SIX YEARS AGO RHYS The call of the Super moon was stronger than ever. Maybe it was my imagination, but there was something different about this moon. Something special. Or maybe it was just because I knew my life had changed because of it. The large moon reflected on the surface of the lake, and all around me, the madness increased. Beasts that normally stayed hidden roamed and rampaged. Wolves howled and fucked. Others hunted, their strengths amplified under the Moon Goddess’ blessing. The lake rippled with signs of the beasts that roamed in its depths. Even the waterfall roared louder than it normally did. But Rae still hadn’t shown up. All sorts of fears ran through my mind. What if I was right about her family? What if they were disgusted by what she was? Maybe one of her parents was out of the picture so no one knew she was born of two Alpha with pure Alpha blood. That she was special. Maybe she shifted and they confined her the second they realised. Not every pack could acc
RHYS My internal struggle chose that moment to mess me up even more. I wanted to give Rae to him, but the thought of it... ‘Because she's mine,’ the beast growled. Those words had kept me up all night. The realisation that everything was falling back into place exactly as it had been six years ago. Last night had fucked me up. But I couldn’t do that shit again. My racing heart and trembling body were proof of it. ‘No,’ I snarled. ‘It's because Raechel doesn't get to go off and have her happy ever after when I've suffered so much because of her. She has to fucking pay.’ ‘Then give her to him,’ the beast taunted. Because he was in my head, he already knew what I thought, what I felt. My feet became rooted to the spot even though my head told me to move. Giving her up would be the safer option. I’d get my sanity back and finally put Rae behind me. Give her to the monster that destroyed me. ‘Then tell him where she is. I dare you,’ the beast taunted again. I would. It was the on
RAE The taxi dropped me off in front of my campus while I fumbled in my bag for my phone. I was still trembling. Had I almost been kidnapped? That man had my luggage in his car! He’d somehow entered my apartment to fuck my brains out and then again to take my belongings. Who did shit like that? I get that I’d fucked up big time, and he’d had to do something equally wrong to cover up for me, but forcing me to go on the run wasn’t the answer! And on top of that, it didn’t make sense that he was willing to upend his life for a stranger. I was in danger? I’d put myself on the radar? What the hell did that even mean? My bag dropped, spilling the contents onto the pavement. Students walked around me, snickering when I scrambled to stuff snacks, notes, and toiletries back into my cheap holdall. On any other day, I’d have been glad to see the back of them for a while, but I’d just written my last exam, so I would probably never see them again. That made my heart ache. After fumbling a w
RAE I’d been to the restaurant a couple of times with Vickie. First, to celebrate my last physiotherapy appointment after being released from the hospital and again when we were both accepted into our preferred programs at college. It was the sort of place where families like the Montgomerys met with other wealthy families who didn’t care how much a tiny plate of their starter cost. A place where people wearing jeans and old T-shirts couldn’t get past the front door. But there I was, being led to a private room with Vickie. I self-consciously tidied my hair while the other diners looked at us and sighed in relief when we entered the cosy room. “Was this necessary?” I asked Vickie when our server left us alone in a room that could comfortably seat ten guests. “Go big or go home,” Vickie chuckled. “Order anything you want; then we can talk about our spa date tomorrow and shopping.” Something she was also going to pay for. Spending her family’s money was always a sore spot for me,
RHYSWe were screwed. It was just pure luck that Connor drove out of the car park before Rae walked up. But Eastown was small; chances were he would find Rae if we didn’t get the hell out of town. Connor couldn’t take me by himself, but he had a whole fucked up system behind him that would. The same system that had messed me up since Rae ‘died’. The same system that would fuck Tyson up if I continued on this path.That thought was like an arrow through my heart as I struggled to take control of my beast. What the hell was I doing? As I watched Rae embrace her friend, my thoughts became clouded again. I owed Tyson my life and would choose him over Rae any day, but...She exposed us. The penalty for that was death, no matter who it was. Despite the pull that I could no longer deny, the only thing I could do for her was take her back home. Rae wouldn’t stand a chance against Connor’s elite guards, and that made me feel...My chest tightened, and my fists clenched. What did it say ab
RAE “What’s he doing here?” Vickie winced at my curt tone even as she handed me the coffee. “You tell me. What trouble are you in?” Vic asked with a raised brow as she opened the passenger door. Did Rhys tell her something? I glanced at the hulking man and swallowed when I saw him walking up to us. It was early; the car park was busier than usual. Rhys wouldn’t try to kidnap me in front of witnesses. Would he? The glint in his eyes said he would. My stomach muscles clenched as fear took over me again. Why was Rhys so persistent? “Why would I be in trouble?” I asked, turning back to Vickie with an overly bright smile. I knew it was excessively bright because I felt it stretch my face in unnatural ways. “Because you’re acting weird and never explained what happened to your door,” Vickie said pointedly. “Who’s after you, Rae?” The shock that Rhys would go so far as to scare my best friend over that nonsense made my eyes widen as I turned back to him. His face was set in determi
RHYSStupid. I had been stupid for thinking with my dick instead of reasoning with her. I shouldn’t have kissed her like that.Now, I was forced to sit outside Vickie’s house, trying to devise a plan to snatch her from the stupid party that had seemed to matter more to her than the very real issue of a dead human in the park. When Vickie had taken Rae to the spa, I sped back into town to see if Fate had been on my side for once. But I had driven past two of Connor’s cars at the hotel, one outside the park and one in the back parking lot outside my apartment.I had come up with three options, none of which I liked. First, they hadn’t found anything and would stay in town longer. The second was that they had discovered that the hobo sniffing around my apartment building was a rogue and were trying to figure out how the hell he’d shifted back, which would also keep them in town longer. Third, they had found the body and tracked both Rae and me back to the apartment.I hadn’t gotten out o
RAE A man appeared on the dimly lit path out of thin air like a ghost and naked as the day he was born. Stumbling and almost tripping over my trainers, I dug my heels into the pavement to stop myself before I crashed into him. There was nothing in front of me just a second ago; I was sure of it. Jogging alone in the park made me hyper-aware of my surroundings. Only people with bad intentions got naked in the park at night. I had to turn back and run, but my feet refused to do as I asked because my gaze lowered to his naked body and short-circuited my brain. The ass was a work of art. Seriously, how the hell did anyone get an ass that looked that good? He didn’t even look like he had to kill himself working out. I’d been trying for years, but mine always remained the chubby, gigantic mess it was. If I had a quarter—hell, if I had several quarters, I knew where I’d aim them. They would bounce right off. My mouth watered when I pulled my gaze from his ass to his back. It was broad