Aimee and Dhani had now moved in on Cheyenne, tears running down their faces as Dawn walked over, leaving the baby with Mitchell so the four women could hug each other. Aimee and Dhani were both pregnant, as well, though not as far along as the rest of them. Max figured he and Cheyenne would be back soon for those babies’ births.
So many babies, so little time.
It was going to take him forever to learn all their names, but he didn’t mind. He had a whole world to see, a new set of Packs that needed his and Cheyenne’s guidance and presence.
He would never encroach on another Alpha, not unless there was a dire need to, but he knew that everything happened for a reason, even if he hated that phrase with all his might.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Gideon said, pulling Max out of his thoughts.
All of the couples went back to one another, Cheyenne moving up to his side. He held her close, kissing the top of her head. She put her fingers in his belt loops, and he smiled. He loved when she did that.
“To Max and Cheyenne. Our Supreme Alphas, our protectors, and our family. Know that you are always welcome here, that you are always Talon Pack. No matter where you go, no matter the people you meet, know that you are ours, and you are loved. Thank you for saving us, thank you for being strong enough to do what was meant to be done. And thank you for being true to yourselves. May the goddess bless you more than she already has, and may your futures be bright, and whole.”
Everyone raised his or her glass, and Max wiped the tears from Cheyenne’s face after they each took a drink.
“Thank you, Gideon. For everything.” Max’s voice was low but sure. Proud.
He kissed his mate as the others kissed their mates, as well. And Max looked down at the woman by his side, knowing he had been whole long before the battle ended.
Cheyenne was his bonded mate, was his thread back to himself thanks to the moon goddess. But it was the woman herself who had brought him out of his shell and made him the man he needed to be.
“I love you, Cheyenne Brentwood. With everything in my heart.”
“I think I love you more, Max.”
“You think?”
“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to keep showing me how much you love me so I can make sure that I’m right on schedule.”
Max rolled his eyes and then kissed her again.
And as he and Cheyenne left the den the next day, the wolves and witches and cat from the Talons howled and screeched and shouted to the goddess. It was a fine goodbye for a wolf who thought he had no place. For a man who had thought he lost everything and found more than he’d ever dreamt of.
The Talons were home, they were family, they were Pack.
And Max and Cheyenne would never be forgotten.
THE END
* * *
The Talon Pack series might be over, but there will be more shifters to come.
Soon.
A Note from Carrie Ann
Thank you so much for reading FOREVER BROKEN! I do hope if you liked this story, that you would please leave a review! Reviews help authors and readers.
The Talon Pack series is complete but I’m not done yet!
Is that the last of the world that holds the Redwood Pack and the Talon Pack?
I sure hope not.
Just wait and see…
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.
Make sure you’re signed up for my MAILING LIST so you can know when the next releases are available as well as find giveaways and FREE READS.
Happy Reading!
* * *
The Talon Pack:
Book 1: Tattered Loyalties
Book 2: An Alpha’s Choice
Book 3: Mated in Mist
Book 4: Wolf Betrayed
Book 5: Fractured Silence
Book 6: Destiny Disgraced
Book 7: Eternal Mourning
Book 8: Strength Enduring
Book 9: Forever Broken
About Carrie Ann Ryan
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Talon Pack, and Gallagher Brothers series, which have sold over 2.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over fifty novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not writing about bearded tattooed men or alpha wolves that need to find their mates, she’s reading as much as she can and exploring the world of baking and gourmet cooking.
* * *
www.CarrieAnnRyan.com
More From Carrie Ann Ryan
Montgomery Ink: Colorado Springs
Book 1: Fallen Ink
Book 2: Restless Ink
Book 2.5: Ashes to Ink
Book 3: Jagged Ink
Book 3.5: Ink by Numbers
* * *
The Fractured Connections Series:
A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series
Book 1: Breaking Without You
Book 2: Shouldn’t Have You
Book 3: Falling With You
* * *
The Montgomery Ink: Boulder Series:
Book 1: Wrapped in Ink
* * *
The Less Than Series:
A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series
Book 1: Breathless With Her
Book 2: Reckless With You
* * *
The Elements of Five Series:
A YA Fantasty Series
Book 1: From Breath and Ruin
* * *
Montgomery Ink:
Book 0.5: Ink Inspired
Book 0.6: Ink Reunited
Book 1: Delicate Ink
Book 1.5: Forever Ink
Book 2: Tempting Boundaries
Book 3: Harder than Words
Book 4: Written in Ink
Book 4.5: Hidden Ink
Book 5: Ink Enduring
Book 6: Ink Exposed
Book 6.5: Adoring Ink
Book 6.6: Love, Honor, & Ink
Book 7: Inked Expressions
Book 7.3: Dropout
Book 7.5: Executive Ink
Book 8: Inked Memories
Book 8.5: Inked Nights
Book 8.7: Second Chance Ink
* * *
The Gallagher Brothers Series:
A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series
Book 1: Love Restored
Book 2: Passion Restored
Book 3: Hope Restored
* * *
The Whiskey and Lies Series:
A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series
Book 1: Whiskey Secrets
Book 2: Whiskey Reveals
Book 3: Whiskey Undone
* * *
The Talon Pack:
Book 1: Tattered Loyalties
Book 2: An Alpha’s Choice
Book 3: Mated in Mist
Book 4: Wolf Betrayed
Book 5: Fractured Silence
Book 6: Destiny Disgraced
Book 7: Eternal Mourning
Book 8: Strength Enduring
Book 9: Forever Broken
* * *
Redwood Pack Series:
Book 1: An Alpha’s Path
Book 2: A Taste for a Mate
Book 3: Trinity Bound
Redwood Pack Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)
Book 3.5: A Night Away
Book 4: Enforcer’s Redemption
Book 4.5: Blurred Expectations
Book 4.7: Forgiveness
Book 5: Shattered Emotions
Book 6: Hidden Destiny
Book 6.5: A Beta’s Haven
Book 7: Fighting Fate
Book
7.5: Loving the Omega
Book 7.7: The Hunted Heart
Book 8: Wicked Wolf
The Complete Redwood Pack Box Set (Contains Books 1-7.7)
* * *
The Branded Pack Series:
(Written with Alexandra Ivy)
Book 1: Stolen and Forgiven
Book 2: Abandoned and Unseen
Book 3: Buried and Shadowed
* * *
Dante’s Circle Series:
Book 1: Dust of My Wings
Book 2: Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
Book 3: An Unlucky Moon
The Dante’s Circle Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)
Book 3.5: His Choice
Book 4: Tangled Innocence
Book 5: Fierce Enchantment
Book 6: An Immortal’s Song
Book 7: Prowled Darkness
The Complete Dante’s Circle Series (Contains Books 1-7)
* * *
Holiday, Montana Series:
Book 1: Charmed Spirits
Book 2: Santa’s Executive
Book 3: Finding Abigail
The Holiday, Montana Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)
Book 4: Her Lucky Love
Book 5: Dreams of Ivory
The Complete Holiday, Montana Box Set (Contains Books 1-5)
* * *
The Happy Ever After Series:
Flame and Ink
Ink Ever After
* * *
Single Title:
Finally Found You
Excerpt: From Breath and Ruin
From New York Times Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Elements of Five Series
* * *
FROM BREATH AND RUIN
* * *
The dreams didn’t come often, but when they did, it usually took me far too long to realize I could find my way out of them. At least, most of the time, I could make my way out. Other times, no matter how hard I tried to shake myself awake or tear at the seams of what the dream could be, I was forced to live within them, in the nightmares that felt far too real.
My heartbeat thudded in my ears as I tried to get my bearings once again. The dreams were never the same in what happened or even where I was when they occurred, but there was a thread that seemed familiar, as if it were calling to me in a way I could never understand.
Sometimes, I was on the fringe, watching the court of royals dance and hide their daggers of both wit and steel. Then they’d bow and turn to smoke, the ashes of their lies and hidden admissions blowing away like dust in the wind.
Other times, I was in the middle of the action, hurtling from side to side as towers fell, and water rushed by. Air blew through my hair, whipping it into my face, the earth below me trembling as fire rained down on all of us.
Tonight, however, the visions weren’t either of those. Yes, I was in the present, the dream happening to me rather than me being a witness to an absolution I would never understand.
But I stood in a clearing, winter on my back, summer facing me down with wicked heat. Spring danced along my right side with a cool warmth that didn’t make sense, while fall brushed my left, its warming coolness confusing me even further.
There were two shadows in front of me, their arms outstretched, each calling my name in whispers. I could only hear their breaths, not their voices, so I had no idea who they were or what they represented in this dream that I knew would linger long after I woke.
“Lyric,” they called in unison.
“Lyric.”
And though that was my name, it still didn’t sound as if they were truly calling to me. Instead, it was as if they called to the person they needed me to be. I wasn’t that person, though. Wasn’t what they needed, and I knew I may not ever be.
And while I still had the same body shape as I did when I was awake—my slightly larger-than-average curves filling out my dress, and my height just below average so the bottom of my hem slid along the mud—I wasn’t truly me in the dream.
My blond hair blew in the wind, catching the light and making it look white at times, gold at others. The shade was always changing depending on how much sun I took in during the season, but in this dream, it changed with the direction I turned.
It isn’t truly me, I told myself again. This wasn’t my dress, this wasn’t my life.
Those shadows couldn’t actually call to me because I wasn’t me.
“Lyric,” the shadows called again.
“Wake up,” the one nearest the spring side demanded.
“It’s time,” the one closest to fall whispered.
And though they were both whispers, they sounded like screams in my ear.
I jolted awake, my sweat-slick skin clammy as I tried to catch my breath. My tank was soaked, sticking to my body, and my shorts had ridden up as if I’d thrashed in my sleep. Considering my comforter was on the floor, and my sheet was currently a knot at the end of my bed, I would say that was probably exactly what had happened.
I swallowed hard, narrowing my eyes at the clock, trying to see what time it was. The sun was already up, even though it wasn’t quite seven in the morning, but it was summer in Denver, Colorado, and that meant blue skies, bright sun, and the occasional rain that came out of nowhere.
I had my white curtains drawn, but they didn’t really block out the light, so I’d learned to sleep through the rays on my face long ago. I had to if I ever wanted to sleep in. And since I was also a teenager, sleeping in was part of life—especially during the summer.
I might be eighteen, out of high school and ready to start college in the fall, but I still felt like the teenager who wanted to sleep in and not have to wake up early for classes. It didn’t help that my walls were still a light lilac from when I’d been in my purple phase, and there was still lace on my curtains and the skirt of my bed.
My family made a decent income, but we were firmly in the middle of middle class, and these days, that meant there wasn’t money to update my bedroom to something a little less tween girl and a little more college-bound woman. I didn’t care too much, however. I wasn’t staying here long. Soon, I’d be in a dorm at the local university, an offshoot of the University of Colorado since there was no way I could afford Boulder’s campus. Plus, this way, I could still be close to home.
Because as much as I might think I was ready to start my new life and be an adult, the nightmares that had plagued me for as long as I could remember told me that I wasn’t as grown-up as I thought.
Honestly, what kind of teenager still needed a nightlight because she was scared of the shadows?
Me, apparently. Lyric Camaron, the walking embodiment of indecision and someone not quite ready for anything.
I ran a hand over my face, holding back a gag at how sweaty I was, and let out a sigh. The dreams hadn’t happened so often before, but now they came almost every other night, and I had no idea what they meant. I’d always had a vivid imagination, but my dreams took that to a whole new level.
I wasn’t a little girl anymore, and yet I still dreamed of princes and princesses, of magic and might. I dreamed of courts and pretty dresses, and flowers and rain. Still, I thought that was probably all just a front for what the dreams actually carried. A veil across the hate and lies and mystery of everything that came with them.
I’d always secretly wanted to write them down, to make them into a book or just a few stories, but for some reason, I’d held myself back. There was no use documenting what never made sense. The dreams scared me even when they shouldn’t, and writing them down would only make them more real.
And it wasn’t like writing would help me in my real life outside of the dreams. I needed to grow up, stop thinking about fairy tales that weren’t bright and shiny, and figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Because I wasn’t a little kid anymore and, sadly, the time to make those choices had already started to pass me by, and I was struggling to keep up.
“Shut up, Lyric,” I mumbled to myself. It was far too early, and I still wasn’t awake en
ough for my mind to be going down that path. I’d likely be getting a very similar lecture from my parents over breakfast—and perhaps lunch and dinner—as it was.
They loved me, and I loved them.
And that meant I needed to be a better daughter.
The first step to doing that was getting out of bed and washing off the sweat that coated my skin. Then, I’d wash my sheets, air out my comforter, and maybe even go for a run so I could get the cobwebs out of my mind. I wasn’t a coffee fan since I tended to need far too much sugar to even like it, so I couldn’t have a cup of that to help. So, that meant chores and fresh air so I could get out of my funk, let the dreams lie where they needed to be—far from my reality—and get on with my day.
I could do that. Totally. If only I could get the images from the dream out of my mind.
Those two shadows had been in more than one of my nightmares, and I couldn’t help but think that they meant something. Who or what did they represent? Why were they important? I didn’t know if they were male or female or if they were truly people at all. If they were supposed to be love interests, then having them be either a man or a woman would only mean that my dream-self represented my real-self since I was attracted to both and had dated both in real life. But I still didn’t know what the dreams or the shadows in them really meant.
In a few, the apparitions had moved, and I could almost imagine them wanting to be even closer. They always held out their hands, as if I had to make a decision between them, to go to one or the other.
Forever Broken: A Talon Pack Novel Page 19
