Chapter 19 Blood Will Out“You know that would never work,” I said dully. “We both know it. But there’s an alternative.”My father frowned down at me. “This isn’t a negotiation.”“Yeah.” It wasn’t. And I had to choose my words incredibly carefully, because the faintest hint that I was getting what I wanted, rather than giving in to what he wanted, and he’d say no on general principle. “But you think I’m going to try to escape, somehow. I won’t. Break the bond between me and Ian. The ritual can work if I help, and I will. Let him live, let him go, and I’ll mate with any other alpha you pick.” His brows drew together, thunderclouds on the horizon, and I hurried on. “I would anyway, because I don’t have a choice. But I won’t fight it. Not ever again. You’ll get more out of me if it’s voluntary. And you’ll maybe be able to mend fences with Matthew, and not have the Armitage pack as enemies.”My father snorted and shook his head. “You think you’re so clever, boy. Always have. You think I
Chapter 20 The Enemy of My Enemy“This place is a deathtrap,” Charlie said, appearing at my side and kneeling down next to Matthew. His face was pale in the low light, but his eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Whatever he’d done to the shaman who’d killed his vampires had definitely boosted his mood. I was sure as fuck not going to look. “We need to move.”I couldn’t have agreed more, except that I wasn’t sure if I could or not. Matthew chose that moment to stir a little and moan. His lips tightening, Charlie hauled off and slapped him across the face, hard enough that the imprint of his fingers stayed behind.“Watch it,” Ian said, without heat. I tipped my head back a little to glance up at him. He was really going to let Charlie whale on his brother like that? He looked like he was right on the ragged edge, and I couldn’t blame him: taken down by a whole pack of wolves, beaten, gouged, bitten, strung up in chains and muzzled, and then death-cursed in a magical duel, not to mention b
Chapter 21 ShowdownWaiting was the absolute worst. Well, no. Being chained up and tortured was worse than waiting, and honestly, hiking was maybe even less fun than the torturing.But waiting sucked. Dor sat cross-legged a few feet from me, slowly running some kind of cloth over the edges of his sword, which wasn’t unsettling at all, and he seemed perfectly content to just hang out until the war started. This probably wasn’t his first rodeo. Hell, it probably wasn’t his thousandth rodeo.I kept opening my mouth, closing it again, and then biting my tongue to suppress all the words that wanted to tumble out.Since I didn’t have bitching and moaning to distract me, my mate bond was looming a lot larger in my consciousness. I could feel Ian, angry and worried and determined all at once, and after a while, I could feel all those emotions drawing closer, the bond contracting as he neared.“I think Ian’s on his way here,” I said finally, unable to bear the silence any longer. And anyway,
Chapter 22 Aftermath“Nate.” Ian’s voice was so scratchy I hardly recognized it, but it was hard to mistake his looming presence. He dropped onto his knees beside me — really dropped, like someone had cut his strings, and then flopped down to sit cross-legged. “Nate, look at me?”There’d already been people moving around me: some Armitage wolves dragging the shaman away at Dor’s low-voiced direction — hopefully to be bound with some better spells than I’d used on that water bottle. It’d done the job, but it wouldn’t keep him down forever.I’d heard Ian giving orders, hoarse but calm and commanding, sending a few of his pack to harry the remaining Kimballs out of the territory, telling others where to put the wounded Kimballs left behind, and generally managing everything like a fucking boss.Who knew he had it in him? Not Matthew, that was for sure. He always treated Ian like an idiot.And so had I. I buried my face a little deeper in my knees. Yeah, shame was a bitch. Push had so f
Chapter 23 We’re Both IdiotsI woke as Ian tried to sneak out of bed.And that was not happening. He was warm. I was sleepy. No way. I rolled over, doing my best impression of a needy, grabby octopus. Would it be easier to keep him in bed if I had eight limbs and those cool little suction things? Probably, but I managed anyway, wrapping my hands around one big bicep and flinging a leg over his.Ian stilled, halfway out of the bed and halfway underneath me.“I have to go deal with Matt,” he said, voice strained. “C’mon, Nate, let me up. I’ll make coffee.”“Warm,” I mumbled, and tugged on his arm. He wasn’t going anywhere. The gap he’d made in my cocoon of blankets was letting in freezing-cold air, and it needed to be fixed, stat. Everywhere my skin touched his, comfort and heat and coziness seeped into me. “Coffee later. Come back.”I pressed my face into the side of his chest with a happy mmmm — and Ian wrenched his arm out of my hands, jerked out from under me, and tumbled out of b
Chapter 24 Being Mated Isn’t All Bad“A love spell? Are you fucking with me right now? What do you mean it’s fucking permanent?” Ian was shouting again. He’d been shouting pretty much since we got to the pack house, first at the council, then at Matthew, and now at Dor, who’d called half an hour before and said he had a few pieces of information for us.Like the fact that Matthew had been under a powerful, insidious love spell for the last few months.Cast by the shaman we currently had in custody in the pack house’s basement, where he was wrapped in a pile of magic-dampening chains courtesy of Dor’s secret stash. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see Dor’s collection of objets, or was fucking terrified.Maybe a little bit aroused.My inappropriate reactions aside, Ian and Dor — thankfully minus Charlie, who was off dealing with his injured vamps, because Charlie was exactly what Ian’s blood pressure didn’t need — were facing off down the hall from Matthew’s bedroom. Matthew was also loc
For anyone who’s ever needed a cup of coffee more than life itself,but couldn’t find their shoes Chapter 1 CursedIt had been years since I set foot in the Armitage pack's territory, and I'd hoped to keep that winning streak going for a while longer. Of course, being kidnapped and cursed had a way of changing your plans.Not that I was really setting foot in it now, more like setting hands and knees. I'd fallen so many times that I'd stopped trying to get back up, and was just crawling through the thick, loamy mud under the drenched forest canopy.The patter of chill rain on the back of my neck was bad enough, every drop sending new shivers down my spine, but my soaked jeans were chafing in every direction and on every sensitive bit of me. Why had I worn skinny jeans this tight again? Oh, right, going out clubbing, and not planning on being kidnapped and cursed. Mud squelched through my fingers and seeped into my ankle boots.I'd been so careless, so arrogant. My father, such as he
Chapter 2 At the Mercy of the PackWaking up sucked nearly as much as passing out in the freezing-cold mud with an alpha werewolf threatening to kill me, but a lot less than getting chained up and chanted at by a shaman trying to turn me into a slave. So hey, chalk one up in the win column.I blinked, then blinked again, and then gave up when my vision stayed stubbornly fuzzy. I was dry, and I should have been warm — I was in a bed, and under a pile of blankets — but I was goosebumpy and shivering in spite of what felt like a real feather comforter and a set of flannel sheets.Looking around the best I could with only half my vision, I caught glimpses of ugly wood paneling, a ceiling painted mustard-yellow, and a few other items of bedroom furniture, probably a dresser and a nightstand and maybe a chair. There was some kind of psychedelic poster on the opposite wall, although thankfully I couldn't see it very well.Not that anyone had ever accused werewolves of having a lot of aesth