Their Shifter Princess 3: Coven's Revenge

by May Dawson

  But his lips were on mine, and that happy ending was here for the taking, so I kissed him over and over again. I let the fears and the sadness and the past drop away.

  And I was here in the moment, with this man I loved, and the magic between us.

  Chapter 44

  When I emerged into the hall with Sebastian, Logan still stood in the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest.

  Logan pursed his lips. “I hope you appreciate that I missed the rest of the witch-killing for you.”

  “I do,” I told him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. Despite his dour look, he still kissed me back when I brushed my lips over the corner of his mouth, and then kissed me more intensely, straightening from the wall, as if I had caught his attention.

  He squeezed me around the waist before he pulled away. He looked over my shoulder to Sebastian. “I’m glad you’re well, brother.”

  So he wasn’t jealous.

  Seb smiled. “You only call me brother when you want something.”

  It was the same thing Finn had said earlier, and Logan rolled his eyes in response. I expected a glib response, but instead, he smacked Seb’s shoulder playfully.

  “I’ve got everything I want right now,” Logan said gruffly. “We all made it through alive. And thanks to Piper…unharmed.”

  A mercenary stumbled through the door and turned. He held out a gun, back toward the door, and I couldn’t see who he was aiming at. Logan started forward.

  The white wolf with green eyes slammed into the mercenary, his teeth ripping into the mercenary’s throat.

  Nick.

  The merc dropped, and Nick shook his head as he backed off. He looked toward us, gave us a brief nod, and turned and raced back out of the house. He was in control of his wolf. He was so different from when I’d first met him as a wolf.

  “I guess he’s all grown up now,” I muttered. Nick was dangerous and competent now, but it made me ache for the innocent boy I’d met just a few months ago. We had both changed so much. I wondered, when this was all over, if he would still have the silly, sweet side I loved so much.

  “We’ll need to address the packs,” Arthur said from down the hall. He and Tuck walked toward us. There was blood on Arthur’s shirt, and he looked dangerous. And handsome.

  He wrapped his arm around me and dropped a kiss in my hair. His eyes locked on Sebastian, and he nodded. “Glad to see you, little brother.”

  Sebastian nodded back.

  “You’d think you guys could hug or something,” I grumbled.

  Seb’s lips lifted in a lazy grin. “One step at a time, Piper. That was pretty emotive for Arthur.”

  “I’ll show you emotive,” Arthur said. His arm was still around me, and he dipped me back dramatically before he planted his lips on mine. Despite everything, I was laughing when he stood me back on my feet.

  Tuck still stood in the background, looking uncomfortable, and Arthur cleared his throat as he turned toward him.

  “The Shenandoah pack is going to take their cubs and go home,” Arthur told us all. “Tonight.”

  There was a grimness to his voice, and I said, “Arthur, their alpha is dead… the one who started this.”

  He nodded. “I know, Piper. Believe me…I’m done with fighting, if there’s any way to be done with fighting.” He seemed to hesitate, then as if he wanted to say so much to me but he knew we were surrounded by the others. “I need to address the pack.”

  “I’ll be here.” I smiled at him.

  “My pack’s on your side now,” Tuck said. Then, uncertainly, he specified, “On Piper’s side.”

  “What does that mean?” Logan demanded.

  “She commanded some of my men to stand down, and they did,” Tuck said. “She seems to have the power to command them. As if she were an alpha…”

  “She killed Rippedthroat,” Logan mused.

  “She’s also always been a queen,” Callum said from the down the hall. He looked weary and bloodied, but his amber eyes were bright in his dusty face. “She’s our queen.”

  I felt a blush rise in my cheeks, embarrassed to be identified as special in any way. “Come on. All I’ve done is—”

  “Nope.” Callum took me in his arms as he interrupted me. His expression was fond, no matter how stern his voice. “You don’t get to tell us again that you aren’t special. We know you better than that.”

  I couldn’t meet his gaze, when his gold-flecked amber eyes were so intense on mine, so I kissed him instead.

  “Watch after our girl while I address the packs,” Arthur told Callum, clapping his shoulder with his hand. He nodded to Tuck, and the two of them headed outside.

  A few minutes later, the rest of us were in the library. Kai carried Maddie in, and the two of them sat down at my feet. Maddie crawled into my lap, and I hugged her tight. It reminded me of the first time I’d met her, something I remembered now and she did too.

  Callum was right. Those memories didn’t change anything. She was still my sister, and I’d still do anything for her. Even if this meant our past was even worse than I’d realized, at least we had each other as we came to terms with what Rippedthroat had done to us. I would help her heal, and I would lean on my men to help me move forward myself.

  Nick entered, looking sheepish at first, but came over when I beckoned him in for a hug. Sebastian and Finn hugged each other like they were grateful to see each other, and then went right back to their usual banter. It made me smile.

  Maddie rested her head on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arms around her.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her again, feeling like I’d said it over and over, but when she clung to me like she was now, I felt like I could never make this up to her.

  “Just try not to do it again,” she said.

  A smile twisted my lips, because I certainly did not plan to do anything like this, ever again.

  This time, he was really dead and gone.

  “Never again,” I promised, even though Lord only knew what kind of new trouble was waiting ahead of me one day.

  For now, though, this battle was over.

  Callum sat beside me, and I leaned into his arms, letting him take my weight while I cared for Maddie.

  Arthur came into the room and closed the door behind him, looking around as if he was taking count. All ten of us were here: my eight men, myself, and my little sister. Everyone I loved in the world.

  “How did it go?” Logan asked.

  “The last of the mercs and witches are gone,” Arthur said. “The Shenandoah pack is on their way home with their cubs. I asked Tuck to stay to talk.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said. “I trust him.”

  Arthur nodded. “Then I suppose I do too.”

  It wasn’t entirely convincing, but it was a good effort. He wanted to show me that he trusted me and respected me as my own person.

  “I asked Joan to go home for the night.” Arthur shook his head, and his gaze lingered on Maddie. “There have to be consequences for what she did, but they can’t cause any more harm.”

  “Thank you,” I said softly. Joan might have betrayed the pack, but she was Maddie’s mother. Maddie would have enough pain to face with her biological parents, without pack justice making it worse.

  Arthur’s gaze flickered to Callum, who still stood possessively, with his arm around me. He inclined his head to Callum, his lips tightening dourly. I glanced up at Callum’s face, a second too late to see what had passed between them.

  I hated that they were still fighting when they’d also fought so much together, to protect me and their packs.

  “And if there’s no more fighting to do,” I said, “we all need to talk.”

  “Three days of Hell and that’s the first thing I’ve heard that strikes fear into my heart,” Arthur murmured, which made me smile. I was still smiling when he leaned in, ignoring Callum, and brushed his lips over mine.

  I couldn’t help it—with one arm still clinging to Callum, I grabbed Arthur�
��s jaw and kissed him back. My smile fell away as we traded quick, frantic kisses.

  Then Arthur broke away. “I’ve got to see the Shenandoah pack’s boats away. Then this will really be over.”

  As if he would not be able to stop if he went on kissing me, he turned away and strode from the room.

  “I should go with him,” Logan said. He looked to Finn and Seb. “Come with me. It’s time you took your rightful places in the pack.”

  “Maybe we should let the pack adjust to one big change at a time,” Finn said.

  “Shut up,” Logan said, and the three of them were bantering as they head out of the room. It made me smile.

  I was alone in the room with the Northern pack, my first pack, and Maddie, who leaned against me now with her arm around my waist. I wasn’t sure which one of us was holding the other up.

  Josh said, “Well, I’ve wanted to take care of you from the first moment I saw you in homeroom, when it was clear you were in trouble…but then it turns out you’re taking care of us.”

  “I think that’s a generous way of putting it,” I said drily.

  “You’re the one who finally put an end to him.” Callum said. Him. There was no need to use his name anymore. Sullivan. Rippedthroat. My father.

  “I couldn’t have done it on my own,” I said. “You guys brought an end to the war. Are all the mercenaries and the witches really…”

  “I’m sure there will be patrols going out across the island,” Callum said. “To make sure. But…the body count was pretty high.”

  “You don’t have to do it on your own,” Nick reminded me, touching my arm. “We’d do anything for you.”

  His eyes were shadowed, scruff growing in across his jaw. He looked as dangerous as Callum, as if he’d grown up in the past few days, and it made me want to curl up with him and tickle him until he laughed. He was handsome and manly but I wanted my Nick back, the boyish one out of all of them, the one who was as sweet and naïve as I felt.

  Of course, both of us had killed and maybe neither of us was ever as sweet and naïve as some took us to be.

  Or maybe we could be both.

  “I know,” I said.

  Kai stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Well? Where do we go from here?”

  “Do we need to figure that out tonight?” Josh asked.

  “I do,” Kai said bluntly. “I want to know if Piper’s going to stay with us or…”

  “I don’t want to make her choose,” Josh said.

  “She doesn’t have to choose,” Callum interrupted. “Our pack. Their pack. It’s all her pack now.”

  “But you and Arthur—”

  “Will do anything for you,” Callum said firmly.

  “Thank you,” I said. The words seemed so insufficient. To have both these two packs by my side forever…it was everything I wanted. It was everything I thought I couldn’t have.

  But Kai still stood restlessly at the end of the library, looking out through the big windows that overlooked the lawn.

  “Do you think I could talk to Kai for a minute?”

  “Of course,” Callum said smoothly. He held his arms out to Maddie. “Do you think you could come with me?”

  She nodded. “Are the witches really all gone?”

  “Let’s go see it for ourselves,” he said, and she put her hand in his like she trusted him to keep her safe. Lord knew I did.

  Josh and Nick both flashed me quick, encouraging smiles goodbye and then followed Callum and Maddie out of the room.

  When the door had closed behind them, I said, “Well, I’m sure you have something you want to say to me.”

  Something awful, I imagined.

  He shook his head. There was still a stiffness in his jaw, and he folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t know. What do you want me to say?”

  He was such a grouch. I chewed on my lower lip. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “You told me in the caves that you loved me.”

  And he didn’t believe me, because he didn’t want to share me with these other men I loved? Exasperation almost overwhelmed me. “Kai.”

  “Do you remember?” he asked me, taking my hand and drawing me up. Reluctantly, I went with him, dreading what he was going to say next. He pressed me against the wall, drawing my wrists above my head just like in the cave, and despite myself, I felt a reckless throb of lust. His lips brushed against the side of my throat, and I tilted my head to welcome him in. Even when I knew he’d probably hurt me in the end. “We were standing just like this?”

  “I remember,” I said, and my voice came out breathless.

  “I should have told you then that I love you too,” he said, and his voice came out fierce. “But I was a fool. I don’t care about anything else, Piper. I don’t care if you love them too. We’ll find a way. We’ll be a family. If you’ll just promise you’ll be here…”

  “I’ll be here,” I promised. His dark, glittering eyes were intimately near mine, his kissable, narrow mouth just inches away. “I’ll always be here.”

  “Then I’ll make it work,” he said, and his lips grazed mine. He breathed against my lips, “I love you, Piper Sullivan.”

  “I love you,” I promised him.

  When he kissed me, it felt like the world was shifting beneath my feet, and remaking itself into a better world than I’d known before he loved me.

  Chapter 45

  Despite the long day, we all gathered to eat dinner. The pack families were reunited with their children, joyfully busy with them, and the rest of the pack was resting. Callum took over in the kitchen, scrambling eggs and making pancakes. The ten of us hung out in that sterile, metal kitchen while Callum cooked, devouring bacon as soon as it came off the grill.

  No matter how much they’d gone through—and what promises they’d made--Callum and Arthur were still at each other’s throats. They made small, rude comments and side-eyed each other.

  “All right,” Logan said abruptly. “I’ve had it with this.”

  The two alphas looked at him sharply, and the expressions of irritation on their faces were eerily similar no matter how different they looked.

  “Logan’s right,” I said. “You two keep sniping at each other. You’re not listening.”

  Arthur rolled his eyes.

  “Listen to me for once,” I said.

  Arthur said, “I’m pretty sure that’s my line.”

  “No, when it’s your line it comes with a threat of spanking,” I said.

  Across the table, Kai choked on his orange juice.

  Arthur smiled, a faint, self-satisfied smile, and didn’t deny it.

  “Arthur,” Logan said, “would you please tell Callum what happened after his pack was attacked by the coven, all those years ago? He needs to know.”

  Arthur sighed. Callum’s gaze flickered to him, and his lips pursed doubtfully.

  Logan continued helpfully, “I can jump in to fill in any gaps.”

  Arthur narrowed his eyes at Logan and the implicit threat. But I leaned over and planted an approving kiss on Logan’s cheek, and Logan caught me with an arm around my waist. Arthur huffed.

  “Fine,” Arthur said. Then he hesitated, as Callum turned toward him, his eyebrows rising. I thought Arthur would refuse, and he said abruptly, “After you called me, I went to my father and told him everything. I asked him to bring you all back here. He asked if I really wanted to help after what happened in Blissford.” He hesitated, then said, “He asked why I wanted to help.”

  He said the why like it was a bad memory. Once again, I thought of the boys they’d been. Now I’d seen how terrifying the whip was and it made me furious for them, my own back aching sympathetically. But Arthur shook off the memory. “Anyway, my father forbade me to help.”

  Callum glanced away, as if being reminded of that desperate night on the run, orphaned and abandoned, made him emotional all over again.

  “So I stole a boat,” Arthur went on, and Callum’s head sn
apped back, his gaze fixing on Arthur, “and I sailed over to the mainland. I had to do something. I had to try…”

  He shook his head. “I took a car from the marina. I tried to think of everything, but they caught up to me. My father forced me off the road. I wrecked the car. I guess he would rather have had a dead son than a disobedient one.”

  “I didn’t know.” Callum sounded shocked.

  “It didn’t matter,” Arthur said. “I never managed to help you.”

  “And Arthur’s father strung him up for it,” Logan said, which brought to mind that damned whipping post, which was going to be chopped into kindling tomorrow. “Just like back in Blissford.”

  “I thought you abandoned us,” Callum said to Arthur.

  Arthur shrugged, as if it was nothing. “Might as well have. Your pack needed mine and we weren’t there.”

  “You weren’t the alpha then,” Callum said. “Everything would have been different.”

  I looked to Callum. “Athur told me about what happened in Blissford.”

  Callum sighed. “I’ve thought a lot about that lately. I felt something from you from the very first time I saw you, Piper. Desire, yeah, and protectiveness and possession. All the mate stuff. But there was something else, too.”

  He hesitated. “From the moment I saw you, I felt like we belonged together. It’s the way I felt when I found each of these guys.” He glanced around, looking to Nick, Josh and Kai. “Like I’d been missing a piece all those years. They’re like brothers to me, my pack, but more than that.”

  “A bond between you all,” Sebastian suggested, “with Piper at its center. Something more than pack.”

  “Yeah. A fated family.” Callum sighed. “I’ve felt that way about Arthur too, from the first time we met. We were like brothers, instantly. Inseparable. I could look at him and know what he was thinking.”

  “That’s why we fought together so well,” Arthur said.

  “Leave it to you to bring everything back to combat, but all right,” Callum said, and he smiled when he said it.

  “And then you stopped being friends,” I said.