All four feet of mine pushed off the ground, and I leapt as far right as I could. My teeth clamped down on Jacob’s furry tail, knowing full well that this wasn’t going to hurt him, but I needed him distracted.Sure enough, he whipped around too quickly for his size and got his own feet tangled.The mess he’d made of himself gave me the opening I’d been looking for, and I went for his eyes.My Bear jumped onto his back, then clawed her way to the top of his head. Her sharp nails raked across one eye with precision. Though, before we could take out the other, Jacob had recovered and sat as if he was going to itch his head with his back foot, but instead, the asshole launched us into the air.His front paw then swatted at my Bear with claws extended while we were still in the air. Thankfully, his aim was off, so we didn’t get skewered, but we were still slammed much harder into the ground than I’d been prepared for.The impact was so severe that the earth around us cracked, and there was

I couldn’t lose her.“What the hell happened here?” Jack asked, but nobody answered him.My focus was on my mate, and that was where it would stay until she opened her eyes for me.I wrapped my fingers around her limp paw while I watched Amy press her palms over the wolf’s chest.“Don’t you fucking die,” Mark whispered in Amy’s ear when her faint magic began to cover my mate.Amy didn’t respond to him. Instead, she closed her eyes and slumped forward so limply that Mark needed to hold her up while she worked on Elena.I watched with strangled breath, helpless to do anything other than sit there and hope my reason for living didn’t stop breathing when I’d only just found her.Amy groaned, and Mark tried to pull her back, but she at least had the strength to keep her hands pressed over Elena. “I need to save her. It’s why I’m here.”I was certain Mark disagreed with that, but this time, he kept quiet. Just like I selfishly was.I hadn’t noticed him leave, but Jack’s Bear came running ba

It hadn’t gone unnoticed that he didn’t answer my question about how he was doing, but I didn’t need his words to know.I could imagine the torment I’d have felt if it were him in this bed instead of me. Then, I’d multiply that rage by a hundred to get to Atlas’s level.He at least seemed okay physically, and that was enough. For now.“How is everyone else?” I asked, knowing there would have been casualties but hoping not many.Atlas stared ahead at the wall, and I instantly knew something worse had happened.“Is jack…?” I let my voice trail off.“He’s fine,” Atlas answered. “It was Tuck, along with more than a dozen others we didn’t really get to know.”Damn it. I’d hardly known Tuck, but he’d helped us and he’d been a close friend of Jack’s, along with being Sammy’s “Uncle Tuck.” My heart ached for their losses and for the grief felt by the rest of the families.I started to pull Jack’s arms away from me so I could get out of bed, but his hold tightened. “What do you think you’re do

“Only if you join me,” I quipped, sliding my hands over his chiseled chest and farther down until I shoved his towel down to the ground and gripped his growing erection.“I just got out of the shower,” he replied, moving his mouth lightly over my collarbone.I unashamedly panted. “And yet you’re still a dirty boy.”His head lifted and he cocked a brow. “‘Boy’?”With my hand still around his hard cock, I squeezed. “Oops. Maybe you need to remind me just how manlyyou are again.”“Or maybe I need to punish you for forgetting.” He bit into my shoulder. Not enough to break the skin, but enough that I’d be feeling reminders of his touch for the rest of the day.I was tempted to beg him for whatever punishment he wanted to give me, but I’d learned the hard way that only led to him denying me for longer than I liked. So I kept my mouth shut while he kissed over the bite mark, then back up my neck.His fingers pinched my chin until my lips bunched together. “Naughty, naughty woman.”I smirked

It was brief, but Elena got the gist of what may be required.Caring for one child who wasn’t terminal looked right up Elena’s alley. Not only that, the location was not far away. But what really stood out for Elena was the pay. It was almost double what she made now. Yes, it was around-the-clock work, but to Nora, it seemed like her savior.She was trying not to get too far ahead of herself, knowing how hard these jobs were to come by and how many others were probably applying at this very second.The only part that she wasn’t sure of was how old the child would be. But that was neither here nor there, especially given the array of children she’d dealt with throughout the years. If she was offered the job, she was sure she would be more than capable.It was everything she was looking for. This might be the change she desperately needed.Elena checked her resumé to make sure it was up to date, and everything was in order. She couldn’t fuck this up.It didn’t ask for a cover letter, bu