Griff took my hand, and I followed him on trembling legs across the cabin to the side encased in glass. The last vestiges of sunlight shone over the concrete buildings across the river, coloring the water’s surface the exact shade of gold as his eyes.My heart alternated between fluttering and spasming. This moment was more perfect than I could have ever imagined. We had not only broken Griff’s curse and discussed our deaths, but we had given each other both compassion and forgiveness. This was a clean slate on which we could write the rest of our history.A doubt niggled in the back of my mind. What if something between us went wrong? We had thwarted Hades’ attempt at destroying Griff and Shifter City, but he could always return to exact his revenge. What if Griff found me lacking?We reached the double bed, which was covered in a white velvety quilt that contrasted with its black lacquered headboard. Metal hooks hung off its sides, which were probably for tying people up. I glanced
In several hasty movements, he tore off my boots and socks and tossed my trousers over his shoulders. I lay on that bed, panting and naked, save for the tank top still gathered around my waist.Griff snarled. “You’re wearing too much.”“I’ll take it off if you—”Before I could finish that sentence, Griff’s fingernails shifted into claws, and he tore the fabric into half.“Better.” His voice was, husky, animalistic, as though his wolf was close to the surface. “That’s how I want you. Naked and eager.”My breath caught, and I glanced up and locked gazes with Griff to find him staring at me as though I was his prey.Rapid heartbeats fluttered in my chest, not out of fear but out of giddy anticipation. I was about to lose my virginity in this body. This time, it would be with a man who wanted me with no ulterior motive.“Your turn,” I said, my voice breathy. “Take off your clothes.”“You want to see me naked, Cathwulf?” Griff snarled.“Yes,” I hissed.He cupped his crotch. “You want to se
“Feels good?” he said, his voice lilting with a smile.“More,” I cried.With a happy groan, he ran his soft, wet tongue over my nub, down my slit and to my opening. “You taste so good.”I panted, needing him to go faster, harder, but Griff seemed like he wanted to prolong the anticipation. Bucking my hips, I threaded my fingers through his hair and held him in position.He laughed. “My alpha bitch knows what she wants.”“Yes,” I said from between my bared teeth. “And I want it now.”“Cathy.” He circled my clit with his tongue.“Call me that again,” I whispered.“Cathy?”“Yes.” I hummed as he ran languid strokes that I felt across every nerve ending. My thighs trembled, but the rest of my body melted into the mattress.Griff moaned and growled as he pleasured me to a frenzy, his tongue picking up speed to match my accelerating pulse. The sensations were so intense, I thrashed about, but he wrapped his arms around my thighs and held me down.All I could do was lie there and take the ple
“Yours,” I whispered.Griff built up a steady rhythm of strokes that stoked the flames of my arousal. I bucked against him and shivered at the surge of pleasure. Throughout this, he continued staring deeply into my eyes until my vision filled with his wide pupils.Our souls connected. Even though I couldn’t see or hear his thoughts, his emotions poured through the bond. Pride, disbelief, awe, and underneath that, a bone-deep contentment that matched mine. A heartbeat later, our pleasure switched across our bonds, and I felt what it was like to be driving into an impossibly tight channel.My breaths turned shallow, and I dug my blunt nails into the muscles of his shoulders. Molten ecstasy overtook my senses, making my eyelids flutter closed.“Keep eye contact,” he said.“Right.” I forced my eyes open again.“I love you so much,” Griff snarled.“I love you, too.” The words tumbled from my lips, but they were the truth. No man had ever reached beneath my exterior and touched my heart. No
I glanced around, looking for a way to stop Boris from recognizing Griff. The guards at the bottom of the gangway shooed the small crowd backward to make way for the passengers. Griff curled his hand around mine, obvious to the potential danger. I tightened my grip and pulled him closer.“What’s wrong?” he asked with a frown.“There’s someone out here who will recognize you.” I nodded in the direction of the pier. One of the guards held a pair of flags and was directing the people back toward the pavement.“Who?”“Your former beta.”Griff’s head snapped to the end of the walkway, his face breaking into a smile. “Which one is he?”I swallowed hard. There was so much more to my story that I hadn’t told him. Griff knew I’d infiltrated Shifter City as a spy for Hades but had decided to betray him, but he didn’t know that Hades had sent more shifters than just me.My lips tightened into a thin line. I had no idea what Boris was doing here, of all places, or why he was accosting the other p
When we reached the top of the slope, the road bisected a cattle field bordered by a small grove of densely packed trees that stretched fifty feet high. As Boris drove toward them, wards hit my skin like hailstones, progressing to tiny shards of ice that penetrated my skin. Clenching my teeth, I glanced across the back set at Griff, who shuddered.“Dain must have strengthened the wards,” he said.“Hopefully not to detect you,” I muttered.Griff rubbed his chin. “It’s doubtful, considering how long I’ve been dead. But he’s a paranoid bastard who makes lots of enemies. This is probably his way of warning people he’s well protected.”At the other side of the walls, our surroundings changed from vibrant green to sepia. Even the cows grazing on either side of the road seemed sickly. Something about the wards had created a cast of brown across the sky, turning the meadow dreary.I glanced at Griff, my lips parting. “Is this normal?”“It gets worse.” He shifted on his seat and grimaced.The
Malachi swaggered out from the woods and across the graveyard, pausing twenty feet away from Griff.I held my breath and waited for him to make his first move. Gerrison and Dad had taught me all about challenges, guessing that there would be a stream of dickheads thinking a female alpha would be an easy target. In a situation where a potential challenger had crossed into one’s territory, a sensible alpha would show enough of a display of strength to make them think twice about risking their lives.Malachi looked more like a gorilla shifter than a wolf. His bushy eyebrows met in the middle, matching a beard he kept cropped around his angular features like turf. His facial hair widened around his jaw, making it look perfectly square. For all I knew, he could be hiding a pointed chin.The hair on his chest was so thick that it formed a velvet backdrop for the gold rings around his nipples. And it continued down a muscular torso into a pair of skin-tight jeans with the top button undone.
Baring his teeth, he turned on his heel and strutted through the graveyard. The other men followed after him, offering words of encouragement and hefty pats on the back. Only the son remained, and he fixed his gaze on me.I straightened. “Anything you want to say before my mate takes control of the pack?”“You two made a big mistake coming here,” he growled. “If you have any sense, you’ll leave the island on the next rowboat.”“See you tomorrow night,” Griff said with a grin.Malachi’s son glared at us for several heartbeats. I squeezed Griff’s hand, warning him not to rise to his silent challenge. This was the second time the alpha and his inner circle had tried to goad Griff, and I suspected this would be a pattern.“Did you sense anything off about the alpha?” I asked Beki.She tilted her head to the side, saying that she wasn’t sure.“Is he really as strong as he appears?”Beki nodded.My lips tightened. I wasn’t imagining things. Their actions were subtle, but neither the alpha n
Hades was a persistent bastard who continued to attack Shifter City. He sent assassins, spies, and other Trojan horses, but Fenrir was always prepared. With the help of Loki, Ophois, and a few other lupine gods we had encountered during the past fifteen years, Midgard remained the afterlife of choice for all wolves.Our system was simple: the berserkers in the Hellfire Pack would collect the souls of those who died within Shifter City or within the Norse pack’s protected wards. Griff and I would venture out to reap any wolves who died within the Supernatural World.We didn’t even need to hide in the trunk of an Überwald to exit Shifter City. The Hellhounds we rode moved us faster than any speeding vehicle, and the magic protecting our physical forms was powerful enough to shield us from Hades and his enforcers.Griff and I stood within a white room in the Shifter Ward of Atlantis Hospital, waiting for an old she-wolf to take her last breath. We could barely see her through the crowd o
Guests filled white seats in a large reception hall decorated to resemble a Greek temple. At its very end, Hades stood beneath an archway of mauve calla lilies and pomegranate flowers. He wore an ostentatious oxblood red frock coat with plum-colored embroidery.To his right stood a dark-haired male in a morning suit of the same color, wearing a five o’clock stubble that he probably thought made him look cool.Griff gave me a nudge. “His best man is Lucifer, King of the Seventh Faction.”My brows rose, and I scanned the groom’s side of the room. The entire Supernatural Council sat in the front seats with Captain Caria, who wore a dress for a change and sat beside a dark-haired woman whose features were equally as stern. Azriel perched on his seat behind them, looking like he’d been blackmailed into attending.Among the powerful VIPs, I recognized a dark-skinned couple in Egyptian attire who had to be Isis and Osiris, the aunt and uncle of Ophois and the rulers of the First Faction. Lok
Several days ago, Fenrir had suggested we raid the Fifth Faction on the night of the Strawberry Moon. Now we had retrieved the wolf souls, we no longer needed to perform the heist, but my idea would be the perfect revenge.Fenrir sat behind his desk and folded his arms across his chest. He glanced from me to Griff and said, “This is completely unnecessary. After everything you’ve endured, there’s no need for you to face Hades.”Griff spoke first. “This is the least that bastard deserves. He has to learn that striking at Midgard has consequences.”“Agreed,” Fenrir said. “But I don’t want to put either of you at risk.”“It’ll be worth it to teach him not to embed curses in people’s souls,” I said. “And I also can’t wait to melt the smirk off his face when I interrupt him with his mate.”Griff snarled, remembering how Hades had infiltrated our hotel room just as we had planned to become intimate. It was time to return his gesture with one of our own.Fenrir snickered. “Fine, but doing th
My breath turned quick and shallow, and my gaze remained fixed on what was looking to be a terrible earthquake. “Were the others too late to save the wards?”“It’s Fenrir.” Griff slung an arm around my shoulder and tucked me into his side.The distant hill split into several pieces, and the ground that comprised it tumbled away in an avalanche, revealing a mass of white that took up the landscape. My pulse quickened, but Beki made excited barks as though she was meeting an old friend.“Don’t tell me Fenrir’s the size of a blue whale,” I whispered.Griff rubbed his chin. “He once told me he couldn’t shift without destroying the village, but I didn’t completely understand what he meant until now.”Chunks of land rolled off the massive wolf as it rose onto four legs and raised his head toward the pale sky. Despite having remained underground for goodness knows how long, his fur was as pristine as Beki’s. The only difference between them apart from size was that Fenrir’s wolf had turquois
Flying scorpions hovered above us, breathing plumes of fire over our heads whilst trying to re-form. The other wolf shifters tossed wet stones at the swarm, making them break into further pieces. Roars of triumph mingled with the skin-tightening clicks of armored wings, but none of that mattered. Not while Griff was standing before me and declaring he’d made a mistake.The cacophony of sounds faded into the background, and I gazed into his amber eyes. Amber eyes that shone with love and sorrow and regret. Amber eyes that I could have lost myself in for an eternity. Beki pushed herself against our bond and swooned with joy.I wasn’t quite so hopeful.How many times had I gone through this before? I needed to know that the bond wouldn’t bring up something else that would turn Griff away.“Why?” I asked. “Why did you return if it wasn’t for Fenrir?”The muscles in his handsome face tightened, and his gaze jerked to the side. “I didn’t want you to leave the island,” he said, his voice tig
Mum rushed to our side with a bucket of water and set it on the floor. “I’ll get more.”Some of the other wolves had gathered a pile of rocks around the clearing, only to disappear and fetch more, while a few of them remained to hurl them at Snorri. Each stone that landed dented his huge scorpion body, but it did nothing to break him apart.An idea hit me upside the head. “Dad.” I gave him a nudge in the side. “Let’s try getting these stones wet.”Without another word, he walked to the pile of rocks, gathered up a pair, and dipped them in the water. I left the attackers to join him and took one from his hand.I was no expert on arthropods or any other type of shelled creature, but Dad had once told me on a hunting trip that the protective coverings around their bellies were softer than the ones at their backs.“This way.” I flicked my head toward the obelisk.The other wolf shifters continued their attacks on Snorri, making him lash out at them with his tail, but more importantly, the
By now, the air was thick with smoke, but it was nothing compared to the brimstone of Hell. I’d lost track of the flying scorpions and continued through the trees toward the clearing.The swarm had formed the shape of a centaur-like creature, but with a scorpion body replacing that of an equine. Ten feet tall, it stood on six clawed legs with a tail as long as its spine. Hellfire glowed from its bulbous stinger, forming a line of crimson flames down its back.Its back was turned to me, but the same black carapace covered its human side, ending with a round head peppered with bristles. The creature placed a hand on the surface of the obelisk and drummed its fingers.“Urus, teimas, mannaz, othala,” said the voice of an old man. “What a clever combination. Especially when crossed with wunjo and era. Yes... yes… Fine work.”My lips tightened, and I stormed around to look the scorpion man full in the face. It was the only part of his body not covered in the black shell, and he had the sall
Cold shock barreled through my system, even as my chest exploded with streams of burning scorpions. The last week flashed across my mind, filling me with a painful realization. Hades had attached the curse to the bargain Griff had made with the faeries. He’d given us days five before it took control of Griff’s body and destroyed Shifter City.We’d spent the last five days scrambling around trying to break the curse and transfer it to someone else. We had spent all that time worrying about what was inside Griff and hadn’t given a thought to what Hades might have placed in me.Fuck. Griff and I were mates. Rumpel Kracknuts had even hinted that curses could go deeper than the soul of the afflicted. I’d been too concerned with his murder of the healer to even think that he was hinting that I carried the curse.Bloody Hades had turned me into his Trojan horse, and if I couldn’t find a way to stop the swarm, it wouldn’t just mean the destruction of Midgard. It could mean the end of Shifter
The chief enforcer snorted. “I was a few years younger, but I remember you from the academy. Even back then, I knew you were destined for greatness.”My lips formed a tight line. I didn’t need to read his mind to catch his meaning. Randel couldn’t believe that a man like Griff was capable of achieving all those things without my intervention. As a member of Fenrir’s inner circle, he would have heard about our progress, but I couldn’t let him walk away believing I had done all the work.“Franklin Griffiths is more capable than any wolf. It was his knowledge and strength that got us through our trials, not just mine.”Randel nodded and continued toward the driveway.With a sigh, I pushed open the door and walked through the empty hallway. At this time of the night everyone had gone to bed, and my footsteps echoed in the silence. Damp air filled my nostrils as I descended the darkened stairwell that led to the basement, and I pushed the door open to find Fenrir standing beside the fighti