“Welcome, mate,” Henderson’s dark voice fills my mind as I walk into the room, Breelyn at my side as she repeats the words after me, binding her to this room for now as much as I am bound. Both of us are kitted out in thin black leathers that have been made by the wolves of our pack, crafted over years and strong enough to stop even a wolf’s bite. These new outfits have been made for the alpha female and her omegas, but each of ours are a little different. My leathers have red vipers curled in around my shoulders, pomegranates and moons drawn into the leather in silver. Swirls, mimicking my alpha female marks, wrap around my thighs and wrists, and over my chest is the symbol of my pack: the upside-down mountain within a circle. My hair is half up, held with silver moon-shaped clips and tiny jewelled slides, and the rest falls down my back.

  I feel fierce. I feel like an alpha female not to be messed with in this outfit.

  The look the alphas give me, the sheer desire and passion burning within their eyes, tells me they like the outfit, too.

  Their lust is strong enough to make my knees weak, as I feel all of it through our bond without even needing to scent the change.

  If anyone else notices it, they don’t say a word, and they are silent as we walk in. I glance at Breelyn, whose leathers are a dark blue, so dark it might as well be black, and stars are drawn in silver all down her arms and legs. She nods at me, making it clear she is here if I need her for anything.

  We pause at the front of the pathway as the doors stay open behind us and two more court members, plaza leaders, come in to say their vow and sit down. They aren’t betas any more, not unless we invite them to be, but they are voted-in leaders. We still need them on our side.

  “How is Persephone?” Breelyn whispers. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

  “The alphas...they’re using their power to bind her within me. It’s a constant drain on them, but it is working. I’m worried about what happens when the war comes, because they will need all their power to help us fight,” I whisper back. I’m sure many of the wolves nearby can hear us, but it’s not a secret in this castle, between plaza leaders, what is happening with us. We have been asking them for information on how to stop Persephone, and nearly all of them are reading every book on the gods they can find to help us.

  “There is someone else with a lot of power who could help,” Breelyn softly suggests. “But he seems really pissed off with you at the moment. What did you do?”

  “Be a challenge to him,” I whisper back. “I could really do with his army helping us fight this, but he seems like a right selfish bastard, and I’m not sure he’s going to come to our side. Out of spite, he would let us all die.”

  “If you call him a selfish bastard, he’s probably not going to help you, you know,” she suggests. “Even if you are right and you were missing a few more choice words about his...personality. God help whoever turns out to be his mate.”

  “Rather them than me,” I mutter.

  “I’ll talk to him,” she says. “He doesn’t really listen to anybody, and he’s a king in his own right. Stubborn, old, but he is obsessed with your daughter. Absolutely obsessed. He wants to make sure she’s safe, and I didn’t sense any lies when he told me that. I don’t know why, but he’s still here and still protecting us, still holding up a shield around yours over the entire city. This all goes far past the deal that you made with him.”

  “I know, and every second that goes past, he could lower that shield, and it would only be our shield that’s left. It’s not meant to be attacked, because it’s only meant to hide us. It won’t take Erin long to bring it down.”

  Breelyn growls, the sound echoing. “She is dead when I get my claws on her.”

  Part of me feels sad at that thought, but if she lowers the shield, placing a death sentence on my pack, then she will die.

  Phim comes into the room last, the doors clicking shut behind her. She holds Serendipity in her arms, my toddler sleeping on her shoulder, hidden by a white blanket. “Didn’t want to miss the fun.”

  I smile at my sister, glad to have her here, and she sits down on one of the seats. Phim being present isn’t just to be here for me, it’s making a point about Serendipity and the place she has in this pack: she isn’t a secret and I want them all to know about her. It was the alphas’ idea, and from the ripple of whispers in the room, it’s had the effect we wanted.

  Let the pack know about her.

  And how she is staying here.

  My daughter.

  “Ours,” Valentine hums into my mind. “Now come and sit with us. Your place is at our side, Mai.”

  My heart swells as I force my legs to move up to the stairs at the side of the platform and walk past the marble pillars to the next floor. Several of the plaza leaders bow their heads, others watch me with uncertainty, and I try and fail to remember all their names until I come to one I do know.

  Solandis Fall. She stands from her seat and bows low. “I am very glad to have you as our alpha female, Mairin Fall. Even if you stopped all of our hearts with your dramatic return to the city.”

  My lips twitch. “I felt like learning to fly... Turns out it’s not one of my skills.”

  She deeply chuckles, and I incline my head at her before walking away. The tension seems to have eased from the room a little as I move to the empty seat, Alpha Reine’s old seat, and sit down on the cold stone. My alphas are on either side of me, and I count the wolves in the room. Seven plaza leaders, not including my alphas or me.

  Phim and Breelyn, possibly Solandis, are on my side. Only the rest of them to go. No pressure.

  “Where should we begin?” Silas starts, his deep voice cutting into the silence and his hand coming to rest on my knee.

  Henderson lifts a large map in front of him and spreads it out. “May I?”

  Silas nods, and no one else says a word as Henderson speaks. “We’ve gone over our numbers and done a rough judgment of the numbers that are outside our city in the angel army. I’m going to be frank; we are severely outnumbered.”

  The whispers start up again, and Henderson clears his throat. “Thanks to our beautiful alpha female, we know we have two angel armies coming, and even with them, it will be tight.”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” one male states, an older male with greying hair and wickedly dark eyes.

  “Carry on, Oliver,” Ragnar says.

  Oliver nods. “You mean to tell us we have to accept angel armies into our pack to fight other angels, and we might not even win?”

  “I have more news to add, if I can, alphas?” Solandis says, standing. I nod to her, and she continues, “I’ve had wolves watching outside the city from the towers on the edges of our plaza that give the best view. We have a massive issue that must be discussed. It seems that the Levi are gathering outside in mass numbers, in formations, and they stand still. It’s almost like they are puppets on a string, waiting to be unleashed.”

  “How many?” Silas tightly asks.

  “Hundreds of thousands. Maybe even more,” she breathes out, and the stark fear in her voice shakes us all to our cores.

  I lean back in my seat. The first thought coming to my mind is Adira and how she controlled some Levi like puppets before. But she could never control a massive army like that, and there was no way she left The Rite Forest.

  No, this is Erin or Cenwyn...and we need to figure out how to stop them. Solandis carries on. “The angels must be controlling them somehow, and their numbers added to the numbers of angels outside means our city will be swarmed in moments.”

  “How is it possible?” I mutter. “I never heard anything about Levi when I was with the king.”

  “Dark magic,” Valentine gravely states. “Dangerous, far more than the Levi are.”

  “Thank you, Solandis,” Ragnar tells her, and she sits down.

  Silas stands and places his hands on the small pillar top in front of us. “I was made to study every war—human, shifter, and even the gods’ wars—as a child. We each were, and I can tell you now that wars are not always won with numbers. Strategy can be as dangerous as an army. They are angels, and yes, they may be able to fly, but at the end of the day, we have a weapon that can stop them: our venom. It is poisonous to them, and I suggest we start making weapons that will make the most of that fact.”

  “How poisonous is a bite?” I question.

  “One drop in their bloodstream will kill them on the spot.” Silas gives me a mischievously dark smile. “And angels aren’t the only things that fly. Arrows do the same, and we have a very, very well-trained arsenal of wolves who could shoot a feather in a snowstorm.”

  “We will have as many wolves as we can possibly find to extract their venom for the weapons,” Oliver states rather proudly.

  “All the weapons, including the ones in this castle, must be spread out through the pack, and make sure everyone knows to cover them in venom. It won’t hurt wolves,” Henderson states.

  The doors creak open, and we go silent. My alphas all have the same emotion. They are happy about whoever is coming in. Valentine clears his throat. “We also have something else to bring up today.”

  “You can tell us off later for not telling you about this. We thought it might be a nice surprise,” Ragnar whispers into my mind.

  “Depends on your idea of surprise,” I say back, but truthfully, I’m curious.

  Callahan strolls in, his boots stomping on the floor, and my heart seems to burst with happiness to see him healed and walking straight towards us as the doors click shut behind him.

  Breelyn seems to go completely still and wide eyed as she watches him pass her and come to a stop. He’s wearing all his leathers again, but they have changed, and now the Fall Mountain Pack symbol is on his breastplate. His hair is brushed to the side, not a speck of blood on him, and his cheeks are full of colour, his wings healed and imposing behind him.

  Callahan kneels before the alphas, before us all, as all my alphas stand up. Henderson looks down at him. “There is a position of beta open in our pack, and there is no one in this entire world who deserves that position more than Callahan Fall. He is one of us, and he is our new beta wolf.”

  I’m shocked silent, but the plaza leaders are not. They buzz with the news before Oliver speaks. “But he’s an angel and—”

  “And what?” Silas growls. Oliver immediately bows his head. “He’s an angel who risked his life to save our alpha female, risked his life to save all of us many times over. He’s a good male. He’s strong and fierce. He’s honourable, and I cannot see another reason why he should not be our beta when he is a very trusted member of our pack. The mark has been given, as it has to Breelyn and Seraphim before him, and it was accepted. He is the first angel to be a beta in the Fall Mountain Pack.”

  “Many years ago, the alphas of Fall Mountain had a beta who was human. They called him a knight,” Solandis adds. “Nothing has changed for us in a long time, and we have become clouded from the outside world. I trust my alphas, and I welcome you, Callahan.”

  He nods to her, and I give her a small smile as I stand up. Everyone looks at me, and I look down at Callahan. He saved my life, and I’d do anything to save him. He is one of my closest friends, and I think the alphas have made the right decision. “He may be an angel, but times are changing. We’re going to rely on angels to save us in this war, and there is no one who will honour this position more than Callahan.”

  “Now sit down,” Valentine tells the others. “And rise, Beta Callahan.”

  “Yes, alphas,” Callahan says, rising to his feet and crossing his large arms. He looks down at Breelyn, like he is addicted to seeing her in every room they are in, and they share a private look between them.

  I hope they end up together, even if it’s a tough journey for them both.

  Henderson stands as I sit. “Beta Callahan has offered up some very useful insights into Cenwyn’s armies, the attacks they will use and how we can best destroy them before they see it coming.”

  “How could he possibly know that?” Oliver questions.

  “I used to be a commander of one of the angel courts, and part of my command was to travel to other courts and help them train. I made many friends in these courts and taught countless males to fight. I can teach you how to spot their weaknesses and beat them.”

  “We are going to strategise to use our own attacks,” Silas says, and then they all start discussing in detail how they are going to do just that. Oliver and the others seem to listen to Callahan, mostly out of an interest in everything he explains to them. The meeting goes on for a long time as they talk about everything that needs to be done. So much talk, it makes my head hurt, and I was confused and lost in the conversation after only half an hour. After a while, my bones ache as I sit in the cold chair that could really use a cushion as the meeting goes on for hours. My stomach growls, and I look at the empty seat where Phim was but left two hours ago when Serendipity woke up.

  The only part I feel like I can add to is the agreement about where everyone’s going to be hidden. The children and wolves that cannot fight are going to be brought to the castle, and the rest into the middle of the city where we can protect them. There are many old temples and woodland to hide within. We’ve come to the agreement to stock supplies for a few weeks for the children and leave a few hundred guards to protect them. I’ve already decided I’m going to ask Phim to lead the wolves protecting the castle, Serendipity, Trey and Jesper who will be in here.

  “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am hungry. Can we take a break for some lunch?” Solandis asks us.

  My stomach rumbles in agreement. Oliver clears his throat. “We have one last topic to discuss before we can go on our ways for today and meet tomorrow. The Ravensword Pack wolves.”

  My stomach drops. “They’re currently being held in a block of houses right outside the castle. Those houses will need to be used for the vulnerable, as well as tents being set up around it, and we need to know if any of them are going to fight with us or hide.”

  “Many are females and children,” Breelyn adds in, her voice protective. “Tortured females and scared children.”

  I know she has been to see them a few times and made sure they have been looked after well.

  “Not all of them. They have a near thousand males who could fight,” Oliver smoothly responds, a planned response.

  “Omega Breelyn, Omega Seraphim, and I will talk to them,” I say. “We all know the Ravensword wolves, and if anyone is going to get them on our side, it is us.”

  “I’m sure the males will fight for their females and children,” Ragnar suggests.

  I hope so.

  “We all have a lot of work to do, and this meeting is over for now. Have a good night, and may the gods be with you all,” Henderson states. The chairs groan as all the plaza leaders stand. Callahan and Breelyn lead out the crowd, and all the alphas except Henderson go with them, kissing me on the cheek before they leave. I know they would stay if they could, but I only have to glimpse into their minds to see all the tasks that need to be done before they can rest. I want to help with them, but I wouldn’t know where to start. I will make sure to have food sent to them at least.

  I help Henderson fold up the maps on the pillar desk in front of him as the doors shut, leaving us alone.

  “I’m proud of you, Mai,” Henderson says, folding a map. “It’s like you’ve been alpha female for years.”

  “You guys aren’t doing a bad job either,” I tell him. “Aunt Reine and Uncle Soren would be proud.”

  Henderson looks down, and I step closer, brushing my body against his. I run my hands up his thick arms to his shoulders and lean up, kissing his cheek, wishing I could take away the sadness I feel through our bond. “We’re going to get through this. I know we can.”

  He looks me dead in the eyes, his gaze taking my breath away. He is so beautiful for a male, so perfect, and sometimes I wonder how I ever deserve him. How the world does.

  He runs his finger down my cheek. “Stop looking at me like that. Your scent is addictive, and your thoughts are worse.”

  My lips twitch, even as my body comes alive. He growls and nuzzles his head into my neck, kissing my skin softly. “As much as I’d love to put you on this desk, rip those leathers off and fuck you for hours until we both are delicious with pleasure, I can’t. There’s a lot to be done with this damn war coming up, and I need you to walk away before I say fuck it and do every dirty thing I’m thinking of with you.”

  My cheeks burn, and I can’t think straight. I certainly do not want to move...and I’m curious what Henderson would be like when he lost control completely, when he does all the dirty things he just told me about. Every part of my body tightens with the thought. He groans, reading my thoughts. “Mai.”

  I gulp at the lust in his eyes as he watches me step away. His wolf flashes in his eyes, and I know he is fighting the urge to chase me.

  I peel off my shirt, leaving my heavy breasts to fall, and he looks right at them. My heart pounds as I slowly tug down my trousers, kicking off my boots and standing bare in front of my alpha.

  He growls and then snaps.

  One minute I’m standing, the next I’m on the table, and he is kissing me deeply as he slides his fingers inside me seconds later. I moan into his mouth, and he growls. “So wet for me already.”

  He rubs my clit, sending shockwaves of pleasure through me as I fumble with his belt. I love Henderson when he loses control. I hear his zipper go down right before he pulls my legs apart and easily thrusts into me. I clench around him as he grabs my ass and fucks me hard. His hard cock hits the right spot as I match his movement, both of us lost in the pleasure as he groans into my mouth. He reaches between us, rubbing my clit at the same time he bites down on my shoulder.

  I cry out his name, my shout echoing around the court meeting room as I come hard. The mix of pain and pleasure is flawless, and Henderson thickens as he comes, stretching me and filling me with his come. I breathlessly gasp as he kisses my neck softly and coughs out a laugh.

 

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