?” he asked
Maui, afraid with all his running away the man might not know.

“I do. But I will never tire of hearing you say it,” he said as he

leaned in to kiss Ian even though he was in his were-form.

Ian pulled away and asked, “How do I change back?”

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Maui laughed. “Why don’t we get out of this tree first, since your

gorilla will have an easier time climbing down.”

Ian looked down and for the first time since being up in the trees

couldn’t believe just how high up he was. Not one to be afraid of
heights he still had to agree with Maui. Climbing down in his human
form would be a lot harder.

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Chapter 17

They had arrived back just in time for dinner and it had been

decided they would all eat together. The formal dining room was the
only place that would fit everyone. Ian sat between his sister and
Maui, wanting to be close to both. He enjoyed being able to catch up
with her so he hadn’t really paid much attention to the rest of the
conversations until he heard Dr. Reid’s name.

With everything that had happened since getting back Ian hadn’t

even thought about the doctor. But the fact was he wanted to talk to
the man. When they were huddled in that lab with orders not to move
they’d had a lot of time to talk.

They had talked some about their childhood, Caleb’s brother and

sister, who he was worried about and Ian’s fear about Maui not
accepting what’s happened to him. They didn’t exactly become
friends but they weren’t sure if they were about to die and needed the
distraction. It was during this time that Caleb, as the doctor asked Ian
to call him, also mentioned something interesting about the way he
changed humans into weres that made Ian wonder if the process could
be reversed.

Needing to talk to the man, Ian asked Alek, “What happened to

Dr. Reid?”

The whole table went quiet. Ian suspected they thought he’d want

the man punished but he didn’t. He knew the doctor only did what
he’d had to do and in Ian’s case he’d probably saved his life.

“There’s no need to worry about him, angel. I promise I won’t let

him hurt you ever again,” Maui reassured.

Shaking his head, Ian said, “But I want to see him. Is he here?”

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Alek and Maui shared a long look before Ian saw his mate dip his

head slightly. “Yes, he’s here but…are you sure?” the Alpha asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He was actually touched that these people here

sitting with him cared enough to be concerned for his emotional
wellbeing.

“He’s been refusing to answer any questions since we took him,”

Alek commented. “He won’t even talk to anyone except to ask for
you.”

Considering what would happen to the man’s family if the psy

found out he’d talked to the Alliance, Ian wasn’t all that surprised to
hear that. Still he was a little surprised the doctor hadn’t at least
explained that his family was being held prisoner.

“Can I see him now?” He saw the surprised look on the Alpha’s

face but Ian needed to explore one more thing before he could truly
accept who he was.

When Wolfe growled from across the table, Ian was a little taken

aback. He knew the shifter didn’t like him but Ian hadn’t done
anything to warrant such a display of aggression.

“Wolfe, don’t make me talk to you again about the way you talk

to my mate,” Maui casually said. It was almost as if his mate were
having an everyday conversation with his best friend, except when Ian
looked at Maui there was a fireball in his hand.

Ian was confused. “I thought you can’t use that against him,” he

whispered to Maui.

“No, but he can set my chair on fire,” Wolfe snapped as he got out

of his chair. “Or my house,” he muttered under his breath.

When Ian looked back at his mate Maui smiled so innocently that

if he wasn’t holding a ball of fire in his hand no one would have ever
known just how deadly the man was. No wonder this man understood
Ian so well, he was just as crazy as him.

Could Ian have been wrong about his mate this whole time?

“Were you the one who burned down Wolfe’s house?”

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121

Maui shrugged his shoulder. “I wanted to make sure he

understood what would happen when he hurt your feelings.”

Ian’s jaw dropped at Maui’s admission. All this time he had

thought Maui didn’t care what people said to him.

“You didn’t have to burn my fucking house just for a little insult,”

Wolfe snapped as he stood with his back against the wall.

The fireball in Maui’s hand started to float several inches higher

as it got bigger. “Then maybe you should have learned your lesson
when I warned you the first time. One could argue that you need
extreme measures to get your attention,” Maui said.

Confused, Ian asked, “What was the first warning?”
Wolfe just looked at him mulishly refusing to answer.
It was Maui who agreed to answer. “When he yelled at you for

leaving a stick to play with I filled his entire house with sticks.”

Seth and Jason burst out laughing. Alek looked like he was barely

holding it together himself. Wolfe on the other hand stared daggers at
Ian. Had he not been sitting next to Maui, he would have been
terrified but knowing his mate would keep him safe Ian had nothing
to worry about.

Suddenly the wall behind Wolfe ignited.
“Fuck, Maui, stop that shit,” Wolfe shouted as he jumped away

from the wall. Instantly the flames extinguished, the wall now was
singed black with a small hole right where Wolfe had stood.

“Maybe you should take your warnings more seriously,” Maui

advised.

Alek cleared his throat before saying, “Okay if everyone has had

their fun why don’t I take you down to Dr. Reid.”

Ian followed the Alpha with Maui right beside him. Ian looked at

him askance. “You didn’t think I would allow you in the same room
as that man without me did you?”

The statement made Ian smile because his mate was right. Ian

didn’t think Maui would let him face the man responsible for turning
him into a were without Maui right by his side. It was one of the

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things Ian loved about Maui, the man was loyal and protective to a
fault.

They went down two levels to the cells. Ian gave a little shiver at

being underground once more. He didn’t know if he’d ever be
comfortable underground again. Maui gripped his hand in comfort
and Ian had to admit he was grateful his mate was there.

Once the elevator opened they turned right and went to the third

door on the left. Alek turned to face Ian. “Are you sure you want to
face him, Ian?”

Ian knew he needed to come clean to Alek and Maui but he felt he

owed it to the doctor to talk to him first. Not able to tell them what
was really going on Ian instead hinted at the truth. “I appreciate your
concern”—Ian’s eyes went to Maui’s also—“both of you. But I don’t
blame Dr. Reid for what happened. In fact I’m hoping he can help.”

He saw the pity in the Alpha’s eyes and the sadness in his mate’s.

“I’m not saying he can and I’m not putting my hopes on him helping
but I think I know how he changed us and if I’m right, he might be
able to change us back.”

“I don’t get it,” the Alpha said. “If this man was sick enough to do

something completely against normal morals and ethics why do you
think he’d help to change you back?”

This is where Ian knew he owed it to Caleb to keep his mouth shut

so he just said, “It’s just a feeling I have.”

He saw the look that passed between Alek and Maui, it was clear

they both thought he was delusional but Ian knew if the doctor could
help he would. Ian just wasn’t sure the man could change him back.

Alek seemed like he wanted to stop Ian from going in but once

again Maui stepped in to give Ian what he needed. “I think we should
try this,” Maui said.

Nodding Alek jerked his thumb toward the fourth door in the

hallway. “I’ll be in there. The room Dr. Reid is in has a two-way
mirror, so I’ll be monitoring everything that happens.”

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Ian started to object but Alek stopped him. “It’s the only way I’m

allowing you in there.” His voice had a final tone to it and Ian knew
without the Alpha’s agreement he wouldn’t be able to talk to Caleb.

“Okay,” he simply said.
Alek punched in the code to let them in Dr. Reid’s room and Ian

stepped inside. He had to admit he was a little surprised to see the
always perfectly put-together doctor so disheveled.

The man’s hair was sticking up in some places and had rows

through it, like he’d been running his fingers through it again and
again. His shirt was hanging out of his pants, which Ian couldn’t ever
remember seeing before. But it was the wild, frightened look in the
man’s eyes that Ian was most concerned about.

“Ian.” Dr. Reid jumped up from his chair to rush over to Ian with

what looked like the intention of throwing his arms around him but
Maui stepped in between them to stop the doctor.

Before Maui tried to punch the guy for trying to touch him, Ian

introduced them. “Dr. Reid, I’d like you to meet my mate, Maui.
Maui, this is Dr. Reid.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dr. Reid said but Ian would swear the doctor

barely even glanced at Maui before trying to pull Ian into the room.

Maui, of course, was having none of that as he pushed the doctor

away from Ian. Not wanting a fight to break out Ian put his hand on
Maui’s arm holding him from trying to go after the doctor. “Maui
stop, please, I promise he isn’t going to hurt me. In fact he saved my
life.”

Maui’s head whipped around to stare at Ian.
“None of that matters, Ian,” Dr. Reid said. “You have to help me

get back to the psy.”

Ian heard the plea in the demand but all Maui heard were the

words. “Really, doctor? Are you that desperate to change innocent
humans into animals?”

That seemed to stop Caleb from whatever else he was about to say

as he turned to look at Maui. Based on the surprise on his face, even

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though Ian had introduced them, the doctor hadn’t even known Maui
was in the room until now.

“What?” Dr. Reid asked. “How can you say that?”
“How could I say that?” Maui parroted back. “Maybe because

that’s what you’ve been doing to those helpless humans, including
Ian, who for some unknown reason you seem to think will help you.”
Ian could feel the heat rise as flames started to flicker along Maui’s
fingers.

Clearly Maui’s anger was getting the best of him and Ian knew it

was misplaced. Deciding it was time to tell his mate the truth he
placed both his hands in his mate’s. “Maui, please listen to me. Dr.
Reid didn’t do any of this of his own free will. He was just as much a
prisoner as I was.”

That got Maui’s attention as he took his gaze off the doctor to

look at Ian. “How is that even possible?” he asked. “He is a psy, what
could they have done to him that would make him do those things?”

It was basically what he’d asked the doctor himself when he’d

found out what was happening. Glancing around his mate Ian caught
Caleb’s gaze, silently asking for permission to tell Maui the truth. He
hoped the doctor would agree because he didn’t think he could keep
this from his mate any longer.

Fortunately he didn’t have to make that decision. “They have my

family,” Dr. Reid whispered as if he were afraid if he spoke too
loudly the psy might find out.

Suddenly the door opened and the Alpha stood in the doorway

with his hands clenched into fists. “What makes your family more
important than all those lives you changed, not to mention the ones
you killed while figuring out how to turn them into weres?” Alek
demanded.

The doctor looked tortured as he kept shaking his head back and

forth as if trying to reconcile what he’d done. “My brother was only
seven and my sister was just four when they took them.” He turned
those despondent eyes to the Alpha not sure what else he could say.

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“They said they would cut them into pieces and send each piece to me
if I didn’t.”

His eyes filled with tears as he begged for forgiveness, even

though it was clear he didn’t think he deserved it. “I just couldn’t…”
He didn’t finish that thought. Instead he just seemed to collapse in on
himself as he slid to the floor with his arms wrapped around his legs,
like a child trying to soothe himself.

Ian couldn’t stand to watch what Caleb was going through any

longer. Going over to the man he put his arms around the man trying
to offer what comfort he could. Ian looked up at the Alpha with tears
in his eyes. “Please, we have to help him.”

Alek seemed torn. Ian wasn’t sure if it was how broken Dr. Reid

looked or if it was the thought of children being cut into pieces that
swayed him but Ian wanted to jump up and hug the Alpha when he
agreed to help. Since he was still trying to comfort Caleb he instead
mouthed “Thank you” to Alek.

“Do you know where they are?” Maui asked the doctor.
Too overcome with emotion and if Ian had to guess, guilt, Dr.

Reid didn’t give a verbal answer. Instead he just shook his head.

“How are we going to find them?” Ian asked.
“You can’t,” whispered Caleb. “If I don’t get back to the psy

immediately they will just kill my family, if they haven’t already.”

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Chapter 18

Alek put a call into Rangi to gather the others in the conference

room but Dr. Reid stopped him when he listed Wolfe’s name. “Please
not him.”

Maui couldn’t imagine what Wolfe had done to the doctor for that

kind of reaction. Sure Wolfe wasn’t known for his tact but he’d never
allowed a prisoner to be mistreated, which stemmed from his days of
being a prisoner himself. Wolfe always told Maui he couldn’t
stomach doing to someone what had happened to him, no matter how
much they might deserve it.

“What makes you think you have a choice in who is there?” Alek

asked.

The doctor’s eyes looked tortured as he admitted, “The psy don’t

feel mates like the other paranormals so I don’t know if it’s true but
Wolfe said we were mates.” His voice was defeated as he said, “He
didn’t take it well and since I have to go back, I think it would be best
for him not to know why.”

“You want Wolfe to believe his mate is a monster?” Maui asked

in disbelief.

Tears shimmered in the man’s eyes as he pleaded with them. “At

least then he’ll never have any hope that we could ever be together.
Maybe he would be able to eventually move on.”

Maui wasn’t so sure about that. When he’d thought Ian had died

Maui wasn’t sure he would have lived much longer without his angel.
It seemed weird since he’d hardly known the man but a part of Maui
had been ready to die too.

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127

“For now I will do as you ask, but if I feel Wolfe needs to know,

make no mistake, I will tell him,” Alek said.

Not really having any choice in the matter the doctor agreed to

Alek’s compromise.

The other’s met them in the conference room where Dr. Reid once

more told his story. Maui felt sorry for the man and that wasn’t
something he’d ever thought he could feel for someone who did what
he did. He could understand why Ian didn’t hold a grudge against the
doctor.

As soon as the doctor finished Rangi started sending out orders to

his people to find the man’s family. “I’m sorry about what the psy has
done to your family, Dr. Reid, but what I don’t understand is when
you figured out how to change the humans, why tell the psy? Why not
just keep acting like nothing was working?”

“First of all call me Caleb,” Dr. Reid said. “I did hide it for nearly

a year before General Ralston suspected what I was doing.” As if not
wanting to face what he was about to say Caleb stood up and started
pacing. “He gave me a warning but I figured there was no way they
could prove if I could change humans or not so I kept telling them I
was trying but I couldn’t figure it out.”

His pacing sped up. “After two months of our little standoff I

received a package.” He closed his eyes and stopped his frantic
pacing. “It was my father’s ring finger, with his wedding ring still
attached.”

Several curses were said. “I think I’m going to be sick,” Seth said

against Alek’s chest, who wrapped his arms around his mate in
comfort.

Caleb sank into his chair as if his words weighed him down.

“After that I just did as they asked.” He looked up at all of them in
anguish. “You will never know how sorry I am for what I’ve done but
they said my sister would be next and I just couldn’t.” His voice
broke as the tears he’d been holding back finally came.

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Shea Balik

When Ian went to comfort the man Maui had to hold back his

jealousy, knowing this was not the time to let the green-eyed monster
show. He was a little surprised when Ian asked, “Caleb, I think you
need to explain how it is you changed us.”

The whole table grew very quiet. It was the one question that had

been going through all their minds but none of them had gotten the
courage to actually ask, at least yet. There was no way they would
allow Caleb to return to the psy without knowing the truth so
eventually they would have had to ask. It was just too important to
know.

Caleb shook his head as he spoke. “You have to know I’ve never

allowed the psy to know how it’s done. Even with their threats to my
family I knew it was imperative no one else know how.”

“Why didn’t they just show you another display of what they were

willing to do?” Rangi asked.

“Because I warned them if any more harm comes to my family

and I will never change another human. To me the worst thing they
could do was to hurt my sister or brother and if they did that then
there would be no point in helping them as it would be clear to me
they intended to just kill us all anyway,” Caleb said.

The fact that he was the only one who knew how to make the

weres was a good thing. It meant they just had to find Caleb’s family
in order for him to stop changing the humans. Of course now that they
knew Caleb and Wolfe were mates it meant they would also have to
get Caleb out of their clutches before the psy killed him.

Ian nudged the doctor to continue. “There’s a lot no one, including

the psy, knows about our abilities. Because the psy’s abilities are
basically hidden from the world until we decide to reveal them, no
one really knows what we can do.”

Based on everyone’s expression Maui could tell they were all

confused as to where the doctor was going with this.

“My skill is a type of telekinesis. It was actually what drew me to

science in the first place,” he said with a slight smile as if

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129

remembering his childhood and how much he loved what he did. “I
can manipulate human DNA.”

The entire room went completely still as they tried to take in what

Caleb was saying. If the others were having as hard a time as Maui
they would be sitting there all night still trying to absorb that
bombshell.

Since paranormals had been born not much was really known

about the psy, sure it was known they were there to manipulate the
humans. This whole time it was thought their main focus was to help
change humans’ decisions through thought control and emotional
tampering.

What the psy twisted it into was never the original purpose, or at

least the Alliance didn’t think it was. It was believed those that could
influence a human’s mind were supposed to gently nudge thoughts so
the humans weren’t bent on destruction. Those that could do the same
with emotions were also meant to help humans’ quick tempers and
out of control behaviors. Unfortunately the psy chose to use those
gifts to take control of humans and use them as their puppets.

There had been others, like Seth, who were born with telekinesis.

Until now it was believed those few were anomalies. They didn’t
really fit into the constraints of what the psy were believed to do but if
there were other abilities out there maybe that was a misnomer.
Maybe telekinesis was something that helped humans in some way.

“I’m sorry, did you just say you could manipulate human genes?”

Alek asked, clearly stunned by the news.

Caleb shrugged. “Yes.”
It was Ian’s touch that finally snapped Maui out of it enough to

realize just how anxious his mate was. Maui instantly wrapped his
arms around Ian when his angel sat in his lap clearly looking for
comfort.

“Can you change us back?” he asked.
“Wait,” Alek said. “Are you saying it was your abilities that

allowed you to change the humans?”

130

Shea Balik

Suddenly a lightbulb went off in Maui’s head. That’s why Ian

thought the doctor might be able to change him back. Gods, if the psy
ever realized exactly what Caleb was capable of, there would be no
end to what they would make him do.

Ian started to shake as he waited for Caleb’s answer and Maui

held him tighter. Wanting to offer as much comfort to his mate as
possible Maui nuzzled along his neck where his flame marked Ian as
his. He was happy to feel Ian relax slightly against him.

Caleb cleared his throat, clearly anxious. “No, Ian, I’m sorry but

as of now I haven’t been able to change anyone back, and believe me,
I’ve tried.”

“I knew it was a long shot, Caleb. Don’t worry I don’t blame you

for any of this. I know you were just trying to save me.” Maui was so
damn proud of his mate right now. How any man could go through
what he had and still forgive the man who changed his entire life,
Maui wasn’t sure, hell he wasn’t sure he could have done the same
things if it had been him.

Caleb gave Ian a sad smile. “Thanks, I wish I could forgive

myself.” Turning to the Alpha he said, “Yes it is my ability that
allows the change from human to were to happen. DNA from animal
and shifter, preferably the same animal species, have to be injected
into the human first, but then I manipulate the DNA from all three to
fuse together. The were, as you call them, are the result.”

Once more silence reigned as everyone took in something no one,

not even paranormals had ever imagined was possible. Maui had seen
a lot of weird-ass things in his life, most of it during his first forty
years when he was a captive of the psy but this, well this was just too
dangerous.

Alek’s gaze met his as both of them came to the same conclusion.

They couldn’t allow the doctor to go back to the psy. But if they
didn’t his family would most likely be killed. It wasn’t the first time
Maui was glad not to be Alpha, these types of decisions made him

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131

want to crawl into bed, curl up in a ball and pull the covers over his
head.

It wasn’t in his nature to do that but he sure as hell wanted to.

Fortunately it was Alek’s job to make the hard decisions. If Caleb was
allowed to return to the psy and they found out what he could do there
was no telling what they would do with his ability. Hell, the man
could probably figure out how to make the psy live longer.

Wait. “You must have been told the psy’s original goal was to find

a way for them to live longer,” Maui stated. The doctor nodded even
though Maui didn’t exactly ask. “Do you know how to do that?”

That would just make things a million times worse if the crazy psy

never died. The Alliance’s main hope was that sooner or later the
leadership would be dead and hopefully someone sane would lead the
psy. It hadn’t happened yet, but they kept hoping.

“No, I haven’t,” Caleb answered. “I have isolated the gene that

allows the other paranormals to live longer but I haven’t been able to
figure out how to activate it in the psy, or humans for that matter.
Even in the weres I wasn’t able to use the shifter DNA to make their
lives any longer.”

Caleb looked over at Ian. “Your DNA had been changed by Maui

claiming you so you have the same lifespan they do but the others
don’t.”

“Do you have any idea how long that is?” Adam asked. It was a

question they had all wondered as no shifter or mystic had died of
natural causes yet, and in Alek and Adam’s case it had been three
hundred years.

“Unfortunately I haven’t, but to be honest that hasn’t really been

the focus of my research,” the doctor said.

“Research?” Seth asked.
Nodding Caleb seemed almost melancholy. “Yeah, I was working

at Uluru

General in the Outback Territory when the psy took me.”

“Wait, you were working at an Alliance research facility and no

one reported you missing?” Maui asked.

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Shea Balik

The Outback Territory was in what used to be Australia. The

Alliance held the entire continent and had two research labs there
since it would be nearly impossible for any psy or human to gain
entrance without someone noticing?

Caleb shrugged. “I don’t know if I was reported missing or not but

since it was one of my research assistants who kidnapped me and
turned me over to the psy I would doubt it.”

“What?” Alek roared load enough to shake the room they were in.

Hopefully Wolfe wasn’t alerted or he’d be here within seconds.

The pounding on the doors said Wolfe did, in fact, hear Alek.

“Exactly how are you going to explain to your second that you’re in
here having a meeting with his mate, yet he wasn’t invited?” Maui
asked his Alpha.

“Fuck,” Alek mumbled under his breath. Pointing his finger at

Maui, Alek said, “Get him back to the cells downstairs.”

“But I have—” Caleb tried to say but Alek interrupted.
“You have my word we will get you back to the psy but I have to

deal with Wolfe right now and since there is no way to hide your
scent in here I have to give him a plausible reason why he wasn’t
allowed in here.”

Caleb must have accepted Alek’s promise for he followed Maui

willingly to the basement. Opening the door to the cell he was
surprised when the doctor just went in without complaint.

Before he shut the door Caleb said, “I expect your Alpha to live

up to his promise. I don’t think I could live with myself if the psy
killed my family because of me.”

“How do you know they are still alive?” Maui asked.
“They let me have a video conference with them once a month.

It’s my condition for cooperating,” he said.

Maui smiled at that. “If that’s true we may be able to find your

family after all.”

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133

Epilogue

Ian waited for Maui to return from taking Caleb to the drop-off

point. They had left within an hour of the meeting with Caleb but
were expected to be gone for at least twelve. They had to get Caleb
close enough to civilization so he would actually make it in a
reasonable amount of time yet far enough away that he clearly had
been on the run. Ian only hoped Caleb’s acting was good for he would
somehow have to convince the psy he’d managed to get away from
the Alliance.

Alek and Caleb would follow the doctor to be sure he reached the

psy safely, which is why they would be gone for so long. Before
leaving they gave Caleb an earpiece and injected a GPS chip in order
to track him. They knew if they somehow lost him Wolfe would never
recover.

Rangi’s team would monitor Caleb. Not only would they keep an

eye on him but hopefully would be able to track his family when
Caleb was allowed to communicate with them. It was risky, for the
psy could just decide to kill Caleb but they hoped the man was too
valuable to the psy for that to happen.

To take his mind off worrying about his mate, Ian trained with

Seth, hoping to stop the psy from being able to control his mind. He
wished he could concentrate on what he was doing but with Maui out
there in enemy territory he was too anxious to do much of anything.

“Fuck!” he yelled when he was dropped to the ground from close

to the ceiling. Rubbing his ass he glared at Seth. He should have
shifted into his wereform for this but he still wasn’t comfortable that

134

Shea Balik

way so he’d chosen to remain in his human form. It meant he would
have more bruises in the end but Ian felt it was worth it.

Seth looked at him with his left eyebrow raised. “If you’re not

going to even try why are we here?”

Irritated at Seth for dropping him like that and at himself because

Seth was right, Ian got back on his feet determined to do better. “You
didn’t have to drop me,” he groused.

“Ian,” Shayla said from the doorway. She looked unsure if it was

okay for her to be there.

Plastering on his biggest smile Ian went over to her pulling her

further into the room. “Shayla, come in and save me.”

“Hiding behind a girl, Ian?” Seth taunted in fun.
Ian snorted. “Considering all the bruises you’ve given me I’d hide

behind a child if it got you to stop.”

That got Shayla laughing, which made Ian happy. He’d talked to

his sister after Maui left on this mission about what she’d endured and
Ian couldn’t have been prouder of her for not only getting away from
their father but surviving on her own.

“He would too,” Shayla said laughingly. “Once when he was

about eight he was coloring in his room. Our mom used to praise him
for his drawings, telling him he was good enough to be a professional
artist. So when he ran out of paper he decided since his drawings were
so good, they deserved to be displayed on his walls.”

Ian’s cheeks heated at the embarrassing story, not so much about

drawing on the walls but what happened after. “Shay that’s enough,”
he warned her.

She just gave him that look that said, “You’re kidding right?” and

kept right on talking. “Our mom came into the room and caught him
red handed with the crayons in his hands as he was drawing a sun.”

“It was a fireball,” he defended. Huh? Maybe he and Maui really

were destined to find each other.

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135

Shayla just rolled her eyes and said, “Whatever. When our mom

asked why he was drawing on the walls he said, ‘I didn’t, Mommy.
Shayla did.’”

They all laughed but Ian was a little ashamed to have used his

sister but he’d been a kid. He didn’t mind the good-natured ribbing
from his friends. But he really hated how his sister never failed to
mention all the trouble he got into but he wouldn’t trade her for
anything.

“I will never tire of hearing Shayla talk about you,” Maui said

from the doorway.

Ian spun around to face his mate. “Well since she loves to tell

them you two should get along great,” he said as he threw himself
into Maui’s arms.

Their lips collided in a searing kiss that left them both breathless

when they pulled apart. Maui grinned down at him. “Miss me?”

Ian rolled his eyes at the cocky question. “Yes I did. Now what

are you going to do about it?” he challenged his mate.

The feel of those strong arms lifting him off the ground had Ian’s

cock filling with alarming speed. Not one to be outdone, Ian wrapped
his legs around Maui’s waist so his dick was rubbing against his
mate’s rock hard abs. It also had the advantage of rubbing Maui’s
cock against his pulsing hole when he started carrying Ian from the
room with everyone else forgotten about.

Maui groaned his pleasure as he slammed their lips together once

more. The feel of Maui’s thick tongue in his mouth was enough to put
Ian on edge as he fought hard against his orgasm. When that talented
tongue coaxed Ian’s to play he couldn’t stop his whimpers of need.

The feel of falling before his back hit the bed was Ian’s first

inkling they’d made it to their room. Maui lifted his head to look
down at Ian. He smiled up at his mate as he raised his hand up to
caress Maui’s cheek.

“Thank you,” Ian said.
Maui looked confused. “For what?”

136

Shea Balik

“There was a point during my imprisonment with the psy that I

lost who I was. I forgot why my mother gave me such a mouthful for
a name.” Ian let his hand back down until he was cupping Maui’s
neck. “But from the first moment we met you reminded me just how
strong I am.”

Leaning down Maui gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Your

mother is looking down on you right now smiling with pride at how
her son turned out.”

Tears sprang to Ian’s eyes and he turned his head away for a

moment to collect himself. When his eyes landed on a bowl of
bananas on their bedside table he asked, “Is there a reason there are
bananas in our room?”

Maui looked over at the bedside table. Reaching out he pulled an

envelope back handing it to Ian. Confused, Ian took it. On the
envelope his name was written in a bold script. Lifting the flap he
pulled out a piece of card stock.

Welcome to the family. Hope your gorilla enjoys the bananas,

Wolfe.

“So?” Maui asked.
Ian couldn’t talk he was so choked up so he handed Maui the card

instead. After he read it Maui put the card down next to the bananas.
As if he knew exactly what Ian needed Maui rolled to his side and
pulled Ian into his arms to just hold him.

How this man knew him so well Ian wasn’t sure but he wasn’t

about to question fate for giving him a man so loving, so caring and
so strong that he gave Ian the courage to continue to be the man he
was determined to be. Tilting his head back he kissed Maui softly.

“You okay?” Maui asked when Ian pulled back.
He couldn’t help but smile at the question because for the first

time since his mother died Ian could honestly answer yes. “I am not
just okay, I’m happy and I have you to thank for that.”

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137

Maui gave him a dazzling smile. “As your mate it’s my pleasure

to keep you happy.”

Ian gave Maui his most sultry look. “Your cock shoved deep

inside me is what would make me happy right now.”

He almost laughed when Maui looked like he was going to

swallow his tongue at Ian’s words. Not that Maui didn’t take full
advantage of what Ian wanted.

Maybe his life hadn’t always been easy, but based on those he’d

met so far in the Alliance their lives had all pretty much sucked too.
But they had created a family with each other and found that no
matter the hell that went on previously it was the now that mattered
most.

THE END

WWW.SHEABALIK.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shea Balik has always had a vivid imagination with stories

running around in her head. Often her stories are taken from
observations of other people with her own spin. Traveling is one of
her favorite ways of fulfilling her passion of people watching. You
never know, one day you may spark her imagination for her next
book.

Whether at home or traveling she is usually in front of her

computer writing or curled up with a good book

For all titles by Shea Balik, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/shea-balik

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com