by Davis, Lia;
Howls cut through the air again and her heart sank. The boys were coming and they were calling for help. Please don't hurt my boys.
She saw Cole first. He was a blur of black and silver fur as he barreled into Faelin. Kyle came at them from the other side. The impacts threw Faelin off balance and he let go of Jasmine. She stumbled forward and saw Ana pull out a gun, so Jasmine dropped to the ground.
Ana fired.
Jasmine looked at where Faelin was only to see nothing. He vanished.
Dane rushed to her and drew her into a hug. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and held onto him, inhaling his scent. "The boys?"
Dane chuckled as Cole and Kyle came up to her and leaned against her. "Two junior enforcers doing their job."
She pulled the two wolves into hugs. "You two scared me."
They yipped, then wiggled out of her arms and pranced around.
Ana said, "Sable, Robyn, and Travis will be strengthening the wards tonight. No one will be able to teleport into the den anymore. Alec and his tech team will be setting up an additional layer of security and cameras about two hundred yards out from the magickal wards."
Jasmine glanced around the area they were in. She didn't feel like going for a run anymore. The boys had theirs. "Let's go back home."
* * *
Faelin camouflaged himself with the surrounding trees and watched Dane with his mate and his packmates. His plan to take Dane's power as his own failed. All because the damn wolf says he couldn't bring the dead to life. But Faelin knew he could. Dane just hadn't tapped into his full powers.
There will be a day when Dane uses his powers and Faelin would be there to absorb them as his own. The power to raise the dead would strength his mutant army more than Felix ever could.
He teleported to his remote lab and stared down at his demon. The female had her hands and ankles bound for his safety. She was a feisty bitch. "Tell me where the moonstone is."
"Fuck you!"
He backhanded her then grabbed his silver blade. She watched it as he set it down on her arm, sticking the point into her skin. She screamed. The sliver burned demons and witches. "If you want it to stop, you'll tell me where the moonstone is."
The pendent he was looking for contained a power his mother placed in there before she died. Faelin assumed Felix had taken it, but it was nowhere in the Onyx den.
"MoonRiver," Demon hissed out.
Faelin removed the blade and teleported from the demon's cell to his office at Onyx. If the moonstone was in MoonRiver, that meant Royce had it. Faelin was going to get what belonged to him.
Chapter Twelve
Dane took Jasmine and the boys home. His wolf paced under the surface, wanting to get out and track down Faelin and finish him. End this war before it all starts. But there were too many unknowns. One of them being the demon he held captive. If Faelin died would the demon be set free to roam Earthside? If that happened, they had more shit to worry about than mutants.
“What are you thinking about?” Jasmine asked as she threaded her fingers through his hair.
“Just thinking about Faelin and wondering how he managed to trap and hold a demon.” He glanced into her jade-color eyes.
She gave him a small smile and then kissed him lightly. “He would need to have something that belonged to the demon. Or could have summoned it into a trap of some kind. But the big question is, why does he have the demon in the first place?”
“Rick said Faelin’s power comes from the demon. So he is drawing its power somehow. It’s possible Faelin is seeking ways to grow that power. Why else would he come to me wanting me to use mine?” Dane frowned. He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but Faelin could have found a way to absorb another’s powers.
“He found a way to tap into others’ powers and use them.” Jasmine frowned. “What kind of emotions did you pick up from him?”
Dane shook his head. “Not much. Anger, confusion, envy. Nothing to tell me what he had planned.”
She frowned and curled up beside him on the sofa. The boys had gone to bed a few minutes ago. “What’s the plan?”
Jasmine never cared about getting involved with the Enforcers. She was strong enough and with the proper training would be kick ass. But she loved the bar and loved taking care of her brothers. Dane also knew she believed it was being an Enforcer that killed her father, because he died protecting Luna and the pack from mutants.
That was five years ago. Then a year later her mother was attacked when she was out for a run. The sentries didn’t get to her fast enough. Jasmine had stepped in as the twin’s guardian. Ashwood Falls had increased security and was still strengthening the wards.
Not that they had a demon to worry about.
Dane took a breath and exhaled to clear his mind of all the tragedy they’ve all lived through. Then he answered Jasmine’s questions about the plan. “Faelin is looking for a moonstone pendant. Mom, my brothers, Rafe, and I are going to MoonRiver tomorrow to search for it.”
She sat up and locked gazes with him. “I want to come and help.”
He hesitated and when he went to speak, she pressed a finger over his lips. “I wasn’t asking.”
One side of his mouth twitched as he studied her. He knew she could fight. Out in the forest earlier she was distracted and surprised. He guessed it was because she hadn’t expected Faelin to teleport inside the wards. Neither was Dane, especially when his intent was to harm since he did grab Jasmine and tried to choke her.
Glancing at her neck, he caressed her smooth skin. Thank the gods for their rapid healing abilities.
Jasmine relaxed and leaned forward. “He caught me off guard and I could hear the boys. It won’t happen again.”
Instead of replying to her, he captured her mouth in a hard, unforgiving kiss. She groaned and fisted her hand in his hair, then climbed onto his lap, straddling him. He hardened and slid his hand up her shirt, needing skin contact.
She opened, allowing him to slip his tongue into her mouth. Pleasure rolled through him and over his skin. Holding her to him, he stood. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to her bedroom.
He kicked the door closed as he entered the room. Breaking the kiss, he dropped her on her mattress. She laughed as she bounced, then reached for the waistband of his pants. Hunger swirled in her jade eyes, making them almost glow. He felt her wolf surface, brushing against his, who was just under his skin.
Fuck. His mate was hot.
With a smirk, she stood on her knees and walked across the bed to him. “You not changing my mind about not going with you tomorrow.”
“Just distracting you.”
“Hmm.” She pulled on the hem of his shirt and he snatched it over his head, throwing it behind him.
She nipped at his chest, then took one of his nipples between her teeth. He jerked at sensation and gripped her hair and pulled. Staring up at him, she laughed.
“You’re mine.”
A wicked smile formed on her face and her wolf flashed in her eyes. “And my crazy life.”
“I’ll take all of the crazy.” He released her hair pushed her back onto the mattress. Then he removed her jeans and panties. He lowered to his knees and lifted one of her legs so it draped over his shoulder. Pressing a kiss to her belly, he slid two fingers into her slick folds. A soft moan escaped her and she fisted his hair. A dull pain registered as she pulled on his hair and moved her hips, rubbing her clit against his fingers.
He leaned in and lapped at her bundle of nerves. Her grip on his hair tightened. Satisfaction ripped through him, knowing he was giving her pleasure. Too long. He’d wasted too much time. It was time to claim his mate.
He covered her pussy with his mouth and slid his fingers inside her. Her body tensed, then she began to move again, and met the tempo he set by fingering her. A couple of thrusts and a bite to her clit sent her over the edge. Her body jerked as the orgasm tore through her.
When he withdrew from her and rose to his feet,
he met her drunken, desire-filled gaze. She hooked her legs around him and pulled him on top of her. In a flash, she rolled them over and straddled him.
She dipped her head and bit his lower lip as she guided him inside her. Pleasure surged through him, and he wrapped his arms around her and thrust deeper, no longer able to wait another moment. His wolf urged him to bite, to claim her. The man would lose the battle. The urge was too strong.
Jasmine cried out, scored her nails into his shoulders and rode him. Pleasurable pain fueled his desire to possess her inside and out. Increasing the tempo, he bit her in the tender spot where her throat met her shoulder. Her rich, sweet blood coated his tongue as his fangs broke the skin. By the way her body tensed at first he could tell she was shocked by the bite. He tightened his hold on her as their pleasure mingled and grew.
The iridescent threads of the mating bond formed and weaved together, forever linking them. Her emotions—a mix of happiness, sadness, and confusion—poured into his subconscious. A sense of wholeness surrounded him like he had found a piece of his soul he didn’t know was missing.
Jasmine’s pleasure crashed over him, intensifying his own. Her muscles tensed around his cock a moment before she screamed her release. He squeezed her hips and thrust twice more. His balls tightened as an orgasm pulled him over the edge.
Chapter Thirteen
Jasmine walked beside Dane as they moved through the underground tunnels that connected Ashwood Falls den to MoonRiver. Luna and Keegan—the former leopard Alpha—had them built after the two Packs merged years ago. Luna and Rafe were a few yards ahead of them. Hayden and Tanner were behind them.
Footsteps up head made them freeze. They weren’t expecting anyone else. Then Jasmine recognized Rhea’s form. Beside her was her mate, Alec.
Rhea smiled and stopped when she reached Jasmine, then handed her a gun. “There are silver bullets in the cartridge. Mutants are sensitive to silver, but if you want to kill them, aim for the head.”
Jasmine nodded, remembering her father telling her the same thing. Something about the serum that made them the mindless, half-human, half-animal creatures sensitive to silver and lead, but silver burned as it entered their bodies, providing the perfect distraction to finish them off.
Jasmine check the chamber and tested the weight on the 9mm before slipping it into the back waistband of her jeans. When she glanced at Dane, he was staring at her. “What?”
“Just admiring how hot my mate is.”
She shoved his shoulder. “I’m just hope I don’t have to use the weapon.”
There was only a small chance of they wouldn’t run into rogues or mutants because MoonRiver wasn’t warded like Ashwood. The main reason was because they wanted the secondary den to look abandoned. Which was also a welcoming mat for lone wolves and other shifters who prefer to not live in a Pack. Travelers and nomads often stayed at abandoned buildings and places for a few days before moving on. Jasmine hoped they wouldn’t run into any while there. Some could be as dangerous are rogues.
They exited the tunnel at the back of the den through an opening in the mountain it was tucked up against. Jasmine’s heart sank at the state of the den. Even though it’d been a few months since they all had to stay at MoonRiver and fixed it up some, most of the buildings were still in ruins.
Memories of the day Felix attacked MoonRiver still haunted her. She was glad the boys hadn’t lived through it.
Dane took her hand and led her to the center of the den, then they crossed over to the Alpha house. It was once a beautiful, large three-story mini-mansion. The top level of the house was gone. The north side, where Luna’s bedroom was had been blown to hell. Royce hadn’t slept in that room with her for months before the attack. As Jasmine remembered, the late Alpha hadn’t been in the den at all.
“We should burn the place down when we find the pendant.” Luna snarled as she entered the house through the large hole.
Jasmine glanced at Dane who work his jaw and tugged her to follow him in through the front door, which wasn’t there any longer. “There are so many hiding places in the house that Royce could have hidden the pendent so search anywhere and everywhere.”
Moving through the living room to the kitchen, she searched in every small and large space she could think of with no luck. She was sure Luna had searched the obvious places like the safe in the office.
It was about an hour later before Rafe called out to everyone, “Found it.”
He was in Tanner’s old room and standing in front of the dresser. Luna moved forward. “Where was it?”
Rafe pointed at the mirror, then pressed the top right corner. A section opened up and a small square box set inside.
Tanner growled. “How did you find that? And how did I not know it was there?”
“It’s spelled to recognize Royce’s face.” Rafe frowned and pointed at his own face. “When I stepped in front of the mirror and looked into it, I noticed that section was different than the other.”
Luna took the pendent and studied it. “Royce was using dark magick the last few months of his life. He planned to kill me and my sons. That was the final straw. Because if the bastard would kill his own mate and kids, then I feared what he’d do the rest of the Pack. My Pack. I submitted fully to my wolf that day, letting her surface and take control. She’d wanted to kill Royce for a long time and I let her. I barely remember attacking him. It was like watching someone else do it.”
Rafe pulled her into a hug. To Jasmine’s surprise, Luna sank into his embrace. But she continued with her story and Jasmine figured she just needed to speak the words out loud. “Royce pulled a knife on me, but my wolf was too far gone. We fought for it until I knocked it out of his hand. As soon as I grabbed it, I plunged it into his heart.”
Tanner tugged his mom from Rafe’s embrace and held her. “You saved the Pack. You did what you had to do.”
Luna laughed. “The bastard thought by giving me his Alpha power that I’d go rogue. To be honest it was a concern for me for a little while.”
Hayden and Dane each placed a hand on her back. Hayden said, “We wouldn’t let you.”
Jasmine saw their energies—the inner power each of them carried inside—glow around them, merging. For the first time, she knew what made MoonRiver so different from other Packs and Prides. Luna shared her Alpha power with her sons. Although she was the wolf Alpha, her sons helped balance it.
After a few more moments, Luna withdrew from her sons and moved toward the door of the bedroom. She took off the necklace she wore with the tiny paw prints and put the pendant on the chain. Then she put the necklace back on. “We need to get this back to the Council of Elders to be stored in a safe place.”
On the ground floor, Rhea and Alec waited for them. With their sensitive hearing, Jasmine knew they heard Luna’s story. They met Luna’s gaze and nodded to her before stepping outside ahead of their Alpha.
Rhea tensed and stopped, holding up her hand. Then she growled a moment before Faelin materialized a few yards ahead of them. Jasmine drew her gun while everyone else snarled and fell in a defensive stance.
Mutants like she’d never seen before stepped out from behind buildings. There must have been a dozen or two of them, surrounding them. Jasmine glanced to Dane and then Rhea and Luna, looking for a sign to either retreat or fight.
Faelin smiled at them, his features taking on an eerie, dark look. His dark gaze turned crimson and Dane cursed. “He’s channeling the demon’s power.”
Was that how he animated the mutants to be more beast-like, instead of stuck behind human and animal forms?
Faelin glared at Luna and snarled, “Kill them.”
Chapter Fourteen
Dane watched Jasmine raise her gun and shoot the mutant who charged at her. The bullet hit him between the eyes and the fucker dropped to the ground. Pride bloomed in Dane’s chest, but he still worried.
Rhea moved closer to Jasmine while taunting a few mutants of her own. The female was holding back her p
ower, but Dane could feel it building inside her. She was waiting for the right moment to strike.
Shifting his hands to claws, Dane whirled around and sliced across the chest of a mutant, then another. Kicking out, he slammed his booted foot into its chest, sending the creatures flying into a group of them. Dane drew his own gun and shot multiple rounds. He wasn’t aiming for the head. He wanted to slow them down while he used the psychic connection he and the Pack leaders and the Enforcers had to call them in for backup.
Keegan was a telepath and after passing the Alpha power and title onto his eldest son, he remained in the power circle that connected the Marshals, Betas, Enforcers, and all other protectors of the Pack so they all could use his telepathy to mindlink with each other.
It was much faster than using a phone.
Something slammed into Dane’s back. Pain exploded across his back and he roared and turned, connecting his fist with the mutant’s jaw. The bastard stumbled back a few steps and growled before charging at Dane again.
Dane raised his gun and shot the fucker in the head. He dropped like a lead weight.
Glancing to his mom and brothers, he smirked. Luna was going through the mutants like they were deer. Tanner stuck close to her, guarding her like the sentry he was born to be.
Hayden was fighting three on his own.
A charge in the air made him spin around, ready to take on whatever just ported onto the scene. Ana and Cameron appeared. Both females raised a brow at him and he straightened. “For every one we kill two more appear. I’m not sure how he is doing it.”
“A demon,” Ana snarled. “I can feel the dark magick.”
Cameron glanced around. “Where is Faelin?”
Leave it up to the bastard to leave a fight he started. “Fucking coward.”