RIVER BROWNI’m shaking on behalf of Darren by the time Connor reaches up to him.The distance between us is marred by blood. A lot of blood on the ground.A lot of blood on Connor.And as Darren keeps on running his mouth, deep down I know he’s going to be next in joining his men to whatever heel they are right now.When Connor lifts his arm, his claws glinting against the dainty lighting of the underground parking lot and I see the rivulets of blood dripping from said claws, I swallow the pulsing in my throat.I shudder at the bloodshed.Darren deserves what’s coming.I shouldn’t feel sorry for him.I shouldn’t encourage Connor to end him.But deep inside me, dread fills me whole and threatens to wobble me down a cliff.I can’t stop Connor.Darren…Darren is going to die.“Connor?”I still.My whole body feels like I’m standing on a circle surrounded by fire. A lot of fire that warms me up and burns me till I can’t breathe.What?What’s happening?‘Breathe in. Take a moment to adjust
RIVER BROWN“How are you and Gypsy doing right now?”His forehead lands on mine, droplets of water cascade down between us and I shiver at his touch, at his voice, at the turn of events and at everything in general.‘We are fine and you don’t have to treat us like we are frail sheep or something’Gypsy barks.I smile.Connor’s eyes bare a hint of a smile as he rubs the cold shampoo on my hair, his fingers digging into my hair and making me more relaxed than I was when we reached to this motel.“So this is going to be a thing now, isn’t it? Shane will lose his mind when he meets Gypsy”Oh yeah, he will.I have a feeling Gypsy is about to be a handful than I am.“Ask him about us shifting. About them marking us”, I tell Gypsy, my body lax and nervous.For them to mark me, a mating ceremony must take place.They’ve already had me but are they ready to mark me? To propose? To marry me? To make me their Luna officially?‘Are you sure? We can wait till we go back home. We can ask when they
NEO KINCAIDI hear Shane’s angry footsteps from a mile away and I chuckle to myself nursing back a glass of hard liquor to the back of my throat.Dice filled me in on everything that went down in Los Angelo.That punk Darren from the west coast of Los Angelo spilled more than he should have, River ran away, Connor took her and not before killing Darren’s men like they were nothing and leaving Shane to clean up.Darren got away.The meeting was a bust and everything went south.And absolutely nothing aggravates Shane like something going south.As he opens the office door with a thud throwing his coat somewhere on the couch and his briefcase on the smooth bear fur carpet, I don’t even prod on what he’s angry about.“Has he called you yet?”He asks. I know he’s referring to Connor.“No. Has he called you?”“I wouldn’t be asking if he did, Neo”He’s in a bad mood alright.“He’ll be here with her; you know he will”“I know but he is making me out to be the bad guy here. I was supposed to
RIVER BROWNA week rolling around with Connor in bed in a motel had me missing my men more than I can express.Shane’s body hugs my back, his face leans into my neck, sniffing me, covering me with his scent that has me drowsy.I definitely missed him after everything that went down in Los Angelo.“I missed you”, he whispers.Neo’s hand interlocks with mine as he glares ahead.And what he is staring at is the blank metal of the elevator we are currently standing in.Unlike Connor and Shane who are showered me with too much kisses than I can handle, Neo held back.Right now he is gritting his teeth, his foot tapping the metal ground impatiently.Has he figured out what I’m going to do?Will he be up to it?Will he back me up?‘We missed you too’, Gypsy replies as I give in to Shane’s forearms that are hugging every inch of me.“I should have explained everything”‘Connor already did’Connor winks at me besides Neo.And he explained everything while he was buried inside me, his arms hold
SHANE KINCAIDGetting to the bottom of things faster than everyone else has always been my power, my instinct, an alpha’s intuition.I might be pussy whipped, too far gone to question everything that’s happening but I put two and two together.Slowly. Angrily.Every piece falls into the other like a jigsaw puzzle. River whimpers in Neo’s arms as my brother hikes up her dress higher and higher till her panties and his hand which is almost tearing the fabric off her body are visible to everyone else in the room.That’s not what catches my eye though no matter how bad I want to be in her too.The night as showcases by Viola’s window wall has a full moon in it’s skies. The sign of great power and great destruction.I see the destruction before it even strikes and I find myself moving to protect River and Neo who are too distracted by lust to have seen the attack coming.Her eyes raging hell, her body heaving smoke, her teeth gnash, my hands land on her wrist and captures her captive.Vio
RIVER BROWNThe clouds loom low, about to spew a dangerous amount of downpour, the ornamental white gown I have on me feels like I’m carrying a ton of rocks.It doesn’t help that I’m sitting in the middle of the Kincaid brothers-my mates as the other alphas, betas, omegas look up at me from below.I can feel their ire, sense their hatred that’s back biting like the cold wind.I can also see admiration in my pack’s eyes for coming forward and for outing the woman who is weak and restrained right next to the bon fire that burns up to the skies terrifying me.“You are gonna do great, Riv. It’s your first trial, I get that but everything is going to turn out okay”, Brit assures as she stands next to me like a sentinel.She has risen among the ranks since Jamie died.She’s fierce, she’s confident and most of all, she’s been supportive all the way through.I could speak to her if Gypsy allowed it but the only people who can hear Gypsy are my mates.The odd thing is since Brit came to the ma
RIVER BROWNGasps break out in the space, the woman next to me gasps, I think I gasp too from Shane’s words as I stand receding back to the door behind me that leads anywhere that’s not near tons of people.The white dress suffocates me, my back breaks out in cold sweat and all I can think about is how this trial took a turn for the worst.Brit appears behind me; I hear her before her hand lands on my shoulder.“Deep breathes”, she urges, I hold onto her hand like she’s my saving grace.Why would they do that?Why would he say that in front of a mob that wants to kill me and make Viola Luna?That fuels their anger.Our mating ceremony? Today?That doesn’t even make sense because the elders have to choose the right day for a mating ceremony. Not that I don’t want it but this is too much.Too much.“Think of this as removing a tooth to save a rotting gum. They mark you, River and no one is going to ever interrupt you in a trial or speak to you when not spoken to. You’ll be Luna, you’ll
CONNOR KINCAIDThis day wasn’t going to end like this.This isn’t quite how Killian and I wanted this to go.Viola isn’t supposed to be breathing, the elders aren’t supposed to be waiting for us by the altars with bowls of wet ash on their hands.Kane isn’t supposed to be in the crowd looking at me with that smug face that tells me I look like a desperate puppy waiting for a morsel of food.Good thing is River Brown isn’t a morsel, bad thing is she’s the whole damn buffet that has me by my neck tonight and if she told me she wanted a plane, a house, my heart, I’d do that to make that possible.Anything for my princess.The suit hugging my body tightens all around my space. Doesn’t help that I put on a tie to dress for the occasion.Shane looks comfortable in his suit but his eyes are raging fire.Neo is calm and collected next to me but his eyes are on the entrance that’s supposed to spit out our mate.She’s late.She’s scared.We made the decision for her but she didn’t say no.Our m
EPILOGUE: KINCAID BROTHERS’ POVNEO KINCAID“Keep you boys away from my kids”, 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 Kane’s 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 Jessica’s lips with the handkerchief, I’m already headed in his direction before Kane even thinks of punching my face to the ground.“Cal, hey. Come here.”My boy kisses Jess’ cheeks before he runs to me and I have no doubts he took over Connor.He’s cheeky like that.I kneel when he stands in front of me and I push lint off his suit.“What 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 that’s us kissing like maniacs.Teeth gnashing against teeth, tongues fighting and him winning, his teeth biting my bottom lip before he sucks it like it’s 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 he’ll draw blood and I damn know very well he’ll 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 I’m 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 KINCAID“You ready to rodeo this shit?”Connor 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.I’ll kill these beasts. I’ll 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.“Ready”, I retort over all the noise and the upheaval.Silva latches on to the neck of the boar up ahead in seconds.That’s one boar down.And the other is boar headed to us while we still can’t shift.“One.”I 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 wasn’t for the fact that we’ve been dangling in a dark room for days taking beatings from omegas we could have well killed.I’m pissed at everything.I’m
RIVER BROWNA few days of being here and Brit and I have searched for them to no avail.It doesn’t help talking to Osiris—my 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.“I chose them. I’m 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.”“Osiris- “, my mother pleads.My father’s face softens but that mask of overprotectiveness is back as soon as he holds my eyes tenderly.“I’m here now and you do not have to do anything you don’t want to.”“You think I don’t want my mates? I love them, they are my mates!”“Do you know if they are? Or did they tell you they are your mates and you went along with it.”Britney scoffs next to me.I fight the urge for an eyeroll because deep inside, his question boggles me.I admit at first, I didn’t 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.Shane’s the one who’s taking this harder than ever.Pissed as ever, exerting energy he doesn’t have trying to free himself, I know the silver stings him harder than all of us.“I’m calling it now”, Shane grunts, the chains rattle from the damp ceiling, “this is the last time we let any of River’s family members close to us. There was the delinquent sister and now there’s the psychotic father.”I 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 we’ve 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 we’ll corrupt his daughter.Our mate for Goddess’ sake.We’ve 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.I’ve 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 hadn’t done a lot in my life that made the Goddess like me but I would have done anything to join
NEO KINCAID“Iridian? Lotus flower, is that you?”Osiris asks like he’s floundering in a vast pit of his own self-loathing and guilt.I can’t imagine what it’ll 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.“Meemaw, he knows your name”, 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 she’s 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 that’s why Osiris picks Niko from the floor and in his hardened scarred arms taking painful steps to meet us.A minute ago, I thought we’d take out Osiris and get to the displeased omega who’s only gotten paler.Right now, we all watch as two love
CONNOR KINCAIDFor a myth guy and for a guy who’s been a traitor to his species, Osiris didn’t 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, there’s 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.River’s father might be some bigshot but bigshot or not, we don’t 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 there’s Gio who’s protecting the premises with a bat in case of trouble. We all know that bat won’t stop anyone but I let the old guy think he’s doing something.Mom hasn’t 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, she’s determined to see this through to the end.I’m 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 moon’s light reveals the triplets’ faces.Brit follows behind them but that’s not the only one tagging along.Some guy is being yanked and forced to walk beh