Hunter’s POVKeila screamed.‘Gosh! Doesn’t she have any respect for my poor eardrums?’ cried Reg, slamming his paws over his ears.‘It’s a taste of your own medicine, bud.’‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he roared.‘I wonder,’ I retorted dryly.I sat silently through Keila’s temper tantrum, staring at Jane as she jerked out of the way of all the flying plates and cutlery. How could she do this to me? How could she go along with Leif’s lie? And if he wasn’t lying, then why hadn’t she told me she’d found her mate? She’d been with me a few hours ago, arching up into my every touch, desperate and gagging – literally – for more of me. And she’d already met Leif then. She would have known.So it couldn’t be true. Could it?I sat and stewed. My hands gripped the table hard enough to snap it. My gaze was fixed on Jane, and when Leif kissed her forehead, my eyes locked onto that spot and did not move. I physically could not. Why was she hurting me like this? After everything I’d done for h
Hunter’s POV‘Reg,’ I said, preparing myself for a litany of weird and wacky answers, ‘do you think Jane would like me better if I told her about Leif?’‘I don’t know. Maybe Jane isn’t susceptible to your tricks, Hunter. Maybe you need to do some good, old-fashioned courting.’ He pretended to tip his hat to me. ‘You want her to be your lady? Treat her like a lady.’I was more than surprised by how wise his answer was. Then he’d started to sing to himself about being the greatest wolf and the greatest writer there had ever ever been, and I knew my wolf was still the same old dummy I knew and (sometimes) loved.So I did. Well – I tried to, anyway. I had to use some of my usual trickery to keep Leif from muscling in and taking Jane away from me, like getting S to start a small, totally manageable, and not at all dangerous rogue riot for Leif to go and deal with. And, instead of telling Jane the truth about Leif, I decided to use what I knew against him. It made it easier to get him out
Keila’s POV“Your brother’s name is David, Alpha Colin,” Mother said, glaring at my sex slave. “You should know that. That is, if you are who you say you are.”I rolled my head around to glare at him too. I still wasn’t even sure if this guy was my mate – after all, why had he told my mom before he’d told me? That seemed sketchy as shit getting sent round and round a rollercoaster to me, but I did feel drawn to him. ‘That could be his abs, girly wirly pop,’ said my wolf. Today, she said her name was Lanabeth. Yesterday, it had been Coxley. I couldn’t remember any of the days before that. But hell, who I was to tell her not to express herself? She was almost as iconic as I was, and I wouldn’t let anyone tell me who I was.Except for my Alpha Colin. I turned to him, my hands on my hips, and locked our gazes. His heart was pounding, ba-boom, ba-boom, and his pupils were dilating. With lust? For me?Or with fear? No, he didn’t seem like the type to scare easy. Maybe he was angry. Yeah, t
Jane’s POVI devoted all of my spare time and every ounce of my energy to working out who was trying to find my boys. I had to play nicely with the others, too, especially Leif.Doing that was easier than I’d ever anticipated. Leif wasn’t too bad, now I was starting to get to know him. Of course, Alpha Colin had never told me anything more about his Sand Wolves or whatever it was Leif was hiding. We were never left alone long enough for him to get it out.And when we could steal a moment alone? We were, well…‘You are such a prude, girl!’ Ina laughed. ‘I’m not,’ I replied, though a blush burned a path up my neck and coloured my cheeks bright pink. I ducked my head.The first time, we’d been walking back from dinner and Keila had rushed past us with Leif. She’d had a wild look in her eye – not that that was anything new – and they hadn’t even seemed to notice us as they’d rushed past, hand in hand. One second, Colin and I had been looking at them. The next, Colin has pushed me back ag
Jane’s POVEvery leaden footstep I took felt like it lasted a lifetime. We went back to my bedroom. My throat bobbed as Colin sat down, the bed dipping under his weight. I wanted to push him back, to kiss him all over, to mark him as mine and claim him as my own.‘Maybe I misjudged you, girl!’ said Ina. ‘You’re as hot as a hot dog on a summer’s day for this guy. And believe me,’ she purred, ‘I don’t blame you. Those muscles?’ She licked her lips.Ina’s voice took the edge off my nerves, but it wasn’t enough. ‘Yeah,’ I admitted in a small, raspy voice to her, ‘I am. But I need to focus. This is too important, and we keep… you know… instead of discussing this.’‘Okay, I wasn’t wrong. You’ve been kissing, Jane, and you’re not even calling that by its name.’ She tutted at me. Colin cleared his throat, then reached for my hand. He held it in his lap, between both of his, and started to toy idly with my fingers, one by one. I caught my bottom lip between my teeth as he started to talk.“L
Jane’s POVI took a moment to compose myself before I flew out of the door. I smoothed my hands down over my rumpled shirt, swiped my thumb under my smeared eye makeup, and inhaled slowly. I was no use to my boys in a state of panic.“Jane?” Colin stood in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Are you all right?”“Fine. I’m fine.” I pulled my shoulders back and straightened my spine. “Come on. We need to make sure they’re okay.”He nodded. A muscle ticked in his jaw; his brown eyes narrowed. It was still strange, getting used to Alpha Colin acting like – well, acting like an Alpha. There was a depth to him sometimes that I couldn’t quite grab a hold of. It lurked under his happy-go-lucky, sweet exterior, like there was somebody else living under his skin.“I stole a phone,” he said. “I had to hide it from Keila, but I can fetch it now. You can call Ed and check on your sons. Do you know his number?”I bit my lip, then shook my head. “God, no. No, I don’t. I should’ve memoris
Jane’s POVI couldn’t lose myself to panic. I couldn’t. My sons’ lives were hanging in the balance.So I focused on what I did know and what I didn’t. Then I could start to ask the right questions. “Ed,” I stammered, “what are they doing there?”“Hell if I know! Eating my food.” He sighed. “They say they’ve been stationed in the desert by an Alpha Hunter Burns, to keep your boys safe. I made them stay outside for the first two days, but I caved and let them in on the third for dinner. I guess I have a soft spot for sad looking eyes,” he grumbled. “To keep them safe?” I repeated numbly. There was a loud ringing in my ears.“That’s what they said. I didn’t trust them, of course – but they’ve done no harm. In fact, they’ve even been helping me with my herb garden.”“Have you seen him?”“Him? Who’s him, the cat’s father?”“The… Alpha. Hunter Burns.” I felt like I was choking as I forced his name out.“Not a peep.”A loud smash rang out down the phone line. Ed cursed loudly. “Those boys!
Jane’s POVIt didn’t take Colin long to get to me. I opened the door with trembling, twitchy fingers and stepped back to let him see the teenage boy who was close to dying on Leif’s fancy silk sheets.“What–” he started to say, but I interjected with the explanation I knew he wanted.“I found something,” I whispered, jiggling the doorknob to make sure it was properly closed.“I can see that,” Colin retorted dryly.I sighed. “His name is Yuan. I don’t know how long he’s been here, but he’s in a bad state, Colin. From what I can tell, they’ve been draining his blood and doing… something, to it. I’m not sure what.” I looked up at him and held his gaze. “He needs help. I have to get him out of here, or hide him at least, but I don’t know where to take him or how to get him there when I do figure it out.” “Jane.” Colin pulled me in for a tight hug. His breath tickled my ear as he murmured, “You aren’t alone in this. I’m going to help you.”I pulled back, my relief so potent it scared me.