It was the day of her claiming, and Raine Whitmore had never felt so alive. Her heart pounded as she approached where the priest stood, waiting for her at the head of the altar.She held the flower in her hands tightly as she stood in front of the priest with a smile on her face, everything is falling in place. Her dreams are coming true.Ronan was still absent, probably running late, but Raine was far too excited to let that bother her. Tonight was her mating ceremony, the night her mate would officially claim her in the presence of the Lycan goddess and the entire pack.The moon hung high, full and bright, a silent witness as she stood by the priest, waiting for Ronan Draven, the man the fates had ordained as hers.A ripple went through the crowd as Ronan shouldered his way past the wolves, he had two people behind him, but Raine only had eyes for her mate.After months by his side, all the whispered promises, lingering touches, he would be her alpha, and she would be bound to him f
Raine was not supposed to be here. But she was so close. She could see Ronan spread out on the bed in the dark. She hiccupped, stumbling drunkenly as she steadied herself against the doorframe. Raine wasn’t supposed to come back to the park and certainly not Ronan’s room , but the rejection, the humiliation, it was too much. She had to try, Ronan needed to take her back. The room swayed as she staggered in, her breath uneven, the sharp bite of alcohol still thick on her tongue, it's potency still in her bloodstream, she stumbled to the bed, the figure on it slept soundly, half-covered by the sheets. Ronan, her love. Her fated mate. With shaky hands, Raine pulled down the zipper of her dress. It pooled at her feet, and she climbed into the bed, pressing herself against him softly. She sighed in contentment. Her breath hitched as she reached for him in the pitch-dark room. He was perfect, her mate. He had cast her aside like she was nothing. But this, she was sure it would fix ever
It was the run of shame, and thankfully, the sun was not completely out yet. Raine slunk around the corridors of the packhouse like a ghostly shadow, barefoot, trembling and reeking of sex, and regret.Her dress was a pitiful mess on her body, hastily zipped up, and her hair was even worse. She could feel the scent of the older alpha clinging to her body, basically pouring out of her pores.Every step she took sent an ache through her core, a reminder of what she’d done lastShe had sex with Matthias Draven. A man more than twenty years older than her. She was 22, and if she remembered properly, he was approaching 45. The man was Ronan’s father. He’d probably even carried her as a child.Not only had he knotted her, but their wolves had bonded. Fuck, what was she going to do?How would she ever look herself in the mirror again. Raine’s head pounded, her muscles screamed as she staggered towards the back door, hoping to slink back to the motel and disappear forever.But fate wasn’t don
Matthias smelled her before he saw her.At first, he thought it was just a figment of his imagination. It had been days since the incident, but he still woke up every morning with the taste of her on his tongue and her scent in his nose. He could feel her everywhere, and he longed for her.It was the best sex he ever had. She's fucking pure, soft and willing. He had seen the blood on the bed and knew he was her first.He had taken her virginity. He could still feel the softness of her body as she slept in his arm. He could smell her.But this, this was different. Her scent hit him strongly, exactly how he remembered it. Crushed violets, honey lavender, and something that was just her.And his wolf howled, calling for its second. Matthias froze. She was here.Raine was here.His head snapped up. And then he saw her, standing at the far end of the aisle, her scent wrapping around him like a noose.Matthias breathed it in like a lost man at sea. He had been starved of this, both he and h
Matthias blinked as her words sunk in. His gaze was unreadable as he glanced down at his clasped hands. She bit her lips. The truth was, she'd thought about that night in the past days more times than she was supposed to.Raine stood up, she closed and opened her eyes briefly, keeping her hormones in check. It feels wrong to be yearning for her mate's father again.She closed her eyes she could still feel the way he moved deep inside her, the way his member had stretched her wide. She could still feel his lips on her wetness as he nibble and lick her. And she felt ashamed.This man was her ex mate's father, and she sat across from him, getting wet for him.Matthias cleared his throat as he walked to where she's standing. "I know it was a mistake." He said, "But if anyone is to apologize, it should be me. You were drunk and vulnerable, and I took advantage of you. If I'd known it was you, I would have put a stop to it."Her teeth sunk into her lower lip, and she fiddled with the hem o
Matthias’s heart was a drum in his chest. Raine stood at the opposite side of the room, eyes wide and chest heaving as she stared up at Ronan. He could still see the flush in her cheeks from their almost kiss, and the want that slammed through him was strong enough to rock him off his feet. He stayed put through sheer force of will and turned to his son with a sneer. “What are you doing here?” He growled, stalking closer.Ronan’s brow furrowed, “What am I doing here? I live here! What is she doing here?! She was banished.” He snarled back. “On whose authority?!” Matthias’s voice boomed, “Yours? Because last I checked, I’m the only one whose authority matters in this pack. You went behind my back and banished a pack member without consulting me first. You should be punished, Ronan, for undermining my authority.”“Punished?!” Ronan spluttered, his anger simmering in the space between them as his eyes turned golden. “She was my mate. I rejected her! She has no place in this pack anymo
Her heart stopped as soon as Matthias made his declaration. It was one thing for the alpha to threaten his son for attempting to hurt her. But forcing him to take her back. Raine didn’t know how she was supposed to feel about that. Oh but she missed Ronan so much. If this was the only way they could be together, then that was what she’d take. Ronan had been in love with her once, with time, maybe he could learn to love her again. She bit her lip, hope unfurling in her chest as she shoved away from where she’d cowed by the wall, and approached both men gingerly. “I will take everything from you,” Matthias said, leaning closer until he was almost nose to nose with his son. “Your inheritance. Your claim to leadership, your place in this pack. You will leave here with nothing and nothing to your name from generations to generations.” Ronan’s nostrils flared. “You can’t be serious.” Matthias pulled back just enough to meet his son’s gaze. “Try me.” Ronan’s eyes bulged as he re
When night came, Raine was escorted to Ronan’s rooms and told she was to sleep there on the alpha’s orders. It was unusual because even before Ronan rejected her, Raine slept in her own home down in the pack and was rarely ever in the packhouse, much less in Ronan’s room. Still, her heart thumped excitedly as she stepped into the empty room, and was immediately covered in the scent of her mate. She expected her wolf to preen and luxuriate with pleasure, being surrounded by the scent of their mate. But her wolf remained resolutely quiet, having been down since Matthias walked away from her in the living room. It didn’t matter though, Raine was sure her wolf would perk up once Ronan was back, and it realized he was their true mate, and Matthias had just been a really great fuck. An hour later, she was stepping out of the bathroom after a soak in the tub, and was slipping into the night slip that had been laid out for her, when the room door opened and Ronan slammed his way in. R
According to Lyra, Raine’s bones had refused to heal because someone had used wolfs bane to separate her from her wolf, and had been doing it for so long, that her innate self had retreated so far back. Leaving her without her wolf and all the abilities that came with it. While Lyra said all these, Raine was asleep, having knocked out as soon as her head hit the pillow, so he couldn’t even ask her when she’d first been exposed to the substance, he and Lyra needed an exact date to be able to determine just how long the poison had been circulating in her system. “Where did you find her?” Lyra asked after they sat in silence for twenty minutes. She was writing something at the desk, staring at him from across the small space. She couldn’t use her medic house in the meantime, so she was using this pack house bedroom as a make shift office. Ronan shook his head where he stood, towering over Raine in bed, watching her chest rise and fall with each shallow breath. She looked smaller th
It seemed like the entire world was at a standstill as Matthias watched his son’s car draw closer and closer until it stopped just by the border. Ronan stepped out and froze, shocked to find everyone there. His gaze snapped to Killian’s briefly, and a flash of something went through his gaze. It looked a little like fear, but it was gone far too soon to be sure. Matthias wasn’t even looking at him long enough to be sure. The only thing he had eyes on was Raine. It’d been only less than a week, but seeing her in the flesh was a knife to his gut. He hadn’t even realized how much he’d missed her until now. His wolf whined, drawing close and seeking the bond between them, but there was no answering call from her side. Just like it was that first night, Matthias felt like he was calling out to a brick wall. Something was wrong here. She looked like a shadow of her former self, and that was before she stepped out of the car, and he finally saw the cast on her leg and the crutches. Wha
Raine turned briefly to catch Selene’s gaze and then she asked. “I wanna know what the deal is. With you and Selene. You come all the way over here to see her, and you hate driving. So tell me what’s so special between you both that’s git you so invested.” Selene laughed out loud behind them, throwing her head back. “Such a simple question. And the answer is very simple, Ronan loves me. You can relate. He hasn’t loved you a day in his life.” I didn’t care bout the crutches in my hands or the cast on my hand. I growled for the first time in days, and lounged at Selene. Tackling her to the floor from across the room.♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎Against his better judgement, Matthias found himself leading Killian and the strange boy witch through the pack and into the woods on the territory before they reached the pack borders where the ruined wards were. There was a sinister twinge to the air that morning and it sent a shiver of discomfort down the alpha's spine, and he made sure to keep am eye o
“What the fuck?” Ronan gasped, staggering back into the room as the bedroom door opened wider. He stared at Raine like he wasn’t a hundred percent sure she was even really there. He turned his attention to Selene, and the woman stood tall, her chin high like no one was a threat to her. Which to be fair, was true. “You told me she wasn’t here.” He growled, stalking closer to her. “You swore that you had you had no idea where she was. You lied to me!” “Oh simmer down.” She hissed, rolling her eyes. “You’re getting pressed over a woman you claim to have no hold on.” “That is not the point.” He glowered, “Look at her! How am I supposed to take her back to the camp in a cast and crutches? What am I going to tell Matthias?” “What makes you think Killian will let you take her out of here behind his back?” Ronan growled, his wolf coming to the surface with the force of his anger. Raine staggered, much weaker now in the face of his wolf’s power without her wolf to tamper it. Selene r
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