“Help me, please.” Conner put his hands out. “I need you, Wayne.”
Wayne put his arms out, only to feel pain slice across his middle. Jagger jumped in front of him too late. The sword went through them both and Jagger fell off to the side, hitting the hard stone flooring.
“Hello, Rion,” Sloan cackled. “You’re so easily manipulated. No wonder Juliet couldn’t stand the sight of you.”
“Juliet?” Wayne held his abdomen, the wound already healing itself.
“Oh yes, I loved her with all my heart and she loved me, but you just couldn’t let her go, could you? Selfish son of a bitch! I was the one she wanted – me! I made love to her, kissed her, held her. She never wanted you. You always were spoiled rotten; even the fates saw fit to create a pure mate just for you.”
Wayne blinked. “What?”
“Oh yes, Conner was created just for you, Wayne. Guess you would have known that if I hadn’t hid the diaries from you,” Sloan grinned. “Mitch fucked him good and hard, marred your perfect mate. How does that make you feel?”
Wayne opened his mouth only to shut it when Sloan’s head flew off her body. The head rolled into the corner and Wayne watched as the rest of her body slumped in a heap. Vince Markov stood with a knife in his hands where Sloan had been.
“I don’t know, bitch. How did that make you feel?” Vince growled.
Logan and Chance flew into the hallway and both shifted back to human form. Chance looked at Sloan’s body.
“Burn it, all of it.”
Wayne tilted his head as Preston’s voice entered his mind.
“We got more rogues out here, Wayne. What should we do?”
“If their eyes are yellow, kill them.”
Preston winced, as one of the females bit a rogue’s neck almost in half. “Yeah, not a problem,”
“Wayne?”
Wayne stood up. “Conner?” “You’re here? You can hear me?” “Yes, where are you?”
“I don’t know, one of the rooms.” “I’ll find you.” Wayne looked at all of his
pack. “Spread out, Conner’s here somewhere. Get me some damn clothes.” Nikolai spun around in circles with his short swords making quick work of two more rogues. They kept coming and all he could do was fight to get to Colin. He was getting further away as the wolves dragged him off.
“Nikolai! Help me!” Colin screamed. “Goddammit!” Nikolai growled, lopping off another wolf head. “I won’t leave you, Colin!” Nikolai pushed forward only to stop short when Colin’s screaming stopped. His old nemesis, Yuri Borkosky had Colin by his hair. “No, don’t!”
“Nikolai!” Lorenzo shouted, slapping the boy in his face. Hard.
Nikolai blinked and his vision cleared. “Lorenzo?”
“You were hallucinating.” Lorenzo pulled Nikolai’s face up to his own. “It seems you do have a fear. Who is Colin?”
Nikolai let out a deep sigh and sunk to his knees. “Oh, God.”
“You have feelings for someone?” Lorenzo smiled at the younger Markov.
“Did you see anything?” Nikolai asked.
Lorenzo nodded. “I saw Reece being tortured, but I knew it was not real. It did not last long, which leads me to believe the witch is dead.”
Nikolai stood up and wiped his blades off on his jeans. “Please tell me I did at least get some good kills in?”
Lorenzo motioned to the blood on Nikolai’s pants. “Yes, at least four.”
“Thank God.” Nikolai looked up at the castle. “You think it’s over?”
“There is only one way to find out.”
Jacob walked slowly down the hallway, keeping his eyes open for more rogues. Logan stayed at his back, gun drawn as they proceeded down the long hallway. Turning the corner at the far end, Jacob stopped in his tracks. There, trotting out of the great room were four rogues. Jacob lifted his gun and pointed it at the wolf in the back. He cocked the gun and the wolf stopped in its tracks, turning slowly. Jacob’s eyes widened as they met with bluish-yellow eyes.
“He’s not fully rogue,” Jacob whispered to Logan.
The wolf narrowed its eyes and let out a loud, menacing growl. Jacob fired his gun at the wolf, hitting it in its haunches.
“Don’t!” Logan pushed Jacob’s hand down.
“It’s a rogue, Logan!” “Not fully,” Logan whispered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jacob said. “He’ll be one soon enough.”
“You don’t understand.” Logan watched as the rogue followed the others out.
“There is nothing to understand. You and I both know there’s no coming back, Logan.”
Logan sighed. He did know from experience. The only thing he worried about now was that he had to tell Chance that the man he thought was dead was now a rogue.
~~ “Conner!”
“Wayne?” Conner moved Mitch gently and stood up. “Wayne! I’m here!” Conner rushed to the door only to run right into Wayne coming in the room. He held onto his mate tightly. “Oh God, Wayne!”
“Conner…” Wayne sunk his face into Conner’s neck. “You’re all right.”
“I am now.” Conner inhaled the scent of his mate. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I was worried about you.” Wayne saw Mitch lying on the floor, Locke perched right above him. “Is Mitch okay?”
“I had to give him blood; Sloan shot him.”
“Jagger, grab the clothes we brought, Locke needs to get dressed.” Wayne motioned to Locke. “I take it Mitch is Locke’s mate?” Wayne smiled when Locke whined, licking Mitch’s hand.
“Yes, he is.”
As the men got dressed, the corner of the room started to shimmer and brighten and Wayne smiled as Aidan took shape.
“Aidan,” Wayne nodded.
“Rion.” Aidan placed his hands on his hips. “Ya daft fool.”
“Hey now!” Conner laughed. “That’s my mate you’re talking about.”
“Did ya learn something, Rion?” Aidan narrowed his eyes.
Wayne took Conner’s face in his hands. “Yes, I learned to pull my head out of my ass. I love you, Conner.”
“You do?” Conner’s eyes widened.
“Yes, I love you.”
“Bout time,” Aidan huffed. “Now call your parents. You remember how, ya didn’t need the books for it. You just needed to remember your place.”
Wayne closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I believe in the sun when it's not shining, I believe in love even when I feel it not, I believe in God even when he is silent.”
Conner shielded his eyes as a white light illuminated the room. A woman with long blond hair was smiling, holding the hand of a man who looked exactly like Wayne.
“It’s about time.”
Wayne opened his eyes. “Hi, Dad.”
“We’ve got some work to do, son,” Roane smiled.
“Like clean the castle?” Jagger chuckled.
“Oh, don’t worry.” Paul crossed his arms. “It’s mine.”
“Huh?” Conner asked.
“Yeah, I kinda own the castle.”
“That would have been nice to know,” Wayne said, looking over his shoulder at Paul.
Paul shrugged.
“Can we go now?” Conner asked.
They all turned when Mitch’s loud moan filled the room. He sat up, blinking, and then rubbed his eyes. “What the…?”
“Long story.” Conner put his hand out to Mitch. “We’ll tell you back at the house.”
Mitch stood up and his eyes met with those of one of the hottest men he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hi,” Mitch smiled shyly.
Locke nodded. “Hello.”
“Is…she dead?” Mitch asked.
“Yes, she is,” Taylor grinned from the doorway. “Beheaded.”
Mitch’s nose twitched. “Ew.”
“Come on,” Wayne pulled Conner along. “Let’s go. Make sure all the rogues are dead.” Wayne regarded Logan. “They need their heads cut off?”
Logan nodded. “I don�
�t know what your blood lines do to them, so yes, we’d have to kill them all and burn them.”
“Well, I’m right with you then,” Wayne sighed in frustration. “I don’t know what my line does to them either. So burn them all and make sure they stay dead.”
~~ “What the fuck was that?!” Pierce spat blood from his mouth. “That bitch didn’t warn us we’d be attacked by a goddamned created one!” Pierce paced back and forth; they’d barely made it out of the damn castle alive. “No amount of money was worth the losses we took today!”
“Pierce, man, it was over a million dollars, we needed it.”
Pierce narrowed his eyes. “Are you fucking high, Petey? We lost over thirty guys today! Get a team to the witch’s house and get any and all evidence of how she found us. Jesus Christ! A created one? We were lucky any of us escaped at all! And for the love of God, Vince and Nikolai Markov? She’s lucky they killed her and I didn’t!” Pierce fell onto a chair.
Petey coughed and raised his eyes to Pierce. “Um, one more thing.”
“There’s more?” Pierce growled.
“Chance was there.”
“What?” Pierce glared at the smaller rogue. “Mikey said he killed Chance.”
Petey squirmed under the glare of his leader. “He didn’t, he told me right before he died.”
“And you’re just telling me this now why?”
Petey shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t think it was important.”
Pierce growled, pulling Petey up by his shirt. “Don’t think anymore, Petey. It’s dangerous to your health.”
“Mikey said he didn’t feel comfortable killing a Christianson witch.”
“Well now, we all have our crosses to bear. I’ve always said if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
Petey’s eyes widened. “You’d…kill him?”
Pierce snarled in Petey’s face. “No, I want to turn him. Having a warlock among our ranks would be perfect. We’d be ten times stronger.”
“Logan was there with Jacob, too,” Petey whispered, closing his eyes waiting for the hit from his boss.
“I know.” Pierce threw Petey across the room.
Petey sat up and inched back into the corner. “How are you going to get Chance away from them?”
Pierce smirked. “I’ll think of something.”
~~ Locke stood outside by the bonfire as talk raged inside. The group had come back to Irish whiskey and one hell of a big pot of stew. The females who had stayed behind had gotten to work right away on dinner upon their arrival back at the Kerry enclosure. The full moon hung low in the sky and Locke took a deep breath of clean air.
He’d found his mate. The one thing he’d never thought could happen had, and now he had a mate. It was a surprise to say the least. A man. Locke shook his head with a smile. What were the odds? Granted he was bisexual but he always leaned more towards women. He guessed he couldn’t complain; Mitch Devan was breathtaking.
“Locke?”
Locke turned to see Logan approaching. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Not so good,” Logan sighed. “I saw
Pierce.”
“Shit,” Locke sighed, running his hands
over his face. “You are going to have to tell
Chance the truth, Logan.”
“And say what? Oh hey, by the way,
we’ve known Pierce was with the rogues for over
a year? That will go over well.”
“You have to tell him about Shana,”
Locke said.
“I can’t…” Logan closed his eyes. “You can and you will. He needs to know
there’s no coming back. You know that better
than anyone.”
“We agreed to ask Wayne about it. What
if there’s a cure?”
Locke took Logan’s hands. “You know
there isn’t; even if Wayne is immune it doesn’t
transfer to us. We may get his bloodline but
Wayne is completely different. Not all the rules
apply to us.”
“Chance is going to hate us,” Logan said. Locke swore silently. “We did what we
had to do.”
~~ “Wait, what?” Conner’s mouth fell open. “Sometimes the mate bond doesn’t hit straight away. The fates have been known at times to wait until both have matured.” Roane explained again. “And at other times, it’s for more obvious reasons.”
“Like what?” Jagger asked.
“One isn’t ready,” Aideen smiled.
“Okay, explain why Wyatt and I were mated when he was seven then.” Preston put his hands on his hips.
Taber chuckled. “Can’t.”
“Well, that’s just peachy,” Wyatt sighed. “It worked out, didn’t it?” Roane asked.
Wyatt looked into Preston’s bedroom eyes. “Yes, it did.”
“Look,” Taber addressed all of them. “No one knows why the fates do what they do or how they do it, it’s always been a mystery and none of us have ever questioned them. They’re not perfect and they know it, but they do get it right more often than not.”
“Yes, they do.” Dakota took Sam’s hand.
“What’s with the rogues?” Taylor asked.
“They were once human, turned into werewolves in violent ways. The saliva from a rogue is poisonous and takes effect slowly, turning the werewolf rogue and feral,” Roane said. “Once the saliva spreads throughout the tissue, it’s too late.”
“As a created one, you can be turned?” Grayson said.
Roane shook his head. “No, we were made in such a way that we are immune.”
“I thought you had eradicated the man eaters?” Xander asked.
“Man eaters are different from rogues; the man-eaters still have conscious thought and know right from wrong in wolf form. They just don’t care. The rogues have no sense of right or wrong, it’s all the same to them.”
“There has to be a way though, right?” Grayson asked. “I mean if one of us were to be bitten?”
“If we catch it in the beginning stages, there is hope for those of you with the Maccon bloodlines. After a certain point…” Taber shook his head sadly. “There is nothing we can do.”
“There has to be a way, Granddad,” Wayne pleaded with his grandfather.
“I suggest you bite your new pack, Rion. Make sure they can never be turned,” Roane said.
“I’d think since you are all here, you could help with that,” Wayne suggested, eyeing his father.
“We can.” Aideen smiled, taking Conner’s hand. “I’m so glad you are all right.”
Conner smiled. “You are just as beautiful, if not more so, in person.”
“I like him,” Roane said.
“Well come on then,” Taber sighed in irritation. “Line up the men.”
“Whoa…wait a minute,” Logan backed up. “I heard it hurts like hell.”
Wayne grinned. “The tough fireman is scared?”
Logan straightened up. “Bring it.”
Locke cleared his throat. “I think you should know that one of the reasons we reached out to you was because we’d heard the rumors of what you were. I’d hoped that because you were created, you could help us.”
Wayne took Locke by the shoulders. “And I will, you have my word. The werewolf line is slowly dwindling; the more of you who receive my line, the longer you live. We need to bring the packs back.”
Jacob stepped forward. “You have our allegiance.”
“And you have mine.” Wayne tilted his head, baring his neck. He smiled at the look of shock on the men’s faces. “We work together from now on.”
Between himself and his extended family, Wayne managed to get all the men bit. Now his bloodlines ran through all the packs that had merged.
He’d spoken with Locke about the rogues. Since he’d checked out, he’d had no idea the population of rogues had doubled. They were going to have to sit down and come up with a serious plan.
&n
bsp; Once everyone was settled in for the night, Wayne took Conner on a walk of the property. He’d almost lost his mate. That thought did more than scare the shit out of him. If he was honest with himself, he’d known from the moment he’d laid eyes on Conner O’Rourke that they were mates. Conner was right, he’d shoved it down deep inside because he didn’t want to deal with it. He’d been so damn stupid.
Even now, walking hand in hand in the moonlight, Conner had a golden aura all around him. He looked absolutely beautiful.
“Conner?”
“Yes?”
“Are you all right with the whole “made” thing?”
Conner furrowed his brows. “I guess, I mean Aidan was the same way and he seems pretty cool.”
Wayne chuckled. “Aidan is a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah? So is Nevan,” Conner laughed. “It was a comfort, though, to talk to him about everything. We went through a lot of the same feelings.”
Wayne turned Conner to face him. He took his hands and held them in his own.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am, for everything. For not taking you as mine from the moment I laid eyes on you, for making you wait years to be with me. I’ll never be able to forgive myself for the hurt I’ve caused you.”
“I understand, Wayne, I really do. You were mated to Juliet; you’ve only been attracted to women. It must have very hard for you to understand why they gave you a male mate.”
“Now that I have you, I understand, I do. I wouldn’t change anything about you. You’re beautiful, kind and understanding.”
Conner scoffed. “Yeah, sure I am.”
“You are.” Wayne took Conner’s face in his hands. “The only thing left to do is make you a Maccon.”
“W-w-what?”
“Marry me, Conner.”
Conner stepped back in astonishment. “You…can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m serious.” Wayne pulled Conner back to him, enveloping him in his arms. “I love you, I will love no other.” Wayne took Conner’s lips in a tender kiss. “Marry me.”
Conner wrapped his arms around Wayne’s neck, arching into his body. “Yes.”
The light was on in the small bedroom as Wayne undressed. Conner lay naked on the bed, legs spread. Wayne’s skin tingled in anticipation. He was going to give himself to Conner. Wayne crawled up the bed and settled above Conner’s body, his hand making a slow sweep of the man’s angelic face. Conner’s face looked at him with pure adoration and Wayne trembled.
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