Hyper aware of both Malte and Thalia’s gazes on him, Ronan fished out the box he kept in his coat pocket and marched forward until he was standing in front of Killian’s desk. Killian kept eye contact with him as he closed the space between them, one corner of his lips tilted up in a small smirk. With a deep breath, Ronan dropped the box on the table. It was a packet of tea. A very familiar brand. Ronan knew what it meant, and so did Killian. The alpha’s gaze dropped to the box, a muscle jumping in his jaw before he dragged his gaze back up. The smirk was gone, replaced with a dark look Ronan could not read, but sent chills down his spine regardless. “Give us Hansel, and it’s yours.” Selene snorted, rolling her eyes. “This is ridiculous.” Killian ignored her, and so did Ronan. “Do you realize what you’re offering?” Killian asked. Ronan nodded. “Yes. Give us the ward witch, and you can have it.” Selene scoffed again, glaring at both of them. “You can’t seriously be
Raine sent her a dry look. “My business is with Matthias.” “Of course.” She nodded, blinking rapidly. “You don’t look so good, are you sure you’re up for today?” “I don’t need your pity.” She sneered, her anger curdling into something ugly that fought to spill out. “If I have any health related issue. I know where to find you.” Lyra reared back, brows furrowed like she didn’t understand the attitude. Her mouth parted slightly, like she wanted to say something, but she changed her mind, nodding once instead. “Of course, please do not hesitate to reach out.” She cleared her throat, squeezing Raine’s shoulder as she walked past. “I truly am sorry for your loss.” Before Raine could say something scathing in response, Lyra was gone, shutting the door behind her as she left. Raine huffed, her anger boiling over until she wanted to scream with the force of it. She swept forward, catching a glimpse of herself in the large mirror. As she stared at the columns in her throat, and her
Lyra was the first to hear her come in, her head snapping up. She watched Raine approach wearily, pursing her lips like she was expecting another treatment like the one she got earlier. But Raine chose to pay her mind, bowing instead at Matthias. “We’ve had your mother’s body brought down to the creek.” The alpha said, his voice hoarse. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll take you down there, and the procession can start.” Raine nodded, even as the thought of finally saying goodbye to her mother filled her with a grief so profound she couldn’t even put it into words. Matthias didn’t say another word, and with one last nod, he turned and led Raine out the house, past the pack and down to the creek where Diane would be cremated. Just like her father, and every other wolf in the pack, Diane Whitmore would be cremated on the banks of the pack’s only creek, and then much later in the night, during the customary crossing over party, Raine would scatter her mother’s ashes over the fields, under
Another figure caught his attention, and Matthias turned to where the ward witch stood at one far end of the field, smiling up at Ronan with a glint in his eyes. Hansel, or what was his name. Matthias was still skeptical about this entire thing, the only reason he’d agreed to bring the witch on was because he didn’t want something like this occurring for the third time. What kind of ruler would he be if he let his personal biases influence the safety of his pack. But now that he’d actually met the ward witch, Matthias wondered if he should have held on to those personal biases a bit longer. Something about the witch rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was because the boy reeked of magic and looked too much like those damned twins to be comfortable. But there was also something else, a thing Matthias could not put his finger on. He did not trust Hansel. He did not trust anything from the Voss. He just hoped this decision wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass. Lyra shifted bes
Someone was screaming his name, there was heat at his back, his fists kept hitting soft flesh, his anger rising with each unobstructed blow to the man beneath him. Someone rushed forward, clamping their hands around Matthias’s midsection, and dragged him off of Killian. The person yelled something in his ear, and Matthias realized it was Silas. “Dad, stop!” he was yelling, “Stop it!” Matthias huffed, his chest heaving with each breath he took. Slowly, the haze of anger began to clear from his gaze, and he began to take in the havoc he’d wreaked. All around the clearing, the pack wolves had stopped all they were doing to stare, wearing matching looks of shock and horror, some of his men had gathered round him, probably to hold him off, and some of them stood to the side, helping Killian up. Matthias dragged his gaze forward, taking in the damage he’d done to the other alpha. His nose was bleeding, staining his white shirt, there were bruises on his face that were already healing
Matthias looked down at her, his gaze heavy on her as they stood next to each other, close enough that she could feel his heart beat against her chest, breathe the same air. She longed to close the space between them, feel his lips against her again, it’d been so long. The alpha was quiet for so long that Raine began to fear that he would actually reject her. Shame curdled deep in her chest, and she stepped back, turning to leave, but Matthias would not let her. Reaching out to grab her hand, he dragged her back into him and clamped his mouth down on her, shutting up whatever protest was brewing on her lips. Raine moaned in surprise, parting her lips and melting into the alpha’s warm hold. His hands wrapped around her, caging her in, and lifting her off her feet, Raine wrapped her legs around him, laughing breathlessly against his lips. He stared up at her, his grey eyes dark and intense. “What is this, Raine?” he asked in a low voice. She shrugged, kissing him softly, pullin
She slept well into the morning. Cocooned in Matthias’s warm embrace, it was one of the best sleeps she’d had in a while. And sometime before daybreak, she began to dream. In the dream, she was running, the landscape was blurry and unfocused, but she could tell from the scent of grass, and the dew in the shrubbery beneath her feet, that she was in some kind of forest. It didn’t look like any of the forests she was familiar with, and she felt her heart pound in her chest as she ran, pumping with each stomp of her feet on the ground. Something moved behind her, an unfamiliar figure chasing after her. Raine pushed harder, surprised to find that with the heavy thump of fear in her chest, was also a thread of excitement. She wanted to scream and giggle in delight all at once. The shadow beneath her moved to her side, running in the trees next to her, and Raine was shocked to realize she recognized the flash of white hair, and the brief glow of bright blue eyes. Her heart beat faster,
He frowned at himself in the mirror, frowning at the slight bruising on his jaw. He cracked his jaw, poking at the tender spot. That bastard Matthias had socked him harder than he’d expected. And of all the bruises, this one refused to heal. Killian was losing his touch. The door opened with a bang, and Selene stormed in, angry and seething, she was so red it was like she was steaming at the ears. Killian shot her a look, one eyebrow cocked as he moved across the room to pick up his discarded shirt. “What’s the matter with you, now?” he asked, watching Hansel step in behind her, he leaned against Killian’s vanity, absently fondling the bottles there, while his gaze ran down Killian’s bare chest, his gaze dark. “A pup died!” Selene screeched, her eyes wide with an emotion Killian couldn’t name. He stared at his sister, one brow cocked as he stared at her in confusion. “What the fuck are you talking about?” “You know what the fuck I’m talking about!” She hissed, stepping close
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