Jane’s POVIt was my worst nightmare made manifest. ‘Nina, we have to find them. Is there any way we can track them without their scents? They must have been taken from here.’ I shook my head to myself. ‘But why were they out here? Was it training? I have to talk to Hunter.’I hated that, hated it more than anything. I didn’t want to rely on him, but I had to know more before I ran off, half-crazed, high on hope and desperation but with no plan in place. I’d wasted too much time already; my next move had to be deliberate, purposeful.Nina didn’t reply.‘Nina?’ I frowned. ‘Are you listening? We have to go, we have to find them–’Her loud howl eclipsed my words. ‘Nina?’ I tried talking to her again, but then I felt it, too.It was more potent than anything I’d felt in years. The faintest trace of an old smell, long forgotten but immediately remembered, filled my nostrils and then filtered down into the belly of my soul. It was woodsy, like pine sap and dew-damp moss, like the fresh sce
Hunter’s POV She was everything. I gripped her hair, her shoulders, her slim waist; I couldn’t get enough of her. I drove my hardness into her slick core, and it still wasn’t enough. “Jane,” I groaned, my hands clenching into fists in her perfect black hair. Her hair, the way it should be. The way it had been. I never wanted the illusion – or was it the reality? – to fade. As pretty as her new face was, it wasn’t hers. Huge blue eyes stared up at me, heated with lust, softened with love. I had never seen Jane look at me like that before, without so much as a drop of hatred in the perfect ocean of her eyes. My knees bit into the forest floor, bits of twig and dried leaf scrabbling against my skin. My muscles clenched. Sunlight spilled over our joined bodies, kissing us with its heat. “Perfect,” I grunted. “You’re – perfect.” She smirked up at me, and then her lips sought out mine again. Our tongues tangled, our hands entwined, and there, in the woods, uncaring who might see or h
Jane’s POVI felt the hold Amy’s hypnosis had on me snap the moment Hunter bit down onto the curve of my neck. His teeth dug in; blood spurted from the wound; like a burst of bright white light, it flared and then vanished.Since Nina had come back to me, it felt like I’d been taken by the hand, led towards a deep, clear lake – and away from the clutches of the hypnosis. Step by step, I’d been eased away from its cruel grip. Then, when he’d marked me as his, I’d not only reached the lake’s edge but dived right in.It had washed away everything. My innate hatred for him was gone. My heart could feel as it chose now, and it chose him.He held me. I lay, serene, in his arms, embraced by the soft heat of the mate bond as much as I was by him. I palmed his muscular chest and listened to the gentle whooshing of our breaths. In and out. In and out. In and–My sons were missing.I froze.I’d forgotten about them. In the heat of the moment, I’d completely and utterly forgotten that they were g
Jane’s POVI stared at Daisy, watching her face crumple as the truth settled into silence. It was so thick I could’ve reached out and touched it. My back went rigid and my shoulders locked.Hunter filled that silence, his voice bemused as he cut through it. “I know she’s my daughter,” he said, looking between us like he couldn’t understand why we were so tense. “You were the one who brought her to me, Daisy. You know she’s mine. I don’t understand.”I did, though.“You took her to him?” I breathed, clutching at the edge of the sofa cushions. It couldn’t be true. I had to have got the wrong end of the stick. I’d jumped to the wrong conclusion, that was all…Nina’s hackles rose as she caught on. ‘No, she didn’t,’ she denied, her voice soft but sharp as a knife. ‘She was your friend. I remember that. We went looking for her. She was your friend,’ she said again, disbelief and horror going to war in her tone.“Jane?” Hunter frowned at me, looked down at my clenched fists, tried to take my
Jane’s POVI followed Carl around to the back of the pack house. It was pretty, all rose bushes and trailing ivy, and made prettier still by the gossamer sunshine dancing across the myriad of leaves and flowers.I ignored all of that beauty. I could’ve been walking into a dark and dingy cellar for all I cared. My mind was too distracted, split apart into factions: my missing sons, my stolen daughter, Daisy herself, my mate bond with Hunter, and Nina’s arrival. Everything had happened so fast I’d barely had time to take a breath between it all. And now Carl was here. That was just great.But if I could be clever, and use my words carefully, and see if he knew anything about my taken sons, and daughter, I realised a painful heartbeat later, then this new distraction would be worth it. I hoped.My mind spun as I realised that not only my sons had been taken, but my daughter, too. In all of the hurt and betrayal I’d barely started to consider the real ramifications of Daisy’s deception.
Hunter’s POVJane went to talk to Carl.And Jane never came back.Reg let out a low whine. ‘You should’ve followed them, like I said.’‘Jane is more than capable of handling Carl,’ I replied, but there was no conviction in my voice. Something was off with my Beta. I’d always been able to trust Carl before; he’d been my best friend for years and he’d stepped easily into the role of my Beta. If we’d been in a fight, I hadn’t ever had to look to know he was by my side, following my every move and working with each and every one of them.Now, though, I got the feeling that he answered to another Alpha – and that worried me.‘Why does he want to talk to Luna Eremita?’ I wondered, starting to pace. ‘I wish I knew,’ said Reg, over-dramatically, wafting his face with a paw. ‘Honestly, Hunter, this stuff is ex-haust-ing.’ He put on a yawn. ‘It’s much easier to write about drama than to live it. Poor Jane.’ He simpered. ‘Poor Ava. Poor Ares and Owen. What are we going to do? Our mate is gone!
Hunter’s POVI expected for my world to spin off its axis at those words – but it didn’t. In fact, I felt very little. Nothing at all.I’d never clicked with Obie. I’d always been drawn to Ava but never to him. In my mind, she’d been my daughter and Obie had been Amy’s son. Huh. Now I knew why.That was why I fixed Carl with a cold stare and said flatly, “I know.”Compared to the other revelations I’d been through lately – hell, even in just the last few hours – this barely made me bat an eye. Maybe it was because I cared about Jane and Ava and her sons, but maybe it was because, deep down, I really didn’t care about Amy or Obie. ‘Hunter!’ gasped Reg. ‘How can you think that about a poor, innocent baby?’‘That’s the thing. I don’t think anything about him. Anyway, he’s nothing to do with me. Not really. That takes the matter out of my hands, don’t you think?’Reg muttered under his breath that I was horrible and unfeeling, and that was probably also true, but I still couldn’t make my
Hunter’s POVIt was too late. My hand was on the doorknob and it was already swinging open.There was no turning back now. Reg wailed. ‘I can smell her blood! Jane’s hurt! Jane’s dying! Jane’s dead!’The buzzing in my ears drowned out his mournful howls. Everything was moving in slow motion as I finished easing open the door. I took it all in whilst observing nothing other than the most heart-breaking thing I’d seen since… since...The present was so horrifying it eclipsed even my darkest memories.Jane was lashed securely to a metal table. My heart broke and, somewhere through the haze of my heartache, all I could think was: she must be so cold.Her limbs stuck out at odd angles. Blood covered her. But worst of all was her face. It was empty. It was like someone had made a perfect physical copy of her but had left out the most important part: her soul. The waxy figurine atop the metal table looked like Jane, broken and bruised but still my Jane, only without the bright spark of de