“I’ve never been here before.” I look around the quaint pizza shop. The walls have movie posters from the seventies and eighties with two arcade machines in the back. I vaguely recognize the music playing. It’s upbeat and inviting. “This place has the best wings. They are killer hot, but delicious.” He pulls my chair out and waits for me to sit before he sits across from me. “Better than Mrs. Miller’s? Because her homemade wing sauce is preeeetty sick.” I raise an eyebrow at him. "Ahhh… I see what you did there. Hilarious. Alright, we’ll get an order. You’ll see.” He puts his finger up and flags down a waitress. The human girl looks like she’s about my age. “Milo! Where have you been, hon?” She bounces up to us happily. “Hey, Rita.” He gives her a warm smile. “How have you been?” I bite the corner of my lip and swallow back the jealousy Justice is trying to overwhelm me with. “She’s not a threat, Justice.” “I don’t like it.” She warns. “He’s our mate.” I lace my fingers and w
My eyes snap open, startled by the backfire of a passing car. Milo’s eyes turn black and Ghost pulls me to the ground, completely covering me with a deep growl. “My gun?” Milo hulks over me. He pats his body down with one hand while he holds me with the other. “They took my gun.” “What? Milo, your gun is in the armory.” I press against him. “It was just a car backfiring. Come on, let me up.” “They took my knife. Shit. They took my fucking knife.” He becomes more panicked. “Hold on, Bronx. They took my knife, too. I’ve got you.” “What knife are you talking about?” I feel confused. “Bronx? No. Wait, Milo!” “There’s a foxhole twenty yards to the west. We’ll be safe there.” He secures his arm around me, hooking his thumb in my armpit. “Hang in there, bro.” Foxhole? Oh shit. I ignored all the signs that there could be a problem. The fidgeting, the distracted blank stare, being startled by a glass on the table. “Milo, I’m Lenora, not Bronx. There’s no foxhole, Babe. We’re downtown.”
Justice’s POV“Ghost, are you okay, my darling?” I didn’t intend to barrel into him, but I had to stop him, not just corral him to pack territory as Lenora requested.“You’re my mate?” Ghost takes a step back. He seems confused. I hope he didn’t hit his head in the collision.“Yes. I’m Justice.” I lower my head and step closer. “I’m your mate. Did I hurt you?”“No. I was… I got disoriented trying to protect Milo.” He looks at me through his handsome dark gray eyes. His expression changes from perplexed and guarded to one of perception. He accepts my display of submission by resting his chin between my ears for a moment, then lies down in front of me. “You’re beautiful. And you’re different too? Older? I can sense it.”“Is Milo listening? This conversation needs to be between the two of us.”“No, I forced him back to safeguard him from thinking we were in danger.” He lowers his head. “War broke us. We’re still figuring out how to live now that we’re home. The doctor is trying to help u
Lenora’s POV When Justice and Ghost got home, Milo was still disoriented. He tried to fight Bronx and Reggie. Thank the Goddess they were able to subdue him with no one getting hurt. When Milo was finally lucid, he begged to come home. Staying in the hospital wing seemed like a fate worse than death. The doctors left the decision up to me. I couldn’t bear the thought of my mate being confined to the hospital wing again. Yeah, he still has nightmares, but I’ve always been able to talk him through that. What happened downtown was because of a specific trigger. Ghost was trying to protect Milo. Justice calmed her wolf mate down and convince him to come home, just like Doctor Stanton said. A nurse came to our apartment. Milo tried to protest taking the pill, but she explained the other option was a night in the hospital wing. They compromised and gave him half a pill to help him sleep. She left the other half to give him if he needed it. I tiptoe into the bathroom, leaving the door op
I swallow hard when I notice how close Milo's mouth is to mine. “I-I should get to bed, Milo. I have to be up early. I wasn’t able to get morning drills planned.” “Maybe when you wake up, it’ll be done for you.” He lets his lips brush against the corner of my mouth. “Like magic.” “Milo…” His lips trace over my cheek while he breathes in my scent, sending shivers up my spine. What was I going to say? Does it matter? “Are you scared of me, Lenora?” His hands caress my hips with fingers that feel like feathers. “I’m not scared of anything.” When did I wrap my legs around him? “What if I tell you I get a little… bitey when I get excited?” Milo nuzzles my cheek and chomps his sharp teeth. His voice is deeper and scratchy, and his fingers have razor-like claws against my hips. “Would that scare you?” “Ghost, if you try to mark me, we’re going to have a problem.” I whisper in his ear. “You don’t want me to mark you?” “Not until our marriage ceremony.” I lean back and gaze into his d
Milo’s POV—Flashback—“An abandoned warehouse?” Bronx rolls his eyes. “Bro, this is by far the worst birthday present of all time.”“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I open the door to my Jeep and sniff the air. We’re in the right place. “Come on.”Reggie, Arnie, Archie, and James hop out and turn their noses in the air.“Hell yeah.” Reggie claps his hands and rubs them together.A burly looking werebear opens a door on the side of the building and whistles to us. “Stone! Get your asses in here. We’re locking the doors in three minutes.”“Locking the doors?” Bronx grabs my arm. “What the fuck is this?”“Bro, trust me.” I clap his back and jog to the door.“Hi, Ghost.” The werefox vixen at a table inside the door coos at me. She looks like she’s ten years old, but she’s actually nineteen. “Haven’t seen you around.”“I’ve been busy with special ops training, Dina.” I lean across the table and kiss her cheek. “I told you I’d get him to come. Sup, Ryuu?”The tall ancient dragon looks un
—Current Day— “You’re suggesting we just… sneak out?” I set the dumbbells down and look at my friends. “You’re fucking with me, right?” “Technically, we can do whatever we want. We’re not prisoners and we aren’t acting ranked wolves yet. Bronx is the only one who isn’t supposed to leave pack territory.” Reggie explains. “We’ve been cooped up in the packhouse for a month except for the supervised wolf runs. We need your help, because you know the best paths through the territory to avoid being caught by guards who think we should be in bed by nine p.m.” “Archie says it’s gonna be a good time.” Marco raises his eyebrow. “Katsh is back from the war, too. Maybe I can get in on that.” “You’re sure Dina and Ryuu are the ones still running shit?” I look around, but we’re the only ones in this corner. “Yeah, Hector said he’s gone a couple times to watch. The crowd is rougher… a lot more dark creatures.” Reggie lowers his voice. “If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get intel on Sin’s locatio
“I need to track the rogues!” I push through the crowd, trying not to lose the guy who was sitting behind me. “Forget about ‘em! Get everyone home! NOW!” Bronx snarls. “That’s an order!” “What about you, Alpha?” Marco yells. I see him in front of me, looking back. “I can hold my own.” He barks back and cuts the link. “Rendezvous at the Southern border!” “Go after the rogues.” Ghost insists. “No, Ghost. You heard Bronx.” “We’ll never find them again.” “We have our orders, bro. We saw what they looked like. That will have to do.” “GHOST!” Dina dodges between people’s legs. “HELP!” I reach out so I can pick her up. I need to get her outside, but a warrior in wolf form snatches her up by the neck and crushes his jaws down on her throat. She squeals until her head turns at an unnatural angle. Blood drips from his jaws as the warrior drops her lifeless body and moves on to the next creature. “Dina! NO!” My body runs cold. I think my heart just stopped. Panic, anger, and despair