“I will take care of Niko,” she said firmly. Something like pride and satisfaction passed over her face. “She’s a powerful mate and has proven why I should have told her who James was the moment he was hired.”

’Cause she’s armed? Cooper wondered, but instead asked, “Why didn’t you?”

Alice sighed. “I thought I was protecting Niko. Really I was protecting myself from having to tell the truth of my past. I have a lot of making up to do. Hours of begging,” she added with a sly, predatory look.

“Hmm,” Cooper said neutrally, because okay, get it felt like crossing a line. He could very easily picture this woman stumbling over an injured Hirano in the forests of the Yukon—perhaps fighting off the wolves that attacked her, nursing her back to health in some remote cabin, all while being rather blatantly and unapologetically inhuman herself. He could only imagine what that experience had been like for Hirano, though they clearly seemed to adore one another now.

He glanced over at his own powerful mate—still swaddled in his blanket while quite obviously squabbling with Eli—and bit back a smile. To each their own.

“Niko told me she recognized the Shepherd the day you and he found James,” Alice said, interrupting Cooper’s soft thoughts. “When I found my Eli again, he’d shown us photos of his life with his northern pack and said the Shepherd had taken a strange mate, but we had no idea who you really were.”

Strange mate, Cooper thought, amused, and made a note to bring that up with Eli later.

“I want you to know, I won’t tell.”

“Excuse me?” Cooper asked, confused and wondering if he’d missed something.

“I won’t tell the WIP what you are. Of course, you’re exactly who they’ve been looking for all these years. The one who will change packs as we know them and lead us to a new era. But if you don’t want anyone to know yet—” She shrugged. “I owe you my life, and will keep your secret.”

“Oh, you mean because I’m supposed to be the...no.” Cooper explained quickly, uncomfortable, “What Ryan Basque was saying in there about me being the—the Moon or whatever, none of that is actually true. His plan was just to use me as a scapegoat of sorts.”

Alice tilted her head in a very canine gesture. “The human killer was a fool who thought he could play with powers he neither understood nor respected to make money, and was put down for his arrogance. Whatever his plan might have been is irrelevant. I felt the pull of the Moon myself. Twice.”