Jane’s POVEverything was dark and foggy. My body felt heavy, too heavy to move, and my brain struggled to make sense of the world around me. My eyelids wouldn’t open and all I could feel was a rumbling, bouncing sensation beneath – or was it around? – me.Smooth, warm leather pressed against my bare arm. Something nestled closer to me, a slack face nudging against my bicep, and my heart ached. That something felt more like a someone, someone I knew better than myself and loved with more than just the force of my heart. It felt like Owen, who always slept with his mouth open and his head tilted back.I couldn’t remember where I was or what was going on, but I did know that it couldn’t be my sweet Owen. Another burst of heat scrambled around on my other side, and an aggravated little sigh that sounded so much like Ares made my heart twist. This was a cruel dream, but it was one I didn’t want to wake up from.I vaguely recognised S’s flat, emotionless voice. “–It didn’t work on the chil

Jane’s POV“Jane?” Hunter prompted me gently, sounding so much like Colin that I took a staggering step backwards. Some emotion flickered across his face, but he was getting quicker at masking it now. “What do you think?” he asked, his voice flat and disinterested once more.I nibbled on my bottom lip. What I wanted to do was attack him and run with my sons, but without Ina I didn’t think we’d get very far. I had to go along with what he wanted – for now.It could benefit me, though. If I worked as a doctor here, I’d have access to equipment and ingredients that I could use to make new poisons. I’d feel a lot safer being back in the Storm pack if I had my glass vials jangling at my waist.The thing that worried me most were his honey-sweet words about Ares and Owen having a home and an education. That was all I’d ever wanted for them, but not here. Never here. If they got settled, made friends, forged a life, would I be able to drag them away?I set my jaw. We wouldn’t be here long en

Jane’s POVI crept over to the window and peered out. ‘He’s definitely down there, girl!’ cried Ina. ‘I can sniff him out! Sniff, sniff, sniff! I’ve got you now, Colin!’“Kim can smell him too, Mom,” said Ares. I twisted around and looked at him curiously; he shrugged. “He told me to tell you.”“He’s got a good nose,” Owen said seriously. ‘Has he followed us?” I asked Ina, frowning down into the darkness outside. He stepped into a pool of light, which spilled out from one of the windows on the ground floor. He waved up at me dorkily, grinning widely and stumbling around clumsily, so great was the force of his wave. He looked so much like the Colin I knew, the fake one, that my heart twinged. For a second, it was like none of the last few days had happened. I was Jane and he was Colin, and we were in love. He was sweet and goofy and protective; my walls were coming down, more and more, day by day, and I was able to see beyond my past and into what our future might hold.The image f

Hunter’s POV‘I’m sorry?’ I stared at S in complete shock. A blush climbed slowly up his neck. ‘I must have misheard you, Reg, because there is no way in hell that S could think Jane is his mate.’‘Did I say that?’ Reg cocked his head to one side, all faux-innocence, though he was still chuckling to himself behind his paw. ‘I don’t think I was supposed to tell anyone… Ian made me promise! Hunter, you can’t tell him that I told you that he told me that he thinks Jane is his mate!’I immediately did just that. “S, do you seriously think Jane is your mate?” I growled, leaning across the table and grabbing him by the collar. ‘Hunter, you traitor!’ cried Reg. ‘That’s the last time I keep any of your secrets!’‘Oh, the irony!’ I cried right back. ‘Says the dummy wolf who takes photos of me getting out of the shower!’“I don’t know, Alpha,” S said, drawing my attention back to him. “My wolf, Ian, thinks she smells,” he gulped, “good.”I shook him. “She. Is. Mine.”‘Is she, though, Hunter?’

Jane’s POVToo angry to sit around doing nothing, I went to confront S. Ina was worryingly quiet about the matter of him saying he was my mate, and the fact that he’d told Hunter, of all people, made me wonder if he truly believed it.It didn’t take me long to find him. I asked an Omega if they’d seen him, one I didn’t recognise from before, thankfully, and she hid a giggle behind her hand and said everyone knew where he was, which made a change.She pointed me out into the gardens, and I saw him immediately. He was lying on the grass, surrounded by broken glass, blood soaking into the earth beneath him.“S?” I called out to him, breaking into a jog. What the heck had happened to him?He groaned, pulling himself up. “I’m fine,” he started to say, and then his head jerked back so he could look at me. His throat jumped. “You came to find me,” he murmured.“Uh… yeah, I guess I did.” I dug the toe of my boot into the ground. “S, what happened?”He shook glass out of his hair and stood up.