RIVER BROWNI couldn't buy it.The look on Neoโs face, the haggard way the tips of his blonde hair fell on his forehead when all of us three went back to my tent.Something was wrong, I could feel it but I couldn'tโโSleepโNeo orders, the harshness of his voice to a minimum and I blink at him twice with a curious brow.โIt's hard to sleep incase you haven't noticedโโYou are cold?โ He raises a confused brow, his eyes raking my face, my neck all the way down to where the blanket has covered my shoulders.It's hard to be cold when there's three of us in my bed.Connor's chest is hugging my back, his feet are tangled with me inside the blanket. His face is buried in the crook of my neck and every time he breathes, goosebumps light up my skin like rain drops.โI'm warmer than I've ever been in my entire life so noโฆno to coldโNeo doesn't smile and I'm almost positive I won't sleep tonight but his strikingly blue eyes gaze at me before he says,โYou've never slept with a man in your bed?โ
NEO KINCAIDMy heart on a platter, Silva too confused to talk to me, the only thing that is tethering me to the world is her scent, her hair and her body that is in my arms at the moment.โThatโs a lot of wounds on her, Connorโ, Shane complains from the other side of the screen glancing at River who fell asleep in my arms after throwing a tantrum about not touching her if we were going to kill Jack, Jillโwhatever the guyโs name was.Connor who is seated next to me, his hands massaging Riverโs legs scoffs,โTrainingโโAnd how did that go?โโSheโs stubborn as hell. Tougher than some of the low-lives Iโve trained. Sheโs good with arrows, can throw a few punches but sheโs still locking her wolf insideโShane smiles hiding it with the usual serious face that makes him think he looks invincible.I wish I could smile.Act like Connor whoโs holding onto River and pretending heโs doing fine when heโs not.Christopher is back.Our bastard of a father hated Shane and I but loved Connor more. The
RIVER BROWNThe plane ride felt like I was violating the Goddessโ domain.This is not what I imagined the heavens to be like.Add in that I was in the sky for more than four hours in bed with men who refused to take their legs and hands off of me and I think the Goddess might have wanted to strike me dead.I keep adding sin after sin and Iโm enjoying sinning. A lot.โYou hungry?โ Connorโs hand is on my thigh.The thigh that is barely covered by his t-shirtโฆthe one Iโm wearing with Neoโs oversized coat on top.โNo, just dizzyโโYou need water?โ Neo asks to my left.โNo. I just want a bed and some quiet and some sleepโConnor chuckles but he is not really withdrawing his hand from one of my thighs. Neither is Neo.If they think touching me and making me feel all sorts of weird sensations in my tummy will make me forget about Jake, they are dead wrong.Gio, our driver, gets the message because he moves the car around traffic like a pro.The noise of the cars, the smell of the city, the t
RIVER BROWNโHow are we doing?โThe Vivienne Westwood ivory silk dress rolls down my curves, revealing every inch of my back. It matches my earrings and the heels that feel immaculately tall.โI like itโโYou should because itโs hella expensive but other than that? You look hot, girl. Theyโll be tripping over themselves the minute they see youโโYou think so?โ I ask Brit.โYouโll knock them dead, trust meโBrit arrived the very instant Shane left his roomโฆmy roomโฆour room.The guys called her over because apparently Brit is good at these sorts of things. The picking of the dress, the red โlipstickโ on my lips, the perfume that smells like wild flowers and summer rain.โI donโt know how to act if Iโm being honest. Iโll be outside with three Alphas and people out there will be staring at usโJudging me.โHey, this isnโt Brackenridge, okay? This is New Hawk and your alphas would kill anyone who made you uncomfortableโโWow that makes me feel a lot betterโ, I say sarcastically, Brit chuck
SHANE KINCAIDYou know what Iโd like more than anything?To be back in that damn restaurant, her killer body in my arms, her siren lips sucking every bit of energy from me.I canโt do that though because one, the restaurant was five hours ago and River is probably in bed with Connor-sleeping and two, Iโm stuck with thisโฆhunting, sniffing out a rabbit who has always thought he was a god.Gotta hand it to my old man though, heโs been careful. Twenty something years later and Christopher Kincaid has managed to fall from the face of the realm.Some called him a legend for killing his wife and getting away with it.Some called him a myth because he was the most powerful Omega to ever exist.I call him the man whoโll die by my hands the same way our mother died.Christopher Kincaidโs scent lingers in the air, Sage picked up his scent all the way to this dreary forest before I lost him.I heave into the night, the cold night air bites my skin like tiny termites getting their first pound of f
RIVER BROWNโTonight was funโ, I whisper, Connorโs hand grazes my cheek stopping a little shy from my lips.โYeah, the kiss? The food? The dance?โโEverything. Well, everything except the part where Neo wanted to kill the waiter for getting me the wrong food or for calling you my brothersโโThe waiter should have been dead for looking at you the way he didโI giggle. I like it when heโs jealous and I like him more when he gets angry over the most random things.โI didnโt kill the woman you slept with a while back so itโs no fair if you kill a helpless man for staringโConnor keeps quiet.I should be embarrassed that I brought the topic up but now that I think about it. In Riaโs words, that was a shitty thing for him to do.To lick my pussy and sleep with another woman the next day. Thatโฆthat stung.โI didnโt sleep with anyoneโโYou smelled of a womanโs perfumeโ, I accuse. I remember the way it hurt even though I had met this guy a few weeks ago back then.It stung right now too.โBec
RIVER BROWNHer claws snap in and out like she is choosing whether to shift or not.Her shifting would probably kill us. I mean Britney OโShea is a beta and even though her wolf might not be as large as that of an alpha, I have a feeling it's just as bigger than an average wolf.โHow is she doing?โ Ria asks wrestling with the tiny steering wheel of her even tinier car.My eyes never drift on Brit even as the car swerves at a familiar road.Brit keeps repeating โJamie. Jamie. JAMIEโFor my best friend's sake I'm praying Jamie is probably back at Shane's office taking orders about a new mission that would require Jamie not to pick calls from his mate.Because Brit isโฆhis mate.You can tell by the love flogging in her eyes when she mentions Jamie. You can feel it in how her voice cracks as she calls him.Will I be smitten like this too with Shane, Connor and Neo some day?I'd like that but I don't want to feel the pain she's feeling right now.The pain of uncertainty.โShe's holding in t
RIVER BROWNโTaking her out in public, showing her off just to warn the bounty hunters she's protected won't matter right now.He either gets her or they get her firstโโVi-โ, Shane's voice is full of threat but he is not shooting down her words either.This โViโ has her painted nails on him, rubbing his back, claiming what is hers.Her fingers get lost at the back of his head where his hair ends, she plays with Shane's hair, feeling its texture, gaining Shane's mulled wine scent on her fingertips. This woman with the red matching coat and loose pants claims Shane Kincaid as hers and I stand there and watch.I stand there and I stupidly tell myself Shane Kincaid will step away from his first love and claim that only I get to touch him.He doesn't do that though.That would be wishful thinking.Insteadโฆmy heart is split into tiny pieces by a blunt unsterilized knife.โAre we all going to pretend she's not your latest toy? I've seen women like her come and go. The bad thing is the poor
EPILOGUE: KINCAID BROTHERSโ POVNEO KINCAIDโKeep you boys away from my kidsโ, Kane grumbles, I chuckle looking at said kids.Callum is dressed in a tux, his unruly dark hair carefully gelled back, an action that took Shane more than ten minutes.More than looking like a little gentleman, his little hands are all over Jessica, tickling her.Jessica Grey, Ria and Kaneโs daughter, chuckles until a second later, the fit of giggles turn into tears of happiness.Callum removes a handkerchief from his tiny pockets, wiping the tears on her eyes and cheeks.The second he touches Jessicaโs lips with the handkerchief, Iโm already headed in his direction before Kane even thinks of punching my face to the ground.โCal, hey. Come here.โMy boy kisses Jessโ cheeks before he runs to me and I have no doubts he took over Connor.Heโs cheeky like that.I kneel when he stands in front of me and I push lint off his suit.โWhat did we say about lying low when it comes to Jess? You know her father wants yo
RIVER BROWNThe ripple of his deep voice carries in the air and vibrates against my skin.My nipple puck as my hips buck taking every lash of his tongue like the good girl, he just declared me to be.I drown in his scent, in his taste, taking his tongue, matching the crescendo thatโs us kissing like maniacs.Teeth gnashing against teeth, tongues fighting and him winning, his teeth biting my bottom lip before he sucks it like itโs supposed to give him energy.My pussy clenches when Neo goes ahead to play with my nipples.Not soft. Not gentle.But hard.His kiss is punishing.Him pinching my sensitive buds feels like heโll draw blood and I damn know very well heโll suck that blood and I will be hornier than ever before.By the time he goes to my neck, my heart beat accelerates like a motor engine. I growl for more knowing very well Iโm out of breath and the building pleasure rioting in my body will be enough to bring the roof of the room down.My mates pick up on that.A second later, t
SHANE KINCAIDโYou ready to rodeo this shit?โConnor yells.I grip the chains harder, my boots sinking into the sand. Then I take one good look at the old man from his high seat looking at us like he thinks a couple of wild boars will be able to get rid of us.Iโll kill these beasts. Iโll pass whatever trials he has for us.And when we are out of here, I will fuck my mate senseless and mark her again if need be just to show the old man his daughter is mine.His daughter will always be ours.โReadyโ, I retort over all the noise and the upheaval.Silva latches on to the neck of the boar up ahead in seconds.Thatโs one boar down.And the other is boar headed to us while we still canโt shift.โOne.โI can hear the amusement in his voice.My brother is having quite a little bit of fun in this.I would find the whole situation funny if it wasnโt for the fact that weโve been dangling in a dark room for days taking beatings from omegas we could have well killed.Iโm pissed at everything.Iโm
RIVER BROWNA few days of being here and Brit and I have searched for them to no avail.It doesnโt help talking to Osirisโmy father because he has relentlessly refused to let me see my mates no matter how I ask my mother to knock some sense into him.โI chose them. Iโm old enough to make my own decisions. I have made my own decisions for a long time long before you even showed up in the picture.โโOsiris- โ, my mother pleads.My fatherโs face softens but that mask of overprotectiveness is back as soon as he holds my eyes tenderly.โIโm here now and you do not have to do anything you donโt want to.โโYou think I donโt want my mates? I love them, they are my mates!โโDo you know if they are? Or did they tell you they are your mates and you went along with it.โBritney scoffs next to me.I fight the urge for an eyeroll because deep inside, his question boggles me.I admit at first, I didnโt feel anything towards them that classified them as my mates.Sure, they called me their mate first
CONNOR KINCAIDMotherfucker.The silver digs into my wrist, at this point it might as well be filtering into my bloodstream, weakening Killian and I.Shaneโs the one whoโs taking this harder than ever.Pissed as ever, exerting energy he doesnโt have trying to free himself, I know the silver stings him harder than all of us.โIโm calling it nowโ, Shane grunts, the chains rattle from the damp ceiling, โthis is the last time we let any of Riverโs family members close to us. There was the delinquent sister and now thereโs the psychotic father.โI cough.Blood taints my lips, almost choking me.Feeling the blood tainting my teeth, I smile and then I erupt into a full-blown pained chuckle.Curse our fucking luck.After all weโve been through, to get River, to get the kids and the only thing stopping us now is a pissed off father-in-law who thinks weโll corrupt his daughter.Our mate for Goddessโ sake.Weโve corrupted her so much, not even another man can breathe down her neck.We filled her
SPECIAL CHAPTER: ALPHA OSIRISWhen life has taken a lot from you, quite literally and figuratively, nothing surprises you anymore.Iโve seen everything the realm and the worlds have to offer and nothing in my entire lifetime has boggled my mind since.They call me a traitor, a traitor I have lived.My people were fickle and if I was a man who cared about the rumors and the backlashing, I would have slaughtered them. Had some peace, enforced the power I craved so much in my youth.Yet one thing changed in the equation and life was as meaningless as the walls I erected to keep the outside world out.My lotus flower died.My human mate left me to rot in this wretched world.Not a single day has gone by not wishing I could join her wherever she went.Humans believed they went to heaven when they died.Werewolves believed there was only two paths in the afterlife. To the Goddess or to hell.I hadnโt done a lot in my life that made the Goddess like me but I would have done anything to join
NEO KINCAIDโIridian? Lotus flower, is that you?โOsiris asks like heโs floundering in a vast pit of his own self-loathing and guilt.I canโt imagine what itโll feel like knowing he has twenty-six-year-old twin girls, one of whom he just threatened to kill for the punk standing pale next to him.My little boy grins, turning around to look at us.โMeemaw, he knows your nameโ, Niko says.Iridian slowly steps forward, lips quivering, her hands covering her mouth to stop the sobs.A few of the shit betas and omegas in the room with us murmur.Some of them might know her.Some of them think sheโs a fraud.But most of them smell it in the air.River and my kids smell like Iridian, only different.And Iridian smells like what she is. A human.Maybe thatโs why Osiris picks Niko from the floor and in his hardened scarred arms taking painful steps to meet us.A minute ago, I thought weโd take out Osiris and get to the displeased omega whoโs only gotten paler.Right now, we all watch as two love
CONNOR KINCAIDFor a myth guy and for a guy whoโs been a traitor to his species, Osiris didnโt earn the title for the most powerful alpha in the realm for nothing.We thought we were rogues.Osiris makes us look like a bunch of fools from Brackenridge.You can tell by the infrastructure in Gozam, the gravel-built houses surrounding the castle for protection.There are the omegas guarding the gate and as we move inside the city, thereโs the betas guarding the inside of the city, guarding the outside of the grotesque gothic mansion up ahead.Each tumble of the jeep we are currently occupying raises our guards up.Riverโs father might be some bigshot but bigshot or not, we donโt give a shit about his power or his city or his shit guards that stare at my kids like vermin.As soon as we get Levi, we are out of here. Back to normal. Back to making up to our kids for missing in action in all five years of their lives.River and the kids are up ahead in the jeep halting in front of the castle
RIVER BROWNI have been biting my nails since they disappeared into the woods.At some time in the night, Gypsy alerted me she heard screams. I wanted nothing more than to let my curiosity take over but the thought of leaving my kids stopped me.They left us with a couple of omegas to protect us.And then thereโs Gio whoโs protecting the premises with a bat in case of trouble. We all know that bat wonโt stop anyone but I let the old guy think heโs doing something.Mom hasnโt stopped looking out in the woods yet and I get her.Brit is out there too and by the look on her face when she left, sheโs determined to see this through to the end.Iโm determined to put this behind our backs and start a life without wars and hunting and constant danger.The Moon Goddess might have heard my prayer because the trees by the west ruffle and the moonโs light reveals the tripletsโ faces.Brit follows behind them but thatโs not the only one tagging along.Some guy is being yanked and forced to walk beh