I ran my wrist under the cold water for a few seconds and then splashed my face. My reflection in the mirror caught my attention as I straightened. My lips were swollen and my cheeks flushed with colour. I reached up to fix the strands of hair that were out of place. Once I was sure that the strands were going to stay in place, I spun around and exited the bathroom. Ryder was zipping the bags closed. I glanced around the room and frowned. There were no personal belongings at all. “How long have you been staying here?” I asked him.He shrugged. “A few years.”“Oh.”“It made sense to move in here once I was old enough. Keiran and I were at each other’s throats constantly. He was stressed about taking over the pack and I…I was being a prick and rubbing everything in his face.” Ryder paused. “Mom made the suggestion and I accepted. Made things easier even though I knew that Keiran had some of his men watching me.”“If you fought so much back then, isn’t that going to be a problem aga
Ryder drove us home and parked the truck in the drive. It was awkward to climb out of the car after sitting on Keiran’s lap for so long. Both of them slid from the truck. Keiran nodded towards Ryder. I frowned at the silent conversation they were having. Without a word, Ryder disappeared into the house. Keiran turned towards me, making me tense. I held still as he walked over towards me. Stopping in front of me, he reached up and swiped his thumb across my bottom lip. “You have a little something here…” he whispered. Slowly his head lowered, as if he was waiting for me to stop him. I tilted my head back, lips parted and eagerly waiting for his kiss.“Did I tell you how sexy you looked when you were ready to fight Abigail for touching me?” he questioned. I nodded. “I wanted to rip your clothes off and fuck you in the forest.” A shiver raced down my spine. I could imagine it.But what kind of example would that be? The park was full of kids. It wouldn’t have gone well with all
“As alpha of this pack, it’s my job to do what’s best for my pack.” He folded his hands together to the desk, and slowly raised his head to look at me. “I’m sending you away.” “W-what?” “Since you are not of legal age and nobody wants to take you in, I will be sending you away to live with your uncle.” Uncle? I frowned at him. As far as I was aware, I had no other family. It had always just been Mom, Dad, and me. There was never any talk about other family members. “Your parents never mentioned him?” I shook my head. “I’m not surprised,” Alpha Rowan muttered. “There’s been some bad blood between them for a few years now.” “And you want me to go live with him?” His eyes narrowed. “He is the only one willing to take you in.” If there was bad blood between him and my parents, I was sure that I wouldn’t be treated any better at his pack than I was being treated at my pack. “I turn eighteen in a month,” I told him. “By law, you need to stay with a legal adult until you are
My heartbeat escalated, and sweat broke out over my skin. He knocked again, snapping me into action. I pulled the door open and watched with a frown as he hurriedly stepped inside the cabin and pushed the door closed behind him. Dean glanced around. “All packed up?” “Y-yes,” I stuttered, feeling unnerved by his presence in the cabin. “Good.” He swallowed loudly as he turned to face me. “We need to talk.” “O-okay. Do you want to sit down?” “No, I won’t be staying long.” He shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting around. For some reason, he seemed extremely nervous, which made me nervous. To think that a few years ago, I used to have a crush on him. My tormentor found out and told everybody, including him. He had joined in on them making fun of me whenever he got the chance. “Did Olivia ever explain mates to you?” he asked. I frowned at him. “Come on, Cora. We already had the sex talk in school. You must have had some questions for your mother.” “I don’t want any part of wh
Another bout of thunder echoed around me. It was already raining heavily. The first drop fell an hour ago and it had been falling harder and harder since then. I was soaked to the bone, freezing cold, and I seemed to be walking in circles. My panic had long since faded. I had accepted the fact that I was going to die. In a few hours, I would be joining my parents. I was okay with that. I had tried to find my way out of the forest, but no matter how hard I tried or how far I walked, I couldn’t get out. The trees seemed to go on for miles and miles, and I had yet to find a sign of something familiar to help me get home. My foot caught on something, sending me falling to the ground. I tried to stop my fall, but ended up twisting my wrist. Instead of getting up, I curled into a ball with my injured wrist cradled to my chest. It took too long for me to realize that the thunder wasn’t the only thing echoing in the air. My body jerked when a twig snapped behind me. I sucked in
I frowned. The girl didn’t scream or try to make a run for it like they usually did. I wasn’t sure what to think of her. When Lucas found her, she hadn’t tried to fight, but then the beast came and she was ready to fight him one moment, and just gave up the next second. Humans were pathetic things…but this girl was...different. A shiver shook her body when the wind started picking up. My eyes dropped, taking in her soaked attire and the goosebumps covering her skin. She wasn’t dressed for a midnight stroll in the forest which made me believe that she might have been kidnapped and escaped, or someone had used her as bait for the rogues. “What’s your name?” I asked her as I stood to pull my cloak off. “C-Cora.” Throwing the cloak across her shoulders, I knelt in front of her again and gently helped guide her arms through the sleeves, and then did up the button at the front close to her neck. “Do you have a last name, Cora?” I questioned. She pursed her lips. I studied her s
I blinked at the blue pillow a few inches from my face. It took a few minutes for the sleep to fade and the memories from last night to flood my mind. A shiver raced through me. Turning onto my back, I blinked up at the ceiling for a few seconds before I slowly sat up. My eyes darted around the room. I froze when I spotted the man occupying the chair in one corner of the room. He had a book resting on his lap. The brown leather was worn like the book was being used constantly. “How do you feel?” His voice was deep and accented. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make out where his accent was from. Slowly, he raised his head to look at me. Gray eyes locked with mine for a moment and then lowered to my neck. I watched as his eyes darkened and flashed black for a second before they returned back to normal. “Doctor said that you should stay in bed for a few days until you are fully rested.” He paused. “How are you feeling, Cora?” I swallowed.”F-fine,” I stuttered.
I stood outside the bedroom door, sucking in deep breaths. Fighting my instincts was hard, especially since I was a man who always relied on his instincts to drive him in the right direction. I sucked in another deep breath before I forced myself to move. Everything was a fucking mess. Nate and I had grown close over the years. He was like a brother, and through him I had gotten to know my half-sister. There had been no hesitation when he asked me to take Cora in if something happened to them. But things were different. Everything had changed because the seventeen-year-old girl in that bedroom was my mate. Not only that, but I found out that she had already met her mate and he had rejected her. I frowned. None of this made any fucking sense. Was this a cruel game? Some sort of test? “At least she’s not blood-related to you,” Axel muttered when I entered my office. I snarled at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be locked in your coffin?” “Funny,” he muttered. “You for
Ryder drove us home and parked the truck in the drive. It was awkward to climb out of the car after sitting on Keiran’s lap for so long. Both of them slid from the truck. Keiran nodded towards Ryder. I frowned at the silent conversation they were having. Without a word, Ryder disappeared into the house. Keiran turned towards me, making me tense. I held still as he walked over towards me. Stopping in front of me, he reached up and swiped his thumb across my bottom lip. “You have a little something here…” he whispered. Slowly his head lowered, as if he was waiting for me to stop him. I tilted my head back, lips parted and eagerly waiting for his kiss.“Did I tell you how sexy you looked when you were ready to fight Abigail for touching me?” he questioned. I nodded. “I wanted to rip your clothes off and fuck you in the forest.” A shiver raced down my spine. I could imagine it.But what kind of example would that be? The park was full of kids. It wouldn’t have gone well with all
I ran my wrist under the cold water for a few seconds and then splashed my face. My reflection in the mirror caught my attention as I straightened. My lips were swollen and my cheeks flushed with colour. I reached up to fix the strands of hair that were out of place. Once I was sure that the strands were going to stay in place, I spun around and exited the bathroom. Ryder was zipping the bags closed. I glanced around the room and frowned. There were no personal belongings at all. “How long have you been staying here?” I asked him.He shrugged. “A few years.”“Oh.”“It made sense to move in here once I was old enough. Keiran and I were at each other’s throats constantly. He was stressed about taking over the pack and I…I was being a prick and rubbing everything in his face.” Ryder paused. “Mom made the suggestion and I accepted. Made things easier even though I knew that Keiran had some of his men watching me.”“If you fought so much back then, isn’t that going to be a problem aga
“Are you okay?”My eyes darted over to Lucas. He raised a questioning eyebrow when I only blinked at him. With a stiff nod, I turned my focus back to the men seated around the table. I was supposed to be paying attention, but Cora was making it difficult. When I marked Laura, she rejected my mark instantly. I never had the opportunity to experience a mate bond with her. I could feel Cora inside me, it was like we were one. Everything she was feeling, I was feeling. And I meant everything. Swallowing, I shifted in my seat, trying to adjust my hard-on as discreetly as possible. I should be glad that she and Ryder made up, but I wasn’t too fond of the way they were doing it. If I was alone it wouldn’t have been a problem. But I was in a room surrounded by elders and some of my best men in an important meeting. And I couldn’t even concentrate on what was being said. Because all I could focus on was the pleasure my brother was giving my mate. Our mate. “-I’m just saying that maybe
Xan and I talked about my abilities a little more while Ryder washed the dishes. Although I wasn’t a pro yet, I knew the basics. Hell, I knew how to do things before I was even aware of my abilities. But what Ryder was asking me was a lot different than speaking to someone in their head. “Just close your eyes,” Ryder ordered softly. “Think about what you want me to do to you and then focus on showing me that image. Don’t think about anyone else. Just me.”It sounded easy enough. Sucking in a breath, I slowly blew it out as I closed my eyes. Images flashed through my mind until I focused on one specific one. Ryder on his knees between my legs with his face buried against my pussy. My eyes snapped open and a gasp fell from my lips. He was making the image a reality because Ryder was on his knees between my legs, lips locked around my clit, and his tongue flicked back and forth. I moaned as I reached down to bury my hands in his hair. My hips rolled as the pleasure increased. And
I walked right up to the front desk. My smile faltered when the woman glanced up. She didn’t look friendly, but I didn’t let it stop me. “Hi,” I greeted. “I’m here to see Kelsey…” I trailed off when I realized I didn’t know her last name. “No visitors.”My shoulders sagged. “Let’s try that again,” Ryder growled. “We’re here to see Kelsey.”His chest brushed against my back when he stepped closer. I tensed for a moment when he gripped my hips and then relaxed again. He caged me in between him and the counter as we waited for the woman who was busy typing on the computer. She cleared her throat as she turned back to us. “She was discharged last night.” “Thank you.”Gripping my hand, he led me out of the building and back to the truck. “You know where she lives right?” I asked him. Ryder pursed his lips instead of answering, but he started the truck and headed in the opposite direction of home. The drive was short and filled with a tense silence. He said nothing as he parked in f
Kill him, he growled. We will hide the body and make sure that nobody can find them. I turned around to glare at Xan but caught Cora’s eyes instead. Her eyes narrowed, making colour flood my cheeks. It felt like she knew exactly what my beast and I were thinking about.Clearing my throat, I turned around and started cleaning the counter. It was hard to concentrate because I could feel her eyes burning into my skin.What’s she thinking?“I should get going,” Xan muttered. “You have one of your mates with you, but if you need anything, you can just call me.”Suck ass.His chair scraped loudly against the floor when he stood. I bit my lip to stop myself from making an unnecessary comment. Silence settled around us the moment he left. I listened for the soft click of the front door to make sure that he was gone.With the counters clean and nothing else to do, I turned around only to find the kitchen empty.Cora left without making a sound.I frowned and rubbed my chest. She was upset and
I expected this to be awkward. But I woke up alone in bed in my room. All we’d been doing was talking about taking things slowly and at a pace I was comfortable with. Just the other day Keiran had pointed out that I wasn’t ready for our bond to be completed and I had agreed with him.Things have changed a lot since we last had that conversation.Reaching up, I traced the skin around our bond mark. It was healed and stood out starkly against my pale skin. My lips twitched and slowly curled into a smile. A few inches higher and my fingers brushed over the slightly raised skin. I shivered, enjoying the warmth that flooded my body. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the emotions filling me weren’t just my own. I couldn’t make sense of it, but I knew that they belonged to Keiran. Still smiling, I reached for my brush. I divided my hair into two sections and then started combing it. When I was done, I braided my hair and then dropped the towel. I took the time to rub some lo
I was hot, sweaty, and sticky between my legs. My body ached. Everything hurt from my arms down to my legs. It felt like I had been exercising nonstop. Groaning, I turned around and rolled straight into another body. Warm sweaty skin brushed mine. I sucked in a breath and winced at the scent that filled my nostrils. Our scents were combined and it was my new favourite smell. Except I didn’t care much for the lingering scent of sex that filled the room. A low groan made my stomach clench. There was a rustle of sheets as the body next to mine moved. I forced my tired eyes open and blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision. The bed dipped behind me and a second later, someone gripped my hip. I turned my head and frowned at the man hovering above me. Axel smiled as he leaned over me. Biting my lip, I slowly turned onto my back. “Hey, sweetling. How are you feeling?”I swallowed a few times before I answered him. “Tired and dirty,” I croaked. His smile widened. “I ran you a
My beast wanted out. He couldn’t understand why we were downstairs dealing with them when we should be upstairs next to our mate who needed us. All he cared about was her and not the danger she was currently in. We needed to protect her. We needed to make sure that we were going to be safe when her full heat hit. I studied Xan with my brows dipped into a frown. We were the only ones who had seen Cora shift. Nobody else knew about it. Yet, somehow he knew about her. “How do you know about Cora?” Ryder asked the question before I could. Xan shifted in his chair but his focus was on Axel. I frowned at my brother. It would be easy for him to get the answers we needed. I hated how it was done, but it was effective. “She called to me,” Xan said softly. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not crazy. She called to you the same way she called to me. You found her, didn’t you?”Dread flooded me. “Is…” I sucked in a breath and blew it out. “Is she your mate?”His eyes darted between the three