POV: Echo I glanced at John before looking up at Atlas and gently nodding my head toward where he was kneeling on the floor. “Are you sure, Little Warrior? You owe him nothing, and we can leave without looking back.” He asks, hesitating. Worried that my silent request is upsetting him, I bow my head before replying, “Yes, Alpha Atlas, I am sure.” I hear him sigh as he gently tilts my head up so that I am looking at him. “Echo, please, you are my Luna. You never have to address me by my title. I am Atlas to you, my Little Warrior.” He says quietly, gazing into my eyes and practically begging to hear me say his name. “Please, Atlas,” I whispered, a small smile creeping over my lips at the pure joy resonating from his face. “I need to speak with him.” He nodded, turning serious again as he helped me hop toward the man on the floor. “Beta John,” I called to the kneeling man softly once I stood in front of him. His untamed, light brown hair hung across his face. He raised his eyes to
POV: Echo “Atlas, you need to keep going down!” I say, poorly suppressing a giggle as he stumbles mid-step after I stop Atlas before he steps off the second-floor landing. Pouting adorably because I laughed at him, he raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were going to your room?” “We are. It’s just not on this floor.” I said, feeling slightly apprehensive about showing him the basement I’d been living in for the last ten years. He shrugs and continues to move down the stairs, carrying me bridal style as we make our way to the ground floor. “Nope! Not that way!” I chirped to keep him from going down the hallway to the main floor. Stopping, he outright frowns at me. “We are going to my room, I promise, although maybe it would be better if you set me down so I can show you the way.” I tell him, and he sets me down, supporting me so I can walk. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for whatever would come next. I turned toward our destination. Walking into the dining room, Atlas with hi
POV: Echo After pulling my extremely confused mate through the kitchen, I finally stopped in front of the door to the basement. “We have to go down here,” I said, opening the door and showing him the sketchy-looking basement stairs. Watching his face go from confused to concerned to a million other emotions, I debated if I really wanted him to see this part of my life. He carefully set his face into a neutral expression, suddenly showing no outward signs of his feelings. Just when I am about to tell him to forget it, that I have nothing worth retrieving, he grabs hold of me and picks me up. Carefully placing me on his front, I wrapped my legs around his waist as best I could with my splint. My arms snaked around his neck, and I held on tight, his arms wrapping under my butt and around my waist, as he descended into the basement. This carrying position had a much more significant effect on me than the previous one, as tingles shot through my arms and his scent was intoxicatingly str
POV: Alpha Atlas It takes every ounce of self-control that I have to set Echo down in front of the basement door instead of taking her right here and now. The biggest thing stopping me is knowing what she’s been through, and that she is definitely not ready for something like that. I knew I’d messed up after the first couple of steps. Who’d have thought that carrying your mate like that would be so damn arousing!? I feel apprehensive about seeing her room, now that I realize it’s in the basement, and not with the rooms for the rest of the pack. ‘Maybe they have more rooms down here?’ Zev chimes in hopefully. They had been calling her the pack slave, and when I saw the varying locks on the door in front of us, my entire body tensed. I don’t know what I’d expected after seeing how badly marred her body is, but I thought she was only locked in the basement for punishment. She opened the door, and while I had intended for her to show me the room herself, I couldn’t stop myself from sl
POV: Echo Atlas gently pecks my lips, and I can’t help but whine at his tease of a kiss, making him smirk at just how affected I am by him already. “I know, Little Warrior, but we have already been down here long enough. We will need to head upstairs soon,” he explains. I nod, knowing he’s right. I know I am looking forward to leaving this place even more, although I feel slightly conflicted about how much I enjoy physical contact with Atlas. Even though he had explained it would feel good if I consented, and even better because he was my mate, I was still slightly embarrassed about how much I craved it, and about how forward Tala and I had been already. Blushing, I look at the stuff on my shelf, and suddenly I don’t want it anymore. None of it is usable, anyway. Just as I am about to tell him as much, there is a resounding crashing noise from the main floor, followed by the sounds of multiple wolves fighting. Eyes wide, I stare at him, hoping he knows what’s happened. “Bloody idi
POV: Echo Snarling, Brady whips around, face bloodied, eyes darkened with his wolf. He stalks towards me, a predator after his prey. I keep my blade raised, slowly taking steps back in a wide arc, hoping to make my way toward the door. Seeing this, he moves to cut me off, and I step the other way. Slowly noting that if I keep backing up in this direction, he will have me completely cornered at the folding table. ‘We will have to make a stand; I will give you strength. You do not know what we are capable of yet. Have faith in yourself… in me!’ My hands stop shaking as Tala’s strength and determination flood my body. I plant myself, spreading my feet wide instinctively, despite never having been allowed to train with the other wolves a day in my life. I continue to ignore the pain shooting up from my broken ankle. It is nothing compared to the pain I will feel if I can’t get away. He stops, watching me, laughing as he sees me preparing to fight him. “Little Doll,” he growls, clicki
POV: Echo The room erupts into the snarling, roaring, and shouting of multiple wolves as they rush into the room. Brady’s wolf slams him back into complete control, and Brady’s fingertips extend into razor-sharp claws. He digs them into my arms, dragging me upwards as he stands up. Extracting them to flip me around so that I face them, he then pulls me tightly against his chest. He grips my throat, prepared to rip it out should the need arise, while his other hand pulls up and buttons his jeans. Then he wraps his arms around me and digs his claws into me, holding me tightly. I stifled the cries of pain from his claws, tears falling silently, as I watched the men in front of me fan out. Beta John and his father, Beta Seth, stood to one side, faces pale and eyes exploding with rage as they saw my living space for the first time, and took in the scene before them. Beta Travis and Delta Blaze stood on the other side, their furious wolves just beneath the surface. The major contributor
POV: Atlas I can’t believe these idiots are literally fighting in the dining room when they are supposed to be making sure everything is ready to go immediately. I launch myself into the middle of the fray, where most of the wolves are fighting. “ENOUGH!” I roared, and every wolf in the room stopped dead. “WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU ALL THINK YOU ARE DOING?! This does NOT look like preparing everything to leave.” Every Blood Moon wolf in the room and at least seventy percent of the Red Stone wolves extend their necks in submission. My wolves shift back to their human forms, and Blaze looks like a busted little kid. I glared at him, waiting for a reply. “I was doing just that,” he says, “and then some ugly-looking bastard from Red Stone comes in here with his gang of goons and starts spouting off about why you would have any interest in Alpha Brady’s sex toy!” I growl, just as I hear another wolf from Red Stone, one those that didn’t submit, start speaking. “I didn’t know Alpha