sableIn my opinion, we should stay together. We only beat the witches in battle because we joined forces. We managed to hold our own and come out on top in a fight that would have destroyed a single pack in a matter of minutes. If we split up again, each pack will go back to being vulnerable.Even though the crowd is making their support of me known, I don’t feel like I have a platform to blurt out my opinions. I’m a shifter, but I wasn’t raised on pack lands. All three packs existed for years before I came around, so the decision has to be something they work out amongst themselves without the half-breed sticking her nose in.Grady, a big man with a shiny bald head, stands up and booms, “I side with Ridge. Our alpha knows best how to ensure our ongoing safety.”Ridge nods once.Amora, who’s been silently watching from behind the seated elders, speaks up. “Grady’s right.” She inclines her chin toward the bald man. “Banding together seems like the safest route for our families and the c
sableIn my opinion, we should stay together. We only beat the witches in battle because we joined forces. We managed to hold our own and come out on top in a fight that would have destroyed a single pack in a matter of minutes. If we split up again, each pack will go back to being vulnerable.Even though the crowd is making their support of me known, I don’t feel like I have a platform to blurt out my opinions. I’m a shifter, but I wasn’t raised on pack lands. All three packs existed for years before I came around, so the decision has to be something they work out amongst themselves without the half-breed sticking her nose in.Grady, a big man with a shiny bald head, stands up and booms, “I side with Ridge. Our alpha knows best how to ensure our ongoing safety.”Ridge nods once.Amora, who’s been silently watching from behind the seated elders, speaks up. “Grady’s right.” She inclines her chin toward the bald man. “Banding together seems like the safest route for our families and the
SableI wake up early the next morning—so early I can taste dawn on the air, even from inside the house and surrounded by a cocoon of warm arms and legs.Ridge and Dare cuddle me from either side, their hands resting on my body and their faces buried against my skin. They’re both still dead asleep, breathing deeply, eyelids moving as they dream. I wonder briefly what they’re dreaming of, and if maybe I’m a part of it. They’ve both played host to dreams in my mind too, many of which were more than a little R-rated.I stretch, dislodging both sleeping men with very little effort. They readjust and continue snoozing as I sit up and rub away the sleep from my eyes.Archer sits in a cushioned armchair beside the bed, the last man on watch. He dragged the chair in here when we arrived before the battle with the witches, after I revealed that I was worried my magic might hurt one of them while I slept. It surges every now and then, the black marks streaking across my skin, the magic swirling
TrystanI try not to let my bad mood overshadow cooking breakfast with Sable, but it’s fucking hard.First, my pack being dicks last night at the meeting, and now, my father’s shadow hovering over me like an unwelcome specter. I want to be pissed at Sable for even invoking his memory, but I can’t blame her. I brought him up first.This is the first time I’ve ever questioned whether taking the title of alpha from my father was a good idea or not. It’s never occurred to me that I’m anything less than a stellar leader. Though I guess that’s because my circle was fucking smaller than a dime, and my pack spent so much time lifting me up, I wouldn’t have been able to see through bullshit with a flashlight and a map.By the time I finish flipping a few more eggs—not burned, this time—the rest of the guys drift into the kitchen, still in the clothes they slept in and looking just as rough as I feel. I doubt any of us are used to this kind of emotional fucking rollercoaster.The oven timer din
Trystan“Surprised to see that you have a fucking doorstep when Dolores Fisher is sleeping in a tent.” Dolores is just shy of ancient with bad hips and a hernia she likes to bring up every other sentence. But she’s a great lady, and an institution in the West Pack.Unfortunately, Cooper doesn’t have an ounce of empathy in him.“The woman survived two heart attacks. Nothing short of a gunshot wound to the head’s gonna nail her.” He leans a hip against the door and eyes me. “What do you want?”“Can we come in?” I demand, a little impatiently. “We’re not here to admire the garden shed.”Cooper’s shit-eating grin spreads wider, and he steps back, opening the door to let us pass into the dimly lit room. He looks at Sable like he wants to take her for a test drive, a flash of interest in his eyes. It takes all my willpower not to lay him out on the floor like the trash he is just for looking at her the wrong way.The place is literally a garden shed—one room, walls lined with gardening tool
SableI give Trystan’s arm a squeeze in a kind of awkward arm hug, and he draws to a slow halt.When I look back up at him, he’s staring at me with such a funny, un-Trystan-like expression on his face, that I almost laugh. Then his hands wrap around my elbows and he drags me against him, that bewildered expression falling away as it’s replaced by something warmer.“Goddammit, I love you,” he murmurs, conviction ringing in his voice.Without another word, he drops his head and kisses me.His arms wrap around my waist, and his palms send little tingles up my spine as he tugs me closer. I rise up on my toes, pressing my body against his, and a low rumble of desire comes from deep inside his chest. Our kiss deepens. Quickens. His lips taste like ambrosia, like I’m standing in heaven and about to be as high as a goddess can go. Our tongues touch, and his fingers sink into my hips to yank me against his growing erection.I lose all concept of time and give myself over to the sensation of hi
I let him mull over his thoughts in silence as we head back across town toward Archer’s house. I don’t want to push him into speaking before he’s ready, especially not if he’s building plans in his head or going over everything that was discussed with an eye on the rearview.We walk into the cool, dim interior of Archer’s house, and Trystan closes the door behind us. I turn, impatient to know what’s going through his mind, but before I can even utter a sound, I’m in his arms.It’s like the kiss outside of Cooper’s pilfered shed never ended. Trystan’s hands splay across my back, sliding beneath my shirt to palm my bare skin, and I lean into him, wishing I could be closer. His hands slip around to cup my breasts, palming the soft flesh and teasing my nipples, and I groan. Even the inch of material from our shirts is too much distance between us. I can feel multitudes of emotions in his kiss—heat, desire, possessiveness. But above all, I can feel his gratitude. I can sense how much he ap
SableI’m still laughing as Trystan carries me into the bedroom and deposits me lightly on the bed.I flop back onto the mattress, gazing up at him with a grin as he stands at the foot of the bed watching me. “Isn’t this how the cavemen used to do it?”He arches an eyebrow, his blue-green eyes dancing with heat and mirth. Then he makes a fist and thumps it against his chest. “Me claim woman.”I giggle again, but my laughter slowly dies out as Archer and Dare step into the bedroom behind Trystan. Just like in the living room, the temperature in the space seems to rise almost immediately, filling the air with delicious tension and anticipation.Trystan remains right where he is as the other two men come forward to join him, all three of them focused entirely on me. I have a vivid memory of the first time I did something like this with all my mates, back in the cabin we spent time in as a group. I remember staring at all four of them gathered at the foot of the bed, overwhelmed and excit