“Don’t belittle my intelligence!” he snapped, lashing out with one hand and striking her across the face. Raine gasped sharply, more from the shock of it than any actual pain. “I know what it smells like when another alpha has been in my bed!” He sneered, stepping closer until he had her pressed against the wall. “I don’t want to be with you anymore than I have to. And if I had my way, I’d have you tossed out as fast as I could, and this..." he raised the sheets, “Is enough evidence to toss you out on your ass. We’ve barely been mates less than twenty-four hours and you’re already fucking around. The elders would cast you out without a second thought.” “Please.” She whispered, “Oh don’t beg me.” He purred, “I have no intention of reporting this. For all I know, you’ll go behind my back and bat your eyes at my father and he’ll be at your beck and call again.” Ronan glanced down at the sheets in his hands, his brows furrowing as a thought occurred to him. But he laughed, and shook i
Both boys snarled, and clawed at each other, fighting in their half turned forms. Raine stayed where she sat, her face pale as chalk as she stared at both men, Matthias spared her a glance before he got up to separate them. Silas was the stronger of the two, but Ronan was a nasty fighter. And he lacked in brute strength, he made up for with sheer stubbornness. He had his brother in a chokehold, snarling at his face, his claws digging into the skin of Silas’s throat. Matthias flung him away before he could cause some serious damage. Silas snarled once he was free, lunging up on his feet to attack Ronan again, but Matthias stopped him with a hand on his chest, and a low growl from deep in his chest. A command from their superior alpha. Both men calmed down a fraction. Matthias turned to Ronan. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” He snarled. “Oh fuck off, old man.” Ronan snarled back, lips peeled to reveal his fangs. There were cut marks on his face, and a slow bleeding gash on his
Raine nodded dumbly. Ronan leaned down and tapped her cheek with three fingers. His skin was cold, and she flinched. “No, no. I want to hear you say that you understand.” “I understand, alpha.” “Very good.” He sent her a small smile as he finished unwrapping each bandage. Once he was done, he tossed them on the ground in front of her as he stepped past her to the door. Raine stumbled to her feet and went after him. When she stepped into the room, she found it was empty. Ronan was gone. ◆◆◆◆ Selene was waiting for him in a car at the very edge of the pack border. She sat behind the steering wheel of the slick black Audi, popping a gum against blood-red lips as she watched him approach. She looked bored out of her mind. “Where’s Killian?” He asked as soon as he dropped into the passenger seat. “My brother would rather shit sticks than venture this close to the Draven pack.” She popped her gum again, glancing down at Ronan’s hands clenched in his lap. “Your fingers are a mess.”
It had only been a few days since she last saw him, but you would have thought it was an eternity with the way her wolf yipped and preened at the sight of him. And oh, what a sight it was. He was a vision in his black ensemble, all rippling muscles and long legs, and the way his eyes wrinkled in the corners as he laughed softly at something the beta said.Everything about Matthias screams strength, an aura that cannot be diminished. Flashback of their sex making came in full force and Raine gasp softly as she felt the throbbing sensation of her pussy. She knew she's already wet and needy for him. She is wet and needy for her mate’s father. The untouchable and forbidden Matthias Draven.Matthias who is actively focused and listening to the man in front of him, his arms crossed as he reached up and absently stroked his beard, Raine was hit with a vivid memory of how that beard had felt between her thighs, how red and tender the skin had been afterwards. She bit her lip, and took a s
Raine blinked, momentarily disoriented by the stranger's intense gaze. His beauty was disarming. She glanced down at his outstretched hand, a flush creeping up her neck. "Oh. I’m Raine... Whitmore." Killian's answering smirk was knowing, predatory. It wasn't the warmth of Matthias, but something sharper, more dangerous. "Yes, I’m aware." He knows me? A shiver ran through her, a strange mix of unease and a thrill she didn't want to acknowledge. Before she could say anything else, Matthias was there, stepping in between them and pulling her behind his bulk. He was growling—a low rumbly sound she had never heard him make, and for a moment, she felt a bolt of fear zip down her spine. Killian on the other hand, pinned the other alpha with a blank stare. Those icy eyes of his frigid and cold, a stark contrast from the charming man who’d smiled at her. “Leave her alone.” Matthias hissed, pitching his voice low so they would not attract attention. “Alpha Draven,” Killian drawled in th
“I don’t know,” he grumbled, dropping his head on to her shoulder. “God! I shouldn’t do this again, it was bad enough the last two times. What does it mean for us if we do this again?” Raine’s knees trembled terribly in the presence of the alpha’s need. She’d promised herself to stay away, to avoid falling into this man’s arms once again. She didn’t think she had it in her to keep lying to herself and Ronan. But what she had with Matthias was so good, it was a pull like no other. They were inevitable, pushed together by forces neither of them could control. Who was she to fight her base instincts if this was the man it pushed her to? No one would have to know. It was a big house. She and Matthias were adults. And once she was formally joined back with Ronan and they were ordained as mates, she would put an end to whatever this was with Matthias. It seemed like a solid enough plan. She just had to be careful. She and Matthias could do whatever they wanted till then. Satiate this
Matthias groaned above her, one hand reaching down to grab a fistful of her hair. He pushed her head closer down his length, and Raine moaned, fear and excitement curling in her belly as she let him rough handle her, pushing her down until the head of his cock hit the back of her throat, and her nose was buried into his pubic hair, her mouth stretched impossibly wide over the base of his cock where his knot would form. “Fuck,” Matthias hissed, running a finger down her face. “You’re so beautiful like this. knees on the floor as you take my cock" Raine could only moan helplessly as the alpha pulled her hair hard enough to sting, and began fucking into her mouth like a beast. She wanted to cry out, but the sound came out muffled. His thick cock shuffled in and out of her like a jackhammer, pistoning down her throat until the only thing she could do was hold on to his thighs and wait for him to finish. Her eyes were closed tight as tears streamed down her face, his cock stretching
Was he not allowed to kiss her outside of sex? Raine cleared her throat, looking everywhere but at him. “So…uh… what’s the deal with Killian?” Matthias folded his arms across his chest. Her rejection stung, but he could understand. She was Ronan’s mate, after all. They weren’t even supposed to be sleeping together in the first place. If kissing was where she drew her line, Matthias would respect that and not be a big baby over it. He was more mature than this. So, he cleared his throat too and tried to focus on her question. “What do you mean?” “At the store, you didn’t seem like you liked him much,” she shrugged. “I honestly can’t tell why. He seemed like a nice person.” Nice was not a word Matthias thought he’d ever hear being used to describe Killian. He snorted. “You’ve met the man once.” “Yes, and it was a great first impression.” She shrugged again, reaching up to play with her hair. “I thought you went a little bit overboard with that whole protective alpha nonsense. H
On the tenth day of her imprisonment, Raine smelled Ronan’s scent. The days bled into each other, Raine found herself staring for a long time at the bottle of pills Selene dropped next to her, until her gaze had gone unfocused and she stared unseeingly at the distance. The pill bottle had stayed where it was until Killian returned and met it there. At the sight of the plastic yellow bottle, something had flashed in his eyes, and he’d stood next to the bed with a look she couldn’t read in his eyes, staring at her, his eyes bright in the dark as he stood for so long. After what felt like forever, he pulled open the drawer at the bedside table and tossed the bottle of pills inside, away from where she could see it. He didn’t say a word, hadn’t even asked how she managed to get it, and Raine had said nothing as explanation. That night, he slept in his bed, next to her for the first time since he’d brought her there. Raine shut her eyes and pretended she was back in the packhouse, in M
The handshake went on for much longer than Mathias was comfortable with, and when it ended, a shiver ran down Matthias’s spine and lingered like static under his skin as Killian dropped his hand last, his touch lingering for much longer than was necessary. The other man’s gaze was unreadable, the corners of his lips twitching like he was holding back a burst of laughter. Maybe it was a sneer, or both for that matter. Matthias didn’t know which unsettled him more. “Shall we, alpha?” the Voss alpha said with a mock bow, rolling his hand in the direction of the dining area. “Would you rather we speak here? Or should we take this discussion elsewhere? Maybe with a bit more privacy?” “No.” Matthias snapped, keeping his growl in check. “We can have the discussion, right here. This discussion will be brief. I’d hate to keep you waiting longer than you’d have to.” Killian tilted his head slightly, staring at Mathias with an expression he couldn’t read. “I’d also hate to hate to keep yo
The days bled into each other until Raine wasn’t sure anymore how long it’d been since she last saw her pack. Killian swore there was no wolfsbane in her system, and so did the doctor, but her bones refused to mend themselves, and her senses were as muted as they’d been when she was a child. She could not smell or sense anything more than the average human, and her wolf was deadly silent. When she told Killian all these, he would look at her with an expression she’d come to know as fond pity. Like she was a beloved cat who didn’t know it was dying. Raine didn’t feel like she was dying. She couldn’t feel anything much, but she at least would know if her body was giving up on her. She was in bed most days, in his bed to be precise, but at least he didn’t sleep in it as far as she was concerned, and only female helps came to assist her in dressing and cleaning up. Raine had no qualms about being nude in front of strangers, but she was relived beyond doubt that Killian would not be th
It’d been five days since Raine was last seen in the pack. It was a constant gnawing at Matthias’s mind, but he hadn’t even been given enough peace of mind to properly torture himself over the matter. Tensions in the pack were worse than over, with several of his solders refusing to follow orders and organizing some kind of strike against his leadership. The unrest in the pack had escalated to full blown protests, with wolves turning violent towards themselves and members of Matthias’s house. Lyra had to move into the pack house for the main time because many wolves kept targeting her medic building and threatening her if she didn’t misalign herself from Matthias, Silas had once been attacked while on his way to the wards, and has since stopped leaving the house without extra backing, and to make matters worse, the pack house was no longer a hundred percent foolproof. Just the day before, a handful of wolves managed to get past the guards posted around the house’s compound, and f
Her head was pounding, and everything felt so groggy. She wasn’t sure what was going on, or if the images in her head were dreams or not. Once she thought she woke and found a strange man next to her, his face blurred as he stroked over her hair and face, but then a pain so sharp had cut through her entire being that she’d passed out from the intensity. The next and only thing she remembered was a vague dreamlike memory of her wolf nipping at her ear, trying to pull her out a fog of swamp like water, trying to answer the call of another wolf in the distance, but by the time she’d stumbled out of the swamp, she realized she couldn’t walk, and kept stumbling, falling to knees and forced to watch her wolf grow fainter with each panicked yip it made, until eventually it was gone, and Raine was left alone with nothing but a low throb in her leg. She woke with a gasp, much like that night at the pack after that nightmare, expect this time things were so much worse. Still panting, Rai
“I know she’s here,” he bellowed, barging into Killian’s study like a man on a mission. “Where is she?” Selene glanced up from the couch where she sat, raising her nose from the middle of her book to arch a perfect brow in his direction. “You’re yelling, Ronan.” She drawled, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “It’s eight pm, the entire pack is already asleep.” His anger surged at the casual way she spoke to him, bringing down his ego like he was nothing but a child throwing a tantrum. Ronan growled, his wolf rising to the surface of his skin, wanting to be let out. But he knew just how powerful Selene was. It would be foolish of him to antagonize her so close to the success of the plan. Right where he could feel it about to become a reality. Once she was his Luna, Ronan would find a way to get back at her. For now, he gritted his teeth and stalled his anger, stepping further into the room with a more subdued air. Killian was conveniently absent, that only made Ronan’s suspicions wor
Selene was disgusted. And that was putting it mildly. Selene stared down her nose at the unmoving body of the woman on Killian’s bed, her hair spread out around her, chest rising and falling with each breath she took. Her lashes fanned shadows across her cheekbones, framing her features in a way that made her seem otherworldly, even as her brows were furrowed slightly, and her lower eye lids were fraught with dark circles. Selene dragged her gaze away from Raine Whitmore to glare at her brother. “Killian, I don’t know about you, but this has gone enough long enough.” Killian didn’t spare a glance. He stood at the far side of his large room, stripping out of his button down, and switching the shirt for an almost identical one. Selene watched the muscles of her brother’s back ripple, shifting the various scars and burns that dotted the skin from the planes of his shoulders all the way to his wrists. The sight of his bare, pale skin was a shock to her, as it’d been so long since Se
Matthias hardly slept and was up before the sun the next morning. As soon as he woke, he spread his senses wide, searching for any signs of Raine. He got nothing. The other side of the bond was still a silent blank wall. He swept out of the room in a blur of urgency and fear. The kitchen was still and quiet when he entered it, a strange, unnatural kind of quiet. Not the peaceful kind that came with the early morning, but the hollow silence of something missing. Matthias stood by the counter, nose perked up as he scented the room. He stood by the threshold, scanning the room like his presence alone could summon the woman he was looking for. But he got nothing. There was no sign of Raine at the table, no half drunk cup of tea left to cool on the table. Just cold air and the faint scent of ash drifting in from the half-burned logs in the fireplace. Raine was not in this house. She probably hadn’t been since yesterday morning. Matthias ran a hand down his face, the stubble scratchi
Raine was not in the pack house, neither was she in the surrounding area, or the pack proper, or in the woods. It was almost eight pm, and she was not on pack property. Matthias was going half mad with worry. His wolf was making matters worse, restless beneath his skin with the urge to shift and find her, sniffing her out like a bloodhound. Every time he turned and spotted Ronan glancing down at his phone instead of looking for his mate, Matthias fought the urge to pounce on his son and tear his throat out. “She’s a grown adult, isn’t she?” Ronan asked after an hour of searching the house and surrounding premises with no luck. “I don’t think we have to be looking for her just because she’s past curfew.” “She’s your mate!” Matthias spat, as it was the only thing he was allowed to say. “Are you not even worried to have her be absent from your side, even for just one night?” Ronan shrugged, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I can count how many times she’s been in my bed, sleeping by my