He squeezed my shoulder, giving me the kindest smile I have ever received. As a new bout of ugly sobs tore through me, he hugged me tight, letting me feel warmth from another person. It was a somber notion, getting my first gift of human warmth in years from a Beta I never spoke to before this shameful moment. After I calmed down, just enough to let him know I would be alright and to thank him, a beat up pick up pulled onto the dirt trail. Their headlights blinded me for a moment, and when my vision returned, there was an old man with thick dreads surrounding his aged face exiting the driver’s seat. “This him?” the man looked me up and down, then towards the Beta for an answer. “This is Dycin,” the Beta waved towards me after shaking the man’s hand. “You once told me you knew of a place for men that needed to get free from abuse. I hope you can help him.”“Oh, I know the perfect place for this one,” the man smiled, his wrinkles bending and crinkling in ways that had me feeling at e
Four years later…“Well done, Cindy,” Rodger wrapped an arm around me, hugged me tight with a proud look on his face. “I knew you could do it.”“I almost failed,” I admitted shyly. “Ah, you just didn’t have faith in yourself,” Rodger chuckled. “You just had to get your rhythm.”When acting classes turned out to be less than ideal for me, Rodger suggested I go to school for something else. I started with a general studies course, but on a whim added a programming course to my first semester as well. That turned into a new love for computers, something I never considered before. My small, backwoods pack high school didn’t have much need for computer programs beyond basic word and PowerPoint lessons. I kind of remember taking a typing class in grade school too. Rodger knew I didn’t want to do the more traditional work at the club, and he never pushed for it. Instead, he took the time to help me figure out what it was I truly did want to accomplish in this new life. Independence was wh
That was when the first encrypted message popped up on her screen. As I worked to disentangle it, the image of a snake appeared, and an email address. Something so simple and welcoming at a time, I was feeling so resentful to the girl starring in the videos I was working to erase. I tried to ignore it. I didn’t want to betray Rodger, and if I were to correspond with some hacker that was trying to get to Chloe, I would be betraying Rodger. Chloe wouldn’t be the only one affected. Then there was the whole situation with Mick being her mate. If she had a mate, she wouldn’t be Rodger’s problem anymore. Part of me was holding out hope for that. That Chloe and Mick could ride off in the sunset to fuck off together and everything else would go back to as it should be. She and Mick could have the help of his old pack on getting rid of her first mate, and then Rodger would quit beating on himself for events that were never his fault. Broom StiXXX would be my safe haven again, and the heada
Chloe POV“What a stressful last twenty-four hours,” Cortina sighed, still exhausted from our lack of sleep and excessive use of magic yesterday.“I agree.”After the air was cleared between Rodger and I last night, we stayed in my office talking about the past, what happened with my mom and Alpha Carlton. Hearing why I had grown up as an orphan hurt. My mother being killed because of Fire Moon Pack’s prejudices and the Alpha’s need to control reinforced what I had always known.Fire Moon Pack was full of monsters. All of them. How could every single one of the ranked wolves condone taking a pregnant shewolf from her fated mate and killing her all because she was mated to a witch?I could feel Rodger’s pain. He fought through tears to tell me his entire story. When he was done, I hugged him, unable to keep my distance any longer, seeing him relive all his heartache in some misplaced attempt to confess all the ways he thought he had failed me and my mother.He didn’t fail me. He was a
Mick sighed, pulling me against him and burying his nose against my nape, right over his mark. He inhaled deeply, over and over again, obviously trying to calm himself.Once he was calmer, he said, “I fought against the urge to lock you in our room. Again.”“Why,” I grabbed his face so that I could see his expression. “What’s wrong?”He shook his head, then rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. “You’ll hear what’s wrong soon.” He lifted his head, looking over Lenny and Jamie. His eyes narrowed, then he said to me, “I need to ask them a question, cara. Can you head in first?”Confused, I studied his hard expression, then looked back to see Lenny and Jamie were just as confused as I was. Mick didn’t waver, so I knew whatever was going on, it was serious.I softly kissed Mick's cheek, letting him know I trusted him in whatever was going on. He rested his head on mine briefly, then smacked my ass to get me going.The guard by the door opened it for me, and inside Miles was stan
Chloe POVLenny and Jamie must have passed whatever test Mick put them through. When Mick walked into the holding room, both of my babysitters followed after him with solemn looks on their faces.Finding out there was a mole in the pack was crushing. It meant that someone didn’t want me here as their Luna.Darren was adamant that it couldn’t be someone from Broom StiXXX. I felt the same way too. We were a family. A family that sometimes slept together for work, but a family unit nonetheless.I understood Mick and Miles taking precautions, commanding Jamie and Lenny to answer questions to assure their loyalty. They were the two that spent the most time with me apart from my mates. My safety was in their hands and they needed that reassurance. Mick not commanding Lenny before retrieving me meant he already trusted that Lenny wasn’t the mole. I bet it was Miles that needed the confirmation more than Mick.Lenny took a syringe full of wolfsbane while protecting me. If that doesn’t scream
I stood silent, sandwiched between my mates’ arms, thankful I accepted them both and didn’t leave either of them because of my own insecurities and cowardice. This could have been them. That hit me like a ton of bricks. As much as it pained me to know someone in this pack was conspiring to get rid of me, it pained me more to think about my world without Mick and Miles in it.“I love you both,” I whispered roughly. “So much.”“You’re our miracle, cara,” Mick husked.“Our love for you is infinite,” Mick murmured against my hair.Miles kissed the top of my head as I felt Mick’s lips tickle the back of my neck. We have had our ups and downs since becoming one, but I felt more united with them than ever at that moment.We stayed in that bloodied room with the corpse of Alpha Ford longer than I think any of us realized as both my mates held onto me. I didn’t want to let go of them, and they sure didn’t seem like they felt any differently.All the exhaustion of the past twenty-four hours hit
The pressure. The endless amounts of pressure pushing in from all around me, like something is about to explode. Like I was about to explode. That was the first thing that I noticed as I was drifting in the abyss.Red streams of violent currents, like crimson lightning bolts, started exploding in the space that was just a black void moments ago. It was a storm of brutality and torture.Then came her screams…..Not howls. Not growling or snarling. Screams. My wolf was screaming inside of me. Screaming so loudly, it reached me through the fog of the void and the raging storm exploding around me.I clung to her voice, trying to find her in the crimson chaos going off inside my head. It felt like swimming against the current, fighting a force I could not see. I started swimming harder than before, my listless body straining to break through the surface of my mind to my wolf. She was in such agony that I felt it, even in the void I had been floating in for so long. I felt her, and it was b