I stayed in that cabin with my she-wolf and her mate no matter how it turned my stomach and I had to choke down the vomit. No matter how my eyes stung while my mask cracked, I had to shut them a time or two to keep from screaming. The sound of that bone drill burrowing into my beta’s skull and Lily’s cries would haunt me for the rest of my life. I forced myself to bear it because I was their Luna, and my discomfort did not matter. What I wanted or needed no longer mattered. The scent of Rand’s blood was still heavy in the air, even after the healer and his mate had washed him clean again and had disposed of the bloody towels and crimson colored water. A clean bandage shrouded his head, and soon more joined along his bruised and broken body. Raven even stitched the worst wounds closed to help them heal faster. I wondered if I would always smell his wolfblood in here from now on as if it had soaked into the wood permanently. After Raven had cleaned and gathered her supplies, gave the
My eyes, the color of a muddy river like that of my father’s, locked onto the Alpha’s, not backing down, the challenge there, daring him to take it. I steeled my spine and my nerves, and I did not even let my wolf come through, because I had the power inside me, and I did not need to flash her rage, her pain, to let my mate know I was a dangerous predator not to be messed with.“Get out of my way, Grey. Or I will make you.”My voice had stayed calm and was more deadly than had it been dripping with aggression. Like a snake, waiting and watching for the need to strike.He let out a breath that sounded painful to exhale, “At least let me help you then.”So, his pack could suffer the consequences. Even the sting of his betrayal was not enough to let me agree to allow him to antagonize his enemy by disrespecting their dead. Wolves of Rocky’s status among the pack were sent off with honor to their place in the sky to spend eternity near their creator. It would be a grave insult to the crea
A burst of rage-fueled adrenaline coursed through my veins, giving me a second wind. I used my burst of strength to push myself off the tree, to stand tall, before I grabbed the shovel and began to dig furiously. Dirt and bits of roots and moss flung through the air as I took my frustrations out on the Earth. I would not greet the dark alpha like an obedient little mate eagerly awaiting his return. We would face each other as enemies, and he would stay on his side of the mountain or face the consequences. Grey was smart enough to get out of my way. The younger alpha decided to face his enemy on equal footing, wolf to wolf, as he merged with his animal once more. The human part of me had too much to say to the brute to shift, and my communication while in my fur would not be adequate unless he set foot onto my land. Then my literal claws and teeth would come out and I would show him no mercy.It did not take wolf senses to know when the dark one prowled near the boundary. The heavy ma
From the moment the girl stepped foot inside my diner, I knew she was in trouble. I could tell by the way she wore her long, strawberry hair down covering her face like a shroud, and she chose a booth in the back that had a view of the whole place. It also made for a quick exit out the back door. She slid into the booth, her keen green eyes kept scanning the joint but not making eye contact with a living soul in it. She flinched when the door opened, and I could smell the tang of her blood in the air as she chewed her thumbnail down to the quick. I could tell the girl was in trouble, because I had once been her. She couldn’t be more than nineteen, which was another red flag of her being here all alone at this ungodly hour. My diner was on the backroads, the bypass to the highway, and these twisty lanes that curved around the mountain, were dangerous even when the sun was high in the sky. The only faces I usually saw at this time before dawn, were truckers after they’d dropped their
I shook those dark thoughts off like a dog in the rain and waited for the love birds to finish their display of affection. Then I approached them with a killer smile and two glasses of iced water. From the way they were going at it, I wondered for a moment if I would need to pour the water on them to separate the mates. I tried to remember the last time I had been looked at like I hung the moon in the sky, and I deflated. Unless my old hound dog Tom counted, but his loyalty was easily bought with chicken and belly rubs. Tom certainly got more action than I did, half of the town’s mutts were his.I tried not to be offended that lover boy clearly didn’t see me as a threat while he sized me up. I might not have looked like much, all five- foot- two- and- three-quarter- inches of me, but I was a solid one hundred and thirty pounds of muscle and packed a mean right hook. But a mean right hook wasn’t all I packed, behind the counter I had a baseball bat and my shotgun, Old Faithful. The sho
“It’ll all be alright Lily. I won’t ever let anything happen to you, Moon as my witness. We’ll make him understand,” promised Rand.Poor Lily was shaking like a leaf. What a pretty name, I just hoped the Alpha didn’t pluck this pretty little redheaded flower. She-wolfs were usually protected at all costs. So, chances were, even if this was a rival Alpha, he’d try and beat the beta into submission and claim Lily for his own pack, best case scenario anyway. Worst case, he was a raging feral who couldn’t be reasoned with, tore Rand apart and then possibly did the same to Lily out of spite. That was where Old Faithful came in, to get him right with The Moon and to remind the bastard this was my land.Chris was semi-oblivious to the danger we were facing. He didn’t know what had the rest of us all so worked up. He tried to peer out the window, but the night was too dark and unforgiving to see much. Thick lines of trees also helped to hide most of the sins of the creatures of the night.
Things were about to get ugly. The beta had twice refused the command of his Alpha, and then to further add insult, he had thrown down a challenge. I feared the time for talking was done and they were about to settle things in the wolf way. With claws and teeth. By the anger rolling off the Alpha, Rand being his nephew, wasn’t going to save the beta’s hide.Fuck, they were going to tear my diner apart while they tried to do the same to each other. And I couldn’t afford another insurance claim, or my premiums would skyrocket. I didn’t know my own strength sometimes and accidents happened, both by the hand of nature and my own. Last New Year’s, I knocked some holes in the wall, screwed up some wiring, and caused a minor electrical fire when my semi-sober ass decided to use my stepfather’s picture as a dartboard. Luckily no one was injured except for the raccoon who had taken up residence in my wall. Also, a tree fell on the roof two years back, and a drunk, handsy college guy fell thr
To say I was a bit distracted was an understatement, but it was the reason I was the last wolf to realize we had company. Sure, I was vaguely aware of the cloying scent of cedar and sandalwood, the crunch of gravel outside, a howl carried on the wind, but I was still entranced by the Alpha before me and the things he was doing to my body. I hated myself for this weakness, for not being able to control the wetness spreading between my legs, the tautness of my nipples, the burn where his mouth touched against my skin. But it felt so damn good. And the bastard knew exactly the effects he was having on me alright. “Rand!” cried out Lily, increasing her grip on her mate. “Maybe we’ll have better luck making him understand,” soothed Rand as he stroked her cheek, “I’ll relinquish my place in the pack and my allegiance to my Alpha, Lil if that’s what it takes for us to be together.” “He has to understand! He’ll give you a place and protection among our pack,” the hope in Lily’s voice near