Jane’s POVColin spun around, leaping at Keila again. She shifted before he could touch her, her big wolf form sprouting from her flesh. She snarled at him, lowering her muzzle to snare his shirt as he skidded to a halt in front of her.He was an Alpha. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just shift! An Alpha wolf would easily be able to handle Keila’s rogue wolf. Then I remembered what Ina had said before – that Alpha Colin didn’t have a scent because he was hiding a big secret. Did that secret have something to do with the fact he never let anyone see his wolf form?Keila shuddered, shifting out and holding Colin flush to her naked body. She licked a trail from his collarbone to his ear, laving the skin behind his neck. He was completely expressionless as she did, but the second she stopped he met my gaze with desperation in his eyes.“Jane, please,” Colin said, staring at me with huge brown eyes that looked so, so familiar for a moment that I frowned at him. Was it his resemblance to
Jane’s POVLeif threw me into a cell. I felt the cold bite of the concrete against the bare soles of my feet; I heard the metallic clang of the door swinging shut and the rasp of the lock being forcibly closed by rough hands.But I had no idea which cage he’d chucked me in. ‘Colin is in the middle,’ Ina reminded me, ‘so whichever one you’re in, you’ll be able to touch him through the bars. Why don’t you try to walk to the edge so you can feel your way around?’‘What’s the point?’ I sighed around the gag, recoiling from the wet cloth pressing my tongue down. ‘I can’t get out of this, Ina.’‘The point is that Colin might be able to help you out of the gag and blindfold, dummy! Do you want to stand still like a statue the whole time Leif is gone? That could be hours! At least try to make yourself more comfortable before you give up.’‘You’re right.’ I straightened my spine as much as I could, wincing as I felt the cable ties around my wrists digging in. But before I could step forward a
Jane’s POVStood alone in the dark, with even Ina blocked out, I didn’t know how long I waited. My ears strained constantly to hear anything, but no sound reached me in the dungeon. Cool air made my naked skin prickle. If I thought about Colin, I would be torn apart – half by lust, half by terror. I could still feel his hands mapping out the contours of my body, his tongue laving the soft spot behind my ear, his fingers teasing…But where had Keila taken him? What was she doing to him? Somehow, I didn’t get the feeling that she was pretending the way Leif was.Eventually I heard the soft slide of a door opening upstairs. I twisted around, wishing I could hug my arms around myself. “It’s me, Jane,” said Leif, and I couldn’t decide if I was more relieved or disappointed that it was his voice and not Alpha Colin’s. I grunted into my gag.“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he muttered. His rapid footsteps accompanied his words, and a moment later I heard the grind of metal as he opened the cell
Jane’s POVI stared at Leif, my eyes wide. Did he really believe that? Had this whole sex slave thing been a ruse to get me here? Was that why there’d been so much tension between us in the bedroom? I was so confused– ‘Excuse me?’ Ina cried, pointing an accusing paw at Leif. ‘You’re lying, pal!’‘How do you know?’ I hissed. ‘You aren’t my true wolf, right?’She sniffed. ‘No, I’m better. Where is your true wolf, huh, Jane? And anyway,’ she tutted, ‘I just know these things. Leif isn’t your mate. You know in your heart who is,’ she said, unusually wisely, and my back stiffened. I didn’t want to think about that guy. It didn’t matter what my heart felt or what the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. He’d hurt me too many times. So I took Leif’s hand and smiled at his mother. “It’s true,” I said, dipping my head respectfully towards her. “It’s nice to meet you.”She stilled. She opened her mouth.But before she could speak, Keila screamed.“Your mate?” she roared, standing up so abruptly h
Jane’s POV‘Her what now?’ cried Ina, putting her paws over her ears. ‘No no no! It can’t be! Colin can’t be that crazy lady’s mate! She just wants to use him and lick his abs. Not that I can blame her for that, they are delicious…’I stared at Colin, my mouth going slack. He wasn’t looking at Bea, the so-called mother of his mate. He was looking at me.‘Keila isn’t his mate,’ I scoffed. ‘He’s lying. Is it just to get a reaction out of me?’ From the way he was analysing my every breath, I had to think so. Then my heart dropped. ‘Is it just to hurt me?’ My chest panged. ‘I’d started to think Colin was different. I shouldn’t have let myself forget that all men are trash, Ina.’‘Don’t talk about my Chef Colin like that,’ said Ina, but she didn’t sound as sure of herself as usual.Bea gasped. “Both of my children have found their mates? And one is the Alpha of the Desert Assassin pack, no less?”She fell into excited conversation with Alpha Colin. I sat rigidly in my seat, waiting for a g
Jane’s POVFury burned hot through my veins. Rage consumed my soul. I lurched away from the wall and clenched my hands into fists.I was going to kill them. I didn’t have my poisons with me, but I had an Alpha wolf. And, above all else, I was a mother. Nothing would stop me from protecting my sons.‘I’m with you, girl!’ cried Ina. ‘I’m ready! Let’s take down these mother fu–’A hand closed over my mouth. Another grabbed me by the waist. I was yanked backwards, silenced and dragged away from my prey. I writhed against the hands that bound me, desperate to break free.‘Ina, shift out!’‘I can’t! Look who’s holding you. I’ll hurt him.’I twisted in his arms. It was Alpha Colin.His jaw was locked and, for a moment, I could’ve sworn his deep, soulful brown eyes were a cold, steely blue. I baulked – only to realise I was imagining things. That guy wasn’t here. I was so scared of him, so full of hatred aimed at him and only him, that I was starting to see glimpses of him in places he’d neve
Leif’s POVI scratched a hand through my thick beard as I watched Keila trail her hands all over that red-headed man’s muscles at the public market. I was used to her pulling stunts like this, using our family’s business as a way to conduct a seedier business of her own, but this was it. This was all I could take. ‘Wow,’ laughed Bry, my wolf, ‘she’s really going for it today.’I wet my dry lips and sighed. ‘Isn’t she just,’ I replied flatly, unable to draw my gaze away from Keila’s body as she placed her hands on the guy’s chest and dug her nails in. It didn’t seem to bother her that he winced. If anything, it seemed to egg her on.She’d taken it too far this time. Our family had a reputation to uphold. These newcomers didn’t seem to realise who she was, but I could see the way the regulars at the market rolled their eyes and shook their heads. It was like she didn’t just take any opportunity she had to jump some guy’s bones, she made opportunities to do so herself.It had all starte
Hunter’s POVAfter following Jane through the desert – a feat which had been made embarrassingly easy by Leif, the idiot who’d blindfolded her and didn’t seem capable of scenting someone stalking him – it was time to make my move.Everything was going to plan. ‘Plan this, plan that!’ cried Reg, shaking his head at me. ‘You need to learn to live in the moment, buddy.’‘This plan was your idea,’ I bit out.‘Oh, was it? I don’t remember that. I do remember when you played two mangoes like the bongos, though, and then you did a naked–’I cut him off. ‘I think your memory needs testing, Reg. Or maybe I should just cut off your subscriptions, huh? I think watching so much T.V. might be rotting your brain!’‘Noooo!’ he wailed. ‘You can’t!’‘I can and I will if you don’t shut up and let me focus.’He huffed, trying to cross his front legs like arms and flopping forwards onto his nose. I would’ve laughed at him if Keila hadn’t shifted right then and snapped her jaws down my front. She shifte