*** Liliana's POVEamon’s words washed over me, each revelation like a stone dropped into a pond, sending ripples through my mind. The mate-mark, the Moon Goddess, the bond that tied us together... it was surreal, like something from a Joseph Campbell lecture. I could feel Eamon’s lips against the mark on my neck, and with every touch, a warmth spread through me, igniting something deep inside.He thinks I’m a witch and wolf, I mused, trying to wrap my mind around the idea. My life had suddenly turned into a fantasy novel. At least it's the ‘adult’ kind, my inner mind teases.But then there was eyes, the speed, and yes, the mind reading. The way he seemed to know my thoughts before I even spoke them. It was unsettling, yet... comforting in a way I couldn’t explain. He understood me, saw me in ways no one else ever had, not even John.Eamon chuckles and it takes me a moment to realize he’s heard my thoughts.“What does this mean for my life now?” I found myself wondering aloud. “What
*** Liliana's POVI awake with a start, sitting up so fast that the room spins slightly, a woozy reminder of last night’s intensity. My head feels light, my throat dry. I make a mental note to start keeping a water bottle next to my bed—I’m clearly dehydrated from the night’s activities. But the dizziness is the least of my concerns as I quickly become aware of the emptiness beside me.Eamon’s scent lingers, but it’s faded, enough to tell me he’s been gone for a while. The light filtering through the blinds is still soft, early morning, but the cold space beside me confirms it’s been at least an hour since he left. A dull ache settles in my chest at his absence, an emptiness that feels oddly profound.At some point last night, Eamon explained how mates can ‘scent’ each other, a concept that seemed abstract at the time but now feels so visceral. His scent reminded me of petrichor, that distinct, earthy smell that comes after a heavy rain, particularly on a cold fall day. I’ve always lov
*** Eamon’s POVThe moment I left Liliana’s bed, the warmth of her body still lingering on my skin, regret hit me like a freight train. The softness of the sheets beneath me, the subtle scent of honeysuckle and lemongrass clinging to the pillow—everything in me screamed to stay. But duty pulled me away, and now, sitting across from my PI, with his BO saturating the air, that regret is magnified tenfold."We found the store owner," Kirk begins, his voice pulling me back to the present. His tone is serious, laced with the kind of gravity that tells me he's onto something. "They deny any hidden security," he pauses, a faint smirk playing on his lips, "but..."I lean forward, my interest piqued. "But?"Kirk meets my gaze, his expression unreadable. "We may have a new link between yesterday's murder and other crim
*** Liliana's POVGeesus, finally done. I hadn’t realized how long I’d been hunched over my desk, my body frozen in that same position for what felt like hours. My shoulders ached, and my neck was stiff. But at least I had finished. The presentation was clean, concise, and to the point. I’d stripped away all the extra fluff and left a solid narrative arc with a hook that would grab the audience’s attention from the start. Delivering content in a conversational tone has always come naturally to me, but this time, my nerves had made it challenging to set a realistic pace. Now, I’m in a good place. I can spend the weekend practicing my timing, rewatching my old TED minis, and making sure I’m leaving enough room for audience engagement.As I finally peel myself away from the desk, I’m hit with a wave of stiffness that almost pins me in place. My legs protest as I straighten them out, and I realize just how “old” I feel. With a groan, I manage to push myself upright, my joints popping a
*** Eamon's POVThe moment Kirk’s message pings on my phone, I’m not surprised. The warrant came through, just as I expected. We’ve got 72 hours of surveillance on the owner’s house and the three business locations tied to our case files. It’s a solid lead but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re only scratching the surface.My gut tells me the store owner isn’t human. I’ve had my suspicions from the beginning, and the more I dig into the details, the more convinced I become.Despite owning multiple businesses, the owner doesn’t show any signs of being affiliated with human-organized crime. It’s almost too clean, too perfect. There’s something else going on here, something deeper, and I’m determined to find out what.The three businesses in question—a café, a convenience store, and a donation center—don’t fit the usual mold either. They have a certain vibe to them, one that’s hard to pinpoint but impossible to ignore.There’s an unusual mix of Rogues from all species patronizing these
*** Eamon's POVApprehension hits me like a punch to the gut as I turn onto Liliana’s street. By now, at this distance, I should be able to sense my mate. I should feel the pull, the warmth of her presence, but there’s nothing. It’s a hollow void where there should be a connection, a gnawing emptiness that gnashes at the back of my mind.As I park in front of her building, I catch sight of the lights on in her apartment window. It’s a small relief, but it does little to ease the dread creeping up my spine. All my senses tell me she’s not there. Not in the way she should be.Could I be overreacting? Could she have simply gone out? Sure, it’s possible. But something doesn’t sit right. Reaching out, I try to feel her, sense her emotions through the ether. Still nothing. It’s like she’s vanished, her essence wiped clean from the air. The absence gnaws at me, pushing me out of the car and up toward her building faster than I intended.I take the stairs two at a time, my instincts screaming
*** Fenri's POVEamon has always been steady, a rock in the storm, but finding Liliana this way has filled him with a tension and fear that I can taste, raw and bitter. An there’s something else… a faint presence Eamon is not aware of yet, yet it’s there all the same, pushing against the edges of my consciousness. I can feel… her wolf, like a caged animal testing the bars, but she’s not fully here yet. Not fully awake.I push forward, closer to the surface, urging Eamon to stay calm, to hold her. We’re all connected now, the mate bond keeping her wolf from slipping away entirely. The mate bond has created room for her within Liliana.“Come forward,” I call out to her, my voice firm but gentle, coaxing. “You’re not alone anymore, Eamon and I are here for you.”There’s a hesitation, a moment of silence, and then I feel her.“You?” I feel the question almost as much as I hear it.“Yes, me.” I coax.“Fenri,” my tail wags at her acknowledgment.I’m bombarded with a myriad of visions that
*** Eamon's POVI feel a surge of relief when Fenri allows me to come forward as Liliana's eyes clear, the deep green in them slowly receding back to their usual warm brown."There you are," I whisper, brushing a damp strand of hair from her face. Her lips tremble, and I press a finger gently to them, trying to still their quivering.I can sense her confusion, her fear, but there’s something else beneath it—a rising heat that pulses through the bond we share.Liliana blinks up at me, trying to make sense of everything. I want to comfort her, to tell her everything is okay, but as I look into her eyes, I see it—her wolf, just beneath the surface.“Skadi,” Fenri interjects, his voice echoing in the back of my mind, steady and certain.The realization sends a thrill of both excitement and concern through me."You’re both safe," I murmur, leaning closer, my lips brushing against her temple. “We’re here."She nods slightly, her breath catching as she takes notice of her nakedness and the d
*** Lisa’s POVI waited, watching Drax lean back in his makeshift throne—a beat-up recliner that had seen better days. The room itself reeked of something desperate, something hollow. The kind of place that pretends to be more than it is, much like Drax himself.He was reveling in the aftermath of his climax, a disgusting display as the girl struggled between his legs, her body twitching as she made her final, desperate attempts to free herself. She clawed at his legs, weak punches landing uselessly against his torso. It wasn’t long before her fight drained out, her last breath spent in a stifled scream, her mouth still impaled on his cock. With a final shiver of satisfaction, he shoved her off, her limp body collapsing in a heap next to the other two women he’d discarded like broken toys.I didn’t flinch. I’d seen worse. Done worse.“Drax,” I said coolly, my voice cutting through the murky air. “This will be your last chance to leave before you’re just another body at my feet.”His e
*** Third Person POV“We were asleep for a reason, a good one." Her voice was calm but edged with a severity that made Eamon pause. Skadi stood across the room, her stance rigid, her eyes locked onto his with an intensity that demanded his attention."It would have to be, considering the risk Lil faces shifting at her age." Eamon’s tone was controlled, but beneath it was a thread of concern. He took a seat back on the edge of the bed, watching her closely, his body tense as if preparing for something he couldn’t yet see."The shift is the least of our worries." She tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as if daring him to challenge her.The room felt charged, the air thick with unspoken tension. Skadi's voice was low, her words deliberate, each syllable weighted with meaning."Death isn’t a worry?" His voice held a sharper edge now, frustration creeping in. "Being taken alive is the worry." Her reply was cold, almost dismissive, as she crossed her arms, her eyes darkening.
*** Riona's POV"Will you do it again?" I had asked Dawn, my voice steady but my heart racing."Every time," she had answered without hesitation, her tone as cold as ever."When?""That's not the question you want to ask me," she had replied, her sharp eyes narrowing in that way that always told me she was two steps ahead."Aren’t you tired of burying them?" My voice cracked just slightly."You bury them," she had said, emotionless."Fuck you," I’d spat back, knowing it wouldn't cut as deep as I wanted."Is that all?""Give me the charge," I had demanded, my desperation barely contained."It’s simpler to bury them," she had said with that infuriating calmness."Give. Me. The. Charge."And then, a voice I didn’t recognize had cut through the air. "It’s already done. I hope you survive. I really do."Another night, reliving the same moment. More than four decades later, I’d make the same choice. Every single time. The only thing I’d change? Maybe adding a rune to automatically summon a
*** Eamon's POVLil had left the party hours ago, but still wasn’t home.I regretted not following her, but I couldn’t reconcile that with abandoning the surveillance. It had seemed like the obvious choice at the time—keep my eye on the case, let her do what she needed. But as the night dragged on, regret settled in, gnawing at me like a wound that wouldn't heal.There had been no sense of urgency or danger through the mate bond, so I wasn’t exactly worried. Annoyed? Yes. Worried? Not yet. After all, I had explicitly told her not to leave the house but she’d done the opposite. My frustration grew tenfold knowing she wasn’t answering her phone because she’d left it behind in her apartment. I’d heard the damn thing buzzing when I tried to call.I busied myself with checking in on my team. Kirk had tracked Red to a Sanctum club, the kind of place with a dubious reputation and an even more exclusive clientele. She apparently had VIP access, which only fueled our optimism that tailing her w
*** Kirk's POVThe wave of her climax rippled through me, a surge of heat that coursed from her body to mine, snapping the mate bond into place. I could feel her walls clenching around me, involuntarily stroking me, pulling me deeper into her, beckoning my own release. My body responded instantly, the tension coiling in my core until I growled low in my chest, releasing myself inside her. The pleasure hit me like a storm, my hips jerking into her as my mouth released her neck. I lapped up the blood at the place where I’d marked her, sealing the bond.The taste of her on my tongue sent another shiver through me, but even as I finished, I couldn’t stop. My body still craved her. I was still hard, still thrusting, the need for her not yet sated. I wanted her to ride me forever, to keep this moment suspended in time, right here against the wall, with her body wrapped around mine. The euphoria of my release began to settle into contentment, but something was wrong.She wasn’t moving.Riona
*** Riona’s POV"Mate," he breathed the word into my ear, his voice like a prayer. His mouth descended to my exposed neck, lips brushing softly against my skin. The warmth of his breath sent a shiver down my spine, and then his tongue—slow, deliberate—lapping at the skin where I knew he could mark me. Electricity crackled at the point of contact, a gentle tingle that spread outward like wildfire. Everywhere his lips touched, everywhere our bodies connected, it was like I was waking up—coming alive under him.I could feel my body screaming for him, every nerve ending on fire, the heat between us building to a point I could hardly stand. He smelled it too. I knew he could sense my arousal, smell it in the air. His growl rumbled low in his chest, vibrating against me as he pressed harder into my body. My breathing grew more ragged, more desperate, as my wolf, Skoll, roared in my mind, lust and need crashing over me in waves.I was almost breathless when I mumbled, "If you want me… then
*** Riona’s POVThe club was exactly what I’d needed tonight—an escape, a promise. The kind of place where desires were laid bare, and the shadows offered protection. This wasn’t a dive bar filled with humans and their cheap thrills. No, this was for our kind, for those who could afford the exclusivity. The lights were low, casting a seductive glow over the polished wood and velvet, and the faint scent of the finest perfumes and expensive cigars lingered in the air. Dancers moved on the stage like art, their bodies shimmering beneath the chandeliers that dripped with crystal.I didn’t come here for business, and I definitely didn’t come here to be bothered by him—who I had been sure I’d lost hours ago.Skoll had been restless for weeks, and I’d promised her some action tonight. A little reward for her patience. After all, it wasn’t every night I found time to indulge in what this place offered—namely, anonymous satisfaction. I deserved it. She deserved it. But this? This wasn’t what I
*** Kirk’s POV"We’ve noticed that Miss Ravenshade has had some bad luck recently." Kirk’s voice was low, his words measured as his eyes tracked every subtle movement in Red's body.Red turned to him, a coy smile playing at the edges of her lips. "Has she? I hadn’t noticed." Her expression glinted with a hint of surprise, as if Kirk's line of questioning caught her off guard. This wasn’t where she thought the conversation was headed—it wasn’t why she thought they were following her. Maybe they weren’t dirty cops after all."We don’t like disturbances Others cause," Kirk continued, his tone carrying a quiet authority. "Especially when they turn up on the Humans' radar."Her gaze softened slightly, thoughtful. "Well, Miss Ravenshade doesn’t want to be on any radar, thus the increase in ‘disturbances.'"A less perceptive wolf would have missed the subtly in her response , but I understood. The attacks on Ravenshade had been relatiory. She was refusing to play ball with someone. There was
*** Kirk’s POV“In my game, I ask the questions, and if I like your answers, I’ll reward you,” I whispered, my breath grazing Red’s ear and trailing down her neck. Her skin was smooth, and I noted, just as I suspected, no mate mark. The thrill of control coursed through me, heightened by the lack of any visible bond on her.“Let me guess,” she quipped, tilting her head slightly in response to my closeness, “If you don’t like my answers, you’ll punish me? So original.”“I’m all about originality, baby. If I don’t like your answers, I’ll just slit your throat instead,” I said smoothly, letting my words hang in the air like a knife. Grimnir stirred in my mind, pleased at the threat.She snorted a laugh, the sound light but unimpressed. “Well, that would be original for a cop... unless, of course, you’re crooked,” she mused, her voice dripping with amusement as she trailed off.“I’m straight as an arrow, baby,” I growled, grinding my hips forward into her backside, feeling the tension betw