“I know, baby. Put it down, you’re safe now, you’re okay. I’m here. I’m sorry for letting this happen.” She let the witch’s head fall to the ground, and I wrapped my arms up underneath of hers while pulling Chantal to my chest in an embrace I never wanted to end. “I can’t believe I almost lost you,” I cried, not giving two shits who saw me do it.
“Let’s get out of here, please,” she pleaded before glancing around nervously. “Wait, where’s Charlotte? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, Brace untied her and took her out to the car. Let’s get you out there too so we can get back home.” I picked her up into my arms and walked her outside to the car Charlotte was sitting in. I would be driving the both of them back myself, and a prospect would be taking my bike back. I never trusted anyone with my ride, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to trust anyone with Chantal again anytime soon, and she was by far and large more important than a replaceable motorcycle.
Knox locked our two prisoners in another cage and decided to drive that one back himself, leaving his bike to another prospect who he left behind to help clean up the mess that my woman made of the witch.
I kissed Chantal on her forehead and climbed into the front seat, leaving her in the back with her sister where she needed to be. I would get my time with her when we got back home, but they’d both clearly just been through something horrifying and needed each other.
I watched in the rearview mirror as Charlotte broke down, her body shaking with each sob as she leaned into her sister. Those motherfuckers were going to pay for what they did to them.
When we arrived back at the club, I took Charlotte and Chantal up to my room and ordered them to stay there while we brought in Charisma and Raven. I kissed Chantal on the forehead, and went out to help the guys lock up our new prisoners.
The plan from there was simple, torture as much information from them as possible over the next few days to find out who all was after the girls and which council members knew about their plans. The Dark Leopards MC had some calculated moves to plan out in order to infiltrate the council, even if we needed to use Raven in order to do so. I wasn’t normally the one sent in to extract information from hostages, but I volunteered this time.
Turns out, it only took a few hours, a missing finger or two, and a few brand marks on Raven to get Charisma to crack and tell us everything. The information she gave us told us that we wouldn’t have a choice in overthrowing the council. They were rotten to their core. Chantal and Charlotte wouldn’t be safe until we did, but we weren’t going to rush things. We were going to take a few days to rest and develop a plan.
We also had to figure out what to do with Betina. She had no idea what Charisma and Raven had been up to, and therefore wouldn’t be held accountable with them. Besides, she had been instrumental in our ability to find and bring home the two women who mattered. Had we not had her help, Raven, Charisma, and the witch would have likely been successful in removing Chantal’s bond from me. That left me with not only telling the woman who had been instrumental to our rescue that she no longer had the witch to help hide her, but that we would take her under our protection in return. That made dealing with the council top priority, because we were going to have an angry raven claw breathing down our necks about our stow away soon enough. Spreading ourselves too thin by fighting multiple wars at once would be suicide, even with the load of alpha power we managed to collect amongst us.
I had managed to obtain information from Charisma about other witches who might be able to keep Betina cloaked in the same manner, but we also knew that information was only to be trusted so much. Instead, we decided during church that Brace and Bomber would head out on the road with Betina, who didn’t need to stay in one place for too long, in search of another witch to solve some of our problems until we had more manpower to deal with them.
This war with the council was far from over, but we were off to a good start, and most importantly, I had my Moonbeam back, and I was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe and by my side.
Epilogue
A week ago, I’d been kidnapped by Charisma and Raven, and with the help of a witch named Solarin, they’d attempted to strip me of my bond with Gray in order to force a bond with Raven.
My other sister, Charlotte, had also been a part of the nefarious scheme to bolster the Council of Feline Shifters who were suffering from what basically amounted to weak breeding amongst royals.
I killed the witch in order to free myself, which unbeknownst to me at the time, put Betina in danger. The witch apparently wasn’t all bad, Solarin was being used by her brother too. She had been protecting Betina from her mate finding her, without hesitation or coercion. That meant something to me. Ironic, I know, since I was the one to kill the woman. It also meant that I had to say goodbye to my best friend Bomber for a little while. My actions made it unsafe for Betina to stay at the clubhouse until the council had been dealt with, and Bomber and Brace had been named her escorts.
“What’s going on in that brilliant mind of yours?” Gray asked me as I threw my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head.
“I just feel so bad for Betina. I’m the reason she has to go on the ru-” I couldn’t finish the thought.
“No, you’re not the reason. You weren’t the one who forced a claim on her. You’re not the one stalking her around the world because of it. You may have killed the witch protecting her, but you did what you had to do in the moment. You didn’t even know that witch was protecting your friend then, and even if you did, could you really have changed your response? If you hadn’t acted while Solaris was distracted, you would have been the one to pay the ultimate price.” He leaned down from behind me and planted kisses up and down my neck. “Are you ready to head downstairs to say goodbye to everyone?” I nodded my head solemnly, although I wasn’t sure I would consider myself ready. I had been avoiding Betina since I found out just how heavily my actions would weigh on her life. Gray grabbed my hand and spun me around to face him, cupping my chin in his other hand.
“I love you, Moonbeam. I’ll be there beside you the entire time, and when they’re gone, we’ll take a joy ride on my bike to help clear your mind.” I smiled at that. We hadn’t been on a ride since the week before my sisters showed up. In the big scheme of things, that wasn’t so long ago, but somehow it felt like another lifetime already.
“You always know exactly what to say, babe. I love you.” I tilted my face upward, inviting him to reach down and kiss me, a request that he happily obliged.
We walked out into the bar area of the club together, hand in hand. The first thing we noticed was Bomber sitting at the bar alone, watching Brace and Betina flirt with each other and talk to a few of the other members across the room.
“Poor guy always looks so sad when they’re around now,” Gray whispered to me softly. The truly horrible part, for me, was knowing that Brace didn’t seem to notice Bomber’s absence. It made me wonder if all the chemistry I thought I’d noticed between the two shifter men was one-sided and I just supplied the attention from the other side because I was bored.
When Bomber saw me enter the room, his eyes lit up and he ran over to me, picked me up, and swung me around before placing me back on the ground and pulling me into a headlock. I started laughing uncontrollably until he released me, and then the sadness of the impending situation set in. Gray felt the need for Bomber and I to have a private conversation, so he clapped his brother on the back and then moved past us to greet Brace and the others.
“How are you supposed to head out on some life saving expedition with the two of them? That’s not fair to you at all,” I pouted to Bomber. “I couldn’t imagine watching someone I loved run off with another person, but I definitely don’t think I could handle running off with them as one of her protectors.”
“Ah, don’t worry about me, babe,” he leaned in closer and whispered, “I won’t jinx it yet, but I will say, I think the three of us are going to be just fine.” He looked up at me and
winked, and I couldn’t help but erupt in another fit of laughter. “Besides, you have your own shit to worry about.”
“I know, my crazy ass sister is still locked up downstairs, so I’m not exactly in the clear yet.”
“Not at all what I meant. You telling me you don’t know yet?” he asked, placing a gentle hand subtly on my flat stomach. “Listen.”
Despite being confused, I did as he requested and focused on listening to my body, and after a moment, I heard it.
“Really? Is that what I think it is?” I asked, completely in awe. Gray made his way to me from across the room in record time, and had his hand on my belly before Bomber could even remove his. I could feel the tears that come with being completely overwhelmed and joyful creeping up and threatening to overflow.
“Gray, my sweet, gorgeous, purr-fect mate,” I started out while rolling my Rs in the word to imitate the sound, chuckling through my tears. “How would you feel about becoming a father to a couple of cubs?”
“A couple?” He asked, finally surprised, proving he didn’t know as much as he thought he did.
I made an agreeable noise in the back of my throat, very much like an actual purr that time instead of a mocking tone. “Listen closely,” I told him.
Gray lowered himself to his knees before me and then placed his head upon my belly, ear hot against my skin after he moved my shirt out of the way. “Do you hear them?” I asked.
“Shh,” he hissed quickly before going back to listening intently. Then, in a hushed voice he spoke so sweetly, “I’m listening to our cubs in there.” Gray then turned his face and his lips met my belly, placing the sweetest of kisses where the tiniest bit of a bump would grow over the next few weeks. Then he turned his face up toward mine. “You are my everything, my beautiful Moonbeam.”
“And you are also my everything, my savior. Now, let’s go say goodbye to our friends so that they can get back in time to help us plan a baby shower.”
The B Team
Brace
It wasn’t normal to feel the way we did. So said most of our kind, anyway. We hid our true feelings, looking to the rest of the world like best friends, club brothers, and unofficial, oddball packmates. In secret, we loved one another. There wasn’t room for anyone else. Not until she came into our lives.
Bomber
Screw our society and their stupid rules. So, neither of us wanted to find the female mate that was just ours. Sure, my kind weren’t exactly plentiful any longer and I should be doing my part to propagate the species, but B was just too shiny a gem for me to pass up in the beginning. Before I knew it, he became my most precious treasure. Then she came along and swept us both away.
Betina
I happened upon them by accident. My boys. My soulmates. I may have been truly fated for one, but I couldn’t deny the pull of both. In our world, a triad could never happen. It’s a good thing, none of us cared what they thought. We were the B-Team, and nothing was going to keep us apart, not even the secret I harbored that could ruin it all.
I was supposed to kill him. Not love him. Disobeying that order would end costing all of us something.
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More Shifters
Entwined (Vukodlak Brew Book 1)
Dre
I felt her. That glorious scent of my mate was in the air, but by the time I figured out where she was, she slipped through my fingertips.
Gone.
Like a nightmare I couldn’t escape.
One brief glimpse, a scent on the air, and knowing I was that close to my mate spun me out through years of fruitless searches.
Then she showed up, after I’d given up, and the choices I’d made since meant she might deny our bond.
Izzy:
I’d taken a picture of two men standing near the train I was on years ago, and I hadn’t been able to stop fantasizing about one of them ever since. College was over for me, and I was headed back there, to my family’s home town, the one my father had kept us from...
The town where I’d seen him.
Little did I know, my life was on a crash course with destiny.
Truths were uncovered.
I had a fated mate, but I didn’t know if I could trust him.
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More MC Romance
S.H.E. Series
Angel-Girl
JoJo
Aces High MC – Dakotas Series
Dancing With Danger
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Aces High MC – Charleston Series
The Other Princess
A Love So Hard
The Princess and the Prospect
The Killing Ride
A Twist of Fate
Everlasting
A Year and a Day (paranormal)
Aces High MC – Cedar Falls Series
Redemption Weather
Proven
Smoke and the Flame
Aces High MC – Tallahassee Series
Crushed
ROCK STAR ROMANCE
T.I.E. (The Infinite Everything) Series
The Infinite Something
The Infinite Beat
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Letters to… Series
Letters to Lily
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Christine Michelle & Bella Hickman
Christine Michelle and Bella Hickman met one fine, summer afternoon…
Just kidding, they met, officially, the day Christine gave birth to Bella. That’s right – mother and daughter (Bella is more the adult than Christine) teamed up to write a book! We hope you enjoyed the book, as it was an amazing experience getting to work on the creative parts of the book together along with all the technical junk that happens post-writing. For more about us, see the links below:
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