Lachlan POV“Mine,” I whispered in her ear for the hundredth time tonight. “My Lira.”Lira looks absolutely lovely, her face glowing as she stares up at me with the most stunning smile on her delicate face. I trace her lips with my finger, my heart hammering against my chest from the thrill of the sparks I feel traveling up my hand. She’s mine, in every sense of the word. She is my wife, my mate, my entire world. Everything I am is hers, and she is mine. “Mine,” I repeated again, making her laugh in that amazing way she does, where her shoulders shake and her belly tightens, her legs folding up with the movement. She puts her entire body into that laugh, which fascinates me to no end. “Yes. Yes. I am yours,” Lira says in a voice that is hoarse from the passionate love making she had to endure all night after I couldn’t restrain myself any longer. She demanded nothing less of me, and soon my fear of hurting or scaring her left for good. I rest my head next to hers on the pillow,
Jack POVI’m pacing in front of the damned armory, a trail forming in the dirt from the hours I have spent here, walking up and down the same few feet of shadowed walkway, waiting to hear some news about the party that left early yesterday morning to check the borders of this pack. The party that left with my crew mate. The maddening woman did not even bother to ask me if I was bothered by her leaving with the group of men or not. Mostly, if not entirely, unmated men. All of whom I'm sure would jump at the chance to keep her warm at night.Lucky is the one who found me at the bar to tell me, and I almost wrung his neck at the time. I want to wring someone out now for allowing such disrespect.Who does she think she is, just abandoning me like this? With several unmated men at that.“You were the asshole who drove her away,” Oisin grumbles, annoyed with me more than anyone else. “By doing what the woman told me to do! How was I to know she would act this way?”“She’s a woman. A woma
Beretta POVIt happened as we were resting by the campfire, enjoying the start of our dinner of jerked beef and dried fish with crackers. One of the men had picked wild herbs while collecting firewood, and one of the towns we had passed through had offered the Beta jared vegetable stew for our dinner. We were waiting for that to heat up over the fire, and the kettle of wild chamomile and mint tea to brew. The day had been interesting. I would even go so far as to describe it as fun, though riding all day was hard on the body.I got to see the outskirts of the pack’s territory, and it truly was a magnificent place. The beauty of the land inward matched the beauty of the sea. The lush greenery and fields of wildflowers were vibrant with wildlife. Deer and elk were in abundance, not even scared of our movements as we passed through. The towns were picturesque and added to the scenery instead of taking away from the natural wonder of it all. You could see evidence of war in many of the
Elelira POV “Can I not convince you to stay here?” Lachlan asks me again, staring at me from across the stables as Cherum readies one of the spare horses for me. I smiled softly from hearing his voice in my head, but shook my head no. We’ve been over this since Cherum interrupted us and told us of what happened to Nilo, Beretta and the rest of the team being attacked at the border. I am not going to just stay home and do nothing, no matter how much he begs. “I love you,” I told him to soften the blow. “Then stay home,” he growls. “Ah, that’s not how love works.” I understand his worries. His mother was killed in battle, and he doesn’t want to be left alone again. He doesn’t want to lose me. I don’t want to lose him either. I bet that was why his mother fought. She would rather die alongside her mate than have a life without him. This sounds like a simple rescue mission, though. I'm not staying here and doing nothing. “You can take charge of the pack in my stead.” I chuckled
Unknown POVThe sounds. That’s something I will never get used to. The sounds of endless chaos and depravity going on around me. The sounds echo off the walls, amplified by our own fears. The sounds are what breaks you first.Everything has gotten worse over the past few days. The normal sounds, well, as normal as they can become when you are living in a literal hell, have been overrun with constant torturous cries and chants for destruction. Whose destruction, I don’t know, but the pack or kingdom they are after now must be something powerful. Something big. Through the bars in the window that give us a sliver of a glimpse of the outside world, we have seen hordes and hordes of demons and dark fae of every kind marching through the pavilion. They all seemed ready for war.Our master has not paid us a visit in several days either. That is completely out of character for the wretched filth. He rarely goes a day without defiling our bodies. He seems addicted to the screams of the new
Cedric POV“Please, be here. Please be here. Please be here,” I murmured to myself, swimming along the coast of the western borders to Wayne’s pack, hoping to find some sign of my King and my people.I’ve been calling for them all morning, sending out wave after wave of magic, hoping not to have to go this far from my princess. I wanted someone to meet me halfway so I could get back by the time they left.There’s not a prayer of that working out for me now. I had to swim like hell to make it here, and now I can’t see any signs of them anywhere.It was just a single squad of knights, led by Lillian, accompanying our king, but I still thought I could find one of them in the water.As I’m circling the docks again, I am about to just go on land to see if I can find anyone on two feet since I'm having such a hard time with fins, but then the King himself comes diving into the water.The transformation starts out subtly, his fins taking form with his legs. The pack here is under the impres
Mimi can’t be saved. Not from this. She won’t die alone. There is a storm of people outside her door waiting to shower her with every bit of the love she deserves.Beretta is my sister. She is the strongest woman in the world after me, though she would argue that to the death claiming she is the strongest.I have the strongest mate in the world, ready to save her, and his best friend and brother. He is just waiting for me, making sure that I’m ready to either stay here or leave with him.It's my choice.He wants me to stay, and I trust my mate. I trust him to bring Beretta home. And with Jack, those demons will be facing a new kind of hell against both these Alphas.“I’ll be right back, Mimi. I’m going to talk to my mate, and I’ll be right back.”She nods weakly, then closes her eyes, no longer trying to put on the strong front. Gemma rushes to her side as Lachlan and I step into the sitting room to speak.A soft, relieved smile, full of sadness and warmth is on my mate’s face as he s
My uncle, the vile man whose death has been my goal, is standing before me, on the shores where just hours earlier I had wished my loved one goodbye.My thoughts were already such a mess before this, wracked with grief and raw emotion. Seeing him is like putting salt on an open wound. “We can kill him,” Val snarls, “We can tear his repulsive body to shreds.”She was pushing forward, ready to take the lead, but then several of my uncle’s warriors rounded the bend of the cliffs, coming from the place I used to wash my laundry and bathe. It was the place Beretta and I first walked the Hidden Cove shores together, sparring to release some of the fury that was pooling inside me on my return home. Those rocky grounds surrounding where the freshwater ran into the salty sea have always been a place of turmoil for me. In a way, it is fitting that that is where my uncle and his men would emerge. Though it is a mystery how they got to be there in the first place.“What are you doing here, Alph