Mag-log inRAYMOND'S POVI had known several minutes into the forest that we were in the right location because as soon as we were close enough, Aurora's pain had exploded into my consciousness. It was like I'd crossed an invisible barrier. One moment, nothing, and then the next, agony like I'd never known crashed through the barrier of our mind link, the one-way door my bite had established. Anguished flames of hurt and trauma licked my insides, tormenting me with their intensity.I'd stumbled under the onslaught, not entirely sure I was going to survive, as it consumed every part of me. My knees buckled. My vision swam with black spots. For one terrible, breathless second, I thought I might actually collapse right there in the middle of the forest floor, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what my mate was enduring. Her pain was a living thing, a writhing serpent coiling through my chest, constricting my lungs, stealing the air from my body.But then a more severe emotion, the irrevocable fo
I sat alone in the silence, the drip of the IV the only sound left.But not for long.My Wolf stirred again, but this time it wasn't agitation. It was purpose. Deep in my chest, I felt the familiar heat of accelerated healing, the bones knitting faster, the muscle fibers weaving back together, the skin pulling tight over the wounds. My body was burning through the last of the healer's sedatives, rejecting the weakness like a foreign poison.I pushed myself upright. The pain was still there, sharp and insistent, but it was distant now. Muffled and bearable.I had a mate to find.And I knew exactly where to start.Within seconds, I ripped the IV out of my arm.The monitor flatlined for a second before I tore the sensors off my chest and stood.I didn’t bother with boots. I walked out of the medical wing barefoot, shirtless, blood still drying on my skin, Alpha power rolling off me in thick, dangerous waves that sent every wolf in the corridor scrambling out of my path.Carleigh.Her sce
"Why didn't you tell me about her pregnancy the day you examined her?", My head snapped toward the healer. "Did you know she was pregnant before being poisoned?!", I asked again."No!" The healer dropped on her knees, hands splayed on the floor in front of her, struggling to keep herself upright. "I had n-no idea until I examined her." She stammered under my alpha power."If it makes you feel any better, I told her she should tell you," She gritted, struggling to get the words out. "But Mackline...."."I told her not to tell you", Nigel intervened angrily."Well, just look at how well that plan worked out! Are you now happy?", I glared at him and spat.Nigel’s face twisted and anger formed on his face.“If you hadn’t whored around,” he snarled, voice sharp enough to cut, “Renee wouldn’t have done everything to Aurora". He added.“Renee,” I said, the name scraping out of me like gravel. “What does Renee have to do with any of this?”Nigel’s eyes narrowed. For a moment, he said nothing.
“Where is Renee?” I cut her off just as she started again.The room went quiet for a beat too long.Carleigh’s hand froze on my shoulder and I also heard the soft hitch in her breath.“I… I don’t…” she stammered, voice suddenly small. “I haven’t… she was… I mean, the last time I saw her was…”My eyes opened. The irritation that had been simmering under the pain flared hotter.“Are you hiding something from me?”, I asked angrily. “No.” The word came out too fast and too sharp. “No, of course not. Why would I hide anything?”I turned my head slowly to look at her. Even through the haze of pain and blood loss I could scent it, sharp, acrid and unmistakable.Fear.“I can smell fear from you,” I said, voice low and flat. “You’re lying to me.”Carleigh pulled her hand back as if burned. “I’m not lying. I just… I don’t know where she is right now. She’s been distant. Avoiding the main house. I thought maybe she was giving us space after everything with....”“With Aurora,” I finished for her,
At some cue I couldn't discern, all six wolves lifted, bearing my weight amongst them. White-hot pain hit me like lightning, searing down my spine. I wanted to howl, but the only that came out were deep muffled groans."Fuck," One warrior hissed under his breath, but my noises of discomfort didn't keep them from accelerating into motion. Long strides ate up the ground as they maneuvered around trees and the thick underbrush."Wait a minute!" The warrior, I knew as Asher bit out. The wolves came to an abrupt halt causing me to curse violently in my head."I need to reposition my hands. His skin...it's coming apart," Asher's voice hitched, his own pain coming through, "Let me just..." Hands beneath my left flank rearranged themselves as he pulled the edges of the gaping wound together as best he could.This time, a long howl did slip from my throat, but I immediately regretted it. Fire slashed through my lungs courtesy of several splintered ribs poking into flesh where they didn't belon
"Don't you fucking leave me!" Carleigh growled through the mind link of the wolves, fear rolling off of her.The bond flared open wider. Her scent hit us a second later, sharp, familiar, and completely unwanted. More paws thundered through the trees behind her. Warriors. She had brought warriors.My Wolf’s head snapped up mid-fight, blood dripping from his muzzle. His lips peeled back in pure, violent hatred.Her.The one who was never Eleanor.The one he had been forced to touch.The one whose presence only made the emptiness worse.A savage snarl ripped from his throat, louder than the bear’s roar. He didn’t care about the massive claws still swinging toward us. All he could feel was the sharp, bitter spike of rage that came with her scent.“Get away from me!” he roared through the link, the words raw and dripping with loathing. “You don’t belong here. You never did!”Carleigh’s wolf stumbled at the force of his rejection. The warriors with her slowed, confused.“Alexander, stop!” s







