The dark wooden corridors of the Cragstone Packhouse were claustrophobic rather than comforting. Even so, the idea of returning back to White Forest made me nervous. I wondered if the suspect Nikolai arrested had even survived the journey back without his wolf killing him. /We were wrong about who hurt poor Skye, do not always think the worst of him! We hurt him when we doubt!/ Priya cried. There is no doubt in her heart that Nikolais wolf is some kind of misunderstood saint. It is incredibly annoying. This will be my third night away from him. I’m doing everything I can not to think of him. And failing miserably. It doesn’t help that my mark prickles and burns, as if he was right there licking or tickling it. It sends waves of heat between my legs as I try to pretend he isn’t everything I want. Instead I run a hot bath, focus on my breathing and try to relax. Surrounded by a stupid amount of candles, their cloyingly perfumed scent already irritating my nose I settled into the tub
I don’t know what I was thinking. Coming to Shadowlands knowing they all despise me. Then I discover Genevieve is still no safer. At least Cillian’s Beta Warriors stopped the assassin well before her room, which is a damn site better than my men managed. That little fucker Zeke though. He thought he caught me, had the jump on me when he triumphantly pushed me against a tree and snapped the cuffs. He has no idea how much I was restraining Talon from just ripping out his throat on the spot. I was showing cooperation and that little prick thought he had won a war. All so I didn't let her down. I recognised Beta Jackson from the funeral, the one who embraced Genevieve in her distress. We do not hurt this man, I commanded Talon internally. No matter what happens, he is untouchable. /Fine, but not this brown haired moron/ Talon growled in return. I was simply following her scent. The bike had been pulled up at the abandoned grey bunker of a building a mile outside the packhouse. Even f
Does he truly have no idea what he does to me? I was sunk the minute he wrapped his cloak around my shoulders. Tousling my hair dry until I giggled it felt as though the very plates of the earth were shifting beneath me. Nikolai being fun? Being innocently charming? Wearing a soft, never-before-seen grin of amusement as I fought against his towelling? That had never happened before and it was addictive. I grabbed the shirt from him intending to keep it light-hearted. It was playing with the most enticing, tempting kind of fire as I tried to gauge his reaction. Except with him being taller than me as soon as I tried to reach up for his hair he just grabbed my wrist like a ninja. “Hey!” I complained with a sulky pout. My struggle against his grip was pointless, except that my resisting arm parted his black cloak. Underneath my soaked, clinging silk pyjamas were doing nothing to hide my drenched body. Or the scent of my arousal. I whimpered softly with a teasing smile, “You’re not
Her toe was millimetres from crossing that line before she broke me. I thought I could do it. Even with provoking my jealousy I was almost there. Almost free of this fucking bond and ready to have my head clear again. The idea of Zeke, or any man for that matter ogling her perfection left me poised to commit a massacre. She knows exactly what she is doing. Talon gave me the slightest nudge and I pounced. Her gasp as I slammed the door and pushed her bare back up against the cold metal was electric. I lost my senses at having all of her immaculate body in front of me. I quickly covered her neck and collarbone in fast, ferocious kisses. The roughness of my shirt material against her nipples, the grip of her hand in my damp hair all sent cascades of electric between our senses. I had to be close to her, I pressed my torso against her, clamping her in place where I felt her smiling against my neck and chest. “What the fuck were you thinking?” I growled, giving her a nip. Hard enough t
Of course I am completely drenched all over again as I race the dark, lonely mile back to Cragstone. Every step was an escape from devastation, anger and humiliation. I had never imagined my game seeing Nikolai comparing his struggle to stop his wolf killing to our mate bond.I refused to cry. I won’t. He doesn’t deserve any of that. I mutter every curse word I know instead, storming past a confused looking Jackson and Kharkov on the porch as I re-enter the gloomy, wooden Cragstone packhouse.“New haircut Gen?” Zeke tries jokingly but I simply shoot him daggers. Whatever he has been whispering to Nikolai didn’t help matters either. One kiss, two years ago!Showered, redressed and warm again I lie in my bed. I should be cosy and ready for sleep. Yet I’m wired and anxious. The row, the nastiness with which we fell apart burns in my ribcage. As though someone was attacking the link between us with a pair of scissors. It won’t cut, but a heart will bleed from enough torment. I’m in silk
I made the right decision. If only to be the person who held her as she wept, it was worth it. The man didn't have much time for me, but he clearly meant the world to her.The ferocity with which the Beta’s set off to hunt the perpetrator down was inspiringly vicious. Such loyalty, such a commitment to protecting their own. I remembered with an internal growl my own White Forest Beta Warriors, so annoyingly docile. These Shadowlands shifters would lay down their lives to catch whoever killed that huge bearded beast, Jackson.As Cherish wept into my arms I realised that this was meant to be. I was meant to cave in and be with her tonight. Otherwise I would have been dragged out of that concrete bunker for a swift execution seeing as I would have had no alibi./Imagine if you had just listened to me earlier/ Talon reproached, /you could have felt this joy, this warmth for so long./Except once she comes to terms with Jackson, Genevieve will begin to digest my shitty bombshell. How the wi
I returned from Jackson’s vigil around dawn. He will be burnt tomorrow but I cannot stay. Watching my parents pyre shattered a piece of my soul, Jackson would be like offering another chunk of me to the ashes.So I stayed with Bianca and her daughters as long as I could. Beyond the first candles burning themselves, as and even Bianca was prepared to crash into a sobbing, lonely sleep. I hugged her close, as she whispered, “I am a widow Gen, how could a man as strong as him have left me so…”“We will find the killers, I swear. Both Cillian and Nikolai have vowed there shall be justice.”Choking back sobs, her words barely audible,“Gen, he was my world, he was everything,” and her daughters arrived to take their broken mother away. When a shifter dies, so does the mate bond. It is not only grief as a human, your wolf mourns too. Some argue you can still feel them tugging at that connection from the afterlife. Others argue it hurts so badly because the bond is completely severed, you are
We couldn’t leave Shadowlands without talking to Cillain. I knew he would be distraught about Jackson, but he was already outside on the porch with a steely gaze in his blue eyes. Leant over, elbows perched on the porch railing his entire body was tensed.He had been soft, wounded, openly weeping at finding our parents. He had cradled me to him as I dropped to the floor in hysteria. Yet now he was brutally cold, merely nodding at me. Noting the bag Nikolai carried he muttered. “You are heading back to White Forest?”“I am but I wanted to check on you first. Poor Jackson…why would they hurt him?”I attempted to place my hand on his but he was immovable. No embrace, no warmth came from him and for the first time I recognised his Alpha steeliness. My brother was a changed man.“They killed him to destabilise the pack. To try and take my legs out from under me,” he snapped back, taking his gaze from me. He stared into nowhere, his mind not engaged with me in the slightest. I could feel Ni