by Davis, Lia;
Tension filled the air, and Edwin’s dark power washed over her. She was so not experienced enough to power play with him. Just hit him with everything you’ve got.
Edwin’s hand twitched, and she gave him everything she had. Power extended from both of her palms to hit the rogue Alpha. Fear stole her breath as she realized too late her mistake. Instead of knocking him on his ass, the power went into him like he was absorbing it. Then it rebounded, hitting her in the chest and knocking her into the wall behind her. Pain exploded through her, and she fought for air.
Lifting her gaze to Edwin, she tried to slam her shields in place—the ones she’d created to keep Ross out. But it was too late. Edwin was already inside her mind, pulling at her power. He was draining her.
No!
He couldn’t have it. Yet she was too weak to fight him off. The more she tried to block him, the more the darkness pulled her under.
The last thing she heard before she passed out was Solon’s voice in her mind.
“The gods gave you a gift. They will not allow someone like Edwin to have it.”
She didn’t understand his meaning and was too tired to think…
Fourteen
Cooper roared as Dana vanished. He felt her panic a split second before she was teleported away. Through the bond, she tried to reach out to him. Cooper let out a growl filled with rage. The only other male powerful enough to teleport her besides her brother was Edwin.
Darin materialized beside him. "Where is she?"
Cooper faced his new brother-in-law and snarled, "Edwin. She locked on him, and he took her. Solon, too. Solon said something about a bunker ten miles north of here."
"Fuck!" Darin threaded a hand through his hair and paced the floor. "The idiot bastard. It has to be a trap for both of us."
The Alpha wasn't making much sense. "A trap?"
"The only bunker I know of in the area is the one Ross used. It must be a family hideout or rogue HQ. I wondered why the rogue suddenly left." Darin pulled at his hair, his eyes going dark. The air crackled around them.
Cooper grabbed the Alpha's arm, drawing a growl so powerful that Cooper almost bared his neck, submitted to the Alpha power. Almost. "Take me to her. We end this. Combine your magic with hers."
Darin shook his head. "Too dangerous. Apart, our magic is unlike any other. Together, it’s explosive. No one would be able to control it."
Cooper didn't back down. That was his mate. "Somehow, I balance her. She focuses better. We are the only ones who can save her and our Packs."
With a sharp nod, Darin teleported them.
They materialized a few feet from a mound of trees and grass. Offset to the left was an entrance. Cooper moved toward it but stopped when Darin grabbed his upper arm. "Not that way."
Cooper studied the male as he turned to move around the bunker. Did it have a back door? "I can't sense her." Cooper's heart rate sped up. He’d thought once he was closer to her he'd sense her. What if...
Darin whirled around and growled. "Stop. And no, I'm not trying to read your thoughts. You are broadcasting them to me, trying to search for her. She's alive."
The other male turned too soon for Cooper to read his eyes. The way he’d said she was alive told him there was something else.
Pushing the thought out of his mind, he followed Darin around the bunker, close to the wall. Darin stopped and placed a hand on the grassy wall. When Cooper stepped close, the other male gripped his wrist. The next thing Cooper knew, they were inside the bunker. Scanning the small room, Cooper spotted Dana curled up in the corner. His chest tightened. Breathing became restricted.
Rushing to her, he cradled her to this chest. When she snuggled into him, he sagged in relief. "Dana, open up. We need to take Edwin out."
She didn't say anything, and he thought she hadn’t heard him. Before he repeated himself, the link to their mating bond opened. Her pain hit him hard. He glanced up at Darin. "She needs a Healer."
A low growl was the Alpha's response. "Link to her magic and teleport back to your Pack. I'll get Solon."
"No." Dana lifted her head. "Give me a minute."
A moment later, she shifted into a beautiful, white and grey wolf. Then she started to…glow?
Cooper lifted his gaze to Darin, who stared at his sister and said, "She's speeding up her own healing ability." Then his eyes widened. "And she's drawing from both Healers."
"Is that even possible? Is it because she’s a charmed wolf?"
"It may be part of it, but I think it’s because she’s my twin and will always be linked to me and Whiskey Hollow. Now that she’s the Alpha of Bloodrose, she’s linked to both Packs.”
Cooper nodded and watched his powerful, beautiful mate.
* * *
Connecting to Piper and Bree at the same time took more effort than Dana realized. But both Healers were more than pleased to help while at the same time annoyed with her for getting hurt in the first place. Dana wished she could hug them both.
She couldn't ask for two stronger Healers. Although Piper wasn't technically hers.
After several minutes that could have been an hour, Dana broke her connections with the Healers and stood on all fours. She stretched and shook. Turning her head, she licked Cooper's cheek before shifting back to human and conjuring clothes at the same time.
"Hi, handsome."
He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Then he framed her face and crushed his lips to hers in a dominating, raw kiss. She moaned and leaned into it.
Darin cleared his throat. "We have rogues to kill."
Dana shook her head. "They are here." She stood and reached for Cooper. He took her elbow, and she leaned into him. "Edwin... Solon turned on me. It was all a trap. Edwin and I fought, magic against magic." Everything that had happened gave her a headache since she wasn't at full power. "The rogue bastard shot me with a ball of magic. When I tried to do the same to him, he used some kind of spell to drain my powers."
Cooper's arms tightened around her. "We need to get her home. She needs to rest, and we need to create a plan."
Darin nodded. "I'll update the council and advise that they spread the word that Edwin has gone rogue."
Dana rested her head on Cooper's shoulder. He scooped her up into his arms, which she was grateful for." "The council has already deemed him rogue, but yes, they need to be updated." She buried her nose in Cooper's neck, inhaling her mate's scent. "Take me home."
"As you wish, my mate."
Darin nodded and placed a hand on each of them then teleported them to Cooper's house.
Once her brother had left, Dana cupped her mate's face in her hands. "I love you. I think I started falling for you the first time I saw you even though I resisted. It just took me a little while to give in."
He kissed her quick. "I love you, too."
Epilogue
Dana stared out the kitchen window, sipping her coffee. It’d been a week since Edwin’s attack on the den and Solon’s supposed betrayal. Her heart ached at lying to her Pack and especially her mate. Hence why she’d decided to tell him today. After all, he was her mate and the one person she was supposed to tell her secrets to.
Cooper sat down across from her at the small nook and lifted a brow. She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “I need you to forgive Solon.”
“Not happening. Did you forget that he left you for dead?”
She met Cooper’s green gaze and leaned forward and kept her tone low so no one would hear their conversation. “Hear me out. Solon did his job. Darin placed him in Bloodrose as a spy back in the Ross days. Solon decided to go rogue so Edwin would believe he had betrayed me. I didn’t expect Edwin to drain my powers like he did. A miscalculation on my part that will not happen again. Now, Solon is playing rogue, learning Edwin’s secrets, but I’m worried he’ll lose himself to that life. I feel guilty every time I look at Bree.”
Tears filled her eyes, and Cooper moved around the table to s
it closer to her. He pulled her into a hug. “You made a call. I wish you had waited until Darin and I got there, but what is done is done. We’ll have to get him out.”
She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. “Axle says Edwin hasn’t been back to the bunker and none of the underground groups have heard from him.”
The underground groups were small Packs that bordered the line between law-abiding wolves and lawbreakers. The council still considered them rogues by definition of the law. For the most part, the underground groups weren’t evil or bloodthirsty. They didn’t kill except when they had no choice.
“Maybe Solon is distracting him to give you time to heal.”
Dana shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You doubt him? What does your gut tell you?”
“I’m not sure. It’s mixed between distrust and hope. Maybe my judgment is clouded by what Ross did to me and the Pack. He used my power for his own personal gain. I’m not going to trust anyone without them proving their loyalty.” Cooper kissed her forehead. She sighed and leaned into him.
“I’ll prove it to you everyday for the rest of our lives.” He pulled back and cupped Dana’s face. Then waggled his brows. “Of course, if I step out of line, you could find creative ways to punish me.”
“Yeah, like making you sleep outside.”
“That’s cold.” He laughed and kissed her.
The doorbell rang, followed by the sound of tiny feet running down the hallway. Dana smiled and stood. “Bree.”
The Healer was there to help Dana with getting Hope’s hearing back.
Dana smiled at the four-year-old bouncing excitedly at the front door, a wide smile on her lips. Opening the door, Dana welcomed Bree with a smile while signing and speaking, “Someone is excited to see you.”
Bree laughed and signed, “I wonder why.”
Hope took the Healer’s hand and tugged her into the living room. Bree let out a laugh and jogged after the little girl that had stolen Dana’s heart. When they were settled on the floor with Hope sitting between them, Bree asked, “How are we going to do this?”
Dana studied Hope. “Well, when my magic touched Hope’s with my hands over her ears, she heard me talk. I was hoping you could tap into our magic and heal whatever is making her deaf.”
Bree nodded and reached out to Hope, cupping her ears with both of her hands. Closing her eyes, Bree was quiet for some time before opening her eyes and smiling. “It’ll work.”
“It will? You sure?”
With a nod, Bree spoke to Dana telepathically. “There’s nothing wrong with her hearing. My guess is she chooses not to hear or to acknowledge that she can hear. For whatever reason, she is more comfortable using sign language.”
Interesting. “So we make her believe we can heal her?”
Bree nodded, then signed to Hope, “Are you ready?”
Hope nodded. Dana placed her hands over the girl’s ears, and Bree covered Dana’s hands. Together, Dana and the Healer connected with Hope’s magic and her wolf, allowing a small amount of their healing power into her. It didn’t take long for them to find the root of Hope’s psychological block on her hearing and talking. The four-year-old had created a mental shield around her senses, especially hearing and speaking.
Curious, Dana took the extra step to search for the memories behind the shield. If she could alter or erase the memory, then Hope wouldn’t need the shield anymore. Focusing on the last thing Hope had heard, Dana found what she was looking for.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she relived the child’s memory. It was when Hope and her mother had come to the Pack. Edwin had scared her, as if she could sense the darkness inside the rogue. However, it was two nights after when they had settled into Edwin’s house and she heard her mother’s screams of pain and pleas that had caused the damage.
It was all Dana could do to keep her anger under control. Deciding it was better that Hope never remember hearing Edwin abusing her mother, Dana erased the memories from her mind. She replaced the void with the idea of being asleep and waking up unaware of what Edwin had done.
When Dana finished, she and Bree removed their hands and waited.
Hope glanced around the room and found Cooper. She smiled, stood, and then rushed to him. He hugged her tightly and whispered, “Love you, peanut.”
With a jerk of her head, Hope pulled back and stared at him. Then she glanced to Dana and laughed. “I hear you. All of you.”
Dana’s heart filled with joy and love for her new family members. Then she turned to Bree and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”
Bree sighed and leaned into the hug. “You did it, not me.” Bree lifted her head and smiled. “I’m proud to call you my Alpha. Together, we can heal the Pack even if it’s one Packmate at a time.
Her heart filling and expanding, Dana kissed the Healer’s forehead—an act an Alpha would do to strengthen the bond between them. “It’s not going to be easy.”
Cooper added, “But we’ll rebuild and make the Huston-Reed Pack stronger and more powerful than ever.”
Dana rose to her knees and moved to Cooper and Hope. She drew both of them into a tight hug. “I love you. Both of you.”
Cooper pressed his lips to Dana’s for a quick kiss, then kissed Hope’s forehead. “I love you, too. My Alpha. My mate.” Then he held out a hand to Bree, who moved to them. “Our Healer and family. If you ever feel like you need a parental figure to punish you for something, Dana and I are here.”
Bree laughed while tears slid down her cheeks. She hugged them, Hope included. “Thank you.”
Dana sniffed, unable to stop the emotions from escaping. She had not only learned to control her powers, she had also embraced them and gained a new family and a Pack that needed her in the process.
Tomorrow, she’d worry about tracking down Edwin and his band of rogues. Tonight, she would enjoy her family.
The End
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About the Author
In 2008, Lia Davis ventured into the world of writing and publishing and never looked back. She has published more than twenty books, including the bestselling A Tiger’s Claim, book one in her fan favorite Ashwood Falls series. Her novels feature compassionate yet strong alpha heroes who know how to please their women and her leading ladies are each strong in their own way. No matter what obstacle she throws at them, they come out better in the end.
While writing was initially a way escape from real world drama, Lia now makes her living creating worlds filled with magic, mystery, romance, and adventure so that others can leave real life behind for a few hours at a time.
Lia’s favorite things are spending time with family, traveling, reading, writing, chocolate, coffee, nature and hanging out with her kitties. She and her family live in Northeast Florida battling hurricanes and very humid summers, but it’s her home and she loves it!
Learn More About Lia
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Other Books by Lia Davis
Paranormals
Ashwood Falls Series
Winter Eve
A Tiger’s Claim
A Mating Dance
Surrendering to the Alpha
A Rebel’s Heart
Divided Loyalties
Touch of Desire
A Leopard’s Path
Jaguar’s Judgment
Bears of Blackrock
Bear Essentials
Bear Magick
A Beary Sweet Holiday
Sons of War Series
War’s Passion
Ash
es of War
Artemis’s Hunt
Chaotic War
Sons of War Box Set: Volume One
Shifting Magick Trilogy
Moon Curse
Moon Kissed
Moon Mated
Shifting Magick Trilogy box set
The Divinities
Forgotten Visions
Death’s Storm
Dark Divine
Divine Awakening
Blood and Stone (Vampire Lords)
It’s A Vampire Christmas
Single Titles
First Contact
Contemporaries
Pleasures of the Heart Series
Business Pleasures
Red Hot Pleasures
Single Titles
His Guarded Heart