ArcherI sit up a little and drop my arms, and she doesn’t hesitate to crawl onto my lap. My arms wrap around her automatically, and I lean back into the comfy, misshapen cushions with her, burying my face in her neck. Her skin is warm like sunshine, and she smells like the outdoors in the best kind of way. I wasn’t sure where she disappeared to this morning, but clearly, she was taking a stroll in nature.I could probably use the same.For several seconds, I just breathe against her smooth skin. Her small, delicate fingers caress the side of my face, then move into my hair, massaging my scalp as she murmurs, “I’m here. I’m right here.”My grief wells up, and the tears build until I can’t hold them in anymore. Her innocent comfort soothes me, both through her motions and through the connection we share where her affection radiates like a phantom limb. But her love also breaks the dam inside me. I start to sob.I cling to Sable, because she’s my only life raft. I don’t know how to do t

sableIn my opinion, we should stay together. We only beat the witches in battle because we joined forces. We managed to hold our own and come out on top in a fight that would have destroyed a single pack in a matter of minutes. If we split up again, each pack will go back to being vulnerable.Even though the crowd is making their support of me known, I don’t feel like I have a platform to blurt out my opinions. I’m a shifter, but I wasn’t raised on pack lands. All three packs existed for years before I came around, so the decision has to be something they work out amongst themselves without the half-breed sticking her nose in.Grady, a big man with a shiny bald head, stands up and booms, “I side with Ridge. Our alpha knows best how to ensure our ongoing safety.”Ridge nods once.Amora, who’s been silently watching from behind the seated elders, speaks up. “Grady’s right.” She inclines her chin toward the bald man. “Banding together seems like the safest route for our families and the c

SableI wake up early the next morning—so early I can taste dawn on the air, even from inside the house and surrounded by a cocoon of warm arms and legs.Ridge and Dare cuddle me from either side, their hands resting on my body and their faces buried against my skin. They’re both still dead asleep, breathing deeply, eyelids moving as they dream. I wonder briefly what they’re dreaming of, and if maybe I’m a part of it. They’ve both played host to dreams in my mind too, many of which were more than a little R-rated.I stretch, dislodging both sleeping men with very little effort. They readjust and continue snoozing as I sit up and rub away the sleep from my eyes.Archer sits in a cushioned armchair beside the bed, the last man on watch. He dragged the chair in here when we arrived before the battle with the witches, after I revealed that I was worried my magic might hurt one of them while I slept. It surges every now and then, the black marks streaking across my skin, the magic swirling

Trystan“Surprised to see that you have a fucking doorstep when Dolores Fisher is sleeping in a tent.” Dolores is just shy of ancient with bad hips and a hernia she likes to bring up every other sentence. But she’s a great lady, and an institution in the West Pack.Unfortunately, Cooper doesn’t have an ounce of empathy in him.“The woman survived two heart attacks. Nothing short of a gunshot wound to the head’s gonna nail her.” He leans a hip against the door and eyes me. “What do you want?”“Can we come in?” I demand, a little impatiently. “We’re not here to admire the garden shed.”Cooper’s shit-eating grin spreads wider, and he steps back, opening the door to let us pass into the dimly lit room. He looks at Sable like he wants to take her for a test drive, a flash of interest in his eyes. It takes all my willpower not to lay him out on the floor like the trash he is just for looking at her the wrong way.The place is literally a garden shed—one room, walls lined with gardening tool

I let him mull over his thoughts in silence as we head back across town toward Archer’s house. I don’t want to push him into speaking before he’s ready, especially not if he’s building plans in his head or going over everything that was discussed with an eye on the rearview.We walk into the cool, dim interior of Archer’s house, and Trystan closes the door behind us. I turn, impatient to know what’s going through his mind, but before I can even utter a sound, I’m in his arms.It’s like the kiss outside of Cooper’s pilfered shed never ended. Trystan’s hands splay across my back, sliding beneath my shirt to palm my bare skin, and I lean into him, wishing I could be closer. His hands slip around to cup my breasts, palming the soft flesh and teasing my nipples, and I groan. Even the inch of material from our shirts is too much distance between us. I can feel multitudes of emotions in his kiss—heat, desire, possessiveness. But above all, I can feel his gratitude. I can sense how much he ap