Unfortunately, the move puts his face dangerously close to her vulnerable sex.
They realize the potential at the exact moment, and Bray opens his mouth, intending to bite her.
Tessa releases him and flips onto her stomach, giving a hoarse shout at what the movement costs her rib.
Oh my Moon, she thinks, trying to crawl away.
Bray lands on top of her, kicking her legs apart. Cold air sinks between her legs.
No! Tessa screams, and gripping the ground with the talons that remain, she shoves herself forward, landing directly on the bad rib.
Tessa hovers between unconscious and reality, her vision swimming with pain.
Then like a mirage, a bloody and whole Laz stands above her, Tom’s head in his hand.
He tosses the head and bends over Bray.
The weight of Bray is suddenly lifted from Tessa, and she can finally breathe.
Darkness begins to steal over her, and the sound of screaming is the music that follows Tessa down into the well of unconsciousness.
CHAPTER TEN
Adi
A di’s aware she’s not the most patient chick around. Slash stands in front of their small pack, steepling his fingers on the surface of a thick wood slab of a table.
The same table her sire stood at before a pack that was much bigger.
Meanwhile, Adi has her chin propped in a hand, leg swinging beneath said table.
Mainly, Adi’s bored.
Her sire was Alpha of the Northwestern, and Adi’s sat through her share of boring Were gatherings.
This isn’t even one of the fun ones.
It’s not one of the huge gatherings where a female can find a male, though Adi had loved Slash since the first time she’d laid eyes on him at just such a gathering. Those Were assemblies are really the only time different packs get together and Adi could see other females or distant relatives.
This is a simple Alpha-speaks-to-the-pack-to-get-acquainted session.
Adi suppresses a sigh and looks around.
The building is an ancient one, built with hand-hewn logs and thick shakes that guard the roof from the elements. It’s seen Northwestern Were for the last three centuries that Adi’s aware. The structure is adjacent to the outdoor coliseum where males would fight to the death over females or for the position of Alpha of the pack. This building is meant to hold a large pack.
Not a pack with only a handful of males and females.
One teeny bit of excitement is the two scouts from the Northwestern are returning any moment—with a new female.
Adi can’t wait. The only female her age is Nova. And that’s not her being a dumb bitch about the fact that Nova’s kind of it for Adi.
Jenni is awesome, but they’re still getting to know each other. There’s so much ground to cover with regard to her new Were status—then there was that douche nozzle, Bray—who tossed himself into the picture, murdered Dunham and almost killed Jenni and Brady?
Friendship is slow to develop between them for good reason. Jenni was human forever and has been a Were for barely a month.
Then Quill’s beast chose Jenni, and that’s got to be a slice of total weirdness for her.
So there’s only really Nova who Adi can relate to. Certainly not Devin. She’s important to the pack because she’s a proven breeder, but talk about rough around the edges. And she’s scared by her own shadow.
Of course, that has a lot to do with that jerk, Bray.
Tony killed Nova’s parents right in front of her, so she’s painfully shy. At almost seventeen, she’s still technically a whelpling. Though if she feels as Adi did at that age, she resents being dismissed because of her age.
Female Were do not go into their adult phasing at the same time a human female might. It depends on the Were and a lot of other factors. Overall, female Were mature later than their human counterparts.
So Nova could adult phase tomorrow or be really late and messing around with it for another ten years.
Adi smiles when she thinks of Slash’s discomfort with mating a female as young as her.
She doesn’t make it easy on him, either. Adi smirks. He sure mates like he doesn't have reservation.
A sudden scent change has Adi’s head jerking up from the perch of her palm.
Slash’s dark eyes meet hers. “Something funny, my female?”
Guilt swamps Adi. “No.” Then anger comes nipping at her heels. Slash is treating her like a chastised school girl.
She straightens.
All eyes go to her. She surveys the staring Were then turns her attention back to Slash. “What?”
Slash’s eyes are hard. “I’d mentioned some of the duties that we would implement as a mated pair.”
Oh shit. Adi was daydreaming about sex instead of acting like the Alpha’s mate. Great. No matter how distracted or bored she should have been mentally present. She hides her embarrassment with typical bravado. Recovering quickly, Adi flutters her eyelashes. “I’m up for anything, sweetie.”
“Excellent,” Slash says. “The first thing we’ll be executing is a thorough plan of gender reversal.”
What?
Adi’s eyes slim down on him. What is her mate up to?
“The males will learn how to cook and clean, and the females will learn to fight.”
“I know how to fight,” Adi states, mildly insulted.
Their eyes clash, and Quill pushes forward from the wall he was leaning against, putting up a hand. “I understand what our new Alpha is saying.”
Adi crosses her arms. Oh boy, I’m gonna make Slash pay. Might be fun too.
“There’s no doubt that you can defend yourself, Adi,” Quill begins, and Slash throws a frown in his direction. “But you can only quarter change while you’re carrying a whelp. So that puts you at a disadvantage and—” He starts to crack up. “You’re not always going to have female ʻprotectionʼ at the ready the next time a rogue Were pack shows up.”
Her face whips to Slash. Oh, he’s so in the doghouse! Adi stands, practically knocking over the chair. “I can’t believe you told everyone about how I brained that dickhead with my tampons!”
Adi stomps around the big table, kind of understanding she might have blown up, by how Nova’s pale gray eyes widen to saucers.
Tears tremble at the edges of Adi’s emotions, and suddenly, she hates being pregnant.
Slash stalks at her like a panther, and she throws up her hand. “You, butthead! I don’t care if you’re making a point. Wow.” Turning her back on her mate, she walks out of the meeting.
Jenni walks after her. “Hey!” she calls after Adi.
Adi keeps marching off. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but not being here is just perfect.
“Stop, Adi!” Jenni says in a hoarse croak.
Fuck. Adi turns, instantly feeling bad she made the healing Jenni tag after her.
Slowly, she walks back to Jenni, who’s busy holding her side where Bray kicked her. Adi’s eyes flick to Jenni’s dark ones, noting the one eye is still sporting a huge bruise that flares out, flag-style, all the way to her temple. At least the socket isn’t all caved in, thanks to Quill.
Her anger at Bray fires up again. What a complete loser.
Adi could kill him.
Of course, Adi feels like she wants to kill everyone at the moment. So rational.
“Sorry,” Adi mutters, folding her arms and staring at her Converse sneakers. “Slash makes me so pissed sometimes.”
“Adi,” Jenni says, and Adi looks up from her sneakers. “He’s the new leader of us now, right? And he’s got a young wife who doesn’t even attempt to rein in her boredom. Then he loops you in the conversation, and you’re clearly twenty miles away mentally.”
“He didn’t have to tell Quill about the tampon thing,” Adi mumbles, looking down at her feet again and kicking a pebble that zings a hundred yards away.
Jenni smiles, letting the hand that was holding her rib fall. “It probably wasn’t the best choic
e. And Quill was trying to make a lame, male point. You know how guysʼ delivery can be.”
“Rough,” Adi admits in a sulking voice. “They’re all ʼtards with conveying something that requires any kind of delicacy. It’s all wham—here’s the info, deal.”
Jenni’s brows pull together, and she gives a small wince at what the motion costs her. “But what’s the motivation? Did you think Slash was trying to hurt you?”
“Not on purpose, but I could smell he was irritated with my lack of interest in the meeting. And so he wasn’t real gentle with my feelings.”
“And you’re not very respectful about his new position,” Jenni inserts quietly.
Heat flares on Adi’s cheeks. She was kind of dismissive of her mate.
Jenni’s dark eyes land on Adi with compassion. “I get that you think it’s boring, but I won’t lie, I’m scared.”
Adi’s face jerks to Jenni, and they regard each other for a handful of seconds. “Why?’
“Why?” Jenni gives a short laugh. “Because I’m a werewolf, and I just about got beaten to death, and, oh—and let’s not forget—Quill’s explained the ʻlarger logicʼ of how he saved me with the super-secret werewolf serum. Yes, all of that is really normal for me. Pfft—I was dying a month ago. I was human,” she emphasizes in a low voice.
“I know,” Adi mumbles, glancing away.
“It’s okay,” Jenni says.
Adi looks back at her.
Jenni lifts a shoulder. “I would have died without your intervention. And now I’m alive. Really alive.” She laughs softly.
A pang of helplessness momentarily overwhelms Adi. “I just can’t think from your perspective. Like Quill told me he had to explain all this stuff to you, and it’s just so… basic.”
“Rudimentary,” Jenni confirms.
Adi nods. “Yup.”
“But it’s not to me.” Jenni holds Adi’s gaze. “I was hanging on every word Slash said earlier. Not only am I completely new to everything and have a ton of catching up to do, I almost died—again. I can’t take any knowledge or plan for my life for granted, now especially. So you weren’t just disrespecting Slash. Essentially, it was me too. Like you don’t care enough to lead someone like me.” Jenni’s eyes travel to the stout gathering building shrouded in shade. “Or Nova?”
Adi feels terrible. She doesn’t feel at all the way her actions apparently came across. She was just bored out of her mind during what she considered old info—same old same. “I didn’t mean it that way,” Adi says in a subdued voice.
Jenni captures her hands, and they’re like ice, which makes Adi frown, taking her out of the moment for a sec with worry for Jenni. “It makes things easier to take because I know all this is old hat to you. You’ve always been a werewolf. And you weren’t trying to be uncaring.”
Adi smiles at her use of the word “werewolf.” It’s so human.
Jenni smiles back. “I know. I’m still getting the hang of all the terminology. And I have something to confess.”
Before she can finish, Adi blurts out, “I’m so sorry, Jenni. I never meant to hurt anyone.” Adi lets her eyes fill with the genuineness of her words. “I’m just all kinds of scattered right now. With being pregnant, newly mated, and getting used to pack life again—and that douche Bray.” Adi shakes her head.
“Yeah… Bray,” Jenni says in a soft voice.
Moon. I am a dumb bitch. Okay. Sighing, Adi hugs Jenni gently, careful of all the damage that prick laid on her.
“I’m okay,” Jenni announces for the second time within the circle of Adi’s arms.
Adi pulls away slightly. “I get that you’re a tough chick, Jen.”
Jenni nods quickly. “Yes, but even with who I am, I’m having a hard time.”
Adi frowns, remembering her earlier comment. “What do you have to confess?”
Jenni takes a deep breath then lets it out slowly. “I don’t know if I want to be Quill’s mate.”
Shock runs through Adi. “Um… his beast has chosen you. That’s a thing, in case you were wondering?”
Jenni’s exhale is raw, her expression guarded. “I had a bad experience with my ex-fiancé, Lance—”
“A human guy?”
Jenni shrugs, and a small laugh shoots out. “Well, yeah.”
Adi snorts. “Screw him and the lame horse he rode in on.”
The corners of her mouth tug. “He found out I was terminal and decided to just let me go piece by piece. Lance just kept filleting off chunks of me until I was whittled down to nothing. I felt like nothing,” she ends quietly.
Adi can be irritated with Were males sometimes, but females are too precious to play games with. That’s one thing Adi knows deep down as a born Were Alpha female—it’s like breathing. But… for human women, Adi supposes their males are fickle because there are so many of them.
Adi feels her brows pull together.
Or maybe they just have a case of dickheadedness. Adi likes that better and goes with it. “Lance was a dick.”
Jenni gives a spontaneous burst of laughter. “Well, I’m sure that’s part of it, but I appreciate your economy of words.” Her lips twitch.
“Hey, what’s going on here? Girl pow-wow or what?” Devin asks, strolling up to them through a trail in the woods. Adi catches sight of Sebastian’s watchful gaze from a few yards off and relaxes.
Devin’s gone through a metamorphosis since the first time Adi laid eyes on her almost a month ago.
For one thing, she’s stopped coating her face in makeup, which smells like ass to a Were, and her natural beauty shines. Her shyness is almost gone, and Adi realizes she should have counted Devin in her tally of females. Except there’s a big if about her Were status. Sure, she bred with Bray accidentally, and the union produced a whelp. But how Were is Devin, really? Can the moon bring her beast? That didn’t happen when Jenni and the others wolfed out.
Might need a little help to become fully Were. So Adi has hung back from Devin. She might be too human for her taste.
The whelp isn’t a mystery, though. Ella is all Alpha, if Adi has to guess. But of course, there is no guarantee of Alpha status until a Were matures. Then their unique beast surfaces, no sooner.
Jenni shakes her head. “No, I was just giving Adi my unsolicited thoughts.”
Devin jerks her thumb behind her. “Seems like your husband was kinda ticked off.”
Husband.
Adi nods. “Yeah, clearly, I didn’t conduct myself too great.”
“I was a whack job when I was pregnant with Ella,” Devin confesses.
“You were?” Adi’s surprised by the admission.
Devin gives a solemn nod. “Yeah, Bray had dumped me for the next skank, and I had quit using. And”—she lowers her voice—“I don’t really remember having sex with Bray. But a woman knows when she’s had sex, ya know?”
Adi and Jenni gape at Devin, who blushes under their scrutiny.
Jenni’s the first to wake up, sliding her arm around the taller girl’s shoulders. “So, do you think he raped you?”
Devin’s shoulders curl forward. “I think when I was fucked up, he took advantage of me being high. I probably said yes or whatever passes for it. I just don’t remember.” Her shoulders bunch up by her ears then drop.
“Moon, he is such a bastard,” Adi says, suddenly feeling a little more camaraderie with Devin.
“Yeah,” Devin agrees easily. “And now I’m this half-Were girl who’s got Ella—and Bray might come back and hurt me, to get her.”
Adi can’t take it. She wraps her arms around both women. “Bray’s not getting anyone, that fucker.”
Devin laughs, pulling away. “You have a way with words.”
“Nope,” Adi says, winking, “I just cuss a lot.”
“That too,” Jenni says ruefully. Then she goes to serious in a heartbeat. “So you like the guys wearing aprons and us learning to fight?”
Adi thinks about it for half a second. “Yeah. Only if Slash is naked while he
cooks.”
The girls are laughing when Slash walks up to them, frowning at their amusement.
His eyes sweep them, and Adi’s laughter dies, but she puts her hand out, fluttering her fingers at her mate. “Come here, stud. Let’s chat.”
It’s only when the other females walk off that Adi remembers she and Jenni didn’t really get to work on the Quill issue, because that’ll be a big one.
Jenni believes she has a choice about that entire thing. But Quill is locked in to her for life now.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Marley
S he’s trying, really trying. The thing is, Marley’s lame leg keeps getting more tired. The limb was as fresh as a daisy when she first began with the males on the long trek to the Northwestern.
But as the day has progressed, she’s not so much using the leg as dragging it behind her.
The female Were of the Redwood pack have gone after her leg too many times. The appendage can’t even fully heal through a change into her wolf when the moon goes full.
Marley can walk great, run even. But it’s this long stuff that kills her. Of course, the males of the Northwestern knew this.
She’s no prize. Marley is a beta Were with a bum leg.
Still, she’s breedable—and beautiful. Marley’s so striking, she’s been challenged every month that she’s not been a whelp.
If she’d remained, her death was inevitable.
Too many beta females were trying to rise to Alpha status within her pack. There was that bitch Tanya, cousin to Tahlia, and when she returned after an obvious rejection from the Hoh, she killed two of their beta females.
Tanya’s just that spiteful. She wants to be an Alpha, but that doesn’t count. You can want the status until forever, but that won’t make you an Alpha if you were born beta.
Marley believes her Lanarre king and queen decided to ship her off with two males from the Northwestern so she wouldn’t meet the same fate as the other betas.
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