Hidden Destiny (Redwood Pack)

by Ryan, Carrie Ann

  Caym had been smart to blood bond with Corbin—not that he knew how to be anything else but smart. When he’d first come to the Centrals and had found Hector lacking, Caym had decided to make Corbin is prey. They’d blood bonded as a rite of passage and tradition. For Corbin, it had been so he could have demon powers. Or at least that’s what Caym had told him. That stupid fool. Corbin had received nothing from the deal but a good orgasm while Caym now had control of the entire Central Pack as Alpha.

  Oh no, he’d planned for the eventual fall of both Hector and Corbin and had known that one day he would stand as Alpha for a group of wolves he was slowly killing.

  It didn’t matter.

  They would die, as would the other wolves.

  Then he would rule what was left.

  The sound of the drums beat faster, and wolves fought against each other in dominance battles, blood spilling over the soil, enriching the battle. He inhaled the coppery scent, letting it linger over him.

  He’d planned since the day he’d come all those years ago, and now everything was coming to fruition. Yes, the Redwoods had gotten in some punches, but now they were licking their wounds.

  He’d taken limbs, sight, pride, and innocence, and soon he’d take their lives.

  The Centrals were prepared for battle, and the Redwoods were scrambling for a resolution that would never come. This is what he savored, what he desired above all else. They stood by their decisions to stay light and pure, and it would kill them. He’d plucked out those who would fall to him and go dark, but the rest stood strong on a path that would eventually lead to the death of what they held most dear.

  He would see their blood running in rivers through their precious land, and he’d rejoice. He was a demon, not something to be trifled with. Corbin’s loss meant nothing to him but the end of a dalliance that had done nothing but bore him. The Central wolves were so far gone in their downfall they didn’t care that a blood-bonded demon and not a wolf now stood in the position of their Alpha. They didn’t care that the goddess hadn’t seen fit to reveal the Beta and the Heir. They didn’t have the other positions and that meant the goddess was giving up on the Centrals. At least that’s what Caym thought anyway. The lack of real connection to the goddess was good though, which meant Caym didn’t have another in competition for the loyalty of the Pack.

  It didn’t matter, as the Centrals would soon die and Caym would remain strong.

  He was Alpha.

  He was a god.

  He was the savior.

  He was eternity.

  He would not fail.

  Coming Next in the Redwood Pack world:

  Jasper and Willow find their peace in a novella that visits them one last time: A Beta’s Haven, coming Feb 14th, 2014.

  Then the Redwood Pack Princess and the wolf that just might save them all get their story in the final installment of the Redwood Pack:

  Fighting Fate, coming June 2014

  A Note from Carrie Ann

  Thank you so much for reading Hidden Destiny! It seems like forever ago that I started the Redwood Pack book and now we’re at book 6 in the series. North and Lexi were a blast to write even when it pained me to put them through what I did. I do hope if you liked this story, that you would please leave a review. Not only does a review spread the word to other readers, they let us authors know if you’d like to see more stories like this from us. I love hearing from readers and talking to them when I can. If you want to make sure you know what’s coming next from me, you can sign up for my newsletter at www.CarrieAnnRyan.com; follow me on twitter at @CarrieAnnRyan, or like my Facebook page. I also have a Facebook Fan Club where we have trivia, chats, and other goodies. You guys are the reason I get to do what I do and I thank you.

  What’s next in my Redwood Pack world? Next month (Feb 2014), I’m releasing my next after the HEA novella called A Beta’s Haven. In it we get to see a glimpse into Jasper and Willow’s life since we saw them fall in love in A Taste for a Mate. Not everything is sunshine and roses once an author says The End in a book and I’m so excited for you guys to see a little more about Jasper and Willow. The next—and last—full length book in the Redwood Pack series is Fighting Fate. While it does come out in June, I am just now starting to write it. I can already tell you that Cailin and Logan’s story is the hardest I’ve had to write. It doesn’t help that I don’t want to say goodbye to these characters.

  You don’t have to worry though because this year I also have 2 more Redwood Pack novellas, and then in 2015, we will see the start of a brand new series, The Talon Pack. We’re going 30 years into the future and not letting go of the Redwoods. You’ll see them again, only this time, you get to meet a whole new batch of Alpha wolves.

  Thank you so much for going on this journey with me and I do hope you loved North and Lexi’s story as much I did. Without you readers, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

  Thank you again for reading and I do hope to see you again.

  Carrie Ann

  About this Author

  USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.

  Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.

  www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

  Also from this Author

  Now Available:

  Redwood Pack Series:

  An Alpha’s Path

  A Taste for a Mate

  Trinity Bound

  A Night Away

  Enforcer’s Redemption

  Blurred Expectations

  Forgiveness

  Shattered Emotions

  Hidden Destiny

  Holiday, Montana Series:

  Charmed Spirits

  Santa’s Executive

  Finding Abigail

  Her Lucky Love

  Dreams of Ivory

  Dante’s Circle Series:

  Dust of My Wings

  Her Warriors’ Three Wishes

  An Unlucky Moon

  Ever After

  Montgomery Ink:

  Ink Inspired

  Coming Soon:

  Redwood Pack

  A Beta’s Haven

  Fighting Fate

  Loving the Omega

  Dark Fates

  Dante’s Circle:

  Tangled Innocence

  Fierce Enchantment

  Montgomery Ink:

  Ink Reunited

  Delicate Ink

  An Unlucky Moon

  From USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Dante’s Circle Series

  Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another romance from Fated Desires?

  Chapter One

  The fiery depths of hell were a cool afterthought compared to the torment of what lay before him. Hunter Brooks ducked the punch aimed at his head and rolled to the ground, coming up on his feet a few yards away. He never let his gaze leave his opponent, even as he moved his arm to stop a kick to the neck.

  The low roll of thunder in the distance set his wolf on edge, but he tamped it down. The rain would come eventually, and Hunter wanted to make sure he was done with this before then. The circle was already a mud pit, the wet sludge clinging to his torn jeans—he didn’t want to deal with more of that.

  His wolf brushed along the inside of his skin, an animalistic presence that wanted revenge, blood, and death.

  The man within him wanted the same thing.

  The other wolf came at him at his fastest speed, but Hunter was faster. His hands shifted to claws, an
d he slashed out, catching the other wolf along the shoulder. His opponent screamed as blood seeped from the deep wound, but Hunter didn’t care. He squeezed his fingers together, cutting the other man deeper.

  His opponent met his gaze, the anger all but lashing out at him.

  Hunter had seen the depravity of a winged demon bent on quenching its thirst and lust on decaying corpses within the depths of the gladiator games.

  This wolf had nothing on that.

  His opponent slashed his claws down Hunter’s side, but Hunter moved too fast for the other wolf to break the skin.

  He’d spent enough time playing around with this wolf, allowing him to think he actually had a chance. Hunter lifted a lip and showed fang, growling deep within his chest. The air around him seemed to freeze, and time stood still.

  Hunter cocked his head to the side as fear seeped into the other wolf’s eyes. Finally, the other wolf knew its life relied on Hunter’s mercy.

  The others called Hunter an animal.

  They called him depraved.

  Soulless.

  Yes, this wolf had something to fear, but death would not be among them.

  Not today.

  Hunter kicked out then twisted, causing the other wolf to fall to his knees in pain. He gripped the bastard by the neck and squeezed.

  “Forfeit,” Hunter growled, his voice scraping against his throat from lack of use.

  The other wolf’s eyes rolled back, and then he slammed his hand to the ground twice.

  The murmurs and howls around them forced Hunter to look at the crowd. He and the other wolf stood in the center of the Nocturne Pack circle, blood and mud covering their bodies and worn jeans. Other members of his Pack growled around them. Some had looks of relief on their faces. Others held a bit of fear…or anger.

  The latter would have to be dealt with soon.

  “Matthew calls forfeit,” Liam Murray, council member and one-time friend, called out. “It is up to Hunter whether to call death, but the circle has chosen. Hunter is our Beta.”

  “As it should have been in the first place,” Josiah, their Alpha, spat. “I have spoken and the circle has agreed. My choice reigns.”

  “For now,” Dorian Masterson whispered, though Hunter wasn’t sure if anyone else had heard the bastard.

  Hunter had keener senses than most wolves due to his bloodline and destiny. His stint in the gladiator games of hell had only honed them stronger. He’d been back only a month, and he still didn’t feel as though he fit in his skin. Everything had changed in his absence.

  The council had grown with more power. His Alpha had grown weaker without Hunter there to protect him. Josiah’s last protector had perished

  Samuel…Samuel, Hunter’s brother, had died protecting the Alpha when the council had tried to take over.

  None of it made sense to Hunter. He’d fought for his life countless times and killed so many demons and other supernaturals that he wasn’t sure the blood would ever leave his hands, yet when he’d returned to the human realm, he’d faced another battle.

  His own Pack.

  Hunter rolled his shoulders then stalked toward his Alpha, who stood surrounded by the five council members. That alone pissed him off to no end. The council should have no place near the Alpha. There were only advisors on good days and whispers on bad ones.

  Yet they stood there and had demanded a fight to the death to secure the position of Beta.

  A position that Samuel had held.

  A position Hunter had held before he’d been taken by the demons and forced to serve.

  He knelt in front of his alpha, glaring at the others as he did so.

  “My Alpha,” Hunter grumbled then turned his head to the side to bare his neck. Others gasped around him, but he ignored them. They should have been the ones to bare their necks, but they’d become lax in their duties and rituals.

  They’d thought the Pack was a democracy.

  They would soon be proven wrong.

  Josiah put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder and nodded. “You’re a fine Beta, Hunter. You will make me proud. You make me proud.”

  Something warm started to fill him, piercing through the ice at his Alpha’s words, then dissipated. His wolf howled within him and hardened against the intrusion. No, it wouldn’t do any good to warm at his Alpha’s words.

  Hunter wasn’t a warm man. He was a killer—his Alpha’s killer. He’d been raised to be that wolf, and he’d fulfilled that promise in hell. Now he was back within the confines of his Pack and ready to kill again.

  Or at least that’s what he told himself.

  “Hunter, good fight,” Alec Brennan, another of Hunter’s one-time friends and council member, said as he slapped his shoulder. “You almost killed that Lloyd wolf.” A vicious gleam entered Alec’s eyes, and Hunter grunted.

  “Let the wolf live in his memory of defeat,” Hunter growled. “I’m not in the mood to kill a useless slug who isn’t worthy of the title Beta.”

  “Watch what you say about my son,” Gregory Lloyd snarled. The older council member tried to come at him, his teeth bared, but Alistair Jacobs—the remaining council member—held him back.

  “It would do no good to fight like animals,” Alistair drawled. “We might have the wolves at our beck and call, but we will remain civilized.”

  Hunter snorted at that. There had to be over a hundred wolves surrounding them in human form, each shirtless, ready to shift if necessary. Each adult male—and some of the juveniles—were marred with scars and tattoos that celebrated their victories in battle.

  At any moment, since the circle was over, they could break out in brawls to release the tension.

  There were only two ways to release the tension riding through their bodies—fighting and sex. As wolves, they didn’t care about privacy and modesty. If there was a woman—or a man, if that was their inclination—in front of them, they’d fuck them hard, letting the stress and worries from the day seep away.

  Since there were no willing partners at the moment, Hunter was sure a fight would break out soon. Blood and sweat would soon permeate through the air, filling Hunter’s nostrils to override the stench of betrayal and anger that poured from the wolves that had lost their hope today.

  Today, like most other days, fighting would rule over sex.

  The females were back in their homes—what few females they had. Wolves were born, not bitten, in their world, unlike what the fandoms believed. Though it was easy to get pregnant, it was hard as hell to keep that baby and even harder to produce a girl.

  Their absence at the circle meeting had been the council’s decision, not the Alpha’s. Their history had always held their women in deep respect. Not only were they wolves in their own right, but strong fighters as well. They were feared among the men if someone threatened their pup.

  Yet the council had declared them weak in Hunter’s four-year absence. Apparently the women—and men—who had fought back against the council taking over had been beaten or killed.

  Nothing was right in the Nocturne Pack.

  Hunter kept blaming the council for all of it, but he knew it wasn’t the five of them. No, it was three of them who held the power—or at least thought they did.

  For now.

  “Come on,” Liam whispered. “Let’s look at those cuts of yours at my place. It will rain soon anyway. I’d prefer not to get my hair wet.” He grinned at his last remark, but Hunter didn’t respond. Unspoken was their need to talk about the undercurrents within the circle.

  Hunter had been back in the human realm for a full month, yet change took time. After Ambrose, Jamie, and Balin—and of course the young demon, Fawkes—had rescued him from the depths of hell, he’d returned to the realm he’d grown up in.

  Unlike most supernaturals, wolf shifters and some other types of shifters lived within the human realm but were hidden deep within the forests. Their own magic kept the humans away and their secrets buried. Other supernaturals lived in other realms that were accessible th
rough only the human realm. It was as if the humans themselves were the glue that held everyone together.

  Fitting considering the humans weren’t really humans at all but merely diluted down versions of supernaturals themselves. They didn’t know the things that went bump in the night were real and had no idea that, within themselves, they held the ability to change into another being…if something were to alter their course, that is.

  Hunter had grown up with the humans around him and his Pack at his side. They might be dark and depraved in the best of times, but he’d loved them like his own.

  He’d thought he’d return to the Pack he’d known, but that had not been the case.

  Four years was a long time to be gone.

  Everything had changed and not for the better. Though one thing might offer the light on his horizon.

  He’d left her alone so he could find his place and be better for her. Now it was time.

  He’d find her soon. His Becca.

  “You must be thinking about a woman,” Alec teased as they made their way back to Liam’s home. “You’re smiling.”

  Hunter grunted then walked inside the place with Liam and Alec following. He turned on the lights and stretched his arms over his head. He was damned tired after that run even though he still felt a bit on edge since he hadn’t hunted big game.

  “I don’t smile,” Hunter growled.

  Alec just shook his head and stole a beer from Liam’s fridge. Liam scowled and slapped the back of Alec’s head.

  “You never ask to take my shit,” Liam snapped.

  Alec frowned. “I didn’t think I had to, Murray,” he drawled.

  Hunter blinked at the two of them, their tension different than it had been before he’d been gone. While before the two had always bickered and annoyed each other, this felt different. Before they’d always smile and get over it, the tension dissipating after a few moments. Now, though, there seemed to be an underlying current between the two that Hunter couldn’t quite put his finger on.