Ruby   It’s true what folk say, you have a fight-or-flight response. Everyone does. It’s all to do with self-preservation, to escape to safety, or a fierce desire to attack back. All my rational thoughts flew through the window and all I could think about was my mother and Sam. My mom had stopped screaming, and that was when I expected the worst. My world spun off its axis, time slowed down, and my legs weren’t as fast as I willed them to be. The rush of adrenaline surged through me, and without even thinking, I was thundering down the stairs, jumping the last four steps. Sam’s high-pitched shrieks were like a red rag to a bull to me. Just like a knife through my heart. The impulse to save them fuelled me to burst through the kitchen doorway, intending to grab the first thing that I could find to use as a weapon and take that person down.

Caleb The hot evening sun cast its blinding rays through the windshield as I drove. It was like a glowing ball of fire heading straight for us, dazzling my vision and having me reach around for my Ray-Bans in the center console. Aiden sat beside me in the passenger seat with his elbow resting out of the open window. The sharp, chemical scent of the burning mineral polluted the clean mountain air, bombarding my nostrils with a pungent, smoky aroma. Aiden drummed his fingertips along the edge of the roof. “I’ve got a bad feeling, Caleb. I thought that if something was going to happen, it would’ve happened during the ceremony.” Those were concerns we seemed to all share. I enforced security all around the football field, I made damn sure of it. Apart from a slip of the tongue from P

Caleb The initial shuffling and scraping ceased as we sat down around the small battered desk. The torn leather chair made a rude noise, similar to a whoopee cushion as Aaron pressed all his weight down onto it. He glanced around with wide-eyed innocence as all eyes snapped to him, accusingly. “It wasn’t a fart. My ass squeezed the air through the rip in the leather. Here, if you don’t believe me.” He stood up and sat back down again. The noise wasn’t as loud the second time around, but it was enough to vindicate him. Neal slid what I recognized to be, Ruby’s phone, over the table towards Aiden. “You’ll be surprised to know that the call and the texts were made from two separate numbers. One being an unregistered mobile device,” he informed, looking between all three of us.

CalebThe instant Tyler crossed over the border, it severed him from the pack. I could no longer communicate with him through our mind-link as much as I tried. It broke our connection. He had betrayed me and the community. There was no taking back the words that he had spoken. He arrived here with something to prove, not only to his family but to himself. It was too late; it was done. And now there was nothing I could do for him.He had called me out in front of witnesses. The challenge was a bold move. It wasn’t like he had any actual interest in becoming Alpha. He only came back for Ruby. The chance of him defeating me was slim to none, but he hadn’t come alone. There was no guarantee that the southern Alpha he brought along with him would play by the rules, or whether he had any honor at all.

AidenJen’s cries cut through the air like a siren. But for me to get to her, I had to go through the southern Alpha wolf, and I did that without hesitation. He smelled familiar. Only, he wasn’t an Alpha back then, he was a beta. That haunting scent had branded into my brain. Desert sand and bushfires. Vengeance was sweet. I enjoyed killing him. Then Quentin Blackmore caught my eye, skulking from the ferns like a snake in the grass. He was threatening my wife and son, so I tore his throat out for good measure.Through the blood frenzy, I heard her cry out to me. My second chance mate. My love. Jennifer.“Aiden! Help!” she screamed.My wolf ears pricked to attention, alerting me to her call. I snapped my head in my wife’s direction and saw her crouching o