Page 97 of Bite

“Did you start without me?” I ask, devious.

“I had to show the new pup his place,” Dair snarls, biting at my neck teasingly.

“Mmm,” I moan, tilting my head to give him better access. He sucks Ferris’s bite on my neck, eliciting a gush of slick from me and a dangerous growl from Ferris. “His place, hm? And where exactly does he belong, alpha?” I pant.

Dair’s large hand travels down my front to cup my pussy. “Right here,” he growls.

In the morning, Ren shows up with a notebook and sets up in the Lunar Mother’s kitchen to record everything Ferris can tell him about what happened while he was healing. The Lunar Mother has been suspiciously elsewhere since last night, likely giving us space before we all drop the bombshell news about her and Ferris’s apparent connection.

Ferris’s scar looks exactly the way River described our mother’s to Dair. It’s raised like normal scar tissue, mostly healed now, but marbled with small, black veins. Ferris promises it doesn’t hurt, although he complains that the skin is tight, even in wolf form.

Ren loses his fucking mind when he finds out that surviving a Biter’s bite somehow unlocked Ferris’s body-bound wolf. As far as he can remember, there is nothing about that or anything similar in the bunker medical research files.

“I had some sense of what was going on around me, but I couldn’t respond to anything. My body was paralyzed and sometimes, so was my brain,” Ferris explains. “Before I woke, I genuinely thought I was changing into a Biter. My teeth hurt, my hair follicles ached, and I felt something clawing its way through my body, devouring the essence of me and spitting out something new. It was excruciating at times,” he admits.

“Likely the virus,” Ren says as he scribbles notes. “But the question is, why did it activate your shifter genes as opposed to infecting your DNA with the Biter virus?”

He turns to me, considering. “Your mother was not a shifter, correct?”

“Right,” I respond. “I don’t think she would have hidden that from us. Actually, I don’t think she could have hidden that from us given the way we lived as nomads in the Wilds. Like I said, her recovery was a lot different from Ferris’s.”

Ren frowns, thinking. “Do you remember her being sick?”

“Sorry, I was too young to remember when my father died, and I’m assuming that she was bitten in the same attack. You might have better luck asking River, my brother.”

Ren shares an odd look with Dair at the mention of River. “I’ll be sure to ask when I speak with Clay,” he says.

Confused, I ask, “You’re going to speak with Clay?”

“Yes,” Ren sighs. “As you know, after the clans destroyed the bunker I was kept in, I stole all the medical research on Biters. I’ve been trying to understand the Biter virus because, as we’ve seen here”—he gestures to Ferris—“things are not always as black and white as they seem. As part of Dair’s alliance agreement, I have to share my research with River, via Clay, since it just so happens that we were in the same bunker together.”

My heart races. Holy shit, he has to be Vale’s Ren. She’s been avoiding me since we made it into the Northern Pacific, but we need some omega talk time immediately, because between her injury and Ren, we have endless things to discuss.

Vale said when we left Grand Prairie that she had unfinished business in the west, and here he is, sitting at the same table as me. What are the chances? I’m reminded of the bizarre conversation with the Lunar Mother regarding the dream she had about Dair’s future. I wonder what she’s seen about Ren and what she’s done to facilitate his destiny.

“That’s enough for today, thank you,” Ren says, standing to pack his things. “I’m sure I’ll have more questions, but this gives me a good place to start digging in the bunker research once we get to our territory.”

Dair stands to walk him out of the cabin, and I scoot closer to Ferris to take his hand in mine. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. It sounds awful, almost like your whole body was rebuilt from the inside out.”

He chuffs an astonished laugh. “Actually, that’s pretty much exactly what it felt like.” His eyes go a little distant, like he’s remembering the change. “But I would go through it every time if it meant more time with you.”

I press a quick kiss to his lips just as the screen door thunks shut. I figure it’s Dair coming back after walking Ren out, but when the Lunar Mother appears in the kitchen, the air sizzles with tension.

Ferris and the Lunar Mother stare at each other, studying but saying nothing. She slowly sits in the seat Ren just vacated, expression neutral. To break the silence, I tell Ferris, “This is the Lunar Mother, Iza. She was instrumental in helping us heal your wound.”

Ferris mumbles, “Thank you,” but then neither of them say anything for a long while. In the silence, their scents mingle in the air, testing and prodding. Finally, Ferris cocks his head to the side, eyes glowing. “Do I know you?” he asks.

“Not yet,” the Lunar Mother says. The tears in her eyes break her controlled expression.

“Your scent,” Ferris trails off. “I smelled it when I was unconscious. Sweet fir, right? It reminds me of something, but I can’t place it.”

A single tear falls down her weathered face as she smiles sadly. “My daughter has a similar scent—clove currant blooms. Both of our scents are native to these mountains.”

Ferris freezes, eyes dropping from the Lunar Mother’s. I sense his confusion and panic through our bond as he searches his memories for something he buried down deep. The moment he remembers, I feel his shock like it’s my own as it lights up our bond.

“My mom,” he croaks. “I hardly remember her, but her scent? I can almost smell it now. Sweet and woodsy like yours, but also sharp with spice.”

“That’ll be the clove,” Iza says.