The other woman, whose full name she later found out was Lyra Scott, seemed to be every where in the pack house now. Matthias claimed they hadn’t had sex since Lyra returned from her mission, but Raine seemed to find her walking out of Matthias’s room at every hour. The logical part of her brain told her it was to be expected. Lyra was a medic, and Matthias was injured, still recovering from the wolfsbane laced knife wound. Of course, Lyra would be around more often to monitor his progress. But, the other part of her brain, the more wolf like part was not having it. And to make matters worse, the alpha hadn’t touched her since that day, and Ronan was hardly ever around. On the day he was, he came to bed late, and reeked of another woman. She registered her mate's infidelity absently, keeping notes to use against him much later, too occupied with Matthias and Lyra to pay much attention to Ronan’s indiscretion. That morning, she left the pack house as early as dawn to avoid runnin
Temptation was a fatal flaw. Killian did not make it a habit to succumb to it. But something about Raine was damning. He stood in the darkness of his bedroom, staring down at the coat draped over his chair. A coat that still smelled like her, fabric that had kissed the pale softness of her naked skin. Killian was usually stronger than this. But the full moon was near. His beast made terrible decisions during this time. Killian decided he’d blame this one on the beast as well. Fingers twitching, he reached for the damned coat and brought it to his nose. He took a lungful, and almost immediately, his cock swelled as he remembered the way she’d looked earlier, pale and golden in the morning sun. A vision. Shaking, Killian dug his hands into the fly of his slacks and took his harden cock in his hand. Burying his face in the coat, breathing in her scent, it took him some strokes of his cock, before his knees buckled and he came all over his gloves, groaning and sinking down t
“What are you doing?” He asked very carefully, eyeing her like she was a dangerous intruder. Raine shrugged, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around her body and shield herself from his stare. “I realized that I might have acted too harshly.” She said, keeping her voice as calm as she could. “If we’re to be mated again, I think it is only fair I take care of your needs. That way, you won’t feel it is necessary to get your pleasure elsewhere.” Ronan stared her down, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “You want me to have sex with you?” “Yes.” She moved closer, pressing herself against his arm, his wet skin against hers, causing goosebumps to rise over her flesh. “I am your mate. It’ll be good for our wolves to be more intimate. Restore that connection we lost.” “This is a waste of time.” He scoffed in anger, pushing her away. “Our wolves don’t need to be reacquainted because I’m not going to mate with you.” She gaped at him. “But Matthias said-” “I don’t care what he said!” He grow
Maybe it was the Knowledge that every last of their wolves was currently on a run, weaving through the forests around their borders in wolf form. Killian was strong, but even he couldn’t stop a pack of lunar crazed wolves from tearing them to shreds if they were discovered. “Killian,” She called again, when he didn’t reply the first time. “I don’t like it here.” “Neither do I." He snapped. “But it is a necessary evil.” He leaned forward in his seat, the moonlight turning his white hair into silver. His brows furrowed, mouth turning down at the corners as he concentrated on something. He was in that position for a while, until he sat up suddenly. “They’re gone.” He said, “Let’s go.” Selene blinked, skeptical. “They’re done with their run? Already?” “No, not with their run.” He snapped at her, voice cutting like he was speaking to a preschooler. “But they’ve migrated from this place. We have to hurry before they return.” “I don’t know why we couldn’t pick another place to do th
All the elders stood in a crescent, calling forward wolves who had proven themselves in the last lunar cycle, hunters, warriors, and mothers. And then came the part Raine had been waiting her whole life for. Elder Maren, one of the oldest members of the pack, having been there since the inception of the first Draven, stepped into the mating circle at the center of the clearing, and spoke, his voice ringing clear through the night. “We call forward Ronan Draven and Raine Whitmore to stand before the pack.” His voice was hoarse and croaking, sending ripples through the gathered crowd. The crowd stilled, murmurs quieted, the crackle of the central bonfire was sudden deafening. Ronan extended his hand forward, Raine glanced down at it, before dragging her gaze back up to him. His gaze was dark and unreadable. Raine hesitated. After a deep breath, she stepped forward, placing her fingers in his hands. His hands tightened around hers, his grip firm, and warm. The kind of touch that
Matthias got closer, and his heart lurched violently in his chest. He knew this woman. His heart was in his throat as he crouched down and got a closer look at the woman’s face. “Diane.” He whispered, the name catching in his throat like thorns on a rose. This was Diane Whitmore, Raine’s mother. A woman he hadn’t seen in years, since the death of her mate, Raine’s father. Matthias had known her well. She was younger than him by a few years, and she and he had been mates their whole lives—school, work, even the pack army. And here she was, dead. Nothing but a body in the dirt. He crouched low beside the body, his vison sharpened, his wolf close to the surface, his senses flaring. “Can you smell the wolfsbane on her, Thalia?” He asked, turning his head slightly over his shoulder. Thalia stepped closer, her face stoic and unsmiling. “Yes, alpha. Her lips are blue too, and her skin is almost translucent. Do you think she might have been poisoned?” Matthias nodded, getting to his fee
Thalia stepped in after him, shutting the door behind her with a slam that was loud enough to quiet the murmuring of the crowd. She stepped to the side, leaving everyone’s attention on Matthias. Silas was the first to speak up. “Alpha, what is going on?” Matthias cleared his throat, keeping his expression neutral. “We have very terrible news. Raine,” he called to her, and she snapped her head up, brows furrowed in confusion. “Please, step forward.” Raine approached with Ronan behind her. Matthias watched as his son’s nose flared, and the boy caught the scent of blood on them. His eyes narrowed, and he stopped a few feet back, watching their interaction with an hawk like attention. “What’s going on?” She asked, glancing around. “Am I in trouble?” “No.” he shook his head, reaching up to rub at the bridge of his nose. “You’re not in trouble.” He cleared his throat, projecting his voice so everyone in the room could also hear. “We found a body tonight.” He said finally, the words c
“Of course it’s an inside job.” Ronan snorted. “If someone had infiltrated through the wards, there would’ve been an alarm of some sorts. So far there hasn’t. Which means, one of us, smuggled her in and murdered her, for whatever reason.” Matthias glanced at his son, remembering Thalia's earlier words. “Ronan we’ve established this. There are no rats among my men.” “Really?” He scoffed. “Explain this then. If not your men, then who else in this pack has access to wolfsbane?” “Are we about to have a repeat of the other day?” Malte growled, eyes flashing Amber. “I beat your ass once, boy. I’ll do it again If I have to.” Ronan didn’t flinch. He held Malte's gaze, his jaw tight and tense, his eyes dark with danger. “Try it, old man. See what happens this time.” Thalia sneered at him from behind her father, her lips pulling back to reveal her fangs. Matthias slammed his palm against the table, stopping whatever this was from escalating. The sound cracked through the room like a whip.
According to Lyra, Raine’s bones had refused to heal because someone had used wolfs bane to separate her from her wolf, and had been doing it for so long, that her innate self had retreated so far back. Leaving her without her wolf and all the abilities that came with it. While Lyra said all these, Raine was asleep, having knocked out as soon as her head hit the pillow, so he couldn’t even ask her when she’d first been exposed to the substance, he and Lyra needed an exact date to be able to determine just how long the poison had been circulating in her system. “Where did you find her?” Lyra asked after they sat in silence for twenty minutes. She was writing something at the desk, staring at him from across the small space. She couldn’t use her medic house in the meantime, so she was using this pack house bedroom as a make shift office. Ronan shook his head where he stood, towering over Raine in bed, watching her chest rise and fall with each shallow breath. She looked smaller th
It seemed like the entire world was at a standstill as Matthias watched his son’s car draw closer and closer until it stopped just by the border. Ronan stepped out and froze, shocked to find everyone there. His gaze snapped to Killian’s briefly, and a flash of something went through his gaze. It looked a little like fear, but it was gone far too soon to be sure. Matthias wasn’t even looking at him long enough to be sure. The only thing he had eyes on was Raine. It’d been only less than a week, but seeing her in the flesh was a knife to his gut. He hadn’t even realized how much he’d missed her until now. His wolf whined, drawing close and seeking the bond between them, but there was no answering call from her side. Just like it was that first night, Matthias felt like he was calling out to a brick wall. Something was wrong here. She looked like a shadow of her former self, and that was before she stepped out of the car, and he finally saw the cast on her leg and the crutches. Wha
Raine turned briefly to catch Selene’s gaze and then she asked. “I wanna know what the deal is. With you and Selene. You come all the way over here to see her, and you hate driving. So tell me what’s so special between you both that’s git you so invested.” Selene laughed out loud behind them, throwing her head back. “Such a simple question. And the answer is very simple, Ronan loves me. You can relate. He hasn’t loved you a day in his life.” I didn’t care bout the crutches in my hands or the cast on my hand. I growled for the first time in days, and lounged at Selene. Tackling her to the floor from across the room.♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎Against his better judgement, Matthias found himself leading Killian and the strange boy witch through the pack and into the woods on the territory before they reached the pack borders where the ruined wards were. There was a sinister twinge to the air that morning and it sent a shiver of discomfort down the alpha's spine, and he made sure to keep am eye o
“What the fuck?” Ronan gasped, staggering back into the room as the bedroom door opened wider. He stared at Raine like he wasn’t a hundred percent sure she was even really there. He turned his attention to Selene, and the woman stood tall, her chin high like no one was a threat to her. Which to be fair, was true. “You told me she wasn’t here.” He growled, stalking closer to her. “You swore that you had you had no idea where she was. You lied to me!” “Oh simmer down.” She hissed, rolling her eyes. “You’re getting pressed over a woman you claim to have no hold on.” “That is not the point.” He glowered, “Look at her! How am I supposed to take her back to the camp in a cast and crutches? What am I going to tell Matthias?” “What makes you think Killian will let you take her out of here behind his back?” Ronan growled, his wolf coming to the surface with the force of his anger. Raine staggered, much weaker now in the face of his wolf’s power without her wolf to tamper it. Selene r
On the tenth day of her imprisonment, Raine smelled Ronan’s scent. The days bled into each other, Raine found herself staring for a long time at the bottle of pills Selene dropped next to her, until her gaze had gone unfocused and she stared unseeingly at the distance. The pill bottle had stayed where it was until Killian returned and met it there. At the sight of the plastic yellow bottle, something had flashed in his eyes, and he’d stood next to the bed with a look she couldn’t read in his eyes, staring at her, his eyes bright in the dark as he stood for so long. After what felt like forever, he pulled open the drawer at the bedside table and tossed the bottle of pills inside, away from where she could see it. He didn’t say a word, hadn’t even asked how she managed to get it, and Raine had said nothing as explanation. That night, he slept in his bed, next to her for the first time since he’d brought her there. Raine shut her eyes and pretended she was back in the packhouse, in M
The handshake went on for much longer than Mathias was comfortable with, and when it ended, a shiver ran down Matthias’s spine and lingered like static under his skin as Killian dropped his hand last, his touch lingering for much longer than was necessary. The other man’s gaze was unreadable, the corners of his lips twitching like he was holding back a burst of laughter. Maybe it was a sneer, or both for that matter. Matthias didn’t know which unsettled him more. “Shall we, alpha?” the Voss alpha said with a mock bow, rolling his hand in the direction of the dining area. “Would you rather we speak here? Or should we take this discussion elsewhere? Maybe with a bit more privacy?” “No.” Matthias snapped, keeping his growl in check. “We can have the discussion, right here. This discussion will be brief. I’d hate to keep you waiting longer than you’d have to.” Killian tilted his head slightly, staring at Mathias with an expression he couldn’t read. “I’d also hate to hate to keep yo
The days bled into each other until Raine wasn’t sure anymore how long it’d been since she last saw her pack. Killian swore there was no wolfsbane in her system, and so did the doctor, but her bones refused to mend themselves, and her senses were as muted as they’d been when she was a child. She could not smell or sense anything more than the average human, and her wolf was deadly silent. When she told Killian all these, he would look at her with an expression she’d come to know as fond pity. Like she was a beloved cat who didn’t know it was dying. Raine didn’t feel like she was dying. She couldn’t feel anything much, but she at least would know if her body was giving up on her. She was in bed most days, in his bed to be precise, but at least he didn’t sleep in it as far as she was concerned, and only female helps came to assist her in dressing and cleaning up. Raine had no qualms about being nude in front of strangers, but she was relived beyond doubt that Killian would not be th
It’d been five days since Raine was last seen in the pack. It was a constant gnawing at Matthias’s mind, but he hadn’t even been given enough peace of mind to properly torture himself over the matter. Tensions in the pack were worse than over, with several of his solders refusing to follow orders and organizing some kind of strike against his leadership. The unrest in the pack had escalated to full blown protests, with wolves turning violent towards themselves and members of Matthias’s house. Lyra had to move into the pack house for the main time because many wolves kept targeting her medic building and threatening her if she didn’t misalign herself from Matthias, Silas had once been attacked while on his way to the wards, and has since stopped leaving the house without extra backing, and to make matters worse, the pack house was no longer a hundred percent foolproof. Just the day before, a handful of wolves managed to get past the guards posted around the house’s compound, and f
Her head was pounding, and everything felt so groggy. She wasn’t sure what was going on, or if the images in her head were dreams or not. Once she thought she woke and found a strange man next to her, his face blurred as he stroked over her hair and face, but then a pain so sharp had cut through her entire being that she’d passed out from the intensity. The next and only thing she remembered was a vague dreamlike memory of her wolf nipping at her ear, trying to pull her out a fog of swamp like water, trying to answer the call of another wolf in the distance, but by the time she’d stumbled out of the swamp, she realized she couldn’t walk, and kept stumbling, falling to knees and forced to watch her wolf grow fainter with each panicked yip it made, until eventually it was gone, and Raine was left alone with nothing but a low throb in her leg. She woke with a gasp, much like that night at the pack after that nightmare, expect this time things were so much worse. Still panting, Rai