Page 3 of In the Line of Fire
2
Damien
Icouldn’t have been more wrong about how quickly I was going to find my mate. More than three years had passed since I’d first caught her scent, and I was no closer to hunting her down now than I’d been back then. I was the best damn tracker who’d ever worked for the shifter council, but I couldn’t follow the trail when it was my own fucking mate who was my prey. I didn’t appreciate the irony of my situation, not even a little bit.
Each stumbling block I ran into made me more determined to find the woman who was meant to be mine. I was laser-focused on my search and almost didn’t accept my sister’s call when my phone rang. But if anything happened to her while she was hunting vampires in Tigerville at my request and I could have helped, I’d never forgive myself. “Hey, Denica. Everything okay?”
“Better than okay,” she assured me in a tone so bright I could practically hear her smile through the phone.
It sounded as though she hadn’t run into any problems with the case I’d asked her to take. “I take it you found the vampire wreaking havoc down there?”
“We took out a whole nest of them yesterday.”
“I’m happy to hear that.” My lips curved at the edges, my first smile in six weeks. “Did Cara forgive you for abandoning her so soon after your last mission?”
I never could resist teasing my sister about her spoiled cat, and she rarely took the bait anymore. “I don’t know since I’m not home yet. But she’s going to have something bigger to forgive me for anyway.”
“What’s that?” Now that I knew she was safe, I was only half paying attention as I checked my emails to see if any of the feelers I’d put out had yielded a lead.
“I found my mate. Trey is the head enforcer for the tiger streak you sent me to help.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting her to say, but it definitely wasn’t that. “Holy shit, Denica. That’s great. Congratulations!”
“Thanks. I know the timing isn’t great for you, but I was hoping you could manage a quick trip to Tigerville in a few days?” she asked. “Trey and I want to have the claiming ceremony soon, but I really want you to be here for it. I just got off the phone with Mom and Dad, and they’re going to pack up my house and head this way.”
Five minutes ago, I would’ve said that nothing could pull me from my search for my mate. Not when I’d finally picked up her scent trail after so many months, only to have it disappear into thin air again. But Denica’s mating ceremony was one of the only things that would make me change my mind. “Damn straight, I’ll be there. I lost her trail at a run-down motel yesterday and haven’t been able to pick it up again yet. It’ll take me a couple of days to wrap up some loose ends here. Once that’s done, I’ll go home and grab some stuff. Then I’ll meet up with all of you in Tigerville.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to miss out on a chance to find your mate because of me.”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. My roles on the shifter and witch councils came with a few perks, like having access to a confidential system of portals that were spread across the world and allowed me to travel thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. “Fuck yeah. I’ll use the portals, so it’ll only take me away from the search for a day or two at most. And if I get a new lead, I’ll make a quick and quiet exit.”
* * *
I arrivedin Tigerville three days later, only a few minutes before my dad, mom, sister, and her mate pulled up in front of his house in an empty moving truck. I had perfect timing because they’d just finished taking the rest of her shit that didn’t fit into Trey’s place out to an empty barn on the outskirts of town for storage. Denica and Trey took advantage of our presence by having their mating ceremony the next afternoon. I was so fucking happy for my sister as I watched our father press his hands against their shoulders while he spoke the words that our dragon hold had used in claiming ceremonies for centuries. A part of me yearned for the day when he’d preside over my mating.
After I offered them my congratulations and hugged my parents, I beat everyone over to the buffet, loaded up a plate, and found a quiet corner to enjoy my food. It had been a long damn time since I’d had a home-cooked meal, and my mom had made a few of my favorites. As I dug into my steak, the alpha of the tiger streak my sister had mated into prowled over to where I sat and dropped down onto the chair next to me. “How’s it going at the Council of Five? Were you working on something for them when we called Seth for help with the bloodsuckers? Or was it shifter council business?”
I was still juggling two demanding positions—my role as the head enforcer for the shifter council and serving as the only shifter on the witch’s council. The plan had been for me to phase out my enforcer duties over a few months, but I hadn’t wanted to do anything to risk the network of connections I’d built during my years there. I needed to keep the trust of all of my contacts in case one of them turned out to be the key to finding my mate.
My father was the alpha of the most powerful hold in the United States, but he hadn’t wanted to fill the new seat to represent dragon magic on the witch’s council. As his second, I was the next best person to take the spot, especially since I’d played a part in helping to bond the shifter and witch communities together. But if I’d known that I would first catch the faintest trace of my fated mate’s scent only a week after being offered the place on the Council of Five, I would have told them to look elsewhere.
“Something like that,” I muttered before shoving a piece of steak in my mouth. Unless there was information on the line, I didn’t like discussing the struggles I was having with my search for my fated mate, so I kept my answer vague.
Connor didn’t take my brusqueness personally. Instead, he laughed and clapped me on the back. “As always, it was good talking to you, Damien.”
I chuckled around another mouthful of food as I watched him walk away. Everyone else left me alone for the most part, and I was even able to stretch out and take a nap for several hours. When I woke up, I went in search of my family. My dad, mom, and sister were all in conversations with guests, so I headed over to where Trey stood. I’d met him a few times before, and he’d always struck me as a nice guy.
He and my sister were a good match, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep my eye on him. Mated or not, I’d always be protective of my sister. Luckily, Trey had seemed to understand that when I threatened to kill him if he ever hurt her. His easy acceptance of my deadly promise made me like him even more, but I was still more than ready to leave. I was itching to get back to my search.
Jerking my chin up in greeting, I took a position at his side and stared out at the crowd with him. My lips parted as I geared up to tell him that I needed to hit the road when my sister dragged his alpha, Connor, toward us.
“Hey, baby.” Trey flung his arm around Denica’s shoulder and pulled her into his side.
I shook my head at his territorial display, laughing softly when she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before turning toward me.
Seeing how happy she was with her mate—and how well she handled him—was the silver lining to the shitstorm that was currently my life.
“I was telling Trey about the problems you’ve been having with your mate’s scent trail.”
