by Jayme Morse
His lips came crashing down on mine. There was an urgency behind his kiss, a hunger that I matched fully and completely.
I wrapped my hands around his neck, deepening the kiss.
It was the first time we had kissed since our first kiss, the kiss that had ignited our mate bond. Judging from the way he kissed me, it was obvious that he had been thinking about kissing me again since the last time we had seen each other.
The reason I knew was because I had thought about kissing him, too.
The way that my body responded to him, giving in completely and fully to the kiss… Well, it was safe to say that he was definitely a contender.
He pushed me up against a tree and continued to kiss me for what felt like an eternity.
When we finally broke away from one another, I was completely breathless.
I wasn’t going to lie. It must have had something to do with the fact that we had been apart from one another for so long, but it was, by far, one of the best kisses of my life.
“That was incredible,” Kane whispered. I knew then that I wasn’t only imagining it: this kiss had really been something special. Because while I didn’t know him that well, I did know one thing from all of the stories I had heard about him the past year. Kane wasn’t the type of guy who just let his emotions show. But there they were, written all over his face.
“Oh, look. We have spectators,” Kane said amusedly.
Whirling around, I found Theo standing there. “Ohmigod. What are you doing here?”
Theo didn’t respond to me at first. He just stood there, staring at me. There was a look of jealousy in his eyes.
No, it was more than just jealousy. It was pure anger.
Theo was pissed that I’d kissed Kane the way I had.
He just stared at me like I was complete stranger to him, rather than the girl he was in love with. He stared at me like I wasn’t even his mate at all.
“Look, Theo, I can explain,” I began, but he threw his hand up in the air to stop me from saying anything else.
“It’s fine, Raven. I get it. I know what you’re going to say. You’re not in control of any of this.” His blue eyes met mine, and I could see the pain in them.
I knew what he was thinking, the part of the statement that he was keeping to himself.
“Except, you are.”
He wasn’t wrong. I did have total control of who I kissed and when.
But the thing that Theo didn’t understand, the one thing I wished I could make him understand, was that I didn’t want to control it.
Whether he liked it or not, I wanted all of them… Kane included.
Chapter 20
“I should really go after him,” I said with a sigh as I watched Theo heading back to the table that was designated for the Darken.
“Or you could just stay here and make out with me some more,” Kane suggested.
I rolled my eyes at him as I watched Theo sit down. It made me sad to know that I had hurt him.
Even though I hadn’t regretted kissing Kane and getting caught, I didn’t want to hurt my mates, either. I probably should have been more discreet about it.
“You know being discreet won’t help anything, right?” Kane asked.
“How do you know?” I glanced over at him.
“Because you say you’re going to choose only one of us in the end. Well, that means four of us—or the four of them, since we already know it’s going to be me—are going to be heartbroken in the end.”
“Thank you for making this even harder.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I need to go back to the reception.”
“I guess I’ll head out of here for now. I’ll meet you all back at the house. Is the spare key still underneath the frog statue?”
“Yeah, but wait. What are you saying? You’re back for good?” I asked with raised eyebrows. For whatever reason, I had been expecting him to leave again. That seemed to be what he did best.
“I wasn’t going to stick around for too long, but now I know I have to.”
“Why?”
His eyes locked on mine. “Because I hear there’s a battle for your heart, and I need to throw my hat into the ring. I’m not about to just walk away and let one of these fools win.”
“So, it doesn’t bother you that I’m only going to choose one of you? And that it might not end up being you?” I asked.
“I’m pretty confident that it’s going to be me. But in the extremely unlikely event that I’m not the one you choose, I’m okay with that, too. I want you, but I also want you to be happy. May the best man win. I just want you to know that I’m not going down without a fight.” He leaned in closer to me then and kissed me softly. “I’ll see you when you all return, Raven.”
I watched as he walked away from me, without looking back.
A defeated feeling filled me as he went. This was the first time I’d seen him since July. And while our kiss had been incredible, it just wasn’t enough.
I needed more of my mate, and I needed it now. I didn’t want to wait until we went back to Wolflandia in two days. I wanted him now.
With a sigh, I began to head in the direction of the reception.
It was cold outside, but most of the guests were werewolves, anyway.
“There you are,” Maddie’s mom said, seemingly relieved to find me. “We’re getting ready to do the bouquet toss.”
As I went to stand in line next to Vince’s mate, Julie, the DJ began to play the song “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé.
Maddie got into position. With her back facing us, she began to twirl the bouquet over her shoulder.
I wasn’t even going to try to catch it. I may have been sort of engaged, but I was definitely not about to jump on the bandwagon any time soon.
At least, I didn’t think I was.
To my surprise, Maddie didn’t toss the bouquet. Instead, she turned around and walked over to Julie and handed it to her.
Before I even knew what was happening, Vince had moved across the dance floor.
Julie cupped her mouth with her hand as he knelt down on one knee in front of her.
As he stared up into her eyes, there was so much adoration behind his gaze. “Julie, my love, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” She squealed.
As he rose to his feet again, she flung her arms around his neck, and they kissed like they were the only ones in the world.
“Our boy is engaged,” Maddie said to me with a grin. “We planned this out last week when he decided he was ready to pop the question.”
I smiled as I watched the two of them bask in the feeling of being newly engaged. “That was, hands down, the sweetest proposal I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I was also sort of jealous. Seeing how simple and easy it was for them made me wish that I had only been given one mate.
I knew that fate didn’t give you anything you couldn’t handle, but why had it thought I could handle five incredible mates, all who I loved and didn’t want to hurt? It just didn’t seem fair sometimes.
At that moment, Milos’s black eyes appeared in my mind, and a grin hit my lips. “Life isn’t always fair, Fallyn. If it was, the two of us would be together. We would have always been together.”
I closed my eyes, trying to push his image away. He didn’t disappear at first. But then, flashing me a smile, he was gone… just as quickly as he had appeared.
I knew what Milos was trying to do. He was trying to remind me that, no matter where I went or what I did, he was always there in the back of my mind.
Even when I let myself forget about him, when I just tried to have fun for once, even for a brief time, he was always there. No matter how safe I may have thought I was, he wasn’t about to let me forget that he was watching.
He was always watching.
To say that werewolves knew how to throw wedding receptions better than humans did would have been an understatement. The wedding reception was quickly in full swing, and soon enough, the entire Darken pack was drunk—myself i
ncluded.
“Y-you wanna d-dance, Raven?” Rhys asked, his voice slurring a little.
“S-sure.” Honestly, I would have done anything to get away from the table at that moment. The thick tension between Theo and me hung heavy in the air.
Rhys reached over and grabbed my hand and then led me out onto the dance floor, which Julie and Vince had been glued to since he’d popped the question.
“Congratulations, you guys,” I told them.
“Yeah, congrats,” Rhys added with a slur.
At that moment, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran began to play.
I wrapped my arms around Rhys’s neck as his arms fell to the small of my back.
I stared up into his eyes as we swayed to the music.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” Rhys asked.
“You may have mentioned that a time… or ten,” I replied with a giggle. Since he’d gotten drunk, he’d actually told me every ten minutes how beautiful I was.
“Well, let me tell you one more time how beautiful you are. You’re the most beautiful girl in this backyard.” His blue eyes locked on mine. “Shit, to me, you’re the most beautiful girl in the entire world.”
“Thanks, Rhys.” I smiled up at him. It was, by far, the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me.
“I mean it, Raven. Just one look into your gorgeous eyes makes me feel like sunshine from the inside out. No one has ever made me happier.”
“You make me happy, too,” I replied with a smile.
He pulled me closer and I rested my head against his chest as we continued to dance to the music.
“I want you to know that even if you don’t choose me, I’ll always cherish the time we spent together,” he said once the song ended.
“Rhys—” I started to say, but he interrupted me.
“I mean that, Raven. Even if I only get a short time with you, it will be worth it all in the end.”
Before I had the chance to respond to him, he brought his lips down on mine.
His kiss was soft and slow, yet riddled with passion at the same time.
Most of all, it was perfect.
When he pulled away from me, he pressed his forehead against mine.
“I love you, Raven Gallagher.”
“I love you, too, Rhys Anderson.”
We just stared into each other’s eyes for the longest time.
I was just about to kiss him again when I saw that his eyes had grown really wide as he stared at something over my shoulder.
I looked over my shoulder to see what was going on, and that was when I saw them.
Four guys who I had never seen before in my life, but I could tell from a distance what they were. Their ivory skin, which was fairer than any human I had ever seen, was a dead giveaway.
Vampires.
“The Winston Coven,” Rhys whispered.
Chapter 21
I felt my entire body tremble as I watched the coven of vampires move forward.
The Winston Coven had waged war on the werewolves during the ancient times. Now that they knew I was alive, they wanted me.
As the first-born biological werewolf, they felt I was “capable of many evils,” and believed I was better off dead. They wanted to kill me… but not until after they had access to my blood. They had offered my pack three million dollars in exchange for me, but they made it clear that they would stop at nothing until I was dead.
So, it was no surprise that I was completely overwhelmed now that they were here, just hundreds of feet away from me.
Rhys pulled me into a protective embrace. I felt safe with him.
I felt even safer when Colton came to stand at my side.
“Darken, may we have a word with you?” One of the guys—a tall, lanky guy with bleach blonde hair—called out.
Theo was the first to approach them. The rest of us followed after him. We stood close enough to listen in on what he was about to say, while also maintaining a safe distance.
“Gentlemen, what can we do for you?” Theo asked.
“Cut the shit. You know exactly what we want. We’re willing to offer you the three million right here. In cash.”
“We’re not interested in your money,” Aiden informed them.
“That’s a shame. We were willing to cooperate with you in exchange for Princess Fallyn. But it seems that you are choosing not to cooperate, so it looks like we’re going to have to take matters into our own hands.”
“If you want to get to Fallyn, that means you’re going to have to get through us first,” Theo threatened.
The blonde guy turned to the guy to his left. “Does he scare you, James?”
“Not in the least.”
“Why don’t we flip a coin? If it’s heads, you get to keep Fallyn. If it’s tails, then she’s ours.” As he spoke the words, James’s eyes lingered on me. I could feel him sizing my body up and down. I glared at him.
“How about we don’t?” Theo asked. “In fact, how about the four of you get the hell out of here?”
“Don’t you know who we are?” The blonde guy asked.
“Don’t you know who we are?” Aiden asked. He glanced from Theo to Colton and Rhys.
They must have somehow spoken with their eyes, because all four of them shifted into their wolf forms, leaving me as the alone Darken still standing.
All four of them, with their dark fur, stood there, growling at the Winston Coven.
I thought it would have been enough to intimidate them, but to my surprise, James let out a laugh.
“If you think we’re afraid of a bunch of growling wolves, you have another thing coming to you. You all look so pathetic now. I could just snap your furry little necks, take Fallyn with us, and call it a day.”
“I wouldn’t go snapping any necks if you know what’s best for you,” a voice said from behind me.
I whirled around to find Kane standing there. “I thought you were going home.”
“Yeah, well, fortunately, I didn’t.” His green eyes held mine for a moment before he turned to the Winston Coven. “You will walk away from Princess Fallyn right now. In fact, you will forget that she even exists. In your memories, she will still be dead, and you will have no reason to want her or her blood. You will leave this property. Right now.”
At first, I didn’t think that Kane’s compulsion was going to work. But then, slowly, the Winston Coven backed away from us and then left the yard.
Relief passed through me as my mates all shifted back into their human forms. The other wolves at the wedding all began to resume what they were doing before the Winston Coven had decided to randomly crash it.
“You guys really thought growling at the Winston Coven was enough to scare them away?” Kane asked, looking around at my mates. “You know vampires don’t scare off easily, and the Winston Coven are some of the deadliest vampires out there.”
“I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. I was just so worried about Raven,” Theo replied quietly.
“Going forward, I can’t have my pack making dumb mistakes like that. You know one fuck up like that could have cost all of you your lives. Raven could have been taken from us.”
“I’m sorry,” Theo apologized, which surprised me. He wasn’t the type to apologize; usually, he just went off on his own to sulk somewhere when he made mistakes.
I was pretty sure that there must have been something about the dynamic between him and Kane that had him apologizing. For some reason, he was willing to say he was sorry just to appease Kane. It was the strangest thing I had ever witnessed, but I supposed that I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I had known all along that Theo and Kane’s relationship was complicated, at best.
“Thankfully for all of you, I just happened to be in the vicinity. Can you imagine what might have happened if I didn’t compel them?”
“I’m sort of confused by that,” Aiden said.
“Yeah, me too. I didn’t think vampires were able be compelled,” Colton sai
d.
“That’s true when it comes to normal werewolves,” Kane agreed with a nod. “But due to what I am, my abilities are stronger than everyone else’s.”
He didn’t need to say what he was for us to all understand.
He was 1/3 of the Triangle, meaning he was stronger than all of us… and them.
If it weren’t for him, my mates probably would have been chopped liver. And that wasn’t even to mention me.
So, once again, Kane had saved my life.
Chapter 22
Kane stayed with us until we returned to the human world after winter break. I was relieved by the fact that he was always there. Even though all of my mates made me feel safe, I knew there was a level of protection he had to offer that the other Darken just didn’t have.
It wasn’t just protection. It was power.
It didn’t make me feel more strongly about him, but it certainly didn’t hurt knowing that he was able to protect me in ways that the others couldn’t.
I was probably sure that Theo realized that… and hated it.
When we went back home, there was another hurdle that we had to overcome, too.
The five us had gotten so used to our living arrangements. But now there were six.
I could tell that Colton and Rhys were most excited about the fact that Kane was back in their lives. Aiden seemed cautious; I knew he wasn’t exactly thrilled about Kane’s return, but he wasn’t about to protest it, either. Especially when Kane was one of the three most powerful Alphas in the world.
Theo, on the other hand, spent the majority of his time sulking. He barely even came out of his room. And he definitely didn’t talk to me. I knew he was mad about the kiss he had witnessed, but it wasn’t my fault that fate had decided to throw yet another mate my way.
It was all so complicated. Then again, I was starting to get used to that. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to resume a normal life again. I wasn’t sure if I even would have wanted to. Things had been complicated from the very beginning, since long before I had even set foot on the Werewolf Academy campus.
