Tattered Loyalties

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Tattered Loyalties

  The Redwood Pack Volumes:

  Redwood Pack Vol 1

  Redwood Pack Vol 2

  Redwood Pack Vol 3

  Redwood Pack Vol 4

  Redwood Pack Vol 5

  Redwood Pack Vol 6

  Dante’s Circle Series:

  Dust of My Wings

  Her Warriors’ Three Wishes

  An Unlucky Moon

  His Choice

  Tangled Innocence

  Montgomery Ink:

  Ink Inspired

  Ink Reunited

  Delicate Ink

  Hot Ink

  Tempting Boundaries

  Holiday, Montana Series:

  Charmed Spirits

  Santa’s Executive

  Finding Abigail

  Her Lucky Love

  Dreams of Ivory

  Coming Soon:

  Talon Pack (Part of the Redwood Pack World)

  An Alpha’s Choice

  Mated in Mist

  Dante’s Circle:

  Fierce Enchantment

  Fallen for Alphas

  Montgomery Ink:

  Forever Ink

  Harder than Words

  Written in Ink

  The Branded Pack Series:

  (Written with Alexandra Ivy)

  Stolen and Forgiven

  Abandoned and Unseen

  Excerpt: Wicked Wolf

  Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another romance from Fated Desires?

  From New York Times Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Redwood Pack Series

  Wicked Wolf

  There were times to drool over a sexy wolf.

  Sitting in the middle of a war room disguised as a board meeting was not one of those times.

  Gina Jamenson did her best not to stare at the dark-haired, dark-eyed man across the room. The hint of ink peeking out from under his shirt made her want to pant. She loved ink and this wolf clearly had a lot of it. Her own wolf within nudged at her, a soft brush beneath her skin, but she ignored her. When her wolf whimpered, Gina promised herself that she’d go on a long run in the forest later. She didn’t understand why her wolf was acting like this, but she’d deal with it when she was in a better place. She just couldn’t let her wolf have control right then—even for a man such as the gorgeous specimen a mere ten feet from her.

  Today was more important than the wants and feelings of a half wolf, half witch hybrid.

  Today was the start of a new beginning.

  At least that’s what her dad had told her.

  Considering her father was also the Alpha of the Redwood Pack, he would be in the know. She’d been adopted into the family when she’d been a young girl. A rogue wolf during the war had killed her parents, setting off a long line of events that had changed her life.

  As it was, Gina wasn’t quite sure how she’d ended up in the meeting between the two Packs, the Redwoods and the Talons. Sure, the Packs had met before over the past fifteen years of their treaty, but this meeting seemed different.

  This one seemed more important somehow.

  And they’d invited—more like demanded—Gina to attend.

  At twenty-six, she knew she was the youngest wolf in the room by far. Most of the wolves were around her father’s age, somewhere in the hundreds. The dark-eyed wolf might have been slightly younger than that, but only slightly if the power radiating off of him was any indication.

  Wolves lived a long, long time. She’d heard stories of her people living into their thousands, but she’d never met any of the wolves who had. The oldest wolf she’d met was a friend of the family, Emeline, who was over five hundred. That number boggled her mind even though she’d grown up knowing the things that went bump in the night were real.

  Actually, she was one of the things that went bump in the night.

  “Are we ready to begin?” Gideon, the Talon Alpha, asked, his voice low. It held that dangerous edge that spoke of power and authority.

  Her wolf didn’t react the way most wolves would, head and eyes down, shoulders dropped. Maybe if she’d been a weaker wolf, she’d have bowed to his power, but as it was, her wolf was firmly entrenched within the Redwoods. Plus, it wasn’t as if Gideon was trying to make her bow just then. No, those words had simply been spoken in his own voice.

  Commanding without even trying.

  Then again, he was an Alpha.

  Kade, her father, looked around the room at each of his wolves and nodded. “Yes. It is time.”

  Their formality intrigued her. Yes, they were two Alphas who held a treaty and worked together in times of war, but she had thought they were also friends.

  Maybe today was even more important than she’d realized.

  Gideon released a sigh that spoke of years of angst and worries. She didn’t know the history of the Talons as well as she probably should have, so she didn’t know exactly why there was always an air of sadness and pain around the Alpha.

  Maybe after this meeting, she’d be able to find out more.

  Of course, in doing so, she’d have to not look at a certain wolf in the corner. His gaze was so intense she was sure he was studying her. She felt it down in her bones, like a fiery caress that promised something more.

  Or maybe she was just going crazy and needed to find a wolf to scratch the itch.

  She might not be looking for a mate, but she wouldn’t say no to something else. Wolves were tactile creatures after all.

  “Gina?”

  She blinked at the sound of Kade’s voice and turned to him.

  She was the only one standing other than the two wolves in charge of security—her uncle Adam, the Enforcer, and the dark-eyed wolf.

  Well, that was embarrassing.

  She kept her head down and forced herself not to blush. From the heat on her neck, she was pretty sure she’d failed in the latter.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled then sat down next to another uncle, Jasper, the Beta of the Pack.

  Although the Alphas had called this meeting, she wasn’t sure what it would entail. Each Alpha had come with their Beta, a wolf in charge of security…and her father had decided to bring her.

  Her being there didn’t make much sense in the grand scheme of things since it put the power on the Redwoods’ side, but she wasn’t about to question authority in front of another Pack. That at least had been ingrained in her training.

  “Let’s get started then,” Kade said after he gave her a nod. “Gideon? Do you want to begin?”

  Gina held back a frown. They were acting more formal than usual, so that hadn’t been her imagination. The Talons and the Redwoods had formed a treaty during the latter days of the war between the Redwoods and the Centrals. It wasn’t as though these were two newly acquainted Alphas meeting for the first time. Though maybe when it came to Pack matters, Alphas couldn’t truly be friends.

  What a lonely way to live.

  “It’s been fifteen years since the end of the Central War, yet there hasn’t been a single mating between the two Packs,” Gideon said, shocking her.

  Gina blinked. Really? That couldn’t be right. She was sure there had to have been some cross-Pack mating.

  Right?

  “That means that regardless of the treaties we signed, we don’t believe the moon goddess has seen fit to fully accept us as a unit,” Kade put in.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, then shut her mouth. She was the youngest wolf here and wasn’t formally titled or ranked. She should not be speaking right now.

  She felt the gaze of the dark-eyed wolf on her, but she didn’t turn to look. Instead, she kept her head down in a show of respect to the Alphas.

  “You can ask questions, Gina. It’s okay,” Kade said, the tone of his voice not changing, but, as his daughter, she heard the softer edge. “And what I mean is, mating comes from the moon goddess. Yes, we can find our own versions of mates by not bonding fully, but a true bond, a true potential mate, is chosen by the moon goddess. That’s how it’s
always been in the past.”

  Gideon nodded. “There haven’t been many matings within the Talons in general.”

  Gina sucked in a breath, and the Beta of the Talons, Mitchell, turned her way. “Yes,” Mitchell said softly. “It’s that bad. It could be that in this period of change within our own pack hierarchy, our members just haven’t found mates yet, but that doesn’t seem likely. There’s something else going on.”

  Gina knew Gideon—as well as the rest of his brothers and cousins—had come into power at some point throughout the end of the Central War during a period of the Talon’s own unrest, but she didn’t know the full history. She wasn’t even sure Kade or the rest of the Pack royalty did.

  There were some things that were intensely private within a Pack that could not—and should not—be shared.

  Jasper tapped his fingers along the table. As the Redwood Beta, it was his job to care for their needs and recognize hidden threats that the Enforcer and Alpha might not see. The fact that he was here told Gina that the Pack could be in trouble from something within the Pack, rather than an outside force that Adam, the Enforcer, would be able to see through his own bonds and power.

  “Since Finn became the Heir to the Pack at such a young age, it has changed a few things on our side,” Jasper said softly. Finn was her brother, Melanie and Kade’s oldest biological child. “The younger generation will be gaining their powers and bonds to the goddess earlier than would otherwise be expected.” Her uncle looked at her, and she kept silent. “That means the current Pack leaders will one day not have the bonds we have to our Pack now. But like most healthy Packs, that doesn’t mean we’re set aside. It only means we will be there to aid the new hierarchy while they learn their powers. That’s how it’s always been in our Pack, and in others, but it’s been a very long time since it’s happened to us.”

  “Gina will one day be the Enforcer,” Adam said from behind her. “I don’t know when, but it will be soon. The other kids aren’t old enough yet to tell who will take on which role, but since Gina is in her twenties, the shifts are happening.”

  The room grew silent, with an odd sense of change settling over her skin like an electric blanket turned on too high.

  She didn’t speak. She’d known about her path, had dreamed the dreams from the moon goddess herself. But that didn’t mean she wanted the Talons to know all of this. It seemed…private somehow.

  “What does this have to do with mating?” she asked, wanting to focus on something else.

  Gideon gave her a look, and she lowered her eyes. He might not be her Alpha, but he was still a dominant wolf. Yes, she hadn’t lowered her eyes before, but she’d been rocked a bit since Adam had told the others of her future. She didn’t want to antagonize anyone when Gideon clearly wanted to show his power. Previously, everything had been casual; now it clearly was not.

  Kade growled beside her. “Gideon.”

  The Talon Alpha snorted, not smiling, but moved his gaze. “It’s fun to see how she reacts.”

  “She’s my daughter and the future Enforcer.”

  “She is right here, so how about you answer my question?”

  Jasper chuckled by her side, and Gina wondered how quickly she could reach the nearest window and jump. It couldn’t be that far. She wouldn’t die from the fall or anything, and she’d be able to run home.

  Quickly.

  “Mating,” Kade put in, the laughter in his eyes fading, “is only a small part of the problem. When we sent Caym back to hell with the other demons, it changed the power structure within the Packs as well as outside them. The Centrals who fought against us died because they’d lost their souls to the demon. The Centrals that had hidden from the old Alphas ended up being lone wolves. They’re not truly a Pack yet because the goddess hasn’t made anyone an Alpha.”

  “Then you have the Redwoods, with a hierarchy shift within the younger generation,” Gideon said. “And the Talons’ new power dynamic is only fifteen years old, and we haven’t had a mating in long enough that it’s starting to worry us.”

  “Not that you’d say that to the rest of the Pack,” Mitchell mumbled.

  “It’s best they don’t know,” Gideon said, the sounds of an old argument telling Gina there was more going on here than what they revealed.

  Interesting.

  “There aren’t any matings between our two Packs, and I know the trust isn’t fully there,” Kade put in then sighed. “I don’t know how to fix that myself. I don’t think I can.”

  “You’re the Alpha,” Jasper said calmly. “If you tell them to get along with the other wolves, they will, and for the most part, they have. But it isn’t as authentic as if they find that trust on their own. We’ve let them go this long on their own, but now, I think we need to find another way to have our Packs more entwined.”

  The dark-eyed wolf came forward then. “You’ve seen something,” he growled.

  Dear goddess. His voice.

  Her wolf perked, and she shoved her down. This wasn’t the time.

  “We’ve seen…something, Quinn,” Kade answered.

  Quinn. That was his name.

  Sexy.

  And again, so not the time.

  Find out more in Wicked Wolf. Out Now.

  To make sure you’re up to date on all of Carrie Ann’s releases, sign up for her mailing list HERE.

  Excerpt: Find Me in Darkness

  Love paranormal romance? Check out Julie Kenner!

  I hope you enjoy this excerpt from Find Me in Darkness, A Dark Pleasures novella. This is the first part of Mal and Christina’s story, and it continues Find Me in Pleasure and Find Me in Passion.

  You can learn all about the Dark Pleasures series (and all my books!) at my website, http://www.juliekenner.com

  And if you missed Callie and Raine’s story, Caress of Darkness, a 1001 Dark Nights novella, be sure to grab a copy now!

  --Julie

  Chapter 1

  Mal stood by the bed and looked down at the woman he’d just fucked.

  She was drop-dead gorgeous, lithe and strong with alabaster skin and hair as dark as his own. She was smart and funny, had good taste in wine, and had sucked his cock with rare skill.

  Not a bad resume, when you got right down to it, and if Mal had even an ounce of sense he’d slide back into bed, sink deep inside her, and try once more to forget how goddamn lonely he was.

  Shit.

  She didn’t deserve that. Hell, none of the women he fucked deserved that. Which was why he had a strict one-time only policy. Shared lust and pounding sex to work out some of life’s kinks was one thing. But Mal didn’t do serious or personal. Not anymore.

  He’d had serious. He’d had personal.

  Hell, he’d had love. Epic, forever, everyone-else-can-just-melt-away love.

  And not only love, but respect and humor and passion so intense that he felt alive only when he touched her.

  He’d had all that.

  Now, all he had was a nightmare.

  On the bed, the woman shifted, then smiled up at him, soft and sultry. “Mal? What’s wrong?”

  He said nothing, and she sat up, letting the sheet fall to her waist to expose her bare breasts as she held out a hand to him. “Come back to bed and let me make it better.”

  If only it was that easy.

  “I have to go.”

  “Go?” She glanced at the clock and then pulled up the sheet to cover her nakedness. “It’s not even midnight.” Her voice was indignant.

  “It can’t be helped.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch.”

  He didn’t wince, didn’t try to defend himself. What defense was there against the truth?

  Instead, he moved to her side, then brushed his fingers lightly over her forehead. “Sleep,” he said, then stepped away as the woman fell back against the pillows, lost once again to the world of dreams.

  He pulled the sheet up to cover her, then glanced around the room in search of his clothes. He’d brought her to the penthouse
suite at the stunning Gardiner Hotel, a relatively new Fifth Avenue boutique in which he held a significant financial position. Now he moved through the bedroom and parlor, gathering discarded garments as he walked.

  He pulled on his jeans, then slipped his arms into the white button-down that he’d worn that evening before going out in search of a woman to take the edge off. He let it hang open as he stepped out onto the patio, then moved to the stone half-wall that separated him from the concrete and asphalt of Fifth Avenue twelve stories below.

  It would be easy enough to jump. To end his pain, even if only for a few moments.

  And a few moments were all that he would get before the phoenix fire would surround and gather him, reducing him to ashes before once again regenerating him.

  Immortality.

  Had he truly once believed it was a gift? To have an eternity in this body that could touch and feel and experience such profound pleasure?

  Three thousand years ago, it had been a gift, but that was when she’d been beside him, and it was Christina he’d been touching. Caressing.

  Christina he’d held in his arms. Whose lips brushed gently over his skin. Who whispered soft words so close to his ear that even her breath aroused him.

  But then everything had gone to shit and he’d realized that immortality wasn’t a gift. It was a curse.

  He was immortal. He was alone. And every goddamn day was torture.

  He closed his eyes and clutched the railing, his hands clenched so tight that the rough-hewn edges of the stone cut into his palms.

  Christina…

  He reached out with his mind, searching for her as he did every night with equal parts dread and longing.

  Sometimes centuries would pass before he felt her presence resonate through him, sometimes only decades.

  It had been two hundred and sixty years since the last time he’d found her, her energy reaching out to him even from across the Atlantic, even though she never had a conscious memory of him, or even of herself.