by Mila Young
And Meira’s sweet face was the last thing I remember before... I thought I’d died.
Soft snoring sounds come from the end of my bed, and I wrinkle my brow, leaning forward, which only sends a shot of pain up my chest.
I clench my teeth, riding the wave of slashing pain, then I push my legs out of the bed. They touch the cold floorboards, and I get up, groaning. I don’t remember the last time I ached so much.
With slow, agonizing steps, I come around the end of the bed to find a tawny red wolf fast asleep on the plush rug.
My heart twists with the sight of her in wolf form, curling in on herself, sleeping by my bed. And things are starting to make sense. She must have saved me by transforming and letting her wolf take care of Mad… but at what cost? To be forever locked in her wolf?
A pang of guilt seizes me. Because of me, she sacrificed everything. A desperate, ugly feeling grabs me, and my knees wobble.
What have I done?
Inch by inch, the cold, hard truth hits me over and over.
This was never the future I wanted for her. I’d give up mine instantly for her to have everything.
Never this.
I crumble and fall to my knees, the thumping sound rousing her awake. Her head jerks up, and she looks over at me with sleepy eyes, her fur all flat on the side she slept on.
My eyes prick as I stare into those beautiful pale bronze irises. I reach over and hug her as my throat thickens with an overwhelming emotion that chokes me. “Oh, Meira, what did you do? I’m not worth it.”
I hold her, close my eyes, and pretend she’s with me like before, where she laughs in a way that brightens my darkest days. To feel her lips against mine. I try not to overthink everything I’ll miss because it will destroy me. She is still with me, but the sting in my heart hurts more than the bullet wound.
A sudden charge of electricity runs up my arms. I snap open my eyes just as Meira begins to tremble violently in my arms. Her body stretches, and she’s literally morphing into her human form.
I have no words, because one moment my heart is ripping out, and now I’m bursting with an unfathomable joy.
It isn’t long before I’m holding a gorgeous, naked Meira, who’s grinning at me. “Are you really crying because you thought I’d be a wolf all my life? Lucien said you would, but Bardhyl bet you’d still love anyway.”
I laugh that she’s already making a joke. “Well, they’d be right on both fronts.” I have so many questions, but the important thing is that we’re still alive.
“How are you feeling?” she asks, glancing down at my bandage. “Someone was looking out for you.” She leans in and kisses my lips, my cheeks, my chin. “The bullet went right through your torso, missing all organs and arteries completely. Can you believe that? I think you have an angel caring for you.”
The news floats in my mind that somehow I managed to survive such a shot.
“And what about you and your wolf?” I ask. “Seems we all have surprises.”
She smiles widely and snuggles against my side, avoiding the injury. “I did what you told me to and gave my wolf full control, and it seems she rewarded me by submitting. I don’t know why I was so afraid for so long to just give her control.”
“After everything you went through, it’s understandable. The important thing is that you are here and mine.”
She pulls up and finds my lips again. We kiss softly, full of love. Everything I feared I would lose.
When she pulls back, her lips curl upward, and while I want to just drown in her gaze, my question escapes past my mouth.
“What happened to Mad?” It’s not him I want to talk about while I hold my soulmate in my arms, but I need to make sure this is over.
“We never have to worry about him again.” She winks at me so adorably, unable to hide her huge grin.
“Did you—”
“Yes,” she interrupts. “My wolf and I finished him. I just wish I could have done that long before everything fell into chaos.”
“Sometimes things happen for a reason, and really, it should have been me who stopped him a long time ago. But it’s done. Thank you for saving me out there.”
She shrugs, almost bashful, which has me pulling her closer to me. “You would have done the same for me.”
“In a heartbeat.”
One Week Later
Meira
“How much longer?” I ask, pacing in Dušan’s office, looking away from Lucien and Bardhyl. I can’t stop worrying about what my blood results will show. That I’m still sick and it’ll slowly wear me down? I haven’t coughed up blood since transforming, so I’m praying with everything that my immunity to the zombies is some freak anomaly.
I keep glancing outside the window, where the sun shines brilliantly. Down on the settlement grounds, Ash Wolves are preparing for tonight’s celebrations. It’ll be a blue moon, and with it being a week since Dušan reclaimed his pack, there is a lot to party about. Mad and his dead followers were burned to ensure they didn’t return as the undead and buried deep in the woods. Plus, tonight, Dušan will assure his pack that we are safe, that there is no cure as Mad claimed, but there will be changes to protect them all better. Those survivors who betrayed Dušan fled into the woods already, knowing death was coming for them. And add to all that, Dušan finally returned the serum Mad stole to the X-Clan to keep the peace.
Slowly, all the parts are falling back into place.
Except still, my stomach twists in on itself as I wait for news on my bloodwork. Footfalls approach me, and I turn to find Lucien standing behind me. Today he reminds me so much of when we first met by the side of the road. He’s wearing his long-sleeved button-down shirt and those sexy dark jeans that hang low on narrow hips, and let’s not forget his cowboy boots. His deep brown hair is swept off his face, and his gray-steeled eyes gleam. Every inch of him is spectacular. And there’s a reason I fell for him the moment we met. He is a walking god.
“Come and sit with us.” He takes my hand. “The blood results should be ready soon.”
“Your pacing is making me tense,” Bardhyl states from the three-seater couch where he lounges at one end, legs parted, one arm on his lap, the other along the back of the sofa. Something about him looks bigger today, broader, stronger. The white shirt he wears lays open at his throat, enough that the muscles below his collarbone flex each time he shifts around on the couch. Long white-blond hair drapes over his shoulders. A shadow of growth covers his chiseled jawline, and when he looks at me, he pats his lap, calling me to sit on him.
The corners of my lips involuntary curl upward in response. My body responds automatically to my soulmates it seems.
Lucien’s fingers thread with mine, and he walks me around the table and over to the sofa.
I throw myself down on the middle cushion as Bardhyl hastily slips his arm around my back, and in a split second, I’m sitting on his lap sideways.
“My little Zombie Queen, don’t even think you can get away from me,” he says, keeping his gaze on me, while his fingers find my skin under my top.
“I’m totally okay to stay next to you,” I answer, even if sitting in his lap has me burning up in moments, and already, I feel the bulge in his pants poking against my thigh.
Lucien makes little work of lifting my feet so he can slip in next to Bardhyl and hold on to my legs. Sneakily, he also raises my skirt for a peak.
“Hey.” I slap his hand away. “I am wearing underwear.”
He smirks devilishly. “Had to check just in case you were holding out on us.”
I wrinkle my nose at him in confusion. “You think that I randomly decide to not wear underwear so I can surprise you?”
Both men look at me with an overzealous expression, the answer painted all over their horny faces. I shake my head at how transparent they are.
The door suddenly opens, and my gaze jerks upward.
Dušan strolls inside, and I glance behind him, half-expecting Mariana, the pack doctor, to be with him.
Except he’s alone, and my breath jams in my throat.
Does he have bad news and wants to deliver it to me on his own?
Bardhyl’s grip around me tightens, like he senses my unease. But I push myself out of his arms and stand to meet my Alpha, my soulmate, my everything.
He greets me with smiling blue eyes, his black hair laying messily around his face like he’s just run through the wind.
“Come here, gorgeous.” He collects me into his arms.
I stare up at him, trembling. “Please don’t make me wait. Just tell me. What did my blood results say?”
He cups the sides of my face and kisses me with a hunger like he’s letting himself be rough with me once again. For the past week as we waited for the tests, we cleaned up the mess caused by Mad.
I push myself closer and kiss him back harder, hoping this means he has good news.
When I break away, breathless, I stare at him desperately.
“The result showed that you still have leukemia.” His arms tighten around me.
A chill races down my spine and instantly, tears spring to my eyes. It’s stupid how just a few words send a shudder right through me.
Lucien and Bardhyl are off the couch and move to stand on either side of me, their hands on me.
“Don’t cry, beautiful,” Dušan assures me. “You’ve always been special, and it seems that because you transformed so late, your first shift couldn’t completely eradicate the disease. But it has made it dormant and inactive in your body.”
I’m still processing his words, trying to come to terms with the results.
“It’s why she’s still immune to the zombies,” Lucien adds, to which Dušan nods. “Is that how you’re controlling them?”
I shake my head. “I don’t really know. Guessing it’s got to do with me biting them.”
“Mariana seemed to think it’s connected to your immunity and the bite where you exchange some of your saliva into their blood system. It changes their hunger to obedience to you,” Dušan explains.
Bardhyl hugs me from behind, his whisper in my ears, “This is incredible.”
“Are you sure?” I ask Dušan, so used to always hearing bad news that I now struggle to believe that in a roundabout way, everything turned out so well.
“Beautiful Meira. You have nothing to worry about.” He grabs me and lifts me off my feet, and I’m laughing, my chest close to bursting with happiness. I don’t remember ever feeling this way. Where I don’t have to be constantly concerned about surviving. About someone wanting to kill me. About running away.
That’s no longer who I am.
“I still can’t believe how it’s all turned out,” I say as he lowers me to my feet. I’m surrounded by my three Alphas. “But I have one question.”
“Go on,” Dušan says.
“What happens if I have kids? Will they get sick too?” It’s crazy to think this, but the notion popped into my head. But I don’t need them to suffer like I did, and to have them safe from the zombies is what I really want.
No one responds at first, which has me blushing at the thought that I’ve somehow put them on the spot, talking about babies when we’ve only just found our freedom.
Dušan finally says, “Mariana told me it’s not a hereditary disease, but it can happen. Except seeing as yours is dormant, it’s very unlikely. And when the child transforms, which we will ensure they do, their wolf side will protect them as it has you.”
I blink at him, and it makes sense, though I still worry. I exhale loudly. “It’s so much to take in all at once. All these changes and what’s going on with me. But you’re saying I have no real cure for everyone against the zombies.”
He shakes his head, and I didn’t think it would be, but it’s worth asking.
“You don’t need to think about anything right now but settling into your new home, then helping us three run the pack. Plus, we have the Northern Wolves promising to return for a visit, and I want everything set up to give them no excuse to think we’re weak in any way.”
My eyes widen, and already a plan is forming in my mind. “I have an idea.” I turn so I’m facing all three Alphas. “Let’s position zombies around the settlement. I can command them to stay there. Anyone who dares come near our compound will be terrified to come any closer.” I shrug. “I just think it’s a great cautionary measure. Once they decay away, we replace them. Hell, there are enough of these things in the woods.”
“I love that idea,” Bardhyl states. “Back in Denmark, we’d do that with wild wolves. Keep them around our campsite. When they made a sound, we knew we had intruders, and most were scared away by them.”
“Agreed,” Dušan says.
I glance over to Lucien, who’s been silent and staring at me strangely. “Are you okay?” I ask.
Sunlight from outside spills through the window, casting over him, giving him a glow. “I’m still back on our previous conversation.” He clears his throat. “You’re ready to have a baby with us?”
The softness in his voice, the tenderness in his eyes, undoes me because they aren’t from someone scared, but someone dreaming of this day. I step toward him and hug him. “Maybe not right away, but yes, if that’s okay with all of you.”
His breath hitches. “It’s everything I’ve always wanted.”
He holds me against him, with Bardhyl and Dušan joining the hug. Me in the middle of these powerful men who love me, who want me in their future. But it turns out they’re not the only strong ones. All along, I thought I lived with a monster inside me. But the real fiend was my own fear.
My new life is everything and I love them so much. For the first time, I have a purpose in life. And now, I have a family.
I will never be alone again, and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much that things are finally looking up for me.
“Who’s up for practicing baby-making early?” Bardhyl asks out of the blue, which has me rolling my eyes.
Strong hands that I think belong to Dušan slide under my skirt, and I twist to face him. But the deviant is too fast. His fingers curl under the elastic of my underwear and in a violent tug, he rips them off me. I jerk from the movement, and suddenly, I have three sexually starved men staring at me.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
I back away from them, the heat between my legs already slick with arousal.
My breaths rush, and in an instant, I am craving them insatiably.
“Wait. I know we haven’t had sex for a week, but—”
“Do you think she’s trying to distract us?” Lucien asks.
“Definitely,” Bardhyl answers, never lifting his gaze from me.
We’ve crossed the line from serious talk and into the heady need to release, and even I can’t deny the desire igniting me from the inside out.
“Look, how about we all just talk about this first?” I say, trying to distract them.
As they sigh, I whip around and dart to the door, throwing over my shoulder, “Suckers.”
The explosion of rapid movement has them charging after me, and I burst out of the room, unable to stop laughing as I sprint down the long corridor.
Everything I’ve ever dreamed of has come to life, and it still feels surreal, but I’m willing to make this work.
And who would have thought that even the most broken girl in the world could eventually find her happily ever after?
Savage Sector
New Shadowlands Series
My kind aren't meant to possess magic...especially the kind that comes with a price.
Welcome to Savage Sector, a series set in the same world as Shadowlands Sector where the northern pack of Alphas plan to rule the land and find their fated mate at any cost.
Expect cross-over characters, steaming hot Alphas, dangerous magic, and a love story that might bring the world to its knees.
And I have the first chapter for you to enjoy.
Chapter 1
“Are you nervous?” Kaira asks, combing my long hair as I sit in th
e middle of our small stone hut. Our home is not much, but it provides shelter and warmth amid the Moon Wolves. Outside the pack, rogue Alphas hunt down females to rut them, to kill them. And if that isn’t bad enough, farther south, zombies comb through the woods. Our world is broken, and so as far as I’m concerned, I’ve chosen to live with the devil I know rather than the one lurking in the shadows.
“I still can’t believe you found your mate,” my sister continues. “This is huge.” I hear the smile in her voice, only adding to my own nerves and bouncing knees. “It means he can protect all of us now.”
As the eldest sister, it makes sense that I found my perfect mate at the last mating ritual first. He’d just come back from a long scouting trip and the moment we brushed against each other, something in me awakened. My wolf was drawn to his, and that is the making of a perfect partnership apparently. He’s an Alpha and me, I’m an Omega.
Of course, I’m excited but also scared as hell.
“Definitely,” I answer Kaira. “Someone to fight for us.” My lips curl upward. There’s something unfathomable to feel already connected to someone I barely know. But that’s how it always is with wolves. I am guessing with time, I will grow more affection toward my mate as well.
“I’d be nervous,” Jae butts in from across the room, sitting cross-legged on her blankets, plaiting a floral arrangement to place into my hair. She scrunches up her face in our direction. “Did you see the size of that man, and his nose? How are you meant to kiss him around that?”
Kaira and I both laugh. Jae is the youngest and only fourteen, so she hasn’t quite reached the stage of finding boys interesting. And it’s better she stays that way for as long as possible.
Kaira leans in to whisper over my shoulder, “I hear kissing is the mildest thing you need to worry about on your first night, sister. Are you ready for this?”