LOGINLincoln's POVShit. This is going to be so fucking hard."Can I kiss you?"The question leaves me before I can stop it, rough and urgent, and far less smooth than I imagined it would sound."Yes," she breathes, and I move, almost lunging at her in my desperation to get my mouth on hers again.Her mouth meets mine, and the world narrows to a single point of contact, warm and tentative, but then her lips part and everything sharpens into focus.She tastes like the tea she drank at dinner, and underneath it her beautiful jasmine and citrus scent lingers on her mouth.My hand slides from her cheek into her hair, the strands tangling around my fingers, and Zahra makes a small sound against my mouth that turns my blood to fire.'Goddess,' Lex sighs in my mind. 'She is everything.'I tug her closer, and she comes willingly, her hands finding my shoulders, then my chest, then fisting in the fabric of my shirt as the kiss deepens. My tongue brushes hers and she moans, soft and low, the vibrati
Lincoln's POVHer voice is soft, almost teasing, and I feel the words travel down my spine. My hand is still wrapped around hers. These sparks are addictive, the skin-to-skin contact so distracting. Fuck, what will it be like to have her whole-body flush against mine?My body heats instantly, my cock starting to fill.Fuck."Did your brother ever come out here?" Zahra asks, and thankfully the question about my idiot brother has my cock deflating fast."When he was a baby, yes, but I doubt he remembers it. Once he was older, Mum didn't bring him. She always said this was our place. I'm sure she had a special spot with him too. She always made sure we both spent time alone with her, bonding, talking.""You miss her," she sighs."Yeah, but I'm glad I had fifteen years with her.""You're lucky," she sighs. "I never knew my mother. She died giving birth to me. I'd never known any sort of motherly affection until Luna Alison took me in. Even now, it still surprises me."I feel her sadness t
Lincoln's POV'What the hell, man? How could you let her walk into this?'Tobias's link drips with vitriol, and he's right.Goddess damn, he's right.The tension in the room has every hair on my body on edge. We're supposed to be here to reassure the pack and calm things down ahead of the fucking inspection, and now this?Lex is standing to attention, every instinct focused on our mate, because it feels like a very real possibility that someone might lunge for her, and I know from the set of Xander's shoulders and the way Tobias is squeezing his cutlery they both feel it as well.At least the one saving grace is that they will both put themselves between Zahra and any harm. If this breaks into an all-out fight, Zahra will have my entire unit and three Alphas, as well as her own incredible skill, to keep her safe.I can't fucking believe I put her in this position.'I didn't see this coming,' Lex murmurs, berating himself for the hundredth time.'We don't have a bond with the pack yet.
Zahra's POVLincoln looks around the room, surveying his pack before starting; "Good evening, Shadow Pack. It's wonderful to see you all again and be back on home soil." He pauses as ripples of murmurs spread across the room. "I am sorry to have left you for so long after only just becoming your Alpha, but I had a rather important job to do."He glances down at me, and his eyes very briefly flicker to Tobias's before he continues."I met my mate." He smiles. "I had to wait until the other day for her to come of age and for the bond to reveal itself to her. Shadow, I would like to introduce you all to your Luna, Zahra Larking, Beta female from Bloodmoon."There are stunned gasps, and no one cheers. Not one person.Lincoln registers it too. His jaw tightens before he continues."The feud between Bloodmoon and Shadow died with my father. We have no grudges with them, and this new alliance formed by our bond, and my close friendship with their future Alpha," he indicates Xander, "will ens
Zahra's PovWe chat away in the living room for what feels like five minutes, but when Lincoln squeezes my hand and I look up, I realise the light is golden and the sun is starting to descend in the sky."It's nearly time for dinner to be served. Do you want to change?" Lincoln asks. "We're relaxed here and you look beautiful, as always. I just didn't want to take the option away from you," he hurries on, as if worried I'll be offended by his words.I smile at him and glance at the others. They are all in shorts and T-shirts, or, in Holly's case, a light summer skirt and a sleeveless top.I'm in the sundress I put on this morning to make a good first impression. It's clean and not too wrinkled and will still serve its purpose. I don't want the others to think I'm high maintenance."I'm happy to go down like this," I say to Lincoln, squeezing his hand gently.He smiles, his silver eyes bright, but beneath it I can feel his nervous excitement through the bond.Fuck... this is about to ha
Zahra's POVLincoln continues; "Well, then, once we woke up, Tobias and I went to see Zahra because we'd missed her birthday, and then we were told she'd been poisoned, and naturally we were worried. And when we got there... the bond snapped into place. We've been in Bloodmoon trying to figure things out and spending time together.""Wow, this is complicated," Holly breathes. "Three separate packs, units, the lot?"I nod."Where will you live?"We shrug."We haven't figured anything out yet, and we know the responsibility of our units is going to increase. But thankfully I'm the only acting Alpha at the moment. Hopefully we'll have figured out more of a plan before the others are sworn in."They all look a little shell-shocked, and the room falls into silence. Nobody even seems to blink.My anxiety rockets.They're judging us.They don't want me as their Luna anymore.They're going to think I'm a slut. That I'm unworthy of being their Luna.Lincoln's hand finds mine. He interlocks our
Max's POVI’m spared the need to say anything else, or for her to interrogate me, as Xander strides into the room.He doesn’t look at me. He heads straight for the coffee.“Morning,” he says, leaning against the counter to sip his drink, keeping his distance, like he has ever since…“Morning, darli
Zach's POVLucas, Hugo, and Austin appear from the study and join us in the hall to greet the others.In the lead are the Night Howlers. Brant and his dad. Arlo and his dad. They climb out of their cars and greet us all, their faces solemn."How are you, man?" Arlo asks as he pulls me into a hug.I
Zahra's POVDrip, drip, drip.I jolt back to wakefulness with a sharp clank as my chains rattle. For a second, I can’t place where I am, only the cold stone beneath me and the weight at my throat, then memory slams into place like a door locking.Fuck.My eyelids are swollen, heavy, and I can’t ope
Zahra's POVA clink of keys sounds above, followed by the scrape of metal. My attention snaps towards the only entrance. Across the room, someone in another cage whispers prayers under her breath, the words broken and desperate, as if faith is the only thing the bars can’t take from her.I lean for







