Thoughts of constantly running and hiding with a young cub in shitty pubs and other less desirable places flooded her mind like a bad dream. On the heel of those thoughts, however, were those that imagined what would happen if Dylan got his hands on her and the cub. It wasn’t unheard of for an alpha to get rid of a cub that was not his in order to claim a mate. It came from their animal DNA. A violent shudder hit her body even as the wolf in her rose close to her skin, ready to protect and defend what was hers. She would never allow any harm to come to her cub. Suddenly Asher stepped towards her, closing the distance that had separated them and grabbed her shoulders in his firm hands. It wasn’t aggressive, so she didn’t freak out. It was as though he just wanted to make sure he had her full attention. That wasn’t a problem. He had her full attention. Her entire body flowed with awareness. The ugly thoughts faded away and her only focus

“In short,” Asher started in a low, measured tone. “What you are simply saying… is that you can’t tell me anything.” He raised his hands and counted his fingers as he spoke. “Not why your family is after you... You won’t tell me who your family is or what they even do, or why you ran from home in the first place.” He grabbed a fourth finger, his anger very visible at this point. “Not who found you through me and caused you to run from my home. Or even how they managed to make the connection… I am still puzzled about that one, by the way. And lastly, but not the very least, you can’t even tell me… Correction... Let me rephrase that. You can’t even promise that you won’t run again. Even though you are carrying my child. Have I missed anything?” The silence that fell in the room following his count of all the information she refused to give stretched uncomfortably. Mia was past the point of explaining herself. There was nothing she could say to hi

Asher had the mother of all headaches pounding insistently at his temples. It was as though a tiny mad man had been handed a hummer and told to torture him; he thought. And although he was mostly out of it and dazed from the pain, he could feel the rough hands of at least two men drag him out of the car they had been travelling in. He wasn’t sure how long they had been driving, but it must have been hours because compared to the darkness of night in which they had left his house; wherever it was that they had arrived hours later, the sun was up in the sky and bright. He had woken a few times during the drive. And each time, he had noticed how quiet Mia had been. He hadn’t heard her say a word, not even when the men in the car had accused her of causing so much trouble. Most of what they had said made little sense to him. He blamed most of his confusion on his aching head, but some of it was just weird. He had heard comments about packs

Asher blinked. His brain was having a seriously hard time understanding the data it was receiving. “It’s not possible,” he murmured quietly. He shook his head as though it would help his head process what he was seeing better. It didn’t help. And no one paid him any attention or the confusion he was experiencing. They focused all eyes on the two wolves that growled at each other. One of which he couldn’t believe, but knew was Mia’s father. Who was the other wolf? Asher suddenly wondered. In the back of his mind, he knew, but he didn’t want to accept it. He looked at the black wolf standing over his legs. Its black fur almost glittered in the sunshine. The line of red fur on its back all the way to its tail was very telling. So were the shredded clothes on the ground. Still, Asher refused to acknowledge it. It just wasn’t possible. Tension increased around them. Soon it was obvious growling wasn’t the only thing the wolves were going to

Asher gave his teeth a painful workout, grinding them against each other to stop himself from talking. For a man used to being in control and giving orders, this was a tall order.  Asher knew he was not the typical billionaire businessman. He had tattoos and loved riding his bikes. He felt more comfortable with a little grease on his hands than in a board room surrounded by tycoons in suits, ties and expensive Italian shoes. But in that moment Asher would have taken a ten hour boring meeting with the worst competitors in the business. That was preferable to being dragged by Connor into the warehouse. The warehouse was large, old and mostly empty, but what Asher noticed the most was the dust that covered every surface in sight, and the thick chains that came out of the walls like spider legs.  The windows high up, almost touching the ceiling, provided enough light to make everything crystal clear and creepy. Ash