Hunter’s POVGetting Yuan outside was easier than I’d anticipated. Getting S to agree to look after him, though? That was the tricky part.It was rare for S to disagree with me. Hell, he’d followed me into the desert and had done everything I’d asked, even after I’d decided to pretend to be Alpha Colin. S was a good soldier.“Alpha, I am not sure he will survive the journey.”“Then run fast,” I replied flatly. “Here, take him. We don’t have much time as it is, S.”He was never one to fidget, but S almost looked as though he might. “You want me to take him to the old man’s place? Are you sure?”I held his gaze. “Positive. And once you have, S, I need you to get any information out of him you can. After that…”He nodded. “I know my orders, Alpha.”“Then see to them.”* * *Keila caught me as I was sneaking back inside.“Ohhhhh Colinnnnnn!” she cried, lifting up her hands as though she were lifting a heavy, multi-layered skirt rather than skin-tight leather pants she actually had on. Her
Hunter’s POVMy spine prickled uncomfortably with the feeling that I was being watched as I slipped into Jane’s bedroom and hid in her en-suite. It didn’t take long for me to hear her moving around in the room adjacent.I stuck my hand out and grabbed her arm. “Jane,” I hissed, tugging her closer. Just touching her got rid of all the unease making my muscles bunch. Somehow, Jane made everything okay.‘Aw, Hunter, you old sap!’ Reg wiped tears from his eyes. ‘I knew that tin chest had a heart in it somewhere.’“Were you hiding in my bathroom?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at me and trying to hide her smirk. “Classy, Colin.” It smarted to hear her call me that, even when we weren’t having sex. My mouth pressed into a flat line as she went on. “Did Yuan get away?”I told her what I could – that my wolves had made sure Yuan had been taken safely to the old man’s house. I also said that I’d commanded some of the wolves I trusted to remain there and keep an eye on her boys, too. I’d thou
Hunter’s POVI risked a glance at Jane. Her brow was furrowed; her gaze was distant, like she was lost in thought. If she put this together, I was screwed. Completely and utterly screwed.Unless…Unless she was ready to know who I really was. Keila’s abrupt, loud laughter brought my anger back to its boiling point. “The most powerful?” she repeated mockingly, pulling a silly face at me as she parroted my words back to me. Then she tapped her chin and grinned. “So that means the most powerful Alpha in the whole wide world has let me dress him up in a maid’s outfit, then?”She bent double, wiping tears from her eyes and hacking up bile she was laughing so raucously. My eyes jerked past Keila, though.I had to look at Jane. Had she heard?‘Jane’s going to be getting ideas now, Hunter!’ laughed my dickhead wolf. ‘Maybe she’ll want to dress you up in a maid’s outfit, now she knows what a good little submissive you are. I’ll definitely make sure Ian gets a snap of that!’My heart was poun
Hunter’s POVBefore I could even finish processing the fact that Keila knew my real name, she knocked me out. “Better to be sure that you can’t mess with my plans,” she whispered, her voice as soft as a lover’s caress – only she followed it up with a hard punch to the back of my head.I woke some time later to S untying me, his face pale.“What is it?” I croaked, struggling to sit up. My mouth felt dry, my tongue like it had been replaced with a fat cotton ball, and my temples pounded. That might have had something to do with the fact that Reg was whining, loudly and constantly, in the back of my head.‘I’m sore all over, Hunter! I can’t believe you let that crazy chick beat you up like that. I thought you were an Alpha.’ He huffed and crossed his front legs like arms. ‘First, you wouldn’t let me shift and take care of business. That was bad enough! But now, Hunter, now you’ve let Little Miss Psycho take care of you – and not in a good way, bee tee dubz.’‘Bee tee dubz?’ I muttered. ‘
Hunter’s POV‘Wait,’ I snarled. ‘They need to stew in there for a while, and I’m not leaving here until I know Jane is okay.’‘How is she?’ S asked flatly, with no emotion in his voice at all. ‘She’s fucking dying, S!’ I snapped. I drew in a long, deep breath, held it, then released it.‘Look. At. That. Breathing. Pattern!’ Reg cheered. ‘Someone’s been listening to me. Finally, might I add. I’ve had this stuff down for years, and you’re only just learning the basics now.’‘Reg, shut up,’ I growled. Then I mindlinked S again. ‘Do the usual, S. Make it cold, then too hot, and make sure the bars of the cells are nice and sticky. Don’t say a word to them.’ Not that S needed to be reminded of that, anyway. ‘Make them as uncomfortable as you physically can and then just sit and watch them.’‘Got it, Alpha.’I let out a breath – and then tensed again as Reg started talking. ‘Yes, yes, yes! Hunter, you’ll be a pro at this breathing business before you even know it.’ He wiped a tear from his
Jane’s POV“Four of your wolves are what?” I frowned up at Leif, who looked ready to blow a gasket, and struggled to sit up as I shucked off the gauzy hospital sheets and adjusted my gown.“Locked in the ruddy dungeon!” He balled his hands into fists. "All of them are unconscious but one! That one had a lot to say, though. A lot to say about the two of you." He jabbed an accusing finger first at me, and then at Colin.“Really, Leif, there is no need for this,” the medic said in an attempt at placating him. It didn’t work.“No – no need for this?” he spluttered, rounding on her instead. I tried to share an amused look with Colin, needing someone else to acknowledge how ridiculous this all was, but he looked as angry as Leif, almost, his face as red as his hair and his knuckles white.“I merely meant that this is a medical facility.” The medic spoke in hushed, calming tones. “Jane has been through a traumatic event. She needs peace and quiet to heal, not of all this yelling.”“What hap
Jane’s POV“He – I – I don’t – I haven’t – he’s not–” Leif spluttered, looking aghast as he stared, open-mouthed, at Colin. I cut him off. “Leif, it’s over. I’m leaving. I trusted you, and you’ve betrayed me – in the one way that I could never forgive.” I levelled my gaze at him, a muscle ticking in my jaw as I fought to contain my wild rage. “Leave me and my sons alone.”“Jane, I haven’t touched them, I swear.” He scratched a hand over his bearded chin. “Colin is lying. I’ve made no orders regarding your kids. Why would I?”I kept my eyes locked on him, searching for any signs that he was faking. He looked like a man on the edge, desperate, and in that desperation his honesty seeped out through the cracks. He was shaking, his hands balled into fists, and his gaze kept darting to Colin. “Then why did I have to lock up the scum that tried to take them away from her?” Colin snarled. “It was me that put them in the dungeons, Leif. They’re there for Jane. She can do with them as she ple
Jane’s POV‘Is that…’ Ina trailed off.I gulped. ‘It is. How can Reg be here? Where did Colin go? What…’ I trailed off, too. As my boys would say: the woman was too stunned to speak.It couldn’t be Reg. It couldn’t be Hunter’s wolf, because he’d come out of Colin. Colin, my Colin, who’d just told me he loved me. Colin, my Colin, who’d followed me here to keep me safe. Colin, who sometimes sounded as cold as Hunter. Colin, whose eyes sometimes glinted blue. Colin, who hadn’t shifted once until now…Was this why? Had he been hiding Reg this whole time? It didn’t make any sense. My whole body felt numb as I watched them fight. I couldn’t even find a shred of passion to worry about Colin. If that was who he really was…‘Colin can’t be Hunter, Jane!’ cried Ina, backing up and shaking her head. ‘I would know. I would’ve smelled him. And,’ she sniffed the air, ‘I would smell Reg now, if that was him.’‘You said you couldn’t smell Colin at all,’ I reminded her, my voice turning pitchy in my