He wraps his hands around his hair to wring it out, sending rivulets of water cascading down his skin. “What about yesterday?”“It was…” I trail off, trying to figure out the word. “Intense. And I kinda got the feeling that you hadn’t… I guess that you haven’t done that much.” The heat in my cheeks flares even hotter.Frost lets his arms fall to his sides. “You’re correct. I had never had sex before my time with you.”Shock barrels through me, wiping away the shyness as my eyes open wide. “Never?”“No,” he replies matter-of-factly. There’s no shame in his tone, no hesitation to reveal such a huge secret to me.“I was your first time,” I murmur, awed by the revelation. “Frost, that’s…”Shit, I don’t know what I’m trying to say, I’m so freaking tongue-tied. I’m honored he shared such an important first with me; it means something, almost makes our connection feel more special, more real.But how do I tell him that without sounding condescending? Or like the “experienced” girlfriend cooi
Dusk comes, but we easily decide amongst ourselves that we’re going to push on. We sail into the evening, watching as the sky above the mountains turns orange, then red, then dark purplish like a bruise when night falls.Malix bumps into me with his shoulder as we make our way across a flat stretch of land. You ever wanted pups, kitty?Startled by the out of the blue and somewhat intimate question, I trip over my own feet. Luckily, I’m quick enough to right myself before I hit the ground snout-first, and I reroute my paws to continue racing forward. Um. I guess I’ve never given it any thought. You?From Malix’s other side, Frost speaks up. It is unlikely we shadow shifters could breed.Malix and I both groan, and I say, Ew, please don’t call it that.Frost’s pale gaze darts to me. What? Isn’t that what wolves do?Before either of us can come up with a witty response, the back of my neck prickles, my hackles rising in an instinctual warning. Then figures explode out of the trees around
FrostAttack!Quinton bellows, and the shadows surge forward.My brothers don’t hesitate. They meet the shadow beings head on as Quinton’s voice echoes through our minds. We’re lucky, in that we incapacitated much of the pack before our old alpha called his shadows to play. Regardless, we are now facing two threats at once.But one of them is entirely too dangerous for Amora.I swing my head around and knock a shadow away from Amora before it can reach her. Even in her wolf form, I can see the stark fear in her large emerald eyes.Fuck. Motherfucking dammit! How can we stand up to this?she asks, her hackles standing on end. Shadows and wolves?One threat at a time, I tell her.These are the same types of shadows that have attacked us before. Judging by Quinton’s words, I suspect that some of them are the exact same ones we’ve faced off with previously.It comes as no surprise that our old alpha has somehow taken control of the shadows Felicity summoned against us. The man who created m
Adrenaline has blood pounding through my veins, so I barely feel the kick. I continue to fight against the shadow’s hold, desperate to get free and reach Amora. She’s at the mercy of the pack, and none of us are free to get to her. To protect her.I struggle, little yips coming from my snout with the effort. But the shadow is too strong, too well-placed on my body.Quinton kicks me again, and this time, I go limp, dark spots creeping in at the edges of my vision. “Fools. After all I’ve done for you.”Amora laughs. What? Destroying their humanity? Taking away everything that’s good in their lives?Quinton can’t hear her in his human form. I cling to her voice, to her words, taking comfort in the way she continues to fight for us. Words are strong. Words are powerful.We made the right choice aligning with Amora. I would make that same choice over and over again.Quinton walks around me, glancing over at Kian and Malix, who have both gone still. “Perhaps you were always too weak for my
AmoraFrost’shoarse scream cuts off abruptly, and he goes limp.The sudden silence is deafening. Nobody moves except the shadows still undulating around us as they wait for Quinton’s next order. The five wolves pinning me down with their teeth and paws hardly even breathe, although they don’t release their hold on me. Blood soaks my skin at several points, and the smell of it hangs over us, coppery and warm on the chilled night air.I stare intently at Frost, trying to figure out if he’s just unconscious… or dead.My heart wrenches in my chest at the idea he might be gone.Everything I know about him comes rushing in all at once. His quiet demeanor. His incredible intelligence. The way he so stoically deals with his pain every single day and still manages to keep a softness and innocence about him, hidden behind that mask of ice.He doesn’t deserve this. Any of what’s happened to him. He didn’t deserve the pain he faced when he was a boy. He didn’t deserve to be used by Quinton for so
AmoraMy heart is lodgedin my throat, heavy and choking. Hot tears sting my eyes, blurring the scene unfolding before me. I hold my breath, fists clenched against my knees as I kneel only inches away from Frost’s deathly still form.Kian grunts with the effort of doing chest compressions. His messy chestnut hair swings wildly around his rugged face as his body heaves above Frost’s with each compression. Arms taut, muscles bulging, he looks so much more massive than Frost’s lithe, slender form. Like one wrong move will break the smaller man beyond recovery.Or maybe I feel that way because I know he’s dead.No, I snarl at myself, tightening my fingers until my nails dig painfully into my palms. The sharp sting grounds me to the here and now, and I try to drag my thoughts away from the black pit that threatens to consume them, reminding myself that there's still hope.He’s not dead. Not yet.At least… I hope not.Frost’s shadow marks—those dark, swirling, tattoo-like patterns that cover
My arms are tired and feel like jelly. Not because I had to race wildly across the landscape, but because I had to keep my dying mate from slipping off Kian’s back during the journey.I can’t help myself. I reach out and brush my fingers over Frost’s bare thigh. He’s so cold. Too cold. The kind of cold that only comes as the oxygen fades and the blood chills.And I can’t do anything to warm him.Not too long ago, I wanted Frost dead. I wanted all three of them dead, and I planned to do it myself to save the world from a witch’s apocalyptic premonition.You have not one mate, but three.And they will destroy the world.All those months, two years’ worth of months, where I chased them down, desperate to put a stop to their chaos. It was my all-consuming goal for so long.Except now… now I know better. I know they’re good men. Or at least, not evil. I know they’re capable of love because they love each other. I know they’re capable of empathy and goodness because they’ve shown me the tru
KianWhat the fuck?Frost lunges at Amora, and shock explodes inside me, cutting through my relief. I react instantly, moving faster than I can think as I reach out and shove her sideways with all my strength. She sprawls awkwardly into the dirt, arms and legs akimbo, but out of Frost’s attack path.Frost slams into me instead.I absorb the blow on my left shoulder, latching on to his arms as we go down, even as we hit the ground so hard it rattles my teeth. Twisting around, I throw Frost to the ground instead, using his own momentum to get him down. I follow him, landing on top of him to try to pin him. He thrashes violently, inhuman noises coming from deep inside his chest. Snatching at his wrists, I get a grip on him and slam him to the grass and dirt, one knee slanted over his thighs to hold him down.Malix jumps in to help, but Frost begins to buck as madly as a wild mustang. His shadows flicker and convulse all over him, the shadow magic fueling him from the inside. Despite the
Fuck. Could Amora even survive what exists in the other realm? Unease prickles up my spine at how close we just came to losing her.We need to take those shadows out, I tell my brothers. As fast as we can.We’re yanked back into combat as several of Quinton’s wolves burst into our little circle, breaking up the party.I pounce on the nearest Blood Moon wolf, taking him down to the ground, while Malix and Frost tag team a shadow shifter. Picking up the wolf with my teeth, I fling him at two more advancing wolves, taking them down like pins in a bowling lane.When I glance back up, Malix and Frost are having trouble with their shadow shifter. The beast is big, and he must’ve been pumped full of more shadow magic than the rest, because he fights almost like a Berserker, wild and brutal. I leap over one of the fallen wolves and head toward them to help, only to stop cold as Amora screams my name.Kian!Whirling around, I find her darting over the uneven terrain in a mad zigzag pattern whi
KianJust like thenight when Quinton nearly executed our mate with a bullet to the head, I don’t hesitate.I’m in the air a split second after my old alpha’s paws have left the dirt. I intercept his leap and slam into him in mid-air, angling so that I hit his head with my chest. He’s so massive that it feels like a rock wall slamming into me, and I huff out a pained breath. If I were any smaller or weaker, I have no doubt his skull would have broken a few bones in my torso.Quinton flies away from me while I fall to the ground, winded. I barely manage to land on all fours as he skids away from me, kicking up dirt and stones and clumps of grass. All around me, chaos breaks loose as the Silver Crest wolves and Blood Moon pack launch into an all-out war.In the very short half second I have before Quinton stands, I glance around and consider our odds. We’re on Felicity’s turf now, and there are more of us physically than there are of them. Both will give us an advantage. Unfortunately, t
AmoraFuck. Not Quinton. Please, don’t let it be Quinton. We’re not fucking ready.I’m not sure who moves first, but within seconds of the piercing howl outside, the four of us are racing across the dark, silent cabin toward the front door.Kian reaches the door first and flings it open, launching himself out into the night with Malix and Frost right behind him. As I come even with the door and prepare to shift, I pause for a fraction of a second, mesmerized by the sight of them leaping from the small front stoop.They trail black smoke as they shift, morphing like shadows. It’s beautiful in a deadly sort of way, as if they’re more than limbs and torsos and heads, but something more metaphysical. More fluid. A macabre dance of shadows.Then they land on the dusty front lawn in full shadow wolf form and take off. I hurry to follow behind, letting my own shift take over my body in the split second after I leap off the porch stoop.Another howl lights up the night, and I put on a burst o
AmoraI surfacefrom a dreamless sleep to the deep, dark of night, cocooned by the warmth of the three men sleeping around me.I’m on my back, completely pinned in by them—something that, once upon a time, would have sent alarm bells clanging through my head. Instead, it’s peaceful and comforting, if a little too warm.The ceiling is barely visible in the blackness, small cracks in the paint standing out like spider webs made of ink. I take a couple of deep breaths, staring up at them as I try to figure out where I stand. How I feel.The past few weeks still weigh on my shoulders, although I imagine that’s not something that’s just going to go away. Things still aren’t good here. We lost against Quinton, and I’m not naïve enough to think he won’t retaliate. Felicity is dead, and that’s a pretty permanent problem that’s going to throw her whole pack into a state of flux for a while.On the other hand, for the first time in a while, I’m okay. Even if the external world is chaos, my inter
In this moment, it’s just me and my men.Finally, Malix lifts his head and drops a kiss to the tip of my nose. “God, I love fucking you,” he murmurs.“Good.” I chuckle. “Because I’ve got lots of plans for more of this.”He waggles his eyebrows. “Dirty girl. You really are my fated mate.”I breathe out another laugh at the idea that my dirty mind is the true proof that we’re a fated match, shaking my head and grinning at him as he draws back, his cock sliding out of me.Frost, Malix, and I all look toward Kian next.The final piece of the puzzle. My third mate.He’s kneeling on the bed beside me, and when I reach for him, he comes willingly. He settles between my legs, his cock hard and thick. But he doesn’t slide into me right away. Instead, he trails one hand down my stomach, and all four of us watch the path of his fingers as they move lower and lower. When he reaches my pussy, he dips two fingers inside. I moan at the feeling, and heat flashes in his eyes.“You look so stunning lik
His gold-rimmed eyes gleam darkly, as if he knows exactly what I’m doing—trying to get a rise out of him. But the heated possessiveness never wavers in his expression as he gives me an answer.“Because I want to look at you. I want my brothers to see what’s theirs. What’s ours.”Oh.Oh fuck.I didn’t expect his answer to turn me on so much, but after everything that just happened between us in the bathroom, every word he just spoke is loaded with meaning.So I don’t push back against his order, staying still just like he told me to and allowing the three men to stare down at me. Frost reaches down to grip his cock, and I wonder if he’s squeezing himself to get a little relief or to try to get his arousal under control. Maybe a bit of both.That thought makes me whimper softly, and although I make no move to reach for the feral shifters, I can’t resist reaching down to slide one hand between my legs.“Shit, kitty,” Malix chokes out as I use my fingertips to spread my pussy lips, giving
“Fuck prophecies,” I repeat as I swipe at the tears threatening to crest over my eyelashes. “I make my own fate. We’ll make our own fate. Together. And it won’t end in murder. Got it?” I jam my finger into Kian’s chest and cut a glare toward Frost. “We aren’t going to go down like that. Not like them. I couldn’t stand it. I can’t even stand the thought of… of hurting you or killing you. Jesus. I can’t believe I ever tried—”Suddenly, Frost’s arm snakes out and hooks around my waist. He yanks me to him, my arms crushed between us as my fingers still cling to my towel, and his lips cover mine, cutting off my rant.There’s a salty, spicy taste to his skin, and when his lips part in that tentative way of his, I’m surrounded by the familiar scent of his body. Warmth unfurls in my belly, heating my skin, and I tilt my face up to his, opening to his kiss.It’s soft at first, but then he catches my face in his hands and deepens the kiss, his tongue sliding against mine with deliberate possess
AmoraHeat risesin my eyes as I flip the water on in the shower and climb inside. I don’t even wait for the water to warm, and the shock of cold zings through me, giving me a rush of adrenaline to chase away the sheer exhaustion that’s settled over my bones. The cold quickly fades, replaced by lukewarm water. Another twist of the pipes gives me the scalding temperature I need to ease the emotional turmoil I feel.Weeks of grime slosh off my body beneath the shower head while my tears disappear into the water on my face. I dump shampoo on my hair and scrub vigorously with my fingernails, scratching harder than necessary. If I focus on the little pinpricks of pain, maybe I can get the sight of Quinton standing over Felicity’s body out of my head.If only for a moment.His mate.His mate.How could he do that?I turn, ducking my head under the water to rinse out the suds. I grab the bar of soap off the ledge beside me and lather my hands, then use my nails again to scrub at my face.How
So we travel quickly, digging deep into our energy reserves to race headlong across state lines. Micro-naps and brief pauses to eat or drink are the only breaks we allow, and surprisingly, nobody falls behind. I assume the weaker shifters are still running on pure adrenaline.Most of the adrenaline has faded by the time we cross the state line into Wyoming, but it doesn’t matter. We keep pushing anyway.When we finally reach the Silver Crest pack’s boundaries two days later, a heavy feeling falls over the group. Felicity’s shifters slow, as if dreading to bring the news of her death to those left back home.Many of the wolves limp or nurse wounds that have yet to fully heal, and it doesn’t take more than a glance to understand every one of them is completely demoralized by what happened. It’s late in the day, and although the last rays of the sun paint the buildings with a warm, glowing light, despair hangs around us like a weight in the air.When pack members begin to emerge from the