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
Lenora’s POV “Luna, we need you at the front gate.” A guard knocks on my office door. “It’s urgent.” I look up at the clock. It’s almost midnight. Why the Hell do they need me to go to the gate? “Urgent?” I close my laptop and go to the door. “What happened?” “There’s four uniformed Council warriors asking for entry. They have, um, prisoners?” The guard looks like he’s not too sure about the word prisoners. “Council warriors?” I furrow my brow. “Do you know why they’re in our jurisdiction? They’re bringing rogues they caught?” “N-no, Luna,” he stammers while I close and lock my office door, “not rogues. They have the Beta, Marco Sanchez, and Arnie Ikeda.” I stop on the spot. “Excuse me?” “Leni? Sugar, I’m sure you’re mad, but please don’t be mad.” Milo’s voice comes through a mindlink. “This entire thing is bullshit. I swear.” “Milo, what the Hell happened?” “Is Randall there yet?” “Randall?” I stop again. “No, why would he be here?” “These dipshits let it slip that he’s o
“Lenora, if these men don’t get their hands off of me-” “First of all, it’s LUNA Lenora. And you’ll do what, Elder Randall?” I spin around and put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. The guards holding him by the arms stop and stand tall, trying to avoid eye contact. “Thanks to you and the rogues you let onto my territory, we’re on lockdown. As much as I’d love to have my guards unhand you, I can’t. No one can come on to or leave pack territory. Besides, your actions are an act of treason against the Elder Council until they convene and decide your fate.” “I told you, they were chasing me!” He snarls. “If they were chasing you, how come they were in front?” I challenge his lie. “And how come you didn’t signal the guards? Sam from Security showed it to you the last time you were here.” Randall’s face turns dark. If he wasn’t being restrained, I’m certain he’d lunge at me. He looks around for help, but there is none. The rogues who he was with were all killed by our guards. “I pan
“Traitor?! Randall, your wolf literally attacked Justice on our own territory and you’re going to stand here and call ME a traitor?” I’m trying to hold my temper, but my grip is getting weak. “Since I became Luna I have accommodated every single one of your requests from the mundane to the ridiculous. I have complied with every stupid, fake, pompous order you mandated. You haven’t found a single flaw in our operations, because there are none. Blood River has done exactly what the Council has requested every time we’re asked. And for what? To be chastised by you? To be accused of treason?! I would say I’m insulted, but that would be a gross understatement.”“She’s deflecting from the fact that she could have killed Basalt! She held him down until guards came to my rescue.” He snarls in return. “We need to start with the head of this pack to cut out the poison. Lenora needs to be removed as Luna and the Blood River pack needs to be seized by the Council immediately. Bronx Mason needs to