LOGINJoe POVI didn’t know what to do.Early this morning, I had taken breakfast up to Ruby, hoping to talk to her about what happened between her and Zach… only to find Zach already there. Ruby had looked at him with betrayal and anger as she lifted her chin toward him.“Stop pushing me,” she said, her voice like ice. “All of you. All you’ve done is push me. Push, push, push. You don’t listen to me. Right up until you decided to fuck me, you didn’t even see me. Now, you act as though you have a right to set the terms of our relationship?”I shook my head, grimacing as I swung a sledgehammer. It felt good to use my muscles and engage in manual labor. It helped me to work out some of my frustrations and confusion. That wasn’t the Ruby I knew. Was all the stress finally coming out?A giant wolf leaped over a pile of rubble. I tensed instinctively before I recognized it as Jarek. He shifted to human form, his eyes wild. The scent of smoke wafted over him.“Ruby’s been possessed,” Jarek panted
Ruby POVZach said we talked, and I told him to leave me alone. I didn’t remember having that conversation.It was cold in the house, even though I could hear the furnace continually running. We’d experienced a sudden drop in temperature the last few days. It was so miserably cold that there were some concerns about the well-being of the forest. All in all, our temperatures had fluctuated rapidly. Would it kill off some of the trees? Was there anything we could do to help them?As I stood at my window, staring out at the redwoods, I wondered if that was what the spirit wanted. Why it kept pulling me to the forest, why it did its damnedest to make me light fires. Maybe it wanted to destroy the redwoods. Why? To make the dark part of the forest, the place that was all twisted pines and shadow, expand?I thought it was gone. I thought we had defeated it, but it was back. I felt it, slithering through my bones. Flexing through my body as though I was a puppet.And worse, I couldn’t seem t
Kurt POVI leaned over the back of the couch and kissed Ruby’s neck. She sighed slightly as she leaned into me, the book in her hands drooping.“How has your day been?” I asked her.Ruby shook her head. “Same as yesterday.”I frowned as I sank onto the couch next to her. Joe was at the fireplace, lighting a fire; it was very cold in the house. I supposed that with Ruby bundled up in her blankets, she hadn’t felt how cold it was. When I took both of her hands in mine, though, they were like ice.She didn’t look at me, but I could still see the grief written in the lines of her face.If we only knew why Zach had suddenly moved out of the house… it was only two days since that beautiful moment on the mountain, but Zach refused to speak to Ruby, refused to see her, refused to explain why.My wolf howled in mourning to see my mate so heartbroken. I glanced at Joe, hoping he’d have some answers that I didn’t. But just as when we’d left the house that morning, he seemed just as helpless. I k
Zach POV“Yes, I think this would be a great spot,” I said, nodding as I looked at the derelict buildings my pack owned. There were some old Omega barracks close to the town center, ones that had been condemned after the new apartments had opened.“Should we begin tearing down the old buildings?” the head of my construction crew asked.I nodded. “Even if we go for a different spot for the aquatic center, these buildings need to be taken down. They’re a fire hazard.”My wolf was unhappy about leaving the house this morning. After Ruby’s success on the mountaintop and how pure and sweet the magic that surrounded us had been, I wanted to make the images we’d seen come true.We had spent most of the evening going over old plans Joe had made years ago for a town aquatic center—and most of the night engaged in some pleasant exercise.It was doubtful that Ruby was pregnant; logically, I knew that was good. We weren’t in the right spot to adjust to the added complication of a baby in our rela
Joe POVWe were back at our usual spot, the plateau of rock. It was mid-afternoon, the day after the party. I would have liked to have taken the rest of the day to just be together and relax, but when we got home, Ruby was agitated and wanted to start practicing her magic again.“I’m not going to be able to stop the fires from causing more destruction if I can’t control my magic in normal situations,” she’d said.So now we were out here. It was a good day for it, clear and bright, with not a cloud in the sky. The sunlight felt warm, even up here on the mountain. Ruby paced along the rocks, looking for something. She seemed distracted and uncertain. It surprised me. Why was today so different from yesterday?“Are you alright?” I asked finally. “I know you talked with Jessica today. Did she say something to upset you?”My wolf growled at the suggestion. But even as I said it, I knew that it wouldn’t have been Jessica. My mind flashed to my mother. If anyone had reason to make Ruby doubt
Ruby POVIt was too much; it wasn’t enough. I wanted this to last forever. I could die in their arms, and I’d be happy to go, if it meant that this moment would be written in my soul for the rest of eternity.When our orgasms hit, they hit all at once. The pleasure swept through me, making my eyes roll into the back of my head. I felt my mates shuddering around me, felt as their cocks throbbed, felt the heat of them as they released. They continued to pump, prolonging the pleasure as each of them cried my name like a prayer.The snap of magic grew stronger. I felt it pulsing through me like a second orgasm, stronger than the first. My own pleasure was increased threefold as I felt the waves rock through each of my mates. They all knotted, their cocks growing bigger, filling me even further. My orgasm hadn’t faded, and the feeling of their knots inside of me pushed it higher, more powerful.Kurt collapsed over me, pulling his cock from my mouth. His lips and teeth grazed over my sweati
Cassian POVI paused, surprised. This indicated that she was impatient with herself, that she’d never truly taken the time to learn how her own body worked or reacted. And all of a sudden, I knew it was because she had never learned that she deserved pleasure. I felt a rush of sadness for her. Had
Cassian POV“And there’s nothing that either of us can say or do to relieve those fears,” I said, understanding where she was coming from. “I could swear up and down until I was blue in the face, but you’d still wonder if it was because of the mating bond. So I’m not going to try to convince you th
Cassian POVJessa let out a shaky breath, her hand pressed against her lower abdomen. We were near my place, using some cement to keep the pile of rocks that the sewer spirit wanted put together. Apparently, it had found her again and had been screaming at her all night, preventing her from sleepin
Denric POV“Get your fucking hands off her!” I dove between Jessa and the Alphas, shoving them backward away from her. Some part of my mind said it would have been easier and less violent to pull her away, but that would have required touching her.She doesn’t want me to touch her, I thought.“Chil







