MasukOllie’s POV“Not much,” I say. “We’ve been kind of worried about other stuff.”Keiran chuckles. “I know exactly what you mean. You wouldn’t believe all the shit Julian and I went through when we first got together. It was like every time we turned around some new issue popped up. Hopefully, you and Lucas won’t have such an eventful courtship.”“I don’t know,” I say. “Things have been pretty crazy so far.”“True enough.” He shoots me a playful smile. “But how many times have you been kidnapped?”“Uh, at least once? Probably?”He breaks out into laughter, muffling the sound with his hand. “I’m kidding. Well, not really. Kidnapping was like a rite of passage for me.” His expression goes serious. “But you’re… okay with everything? The whole fated mates thing?”“Of course,” I say, tilting my head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I be?”“You could have your reasons,” says Keiran. He presses his lips together and glances down at his hands. “Look, I get the impression you don’t have much experience
Ollie’s POVKeiran is waiting on the other side of the door to lead me to Julian’s office where we find Remy sitting behind the desk with a laptop open in front of him. The younger Matisse brother glances up and gestures us over.Keiran grabs one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk and drags it around until it’s sitting beside Remy. He motions for me to take that chair, then shifts to stand behind Remy.Remy swivels his chair to face me. “I’ve been able to locate five packs who indicated in some way that they had a white wolf in their pack. Unfortunately, none of the registered white wolves were you. Two of them are clearly too old and the other three are all accounted for.”“How is that helpful then?” I ask.“Because even if the registered white wolves aren’t you, we now know of five packs that have the gene.” Remy ticks each pack off on his fingers.“Onaway, Michigan. Drift Creek, Oregon. Rockcastle, Kentucky. Denver, Colorado. Richmond, Virginia.” He pauses and raises hi
Ollie’s POVShe nods to herself. “Everything seems normal so far. No murmurs or abnormal heart rhythms and your lungs sound fine. Would you please lay down?” I follow her instruction and she reaches across my body and places her hands on my stomach. She glances up to meet my eyes before continuing. “I’m going to be pressing into your abdomen. Let me know if there are any spots that are painful or uncomfortable.”Lucas’s phone lets out a loud noise, and Doctor Benton pauses as Lucas pulls his phone from his pocket and glances at the screen. He frowns, brows drawing together.“It’s Nancy,” he says, a clear apology in his voice. “I need to call her back.”“It’s okay,” I say, reaching up to grab one of his hands. “Do what you need to, just let me know what she says.”My mate sends me a grateful smile, then nods in doctor’s direction before leaving the room to call his second back. Hopefully, Nancy will have some good news, but something tells me that’s probably not the case.“Do you want
Ollie’s POVMy plate is still nearly half full when the doorbell rings, the sound echoing through the house. Everyone looks up from their food, and Julian’s gaze slides first to Lucas then to me.“That’s probably Doctor Benton,” he says. “When I talked to her last night, she said she was very excited to meet you. I guess she couldn’t hold out any longer.”“Oh.” I give Julian a strained smile, not sure what else to say.Even though I know the doctor is here to help, my stomach immediately twists with anxiety as all my fears catapult to the front of my mind. What if there really is something wrong with me? What if something the humans did permanently damaged me? What if I’ll never be normal?Blind to my slowly growing panic, Keiran hops up from the table and heads toward the front door. There’s the sound of some murmured greetings and then Keiran returns to the kitchen with a female beta following him.“This is Doctor Benton,” he says, gesturing at her.The doctor is a tall woman with d
Ollie’s POV“Believe me, I know,” says Keiran, shooting Julian a warm look. “But at the time I wasn’t in the market for a mate and hadn’t had the best experience with Alphas.” He chuckles. “It’s kind of a long, convoluted story, but the short version would be I got kicked out of my pack, spent four years avoiding other shifters, then helped Remy out of a jam, ended up getting myself kidnapped by a not-so-great Alpha and ran into Julian when he came to ‘rescue’ me.”The sound of a loud cry interrupts any further explanation and my gaze goes to the baby monitor sitting on the deck railing. Keiran and Julian share a look.“I took the midnight feeding so I think it’s your turn,” says Julian. “I’ll stay here and keep our guests company.”“Fiiine,” huffs Keiran with an overly dramatic pout. He links his arm through Remy’s. “Join me, brother.”“Always happy for some baby time,” says Remy, shooting me a wave as he allows Keiran to tug him toward the door.The two of them disappear inside the
Ollie’s POVOnce again, my dreams are littered with bits and pieces of my past, still nothing as clear as the memory of my dying mother— great job on that one brain, you could’ve picked something a little less depressing to get started—but at least there’s enough context for me to put a few thingstogether.First, I must have lived in a rural area. There are plenty of flashes of mountains or forests or trees, but very few images of anything that look like anything close to an actual city.Second, I’m pretty sure the teenage alpha I first dreamed about in the car is my older brother, the one my previously mentioned dying mother talked about. His name is still a complete blank to me, though, and I have no idea whether he’s alive or not. The oldest image of him my mind has called up has him only in his late teens or early twenties.And, finally, my pack might not be worth finding. There’s a sort of darkness lingering in the corner of each partial memory, one that feels more ominous. Ther
Keiran’s POV4 years later…I’m in Hell and this is definitely not where I belong. No really, I’m in the lower level of Heaven & Hell, a gay club in downtown Chicago, which is absolutely not where I’m supposed to be working tonight.“Jerry, look at me,” I say to the bartender as I gesture at my out
Ollie’s POVNo matter how much I slept yesterday and last night, my body is still exhausted. Not surprising given the circumstances, but also a little frustrating since we’ve been driving less than ten minutes and I’m already struggling to keep my eyes open.As the world outside shifts from rolling
Keiran's POV Even as I register the flare of Lucas’ nostrils when I pass him, another wolf’s teeth clamp down on my tail and drag me backward, my paws scrabbling at the ground. A high-pitched whine of terror is the only sound I can make as Alpha Randy uses his grip on my tail to slam me onto my
Keiran’s POVTonight is shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions, nothing at all like how I pictured the day I’d become an official pack member.A pack welcoming ceremony is supposed to be a celebration, but any celebratory feeling is lost in the shadow of last night’s violence and bloodshed







