Derik moved in front of me, kissing me, teasing me, building me up again as Kai kept his leverage grip on my hips and kept the pace fast.I rode him just as hard, bounding on him as I gasped, trying to tame the heat in my body, but it was a wildfire. Untamable.It brushed every nerve, every muscle, every bone, leaving them shaking and disoriented with the overwhelming pleasure that he pulsed into me.I moaned against Derik’s mouth, wrapping my arms around him as Kai reached in front of me, playing with my clit.I sucked in a breath, a moan escaping, and then he was sending me off the edge into a battlefield of insane, desperate need.I ground down on him fast and hard, riding out my orgasm on him before he was slapping my ass hard and stilling his last couple of thrusts inside me, releasing himself with a guttural sigh.Kai sat up and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my shoulder before pushing me off his dick and toward Derik.I took deep breaths, my eyes hooded as my body tried to
1. The VillageEvery year they came. Every year they tormented. Every year they stared from dark eyes and huge bodies at the offerings of the village.This year was my year.Turning eighteen was meant to be some amazing experience that the village deemed as an honor because of them. Like being a chew toy for a bunch of asshole alphas for the night was something to celebrate. Like saving my vagina to be ripped to shreds by them meant I should be forever grateful to their big hairy balls. Yeah, right.The village was usually quiet, but not tonight. Tonight was the blood moon. The night of the offerings. It was alive with music and the roar of a bonfire as the village prepared.I looked over at the white dress my mother had laid out and sneered.I had contemplated forgoing the whole thing by ruining my “purity” with the baker’s son in the men’s village, but last time they had been offered a nonvirgin, the alphas had lost their shit and burned almost every hut to the ground, ravaging th
2. The Offering“What, why?” I demanded.“They are here! You cannot be late or our family will be cast to the Vampire Territory!” she cried.I sucked in a breath. I had never seen that happen before.She pulled a shawl over her shoulders, then grabbed my hand, abandoning our hut and hauling me through the matching homes.It was bloody freezing, the warmth of the fire and wooden floorboards at home changing to damp grass and soft mud. I hadn’t even put on my twine shoes.Apparently, that was less of an infraction than being late.Mother and I raced through the huts toward the bonfire as the music leveled and the villagers fell quiet.The night air was cold and ominous as my mother pushed me into the lineup with the other offerings, all wearing the same provided silk lace dress that I was. They had their twine feet decor on though.Breathing hard, I eyed the dark carriages on the gravel behind the bonfire. There were two of them, both black with a wolf head on the side.Mother patted my
3. The Carriage“Carriage one,” he said to me before looking at Perfect Portia. “Carriage one,” he growled, and she nodded quickly, clamping her mouth shut.“Rest of you to two,” Braxton ordered, and they all rushed forward to their carriages as the alphas moved to carriage one.I didn’t move with them though. Instead, I ran to my family. I had two seconds before I was hauled off by three sexy werewolves. I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow when I could have a fleeting moment now.A grin broke on Lucas’s face as I ran into him. My arms wrapped around his neck as his closed around my body, lifting me off the ground, holding me tight as tears fell from my eyes.“Lorelai!” my father growled as my mother gasped.“You must go!” she begged, but Lucas kept holding me as I held him. Warmth and love filled me as I closed my eyes against him.“I’ll see you tomorrow. It was nice to meet you,” I whispered, and he squeezed me tighter.Silence fell, until a feral growl broke it from behind me. My
4. The Shadow“Wait…can we stop?” I asked breathily as the feeling tightened inside me. I had no idea why I felt it so strongly, but the shadows felt wrong. They didn’t match the trees.“Why?” Nikolai asked.I didn’t have an answer. I held my hand against my chest as the cold spread, and I shivered hard.The shadow moved quickly from one tree to another, and just as I was sure I was making up shit in my head, two red eyes flicked open, staring at me from miles away, but it was like they were right there.I gasped, shoving back from the window, my heart skipping as fear closed around me. I fell to the floor of the carriage, blinking hard, trying to get the image from my head. Those eyes.“I saw… There was something out there,” I breathed.Nikolai looked at me like I had taken crazy pills. So did the other alphas. Maybe I was delusional. Maybe it was the reflection of the water and the blood moon making the eyes seem red.“It’s a full moon, wolves will be everywhere tonight,” Derik said
5. The OathI sat by the fire, staring at the flames dancing in the ash as I drank the punch.It was starting to have an effect; my tongue was numb, but my mind wasn’t. It heard every screech and scream as the three alphas came out, grabbing another three girls, then another three, until it was only me and two others.I was next. I wasn’t ready.My heart raced as the screams finally quieted and I took another sip, hoping it would numb my mind even more. My body felt relaxed, my muscles not tense at all, but my head was pounding.I leaned back, resting my head against the big cushions on the couch, my eyes fluttering closed.I had avoided his eyes burning into me every time he had come through that damn door, and the idea that I was going to be the next one he came to get had my jaw clenching. I didn’t want to be the next one screaming like the others that had gone through.I’d kill for a coffee. Or a nap. I took the second option, slowly drifting while I waited.The red eyes were in
6. The FeastThe food. Holy fuck, the food. If I didn’t have a tingling bite from an alpha on my thigh that was still making my blood burn then I could’ve sworn I was in heaven.I never cared about food, it was a means to an end, a by-product of survival instinct, but one meal from the wolves and I had changed my mind.Flavor burst in my mouth. A succulent piece of pork with loud crackling and mouthwatering apple sauce coated my tongue, and it was better than anything I’d ever tasted.I moaned as it slid down my throat, closing my eyes to savor the taste. When I opened them, Nikolai was smirking at me. I glared.“Some of us don’t have the privileges of food with flavor,” I snapped, embarrassed at the way I had fawned over the food like it was the first meal I’d ever had.In my eyes, it was. The village did what they could and we weren’t starving, but it was always dry and not worth getting excited about.Soggy veggies from the garden, dry meat from the slaughter hut, and some grown he
7. The SecretNikolai led me across the dining hall to the room with our symbol on it. He urged me inside, then closed the door behind us.I took in the room, trying to ignore the giant, intimidating bed that dominated it.It had four posts, all with vines and flower buds carved down the sides, drapes hung over it, and the covers were of something I had never seen before. It looked fancy, not like the woven stuff in the village.The room had the same red tint to it that the oath room had from the moon shining down on it. The ceilings were more glass, letting the rays in.The walls were bare aside from the candle lanterns. They were almost out.“Do you have to fuck all of us before they run out or something stupid like that?” I snickered, but when I turned to face him, he wasn’t amused.He was…more.His huge form took up the entire doorway. His taut muscles that had seemed alluring before were even more than that now, rippling with pulsing veins up his forearms, abs and torso glistenin
Derik moved in front of me, kissing me, teasing me, building me up again as Kai kept his leverage grip on my hips and kept the pace fast.I rode him just as hard, bounding on him as I gasped, trying to tame the heat in my body, but it was a wildfire. Untamable.It brushed every nerve, every muscle, every bone, leaving them shaking and disoriented with the overwhelming pleasure that he pulsed into me.I moaned against Derik’s mouth, wrapping my arms around him as Kai reached in front of me, playing with my clit.I sucked in a breath, a moan escaping, and then he was sending me off the edge into a battlefield of insane, desperate need.I ground down on him fast and hard, riding out my orgasm on him before he was slapping my ass hard and stilling his last couple of thrusts inside me, releasing himself with a guttural sigh.Kai sat up and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my shoulder before pushing me off his dick and toward Derik.I took deep breaths, my eyes hooded as my body tried to
29. The NeedI went to them.I climbed the stairs two at a time. Kai followed, saying nothing, as I pushed my shadows out of me, finding where Derik and Brax were, smiling when I recognized the room as my own. I wasn’t even sure if they had their own rooms anymore.I burst in and had barely taken a breath when Brax was on me. His mouth covered mine, and I melted into the kiss, sliding my tongue along his, holding his body against me.“How did it go? With the wolves?” I asked, but he shook his head.“Not tonight, Spitfire. Just let me have you,” he breathed, and I nodded, kissing him again.He edged me toward the bed, laying me down on the mattress. He kissed me feverishly, like he couldn’t get enough, like the simple connection of his mouth with mine wasn’t nearly enough, and it wasn’t.He undid the fabric corset front of my villager dress and slipped my shoulders out, his mouth never leaving mine.Derik and Kai stood on either side of the bed, watching, waiting for their turn.Brax k
“I… Well, I don’t know what you mean. I have been commanding the humans’army,” he said, trying to recover, but Kai growled, and even my skin bristled at the lie.I wasn’t sure what Kai had picked up on, but my father was hiding something.“I mean the amount of heartbeats I hear in this village is significantly larger than the numbers I was given in your report. Are you telling little white lies about how large your army is, General?” he threatened, getting closer to my father, edging him back against the wooden table.My father stumbled against it, then moved out of the way, brushing his hair back and composing his fear.“I wonder what you plan to do with an army so large, hmm?” Kai continued.“Maybe I should visit more often, keep an eye on numbers myself. Maybe even do a bit of a culling? Correct those numbers of yours, hmm?” he threatened again in that dark, menacing way that sounded sexy when he was playing but terrifying when he wasn’t.And my father looked terrified.He turned
28. The GeneralI didn’t want to die. I wanted more time with my alphas, and I wanted to protect my mom from whatever shitstorm Lucas was bringing on his hunt for revenge.I had no choice. I had to survive.Lucas spun away, disappearing into shadow as I fell. It was the last I saw of him, but I wasn’t going to let it be the last time he saw me.I closed my eyes, the idea terrifying since my stomach had dropped the second I had fallen off the cliff, but I forced myself to focus, using my memories to help coerce my shadows to help me.I remembered Derik’s smile when we were alone, just the two of us, the connection in Brax’s eyes when our shadows played, the devotion in Kai’s every action toward me.It was everything I had ever craved, and I had it. I didn’t want to lose it. I didn’t want to say yes, no matter the future I missed out on because of it.I don’t know what part of my thoughts convinced my shadows to trust me again, but it worked, and then I wasn’t falling anymore.They burs
“I think I can use my shadows from here,” I said, ready to try.He nodded.“If he was here then they’ll be able to connect to him easier. You tell me where and I’ll send the wolves in that direction,” Brax said, and I nodded as Cain stepped forward.“You need to go too. I’ll communicate,” he offered, but Brax growled.“Fuck off,” he bit, and Cain sighed.“Brax,” Derik warned, and Brax pursed his lips, backing away from me.“Remember the game, Spitfire,” he said, then turned into his wolf.Derik eyed me and I nodded. The others waited, changing into their wolves, ready to run.I took a deep breath and reached inside me for my shadows. It was easy; they were ready, and I knew what I had to do.I pushed them from me, sending them to hunt down my brother. The shadows knew what I wanted and did as I asked, going down the path, through the trees, latching on to a scent that was barely my brother anymore.I gulped and pointed down the path. “That way. Start that way,” I murmured, and the wol
27. The Brother“What do you mean, ‘missing’?” I demanded.“He was doing a border check around the Forest village and the wolves lost him.His scent and everything vanished.”“The vampires?” I panicked, but Derik shook his head.“No, Lorelai. There was no vamp scent. He attacked them with shadows before vanishing into thin air,” he said somberly, and just like that, I knew my brother had no chance left.I couldn’t save him. Link or no link, he had fucked everything up.“He’s the one taking the villagers, isn’t he?” I swallowed, my voice quiet, my eyes filling with tears as I came to the only conclusion that was left.They were going to kill him.“We have to go out there,” Kai growled, his claws and fangs growing as I wiped my tears away, pulling on a cloak.“I’m coming.”“No!” Derik yelled, but I refused to shrink back despite the terror that filled me at his outburst.He took a calming breath before speaking again.“Stay here. The wolves are not going to take kindly to another winter
26. The LinkI woke up back in my bed with the worst headache of my life.I was still cold, and when I opened my eyes, my alphas were huddled together, standing at the foot of my bed, whispering in angry tones, holding frowns on all of their beautiful faces.I sat up slowly, my head heavy. I leaned against the headboard and waited for them to notice me, taking in the three of them.None of them had shirts on, all were only in their pants, which usually meant they had been running. And that they were stressed out.“What happened with the vampires?” I asked, and all three turned to me.Their faces softened. Kai walked around beside the bed, then climbed on it, pulling me against him. Brax sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbing my hand as Derik pressed a kiss to the top of my head.“The vampires are not the ones taking the humans,” Brax said, and I frowned.“Then why are they disappearing?” I asked.“That’s what we have to go find out,” Derik replied.“How?”“We’re going out to the For
And then the poisonous taste coated my tongue, the sterile smell filling my nostrils.I grimaced at the way it sank in my stomach like acid, made my skin crawl.More footsteps entered Tabitha’s home, and I turned to her.How the hell were they even getting in? I thought she had an alligator, and as a witch, I expected her to have a little more protection. Where were her traps and magic? Her disappearing cabin thing she had done before?I eyed her, and she gave me a knowing smirk, holding her finger to her lips again.I stowed the question in the back of my mind with the ever-growing list that was already there for once the vampires were gone. And there were more of them now, at least five.Kai chuckled and cracked his knuckles. “Cute. I’ll pick their flesh from my teeth with your bones,” he warned, a malicious grin spreading on my alpha’s face.I should be disgusted or turned off, but it had
25. The VampireBrax pushed me toward Tabitha, who grabbed my hand and yanked me back from the dining table. She bashed her cane on the floorboards and the table slid against the wall, making me gasp.Derik, Kai, and Brax went to the windows, peering out of them with their red eyes as Cain hauled back the rug. Underneath was a trapdoor. Cain opened it and nodded into the darkness.“Get in,” he ordered, his voice firm, his eyes flashing red.I had no idea what was down there, but I did know that there were vampires on their way and that was more terrifying than the unknown in that moment, so I ran down the wooden steps into a basement that was surrounded in concrete.I looked back up from the bottom and Tabitha came hobbling down. Cain slammed the door shut before I could ask what the hell was about to happen.I wrapped my arms around myself as Tabitha grabbed my han