The sound of metal lightly tapping against glass wakes me. Jayk is sitting on the other side of the glass coffee table tapping the tip of the custom pen Lydia gave him last year for his birthday. The words Big Daddy are engraved into it. I hate that pen and especially hate waking up to him tapping it on the glass coffee table.
"Why the fuck are you sleeping on the couch, Mars? I didn't drop ten Gs on your stupid custom bed with an adjustable base to see you sleeping on the couch I know Ashton found in a dumpster," he retorts.
I sit up and arch my back. It pops in several spots. When I rotate my shoulders and roll my head more pops bounce around in the darkness of the living room. Leelie is sitting in the armchair on the other side of me. Her legs are propped up on the armrest where my head had been.
"What time is it?" I ask fixing my tank top. I am so glad I am wearing a sports bra under.
"It's eight," Leelie answers.
"In the morni
"Why are you wearing a hat?" Leelie asks when we arrive at the school. "To blend in," I look her over. "You're gonna stand out," "You're the beta. You do the talking," she huffs. She glances back at Miles. "Miles, go with her. I'll stay put," "Fuck," he grunts. Before we could get out of the car she reaches for him and pulls him into her. "You are not her mate yet. That means you're going to follow orders as if Jaykob himself is giving them to you. Keep your little sounds to yourself. She might let them slide, but I'm not. Show a little respect, motherfucker," she shoves him and straightens herself up to look out the window. I get out of the car and slip my backpack on. I want to laugh, but I don't want to undermine her opinion. After all, that's what this whole mating is lacking. "We're going to talk to them first," I say when he goes around to the back. He pulls his hoodie over his head and motions me to lead th
One of the coolest things about the packhouse is that they have their own water tower. The second coolest thing is that they don't guard it because it's right smack in the middle of the terrain. I doubt anyone has ever come up here since it was built five years ago. I've been sitting up here for a couple of hours now. I now know where they train, their formations, and that Arthur, that sneaky little wolf is mated. His mate's name is Every and she's a total princess. I don't mean a princess like me who was born into a crappy violent-prone family. I'm talking about someone who's never been outside their little compound, wears expensive cutesie dresses, and has a handmaiden. It always kind of bothered me how nice this place is. The pretty flowers and expensive decore. How it's well maintained and everyone seems so chipper. I get it now. The alpha built his little mate a golden cage. It's almost too easy. Even as I see a clear victory, I can't help but feel b
Jayk "She's having fun," Leelie huffs. The two of us watch my little sister leave in her BMW. She's been avoiding the twins but she hasn't made her intentions with them clear to any of us. I guess I can allow her that privacy as long as it doesn't bleed into what we're doing. "Yeah, she's arrogant as fuck," I sigh. "I had the shadow to tail her. Can't have her out there alone," "She surprised me," "That makes two of us," I laugh. "So, the mate?" she asks. "The mate," I confirm. "Do you think she's really running around in her little fancy car causing attention naively or was getting their attention on her always the plan?" "She's armed and she's wearing easy tearaway clothes for a shift. I have no fucking idea," "Get Micca. We're going up the cliffside for the girl. By all means," "Yes, sir," she smiles and heads back inside.
That was a clean run, but the outcome isn't what Jaykob is expecting. Tracking an Alpha is a lot easier than tracking an omega and Arthur will find Jet by all means. No matter how long it takes. "We need to figure out why he hasn't marked the girl," I tell Jayk as we put them into the same cell in the basement of our house. Jet is awake. His eyes are on us as we move around. He doesn't look happy. "Get me another chair," Micca says as he and Leelie tie Jet into the chair they already have. Jayk helps me tie Every to the second chair I found by the entrance of the basement. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jet shouts as soon as the bandana Leelie had stuffed into his mouth is removed. "Where is Dani? She would never let you assholes get away with this!" No one in the room answers. "She tried to run," I say after a while. He looks from Leelie to Jaykob. "You killed her?" he shakes his head. "She was your m
"Jayk," my brother is sitting on the edge of the diving board smoking. He glances back at me but doesn't say a word. "I can give her some of your clothes. Just so she has the comfort of an alpha in her nest," "What is that?" he asks. "I don't know anything about her kind other than how good they smell," "Well," I say and sit at the edge of the pool. "Females aren't like the males. They're small obviously. Once they're fully matured and shift, they're-" "Breedable," he says bitterly. "Yeah, but it's more than that. They ovulate like crazy. Their scent is powerful. Unclaimed females like her drive alphas like you insane. It's called a rut. Nothing other than marking and breeding her will matter once she enters her heat. "They nest. They need to be kept warm and calm. When the full moon hits she'll be more animal than person. She needs attention and for her mate to be around. Without Arthur, she can go into the early
I watch Every pull the small mattress off the cot and push it into the corner before she starts building her nest. She sets down all the sheets first and then the pillows. Jayk's comforter goes last along with some of the warmer blankets. She pats everything down while humming to herself. I scratch the back of my head wondering how she will react to how we live."Not what you expected?" Jet asks. I lean against the bars of his cell."Guess I've lived a pretty carefree life without knowing how good I have it," I say. He smiles. "You've taken care of all of them?""Most of them," he nods."How many others are there?""Guess you'll find out when you raid the compound," he shrugs."Jet, we're not your enemies. We're not trying to hurt you,""No, you're just keeping us hostage. You took us from our home,""Excuse me? You live in a fucking cage. He killed your family,""It'
Lydia is sitting in the living room of the Beta's villa. She smiles when she sees me approach her. This is similar to the main house but it's bigger and it is designed to accommodate a lot more people. Just like the other ones. "What's up, Sweetness? I hear you guys found a little omega princess," "That's what I wanted to talk to you about," I say sitting down next to her. "Where's Rocket?" "She's asleep. I gave her a sedative. Wolfbane withdrawal is very painful," "Uh, okay. Well, yes. There's a little omega in our basement and Arthur groomed her to-" "I know," she nods. "Most omega females are groomed this way. What do you need help with?" "Well, I told her I'd get her some stuff so she can shower but she said that Arthur is the only one allowed to bathe her. Jet said it was because she'd trigger her heat," "Right, omegas do that. They trigger their heat to get their mate to mark them
As far as apologetic letters go, I think this is the worst one in all of history. Miles isn't very good with words and it's adorable, but it's the effort that counts. There are spots where he wasn't sure if the word he was using was the right one and he erased it so hard he almost ripped through the page. He's better with numbers."What is that?" Leelie asks as I fold the pages of his apology small enough to fit in my wallet. "You're rocking a crappy velcro wallet? You're ridiculous,""What? It holds my money and my cards. What do I need a fancy one for?""Whatever the fuck it is you just put in it," she rolls her eyes. "It can be more than just useful, Dagmar," she slips her wallet out of her back pocket. It's a pretty turquoise color. She opens it to show me her license, money, cards, and pictures from when we were younger. She has all of us in there. "Cute, right?""Yeah," I smile because I had no idea she could be so sentimenta
Jayk "How much of that did you hear?" Lydia sighs as she pushes herself off the floormat. "All of it," I answer honestly. "She's right you know. We have literally anything you can think of here at the moment," "Best pre-workouts," she holds up her water bottle. "You were just going to leave?" I ask. "Yes," she gives me the same honesty. "I would rather go feral than stay here and watch your fuckery," "I don't want that for you," her honesty always hurts, but I don't know how to talk to her anymore. Not without hurting her feelings. "Now that you're the alpha, what you want is the only thing that matters, huh?" she sits on the bench behind her. No matter what I say to her, even if I sugarcoat it for her, it doesn't change a thing. "What you feel for me is nothing compared to what a mate bond feels like," I sit across from her. "You can love someone with you
Lydia is sitting in the middle of the gym alone with a fifty-pound weight on her chest while she does sit-ups. The lights are off and I can hear Watch The World Burn from her headset as she breathes out heavily every time she lifts her body. I've never been this upset about anything and I'm not going to pretend I know what she's going through. One thing I do know is that I don't want her to go away. She practically raised me. I don't know what to offer her or what to say that would be enough for her to stop thinking about running away. Lydia loved my brother before he became anything. I don't think she understands that Jayk isn't with those girls because he loves them. Something inside of him broke when Danica rejected him. I doubt my brother is ever going to love anyone ever again and he doesn't know how to explain that to her. "You have a very loud presence," she pants but doesn't stop. I make my way over to her and take the heads
My brother is sitting at the breakfast table with Every, Lucille, and Sloane. All of them are fussing over him and talking to one another like they're best friends. There is no sign of Leelie or Lydia. It's just the eight of us. Ashton and Micca bring out the breakfast and set it in the center of the table. "What the fuck?" Miles whispers when he takes a seat to my right. Micca sits to my left. "I don't know," I shrug and reach for a biscuit. Micca hands me the fried potatoes and Miles pours the buttermilk gravy. "Good morning, guys," Lucille finally greets us. Jayk and others look up at me. "I'm sure it is," Ashton sits next to Micca. We laugh when Jayk rolls his eyes. "Will Lie and Lydia be joining us this morning, sir?" "Nah, they're at the Beta house," Jayk takes a bite out of his pancakes. He sets his fork down and stares at me. It makes me a little uncomfortable, but I don't say anything. We've been fighting over
Jayk "What do you want?" he asks me. "Leelie almost died last week," I inform him. He sits back. "You're not like us, Jet. You don't know what it's like to have a ticking time bomb inside of you. One that goes off when you least expect it. It's not easy being on our own," I clear the itch in my throat. "Having a mate after years of being alone is taxing," "Is that why you killed Dani?" he sneers. "Yes," I nod. "Danica's death is my fault. I'm new to this alpha shit. I didn't know the power of a command until just recently. I wanted her to be something she could never be. The closer we got, the more she hated me for putting a responsibility she wasn't prepared for on her shoulders.It wasn't all hate. We had our moments and it's those small instances that make me miss her the most. Did you know that Arthur compelled her to father his heir?" "No," he shakes his head. "He convinced her that it
Jayk Seeing Dagmar upset the way she is, isn't easy. I underestimated the power I have over her and now I get why the alphas lost control of the very things they created. It was why I had put the rules in place. They gave me a sense of control. I had promised myself and my sister that I wouldn't let this get to me, but it's already started to bleed into everything we've been working for. I don't know how to fix this and now that Dagmar is home, everyone seems to be more at ease. "Jayk?" Micca walks in our makshift office space and sits in Miles's chair across from me. "What's up?" I say giving him my attention. He scratches the back of his head nervously. Micca has never been a man of many words. When it comes to anything regarding our business, he lets his work do the talking for him. It's why I love having him around. He's always been eager to prove that he deserves Dagmar. "I didn't think thi
"What did you do to him?" Jayk asks as the two of us watch Micca reading a book down by the lake behind Sloane's house. It took him a while to calm down, but once he did the emptiness slowly started to drift away and he slept for a good six hours. "Where is Sloane?" I shoot right back. He grins and turns around to walk back inside. I follow. "Miles said you had news?" "Lucille will be moving into the cotton farms as planned. Since you and Miles are going to be going to school in that region anyway, I was thinking of leaving you in charge of the entire vicinity," "And Micca," I add. He sighs. "You're letting Micca stay with me. He's my mate," "He's an essential part of my pack," "We all are, but Micca belongs to me," I remind him. "I knew you were going to be difficult about this," "Jayk-" "I can't just let him stay in one place, Mars," "Then no," I shake my h
Miles and I have been together a few times now and I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but Micca is an Omega. He is engineered by centuries of werewolf breeding genetics specifically for this. I once read that those who have Omega mates, their mates somehow know exactly what they need and for a while now, I've been asking myself what it is he thinks I need. I can tell it terrifies him and from what I've seen in his mind, I probably should be too. His arm wraps around me as he stands taking all my weight to lift me off the floor without breaking our kiss. I suddenly feel like we're falling and my back is hitting the softness of the bed. I gasp for air when he pulls away scraping his teeth over my cheek and down my neck. He growls canines extended, eyes pitch black, and his body is turning. He's fighting his urge to shift, just barely, but the pain seems to be keeping him grounded. His tongue is attentive to my wounds. He's slowly lapping at th
The smell of his blood is triggering my red vision. His eyes are pitch black and completely focused on me. Miles excuses himself after telling him that if he got to have me on our own he at least owed him that. Micca has pushed me to this. I don't want this to be our life. I can't only have half of him. He belongs to me and I need all of him even if he refuses to offer anything up. I'm going to have to take it from this fucking Omega asshole. I retract my claws and shove him. He stumbles back and falls into the chair Miles at him in. "Mars, I can't-" he presses his hand to the side of his head trying to keep himself in check. I pull his hand away from his face and straddle him. "Please, please," he begs and it's a really good look on him. He's fighting the shift. I don't want him to shift, but if we have to. We will. "I can't," "Micca," I lean into him pressing my lips to his. He tries not to kiss me back. I growl and bite down on his bottom
Miles They're basically the same person. Both prideful and resentful. It's not like I don't understand where she's coming from. Micca is so detached from everything that he's formed these iron-clad walls all the way around him and she's right. She's been trying to go easy on him and he's done his best to push her away. This feels like the last straw. The last time she snapped, she ended up marking him against his will. I still remember the bliss he felt from the severe pain he was in for days. Even after all these years, I still don't know how to get through to him. Talking rarely helps. All he understands is violence. I thought he was getting better. I can't be having this fight with Dagmar every time he has a fucking fit. It's not fair to either of us. Dagmar went up to the room we're staying in after angrily informing me she was on the third floor the second door to the right. Leelie, Ashton, and Micca show up after a couple of