by Davis, Lia;
“He’s starting to mature.” Rhea poured herself a beer then handed the pitcher to Alec.
“Yeah, he’s a good kid, just needs something to focus on.” Alec set the pitcher in the middle of the table and picked up the food menu. “Have you considered letting them start the junior Enforcer trainee group? We’re starting new classes in about a month.”
Jasmine shook her head. “They’re too young.” She met Dane’s stare and saw something she didn’t recognize. “Plus they don’t have to be Enforcers just because Dad was.”
A lump formed in her throat, but she swallowed it. Hayden took the menu from Alec while he was reading it. “Dane, Tanner, and I started the day after our first shift.”
Yeah, because you had a sadist as a father. The thought popped in her mind and she regretted the negativity of it. The Raines brothers were not like Royce. They were strong, compassionate males. “How much of that was your choice?”
Hayden shrugged, but Dane answered. “It gave us something to focus on.”
“Becoming stronger enough to protect our mom, pushed us to be the best.” The steal in Hayden’s voice told Jasmine the brothers still held resentment for their dead father.
She sighed. “I’ll think about. They just need to survive middle school.”
Christa spoke up, changing the subject. Jasmine was thankful. “Hey, Rhea and Ana are planning a girls’ night.”
Rhea perked up. “Ana and I want to get Cameron out of the house. So Shay said she’d pry the female from those babies for a few hours. Want to come?”
“Where too?” A night out sounded fun.
“We haven’t decided. Our Alpha mates don’t think we should leave the den.” Rhea rolled her eyes.
Jasmine laughed. Rhea had revealed to the whole Pack that she was a born Hunter. The female that ran the nursery and the school was just as powerful as the Alphas. However, she still kept her powers behind a wall and was content with being just the Pack’s head den mother.
“But you’ll be there. And Ana. And Sable?” Jasmine glanced a the alpha males at the table.
Rhea frowned. “With Sable being pregnant, Jared put his foot down. So we might have to compromise and let some of them go with us.”
“They don’t have to hang out with us. They can just follow like a group of growly stalkers.” Jasmine scrunched her face. “But seriously, I’m good with just hanging out with friends. We don’t do it nearly enough. Things have been so tense for so long.”
Christa nodded. “You’re right.”
“We’ll let you know when we work out the deets, “Rhea added.
Jasmine heard her name and turned to see Myles, her night shift cook, stick his head out from the back. Turning back to the table, she said, “I’ll be back. This is Judy’s table so when you’re ready to order, just shout for her.”
She ducked into the kitchen. “What is it?”
“We’re out of wings.”
She frowned. “How are we out of wings?”
“Shipment was supposed to come in this morning, and it didn’t. Instead, we got double the salmon.”
Damn. “Okay, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll give them a call to see what’s up. Do you have any ideas for a special we can offer instead?”
Myles was taking culinary classes and loved to encourage his creativity. He smiled. “I could do something with the extra salmon we got and do boneless wings using the chicken breast we have or something.”
“Sounds great. When you figure it out, let Judy know so she can let the staff know and update the board with the nightly specials.” Jasmine walked out of the kitchen and jumped at the sight of Dane standing in the short hallway.
She eyed him suspiciously. “What?”
He stepped closer, pinning her to the wall. Her heartbeat increased and fought the urge to touch him. When he lowered his head to hers, she almost groaned. His woodsy scent enveloped her, wetting her panties. Damn him.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow night.” His voice was thick with desire and she realized at that moment he was tired of waiting on her.
“I can’t. I have to make sure the boys do their homework and I’m working.” It was the truth even though it sounds like excuses.
“Then I’ll bring you takeout at your place.”
She snorted. “We live in the mountains. The closest take out is an hour drive.”
“I’ll bring you cold take out and we can warm it up.”
Gods help her. She shook her head, and he closed the small gap between them, pressing his body to hers. “I can come up tonight and bake you a cake, naked.”
The image of his naked body flashed in her mind and she gripped his shirt in her hands. She breathed in his scent. It was so hard to push him away when she wanted him so bad. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you are mine.” He nuzzled her neck and she whimpered.
“I can’t…”
He bit down on her ear, stopping her words. Then he lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “I know what I’m getting into. Those boys look up to me and know one day you and I will be mated. Putting it off is only make me want you more.”
Stubborn male. The fact that she was growing tired of running concerned her. “Fine.” She poked him in the chest. “Come up for desert, but I’ll be in my pajamas with my hair down and messy. I want to date before we bond. Take me out, which most cases will include the boys so you can see exactly what you are signing up for.”
He captured her mouth in a searing, raw kiss. Passion exploded in her mind and her core. Threading her fingers into his hair, she pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue dipped inside her mouth and tangled with hers. He tasted of beer and male.
With her free hand, she slid it underneath his shirt so she could feel his heated skin. Damn him. He made her want things that were impossible.
Dane broke the kiss and stared down at her. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
She nodded. When he walked away, she sagged against the wall, her heart hammering inside her. After a few moments, she escaped the bar to her apartment on the second floor. There was no way she could face him again in public that night.
She needed a cold shower and a drink.
Chapter Three
Faelin wasn’t like other mutants. He was stronger, able to shift between his human and wolf forms, and he remembers his life before Felix Darwin injected him with the serum that made him who he was.
However, Faelin wasn’t a mutant, exactly. He was something other, more powerful than the brainless shells of assassins Felix raised.
And he was going to finish what his father started.
He dipped his fingers into the water of the scrying bowl and moved them in circular motions, swirling the water in a counterclockwise direction. “Show me the heart of Ashwood Falls.”
The picture formed almost instantly of the leopard Alpha, Blaine with his two mates and three newborn daughters. The happy family was playing with the three cubs and smiling like they deserved their little sense of peace. It wouldn’t last for long.
The image shifted to the second Alpha, a female wolf, Luna Raines. Her dark curly red hair cascaded around the shoulders as she sat in an open yard of the nursery with a bunch of cubs and pups around her, imitating her slow moments. Faelin had seen others do what they were doing. Yoga, he thought it was called. Sable and Ana used to do it. Sable said it helped with centering the inter beast and with focus.
The thought of Sable made him frown. She didn’t even recognize him during their brief encounter a few weeks before when she stole the kids from him. In fact, she stared at him as if she was looking at a complete stranger.
“Show me Sable.” The water rippled and the image flashed to Sable. She was with Ana and they were out for a run. Alone.
Perfect.
Using the visual he got from the scrying bowl, he teleported to the location where Sable and Ana were. He materialized next to a large ash tree and watched the females for a little while. B
ut his presence didn’t go unnoticed. Ana stopped and moved in front of Sable, protectively.
Sable placed a hand on her sister’s arm. “Not helpless,” she said playfully to Ana before turning deadly serious. “Who’s there?”
Faelin stepped out from his hiding place and inclined his head to his sisters. “Good evening.”
The females fell into a defensive stance. Ana snarled, “What are you doing here?”
“How did you get inside the wards?” Sable glared at him, her lips pressed into a thin line as her magic swirled inside her teal eyes.
Faelin lifted one shoulder. “Your wards cannot keep me out. Besides, I’m not here to harm you.” This time. He kept those two words to himself. “You don’t remember me.” he began to circle them.
They followed him, not giving him their backs. Smart females.
Sable straightened. “Why don’t you refresh our memories?”
His lips lifted in a slow smile. “I was Felix’s beta before you became old enough to take the job.”
Focusing on her, he let his true human appearance show through his normal mutated state. Sable frowned, then her features morphed to recognition. “Unax?”
He bowed his head. “I don’t go by that name anymore. Father gave me that name. My mother named me Faelin.”
Sable glanced at Ana then back to him while crossing her arms. “What do you want?”
“Is that any way to greet your brother?” He watched her as she fisted her hands at her side and glared at him. She was most likely calculating ways to kill him. It was Sable he was dealing with, after all.
She could pretend she left Onyx behind, but she was still Felix and Savannah’s daughter. Lethal magic flowed in her veins. And Faelin needed her on his side.
“You are not my brother.” Sable stepped forward. The air around him tingled with her power. The earth under his feet trembled and he jerked his gaze to Ana, the elemental.
Sable spoke again, drew his attention back to her. “If you were Felix’s son, you’d be the beta and not me. Felix may have been insane but he stuck to Pack hierarchy. Plus he would have told me.” A flash of acknowledgment brightened her features. She straightened and cocked her head to the side. “I remember now. Unax.”
He blanched at the name. He hated to be called Unax. The bastard Royce Raines used his name only when he was being punished. Faelin was never strong enough or fast enough for Royce, who was the Onyx Marshal at the time, as well as the Alpha of MoonRiver. How the male had lived a double life, Faelin wasn’t sure, but the male pulled it off until his mate found out and killed him for it.
“You aren’t Felix’s son.” Sable continued. “You were created in the labs and your mother was forced to carry the baby via artificial insemination. But it was not Felix’s sperm that impregnated your mother. It was Royce’s.”
Faelin growled and jumped back. No. That couldn’t be true. “You lie.”
She smiled wickedly. “Why would I do that?” Her teal eyes flashed darker as her leopard looked out at him. “But I’m not sure if you get your power from Royce or from the serum Felix injected you with. There could be a small chance Savannah played a part in it.”
She was lying. She had to be. Well not about his powers. Although he didn’t get them from the mutant serum. That was a secret he’d keep to himself for now.
The rustling of leaves made him snap his head to the right. He met the lethal stares of Sable’s mate Jared, Ana’s mate, Kieran, and one of Ashwood’s sentries, Tanner. It was Tanner who Faelin focused on.
The youngest Raines son snarled as he stepped closer. Kieran held up his hand to stop the hot-headed sentry. “You’re not welcomed here. We don’t want another war, but if you start one we’ll finish it.”
Oh, Faelin had no doubt Kieran believed they could win a war against him. That arrogant misplaced pride was going to be their downfall. He’d gone there to see if there was any way to persuade Sable into joining him. To his surprise, she had indeed changed her alliance. She wasn’t the same lethal Beta she once was.
Locking gazes with Kieran, Faelin curled his upper lip. “We’ll see who comes out the victor.”
Faelin ported to his apartment inside the mountain that once was the Onyx den. His thoughts swirled around what Sable said. Royce Raines was his father. The cruel bastard had made Faelin’s life a living hell after he was injected with the serum. Royce pushed him to be the meanest, biggest, and strongest.
Each training session and each punishment fueled Faelin’s desire to kill the asshole. He’d plotted how he’d make Royce’s death slow and painful, stretch it out for as long as Faelin had to endure every beating and punishment Royce put him through.
Luna Raines took away Faelin’s right to make Royce suffer. He didn’t deserve a quiet death.
“Easton!”
Within moments of yelling for his Beta, the male appeared in his doorway. “Yes?”
“I need to know everything you can gather up about Luna Raines and her sons.” Faelin would use their abilities and weaknesses against them and make them pay for taking away his right to seek revenge on the bastard who made him the monster he’d become.
Chapter Four
Dane knocked on Jasmine’s apartment door. The bar down below was still booming and he wondered how she got any sleep with the bar open until 2:00 a.m. However, he knew she stayed up pretty late. Most of the time she worked the bar until it closed.
The door opened and Kyle frowned at him. His hair was a little longer than Cole’s, making it easy to tell the twins apart. Although Dane could tell who was who by their scent and their wolves. Cole was more alpha than Kyle.
“Jas and I have a date.” Dane lifted his brows at the kid.
Kyle scrunched his face up. “I don’t need the details.” He stepped aside and Dane entered the spacious apartment. “Jas is in the shower. She’ll be out in a few.”
Just then Cole entered the living room from the hallway. He gave Dane a nod in greeting. “What’s up?”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Date night,” he muttered as he sat on the sofa and picked up his math book.
Cole’s features darkened briefly before he forced a smile and crossed the room to the kitchen. “Cool.”
Dane studied the kid for several long moments. Cole was hard to read sometimes. The kid held in a lot of anger and pain. Jasmine had been trying to get him to go see Nevan—the human psychiatrist that was mated to Dani, the leopard Healer. Nevan grew up with a puma as a stepmom and three puma brothers. Shifters were not new to the human. In fact, Nevan even acted like a cat most of the time.
Dane decided to ignore Cole’s reaction to him being there for now. The kid knew better than to push Dane’s buttons. As the Pack Beta, Dane held rank over him and Jasmine. Sitting on the sofa with Kyle, Dane pointed at the book. “Math was my worse subject.”
Cole laughed. “Kyle loves it.”
Kyle shrugged. Dane always tried to get Kyle to answer his own questions. However, if Cole was around, he always answered for his twin. Ignoring, Cole’s attempts to annoy him, because the kid knew that it got under his skin how Cole dominated his brother, Dane picked up the remote and motioned to the TV, directing his question to Kyle. “Do you mind if I change this?”
There was a race on, but it was recorded from the weekend before. Dane had watched it over Hayden’s house.
Kyle shook his head, but Cole said, “He just has it on for noise.”
“Are you finished with your homework, Cole?” Dane flipped through the guide to see what was on.
Cole sat his glass on the counter hard and stormed down the hall. Moments later his bedroom door slammed shut.
Glancing at Kyle, Dane asked, “Have you ever thought about joining the junior enforcers training classes?”
Kyle shrugged. “Jas won’t let us.”
“But have you thought about it?”
A sigh slipped from his lips and he closed his math book and set it on the coffee table. “Yes. Although I’m not sure I wa
nt to be an Enforcer or a sentry. That’s more Cole’s thing. But the training classes will be good to strengthen my abilities and senses.”
“I was seven when I started training.”
Kyle glanced at him, his brows dipping. “Did you…have a choice?”
Dane knew what he was asking. “Yes and no. As the Alpha’s sons, my brothers and I would go through the training, after all, we were the future Pack leaders. It made us stronger, faster, and helped us learn to control the feral part of us that came from our father.”
That feral part lurked behind their wolves, taunting and tempting them to hunt and kill. Hayden and Dane had learned to block it, to not give in to that side. But Tanner struggled with it at times.
“How do you control that side? The anger. The darkness.”
Dane met Kyle’s stare. He’d always sensed a power hidden inside the twins. It wasn’t magick like Blaine’s teleporting or what Brenna and Bryce carry within. It was different. Their father, Jerome, had the same inner strength. It was what made him a damn good Enforcer.
“The training helped, but mostly it was my mom who taught us to accept it and use it to direct it to fight for our Pack. Does that make sense?” Dane watched Kyle as his features softened.
“I’ve been taking Luna’s yoga classes in the mornings. It’s helping. I wish Cole would take them.” Kyle glanced at the hallway.
Dane’s body reacted to hearing and scenting Jasmine as she opened her bedroom door.
“Cole! Stop slamming the damned door!” A few minutes after yelling at Cole, Jasmine entered the living room and met his stare. She frowned and narrowed her gaze. “What did you say to him that pissed him off? I don’t need to deal with his attitude tonight.”
Dane racked his gaze over her. Her long curly brown hair was wet and flowed over her shoulders and down her back. She wore a purple tank top and a pair of shorts with paw prints on them. A picture of beauty and sensual perfection. His mate. Suppressing a growl, he said, “I asked him if he had homework after he repeatedly answered questions directed at Kyle.”