Rhiannon’s POVWhat. The. Fuck?Was I dreaming? Or having some kind of delusion? Because I could have sworn that Alpha Caleb had convinced me to let my guard down, to let him in, and now he was walking – wait, no, the bastard was actually running – away from me.My back stiffened. I’d betrayed Stephen tonight. And for what? For a few mind-blowing, stolen moments? For a few hot-as-fuck kisses that had my lips still tingling? I gritted my teeth, glaring at his rapidly retreating back.“Prick,” I hissed. It eased my rage a little, but not enough. Curling my hands into fists, I marched after him. He couldn’t play with me like that. He knew I had a mate; he knew what he’d been asking me for, and that it ran way deeper than a quickie in the garden. For a minute, I’d…I’d believed in him. In us. As his hands had gripped my waist, digging in hard enough to leave bruises, I’d forgotten all about Stephen, all about Michael, all about my mysterious-ass mum, and even all about the damned Eternal
Rhiannon’s POVAfter I’d finally managed to escape, I’d spent the night in my wolf form. I hadn’t been able to go home and face anyone, least of all Stephen; I knew he wouldn’t have left, not while I was still outside somewhere. That was the problem: he was a good man, and an even better mate. He wouldn’t have followed me, knowing that I needed some time alone to process things, but he wouldn’t have gone home until he was sure I was safe, either.“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, clenching one hand into a fist. Then, slowly, I unfurled my fingers. None of this was his fault.And I’d…I gulped. “Not now,” I whispered to myself, hovering on the doorstep of our family’s little cabin. The night’s events had left me disgruntled as fuck, quite frankly, and all I wanted now was a burning hot shower and a power nap. I had to be in the pack house for a lunch shift in the kitchen, so I had to sort myself out before then. If I saw the Alpha or Luna there, I needed to have schooled my reactions into
Rhiannon’s POVSomeone cleared their throat just as I knocked. “Excuse me?”I twisted around, searching the hallway for the voice, scanning over stooped bookshelves and polished wood and cream paint, my eyebrows pulling together. “Yeah?”Alpha Caleb’s Gamma, Nova, stepped out of a meeting room. She was a few years older than us and one of Caleb’s most well-respected warriors. Everyone knew her, not just because of her status within the pack, but because she was one of only three transgender members of Night Wind. She’d chosen a new name for herself and announced it to us – an announcement that had been followed by a party that had lasted all night. Her coming out had encouraged the others, and Alpha Caleb had given her the Chalice of Bravery that year at the annual Pack Awards.She had a chiselled jaw and a sharp nose, with wide, pretty brown eyes that were fringed with long, thick eyelashes. Her smile always looked genuine, even now, when she was clearly confused by the presence of
Rhiannon’s POVCaleb’s hand closed around my neck. He squeezed tightly, a sneer tugging at his mouth – only for his face to soften a moment later. He released his grip, wincing sympathetically, and shook out his fingers. He didn’t apologise, though; his eyes turned cold as he appraised me. “What are you doing in here?” he asked flatly.I clenched my trembling hands into fists and tried to ignore the pulsing pain in my neck. I could be meek and remorseful – or I could front this out. “None of your business,” I said, arching an eyebrow at him.“You’re snooping around in my kitchen, Omega. That makes it my business.” He raised an eyebrow right back. I scoffed. “I’m not snooping. And don’t act like you don’t know my name.”He shrugged. “Maybe I don’t. I don’t make a habit of getting friendly with liars and thieves.”“Liars and thieves?” I scoffed again, shaking my head.He ticked off his fingers. “You just lied about not snooping, and the only logical conclusion I can draw is that you’re
Caleb’s POVOh, goddess. What had I done now? Being around Rhiannon was like letting all the blood rush to my dick and using it to make my decisions. I’d meant what I’d told myself the last time I’d let myself get swept up in her – that it had been a mistake. But I couldn’t help myself around her. Even now I could barely stand us being apart. I cracked my knuckles, needing something physical to ground me. Otherwise I’d be skipping right back down the fucking corridor to find her and her particular brand of temptation.I shouldn’t have let myself kiss her cheek. Hell, I shouldn’t have done anything I just had. I’d have to come up with some lie to tell Amelia about her now-missing care package, too. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret giving it to Rhiannon.‘Cal?’ Amelia mindlinked me. ‘Are you coming?’Shit, shit, shit. I forced my throbbing boner down with some sobering thoughts about the meeting I was on my way to and hurried down the hallway, taking the stairs four at a time
Amelia’s POVI strode swiftly from the meeting room, my hands flexing at my sides. How dare he? I gave everything I could to this pack; sue me for wanting to keep a tiny little thing, like the odd shampoo bar, for myself. I could have ditched Night Wind and gone home the second we knew we weren’t coming out of winter. I hadn’t. I’d sacrificed so much for Caleb and this was how he chose to repay me?He didn’t know the full extent of what I’d given up to be here with him. Even so, he did know enough that he should’ve been in my corner today. What sort of Alpha sided against his Luna and with a thief?‘You’re hiding something from him,’ said Maeve, my wolf. ‘He might be hiding something from you, too.’I rounded the corner and jogged up the stairs, the hot flare of my temper already starting to cool. I shook my head. ‘Caleb? Hiding something? I doubt it. He’s about as secretive as a glass wall,’ I replied.Maeve grinned. ‘True. But stranger things have happened, petal.’I swept into our
Amelia’s POVTears blurred my vision as I hunched over Kieran, squeezing his hands so tight my knuckles went white. His face was pale and drawn, and I stared at it desperately, willing him to grin like an idiot and tell me he was joking, that he wasn’t really dead – He groaned, then coughed, then spluttered. His eyes rolled back in his head; he sucked in a rasping breath.“Kieran?” I whispered, leaning forward and pressing my hands to his cold cheeks. I couldn’t believe how much this hurt. Screw tearing in two – my heart was being forced through a shredder, minced into a thousand tiny pieces. It shouldn’t have been like this, though. I’d made my choice – and I hadn’t chosen him.“Ames?” He blinked up at me, squinting through puffy eyes. Recognition grew in his gaze, and he looked at me seriously. “Feel my shirt.”Worried, I ran my hands over his top. I frowned. There wasn’t a wound there. In fact, there wasn’t even any blood. Kieran cracked that idiotic grin. “Want to know what it’
Kieran’s POVI gazed across the chasm in the earth helplessly, hopelessly. My beautiful Amelia had been parted from me, torn irrevocably from my grasp.For the second time.But something about this felt worse than the awful, fateful night she’d rejected me for Alpha Caleb. A rejection was supposed to be the most permanent way to part two souls, forcing them to pine for their other half eternally. So how did this feel more permanent than that?I stumbled back from the edge, my chest heaving. I still felt woozy as a giddy goose on a turntable from my unfortunate date with the knife and the resulting bash to the head, and now the ground under my feet was trying to do me in as well. “Are you all right?” I shouted over the gorge. It wasn’t too wide – perhaps the length of my body twice over – but it was enough of a distance to terrify me. More because of what it represented that what it was.“I’m fine! Are you?”“Yeah!” I lied. No reason to make her more worried than she already was. It h