RIVER BROWNEmbarrassed and hurt isnโt the only thing I feel right now. Anger and guilt are inside me too but the small ounce of strength holding me together is keeping me from breaking down.โYou have to get some rest too, RiverโThe man next to me, who is leaning against the other side of the door, signals.My head rests on the door jamb, my eyes inside the room where Brit is sleeping.โIโm okayโโYou know saying โyou are okayโ makes you not okay, right? Rest, Iโll keep an eye on herโMy eyes glide to Jacob Castaneda.I have so many words to say to him but Iโm afraid if I say anymore words, Iโll crumble.And I canโt crumble. I canโt crumble because three men took advantage of me and let me leave.I canโt crumble because three men didnโt care to explain what I thought I had misheard. They didnโt care enough to tell me I was wrong about everything.โIโm sorry for laying all of this on you. I know we said goodbye, I know we are notโฆI just didnโt have anywhere to goโJake crosses the sh
RIVER BROWNBritney hasnโt spoken since she confirmed her mateโs death. I know better than to push her but that doesnโt mean I don't worry for her.She sits on the bed, eyes out the window but they are so empty and bleak like her soul and wolf have left her.I hate seeing her like this and quite honestly, I donโt know what to do.โCan you watch over her? We both need new stuffโ, I tell Jake as we both eat breakfast silently.Iโm forcing myself to eat the breakfast cereal even if it tastes like cardboard and swamp water combined because this isnโt my house.Jake is doing me a favor. Especially and most especially when his wounds are staring at me right now and they are so ugly Iโm still surprised he can smile.โLike I said you donโt have to ask. My carโs in the garage, I donโt know if you know how to drive but if you do you can take mineโฆor I could get you whatever you need- โโJake? I know you donโt mind doing anything for us but I have to do this on my own. Iโll be back by eveningโH
NEO KINCAIDHer pheromones are dripping in the air like rain drops.I smelled her the minute she stepped out of Jacob Castanedaโs house with a cloud of fury on top of her small height and a bit of sadness behind those eyes.River denies whatโs happening to her body right now.Sure the little thing rubs her panty covered core against my very hard erection that is begging to be inside her but sheโs avoided every chance I take of trying to touch her.โLemme in, beautifulโ, my voice sounds restless, โIโll take care of you. Weโll take care of youโShe sweeps her hair from her neck, the same neck I would have bit into given the chance.Those brown eyes are back on me again. Needy, dripping and craving touch, wanting something other than air filling her up.She pulls away from me faster than I catch her.Then in her panties and a bra thatโs barely holding her boobs, her voice is sharp and precise, her face hard and serious, her eyesโฆsad. So sad.I could be the mate she deserves and tell her
SHANE KINCAIDโWe are going to catch them, kid. You hear me?โ Connor assures.Eyebags rest under her eyes, those bright eyes of hers look like theyโve been doused in cold icy water rendering her soul itself cold. Britney blinks at us. The woman seated on the bed next to her stares at us too but sheโs not really pleased about us bursting her personal bubble in this filth she calls her home now.โI want to avenge him! I want to be the one to end the life of those bastards. Youโll grant me thisโโBritney- โโHe was my mateโ, she screams and a certain edge to her voice makes us all flinch.River too.โHe was like a brother to us, you know thatโโYeah? They cut your brother in half and you havenโt killed them since he died. Theyโthey ended him and you took this long to find them. Come on, who did it? Who do I need to go after? Ronanโs pack? Lin had beef with Jamie too, he couldโcould haveโโโBrit as much as I understand your grief, I donโt think you are in any position to fight. I donโt t
RIVER BROWNIโve had my periods tons of times but this time, itโs different.Itโs different when they are near.Itโs different because I crave warmth.Itโs different because Iโm in my room, my hand on my throat and my lips stinging from the need of any of them to be in this room with me. For them to be here to touch me and not be in some place looking for killers.I worry for them.My head is spiraling, my heart is in my mouth, my whole body feels like someone is pricking me from the inside and drawing drop and drop of blood from me.I should be with Brit in her room.I should be taking the glass of water I snagged from the kitchen but one, Iโm too terrified to move and two, Britโs grief over Jamie acts as a sort of foreshadow that my mates could be next.They cut Jamie in half for Goddessโ sake. And for some reason he couldnโt be healed nor could he heal himself.What if the same happens to them?Goddess no!They are Alphas. They can take care of themselves pretty fine. I shouldnโt b
RIVER BROWNI envisioned death a couple of times and this was not it.I thought I would die in my sleep or the Moon Goddess would grant me a respectful death. InsteadโฆI feel his claws inside me. I feel him even as he withdraws them from my spine making sure the pain is etched on my brain.I feel my blood leave my body like a huge mass of water spewing from a crack.Blood gushes from my throat. My eyes try to focus on the clouds, on the skies, on the Moon Goddess.Like always she doesnโt answer me.She doesnโt help me.She watches as I shrivel to the ground, as my face touches the cold unrelenting grass, as the blood mixes with the water wiping any evidence that I suffered.A wolf howls behind me. Jake, I smile.Sweet Jake with the golden eyes is the reason Iโm dying tonight.When I think the nightmare is barely over that I will die like a peasant, no wolf, no life, no mate, no pups...my hair is yanked by my killer.I donโt struggle.Iโm losing too much blood.The pain is too much.T
CONNOR KINCAIDBritney OโShea wounded.That punkโs house destroyed.Carnage all over.A ton of her blood pooling outside Jacob Castanedaโs house.The only missing equation?Our mate. Gone. Still alive. Injured. Dead?Shit.โYou donโt have to do this. We are here, Jack, me, Luke, everyone of us is prepared to lay down our lives for our future LunaโโNoโThis is personal.โAlpha-โHis words feel like stale cookies in my mouth right now.Every one of these shits supposed to be my pack irritates me to the bone.My patience drawing to a close line, my claws digging into my palm drawing enough blood to make it hurt and to make me sane, my eyes linger at Dice.Dice. Dice. Motherfucker Dice.He wouldnโt get what we are going through.Wouldnโt get whatโs happening because one, heโs never had a mate, never truly desired one if we are being honest here and two, heโs never been cursed with a cynic of a father whoโll steal candy from you and bite a huge chunk of it while you watched. While you cri
SHANE KINCAIDโYou are not leaving with this bastardโSage grumbles and Iโm right with him on this one.I was right with him too when we took out the kid without thinking twice. He chose this road, he chose to side on the wrong team, he deserved death.Connor catches on what Sage just said but my little brother isnโt backing down.Always hard-headed.Always putting himself at the front line when we are at war. That was Connor.Right now, Sage and I are looking at my brother and we get the feeling he is not bluffing.Connor is negotiating with the intent to go with the old man if that means River gets to live.Iโm torn between my mate, my brothers, my father.โI wanted you to be an omega, boy. You had the spirit, had the resilience and you took after me in more ways than I could explain right now.Your mother was right, Con. You were good, hundred times better than I wasโโAnd you will be, with me by your side. You will beโ, Con takes a step further.Ten feet in and heโll be able to re
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