Steam begins to pour through the open doorway, further warming the room. I let my head rest against the wall and drag the covers over my bare chest, listening to the water running in the bathroom and the soft breaths coming from Amora next to me. It’s surprisingly peaceful, even knowing that we aren’t safe here. Not for long, anyway.When Frost emerges, he leaves the water running and points to Malix. I watch silently as Frost helps himself to a pair of gray sweatpants and a t-shirt in the closet, then he refills his mug and joins me on the bed. He drapes his long body over the foot of the mattress and stares blankly at the wall, cradling his mug between both hands. We fall into the same silence, both of us stealing glances at Amora every few moments, as if she’s going to disappear.After Malix’s quick shower, it’s my turn, and I almost deny it because I don’t want to leave her side. But the idea of fiery hot water to chase away the painful tingles in my limbs is too tempting to ignor
AmoraI stare back at Kian,shock reverberating through me at the vehemence in his tone.His words hang in the air like a promise. Did he really just vow to keep me alive? I have no idea how to respond to that. Our mate bond is broken. Gone. There shouldn’t be any lingering protective feelings between any of us.But… all three of them were part of saving me. They went out on a limb to save my life, basically destroying their relationship with their alpha.For me.Not to mention they’re still here. They didn’t drop me in this cabin and then bounce, racing back to Quinton to beg forgiveness like I expected.I don’t even want to acknowledge any of that, though. Acknowledging it will make it real. I have a shit ton of questions I want to ask—starting with why?—but instead, I just say, “I’ll meet you downstairs in a minute. I’m too hungry to fucking stand here having a stare off.”Then I slip into the bathroom, close the door, and turn the lock.I mean, yeah. I know a dinky little knob lock
My eyes snap open, and I round on him, letting the full heat of my fury burn in my gaze. “I don’t know. You wanna learn how to fly? This mountain’s pretty steep.”A grin touches the corners of his full lips. “Hate to break it to you, kitty, but I love it when you bring the claws.”I clench my hands into fists and turn to walk away from him. “God, you never fucking stop, do you?”Before I can make it two steps, Malix’s fingers wrap around my bicep, and he hauls me back to him.“Amora.” His voice is serious, all amusement gone from his face. He looks cold. Hard. Unbelievably sexy. “Come on. Would you just listen to me for a minute?”I growl and jerk my arm from his grasp. But I don’t walk away. For some godforsaken reason, there’s a part of me that wants to hear what he has to say. A part of me that hopes, as it always has, that these men will surprise me.“Fine,” I bite out. “I’m listening. What?”Malix lets out a breath and glances around, rubbing a hand back over his cropped hair. “L
AmoraThe snow comes as expectedthat evening. Frost finds a transistor radio in a kitchen drawer, and we gather around a dinner of canned beef stew to listen to the weatherman tell us not to go anywhere unless we want to be buried.Great.For the time being, we’re stuck in the cabin together hoping that Quinton’s minions won’t brave the blizzard just to come find us.A foot of snow falls on the mountainside overnight. I listen to the soft hush of the world around the cabin from the solitude of a small guest room, the door locked against the feral shifters just because I can. When I pad downstairs in the morning, everything outside the windows is white and fluffy, as far as my eye can see.On the bright side, I’ll have time to recoup my energy and heal my bruises while we’re safely hidden away.And time to figure out what to do next.I give the feral shifters a wide berth. They plant themselves on the couch with the radio and a stack of old magazines—manly shit about hunting and fishin
Wrapped in a towel, I pad down the hall to the bedroom I’ve claimed as my own. I pass through the door into the chilly room and make a beeline for the space heater in the corner, wishing I’d turned it on before I got in the bath. As warm air begins to pour from the grate, I stand before it and close my eyes, wiggling my toes in the plush carpet.This place is a far cry from my rustic little cabin back home in Montana—although I still like that place more.I untuck the edge of the towel as I turn toward my clothes on the bed. But before I can drop the fabric, someone appears in the doorway I forgot to close.Frost.I jump, startled, and clutch the towel to my body with both hands. “Jesus! Don’t sneak up like that.”Frost always appears like a shadow. He moves like his body doesn’t even interact with the world around him, as silent as a wraith. He stares at me with those vivid blue eyes that give nothing away.“Do you have a moment?” he asks in his deep, raspy voice.Swallowing back my
FrostHot.Wet.SweetSo fucking sweet.Amora’s lips are the best thing I’ve ever felt. Ever tasted. I crush my mouth to hers, wrapping my arms around her lithe, muscular body as I pin her more tightly against me.I’m drowning in her. Or maybe I’m the ocean, and she’s the one drowning. The need that rises inside me is so sharp and acute that I’m afraid I might hurt her. I try to force my arms to relax. To let her go. To let her breathe.But I can’t.From the first moment I saw her, I wanted her, in a way I’ve never wanted anyone else. I craved her. Not just her physical body, but her heart, her mind, her soul. I want to know all of her, want to sit by her side and rest my head in her lap and wrap my body around hers to keep her safe from everything that might ever try to hurt her.I don’t know what to call this feeling.Obsession?That doesn’t seem like enough. None of it is enough. I can’t get close enough to her, can’t kiss her deeply enough, can’t touch enough of her perfect skin.
AmoraHoly shit.My heart flutters almost painfully against my ribs as I lie nestled among the blankets with Frost’s weight on top of me. He’s still inside me, heavy and hot, filling every inch of my body and every corner of the void in my soul.It takes me several moments to be able to breathe properly again, and as my heart rate slows a little, it’s as if all the bones in my body vanish. I can’t remember the last time I felt this satisfied, this absolutely languid, drifting on a wave of sated lust.Though that’s not really true, is it?I felt like this with Malix on the shores of that lake in New Mexico. I felt like this three years ago in the hotel with Kian. Despite Frost’s apparent inexperience, that was some of the best sex I’ve ever had.The gorgeous blond shifter leans down, his lips brushing over my neck, adding more heat to my already perspiring skin. I close my eyes and relish the feel of his satin mouth closing over my racing pulse, my fingers digging into the taut muscles
Kian’s gold-ringed eyes remain fixed on us, his body going as still as a statue. Beside him, Malix licks his lips, hunger visible in his expression as he reaches down and palms his own cock where it’s beginning to press against his borrowed sweats.A fresh wave of arousal surges through me, sharp and hot and different than anything I’ve ever felt before.Fuck. I didn’t expect to be so turned on by them watching.I was trying to piss them off, but instead, I’ve just added a whole new level to this fucked up thing between all of us.I never thought I had an exhibitionist streak, but maybe I was wrong, because something compels me to throw my head back and arch my back so they can watch my breasts bounce, watch the way the muscles in my thighs work as I rise up and down on Frost’s hard length. I’m putting on a show for Kian and Malix and even Frost, and it feels like it’s as likely to wreck me as it is them.Frost rolls my nipple between his fingers, sending a wave of sensation straight
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