TYSON POV
I look up from my cell phone as I step out of the elevator on to my floor of The Tower. From the corner of my eye, I see the back foot of someone stepping into the service elevator and disappearing from view. Probably the mail clerk going about their day. Excellent. That means the mail has been delivered to my desk already. I have time to review the finalized contracts for the smaller security company I am buying out. I’ve asked Rachel to arrive early for the last week so we can get this nailed down and over with.
As I walk through the open concept office space to my doors, I stop in my tracks as I deeply inhale the scent I’ve come to love this last week during my early mornings, honeysuckle and roses. Zeus, my wolf, has been much more active and agitated this week than normal. When I get a whiff, he starts going crazy and running in my head.
“Dude, what’s up with you lately?” I ask in annoyance.
“That scent. It gets stronger and more desirable for me each time we smell it. I think it might be our mate. But I won’t know for sure until I see her,” he responds.
“I wish. We’ve looked everywhere for her. Don’t you remember me checking all employees a few years back? I also meet all new female employees in person to be sure too.” I stop walking again as something dawns on me, “Oh shit! What if our mate is male? I haven’t checked any of them, anywhere, at all!”
“Calm your tits, Ty. We aren’t gay. If we were interested at all, I would have had you checking them too.” Zeus reassures me, but with an eyeroll.
“I know I’m not interested, but that doesn’t mean the Goddess wouldn’t give me a male mate. I’d never reject my mate, I just… dunno, never thought about checking the males out. Was that short sighted of me?”
“No, like I said, you aren’t gay. I’m not gay. Being gay is fine, look at Thomas. We accept him and his mate, Adam. So does most everyone else, but we haven’t looked because that’s not for us. Now focus. Follow that scent because SHE is the one for us, I’m almost positive.”
I do as Zeus demands and follow the scent. It leads to my open office door; I’m almost pleased until I see Rachel going through the mail on my desk. I’m angry now.
“Rachel! I have told you repeatedly to not go through the mail on my desk.” I growl out at her. Once I enter my office the honeysuckle and roses smell is gone, drowned out by Rachel’s overwhelming scent of chemicals from her nasty perfume, makeup, and hair products. I can’t even smell Rachel’s natural scent over all the fake she has on. It’s frustrating as all hell because that is all I can smell now.
“Sorry, Tyson. I was just checking that the mail freak did her job correctly.” Rachel responds with a tilt of her head in a show of submission, but I caught that gleam in her eye. I made the mistake of fucking her, once, years ago, and it has given her an overly inflated sense of self-worth when it comes to me. She thinks I will choose her as my mate and Luna. She is quite wrong.
“Rachel, I will not remind you again after today, you WILL refer to me as Mr. Evans when in the office and Alpha when among the pack. If you even think of disrespecting me again by not using the proper title, you will be removed as my assistant. Am I clear?” Rachel just nods in response. “Now, go to your desk and do your work. Tomorrow, you will not wear that perfume and you will use less makeup and hair products. Your entire body smells of chemicals and now, so does my office.” Rachel’s face turns scarlet as she quickly shuffles out of my office, closing the door behind her.
“Fire her, I don’t like her,” Zeus grumbles in my head.
“You’ve never liked her, Zeus.”
“I’ve never trusted her. She’s trouble. Besides, she sucks at her job,” he says simply in reply as he goes to sulk in the back of my mind. I just roll my eyes and get to work for the day.
ROSE I am beyond angry at what Rachel just did to me. Instead of heading to the CFO and COO offices on the other floors, I return to the basement to see Rolando to give him my official complaint for HR. As I exit the elevator, I can hear Rolando and Monica talking. As I get closer, I realize it is about me. Crap. “Rolando, I wasn’t trying to snoop. It was on the locker room floor. I picked it up just to see what it was. Honest. How will she afford this? Maddie needs the school, but Rose is killing herself already to pay the tuition. What do we do?” “You’ll do nothing,” I answer her question as I enter the room and take the tuition notice from her. Both sets of eyes snap over to me and widen in surprise at getting caught. “I’ll figure something out, I always do. It isn’t for you to worry about.” “But…” “No buts, Monica. I have someone helping me look into scholarships and other assistance. Everything will work itself out, you’
ROSE “Hi, welcome to Patty’s Diner. I’m Rose, and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you all something to drink?” I ask with a small smile as I look up at my table. “I don’t want a drink, but I’ll take your number, gorgeous.” A male voice on the right says with a snicker and his friends chuckle along with him. “Sorry, I don’t date customers. Drinks, gentlemen?” “Oh, I don’t want a date, just a quick fuck will suffice. Getting a break soon?” He replies lewdly at me, and I sigh in frustration. At least he didn’t say it loudly and catch Maddie’s attention. I don’t need her to overhear overt sexual comments directed at me. “Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave if you keep saying things that are inappropriate.” I say as I look the customer in the eye. I know my face is set grimly and coldly. The guy who has propositioned me couldn’t be older than 18 with dirty blond hair and light brown eyes. He’s a big guy but with n
TYSON I never like getting to the office so early. I am so not a morning person, but today is the completion of the purchase of Hard as Nails Security. They are a smaller security firm in our area that are in direct competition with my company, Evans Security. They’ve made several wrong investment decisions over the last few years and got themselves underwater. When I found out, I jumped at the chance to buy them out. I did some research and also found out that their CEO, who is one of the next closest wolf pack’s Alphas, has a gambling problem and owed a lot of dangerous people lots of money. I knew that was my way in. First, I began underbidding them for jobs. I was okay with losing money on a few jobs with the possibility of them not bringing in the revenue they needed to bring themselves back out of debt. When they started laying off their security teams, I swooped in and hired those guys onto my own teams and offered them transfers into my pack for them a
ROSE My mind is a complete mess today. I need to figure out what to do about the tuition issue and I need to figure out how to afford food this week. While I have gone several days without eating in the past, I was already scrounging this week due to finally paying off the medical bill I incurred last year with my homeless thief incident. I wish I had just let that shit go to collections instead of painstakingly nickel and diming myself to pay that urgent care facility. Not a joke, one week I could only pay 15 cents, but I made some kind of payment, every single fucking week for over a year. The employee who was in charge of bill outs and collections, was always so kind and understanding of my plight. She refused her boss’s insistence to send it to collections because I was making a regular, steady effort to pay. But I could really use that last $20 I gave her on Saturday. Maybe I can save some of the rejected meals at the diner for the week. I can make an in
TYSON I know, in the back of my mind, that I shouldn’t be fucking Rachel again. I know this. So why am I doing it? Why can’t I stop? “Stop, Ty. She’s tricked you. Don’t you dare mark her,” I can hear Zeus in my head. But he sounds weird, like he’s whispering to me from behind a concrete divider. It’s taking me longer than it should to climax, but I can feel myself getting there. I’m almost ready to cum, almost ready to mark Rachel as mine and finally have a Luna at my side. I have my eyes closed, trying to enjoy this, when I hear a loud piercing scream. I open my eyes and see a stunningly beautiful dark headed woman writhing on her knees on the floor, clawing at her chest. “MATE!” Zeus screams at me, the concrete wall comes crumbling down in my head and I can hear Zeus clearly. Suddenly, I smell the real honeysuckle and roses scent. It is strong and heady and completely engulfing me. I realize my mate, my true fated mate, has walked i
THOMAS I watch Tyson take off in my SUV with his mate, my Luna, injured and strapped into the passenger seat. Worry clearly written all over his face. I don’t have time to contemplate the ‘what ifs’ of her medical status. My Alpha needs me to do my job. I enter the property at the back stairwell. Before I ascend the steps, I investigate the door. It has definitely been tampered with; the lock is broken and the sensor disabled. Is that how the bomb got into the building circumventing our security systems? Why doesn’t this door have a better lock and alarm? *Niall,* I link to our Gamma and head warrior as I head for Tyson’s office, *We’ve had an attempt on the Alpha and Luna’s lives at The Tower this morning. I need you and one of your best teams, preferably one who has a background in explosives, on the 62nd floor of The Tower, ASAP.* *Yes Beta. Right away. But just to clarify, you said Luna, correct?* Niall asks. *Yes, I
TYSON I keep one ear on my mate while I am driving. Her heartbeat is slow but steady, her breathing is even. I think she is okay, at least temporarily; I keep telling myself this to keep the panic at bay because I can smell fresh blood. She is still bleeding from her headwound or one of the lacerations. Zeus is pacing frantically in my head, worry driving his animal instincts, urging me to mark her. I am fighting him for control and trying to calm him down by focusing on her being stable, despite the scent of blood. I drive up to the human run hospital and see Amanda and a few other hospital staff out front with a gurney, waiting for me. It was only a 10-minute drive, but it is nice to see some of our pack members ready to help their injured Luna. We’ve all eagerly anticipated her arrival, none more so than me. I pull to a stop and Amanda has the passenger door open immediately. “Has she regained consciousness at all, Mr. Evans?” Ugh, she called me Mr. Evans, that means some of thes
TYSON Once I’m in the waiting room, I see Adam walking in with a bag slung over his shoulder and a wide smile on his face. He is dressed in white skinny jeans with a rainbow zip-up sweatshirt and bright pink high tops. This man just screams PRIDE in the way he dresses when he’s off the clock. It makes me proud to have him as my Beta’s partner. He has never been afraid to be who he is, and that confidence has bled over into my lower ranking pack members. He has a positive personality that humans and shifters are drawn to. Rose will need his confidence and positivity to learn how to lead as our Luna. Adam walks up, bouncing in step. But his nostrils flare, and his smile fades as soon as he gets close enough to smell me. “Well, I smell why Thomas asked me to bring you clothes. You stink.” “A bomb went off in my office, Adam. Of course I stink.” “That isn’t why you stink, sir.” He glares at me as he hands me the bag. “Come with me.” I follow him down a hallway off the ER lobby. Then do
MADDIE—EPILOGUE THREE10 YEARS LATERI stand in the master bedroom of the newly renovated Alpha suite of Blue Meadow’s packhouse. Today is my 18th birthday and also the day I take my place as Alpha of my pack. I stare at myself in the full-length mirror and think about everything that has happened in the last decade to prepare me for this moment and the life I have ahead of me.I graduated from Zeus Academy at the age of 10. I attended college classes online through the University of Arizona. It wasn’t the Ivy League like everyone expected from me; those didn’t offer a self-paced program or enough online courses for me to get my degrees. I didn’t want to separate myself from my family to attend university, so I chose a less prestigious route that worked the best for me. I have zero regrets with my choice in schools.In eight years of education post-high school, I’ve earned four bachelor’s degrees, two master’s and one PhD. I’ve also studied diligently with Tyson on how to run a pack an
ROSE—EPILOGUE TWOIt’s been 6 months since I delivered Nolan into this world. He has grown like a damn weed and has become the center of our little universe. None of us can get enough of him and his baby scent.Both Tyson and I have retrofitted our offices to accommodate an infant including changing tables, swings, refrigerators, diapers, wipes, spit up rags and pacifiers galore. All the necessities for having an infant. And I can say, without a doubt, Nolan is the easiest going baby I’ve ever experienced. He rarely cries and he’s always happy, as long as he’s being held. He loves skin to skin contact, so much that he rarely wears any clothes. Mads and I always wear spaghetti strap shirts when we’re holding him, and Tyson just takes his own shirt off.It was hilarious when we first figured out that he likes skin so much, Tyson walking around the packhouse shirtless. Granted no one said anything to him about it, but I had the hardest time not whisking him away for sexy time. I mean, all
TYSON – EPILOGUE ONEThe last three months, post war, have been absolute hell! Yeah, I said it. Hell. Getting Blue Meadow back on its feet has been a huge challenge in and of itself. Much worse than most of the other territories I’ve taken over throughout the years. I honestly kept so much from both Maddie and Rose. Neither of them needed to know the intricate details of the rebuild. They were both getting over the trauma and horrors of the battle itself. I didn’t want to worry them.Kent, that worthless piece of crap, really did a number on this pack, it’s health and its finances. I had to pay over three million dollars to a mob pack in Las Vegas, for both Blue Meadow and Pine Woods’ debts. The last thing I wanted was for the mob to demand parts of the pack or worse, them going to the council for payment. I want to keep the council out of any and all of my affairs, as much as possible. They have proved, repeatedly, that they can’t be trusted to do their jobs.I made that trip to Vegas
ROSE“I thought I was going to lose you yesterday, Rose. Don’t do that to me again. You are my whole world.” He says as he slows his thrusts, showing me how much he loves me. I open my eyes and see Zeus shining out with him. I cup their cheeks and bring their mouth to mine. I kiss them with all the love I have within me. We continue slowly but with passion until we both explode in delicious orgasm.“I hope our sex continues to be this amazing in the years to come.” I tell him as we separate from each other.“Rose, from what I understand from other mated couples, it just gets better and better.”“I’m not sure how it can get better, but I look forward to learning.” I say with a sassy smirk over my shoulder as I step into the water. Tyson joins me in the water and does what he always does. He washes me and kisses the scars I have left. Apparently, they are much smaller than they once were.When I get out of the shower, I turn to look at my back and I gasp at what I see. The main lines are
ROSEWatching Tyson battling Kent is one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to witness. Kent looks awful and I feel horrible for his wolf, being saddled with such an atrocious human spirit. I know Tyson will take him down, but I’m still scared that something will happen to him that he can’t heal from. Tyson is my everything. My other half. I know I will live on should he perish during this battle, but it would be for Maddie and our baby only. My soul would be shattered, never to live like I did before. He has to pull through. He just has to.George holds me close, giving me comfort as we watch Tyson fighting Kent. As it progresses, my worry lessens somewhat. Kent isn’t fighting well, and he’s not healing from his minor injuries. I hope this speeds up because I hate seeing him suffer. Despite all the shit he’s put me through, I know his wolf doesn’t deserve anything long and drawn out.I breathe a sigh of relief when Tyson pulls Kent’s heart out of his chest, thankful that the man re
TYSONThe moment I see Maddie jump toward Rachel; I know it's Infinity up front and in control. Her eyes are glowing a bright green-gold-yellow and the angry expression is one I don’t think I’ve ever seen on Maddie’s face before. Plus, I can’t smell her on the wind like I can my Rose. I launch forward when I see Rachel’s eyes unfocus in that split second when Infinity lands on her back, knowing I’ll only have a moment to attack with Infinity’s distraction. What I’m not expecting is Infinity to kill Rachel in that moment. I know Infinity is an ancient wolf spirit, she’s fast on her feet and I know she’s killed in her past lives, but to see the blood of a kill on my sweet, baby Maddie’s hands, is beyond shocking.Rose, however, doesn’t even flinch at seeing Infinity toss Rachel’s heart to the ground or her splattered in Rachel’s blood. Nor does she pause with the gravity of meeting Infinity. Rose has really embraced the wolf shifter world completely and totally. I couldn’t be prouder of
INFINITYMaddie and Kevin step out of the dungeon into a warzone. Both of their eyes blow wide at the scene, and I can feel Maddie’s panic. We knew this was coming, but I don’t think she anticipated how ugly it was going to be. I lift my head and I smell the rotting garbage scent of rogues. It seems Maddie’s father knows no bounds. Humans, most likely hunters, for kidnapping, rogues as mercenaries, slavery, killing his mate and sexual deviancy. He really does need to be put down.The panic coming from Maddie hasn’t lessened as we look around on where to go and not be noticed. I have been saving up my strength the last few days, so I pull Maddie back and take full control. She doesn’t fight me on it and that tells me she is very overwhelmed right now. She puts on a good show, but the constant state of alertness and feeling the danger around her, she is slowly breaking. After this morning, seeing Odette killed, and then staying neutral to save Kevin, she’s at her max for today.“Rest Mad
ROSEI am flying across the roads and highways trying to get to Blue Meadow as quickly as I can. George and Ike are holding on for dear life and I think I can hear George whispering a prayer to Selene when my car catapults into the air. I’ve maintained my 110mph through most of the drive which has kept the guys in high anxiety mode. We don’t get too far off the pavement with that larger bump, but the way down is rough, and we bounce several times on the landing.“Luna, please slow down. The rest of the team can’t keep up. Plus, it feels like you’re trying to kill us.” Ike pleads with me, looking a little green.“Then they should drive faster. And I am not trying to kill you.”“Their SUV isn’t designed to drive that fast, plus they can’t take turns like this car doeeeeeees!” His voice goes higher pitched as I take a curve much faster than he’s comfortable with.“Well, you’re getting your wish. Wolves directly ahead and they’re fighting. I’m going to have to slow down. Do you know which
TYSONI cut the link to Rose as soon as Zeus and I tell her that we love her. I know she is worried about all of this, and it is her first experience with a shifter battle, but I know I’ll be fine. Zeus is a powerful, ancient wolf. He will decimate dozens before we hit a real challenge to our strength. Although, the biggest challenge will be to try to minimize the lives lost. These warriors we are going up against will be Maddie’s pack members one day in the future. I don’t want to kill any of them indiscriminately.It takes a few hours to run to Blue Meadow. We stopped running miles ahead of their territory and proceeded with stealth. My first warriors took out their border patrol silently, with darts laced with a mixture of wolfsbane and water hemlock. Again, we’re trying to not take anyone out needlessly. Most pack members of trash Alphas are only following orders. They don’t necessarily believe in the orders. Killing people that are just doing their jobs is what crap Alphas do.On