RIVER BROWNHer claws snap in and out like she is choosing whether to shift or not.Her shifting would probably kill us. I mean Britney O’Shea is a beta and even though her wolf might not be as large as that of an alpha, I have a feeling it's just as bigger than an average wolf.“How is she doing?” Ria asks wrestling with the tiny steering wheel of her even tinier car.My eyes never drift on Brit even as the car swerves at a familiar road.Brit keeps repeating ‘Jamie. Jamie. JAMIE’For my best friend's sake I'm praying Jamie is probably back at Shane's office taking orders about a new mission that would require Jamie not to pick calls from his mate.Because Brit is…his mate.You can tell by the love flogging in her eyes when she mentions Jamie. You can feel it in how her voice cracks as she calls him.Will I be smitten like this too with Shane, Connor and Neo some day?I'd like that but I don't want to feel the pain she's feeling right now.The pain of uncertainty.“She's holding in t

NEO KINCAIDNothing says rock bottom like smashing your hand against the wall and losing control in front of your terrified betas.The stench from the building in front of us doesn’t make it easy in calming me down either.“Are we going inside or what?” one of the betas with the mohawk cut and a face that looks like he should be in school and not in a territory as such, speaks.I turn to him. I grip my cigarette and toss it away beckoning the kid to come to me.“Do you have something to say to me, kid?”“No-no Alpha…I just think that maybe we should be out there looking for Jamie’s killers and not here…these guys sell wolfsbane”The kid isn’t shutting his mouth. My anger is hanging on a thread.“You think you can do a better job than me?”“No…No, of course not. I’m just a rookie beta but if you are asking me for-“My anger snaps.My arm flings in mid-air, my fist colliding with his face till I draw blood. A few gasps are heard from behind the kid but my arms are around the collar of h

RIVER BROWNBritney hasn’t spoken since she confirmed her mate’s death. I know better than to push her but that doesn’t mean I don't worry for her.She sits on the bed, eyes out the window but they are so empty and bleak like her soul and wolf have left her.I hate seeing her like this and quite honestly, I don’t know what to do.“Can you watch over her? We both need new stuff”, I tell Jake as we both eat breakfast silently.I’m forcing myself to eat the breakfast cereal even if it tastes like cardboard and swamp water combined because this isn’t my house.Jake is doing me a favor. Especially and most especially when his wounds are staring at me right now and they are so ugly I’m still surprised he can smile.“Like I said you don’t have to ask. My car’s in the garage, I don’t know if you know how to drive but if you do you can take mine…or I could get you whatever you need- ““Jake? I know you don’t mind doing anything for us but I have to do this on my own. I’ll be back by evening”H

SHANE KINCAID“We are going to catch them, kid. You hear me?” Connor assures.Eyebags rest under her eyes, those bright eyes of hers look like they’ve been doused in cold icy water rendering her soul itself cold. Britney blinks at us. The woman seated on the bed next to her stares at us too but she’s not really pleased about us bursting her personal bubble in this filth she calls her home now.“I want to avenge him! I want to be the one to end the life of those bastards. You’ll grant me this”“Britney- ““He was my mate”, she screams and a certain edge to her voice makes us all flinch.River too.“He was like a brother to us, you know that”“Yeah? They cut your brother in half and you haven’t killed them since he died. They—they ended him and you took this long to find them. Come on, who did it? Who do I need to go after? Ronan’s pack? Lin had beef with Jamie too, he could—could have—”“Brit as much as I understand your grief, I don’t think you are in any position to fight. I don’t t

RIVER BROWNI envisioned death a couple of times and this was not it.I thought I would die in my sleep or the Moon Goddess would grant me a respectful death. Instead…I feel his claws inside me. I feel him even as he withdraws them from my spine making sure the pain is etched on my brain.I feel my blood leave my body like a huge mass of water spewing from a crack.Blood gushes from my throat. My eyes try to focus on the clouds, on the skies, on the Moon Goddess.Like always she doesn’t answer me.She doesn’t help me.She watches as I shrivel to the ground, as my face touches the cold unrelenting grass, as the blood mixes with the water wiping any evidence that I suffered.A wolf howls behind me. Jake, I smile.Sweet Jake with the golden eyes is the reason I’m dying tonight.When I think the nightmare is barely over that I will die like a peasant, no wolf, no life, no mate, no pups...my hair is yanked by my killer.I don’t struggle.I’m losing too much blood.The pain is too much.T