This is maddening. I mean, I'm relieved to know that he’s safe. Like, you can’t even imagine how relieved I am, but having no idea where he is. It’s killing me. I know that Charlie feels the same way, based on the way that she’s clutching me to her.
I’ve texted the Alpha Council in our group chat to let them know what’s going on and have been giving them continuous updates throughout.
I do feel a little bad for the evil trio. Brandon really sucks in the kitchen. Guy could burn water.
But I’d happily eat only his charcoal burgers and incinerated asparagus for the rest of my life if that meant that we could have him back. Goddess, I needed to have him here right now.
Keep it together, Z. I’ll be back soon. Brandon’s voice fills my mind through the link.
I’ve got him, Big Bad. Just get them talking. Charlie links. Charlie pulls me into her arms, holding me to her much smaller frame. I bury my face in her hair, letting her scent wash over me and calm me. Christy stirs in her bassinet, but stays asleep and I hear a low snore from Jerry.
A tear rolls down my cheek as I feel the loss of Brandon even more keenly right now. This isn’t right or fair that our mate is missing this time with his new family. I can’t wait to rip CCS apart.
Through the link, we hear Severn and Casen directing Brandon on what to do. He’s in the middle of washing and breaking apart some lettuce when they start their story.
“How much do you know about us?” Severn asks.
“The Goddess filled us in,” Brandon mutters, his words punctuated by the breaking of the leaves.
Both of the males stop what they are doing. “What do you mean, the Goddess filled you in?” Casen asks slowly.
Do I tell them? He asks us in the mindlink.
It’s a good question. Do we let them know that the Goddess is on our side? Or do we let him think that Meredith is just a really good conduit?
I loop Meredith into our link quickly. Meredith, do we tell CCS how involved the Goddess is in our lives?
She’s silent for a second and I can tell that she is communing with our deity. No, just hold off. We need to see if we can trust them. Bring them back into the fold. We need to try to do that without using the Mother as a punishment. They need to come back on their own. Explain about me.
Alright, Brandon links before turning back to his conversation with the two males he’s in the room with. I take Meredith out of our link, texting her our thanks. The less people that Brandon has in his head, the more he’ll be able to focus on what is happening in the room with him.
“One of the trios consists of the alpha, luna, and beta of the Diana Pack. The luna, Meredith, is an oracle. Her augmented gift is an almost direct line to the Goddess. She can ask for guidance and the Goddess responds. Gives her a lot of background info, too. We know all about what happened with your pack and that you’ve been turned away from every pack that you tried to be a part of.”
Casen’s jaw tenses when I talk about his original pack. He nods and turns back to the meat that he is cooking on the stove, not saying a word. But Severn stares at me for a beat too long, almost as if he knows that I’m keeping something back.
Keep an eye on him, Charlie links.
I can feel Brandon’s agreement through the link. Severn doesn’t seem as much affected by the pain and guilt from their past as his two mates. Or at least, he doesn’t let him cloud his judgment of what’s happening in the current situation. He’s someone to keep a close eye on.
Brandon ducks his head, looking back at the vegetables in front of him. Putting aside the lettuce, he starts washing some peppers. Severn moves closer to Brandon, beginning to section out matzo dough to make homemade flour tortillas.
After a few moments of silence, Severn starts to speak. “After we were disowned and run out of the pack, we tried to find other packs that would shelter us. We tried to hide the fact that we were all mates, trios as you call them. But do you know how hard it is to hide your love for someone so that no one else sees? No matter how many combinations we tried, saying that Rin and Case were mates or Rin and me or, hell, even Case and me, it was only a matter of time before the packs figured out that we were all together. We tried saying that whoever wasn’t a part of the ‘couple’ that we put forward was a sibling, adopted or real, and that was why we were all traveling together. But it usually became apparent within several weeks that the ‘sibling’ wasn’t staying in their room and that we all smelled like each other no matter what we did.”
Brandon grunts, not openly hostile towards Severn, but also not expressing his usually inviting and friendly personality. “Makes sense that you guys wouldn’t be able to stay away from each other.”
I mean, he’s not wrong. Unless they rejected each other, there’s no way that they would be able to stay away from each other for any length of time, especially if they were in such close proximity.
Casen breaks into the conversation as Severn begins to press out taco shells and Brandon starts chopping onions. I’m not even there and my nose wrinkles at the intense smell that I know those onions are giving off to a werewolf nose.
With his back still to Brandon, Casen says lowly, “The other problem that we had is that we couldn’t hide our auras. I’m an alpha. There’s no taking that away, just because our pack didn’t accept my mates. Rin’s a luna and was a beta before that. Sev’s a lune and a gamma before that. There’s no way to hide any of that. Our stories varied: our pack had been taken over and we were kicked out, we were born rogues, we were away from our pack when it was overpowered, anything to explain why three high powered wolves would be seeking shelter. I don’t know if they ever really believed us, but many packs took us in, willing to help. Well…until they found out that we were all three mates.”
Casen stops talking, the weight of the world falling on his shoulders as he leans over the counter next to the stove. Severn moves to him, hugging him around the waist and pulling Casen into his chest. They stand like that for several moments, wrapped up in each other, some sort of grief coating them.
I feel a longing from Brandon through the link. Seeing the two mates comfort each other causes Brandon to miss us even more in that moment.
Soon, baby. You’ll be back home with us soon. Our parents will take the pups and Zak and I are going to fuck your ever-loving brains out. But right now, you need to get the information we need to get to you and to keep us all safe. Charlie’s voice is fierce through the mindlink. And, honestly? I’m fucking turned on.
Brandon chuckles through the link. Tonight, when they go to sleep, I’m going to watch you guys fuck each other. Put a lid on it until then, Z.
I can’t help but laugh. My mate knows me way too well and he knows that this is going to help calm me down. It will be a bit of normalcy when we all so desperately need it.
“What happened?” Brandon asks out loud. “Obviously something bad. I mean, other than the shit that you three have caused. Something made you do this. What happened?”
I hear the rustling of trees and brush, the ripping of roots from the ground. Through Brandon’s eyes, I see Corinda walk back into the room.
Her face is flushed and eyes red from crying, though her mouth has formed a snarl. “They killed our pups.”
My beautiful mate. One of the two loves of my life. Her beautiful red hair is wild, the smell of ash and smoke clinging to her. She’s been trying to burn away her pain in the forest. Her face is flushed and the tear stains on her cheeks pull at my heart. I want to go to her, I want to hold her, to comfort her and wipe the tears away, but she wouldn’t want that. For one, we’re in front of someone else. For two, she just wouldn’t want it. Talking about our pups…it’s too much for her.Even four years later, the pain of losing our pups is too much, too raw. She deals with it with anger instead of facing it and dealing with the loss. It’s caused so many difficulties for us. We’re not as close as we were when we grew up together or when we were first mated. I lost absolute control with her whe
Ever since I had met Brandon on the rock by the pond and talked to him about accepting his mates, he and I have been close. It’s like having a brother, which is something that I’ve always wanted. We’d never really talked before that. Not because Brandon shunned me or anything, far from it. The Artemis Pack is full of people who are caring and kind. More like we were of different age groups and status in the pack. Our paths just never really crossed. But after that day, he took a special interest in me, checking on me and Lucille, talking to me about becoming an oracle, and making sure I was settling into my role as a mate and luna. He was the first person there other than my mates when Fati and JoJo were born and has already insisted that Jared and JoJo are destined for each other. How he would know that, I don’t know, but they both definitely have the same calm temperament. So learning that he had been taken by CCS shook me. “¿Sigues pensando en Brandon, mi cielo? (Still th
Severn and I don’t really talk much after I give him my advice. He seems lost in thought. Not pissed at me, like I’d thought he would be. More pensive and worried. He knows I’m right, I can see it in his eyes. He’s had to have felt it in his interactions with his mates, thought it after one of Corinda’s blow ups. Casen comes back about an hour after we finish eating. We’re standing at the sink, washing the dishes when Severn turns around, an indecipherable look on his face. He opens the barrier and Casen walks in. Severn smiles, relief plastered all over his face. But it flickers out when Corinda doesn’t follow behind Casen. “Where’s Rin?” Severn asks, looking at the open entryway. I take a deep breath and try to look out the doorway, attempting to find any clue as to where I am. I immediately start linking Zak and Charlie to tell them what I smell, see, and hear. I smell hemlock, mulberry, sweet gum. There’s a fox den nearby and I smell muskrat. It’s damp, swampy. T
Flames shoot from my hands, exploding against the skeet that is flying through the air. We have an automatic skeet trap that I’ve programmed to throw the little discs at various speeds and heights, giving me something to vent my anger and flames on.The ground is littered with ash and smoke rings the air around the treetops. The heat has caused sweat to drip between my shoulder blades and down my face. The sound of the flames eating the oxygen between my hands and my target roars in my ears.It’s the sound of my pain. The smell of my anger. The heat of my hate.My pups.I thought that after they were all dead that the pain would go away. I had my revenge. I had watched them die. Watched them suffer a
And there it is. The thing that has been swirling around our minds for months. No…years. Corinda has been so cut off from us. She doesn’t let us in. Not into her emotions. Not into her thoughts. Not into her mind via the mindlink, unless she has something that she wants to say. We don’t know anything about what she’s thinking. Corinda stares at Severn, her mouth gaping open in astonishment. “What?” It comes out in a whisper, barely heard in the stillness of the forest. Severn’s eyes are full, pain and grief dripping down his face. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that you still want to be with us. Tell me that you still love us and can put this behind us. Because if not, I’d rather that you reject me now. I’d rather us be done - “ his voice breaks and he has to swallow before he can continue. “I’d rather us be done than continue like this.” My heart is beating so hard I feel like Brandon has to hear it back in the cave. His mates have to know through their mindlink th
It’s the morning after Brandon was taken and I wake up with the rising of the sun through our windows. Arya and I have to train with the newer warriors today and we had decided to go for a run quickly before breakfast. I stretch, leaving my hands above my head before looking at Arya beside me. The oversized shirt that she wore to bed, one of Xander’s old shirts, has ridden up and shows the underside of her breasts. On display are her smooth skin, her lacy thong that barely covered her pussy, and the slight roundness of her pregnant belly. Immediately, my cock jumps to attention and my breathing increases. Fuck! She is the sexiest woman that I have ever seen and just looking at her turns me on. She rolls towards me, seeking my warmth even in her sleep. Her breasts press into my side and I hiss at the feeling of sparks that cover that side of my body. I look at her angelic face, peaceful and carefree in her sleep. With a shaky hand, I reach out and cup her cheek. In her sleep
His mind’s barrier comes crashing down and I feel it all. The pain. The grief. The hurt. The uncertainty in our bond. The certainty that he isn’t enough for me and our pups. I caused that. Not all of it. But there is a large part that is my fault. I held his face in my hands and poured all of my love for him into the matebond and my kiss. I love you, Devin. More than I could ever say. You are everything to me. You are more than enough for me. I link to him. He tries to pull away. Tries to reject what I’ve said, but I don’t let him. I devour his lips, nipping and sucking at them. He moans into my mouth, though I don’t know if it’s from his pain, or lust, or both. Tears run down his face and spread across both of our cheeks. I crawl into his lap, keeping my hands on his face. I hold him steady, keeping his lips pressed to mine. I can’t let him escape again. I can’t fuck this up. If I do, I might lose him forever. “I’m, uh…I’m gonna go,” Hakeem says quietly. We do
I’m on the way back, Hakeem links to me and Gael. How are they? I ask. They were…busy when I left. Hakeem responds. Busy? Or getting busy? Gael chuckles. I smack him lightly on the arm and roll my eyes. Yes to both. Hakeem says, a smile in his voice. I’ll see you both in about 10 minutes. Hakeem stops talking, though the link doesn’t cut out. We never turn it off, preferring to share everything. “So, when are you going to tell Zak and Charlie about what Mother Selene said?” Gael asks me. We’re sitting together at the kitchen table, having just finished ladling out lunch for all of us. Chili from the crock pot. One of my favorite meals for a cold day and, since this is the beginning of December, it’s starting to get that way. “I was going to call an Alpha Council when Devin and Arya got back. I think that we all need to hear this information, plus everything that Zak and Charlie have learned from Brandon,” I say. I sigh before dumping a handful of cheese into my bowl.