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
Jane’s POV‘Ina,’ I gasped, ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing?’‘I don’t know what I’m seeing, girl! It’s like hot double vision over here!’‘Then you’re seeing what I’m seeing.’ I wet my lips, which had suddenly gone very, very dry, and ran my tongue over my teeth. ‘Have you got any idea what’s going on?’‘Beats me! I just know I want to be in an Alpha Colin sandwich. This is the sort of thing most girls dream of, you know!’‘This doesn’t feel like a dream,’ I said. ‘This feels more like a nightmare.’Alpha Colin – my Alpha Colin, the original, the one I thought I knew – reared back and hissed, “What the fuck?”Keila laughed smugly as she swaggered down the last few steps. “I thought you might say that, Phoney McPhonerson. This is Alpha Colin of the Desert Assassin pack – the real one, not some dirty faker like you.”“Colin?” I stepped forwards, looking between the two identical men. “What’s going on?”Leif huffed and came to stand at my side, crossing his arms over his chest and scowl
Jane’s POVI couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. Panic engulfed me. “How?” I breathed. The sound was barely audible, but Colin – Hunter – heard me.“How what?” His brow furrowed, looking so cute, so Colin-like, that my heart stopped again. It shouldn’t be possible. This man couldn’t be the same one that I’d run away from, not once but twice.“How did you take his body?”“Jane, I didn’t. I am me. I am Alpha Colin.” I glared at him, letting my sadness give way to anger. “No, you aren’t. That’s why there are Shadows at Ed’s house, I guess? Because you sent them there.”“What are Shadows?” he said, looking desperately between me, the prisoners, and the other Colin. None of us were going to help him, though.Even if I wanted to believe him, I couldn’t. So many tiny things, a hundred little inconsistencies, suddenly had an explanation.“If you aren’t Hunter, then why is Reg your wolf?”He swallowed noisily. “Who is Reg?”“Stop lying!” I yelled. Keila and Leif sidled closer together. He
Jane’s POV “Hunter?” I frowned at his back as he marched me up the stairs to our bedroom. “What’s going on?” He shot me a reassuring smile over his shoulder, but didn’t slow his pace. “I just need to talk to you.” We’d moved out of the pack house. It held too many memories for us both. Now, we lived in what was basically a small mansion on the edge of the forest, not far from Rose and S’s house. It was light and airy, all warm wood and draping ivy paired with gleaming, modern appliances and crisp, cream-painted walls. The kids had a room each: Owen’s filled with state-of-the-art tech gadgets, Ares’s with workout equipment, and Ava’s with easels and canvases and a drawing tablet. They had everything they needed, and more space than Owen and Ares had ever had, but most nights they dragged their mattresses into each other’s rooms and slept huddled together. We were safe now, but we’d all been through so much. Too much. I hoped my kids were young enough that they’d recover from the t
Hunter’s POVKim ran towards me, his jaw wide, his canines glinting in the weak sunlight. Owen and Ava clung haphazardly to his back. Fear flashed through me. I started towards them–But they were safe, and Jane was safe, and I was safe, and we were home. I sucked in a long, slow breath, and a forced a smile as they neared me. The smile took hold, tucking itself into the corners of my mouth, and by the time my children had reached me I was grinning at them. I opened my arms wide, and the three of them ran straight at me. We tumbled to the ground, rolling in the grass, laughing; Kim licked my face, and Ava and Owen scrambled into my arms.“Hey, kids.” I pulled back and ruffled their hair. Kim rolled onto his back, his paws sticking up in the air. Ava rubbed his belly.‘Wow,’ I said to Reg dryly, ‘he really is your son.’‘I saw Ares eat a salad the other day – and enjoy it.’ Reg shuddered. ‘I love him, but that really threw me.’I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘Don’t remind me. Then
Jane’s POVTime passed strangely after that.There were noises out in the hall. Noises I probably should’ve listened to, made something of, but…What was the point? Hunter was gone. My heart, my soul – my life – was dead.My throat closed up around the words I’d spoken. I’d bared every important moment of my life to the Moon Goddess, bound my prayer in my story, and she hadn’t listened.She hadn’t listened.I knew Ava was still with me, still clinging half to me and half to her daddy, and that was the last straw for me. Her pain became glass shards, which scraped at the raw edges of my own wound.For a while, my hurt was so immense that I felt nothing at all. If Nina or Ava spoke to me, I didn’t hear them. I was numb, frozen to the spot, Hunter’s lifeblood going cold and sticky on my palms.Beneath the frost of my numbness, though, a fire roared. I was terrified to start feeling again, to start moving. The second I moved my aching legs and stood up, time would start again.And the sec
Jane’s POVI shifted out. “No!” I wailed. I fell to my knees, then crawled over to him. My fists pounded the cold, metallic floor with every weak, shuffling movement I made.“You can’t be gone,” I whimpered, tears streaming down my cheeks, a lump forcing my throat to close around the words. “You can’t be.”But I knew that he was. The mate bond writhed and shrieked within me, screeching out for the severed other half of its soul.“Hunter?” I choked, grabbing him gently. His head lolled back as I moved him. His eyes were open; their blue irises were cold, so cold, and his pupils were unseeing. Cuts nicked his face.I pried him away from his father. Hunter’s body was merged with Reg’s: his hands were furry and clawed, but the rest of him was human. I wished he had human hands I could hold.It was that thought that shattered me entirely. I would never be able to hold his hand again. It was silly, and childish, and pathetic, but it was that notion that broke me. Not that I had lost my ma
Jane’s POV I was torn between my sons. Owen was safe – for now – so I turned my attention to Ares. His wolf, Kim, hit the ground. I bit back a cry– Kim rolled over, tussling with his attacker. He snarled, revealing huge canine teeth, then dove his muzzle at the other wolf’s neck, again and again and again. Blood spurted, slicking his fur coat. Then they were rolling again, slamming sideways into the thinning crowd of battling werewolves. The wolf on top of Kim was grey, and as big as him, but its size looked abnormal – the result of performance enhancing drugs, not nature, as Kim’s stature was. They fell back, circling each other. Kim’s upper lip pulled back from his teeth, revealing shining white canines with blood dripping from them. My stomach turned over. Beneath that fur coat was my sweet son, who wasn’t quite seven years old yet. He and his brother had seen so much – too much – already. Kim pounced. The grey wolf was a half-second behind, but lunged forward with a snarl the
Jane’s POVAlpha Dylan – or what was left of him – pounced at Hunter. A scream built in my throat, but I was helpless to do anything. He’d given me a chance to get our kids out safely, and I wasn’t going to waste it.I wasn’t even sure how I was alive right now. One moment, I’d been lost to the foggy darkness of unconsciousness, and glad of it, too, after all the pain I’d been forced to endure. Even in the depths of nothingness, I’d known that agony beckoned in the light.But there were other things there besides the pain. Love, in all its many forms, waited for me here. My children. My mate. My friends.So I clung to wakefulness with everything I had and prayed that whatever was keeping me awake would keep working for another second, another minute, another hour. I needed every moment I could steal to get my kids to safety.Amy kicked the door open. My view of Hunter disappeared as Carl pushed me through it. The last I saw of him was his own father grinning at him, sick, twisted, sad
Hunter’s POVEverything moved in a blur. My eyes were fixed on my father, his mutated wolf filling my field of vision as he moved swiftly towards me. But, from the corner of my eye, a sudden burst of movement snagged my gaze.Jane sat bolt upright. She looked like a zombie, her wounds unhealed, her eyes blank – but she was moving, scrambling to grab the kids, crying out my name as my attention was forced back onto my dad.His jagged claws caught the edge of my shoulder. I shifted out before he could claim the upper hand, letting Reg’s powerful body burst out of mine.My father sneered down at me. The knobbed ridge of his spine seemed to snap as he bent low, his sickly orange eyes meeting mine. I could smell his stale breath. “You always were weak,” he said, his voice a hollow growl. It didn’t sound like it had; it was all wolf, vicious and as broken as he was.Suddenly, I wasn’t a grown man, a strong Alpha, a mate, standing before a weak and unwell old man who had clearly gone to desp
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
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