Vanessa Blood.Sweat.Sex.I’m swimming in a sea of peppermint, ash, copper, and pine. I never want to surface.Swimming. Drowning. Swimming again.But there’s something not quite right. The bed is too lumpy. It’s… imperfect.And I really dislike that sensation. I stir from my cloud of dizzy desire and hit the lump on the bed. It’s soft and plushy and in the wrong place.Growling, I move it to the corner. But then I find another misshapen clump and have to move it, too.Which unearths a third one.And then a fourth. By the the tenth, I’m a snarling mess, ripping apart the bed and everything on it.Clearly, I need to make the bed again.Once I’m satisfied with the mattress and the lack of bumps, I start over. Carefully.I pick up sheets and shirts and jeans and towels and everything I can find, crafting the perfect bed to rest within. My males are here.I feel them watching me.One of them even hands items to me, trying to help. I purr when I like the offering and snarl when I dislike
Jake I love is very particular about her nest.That started around day two of her heat.We’re now on day nine and all of us are exhausted.“I’m not fucking you until you eat that sandwich,” Kev says sternly, making my lips curl. “Now, Vanessa .”She growls at him.He growls back.We’re not in the nest right now, but on the floor beside it. Because we learned on day three that food in the nest creates a furiouslittle Omega. And we’ve not made that mistake since.But she’s still not a fan of eating. She just wants our seed.However, we’ve found withholding sex will eventually make her cooperate. Which Kev is doing now while I check in on island operations.The power and telephone functions were finally fully restored three days ago.Alpha Lance, Alpha Edwin, and Alpha Ion all worked as a team to help clean up the mess Alpha Kin made. Alpha Ebony and Alpha Pan also returned after the burial to assist.And Alpha Dirk oversaw the restoration of telecommunications on his own.I’ve review
Vanessa Energy hums through the air, causing the hairs along my arms to stand on end.But it’s for an entirely different reason today than two months ago.I’m in the same field.Standing in the same place I once kneeled.Only now I’m standing. I’m clothed. And I’m staring directly at the male who once rejected me.Seeing Canton now, I can’t remember why I ever found him attractive.He has nothing on my three mates. He’s a fucking pansy ass, Kev says to us all. Look at him. He’s ready to wet himself just like last time.That pansy ass managed to keep a hold on Vanessa ’s wolf for almost a week, Jake reminds him. Looks can be deceiving.He’s right.I remember feeling Canton’s power.He’s certainly not weak. He took advantage of an untrained shifter, Kev argues. Hardly makeshim strong.Also a fair point. I didn’t know how to control my inner animal and she was pissed at me for denying her all these years. It made her easy tomanipulate.Alpha Crane clears his throat. “Well. We’re here,
6 months ago. Vanessa Energy hums through the air, causing the hairs along my arms to stand on end.Deep breaths, Vanessa , I tell myself. And don’t look up.History is happening all around me as the wolves enter the clearing on both sides. Blood moon and Santeetlah.Two packs of similar origins who have fought for centuries over this land.But today, we’ll join as one.Because of my agreement to mate the Santeetlah Pack Alpha’s son.The other females in my pack are jealous. Our matings are all arranged, and I definitely won this year’s prime candidate a future Alpha.And not just any Alpha, but the Alpha who will lead the union between our packs, with me by his side.I take another deep breath, attempting to calm my inner wolf. Kneeling agitates the animal lurking beneath my skin. I don’t typically submit. But this ceremony requires it.Just as it required me not to truly meet my inner animal until today. Hence her growing excitement.I’ve never been allowed to shift.It’s part of
Vanessa Explain yourself!” Alpha Bryson shouts.I shiver, my focus instantly going to the male I’ve revered all my life. But he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at my father.And my father… is glowering at my cowering mother.“I… I…” she stutters, her skin as pale as my fur. “I didn’t know… I…”“You didn’t know?” my father repeats, his tone holding an edge of fury that I’ve never heard from him before. “How could you not fucking know?”He points in my direction. “She’s a goddamn mutt!”“I thought she was yours,” my mother whispers. “I… You have to believe me. It… He found me… I tried to fight… But I…”Her statements are all garbled. Maybe because I can’t hear beyond the pounding in my ears. Maybe because she can’t seem to explain herself.“I swear, I had no idea,” my father says, his words for Alpha Bryson.“I’ll take whatever punishment you require. This is not a reflection on our pack, it’s a reflection on me and my whore of a wife.”“He raped me!” my mother shouts. “I tried to fi
Kev I fucking hate wearing suits. They’re claustrophobic and suffocate my wolf. And the damn ties make me want to choke something.Not my own neck.Someone else’s neck.Like the human sitting across from me.Fortunately, he’s useful. Unfortunately, he’s the reason I’m in the suit.I wait patiently as he counts the cash in front of me, showing me the bonus he’s giving me for a job well done.He gave me a mark. I carried out the assignment without any inquiries or assistance required. And now I’m being paid for it.“You military-types are unnervingly silent,” he says.I don’t reply. He assumes I’m military because I’m good at what I do. I don’t bother correcting him because I don’t need to explain myself. I’m afreelance assassin. The suit is just my version of a mask.If he saw the claws beneath, there would be questions.And I really fucking hate questions.This guy has several on his mind. I can see them in his dark eyes. But he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut, instead thankin
Vanessa I can’t shift.I’ve tried for four days and my wolf won’t allow me to return to human form.The guards think I’m being defiant. The intake judge called me feral.And the social worker in charge of my case stated she couldn’t help me because I didn’t want to be helped.If only that were true.My wolf refuses to let me defend myself in human form. Everyone thinks I killed my mother because Alpha Bryson told them I did.He claimed I turned feral when I found out my true lineage. He acted like he felt bad for me.He called it a “sad, helpless case.” And then went into a speech about how he couldn’t put me down, that it wasn’t my fault for being born thisway.Yet he didn’t have a single problem with Alpha Crane’s wolves killing my mom.And he didn’t care at all about laying the blame for her murder at my feet.My wolf is furious. I am furious.But I’m also terrified.They’re taking me to Carnage Island, home of the cruelest wolves in existence.Because they think I killed my mom.
Jake The female’s scent slithers around me, perfuming the air and filling my lungs with each breath.There’s something intoxicatingly sweet about it.Something I want to taste.“She tried to kill Jack,” Jordan says conversationally as we walk in the general direction of the main docks. It’s the location where the guards should have taken the girl. But instead they went to the opposite side of theisland where they couldn’t anchor their boat.Cowards, I think. “They were going to throw her cage in the water and let her drown. I think her assassination attempt is warranted.”“He was technically helping her by letting her out of the cage and removing the muzzle.”“Because he wanted to fuck her,” I return.Jordan ’s silvery eyes gleam knowingly as he looks at me. “And you don’t?”I grunt. “Entirely not the point. I didn’t try to drown her.”“Fair,” he replies. “Well, it’s a good thing you anticipated their usual fuckery. She would have drowned if Kev hadn’t pulled her out.”I grunt again