by Camryn Rhys
“We’re not allowed to talk to strangers.” Luna’s voice was almost childlike, but her eyes were shifty. She was much smarter than she gave an appearance of being, he had no doubt.
“We’ve already spoken with Clara and Damon, and they’ve helped us understand quite a bit about your island,” Hannah said, reaching out to touch the girl’s arm. “We just want to understand.”
Luna’s shoulders slumped and she held tighter to her mother. “What is it you want to understand?”
“How long have you lived on the island?” Viper sat back on his heels and rested his hands on his thighs, mimicking Hannah’s posture.
Might as well present a united front.
“My entire life.”
“And how old are you?”
“Thirty-three.”
Hannah put her hand on Rain’s arm and Viper saw them exchange a strange glance.
He didn’t like her touching Rain like that… but butting in between them would be a little too mate-y for the moment. Viper could get his shit under control. She wasn’t fucking the guy. Just touching his arm.
Just touching his arm.
“Are you certain that you’ve been on the island your whole life?” Hannah asked, squeezing Rain’s arm.
Viper took in a deep breath. Just touching his arm.
“Yes.”
“Because we’ve been led to believe—”
The older woman’s eyes rose to Hannah’s and she shook her head. “She wasn’t born on the island.”
Luna’s brows shot up and she sat back. “But, Mother—”
“Before the island, there was a place in a far away city where we all lived together in a dark little room.” The woman’s voice had a distant quality, like she wasn’t experiencing the memory. “That’s where you were born. You and Gabriel.”
Rain grabbed Hannah’s hand, gripping it hard. They looked at each other and said in unison, “Guadalajara.”
Viper sucked a long gust of air through his teeth. Stop touching my woman.
He knocked Rain’s shoulder, but the commander didn’t look away from Christina.
“Adrian brought other wolves in to live with us. And humans. And we were all having babies,” she said. “But then Pamela helped some of them leave and Adrian was angry with her. Very angry.” Her fingers went to her lips and she shook her head. “He took her little girl away from her and he said he was going to kill her.”
“When the women escaped, that was when you went to the island?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. We left the city and traveled for a long time. Gabriel was sick on the boat when we went to the island, and Adrian hit him so hard…” Her eyes glazed with the old memory, touched with fear.
Hannah slid her hand onto the woman’s. “It’s okay, Christina. You’re safe here.”
Viper nodded, but kept a close eye on Luna. The woman wasn’t affected like her mother, and there was something buzzing under the surface with her. Anger? Pride? He couldn’t quite tell.
“What happened after you got to the island?” Viper asked.
“We lived there. He brought us to the house first, until there were too many children. One of the girls tried to escape with her baby, and he couldn’t allow that. So he moved Luna and me down into the bunker with the children so he could control the mothers.” Her tone was so matter-of-fact, it chilled his blood. She talked about the kidnapping, the rape of girls, like she was describing what she had for breakfast.
“Why did he need to control the mothers?” Rain said.
“So he could breed them,” Christina said, shrugging her shoulders. “We’re animals, after all. That’s what we’re made for.”
Luna’s nod was curt and precise.
Viper’s mouth went dry. He tried to wet his lips, but he couldn’t.
Breeding wolves.
“Who was breeding them?” he ventured.
“Adrian.” Christina blinked at him, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “He bred me and Belinda and then when he brought Galina. We were the first generation. When my daughters were old enough, if they were the right stock, he would breed them, too.”
Hannah’s jaw was working and Viper wanted to take her hand to calm her. But Rain was between them. He picked at the edge of his jacket that was still hiding his tattoos from plain sight.
“His daughters?” Hannah asked, her voice cracking.
“Of course. They were the best stock, being of his blood. I was only the first generation, so I was never going to be able to give him what he wanted.”
“What did he want?” Hannah said.
Viper swallowed hard. “Pure stock.”
Hannah and Rain stared at him, but Viper nodded. He’d been doing the math about the number of children and their ages, plus the relative stories they’d heard from debriefing Lani and Marco, and from the notes Marco’s mother provided them.
Christina nodded and flashed him a childish smile, almost in solidarity. “Yes. Pure blood. That’s what he was after.” She reached for Luna’s face and stroked the side of her cheek. “Not all of the girls were right for breeding, of course.” A sad note. “And I was only able to give him three. I had mostly boys, and then Luna and Anna weren’t the right stock.”
Rain shook his head. “What made them the wrong stock?”
“They didn’t have enough of their father in them.”
The words hung heavy in the air and Viper tried to wet his lips again to no avail. His stomach was starting to turn. No wonder Gabriel had been in such a fever to kill his father. Viper’s own family was nothing compared to this.
Part of him wished that Gabriel had been able to do it, after all. Living with a past like this was going to be torture for these kids. No matter how old they were.
He wanted to kill Rossi all over again.
“So he would…breed…the ones who looked like him, in other words?” Rain interjected in a low tone.
“Yes.” Christina’s smile, again, was a creepy mix of understanding and pleasure. Like she agreed with what Rossi had been doing.
Viper’s fingers itched to be pounding something. This was all so fucked up. To do this to humans, to wolves, it didn’t matter. It was sick.
“And when some of the boys were old enough, he would breed them to the girls.”
He glanced at Rain and loosed a long breath. “Pure blood.”
“That’s right,” Christina said. “He wanted the perfect pure blood.”
Luna’s eyes shifted around the group. “He was trying to breed out the weakness in wolf kind.” Her back straightened and her chin rose up. “And if we couldn’t help with the breeding, then we helped with the care. Or we took care of the island. Or, like some of the boys, we helped keep everyone else out. Some of the girls helped him make money. But we were there to make the race better. More pure.”
Viper swallowed hard and tore his eyes away from the strange mother and daughter, huddled together in the sand under a tree, trying to justify the actions of a madman.
He bounced a few times, trying to get the angst to leave his muscles, but he couldn’t. He jumped to his feet and walked away from the insanity.
“Wait,” Hannah called after him. “Viper. Wait.”
He stopped, facing the water, trying to forget everything behind him. Hannah’s hand slid up his arm to his shoulder, but he didn’t turn around. “Don’t call me that,” he said.
“Call you what? Viper?”
“It’s not my name.”
“But that’s what everyone calls you.” She walked around to stand in front of him, her hair blowing around her face in the light breeze.
He ground his teeth, but Hannah’s compassionate glance stilled some of his anger. The feel of her hand on him, the magick swirling around them, he wanted more of that.
“My name is Josh Vipperman.” He grabbed her hand. “Viper is the guy who does this.” He pointed around behind them, taking in Luna and Christina and all the kids, the MC-130, the M4s, the packs, the injuries, the
death. “Viper kills people. He’s pretty pissed off that he didn’t get to torture Adrian Rossi for days and days, and part of him wants to kill those women, for what they’ve done, what they’ve participated in.”
“But you won’t.” She put her hand on his heart. “Because you’re a good man, and a good soldier.”
“I’ll be honest,” he said, covering her hand with his, “Being good doesn’t take away hate like Viper has.” He pointed across the beach, to the groups of innocent children eating stale Army food, watching the strangers with wary eyes. “Someone has to stick up for these kids. Someone has to see justice done for them.”
“What about those kids?” Hannah turned his face so he could see Luna and Christina, sitting with Rain, still talking.
“They’re not kids.”
“But they were,” she stroked his cheek. “One time, they were kids, and a madman got ahold of them, and they did what they could to survive. They’re just as much his victims as anyone.”
Viper filled his lungs with the cool beachy air and exhaled, long. “I want to see justice done.”
“It was.” Her smile was so relaxed, so peaceful, he found the anxiety subsiding from his chest.
He just wanted to stare into her eyes and let her convince him there was nothing to be angry at anymore. “How is this justice?”
Hannah took both of his hands in hers. “I killed Adrian Rossi. He’s dead. He has paid for this injustice with his life.”
Viper shifted from side to side, rocking in the sand, trying to let her words soothe him, but the enormity of it wouldn’t let him be. “If I’m really honest, I want to bring the man back to life and kill him again. And then bring him back and let Gabriel kill him, and then bring him back, over and over, until he’s died enough.”
The words had tumbled out of him so fast, he hadn’t even felt them coming. But once they were out in the air, something clicked inside. The revenge fantasies.
They were more than just about Gabriel, or Luna, or the children. He pulled Hannah into his arms and held her, hoping that her mercy and light would fill him and assuage his burning guilt.
“There’ll never be enough bad men in the world to kill to right these wrongs,” she whispered against him. “Not the ones done to Gabriel and his daughter, and all of the children. Not the ones done to Josh Vipperman. Not the ones done to anyone.” Her hands rubbed up and down his back. “I see the mad desire in you. To hurt people who do wrong. You have a heroic heart.”
Heat welled up behind his eyes, and burned a trail down his nose and into his throat. He held his breath. He hadn’t told her about his mother and father, but it didn’t matter.
She was right. There weren’t enough bad men to kill. He’d never be able to kill enough of them.
Viper stroked her hair and gripped her hard against him. She was the balm for his wounded soul. He was beginning to believe that, with Hannah in his life, he would be a different man. A better man.
“You’re a wise woman,” he whispered into her hair. The guys couldn’t hear this. He needed there to be a moment with just him and Hannah.
He wanted her in a way he’d never wanted anyone. Not just to feel her body wrap around his, but to feel her presence with him. Always. He wanted her to belong to him.
Forever.
“You’re a valiant man,” she said.
And for a long moment, he just smelled her freshness and felt the weight of her in his arms, and nothing else in the world mattered. Not the Army, not his past, not the evil in the world. Only the future, and Hannah.
Only Hannah.
She curled her body closer to his in the small tent they’d claimed on the edge of the beach camp. Her body ached from trudging through the horrors of today.
The hiking and fighting had taken a toll not only on her muscles, but on Hannah’s mind. She could live with what she’d done.
With the life she’d taken from this world.
That act had changed her. She’d worked and studied her whole adult life to be a doctor. To heal. To save. And out of everyone on this island that’d wanted Adrian Rossi dead—wanted to take vengeance on him—in the end, she’d been the one to snuff out his life. She’d done it without hesitation.
He’d hurt her mate and something inside her had just snapped.
The thought of losing Viper had made her hollow inside, and that pain had been unbearable. The act of continuing to breathe without him would’ve been too much for her heart to take. She knew how strong Maggie and Luther’s bond had been. How deeply it’d come over Nora and Rain too. But she had felt death’s hands coming for her when Viper had been shot. Nothing could’ve stopped her from killing Adrian. Not even her doctor’s oath.
He was here now. They were together. He was safe. They were both safe. Still wearing filthy clothes, covered in blood and sand and smelled of seawater, but they were alive and together.
The beat of Viper’s heart against her ear soothed the savage part of her she’d never experienced before.
She shifted and changed and ran every full moon just like every other Moonbound wolf. Her animal had always been peaceful. Happy with her life goals. Pleased to continue serving in her family’s tradition and medical practice. Her ancestors had all been healers, even before there was ever a thing called a doctor. Having a mate changed everything.
Changed her. And she was excited to see where it led. Her life was a pattern of predictable scenarios, but now…
Now there were more possibilities than she could conceive. She wasn’t going to go home. She’d call her father and mother and explain, but she couldn’t go home.
Not until she and Viper had sealed their bond permanently and found their way together. Hannah wouldn’t be strong enough to stand up to her father and mother’s disappointment that she’d not taken the path well-traveled. The path they’d laid out for her since she was a small child.
Viper exhaled deeply and tugged her even closer as he rolled to his side, immobilizing her between his hard body and his steely arms.
This was the road less traveled and it felt pretty damn good from where she was laying.
Hannah snuggled her face a little higher, into the opening of his shirt, and laid her cheek against his chest. Magick swelled through the connection, warming her entire body.
Energy coursed through her, but exhaustion won out over her aroused mind. She drifted to sleep, wishing for a hot shower and bed they could share for a minimum of twenty-four hours.
Epilogue
Marco DiSanti took a deep breath and his lungs filled with the succulent scent of charred Kobe beef steak. Just cooked enough to get a crust, but rare enough to preserve the marbled beauty of the meat.
He slid the steak out of the pan and onto the perfectly plated bed of roasted leeks and the fragrant ramps he’d searched for months to find.
Francis DuBois sat at the silver prep table in the center of the kitchen, holding his knife and fork like a cartoon toddler ready to chomp on a dinosaur leg.
Drooled like one.
“What’s taking so long?” Aria called out from beside her father, in that cute, petulant tone she had that made him want to bite her lip.
“It has to be perfect, babe.” He spooned some of the pan juices over the black and gold crust of the still sizzling steak. “It’s your alpha.”
“And your alpha,” she laughed. “But he’s not going to kick you out of the pack if you accidentally over-cook a steak.”
“Don’t make any promises, Aria.” Francis’ tone carried a smirk, and Marco added the special swirl of the calabrian chili sauce. His favorite. His specialty.
He flourished the plate onto the table in front of Aria’s father, and leaned against the stove, waiting for the first bite.
The first bite was the best.
Aria raised an eyebrow and reached for his hand. “Daddy likes his meat, I guess.”
“Everyone, quiet.” Francis held out his fork with the first bite of steak, and closed his eyes as he put the meat i
n his mouth. He chewed. His lips curled up into a smile. “Son. You can cook. That’s for sure.”
“That means you can have me.” Aria’s tone was playful, almost overtly sexual.
Marco still hadn’t gotten used to being so open about their sex life, and wasn’t sure he ever would. But it certainly curled his hair, the things she did in bed…
This woman.
This woman.
He would never get enough of her.
A buzzing in his pocket shocked him.
The three of them exchanged a long look. This was the call. They’d been waiting for hours. His phone read a 336 area code. North Carolina.
He swiped at the front and immediately heard a whoosh of wind in his ear. “Rain?” he asked.
“Is this Marco?”
“Yes.”
“Is Aria there with you? And Francis?”
“Yes.” Marco slid his phone onto the stainless steel table top and hit the speakerphone. “Now we can all hear you.”
Rain’s voice disappeared under the wind again, but he cleared his throat and the words were much clearer.
“Adrian Rossi is dead.”
Aria’s smile dimmed and she cast her father a worried glance. “So it’s over?”
“It’s over,” Rain said, his words slow. “We got onto the island and Rossi managed to corner us in a bunker. If we hadn’t killed him, he would’ve killed us.”
Francis took a deep breath. “Rainier.”
“I know, sir.”
“You promised me.”
“I did.”
Marco raised an eyebrow at Aria. She shook her head and walked around the table. With anxiety bubbling in her chest, she slipped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back, holding him.
“The alphas aren’t going to be pleased,” Francis said.
“I know, Uncle Francis. I wish we could’ve brought him back for questioning.”
Aria squeezed Marco’s chest and whispered over his shoulder, “Are you okay?”
He paused, looking inside like he never had before.
Am I okay? There didn’t seem to be an answer coming back. Did that mean he was okay? Or that he wasn’t?