I was supposed to be fighting a group of Bears in preparation for challenging the North faction leader named Ryan, but apparently, he’d disappeared. None of Jack’s Bears could find him, which had disappointed me more than I’d expected it to.I was never too sad about private trainings with Atlas, though.After pushing myself up from the ground that was covered in dying grass, I dusted myself off as well as I could. When I’d taken a deep breath, I held my hands up, ready for him to charge at me again.Except this time, he didn’t.Instead, Atlas snapped his fingers, and a ball of flames came racing toward my head.Every muscle in my body might have been screaming at me, but the idea of getting my face burned off sent a wave of adrenaline pulsing through me.I was on the ground in less than a half second with one leg out straight behind me, the other bent at the knee and my hands keeping me in place while my forehead nearly touched the dirt.Instinct kicked in, and instead of asking him

She crossed her arms, and a line formed between her eyes as she tried to fight against my innate abilities. “I liked you better before you started embracing your alpha side.” Then she looked up at Mark, who nodded and smiled encouragingly at her. “I’ll change if I need to, so I’m going with you.”I raised a brow and tilted my head. “Are you sure?”Last I’d heard her say, she was trying to stay hidden and since she hadn’t had any visions, I wouldn’t have thought anything would have changed in that regard.“I think denying who I am might be why I haven’t been able to see what I want,” she admitted sheepishly. “Something cracked inside me on our first day here when you were attacked. Instead of shifting to help protect you, I used my magic to put up the shield, which was helpful in the moment, but if Jack hadn’t called his Bears off, I would have soon been useless to you. I would have failed at protecting you all, because I was trying to keep my secret.”There was too much self-loathing

He kept his arms crossed, watching his wolves die, or at least go down, without doing a fucking thing about it.There was no way the asshole would have ever had a chance leading a territory like Fire and Fluorite. Even if Elena hadn’t shown up.One Bear bit my tail and scratched down my side, but it was only a surface hit that hardly made me flinch before I raked my paw across his face, taking out an eye.The whimper and moan that sounded from him grew quieter as he limped away, something I soon noticed the rest of the wolves were doing as well, except for the three who still flanked their leader.“Mark,” Ethan said first. “You’re trespassing in a House that banished you.”Mark shifted back to his human form, and I noticed that Amy had never transformed into her unicorn. So much for her no longer hiding.“I was banished by an Alpha Supreme who no longer lives, not by this House,” Mark replied confidently. “Unless you’re here to tell me you’ve successfully filled the Alpha Supreme posi

Atlas’s lowered voice sounded in my ear. “I’m not saying you can’t handle looking for Jacob, but you’ve made a very loud statement here today. Do you want to risk searching for Jacob, finding another few supernaturals to fight, and possibly coming back here beat to shit?”Fuck.He made a good point. Mark was hurt. I was…not one hundred percent.Unless I was going to rely on Tuck and his team, which I didn’t want to do, then Atlas was right.It wasn’t that I didn’t trust jack’s people, but just as I’d said before, I wanted to prove a point.I’d shown up here with a rejected House member, a supernatural who was supposed to be extinct, and a mate with powers most bear shifters had no access to.We had something to prove as a whole, just as much as I did as the future Alpha Supreme to Fire and Fluorite.There wouldn’t be a point, at any time, that we could appear weak. Even after multiple fights.“Fine, but we leave again first thing in the morning.” I took a step closer to Mark. “Are you

I was officially done with the slow and careful movements. I couldn’t wait any longer for him to be mine in every way.Thankfully, he seemed to be on the same page and thrusted forward, gently holding my head with one hand while the other gripped my hip.His stare seared my soul, and we never once broke eye contact while he began moving more fluidly above me.My inner walls burned from being stretched, but that ache was easily overshadowed by the bond between us growing like a bright light within my chest.Energy swirled inside me, pounding against my ribs and begging to detonate, branding myself to Atlas.Even his normally dark-brown eyes were briefly turning a light, tan color while he peppered light kisses all over my face.As euphoric tensions rose, sending shivers from my chest all the way to the tips of my toes, I held tightly to Atlas and moved my hips in time with his. Every thrust came easier and more passionately than the one before.Tremors shook Atlas’s arms where I held h