Trista’s POVI was pinned to the ground.She was on top of me. I could feel the heat from her naked body. I struggled, but it was no use. They had hauled me into the tent. I tried to resist, to fight back, but they were strong and I had no combat training. I tried to kick Carlos but I missed and lost my footing.Thud. I fell to the hard ground.Then she leapt on top of me. Carlos pinned my arms over my head. Then the woman straddled me. I could feel the wetness between her legs drip onto my thighs.I didn’t understand what they were doing!“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my eyes wide.“I won’t let you ruin everything, you stupid whore!” She wrapped her hands around my throat.I couldn’t breathe!“My parents want me to marry Liam,” she seethed. “They’re already planning it. It will cement the allegiance between our two packs. It will give me power.” She tightened her grip around my throat. “You’re already divorced from him,” she spat into my face. “This is none of your business. I
Trista’s POVI recoiled and whimpered. Please Moon Goddess, I prayed. Get me out of here.She must have heard my prayer because suddenly, the entire tent was overturned. We all turned to see a massive black wolf, eyes afire with rage.My vision was blurry, but I knew right away it was Liam. Carlos tossed me from him and growled menacingly. Then he shifted into his wolf, a dark brown, not as big as Liam, but muscular and thick.Carlos bared his teeth and hunched down. They snapped their jaws at each other. Carlos’ sister and I ran out of the way. We knew better than to get in the middle of this wolf fight.They circled one another, their roars and growls mixed with threatening words.“This is NONE of your business, Liam,” Carlos sneered. “Back off. She’s your ex-wife. She doesn’t belong to you anymore. I can fuck her if I want. Hazel and I have already talked about this. She doesn’t care who I sleep with.”“Keep your filthy paws off of her!” Liam snapped back. “She’s off-limits. Don’t
Trista’s POVJohnson’s voice?No. That wasn’t possible. I was just imagining things. It couldn’t be. But before I could think it through, I was pulled from my thoughts by loud yelling. “OVER HERE!” It was guards. The noise of the fierce fight had caught their attention. I looked around. Guards were charging towards us, shifting as they came. Before long, there were at least a dozen more wolves on their way, prepared to fight.The white beast was strong, but he couldn’t fight off a dozen wolves.He stopped then. It sniffed the air and howled. It must have sensed the impending danger because it released Carlos and turned.But before it left, its eyes met mine.They were red. Blood red. The beast paused for only a beat, then it took off, disappearing into the dark night. By the time the guards got to the fight, the white beast was gone. The threat had passed; the danger was over. So the wolves shifted back, one at a time.Everyone began talking at once, demanding to know what had hap
Trista’s POVALpha Jeremy gasped! He was cleary speechless from Liam’s threat. I couldn’t see his expression clearly, but I’d bet my bottom dollar, it was comical.It was a moment before Alpha Jeremy spoke. His voice was low and menacing. “Alpha Liam, do I need to remind you of the alliance between our packs? We are partners. You insult my child, yet I heard it was YOU who started this whole thing in the first place. And for what? For her?” He motioned towards me. “She’s meaningless. Just your useless ex-wife. A rogue that you expelled from your pack. Do you really want to jeopardize our ENTIRE relationship for some stupid whore?”What did he just call me? A…a whore? Anger ripped through me, but before any of us could respond, Hazel stepped in front of Alpha Jeremy.“Let’s talk about victims, shall we? Since you seem so hellbent on pointing fingers. I’ll admit that, yes, in this accident, Carlos is the biggest victim. There’s no arguing that. But in this wedding? I’M the biggest victi
Trista’s POVWe waited with baited breath. Apparently, Lola took his silence as a sign that he was going to say no.So…Lola flung herself at Liam’s feet in a dramatic display. You could hear the fear in her voice as she cried and begged him.“Please, Alpha Liam!” she sobbed. She hugged his ankles. “Take me in. I’ll be a good breeder. Don’t…don’t make me be a rogue. Please.”Alpha Liam shook his feet, trying to dislodge her from his feet.He looked down at her then up at us. Then he turned to Alpha Jeremy.“I can’t take her in,” Alpha Liam said.“PUH…LEASE…” Lola wailed.“I am sorry, Lola. But I can’t take you in. I can’t allow someone like you into my pack. However, I may be able to help you.”She released her hands from his legs and looked up at him, still in a squat position. She sniffled and wiped her snotty nose with the back of her hand.Gross.“You can help me?” she whimpered.“I can try. I might be able to find you somewhere to live. Another pack, perhaps. Or somewhere i
Trista’s POV Lola’s screams pierced the air. I continued to walk away. She was being banished. Her screams were high-pitched. I could hear the pain in her voice. Right now, they were dragging her to the pack border.Just like they’d dragged me five years ago.I had a brief flash of sympathy for her.Five years ago, I’d suffered a horrific double torture. First, the breaking of my mate-bond. Then, being banished.Banishment.It had changed a bit over the course of history because now we could go and live in human society. That hadn’t always been the case. There was a time when a banished wolf had very few options. They were destined to be rogues, forever without a pack. It was dangerous. Many of them died.But now? A lot of rogues chose to integrate into the human world. That’s what I’d done. It wasn’t easy, though. A wolf’s pack is the root of all things. It’s the anchor that holds us. Our security. Our culture. Our ancestral past. Our packs are a primitive bond that holds us
Trista’s POVI couldn’t help but notice Johnson’s naked body as he stood. His clothes had long since been torn to shreds and my tiny cardigan did little cover his muscular frame as we walked away from the water and down the beach. His chest was glistening from the water. Normally, I would have taken a moment to appreciate and admire his perfectly sculpted chest. But time was of the essence. We had to get out of here. So I tried to avert my eyes. Luckily, we had found his torn pants. They must have stuck to his fur or something.I noticed the gash marks on his thighs as we walked along. They looked deep. He also had some across his chest, as well as a bite mark on his neck. The wounds were already healing, but I had to admit, they were pretty bad. This made the situation even more urgent. We had to get somewhere safe so he could heal.We avoided everyone as we walked back to the car. We could see the bonfire flames in the distance and heard loud laughter and howls. Luckily, we managed
Trista’s POVJohnson sat down beside me, beer in hand.“Well, to my first werewolf wedding,” he sighed, clinking his beer bottle with mine.I smiled weakly. “Was it everything you thought it would be?” I asked sarcastically. “And then some,” he confessed.We sat in silence for a moment, both of us uncertain of what to say.“You know, it really was beautiful, though,” he sighed. “I was a bit shocked at first, by the blood and knives. But once I got past that, there was something very meaningful about the rituals. Almost…transcendent.”I nodded. This was a very different Johsnon than the one who had fired off questions like a child during the wedding. This was the Johnson I knew – the mature, retrospective, intelligent Johnson.“Werewolves love their rituals,” I responded. “Some of our rituals date back centuries. We take them very seriously.”He took my hand then and squeezed it. “Were you afraid?”There was no sense beating around the bush. We needed to talk about what happened. I
Trista’s POVLiam and I arrived in Paris with plenty of time. We had dinner at the airport and waited for our flight to board. They called us for boarding and we both took our seats in first class. Liam offered me the window seat but I insisted that he have it. His wound was bothering him – I could tell – and if he sat by the window, he could sleep more easily with his head against the wall. As we settled in, a strange feeling washed over me. I realized that Liam and I had never travelled together. In all our years of marriage, we never strayed far from our pack, at least not as a couple. I glanced over at him. He was fastening his seatbelt.‘How odd,’ I thought to myself. ‘Here we are, together on a plane. I never, in a million years, could have imagined our first trip together would be like this!’“Champagne?” the stewardess asked, her eyes bright. Champagne was one of the perksof flying first class. Liam wasn’t much of a champagne drinker, though, so I went to shake my head and
Trista’s POVBack upstairs in the small cottage, Dagny rummaged through her cup boards. She produced a small, crystal jar.“This ointment will make Liam well enough to travel back to the United States,” she told us. Darren eyed the small jar and I looked at him for confirmation. He nodded, indicating that the ointment was fine.Dagny walked over to Liam, lifted his shirt, and removed his bandage. I gasped when I saw his wound. It was red and angry-looking, with small black veins spread out over his stomach and chest like a spider web. Dagny scooped up some of the ointment with her fingers and roughly rubbed it on Liam’s stomach. Liam inhaled a sharp breath and winced.“That hurts,” Liam said as Dagny continued to apply the ointment in a belligerent way. I had to admit, she could have been a lot gentler. Dagny didn’t reply to Liam’s comment so Liam put his hand over hers to stop her.“Dagny, do you have some sort of problem with me?” Liam asked. “You’ve been very polite to Trista and D
Johnson’s POV“My father wanted to hand over the family business to me,” I told Jake. “But I wanted to go to New York.”“Because of that bitch?” Jake asked smugly. I nodded.When Trista left to go to the US, I felt a void in my life. I realized how much she meant to me. My feelings for her were complicated since we were such good friends. But I missed her so much it hurt. And the twins too. So I’d asked my dad if I could follow her to New York and set up business there. My father had been very reluctant at first. He wanted me to stay in Italy for the family business. He was preparing me to take over, but he said there were a few loose ends he needed to tie up first. I argued with him. I was a grown man and if I wanted to go to New York, then I could. He disagreed. He said my responsibility was to the family first.But then, one day, he just changed his mind one day.“My father allowed me to go to New York because there was someone he wanted me to find.”My father’s instructions had be
Johnson’s POVThe bullet ripped through my shoulder. A bolt of pain ripped through my shoulder, so intense it made me dizzy. Jake chuckled at my reaction.I expected to die. I expected to bleed out from the bullet wound. So did Jake and his men. But as they held me, something unusual happened. The bullet wound spurted blood at first, thick and warm. Within seconds though, the blood stopped. The pain still radiated through my body, but I could feel it healing, as though my muscle fibers were somehow weaving themselves back together with extraordinary speed.Jack frowned, his eyes narrowing. He could see what I felt, that my wound was healing with remarkable speed. He didn’t like this. Flummoxed, he marched right up to me and grabbed my collar. He tore open my shirt to see the wound for himself. Sure enough, the hole from the bullet was already growing over with fresh skin.“I thought that was a special gun,” one of his men said.“Shut up,” he seethed at the man. Then he turned to me. “
Johnson’s POVI zipped through the streets like a maniac. Jake blew through several red lights and I had no choice but to do the same. I laid on my horn as I went, alerting the few cars on the road this late at night to get the fuck out of the way. My heart raced and my palms were thick with adrenaline-induced sweat.Jake had agreed to let me have Trista and the men she was with, but I didn’t trust Jake. He was a loose cannon and capable of anything. It didn’t take much to make him snap, so even though we had a deal, I had a feeling he’d break it without hesitation. I had no idea what I would do when I got to the Milan checkpoint. The police were crawling with Jake’s informants. I’d seen firsthand that the police were useless when it came to Jake and his men. They’d detained a car at the Milan border FOR Jake. I had no faith that they’d help me out in any way. If we got to the border, and Jake decided to kill Trista and Liam after all, there was no one to stop him. Except me.Jake
I…I loved her, I realized as my breath hitched in my throat. I had to save her from these men. But how?Just then, a phone rang. One of Jake’s men answered it. He nodded and then hung up.“That was the Milan border. The car with the woman and two men are being detained there.”“Looks like we were right in the first place,” Jake said. He kicked the corpse, rolling her onto her stomach. “This bitch here side-tracked us. Come on. Let’s go. The man in the picture must be with her. The hunt has begun. Time to kill the right slut. Am I right?” Jake smiled sardonically at me.“I’ll come with you,” I told Jake, my mind racing.“Good,” Jake replied. “I need to see you kill her yourself.”I shook my head.“What do you mean, ‘no’?” Jake asked, narrowing his eyes. “Cousin, it seems like this woman is very important to you. You've been acting awfully unusual.”“I hate her for what she did on me,” I told Jake, scrambling for an excuse. “You’re right she’s important. The bitch betrayed me. But I ca
Johnson’s POVI rushed out of the auction house, my heart hammering in my chest. I had to get away from these men and to the border before they did. But as I ran down an alley that would lead me to my car, I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks.Jake and his men. They were at the end of the alley, crowded around a figure on the ground. I watched, horrified, as they kicked and beat the woman. And even more horrifying, there were two police men not even five feet away. At first, I was certain that the police would intervene. I mean, it was the POLICE after all. But the police did nothing. They only stood by and watched as Jake and his men kicked the figure on the ground.Cautiously, I took a few steps towards the men and the figure on the ground. It realized it was a woman – a woman who looked an awful lot like Trista!“No!” I hollered, rushing towards them, overcome with fear. Had they found Trista? Had she been here after all? It was possible! Maybe she hadn’t left yet. Or
“Who are you?” I asked the second voice in my head. Silver’s voice was gone. I didn’t understand. Where was this second voice coming from? It was so different than Silver’s. It was soft and gentle. Silver’s voice tore through my head like a whip. This voice rippled and floated. I was instantly drawn to it.“Quill,” the second voice said. “I’m your other wolf.”Other wolf? But how could that be? Did he mean that…Silver was my wolf? My heart dropped. If Silver was my wolf, then that meant – my wolf was a blood-thirsty, evil beast bent on killing everyone and anything in his path?Oh God.But wait. He’d just said ‘other wolf’. So that meant…“I have two wolves?” I asked, confused.“Yes. We’re twins,” the gentle voice confirmed.Twin…..wolves?“We’re nothing alike, Johnson,” the second voice, Quill, continued. “In fact, we’re polar opposites. We argue all the time.”“Why haven’t I heard your voice before?” I asked.“Silver often overpowers me,” Quill explained. “But I’ve found a way to br
Johnson’s POV“Impressive,” Jake smirked, looking at the shattered window. I hoped he bought it. If he knew that I was trying to protect both Liam and Trista, and that I let them go on purpose, it would only pique his interest in both of them, especially Trista. He’d want to find her and have a ‘good time with the bitch.’ I couldn’t let them happen. I had to persuade him that I hated both Liam and Trista. “Yeah well, he deserved it,” I snapped back, lacing my voice with as much venom as I could. “He was a pompous ass.”Jake nodded appreciatively. “And the bitch?” he asked, meaning Trista.“She’s nothing,” I snipped, waving my hand in the air dismissively. “I was nice to her at one point. I mean, come on, she’s a hot piece of ass, after all. I wanted a taste of her. But she chose that scumbag ex of hers over me. So I naturally got pissed and snapped. I wanted some revenge on the woman who hurt me. But she got away before I could.” I chose my words carefully, hoping I could fool Jake.