Dominic took Raven home he would tell anyone what happened because he was furious with them for failing. This time it wasn’t Raven who would live with this outcome. He’d have to take responsibility for being their leader, but he’d watched that screen along with most of his command structure what had Raven done to deserve what she received? They were shifters not stupid selfish humans. He mustn’t need to find a special need or purpose for everyone to have value or find respect. Raven shouldn’t have hide because her mother was accused of steeling from another. Dominic wasn’t sure who had been the wolf who’d been her accuser in the first place. They’d been pups back then. He wasn’t in the mood to question the elder council or order someone to go through paper records. All he wanted to do was send Paul to with the troublesome wolves and he’d work with his Pet finally. Goddess, he felt as thought some greater being toyed with him to keep her out of his reach yet keep her close enough
Raven leaned away from Alpha Jones for all his claims this was the first time he’d ever claimed to have made any type of error. Now he acted as though he hadn’t a clue about the threats his Pack members had made over the years to her and her family. As if they’d not come down from him. Nothing made sense to her, and it looked like it either didn’t make sense to Alpha Jones or he was bluffing. She wasn’t sure which it was, and it hurt. If he was bluffing, why? What would it get him? How would he benefit from all of this? “Raven, given me names of the Pack members who threatened you. I need to follow this back. Believe me that I wasn’t the one who gave the orders for this. There’s something going on right now and it’s been festering for a lot longer than I thought it has.” Raven watched Alpha Jones put his hand to his face and pinch the bridge of his nose. “This is worse than I thought, but you, Pet, are going to be the key to stopping it and setting this pack on the right path or I’
“Raven, I won’t allow you to deny that we’re mates. The fact is we are. There are others out there that recognize that we are, and it can be made official with a simple word. I don’t want to be a hard ass Alpha male. But after all this time I will.” Dominic could feel his more dominant nature coming to the forefront after all the violence and bloodshed he’d seen. The anger and the betrayal he believed he’d discovered. This was something else he had to get to the bottom of.“Is that a threat?” Raven asked. Dominic looked her in the eye. Of course, she had to give him attitude right now. He gave a withering look.“It’s a promise and a threat if it has to be Raven. I don’t care that we were young and there were elders saying that we should hold off and wait. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now.” He’d set down the boundary line and if she dared to cross it, he’d show her how he’d discipline her, and she’d bloody well enjoy it.“What do you mean there were elders saying we should h
Raven stood there and stared at Dominic, stunned. Unsure if she heard him correctly. He’d changed her view of him several times within this conversation. But he hadn’t changed her decision to change her decision to not tolerate accepting a gambler as a mate. He didn’t get it, did he? The pain and torture she had to suffer. The humiliation and injuries were too much. Her life was nonexistent. Raven gave up everything for them and she had nothing to give anymore.“Raven. I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you think I’m asking you to do? No. Don’t answer that. Let me say this. You won’t be doing anything of the likes like that again. No one will come after you anymore. What happened then, won’t happen now. I am not them. You are my mate. Not their’s. I made a mistake before, but I won’t repeat it. You won’t be in that position ever again, I promise.”She looked at him. Not knowing what to say or do. Was he aware of his promise and its delivery method? Raven never had th
“Dominic.” Raven said his name in warning and backed up. She raised her finger in warning and an eyebrow, too. Dominic approached Raven as though he approached a spooked and cornered animal that they had to capture. “Raven Miller. This is going to happen. It’s fate. If I touch you now, I know you’ll feel it everywhere. It’s just how it is. We’re wolves. I need you as much as you need me. You can’t tell me that you haven’t felt it all these years. That’s why you’ve stayed away, but you couldn’t quite leave. Not fully, could you?” Dominic leaned down then and claimed Raven’s lips in a kiss that demanded everything from her. She knew what he’d said was true. She couldn’t deny it. He pursued her for years with tireless determination, chasing her around the room. Raven could feel her heartbeat rise as he approached ever closer. With every step, she expected the outcome. Her mind and heart continued to battle. Fate and experience polar opposites in her mi
Raven didn’t know if she wanted to run, kill, or stand tall. She felt so conflicted after this. She’d experienced nothing like this ever. Raven didn’t have words for it. She never heard about the annoying pain of the healing bite wound. No one had ever bitten her before. She wasn’t a fighter and Raven was skilled at avoiding bar brawls. So, it never came up. At this moment, Raven confronted a prowling male. Otherwise known as her mate, Alpha Dominic Jones. She was so screwed when this became public. No one would feel happy about this. For an hour, he had planned how to address the Pack and remove troublemakers. In her view, he could remove half of the Pack. It made little sense to her. He removed her from the Pack. Reject her and he’d please the Pack. This made no sense to her. “Can you please explain to me why you are trying to please some disembodied mythical creature? Who may or may not exist? While pissing off your Pack and risking y
Raven’s expectations were very wrong. Right now, nothing was going according to plan, she’d say. Raven saw no plan. Dominic wasn’t acting as she expected him to act. Again, when did Dominic act like she expected him to? Now she pondered if a mental institution for shifters existed. She required time away from everything. Her hands were shaking. She was sure everyone saw it. Dominic had called another Pack meeting. This time, Raven sat on the stool by his feet. When everyone settled in their seats, he had their attention. The room went silent, and the air grew heavy with anticipation. Without speaking, Dominic lifted Raven from the stool and placed her on the seat beside him. Then put a clawed finger in front of her nose and said, “Stay there.” With that, he tore the bandage off her shoulder as the pack looked wide-eyed and revealed his bite imprint. He looked out over his pack with a narrowed glare. “Yeah, mine. It’s done and over. She had the same
“Hey, hey. Alright, there. We’ll take a break. I thought you knew some of this. At least suspect some historical details. I didn’t know you knew nothing about it. It happened when we were all tiny pups. It’s okay.” Dominic said. His voice was low and soothing to Raven. He’d not realized how this would affect her. He felt like he’d done this to her. Why did everyone let this go? How did they allow Kelsey to escape without consequences? Who allowed such injustice to spread and persist? The rotten wolves didn’t suffer, in any actual sense. They had others they could hurt. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember ever hearing anything like that. Nobody ever mentioned that about my mother to me. Raven said. “No, that’s not quite true. They’ve inferred it, but stated no facts. I can’t identify any specific incident or time. “It’s okay because it’s not true and they didn’t know what they were doing. It was them spreading vicious lies.” “Lies that got her