Romance Omega Style Resistant Omegas 9 -

Romance Omega Style

Alm ost two y ears ago Tristan was claim ed by his inner circle… No one would have guessed that such an insignificant event would be the cataly st to change every thing.
Worried about the consequences of Boston last m onth, the Om egas get together to com e up with a plan B. Sounds like the perfect excuse for a rom antic escape. They could all use a break, and since m ost of them have never had a vacation,

they ’re all looking forward to it.

And then they realize how silly that was. Nothing ever goes according to plan and their lives are alway s full of chaos. Why would their vacation be any different? With all the added outside pressure now and try ing to j uggle the feelings of

four people in each m ating, fights are breaking out. Will som e of them return hom e no longer m ated or will love win out? And what’s the big holiday surprise?
Note: This book is written in first-person point of view.

G enre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Vam pires/Werewolves

Length: 37,411 words

ROMANCE OMEGA STYLE
Resistant Omegas 9
Joyee Flynn

MENAGE AMOUR MANLOVE

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ROMANCE OMEGA STYLE

Resistant Omegas 9
JOYEE FLYNN

Chapter 1

Vencentio

“Let me get this straight. You bought a yacht and have no idea how to drive a boat?” I drawled as

I stared at Brody like he was nuts.
“Well  I  definitely  wasn’t  going  to  buy  a  plane  when  I  didn’t  think  any  of  us  knew  how  to  fly,”  he
growled.  “Unless  you’d  like  to  swim  to  this  place  we  need  some  transportation.  Besides,  I  figured
Bay, Levey, and Harkin would know how since they have boats at Medical Lake.”
“We have some power boats that can sit up to twenty for a few hours of fishing,” Bay groaned and
rolled his eyes. “Not a four-level, over-two-hundred-foot yacht that’s going almost a thousand miles
on the ocean.”
“Fine, I fucked up,” Brody shouted, his eyes filling with tears. “I was told to handle transportation.
It’s not like I could call you guys and ask what you want to do for our secret getaway to check out a
group  of  islands  that  Lord  Ellys  assures  us  is  there  but  can’t  be  found  on  Google  fucking  Maps.  I
wasn’t even going to tell them the plan yet but Wes said we had to do it now. We even cut our plans
short of giving other inner circles in Florida a vacation for this.”
He nodded to his inner circle and I cringed. Guess they hadn’t said I love you yet and he fully trusted
them.
“Well, if you had I could have told you we wouldn’t need the Medical Lake crew,” Lief said easily
as he stretched out his arms and cracked his neck. “You have a Marine for a man, sweet thang, and
that’s a branch of the United States Navy. I can drive this bad boy and probably get hard from all the
power.”
“You  know,  I  was  going  to  offer  my  services,”  Carter  Whelan  bitched.  “Had  to  open  your  mouth
first.”
“He’s my Omega and of course I’m going to step right up and have his back.” Lief hugged Brody and
pretended to dust off his backside. “Yup, back all clean now. So everyone coming aboard or what?”
“I still get to drive. I’m an Alpha,” Carter answered as he grabbed our bags.
“But you’re not my Alpha,” Lief chuckled.
“Guys, it’s like a thousand-mile trip. I’m sure there’s time for both of you to drive and teach a few of
us how to use the yacht in case something happens and you’re not the first escape group,” I said as we
all climbed up the plank onto the yacht. “And who was in charge of food?”
“I was and I might have gone a little overboard,” Brody mumbled. “I was nervous if we couldn’t find
the island that we’d starve on the trip back. I got some fishing equipment too, thinking if nothing else
we could fish.”
“Hey,  there’s  no  going  overboard  with  a  bunch  of  werewolves  when  it  comes  to  food,”  Tristan
chuckled. “Asher’s chef this trip, right? Okay, so check over what Brody got, see if you need anything

else. We’ve got a week on the island and we don’t know if there’s going to be food there.”
“Shit, I didn’t know that,” Brody groaned, shaking his head.
“We didn’t either,” Tristan said easily, shrugging his massive shoulders. “We realized it on the flight
to Miami that there might not be provisions when we got there so we should plan for it.”
“You  did  good,  Brody,”  I  whispered  as  I  pulled  him  off  to  the  side.  “This  is  amazing  and  you’re
sharing  with  the  rest  of  us.  We  just  showed  up  and  you’ve  done  all  this  planning.  There’s  no
instruction manual to being an Omega or planning for the worst-case scenario. Be proud you thought
so big because most people tend to underplan.”
“Thanks,  Vencentio.  That’s  really  nice  of  you  to  say.”  He  gave  me  a  real  smile  and  I  returned  it,
feeling good that I eased what he’d been feeling.
“I think you did great, darling,” Jaxon said as he came up to us. “This boat is a thing of beauty and
probably cost you a lot of that pirate treasure.”
“It didn’t actually. I made a deal with the Italian government with the help of Meredith the vampire to
return those items to the Vatican. They said they couldn’t technically pay me for stolen property but
they  had  thousands  of  items  that  they’d  confiscated  from  criminals  that  they  could  gift  me  for  my
honesty and generosity in returning what wasn’t mine. They sent me a list, told me to pick whatever I
wanted, and I went with the yacht and several other items.”
“Look at you, haggling with the Italian government. Be proud, Brody, because that’s awesome, man,”
I chuckled, slapping him on the shoulder. “Totally awesome. What else did you get?”
“A few Jet Skis, a few WaveRunners, though I’m not sure what the difference is, two dozen sets of
scuba  gear,  and  several  other  items  that  they  were  all  too  happy  to  part  with  to  get  the  Vatican
artifacts back,” he answered with a smile. “I think I made a good deal. They were very excited when
they met me this morning and handed me the keys to the boat, all the legal documents, and threw in a
few cases of real Italian wine and bubbly. The man kept kissing my cheeks.”
“Yeah,  and  here  he  told  us  nothing  about  this  and  said  he  wanted  to  do  some  shopping  in  the  hotel
lobby while we were all half asleep still,” Jaxon half growled. “You’re lucky you’re okay or I would
have been really pissed.”
“Sorry about that. I think I’m ready to be more open once we see the island and have a plan for what
comes next if we need it,” Brody said quietly and I understood what he was saying. He loved them
and he wanted to trust them more.
“I’m going to go stow my stuff,” I mumbled before quickly making myself scarce. They were talking
about private stuff and they didn’t need someone they barely knew to be hearing that. I mean, I liked
them, but we’d just met in person so it was a new relationship. I found Marlow bringing more bags on
board and smiled. He was always the first to offer his help no matter how small or menial the job.
“Found our room?”
“Yeah,” he answered, giving me a wink. “It’s small but swank. I think Brody did well. We’ve all got
our own rooms on this monster so even if the island doesn’t work out we really could just live on this
yacht if shit ever went down with the Council again. We could hop from island to island or cross the
ocean if we wanted to.”
“That’s cool. Yeah, I think he’s being too hard on himself,” I agreed. “I think I help set his nerves at
ease. You won’t believe how he got the boat.” He raised an eyebrow at me as he led us to our room
and I filled him in.
“And  he’s  only  twenty-one?  Yeah,  I’d  be  proud  as  hell  to  make  a  deal  like  that  with  another
government even at my age. To make it at his after what he’s been through is just, wow.”
“A little awestruck by the hot Omega?” I drawled, smacking his ass as he set down the bags in our

room.  “There’s  only  one  little  blond  you  better  be  sniffing  after,  Marlow  Gardner.  It’s  bad  enough
Carter’s been with another Omega on this ship already.” Marlow ignored that, knowing it was a sore
subject for me that Carter was seeing Sampson again.
“Really? I wonder who that would be?” he asked with a feral smile. It was a small room so he didn’t
have  to  go  far  to  move  me  into  his  arms.  I  chuckled  as  he  buried  his  face  in  my  neck  and  started
sniffing me. “Hmmm, smells like the man I love. You must be the blond I can have.”
“You  can  have  me  as  soon  as  we  cast  off,”  I  purred  as  I  teased  my  fingers  under  the  waist  of  his
jeans. “Lief and Carter are going to have to switch off driving. I think we should make sure there’s
nothing we can help with that he might need. Plus, we don’t know how long until we’re shipping off.”
“Good call. Keep this hot for me,” he mumbled as he moved his hands over my ass. I fought back a
flinch.  Brody  wasn’t  the  only  one  who  had  snuck  off  that  morning  and  the  tats  I’d  gotten  were  still
very, very tender. But hopefully well worth it. “Let’s go see if our mate needs help.”
“Always.” I smiled as I slipped my hand into his as we headed out to search for our mates.
* * * *
Carson

“This isn’t anywhere near enough food,” Asher grumbled quietly. “Shit. Brody’s going to blame

himself.”
“No  he  won’t,”  I  said  quietly  as  I  rubbed  the  man’s  shoulder.  “We  don’t  know  what  will  be  at  the
island  and  we  couldn’t  have  planned  for  that.  Plus,  Brody  thought  it  was  only  three  or  four  of  our
inner circles. We have eight, plus three more Omegas, and two handfuls of guards. I’m shocked we
all fit on the damn boat. So it really is a good thing he got such a massive yacht. Make me a list of
what you need or even just hints, like more bread, more meat, or such and we’ll get it done.”
“I  need  more  frozen  basics,”  he  answered  as  he  started  furiously  writing  on  a  notepad.  “Brody  got
everything fresh and that’s great but for storage purposes we have the fridge and coolers full but we
have  huge  frozen  stores  down  in  the  hold  for  fish  and  whatnot  that’s  empty.  I  know  we’re  going
fishing  during  the  trip  and  Brody  got  shrimp  and  lobster  traps  for  the  island  but  we  don’t  know  if
there’s really going to be any there.”
“Good deal. I’ll see it done,” I assured him. “Load up what you’ve got and we’ll bring a shitload of
frozen everything and basics wrapped so they can be frozen.”
“We have a plan.” He shot me a smile as he handed me his quickly written-out list. I headed back up
to the main deck to find my men and whoever else could help.
“What’s the word on food?” Tristan asked me.
“We need more of everything. Mostly what we could freeze.” I saw Brody standing close so I made
sure to add on more to my answer. “We added more people than we had planned for. Brody did great
with everything he got, filling up all the cold storage, but it’s not going to be enough with the extra
people. Asher says we have tons of freezer space in the hold used for fish the boat could bring back
and we need to fill it.”
Brody  smiled  shyly  as  he  walked  past  us,  not  wanting  to  intrude  or  let  on  that  he’d  been  listening.
Tristan gave me a wink when he was gone.
“Nicely done. He was so worried about all of this as if it’s all his fault if it goes wrong because the
idea was his.”
“He’s young,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “But then again, so are you so you know exactly what it
feels  like  to  start  something  you  don’t  feel  old  enough  for  and  worry  that  you’re  going  to  fail
everyone.”
“Pot, this is kettle, you’re black,” Tristan drawled. “You’re a whole year older than me, old man.”

“Exactly why I speak from experience. I’m going to get a posse together and do some major grocery
shopping while you handle things here.”
“Okay. Lief says we should get out of here long before the tide starts coming in. Apparently Brody got
a badass yacht that’s like one of the fastest in the world. I wonder what criminal bought it before the
Italian government seized it.”
“And if the plan was to outrun them,” I chuckled. “How fast we talking?”
“Lief  said  like  a  hundred  knots  which  is  like  over  a  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  per  hour.  So  we’re
looking at just under a nine-hour ride to the island. He’s checking calculations on gas so if we end up
needing more, we’ll handle that.”
“Cool. You get the prep and I got the food.” We bumped fists like idiots who were best friends and
loved to goof around before we broke up. I walked out where some were still loading up gear and
bags while others were kind of in a holding pattern. “We need to make a massive food run so I want
at least three inner circles on this so we can hurry and cast off. I volunteer mine, who else?”
“So sweet of you, baby,” Declan chuckled.
“I  said  I  would  handle  this  and  there’s  no  way  you  guys  would  let  me  roam  Miami  without  you,”  I
drawled. “I just skipped the middle part.”
“Good deal. I’m starving,” Ian said.
“Surprise,  surprise,”  I  snickered.  My  mate  could  eat  his  weight  in  food  a  day  and  still  be  hungry.
Where he put it all was beyond me.
“If we get clams and supplies, I know how to do a real clam bake,” he offered.
“If we can find frozen, sure, but we’re on frozen-food and foodto-be-frozen duty,” I informed him as
Edric volunteered his inner circle and so did Lennox. “Then let’s do this.”
Ten minutes later we were at one of my favorite places to shop… Costco. Everything and anything in
bulk with lots of samples. Good times to always have by all.
“We’re not getting a cake, Rowan,” Edric growled at his mate. “Freezer stuff only.”
“We can freeze a cake,” Rowan defended.
“Go for it. I love their cake,” I chuckled. “We’re going to need dessert too.”
“Fine,  I’ll  apologize  for  not  thinking  you  were  right  as  always  later,”  Edric  drawled  when  Rowan
stuck his tongue out at the Omega.
“Glad to see my mates aren’t the only goofballs in the group,” I chuckled as mine were talking to the
butcher.
“So normally we’d have to order the whole pig but you had someone bail on you and we can buy this
one?” Ian asked, looking as if he was going to drool on the thing. “Can we freeze it for a few days
before cooking it?” I laughed when the man nodded and Ian pumped his fist in the air. “We’re so in
then!” He saw me staring at him and smiled. “Babe, I got us a whole pig.”
“Of course you did.” I smiled at my gorgeous redheaded mate as I walked over to him, his deep green
eyes sparkling with mirth. “If anyone could wrangle a full pig for our trip it would be you, my love.”
“I think you mean that as a compliment so I’m taking it as such.” He leaned in and gave me a quick
kiss before snagging some samples as we walked by. “Can we freeze cheese because this is really
good?”
“I don’t think so but we can get some when we get home,” I promised him as I grabbed his arm. He
looked  at  me  then  and  I  cupped  his  cheek.  “Always  assume  it’s  a  compliment  because  I  don’t  ever
seem to be able to find anything wrong with any of you.”
“I love you too, Carson,” he said affectionately. “Don’t be nervous about the trip. We have a plan to
get out if we ever need it now. I’m excited. Maybe we should just run so we can live on a deserted

island the rest of our lives.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “I do love when you’ve got a tan.”
“We’ll see,” I giggled before giving him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. The butcher loaded up
the pig, which was wrapped so it could go in the freezer, and I was glad I got a flat cart instead of a
normal one. Then we headed for veggies while everyone else got other stuff to freeze. I stared at my
men  and  smiled  as  they  went  for  their  favorites.  Ian  got  corn  on  the  cob,  Declan  made  sure  to  get
carrots, and Taylor picked up so many potatoes and French fries I wondered if there were any left for
the rest of the store.
“You can’t ever have too many potatoes,” Taylor assured me. “They go with everything.”
“I agree.”
“I’m slipping off to go get something else we’ll need for our Valentine’s Day cruise with a bunch of
mated couples,” he chuckled as he kissed my hair.
“Flowers?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Chocolates and lube,” he snickered. I threw back my head and laughed as he jogged away. Oh boy.
God only knew what my mate would come back with when he was that excited.
“Having fun?” Declan asked as he moved behind me, his fingers intertwining with mine as we pushed
the cart. “It’s nice to see you smile and laugh.”
“Yeah, it feels good,” I admitted. “After everything with the Council, nothing has felt right again, you
know? Like we might have made enemies of our friends by what we did but at the same time, we got
rid  of  bad  apples.  I  just  feel  like  we’ve  been  walking  on  eggshells  since  we  started  the  Omega
Network and I hate that. I hate that I dragged us all into this because of what I wanted.”
“Hey, don’t ever say that,” he chastised gently as he kissed my shoulder. “This was our fight too. It
always has been. You didn’t drag us anywhere. We walked this road right with you the whole time.”
“You’re right. It has been your fight too,” I agreed, as I smiled up at him. “You fought to save me.”
“Well worth the fight,” Declan purred as he eyed me over. “We did the right thing and ended up with
the man of our dreams because of it.”
“We need to work on your dream world’s expectations,” I snickered. He raised an eyebrow at me and
I knew I had him. “I dream of Brad Pitt and here you dreamed of a scrawny twink.”
“I like lithe twinks,” he countered as his eyes flared in anger, not even missing a beat. “I’d take you
over Brad Pitt any day. So you have fun with your dreams of other men.” He turned and stormed away
from me heading breakfast foods we could freeze too.
“Shit,” I swore as I pushed the big-ass cart after him. I knew he hated when I disparaged myself but it
really had just been a joke. I didn’t really dream of Brad Pitt, though I did get hard when I watched
the trailer for his new movie coming out where he was kicking zombie ass.
“No, I won’t calm down this time,” Declan hissed to Ian. “Does he not understand how much we love
him? Always with the jokes that we need to have higher standards or wake up and see that he’s not
worth it. I used to think it was just his low self-esteem after being abused and fine, I could be patient
because of that. But it’s years later, Ian.”
“It’s  gotten  better,”  Ian  challenged.  “Now  it’s  only  jokes  as  opposed  to  constantly  asking  us  if  we
were really happy with him and weren’t planning on leaving.”
“Is  joking  about  it  really  any  better?”  Declan  shot  right  back.  “Or  is  he  better  and  just  fishing  for
compliments? Maybe he doesn’t have low self-esteem at all and just is an attention whore. How much
longer is he always going to be the victim we have to coddle and everything always be about him?”
I gasped at what he said, drawing both their attention. Ian winced and Declan went pale when he saw
me. “Neither is your answer. It was a joke. I don’t really dream about Brad Pitt. I was joking because
what  you  said  embarrasses  me.  I  came  to  apologize  and  explain  that  I’m  just  not  good  at  taking

compliments  so  I  crack  jokes.  Even  people  who  haven’t  been  abused  aren’t  always  able  to  accept
compliments.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he realized he’d truly fucked up.
“Fuck  you,  Declan,”  I  choked  out  and  then  turned  away  from  him  before  I  started  crying  in  front  of
everyone in the store. I left the cart, knowing one of them would get it because there was no way to
push the thing and make a fast exit.
As I ran I passed the alcohol section and supposed that was a really good idea right then. I got four
huge bottles of strong rum, thinking that it was fitting for a Caribbean Island adventure, and headed to
the checkout. Taylor caught up with me there and didn’t say a word, which I appreciated. I took my
box with my booze, not letting him carry it for me, and went to the little café section as I waited for
everyone to finish shopping.
I ordered two huge slices of pepperoni pizza and ignored everything and everyone else. I was trying
to be reasonable and not just book it out of the store so it would be all about me and the fact that I
couldn’t go anywhere alone and unprotected. I didn’t want to give Declan any more fuel for his fire.
“I  don’t  know  what  happened  other  than  Declan  had  tears  running  down  his  cheeks  as  Ian  was
shouting  at  him  before  I  got  there  to  shut  them  up  and  Ian  told  me  you  ran  towards  the  front  of  the
store. Can you fill me in?” Taylor asked gently after I put away my second piece of pizza.
I stared at him a moment, wondering if he felt as Declan did. Could they all have and I was just too
blind to see it? “No, nothing worth repeating,” I answered after deciding to say nothing. I didn’t want
any drama surrounding me while we were on our vacation… Since apparently I always needed to be
coddled and everything was about me.
At least that’s what one of the men I loved thought. But then again, did I really blame him or all of
them for thinking that if they agreed with Declan?

Chapter 2

Edric

“What’s going on?” I asked Carson as we rode back to the yacht with all our purchases. I’d seen

Ian yelling at Declan in the store and then my friend bought a bunch of booze. That couldn’t be good.
So when we loaded up, I made some excuse up about needing to talk to Carson alone. We could drive
together in the caravan and not worry about getting attacked or something.

Blaine hated the idea but I just shrugged and closed the door in his face. I had powers and they

had brute strength. I didn’t constantly need to be looked over and to be honest, I was getting fucking
tired of it.

“Do I always make everything all about me?” he whispered after a few moments.

“No, not in the slightest. Who said that?”
“Declan,” he admitted as tears ran down his cheeks. “He didn’t know I was standing there. I made a
joke he didn’t take the right way and apparently I make too many of those kinds of jokes, like they
need to realize I’m not the man of their dreams or whatnot. It’s a joke, but yeah, I don’t like it when
they say that.”
“Because it puts too much pressure on you to constantly be perfect and exactly what they need while
always being the angel of a mate,” I finished for him, nodding.
“Then you know exactly what I feel,” he whispered.
“Yeah, I get it. I make the same jokes. It’s mushy and a great romantic thing to say when you’re told
that but it’s also a lot to take in. My guys don’t say it often but when they do, I feel like it’s just a way

to  keep  me  in  line.  I  mean,  I  went  against  what  Blaine  wanted  right  now  and  honestly  I  can’t
remember the last time I told him no.”
“Right?  I  almost  never  tell  my  men  that.  And  they  hover!  God,  Declan’s  bitching  about  having  to
coddle me and everything’s always about me. Fine! Go away then. Let me take a bath or read a book
without one of you always there to check on me or join me. I never get a moment alone and he has the
balls to say that I’m basically high maintenance?”
“Yeah, right. But I know what you’re feeling, believe me.”
“What did your guys do?”
“Blaine made some comment about my being back in Florida and then Colin joked about hopefully not
needing to have to chase me down again because that had been a huge pain in the ass,” I answered. “I
let it go and didn’t say anything but I think that’s why I told Blaine no when he wanted to ride with us.
I just needed some space.”
Carson nodded as I talked and then gestured to the box that had the bottles of rum. “I think we need to
get shitfaced. I mean, really tie one off.”
“What if we get seasick? That would be horrible to be drunk and have to deal with that.”
“Then  we  pass  out?”  He  shrugged.  “I  plan  on  getting  so  drunk  I  go  puke  at  Declan’s  feet  when  he
comes to find me later anyways.”
“Never  really  heard  that  as  a  goal,”  I  hedged,  worried  about  my  friend.  “This  isn’t  the  only  thing
that’s been going on with you guys, has it?”
“No,” he whispered. “I think Taylor’s having an affair. I don’t have any proof but I saw something in
his head. He was kissing another man but it was blurry so it was like he was thinking of a dream and I
have  no  right  to  intrude  on  that  but  he  was  happy  as  he  was  thinking  about  it,  like  I  would  a  fond
memory.”
“So you think he’s cheating. And then Declan says this shit and wow.” I reached for his hand. “All
while  trying  to  keep  everyone  safe  and  help  Omegas.  Jesus,  Carson.  How  are  you  not  having  a
nervous breakdown?”
“I  think  I  am,”  he  admitted  as  I  pulled  up  to  the  marina.  “Don’t  tell  anyone,  okay?  I  haven’t  even
talked to Tristan about Taylor and now with Declan, I just can’t deal.”
“Do you know which room I’m staying in?” I asked Carson, waiting for him to nod. “Go head there
with your booze and I’ll come find you after we cast off. Take some you time and I’ll keep everyone
away.”
“Thanks, buddy. I just need a moment for everything to stop spinning out of control.”
“I  know  what  you  mean,”  I  agreed,  my  own  heart  hurting.  I  mean,  not  about  the  cheating  but  I  was
having my own trouble with my men… And a lot of it stemmed from the joke Colin made earlier that
day. They always were waiting for me to run again. That’s why they hovered. And it was exhausting
and if they didn’t cut it out, I might end up running to get some fucking peace.
Carson booked it out of my SUV and made it up the gangplank just as Declan, Ian, Taylor, and my men
pulled up. I moved right in front of Declan and whipped about twenty pounds of wrapped steaks at
him. “Why don’t you do something helpful instead of hurtful and store that in the freezer hold?”
“Stay out of this, Edric,” he warned. “I love you like a little brother but this doesn’t concern you.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Colin hurt my feelings and I know you’d be all up in his face if I told
you what he did,” I blurted out, and then cringed.
“What did I do wrong?” Colin asked me with wide eyes.
“Nothing,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Just forget it.”
“We need to talk about you running off without us,” Blaine said angrily, ignoring the rest of what was

being said.
“I  didn’t run,” I growled, shooting them both a dirty look. “I wanted a fucking minute alone with my
friend. You knew exactly where we were going to be and what we were doing. Hell, you were in the
SUV behind us. How is that running?”
“Fine, bad choice of words. You didn’t listen to me.”
“Sure,  Dad.  I’ll  make  sure  to  do  everything  you  want  like  a  good  obedient  son  but  that  means  you
don’t get fucking laid anymore because obviously we’re not partners,” I shot right back. I threw what
I had in my hands at him. “Fuck this. You unload everything. I like Carson’s idea better about getting
shitfaced. And no, you’re not invited, don’t bother hovering, because we’ll be on the boat, I can’t run,
and I can’t get in any kind of trouble.”
“Getting shitfaced seems like a lot of potential trouble actually,” Colin snickered and I flipped him
off as I tossed Rowan the keys. They could suck it.
“You too?” Tristan asked me with a sigh, when I was on board.
“Yup.  I’m  going  to  go  get  drunk  with  Carson  and  let  him  vent  some  more,”  I  answered.  “Unless
there’s something else we need to do before we get going.”
“No, we’re all ready as soon as the last of the food you guys got is loaded. Go ahead and then I’ll be
joining you.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?” I asked as I eyed my friend over.
“They’re still pissed at me that I went with the Council guards willingly,” he answered with a sigh,
pinching  the  bridge  of  his  nose.  “They  can’t  let  it  go  and  it’s  killing  my  mating.  They  think  I  have
some latent death wish or something.”
“Are all of our mates morons?” I asked, shocked that they thought that of Tristan. The man had a fire
and  passion  for  life  that  I  was  jealous  of  sometimes  and  here  they  were  treating  him  like  the  exact
opposite.
“Hell if I know,” he bitched.
“We’re going to be in my room. Come get drunk when you’re ready.”
“Yeah,  cool. You’d  better  head  after  Carson,  I  don’t  like  him  being  alone  when  he’s  so  upset  like
this.”
“Fuck you, Marlow!” Vencentio shouted as he stormed towards us. “Just go fuck her and get it over
with.”
“I’m not cheating,” Marlow growled.
“No, you just eye fuck every good-looking woman you see. You miss tits and pussy that much then go
right ahead!”
“We’re getting drunk in my room,” I offered.
“Fan-fucking-tastic because I need it!” He kept going as Marlow stared after him. Tristan and I stared
him down and the man turned away, shaking his head.
“Did  I  hear  something  about  getting  drunk?”  Lennox  asked  as  he  came  out  onto  the  deck.  “I’m  so
there.”
“Baby, you don’t have a tolerance,” Hugo said gently as he tried to hug Lennox. “You know you get
seasick and—”
“No I don’t,” Lennox argued. “I got sick once because we pulled up sick fish from our lines and the
smell  was  horrible.  That’s  not  the  same  as  getting  seasick.  God,  Hugo.  I  am  an  adult,  you  know.  I
know what I can handle or not.”
“We’re not saying you don’t,” Blair said gently. “We just mean—”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I groaned and then cupped my hands around my mouth. “Omegas to the Upper

Deck for drinks and gambling, everyone else to the Sun and Sky Decks for driving and moving around
with  your  heads  up  your  asses.”  Everyone  just  blinked  at  me  in  shock.  “Now!  Or  we’re  leaving
without people. Load it up and let’s go. It’s a nine-hour trip!”
“We’re all loaded, the vehicles are locked in the marina, and we’re ready to go,” Brody said as he
eyed Tristan and me over carefully. “But I’m thinking a list head count would be good to make sure
none dumped their mates overboard.”
“Don’t judge. You just got claimed and haven’t even mated your men yet. Wait a year before you think
we’re nuts for getting pissy with them.”
“Amen  to  that,”  Lennox  agreed  before  climbing  the  stairs  to  the  upper  level.  “Can  we  get  the  Sun
Deck? That has the pool.”
“And all our men are going to fit on the Sky Deck with Lief driving?” Brody chuckled. “I’d say let’s
get drunk then we can move up to the Sun Deck so we can ignore them when we’re slurring.”
“Good call. Why do you want to ignore your inner circle?”
“They’re hovering a bit and I think it’s because they know I want to tell them something this trip but
after seeing everyone fighting I’m not sure I want to say it anymore,” he mumbled, nervously.
“Yeah, we need to get drunk,” I said again.
Ten  minutes  later  we  were  cast  off  and  on  our  way.  I  got  Carson  from  my  room,  promising  that
everyone else was upstairs besides the Omegas and it was time to let off a little steam. We all sat at
the  back  of  the  boat  in  the  open  area,  enjoying  the  sun,  and  the  speed  of  the  boat.  It  really  was
impressive how fast that big of a boat could go.
“They suped up the engine,” Lennox said with a smile, as if knowing my unasked question. He was
the  group’s  mechanical  guy  since  he  was  a  licensed  contractor  and  could  do  furnaces  and  stuff.  I
heard  he’d  branched  out  into  cars  and  trucks  to  keep  busy  since  his  men  wouldn’t  let  him  off  the
property… Like the rest of ours.
“I didn’t think boats this big could go this fast,” Tristan replied with a nod. “Can you give us the short
and easy version of what they did?”
“Yeah, they added two massive engines that I would think go on planes,” he chuckled. “It’s all legal
and nothing duct-taped together, the builder did it and adjusted the basic yacht plans for it but it’s still
really cool.”
“I think we need drinks,” I said as we all glanced around as if not knowing what to do yet.
“Good, because I was waiting for you to start,” Carson agreed.
“Can I be the bartender? I’ve always thought it would be a badass job,” Sampson asked quietly as he
glanced at us.
“You don’t have to ask, Sampson,” Tristan said gently with a soft smile. “You’re free now.”
“Yeah,  right,”  he  snickered.  “None  of  us  are  ever  free  really.  All  you  guys  are  upset  for  various
reasons  and  mostly  because  it  seems  like  you  feel  trapped.  We’re  Omegas.  We  don’t  get  to  know
what freedom truly ever is.” He stood and walked over to the bar, checking to see what was there.
“Damn. He’s right,” I muttered after  a  few  moments.  “I  thought  I  was  over  feeling  trapped  but  he’s
right. We’ll never truly be free. We’ll always have one form of a leash or another.”
“We need lots of booze and some gambling before we all curl into balls and cry,” Wesley said in a
determined  voice.  “Personally  I  don’t  know  how  to  gamble  besides  blackjack  and  even  those  rules
confuse me when you play the real way with doubling down and all that shit.”
“We’ve got a roulette wheel over there,” I said with a smile, an idea forming. This was going to be
good.
* * * *

Lennox

“Oh shit, Edric’s got a plan,” I snickered, shaking my head. He had that evil grin on his face that

made me think he was mentally rubbing his hands together in glee.

“Can we get the roulette wheel over here or is the thing bolted down? I think we should stay out in

the sun,” he said instead of addressing my comment.

“I’ll go check,” Tristan said as he stood up.

“Okay,  someone  wanted  to  make  lots  of  mojitos  because  the  bar  is  stocked  with  the  ingredients,”
Sampson chuckled as he started pulling stuff out. “We’re starting with a pitcher or three of them.”
“Works for me,” I agreed with a shrug. I glanced over at Vencentio, who kept looking at Sampson and
then, as if shaking himself out of it, focusing anywhere but at the man. Yeah, I felt for him. He was
having a problem with one mate and then someone who had slept with his other mate was right here in
front of him when Vencentio was already upset.
“Okay, I got the table with the wheel,” Tristan grunted as he heaved the thing over. We quickly moved
the other table out of the way and I stared at him as he set down the very heavy, very big, and very
awkward-size table.
“So not fair that you got huge,” I grumbled as we moved the chairs back and sat down.
“You got a gorgeous house on the ocean and I’m in Denver,” he chuckled. “Trade you for my size.”
“You don’t like Denver?” Carson asked with wide eyes.
“I really did always love that house,” Sampson said quietly before shaking up the pitcher. “I miss it.
You’re lucky, Lennox.”
“Thanks, yeah,” I mumbled, feeling awkward… And guilty which was stupid because it wasn’t like I
stole the guy’s house out from under him. We just took over his old, messed-up pack and got the house
that came with it.
“It’s not that I don’t like Denver,” Tristan answered carefully as he spun the ball around the roulette
wheel. “It’s just that—”
“Wait, we’re not starting this yet,” Edric ordered. “Everyone get a drink, not having any yet, and I’ll
be  right  back.  We’re  going  to  do  the  adult  version  of  spin  the  bottle  without  the  making  out.”  He
darted away after announcing that and we just stared after him.
“What’s  the  point  of  spin  the  bottle  if  you  don’t  at  least  get  kissed?”  I  asked,  more  to  myself  than
anyone. I stared at the table. “Is the roulette wheel the bottle?”
“Who knows?” Carson chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s Edric but I promise you whatever he’s got
planned  it  will  be  interesting,  entertaining,  and  most  likely  help  get  everything  we  need  to  off  our
chests.”
“Okay, I picked this up when Brody sent me a picture of the yacht and I saw there was a gambling
area,”  Edric  said  as  he  joined  us  again.  He  set  the  case  on  the  table  and  opened  it  up.  “We’ve  got
fifteen different-colored sets of chips so everyone can have their own set of a hundred.”
“What are the values of them?” I asked as I eyed them over with a smile.
“No values,” he answered as he handed me a huge stack. “Just for fun.” I smiled at him when I saw
they had my name on them. “We can say each is worth one, whether that be one dollar, one hundred
dollars,  or  one  penny.  Doesn’t  matter.  We  start  with  our  hundred  and  play  until  someone  wins  and
start again.”
“Like  Monopoly  money. Awesome  idea,  Edric,”  Carson  chuckled  as  he  took  his.  “Okay,  so  what’s
part two of this plan?”
“Yeah, there’s always a part two, three, and four at least when it involves you,” Tristan agreed with a
smile.

“Part two is the drinking. You bet, you lose, you take a drink. You bet, you win, and it’s your turn to
vent because we all need it. But we have all night and no need to get bogged down, so you get one
thing out and either we discuss or you place your next bet so we know you’re not ready to talk but just
wanted to get that off your chest. That’s the plan.”
“I’m in,” I immediately agreed as Sampson started pouring drinks. I jumped up and grabbed the first
of them, handing them out to all eleven of us. When we were ready, we toasted to our vacation and
hopefully  our  future  safety  if  the  island  worked  out.  I  leaned  over  and  placed  a  chip  on  seventeen.
“I’m playing my lucky number.”
“Really?” Edric asked as he put a chip on thirty.
“Nope, just always wanted to say that,” I chuckled, shaking my head. We all placed our chips besides
Sampson, who was more interested in making drinks. It was cool, he didn’t know most of us that well
and after being trapped in a closet for six years, literally, I’d do whatever I wanted too.
“They have a bar up there, right? Or should I bring them drinks?” Sampson asked quietly and I caught
something in his eye and smiled.
“I  think  they  do  but  it’s  not  stocked.  I’m  sure  they’d  be  grateful  for  whatever  you  brought  them,”  I
answered  quickly  before  anyone  else  could.  He  shot  me  a  grin  and  carried  a  tray  with  two  big
pitchers towards the stairs.
“Why are you sending him up to the wolves?” Carson asked, ignoring the pun.
“He likes one of the Betas I bet,” I chuckled. “He had the look of a man who wants to spend more
time with someone and needing the excuse to do so.”
“Ohh,  good  for  him.  He  could  use  a  crush  or  someone  to  keep  him  in  the  real  world.  He’s  a  good
guy,” he said and then took a sip of his drink when he realized he said too much.
“Real world?” Vencentio asked casually as he stared at the staircase. “He fantasize a lot?”
“He’s an author actually,” Carson answered hesitantly. “Paranormal romance. He writes under a pen
name and does well. I guess he found a way to get notebooks and paper where he was being held and
wrote book after book after book in his six years there. When he got out he wanted a laptop and not to
talk to anyone. He typed them all up, made changes, and submitted them to a publisher, skipped the
agent, and they were accepted. But at first he wasn’t sure which route he was going to go so that’s
why  he  switched  to  our  pack  for  sanctuary  instead  of  staying  at  the  Denver  one.  There’s  more
publishers and agents in Chicago.”
“Oh come on,” Vencentio bitched before chugging back his drink. “Never mind. I’m very happy for
his talented, perfect ass, and hope he’s happy.”
“Carter doesn’t want him, Vencentio,” Wesley said gently. “It’s not like Sampson was the one that got
away. Your mate just needs to work through it so he forgives himself.”
“I’m  not  so  sure  that  you’re  right,  Wes,”  he  mumbled.  “I  place  my  bet  on  five.  Who’s  in  charge  of
spinning the ball and collecting chips?”
“I’ll spin, but no one here’s going to cheat so someone just swipe all the losers off to the winner or in
a discard pile if no one wins,” Tristan said as he picked up the ball again. “Everyone ready?”
“Come on, seventeen! Daddy needs a new pair of shoes,” I shouted like a dork, getting a few chuckles
and  smiles.  That’s  what  I  had  been  going  for  anyways.  It  ended  up  Carson  won  and  he  grabbed
everyone’s chips while the rest of us drank.
“I think my mate is cheating on me and my other one says that I need to be coddled, don’t really have
self-esteem issues but just want the attention, and I make everything all about me,” he whispered as he
swirled  his  drink.  He  chugged  it  down  and  then  picked  up  a  chip.  “I’m  betting  on  twenty-five  this
time. Did he leave any mixed drinks down here?”

Tristan got up and grabbed the pitcher made up from the bar and refilled Carson’s glass while the rest
of us stared at the man with our mouths hanging open.
“We’ll get through this, Carson,” Edric said gently, already having obviously heard this particular
bomb being dropped. “You’re not alone in this.”
“It’s okay,” Carson whispered. “Love is just an illusion and chemistry, right? It couldn’t last
forever.”
Fuck. When he put it like that, I wanted to drink away my issues too. It’s not like we hadn’t all been
hurt before. What made us think this time around would be any better? Sometimes I wished we could
have just stayed single.

Chapter 3

Carter

“Hey, Sampson,” I said nervously as I helped him with the tray he was carrying up the stairs.

“Um, how are you? I didn’t see you come aboard earlier.”

“I’m fine,” he answered as he tucked his hair behind his ear. “I didn’t know if you guys had your

bar stocked up here and I’m not much of a gambler.” I saw his gaze dart behind me again and realized
he wanted to see someone in particular. I followed the direction and watched Slate throw back his
head and laugh at something Ollie said.

“You’re staying with Carson, right?”

“Yeah, he’s nice. He’s really upset today though. I feel bad for him but I don’t know what’s going on
really,” he mumbled as his eyes never left Slate.
“Your  guards  are  some  of  my  friends  then,  right?  Slate—”  I  smiled  when  his  gaze  darted  to  mine.
Busted! “You like him, don’t you?”
“He doesn’t know I exist, Carter.” Sampson shook his head and then stared out into the ocean. “It’s
like I’m invisible to him.”
“I doubt that,” I hedged, hoping I was right but needing to talk to Slate first. “Want me to introduce
you?”
“No,  he  knows  my  name  and  has  seen  me  at  the  house  I’m  sure.  Just  because  he  won’t  talk  to  me,
introducing me would be weird,” he stuttered, nervously fidgeting with his hands.
“Okay then.” I smiled at him, having another idea. “Hey, everyone, look what Sampson brought up for
us. Mojitos!”
“No drinking and driving for me,” Lief chuckled. “But you’re taking over in an hour, buddy, so none
for you either.”
“I can have one,” I argued. “Please, the way our metabolisms are I could have the pitcher and be fine
in a couple of hours if I eat.”
“True  that,”  he  agreed  with  a  smile.  “Nice  to  meet  you,  Sampson.  We  heard  a  lot  about  you  from
Carter. How’s Chicago treating you?”
“It’s busy,” Sampson answered with a shrug. “Loud. I miss being in California.” I saw Slate flinch at
what Sampson was saying. Obviously the Omega was not invisible to him. “It would be nice to get
placed with a pack somewhere quiet. But Carson’s really nice to me and I like everyone there.”
“We  like  you  too,  Sampson.  You’re  the  easiest  person  I’ve  ever  had  to  guard,”  Ollie  said  as  he
poured himself a glass. “You always listen, you’re polite, and you’re probably just the sweetest thing
I’ve ever met.”
“Oh,  thank  you,”  he  mumbled  as  his  cheeks  heated  up.  “You’re  always  nice  to  me  too.  If  you  guys

want more drinks, just holler down.” Then he practically darted back down the stairs before we could
say anything. Odd.
“I  better  go  start  food  if  we’re  going  to  be  drinking,”  Asher  chuckled  as  he  got  to  his  feet  and
stretched.  “I  don’t  think  Brody  has  much  of  a  tolerance  or  has  gotten  drunk  ever.  Good  for  him
though.”
“Wait, you  want your mate to get drunk?” I asked him, staring at him like he was mad. “I’m freaking
out that Vencentio is tossing them back while we’re banished up here by Edric.”
“I don’t want him to get drunk like I push him to,” Asher answered as he gave me a funny look. “But if
he wants to, that’s cool. It’s not like I’m worried about him becoming an alcoholic. He hasn’t had to
experience  much  in  life  so  let  him  try  drinking  too  much  and  having  a  hangover.  It’s  like  a  rite  of
passage.”
“Yeah, but he could get hurt.”
“So could we up here,” Asher sighed. “Look, I don’t want to get all involved in your mating but from
what  I  heard,  most  of  the  guys  up  here  need  to  let  go  a  little.  Our  mates  are  adults.  They  can  make
their own decisions and even wipe their own asses.”
“It’s easy for you to say that when you just found your Omega,” I shot right back. “You haven’t seen
as much or been through as much as we have. Vencentio was abused and then sold to a Councilman.
The nut job came after him and tried to take him from us. It’s hard to just be cool about whatever they
want to do after you almost lose them once.”
“I get that, and you’re right, I haven’t gone through that with Brody,” he replied, anger flashing in his
eyes. “But don’t act like I don’t understand having trials with my Omega, because remember, he’s not
my mate, but my Omega. The bastard who bought him underage and used him for a decade screwed
with his head so bad that Brody doesn’t trust us still when we’ve been with him over a month now.
We all love him but he won’t claim us as mates.
“So don’t tell me that I don’t understand. I do. I just also know that pushing him or hovering won’t
solve anything. A wolf needs room to run and find their own way. I walk with Brody hoping one day
he’ll see that I love him for real and he’ll hold my hand so we can deal with life as it comes. Herding
him like a chick as you hover over him as a mama hen and try to control everything won’t do anything
but push them away.”
I watched as Asher walked by me and headed downstairs. I took a few steps after him, wanting to ask
what  he  meant  exactly.  Was  he  saying  I  hovered  over  Vencentio?  How  could  he  even  know  that?  I
froze when I got to the top of the stairs and glanced down at the Omegas playing roulette.
“I think my mate is cheating on me and my other one says that I need to be coddled, don’t really have
self-esteem issues but just want the attention, and I make everything all about me,” I overheard Carson
saying. Holy shit! Apparently there were much bigger problems going on besides my maybe hovering.
I decided talking with Asher could wait.
I stormed back to the group and growled, getting them to be quiet as I focused on the Chicago inner
circle. “Which one of you is cheating on Carson and who’s the bastard who said all that shit to him
and ripped out his heart?”
* * * *
Declan

“I was angry and I didn’t know he was standing there,” I admitted when Carter was done. “It’s

complicated. Things are always so crazy and I feel like I’m running on water most times instead of
being able to swim. I took it out on him or I was venting concerns when he heard me.”

“Because it wasn’t like you were in a public store the same time as him or anything,” Ian bitched,

shooting me an evil look. “You were out of line and you need to grovel. He never asked us to take
over the pack to help him. Yeah, we never wanted to lead but we did it for him. Don’t blame him for
that.”

“We ended up doing a lot of things we always said we never wanted,” Taylor grumbled as he

tossed back the drinks Carter was handing out after pouring.

“What does that mean?” I snapped at him. Then it hit me when Carter handed me a drink. There

was more to what he had accused our inner circle of. “Taylor, are you cheating on us?”

“What? No!” he exclaimed as he got to his feet. “How could you think that of me?”

“What did you hear downstairs that made you think one of us was cheating?” I asked Carter instead,
needing answers.
“Carson  said  he  thought  one  of  his  mates  was  cheating  on  him  and  the  other  said  a  bunch  of  stuff  I
won’t repeat,” he answered as he eyed me over. “So you were the jerk with the big mouth but who’s
the cheater?”
“Not  me.  I  thought  we  were  all  happy  and  in  love.  Silly  me,”  Ian  growled  as  he  poured  himself
another drink. “Why would anyone tell me that they had worries or talk to me like an adult when they
can just keep it all inside until it festers and explodes?” Then he glanced at Taylor. “It is you. You’ve
been spending a lot of time getting coffee lately. Yeah, because we don’t have coffee at the house.”
“I  am not  cheating,”  he  snarled.  “Just  because  I’ve  needed  to  get  some  air  lately  doesn’t  mean  I’m
fucking someone else.”
“Let  me  guess,  you  gave  someone  an  appreciative  look  and  now  you’re  a  cheater  too?”  Marlow
bitched. “Check out one woman and I’m unfaithful.”
“Look,  I  don’t  think  you’re  unfaithful,  but  don’t  kid  yourself  that  it’s one  woman  you  checked  out,”
Galvin growled. “You check out women all the time. Vencentio isn’t the only one bothered by it, he
was just man enough to bring it up when I haven’t.”
“Because  you  don’t  really  care  about  me  like  you  do  him. You  both  love  him  and  like  me  in  your
bed,” he argued. Jesus. Were we all just so fucked up?
“That’s not true and you should know that. You’re trying to justify that you basically eye fuck every
attractive  woman  you  see.”  Galvin  cursed  and  threw  back  his  drink,  setting  down  the  glass  before
moving  closer  to  Marlow.  “Just  get  it  over  with. You  like  pussy  and  for  whatever  reason  you  like
Vencentio.  You’re the one who just shares our bed. You and I were working at Tristan’s for months
and you never even looked at me until Vencentio wanted me.”
“You’re right, I didn’t,” he shouted. “I didn’t see you that way but then our little Omega opened up a
whole  new  world  to  me  and  I  saw  how  you  were  with  him  and  it  made  me  see  you  differently.  I
wouldn’t just share someone’s bed if I didn’t care. I love you, Carter, and Vencentio. I can’t help that
I like women too! I like breasts and pussy and soft curves and yes, sometimes I miss it. But I’ve done
nothing wrong. I’m allowed to look.
“I’ve seen you appreciate a hot guy and I don’t jump all over your ass. Sure, I check out women. What
is the big fucking deal?”
“The big deal is we don’t have what you say you miss,” Galvin answered. “I see a hot guy and I take
notice. You see a hot woman, and focus so intently you forget what you were saying. That’s what you
did to Vencentio and why he blew up. He was asking if you needed anything else for the trip or help
loading and a hot chick walks by and you completely ignore your own mate to stare at her.”
“I’m  sorry.  She  was  practically  naked,”  he  growled.  “I  was  seriously  wondering  how  she  got  that
thing that wasn’t really a bikini to stay in place.”
“Un-fucking-believable,”  Vencentio  whispered  from  the  top  of  the  stairs.  “Yeah,  that’s  more

important  than  what  I  was  saying. And  you’re  also  lying,  Marlow. You  forget  that  I  can  see  what
you’re thinking. That’s not all you were wondering about.”
“Look, I can’t help what I think and it’s not fair that I always have it held over my head because you
can see more than you should be able to,” he snapped.
“Like a freak.”
“Yes!” Marlow’s eyes went wide. “No! You’re not a freak. I just sometimes want my thoughts to be
my own. I can’t help that I saw the woman and wondered if she was bare everywhere. But it always
causes a fight because you heard it. I feel like I’m constantly living on eggshells.”
“Glad we’re not the only ones,” Blaine snickered as he drank some more. “Mating to someone who
can see everything while you can’t is like pulling out your hair over and over again.”
“Yeah,  you’re  so  abused,”  Vencentio  growled  at  him.  “You  have  a  wonderful  man  who  would  do
anything for you. Anything at all. He loves you so much and you’re up here bitching? I’m sure you
don’t bitch about the extra strength, power, hearing, and abilities being with one of us gives you, do
you? No, but you have to deal with some extra quirks and poor, poor you guys.”
“Yeah, kinda like it’s always the poor, poor Omegas that we have to drop everything for, travel all
around to raise money for, and constantly live in a place of bitching, abuse, and depression,” Hugo
said with a slur. “I’m so tired of it. I’m not even really Alpha anymore, not that I ever wanted to be. I
just wanted Lennox and now Blair and Falcon, but we don’t get what we want.”
“You bastard,” Vencentio whispered as he stared at Hugo. “You saw what they did to Lennox. How
can you sit there and talk as if he’s just whining to get attention? I know he still has nightmares. We
all do. So any day you want to trade, you just let any of us know.” He turned back to the stairs. “And
to  think  I  came  to  see  why  there  was  yelling  and  make  sure  everyone  was  okay.  You  all  can  go
fucking drown for all I care.”
“We need to calm down, everyone,” I said when he was gone. “No more talking to our Omega mates
while we’re drinking and let’s just take the night off.”
“No,  because  Carson’s  the  only  one  I’m not  pissed  at  right  now,”  Ian  snarled  as  he  got  to  his  feet.
“You’re a douche and Taylor’s lying. We have a spectacular life together, better than I ever dreamed
it could be, and you’re both unhappy.” He pointed at Taylor then. “His eye always twitches when he’s
lying  and  I  swear  just  about  every  time  he  opens  his  mouth  he’s  lying  lately.  So  fuck  you  both.  I’m
going downstairs.”
“So am I,” Galvin agreed with a nod. “Marlow, you should jump off the boat and deal with the sharks
in  my  opinion.  Maybe  that  will  give  you  some  perspective.  And  Carter?  Get  over  your  shit  with
Sampson. I’m sorry things went wrong and this is the first time you’re seeing him again, but you act
like he’s the one that got away and it’s tearing our mate apart with fear he’s going to lose you. Deal
with your shit, both of you, or don’t come back home after this trip!”
I watched as Ian and Galvin stormed downstairs, my heart hurting as I felt this void between me and
two of my mates growing. Then I glanced over at Taylor suspiciously. Could he really be cheating? I
never thought it would be possible, but then again I never thought I could screw up so badly and hurt
Carson. I hadn’t meant what I said. I was more asking Ian if I was the only one to wonder sometimes.
I was angry and hurt.
This was the worst Valentine’s Day vacation ever, I thought as I pounded down another drink. And if
I didn’t get my shit together, I was going to lose my mates.
* * * *
Taggart

“Anyone just wish they could run away for real?” I asked when the silence dragged on after Ian

and Galvin left. “I just want to take my mates and run. Being with an Omega is hard, but Dewey’s
worth some quirks or accidentally getting my ass zapped when he’s practicing. It’s all the pressure
they’re under that leaks over to us that drives me insane.”

“Yeah, I don’t get how they even function at times and aren’t crippled by fear,” Rowan Grant

agreed with me. “I wanted Blaine and he was in charge of the pack so I offered to be his Beta. I never
wanted to be an enforcer. I never wanted to lead or be a Beta. Hell, I don’t even see the need for
them. Why do there need to be different laws than from humans’?”

“It’s stupid,” I answered, shaking my head. “If pack is supposed to be a family then why do they

need to pay a tithe to keep an Alpha? It’s not like we are the police, that’s the Council and the guards.
We break up bickering and squabbles that they should be able to handle themselves.”

“We protect them too,” Bay Edson said. “If something happens, we are in the position to protect

our pack.”
“Wouldn’t you do that without the title of Alpha?” I countered.
“Of course but our part of our job is to protect them, make them feel safe,” he argued.
“Yeah, because if a pack of rabid wolves or shifters comes charging into town four of us will make
the  difference,”  I  scoffed.  “Well,  okay,  Dewey  could  freeze  them  all,  but  then Azyle,  Percy,  and  I
would  just  fight  the  good  fight  and  get  dead  most  likely.  Besides,  when  was  the  last  time  anyone
invaded another pack and took it over?”
“1835, I looked it up once,” Carter mumbled as he held up the empty pitchers. “We’re out of booze.”
“Why did you look it up?” I asked as I stood to get the tray from him.
“Because  I  wondered  what  you  did.  I  have  a  pack  of  fifteen.  They just  hit  the  required  number  of
people  to  have  an  inner  circle  and  they  didn’t  want  us  there.  So  when  I  said  something  about  us
needing to be there to protect them, one of them threw that fact in my face,” he explained. “I looked it
up. We don’t really run our pack like ones I’ve been in. Hell, I won’t mediate squabbles. We’re just
there if the shit hits the fan and to help just like we were normal pack.”
“That sounds nice to me,” I muttered as I headed towards the stairs. “I hate tithing them and picking
who wins bitchfests like fucking Judge Judy. I never thought that’s what being an Alpha meant. I hate
it. I miss having a job and feeling productive. I miss making swords.” I glanced around and realized I
was down on the lower upper level and all the Omegas were staring at me.
“Tag, are you okay?” Dewey whispered as he stood up. I shook my head as my eyes burned. Wow.
Apparently three strong mojitos and listening to the disaster everyone’s lives were becoming up there
and I was ready to start bawling. I walked over to the bar and set down the tray.
“We were out of booze. Those were really good, Sampson.”
“I’ll  make  some  more,”  he  said  nervously  and  glanced  upstairs.  Yeah,  I  saw  the  looks  he’d  been
giving Slate, and the man would have to be nuts not to want the little hottie who looked at him like a
god.
“What’s wrong, Tag?” Dewey moved in front of me and ran his hands up my chest.
“If I wanted to run or stay at this island, would you run with me?” I asked as I covered my hands with
his, ignoring the gasps behind him. “I don’t want to end up like some of the inner circles upstairs, all
the drama, and constant fear tearing them apart. I don’t want to be Judge Judy anymore and tell some
wolf  to  stay  away  from  another’s  daughter  because  the  dad  doesn’t  like  the  guy’s  family  and  there
could be trouble. Why should I get to decide that? I don’t want to.”
“Would Azyle and Percy run with us?” he hedged, staring up into my eyes. “And what about the kids?
I couldn’t leave them and have them end up in the same system I was. Would you want that for them?
If we ran, we couldn’t keep control over who they ended up with and whether they stayed safe.”

I  nodded,  thinking  about  that.  He  was  right.  I  couldn’t  leave  all  those  Omegas  who  lived  with  us.
Brody was mated now but that left over a dozen.
“We take them with. I wouldn’t want to leave without Azyle and Percy. We love them. And I love the
kids  too.  We  could  take  them  with  and  figure  out  how  to  find  them  three  strong  men  to  keep  them
grounded later. Who knows, maybe more Beta and Alpha potentials would want to run with us so they
don’t have to be trapped like we are.”
“How do you feel trapped?” Edric asked carefully. “I thought every wolf growing up wants to be an
Alpha?”
I couldn’t help it. I threw back my head and laughed. “Not the ones who aren’t power hungry. I never
wanted to lead or be an Alpha. It was the only way to be with Dewey and when I was going through
all the tests, it felt right. I was good at it, strong, and a leader, but it’s not like I ever thought it would
be either. I bet at least one of each of your inner circles wishes they didn’t have to be in charge or
doesn’t want to lead anymore. You guys have a lot of pressure and crap dumped on you being Omegas
but we’ve got it too. I’ve got a whole pack whose safety is up to me and I hate that.
“I hate telling one wolf that he has to do something that shouldn’t be any of my business. You don’t
want to talk to someone you don’t like. Fine, don’t. But oh no, it’s a pack and we all have to play nice
in the sandbox or some shit. Yeah, right. We’re wolves, and that gives us a bond in a way, but that
doesn’t make us all family. It’s a stupid system.”
“You’re really not happy?” Dewey whispered as he stared up at me with fear in his eyes. “I wasn’t
worth putting you through being Alpha, was I?”
“Yes, baby,” I answered firmly as I leaned down and touched my forehead to his. “You were worth
it. I just don’t like my job. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy overall in life. I love you and Percy and
Azyle and the kids. You make my life wonderful. I just don’t like being Alpha and sometimes it blows
up inside of me and I need to get it out. All this shit with going to the Council and what Wesley did
makes me scared.
“There  will  be  repercussions  from  that  either  from  packs  or  other  members  and  I  don’t  want  to  be
here when the shit goes down. I don’t want to risk you or the kids. We have friends who don’t want to
be  Betas  or  trapped  into  leading  and  being  micromanagers  too.  Let’s  take  them  all  and  build  a
massive house on this island.”
“Tag, we don’t have the money for that,” he reminded me gently as he brushed his lips over mine.
“If I could get back into making swords we could. That asshole stole all the money I made from them
and that’s why I had to cage fight on the side. My swords went for eight thousand each easy.”
“What kind of swords? I always wanted a sword,” Tristan slurred and I wondered if anyone on this
boat was still sober besides the one driving it.
“Tag made all kinds of swords,” Dewey boasted for me. “He made broadswords, and European types
of  all  kinds. Angel  swords  that  had  handles  that  wrapped  around  your  hand  and  recreations  of  old
warrior swords that collectors love.”
“I  want  a  sword,”  Brody  whispered  in  awe.  “I’d  pay  that  for  a  real  pirate  sword.  I  had  pirate
ancestors!”
“I bet we could take the money we have and with the talented people we have in our lives be able to
make gobs of money and just ship our wares every so often from Puerto Rico or something,” Wesley
mumbled into his drink. “But I can’t go. I started all the shit and my men love their lake. They would
never want to leave and I couldn’t ask them to. If we ran what would become of the other Omegas?
Who would protect them then?”
“Take the ones who want to leave and let the others stay. Some are happy where they are,” Tristan

answered with a shrug. “We’d just have to worry about any new Omegas born. Or set up packs that
could let us know and we could grab them before they’re bought.”
“What do you mean bought?” I asked as I hugged Dewey to me.
“If we ran how long do you think it would take the Council to go back to selling Omegas as slaves?”
Wesley asked with a drunken giggle. “I bet thirty seconds.”
“We’ve got witch friends now through Edric,” I answered with a shrug. “See if they can do a tracking
spell for Omegas. We check it out every five years or so and make sure that everyone’s being treated
well. If they’re not, we go in, get them, and adopt them like the others.”
“That’s actually a really good idea,” Edric said quietly. “I bet we could get that to work. Helen, my
witch  friend,  would  be  all  about  it.  It  seems  every  other  supernatural  group  hates  how  wolves  do
things in this country. I’d run too if my inner circle didn’t love their home pack. Of course, half of our
problems  are  that  they  always  think  I’m  going  to  run.  Like  I  didn’t  have  a  reason  not  to  last  time.
Assholes.”
“We cannot end up unhappy and fighting like they all are,” I breathed in Dewey’s ear so only he could
hear  me.  “Please.  I  won’t  let  all  this  drama  tear  us  apart.  I  love  you.  I  don’t  hover  or  hound  you.
We’re a team.”
“Yes, yes, we are,” he agreed as he stroked my cheek. “I’d run as long as we aren’t leaving anyone
behind. I’d run forever with you, Tag.”
“Good. I’ll see if we can make this happen after we check out the island,” I sighed as I buried my face
in his hair. “I love you so much, baby.”
“Love you too, Tag. We’ll get through this and get you out of the job you hate.”
I smiled. If anyone could figure it all out and make sure I was blissfully happy it was my Dewey. I
hadn’t  even  realized  all  this  had  been  building  until  I  heard  everyone  on  the  Sun  Deck.  I  wouldn’t
wait until things got so complicated and heavy that they could rip us apart. I would get us out now and
take the ones we loved with us.

Chapter 4

Tristan

“I miss working with websites too,” I said with a pout. “I feel like all we do is slap a bandage on

everything by getting people out and placing them with new inner circles. We shouldn’t have to live
in these sets of rules if we don’t want to.” I flopped down onto my chair and stared up at the Sun
Deck where my men were. “And I hate Denver but I can’t ever tell them that because it’s their home
pack and they love it.”

“Why do you hate it?” Kiefer asked me as he glanced over to Vencentio, who was sitting on

Galvin’s lap as they talked quietly. “You think they’re going to be okay? Galvin’s a good guy. He
tried to save me when I was at my old pack. I know he loves Vencentio but I don’t like that they’re
upset.”

“Welcome to being an Omega,” I chuckled dryly as I stared at the bottom of my glass. Sampson

was there seconds later to fill it back up and I thanked him before sighing and glancing back at Kiefer.
“I don’t know. I hope so. I like everyone here and want them to be happy but I don’t get what I want.”
I nodded over to my best friend, Carson, crying against his mate Ian as they stood over by the railing
talking quietly.

“So why do you hate Denver?” Edric asked again.

“It’s always going to be the seventy people who saw me lose my virginity in a cold ceremony. They

think I’m a freak because we still don’t have answers as to why I grew over a foot besides some old
writings  in  the  archives  about  when  a  person  knows  their  mate  is  in  need  or  some  stupid  shit,”  I
answered before tossing down my drink again.
Wow. Mojitos were not meant to be chugged, but apparently I was planning to all night. I chuckled as
I wondered how much booze we’d all drank already with how high our tolerance was. I glanced at
Sampson and opened my shield so he could see my thoughts.
“I’ve  made  eleven  pitchers.  We  don’t  have  much  mint  left  up  here.  I’ll  see  if Asher  has  more,”  he
answered before setting a full pitcher down by me and leaving.
“Well that answers that question,” I chuckled, refilling my glass. “And I’m getting answers.” I stood
and headed to the stairs, not able to take the stress my friend was under. When I got to the top I saw
the Alphas and Betas were about in the same depressed and wounded mood we all were downstairs.
“Babe,  what’s  up?”  Jared  asked  me  as  I  walked  in  his  direction,  but  I  wasn’t  coming  for  him.  I
quickly emptied my drink and handed him the glass to hold for me. Then I focused on Taylor.
“Don’t get involved in this, Tristan,” he warned me. “My thoughts are my own and you have no right
to them.”
“You’re  absolutely  right,”  I  agreed  and  leaned  in  closer.  “But  since  you’re  a  fucking  coward  and
won’t tell your mates what’s going on I won’t stand by and do nothing when he’s dying inside. I’d butt
in to stop a fight and I’ll butt in now.”
“Don’t—” he growled and went to push me away but I was faster and had powers. I held him still as I
moved my hands to his head.
“No, you haven’t cheated but you really want to,” I mumbled as I searched his memories. “What’s the
guy’s  name?”  Then  I  saw  it  in  his  mind.  “Gabe,  okay.  So  you  miss  the  spark  and  have  been
considering Gabe because he’d be new and exciting again.”
“Let me go,” Taylor snarled, sounding funny because he couldn’t move his lips. I did what he wanted,
getting the answers I needed.
“Carson,  don’t  do  this,”  Ian  pleaded  and  seconds  later  I  saw  my  friend’s  blond  head  come  up  the
stairs.
“He’s not cheating,” I informed him when he got closer.
“No,  but  I  saw  what  you  did,”  he  whispered  before  glancing  at  Taylor  and  Declan.  “I  release  you
from our contract. Wesley already said he’d nullify it when we get back so the bond will be broken
without hurting any of us.” Then he turned to Ian. “I love you and I’m sorry this hurts you but I can’t
stay with them when this is how they feel. I won’t live like this. I’ll find another way or run.”
“No, I won’t accept this,” Declan growled as he jumped to his feet. “I made a mistake and spoke out
of  anger  to  my  mate  about  something  that  was  upsetting  me.  I’m  sorry  you  walked  in  on  it  but  the
punishment doesn’t fit the crime. I love you. I’m sorry I assumed the worst about what was going on
but we can fix this. We can talk this out.”
“And coddle me some more?” he shouted as he teetered a bit. I moved over to him and wrapped my
arm  around  him.  “You  never  wanted  to  lead  and  I’m  tired  of  living  with  the  pressure  from  your
decision to do it to save me. You hover constantly to the point I can’t take a bath without you checking
on me and then you bitch I need to be coddled. Fuck and you.”
“We  check  on  you  in  the  bathtub  because  you  tried  to  commit  suicide  in  it  once!”  Declan  shouted.
“We’re  scared  that  with  the  way  you  feel  emotions  and  they  affect  you  that  it  will  send  you  into  a
depression spiral before we know what’s going on again and then it will be too late.”
“You should do that because you care, not because you think you have to coddle me. And Taylor just
wants to fuck someone else, so I’m done. I’m not being the problem in the relationship anymore. You

both hate leading a pack, so I release you.”
“You hate it too?” Declan asked Taylor.
“More than I can put into words,” Taylor drawled. “But I love all of you so I stay. And I don’t want
to cheat. That’s not what this is about at all but I’m not having this conversation drunk and in front of
everyone. We can discuss this later after we all calm down.”
“No, I shouldn’t have to have a conversation calmly with you after this all went down,” Carson cried
as  I  rubbed  his  back.  “You  should  have  come  to  us  before  it  went  down  like  this.  You’re  only
addressing it now because you got caught.” He glanced up at me with tears running down his cheeks.
“Tell  them  the  truth,  Tristan.  Don’t  wait  and  let  it  fester. You  see  how  keeping  quiet  and  not  being
open is like acid to a mating.”
“I got him,” Ian said as Carson turned away and I went to help him. The Beta and my friend looked
back at Declan and Taylor. “I love you both. I always have but I go with Carson because I don’t think
either of you really deserve the love we have for you after this.”
I felt tears burn in my eyes as I watched my friend’s mating get blown to shit. Carson and Ian headed
downstairs as I felt three presences I knew well move closer to me.
“We need to talk, baby,” Jared said quietly. “All of us, alone.”
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, knowing no way to get out of this after what Carson said. We headed to the
back of the Sun Deck by the pool that could be used as a whirlpool as well. I sat down on the edge
and moved my feet into the water as I glanced around for a drink.
“No,  you’ve  had  enough  until  after  we  have  this  conversation,”  Cameron  said  quietly.  “What  was
Carson talking about, Tristan?”
“He wants me to be honest that I don’t really like Denver,” I admitted as I ran my fingers through my
hair  in  agitation.  They  all  gave  me  surprised  looks  so  I  sighed  and  told  them  everything  I  had  to
Kiefer and Edric but then I kept going. “And it’s too damn dry. And I like looking at the mountains but
I’m from flat land. It would be nice to drive somewhere outside of Denver and not feel like I could go
off a fucking cliff at any time.
“And what’s wrong with having lights on the damn expressways? Why has it got to always be in the
dark? Yeah, because that’s totally safe in the friggin mountains. And your football team sucks—”
“Okay, you can stop the list now,” Jared growled, being a huge Broncos fan. “We get that you’re from
Green Bay and we forgive you for the allegiance but that’s just a football stance. Leave the Broncos
alone.” He leaned over and bumped my shoulder to let me know he wasn’t really mad.
“So you basically hate Denver,” Rhyce said after a few minutes of silence where everyone let what
was said sink in.
“No,  but  it’s  not  my  favorite  place,”  I  replied  with  a  shrug.  “I  hate  that  the  pack  saw  me  lose  my
virginity. I hate that they think I’m a freak.” Jared went to open his mouth and I shook my head. “They
do, Jared. I bury myself in the job of the Omegas in sanctuary and the Beta qualifiers guarding them
because I hate dealing with the pack. I make you guys strong so you can take care of the pack you love
but I hate seeing them and running with them.
“All I get is feelings of pity, and sometimes for you guys that you got stuck with me, of course. You
signed up for a twink and got a mountain of your own. Then for me because I have no answers about
why I changed and can’t change back. Then just for being an Omega. And most of your pack, whether
they mean to or not, thinks of how they met me when they see me. Which was my taking all your cocks
up my ass. So that’s fun to see in their heads.”
“Carson’s right,” Jared said when I was done. “You should have told us this.”
“Why?” I whispered, shaking my head. “What good would it do? You love Denver and that pack. I

love you guys so it’s worth it to me. We have responsibilities there and people who need us. Even if
you guys would want to leave, which I know you wouldn’t, we couldn’t and not have the guilt eat at
us.”
“Well, see, if you’d told us this we could have told you how we’d been feeling lately,” Cameron said
with a chuckle. “Or we should have told you and then you could have been honest with us. It’s kind of
six of one, half a dozen of the other at this point.”
“What are you talking about?” I drawled, the drunken talk confusing me.
“We don’t like leading,” Jared answered me. “We don’t like you being in the States with the way the
rules are. We’re constantly scared for you and what might happen. I took over because it was what I
was supposed to do and Cameron and Rhyce did it for me. We don’t actually like it. We love Denver,
sure, it’s our hometown, and the pack are good people. But they’ll be good people if we leave and we
could always sneak back in and visit Denver if we wanted to.”
“And  catch  football  games  from  wherever  we’re  going,”  Rhyce  added.  “We’ve  been  talking  about
whether we should seriously consider moving to the island if we like it. Apparently so have you.”
“Yeah, but I would never have left you guys. I love you all and need you.”
“Well then we just need to see how we like the island and go from there,” Jared said as he wrapped
his arm around me and Cameron, Rhyce doing the same from the other side of me. “And we need to
be more open with each other. If we had just been honest with the way things have been bogging us
down  and  what  we  really  want,  we  wouldn’t  have  risked  getting  to  the  point  Carson  and  his  inner
circle have.”
“What are we going to do about that?” I asked as I kissed his cheek. “How can we help them?”
“I don’t think we can, baby,” Cameron said quietly. “We’ll be there for Carson and Ian but the rest is
up to Declan and Taylor.”
“What a mess,” I mumbled. “You guys done being mad at me for going with the High Council when
they came? I didn’t have a death wish, I swear.”
“We know that. We’re just picking on that fact because it was stupid and I’m not really sure why,”
Rhyce said with a sigh.
“Because  you  didn’t  listen  to  us,”  Cameron  answered.  “You  scanned  their  minds  and  the  guards
didn’t know what was really going on. Personally, I’m pissed and want to keep saying I told you so.
We have more experience in life and wolf politics than you do. People who get taken by the guards
aren’t normally heard from again. You should have trusted us.”
“I know,” I conceded. “I’ve thought a lot about this and not just because the way things turned out and
you were right. I should have listened. I thought we were in a better place with the Council than all of
this but you three didn’t. I should have listened to that and we decided what to do together. I won’t
make that mistake again, I promise.”
“Then  I’m  done  with  being  upset  about  it,”  Jared  said  after  a  minute  as  he  stared  up  into  the  sky,
watching  the  sun  set.  “I  don’t  know  about  the  rest  of  everything  but  I  can  move  on  past  your  being
taken in for questioning.”
“Me too,” Cameron and Rhyce agreed.
“This is so not what I had planned when I thought Valentine’s weekend island getaway,” I grumbled
as I saw half the Betas and Alphas arguing and venting, knowing the Omegas downstairs were doing
the same. “I bet Brody’s going to want to kick us all off his boat.”
“Nope, no being depressed,” Rhyce growled. “We just made up and we’re going to be fine.” I had
just enough time to look at him before I got shoved in the pool. Asshole. He was lucky my phone was
still downstairs. I laughed as I saw Jared and Cameron coming in right after me. We shared a look

and went for Rhyce. Oh yeah, we dunked his ass big-time.
* * * *
Wesley

“There you are,” Bay said quietly as he, Levey, and Harkin walked up behind me. I was sitting on

the bench at the back of the main level all by myself. When the trip started going to hell and Ian and
Galvin came down to talk to their mates, I grabbed a bottle of something very strong and not that great
tasting and left. I couldn’t be there anymore.

“It’s all my fault,” I whispered, tears still falling down my cheeks. “All my friends’ matings are

going to shit and it’s my fault. I started all of this.”

“From what we’ve been hearing it seems some of it started before you even came into the picture,

Wes,” Harkin said gently as he sat next to me. “A lot of these guys didn’t get into leading a pack for
the right reasons. Well, not to say that it wasn’t the right reason to them, but from an outside
perspective, you don’t become Alpha of a pack to get the guy. Leaders should want to lead. So I’m
not really surprised they’re not happy with their jobs.”

“It’s more than that, you know it,” I chastised even as I leaned against him. He was trying so hard

to make it those inner circles’ fault and not mine. “I can hear everything down here. Most of their
issues are stemming from fear that the shit is going to hit the fan after what I did.”

“No, fuck that, I’m tired of you saying it that way,” Bay growled and got in my face. “You didn’t

instigate any of this. The Council did. You responded to their threat. A threat against Tristan and all
of you basically. You did not start this and I’m tired of you blaming yourself.”

I blinked at him several times, my drunkenness probably showing. “Okay then. I didn’t start this,

but I did escalate it.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But it was the only play you had. If they had killed Tristan or whatnot, it would
have escalated too. I’ve thought about this a hundred times and I can’t come up with another way to
have  played  it.  If  you  freed  Tristan  and  we  all  ran,  half  the  Council  would  still  be  corrupt  and  in
power. You did the right thing.”
“As opposed to when I overreacted about the fight we had after Levey claimed me,” I mumbled, still
worried they never forgave me for that. I hadn’t meant to let it go on so long or punish them worse
than they had hurt me, but it just snowballed out of control and I never could figure out how to hit the
brakes.
“We screwed up and hurt you,” Levey sighed, plopping down in the chair across from me and tapping
my legs so I turned around fully and looked at him. “Yes, maybe things got out of hand because both
sides didn’t handle things in the best way but we’ve let it go, Wes. You should too.”
“I think I have,” I admitted, but then shook my head. “I hoped you guys had but I keep thinking in the
back of my head that if I overreacted once I could easily do that again. And is that what I did with the
Council?  Did  I  blow  an A-bomb  up,  take  charge,  and  now  we’re  going  to  all  suffer  picking  up  the
pieces instead of having maybe used a Tomahawk missile?”
“It’s  hot  when  you  make  weapon  analogies  that  go  boom,”  Harkin  chuckled.  I  rolled  my  head  and
gave him a dirty look. “Okay, serious talk only for our drunken mate.”
“No, we don’t have to talk serious,” I replied quickly, thinking about what Carson told us his mate
said. “I’m okay.”
“No you’re not and don’t lie to us,” Bay snapped, his eyes filling with anger. “Don’t you dare lie to
us.”
“I didn’t mean to lie,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I just don’t want my needing to be coddled and
comforted to become an issue like with Carson and Declan.”

“It  won’t  as  long  as  we’re  all  honest. And  I  think  Declan’s  getting  a  bad  rap  on  this  one,”  Harkin
admitted. “It’s not easy being mated to a powerful Omega. There’s a lot of shit to deal with and he
never wanted to be in an inner circle so I’m sure it weighs extra on him. Just like you have that little
voice  in  the  back  of  your  head  questioning  if  what  you  did  was  right,  he  had  one  that  needed  to  be
shot, questioning what was really going on with his mate.”
“But shouldn’t he know Carson better than to have even thought that?” I asked.
“They’re having issues with Taylor too and it’s just a bad time for all of them. Doubts creep up. It’s
just  a  fact  of  any  relationship.  I  was  worried  you  were  going  to  run  after  what  happened  with  the
Council,” Bay said quietly.
I  wasn’t  going  to  pretend  or  play  stupid  on  something  so  big  and  tell  the  white  lie  to  assure  them
everything was okay. “I’ve been thinking about it. All the Omegas have. I wouldn’t run without you
guys though so it’s a moot point. You guys love your lake and your pack. You’d never want to leave.”
“Our pack really does run like a family,” Bay replied carefully as if not sure which words to choose.
“We  don’t  have  the  traditional  pack  structure  or  infrastructure  like  it  seems  the  Chicago  or  Denver
packs do. We’re much smaller and people only come to us if they need advice or help. They would be
just fine without us.”
“What Bay is saying is we’ve talked about it and we would run with you if it came time,” Levey said
with a smile. “Personally, I could give up the lake and cold winters for a tropical island.” He gave
me a teasing wink. “It might be hard to convince me of it, but yeah, I’m sure my wolf can run in the
sand. Plus, I saw that Russia doesn’t have extradition laws so we could go there if we miss snow.”
“You  guys  just  think  of  everything,  don’t  you?”  I  chuckled  as  I  wiped  my  eyes.  I  hugged  my  men
tightly and felt worlds better just as Asher started bringing out food.
We got up to help him, hoping that it would soak up some of the alcohol and help our upset friends. It
worked to some point but it still seemed to be Alphas and Betas upstairs while the Omegas were on
the other level. Except for my inner circle, Ian, and Galvin, of course, and Tristan’s inner circle, who
seemed  to  be  doing  their  own  thing  at  the  pool.  But  the  tension  in  the  air  and  the  distance  growing
between some people on the boat was almost stifling. I really didn’t know what I could do to help but
we had to come up with a plan, fast.

* * * * “I guess they decided not to drive through the night on unfamiliar oceans,” I chuckled as I

got up the next morning and realized the engines were quiet.

“Yeah, they shut it down while you were dancing drunkenly singing that you had some coconuts

for us to eat,” Bay drawled in his just-waking-up scruffy voice. It was sexy as hell.

“That’s not how any song I know goes,” I said as I got out of bed, trying to remember that part.

“We  know,”  Harkin  snickered  as  he  pinched  my  ass  when  I  moved  by  him.  “You  said  you  were
combining ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’ and ‘If You Like Piña Coladas’ in some way.”
“Yeah,  wow,  go  me  in  the  crazy  drunk  talk.”  I  giggled  as  I  got  to  the  bathroom,  doing  my  morning
business and heading outside in only my boy shorts. I was shocked I even had them on so apparently
I’d been too drunk for sex. Or I was so drunk I got dressed again after the sex?
Either way, I felt much better this morning after tying one off and getting a lot of things off my chest
last night. Even if it was crazy drunken dancing. I hiked up the stairs to the main level and realized
there were already a bunch of people up. So why weren’t we moving?
I got my answer when I reached the back of the boat. There were several of our friends fishing off one
side of the yacht and a few others swimming on the other side. I liked that idea better. Without even
worrying  about  sharks  or  what  else  could  be  this  deep  out  into  the  ocean,  I  got  a  running  start  and
jumped over the side.

“Cannonball!” I screamed before landing in the water, tucking my knees and arms in tightly. I made a
hell of a splash for someone so small and smiled as I swam back up to the surface.
“Feel better now?” Carson drawled as I wiped the water and my hair out of my eyes.
“Apparently I needed to get that out of my system. How are you doing?”
“Ian and I talked and I think we’re going to stay at the island. I asked Slate, Ollie, and the other guards
this morning if they’d want to come with us so we could bring the other Omegas too. They agreed and
Brody said we can use the yacht anytime we want. Ollie knows how to drive it too. I just had a few
more questions on the island itself.”
“Well,  it’s  called  Lilleulv.  I  guess  lille  ulv  is  small  wolf  in  Danish,”  I  explained,  giving  him  what
Lord  Ellys  had  told  me.  “It’s  part  of  a  five-island  chain  that  is  its  own  country.  I  guess  there  were
wolves,  vamps,  and  other  paranormal  beings  who  claimed  the  islands  long  ago  and  have  done
whatever it takes to keep those islands off record and to the outside world the country doesn’t even
exist.”
“I don’t understand how that can happen nowadays,” Tristan mumbled as he swam closer to us.
“How do we hear other people’s thoughts?” I snickered. “Who the fuck knows but I’m grateful for it
now. The wolf island we can buy because the last owner died. The only rule is it always has to be
owned by a wolf, just like the vamp island, and no matter who owns it, any wolf can seek sanctuary
there. That’s the point of the islands themselves. So even if I buy it, a random wolf from Bolivia can
come and live there as long as they follow our rules.
“Lord  Ellys  is  the  keeper  of  the  islands  as  they  change  hands  from  generation  to  generation. Also,
there’s a fee that vampires require to keep it off the grid and off Google Maps. So we can check it out
and see what the shape of the island and the house on it is in. But it’s ours to buy from the previous
owner’s estate or something. I didn’t understand all the legal speak and I didn’t want to discuss our
details if we weren’t even going to be interested.”
“We can’t afford an island,” Carson said sadly.
“If  we  like  it,  Brody  and  I  will  buy  it,”  I  assured  him.  “You  can  live  on  it  as  caretakers.  I  want  to
build an Omega sanctuary even if we have to leave it open for other wolves.”
“Let’s go, everyone!” Slate called out from the top level. “We’re only an hour or so away from the
island. Let’s get moving and you can swim there all day if you want.”
“Why do I have to be invisible to him?” Sampson muttered from in front of us as we swam over to the
ladder to climb back up.
“Well, I guess we have to play matchmaker this Valentine’s Day,” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“Yeah, other people’s love lives are so off my fucking agenda right now,” Carson practically snarled
as  he  grabbed  the  first  rung.  I  shot  Tristan  a  glance  and  saw  we  were  in  complete  agreement.  We
were very, very worried about him.

Chapter 5

Colin

“Are you sure you Navy boys looked at the map right? That can’t be the little island we’re

heading to,” I drawled as we got closer to the massive place. Well, I guess massive was a relative
term. “How big is it supposed to be?”

“Wesley said like thirty square miles but forty from end to end or something,” Bay muttered as he

moved closer to the window. “That place looks huge.” He smirked and glanced back at Slate. “Want
to stop and ask for directions, sailor?”

“Fuck you both,” the man snarled at us. “I’m not reading a fucking map. Wesley handed us the

coordinates Lord Ellys gave him. As long as everything on the ship’s GPS is working right and the
displays aren’t broken, which they seem fine, this is the place.”

Everyone had been giving him a hard time about why he didn’t go for the little Omega who liked

him, Sampson. He took it all last night and even a few hours this morning. Nice to know he couldn’t
hold out forever without breaking.

“And we’re fucking Marines,” Carter bitched. He’d taken the late shift of driving and with all the

drunken men around acting like idiots or bawling their eyes out I didn’t blame him for being cranky.

“Well dock us in. I want to let my wolf out. Apparently the myth about wolves on water is true,” I

snickered.
“We  could  have  told  you  that,”  Lief  drawled.  “Try  a  three-month  tour.  We  had  to  douse  ourselves
with tranqs at the full moon if we couldn’t get to land. It was horrible.”
I shivered. “Better you than me.”
I left the control/steering room or whatever it was called and went in search of my mate. He’d been
quiet last night when I’d checked up on him and I was starting to worry. Half the group was having
mating issues and half seemed to be fine. I thought we were on the fine side but I didn’t want to risk
being wrong and have it blow up in my face.
“Don’t,” Blaine warned me with a shake of my head as I made my way down the stairs. I glanced at
him in confusion before having to quickly dodge a flying suitcase. “I apparently pestered him until he
broke  and  told  me  what  his  comment  meant  yesterday. You  made  a  joke  about  having  to  track  him
down in Florida again and he’s not happy about it.”
“That’s  what  he  meant?  He  said  nothing  was  wrong  so  I  assumed  he  meant  to  say if  I  had  hurt  his
feelings,” I replied, moving out of the way again. “Is he throwing our stuff up at us or what?”
“He’s  working  on  his  telekinesis,”  Rowan  drawled  from  the  other  side  of  the  boat.  “I  made  things
worse by saying he was overreacting  and  got  a  carry-on  bag  upside  the  head.  Now  he’s  helping  us
unload  since  we’re  almost  to  the  island  and  playing  a  little  dodgeball  as  well.  Good  to  know  his
temper has improved.”
“I  heard  that!”  Edric  bellowed  from  below.  “I  can  hear  you  from  the  room  we  were  in.  I’m  not
sending the stuff that far.”
“I know you can,” Rowan shouted right back. “You have a temper! You admit it. Why am I a bad guy
when I say it?”
“Are you trying to add fuel to the fire?” I asked, glancing at him like he was nuts.
“I’m tired of being in trouble,” he answered with a shrug. “We try to do what’s right by him and he
throws tantrums like this with his powers. You hurt his feelings. That sucks and you didn’t mean it. If
he would just tell us or talk to us instead of waiting until it festers and blowing up, things would be
much simpler.”
There was a thunk from below and I wanted to go down and see what was going on, but I also didn’t
want my luggage smacked upside my head.
Edric  stepped  out  onto  the  stairs  with  his  backpack  over  his  shoulders  and  walked  up  as  if  he  was
furious and trying to keep himself in check. He focused on Rowan first.
“I’ve tried explaining this to you but no one apparently listens to me. You guys get angry and you go
for a run to calm down. It doesn’t work that way with the powers I have. They fester and build until I
feel like I’m going to explode when I’m upset or around people who are upset and we had a yacht full
of upset people last night. I’m sorry you’re so abused, but I thought trying to get the suitcases up here
and working on my control when I’m upset was a good idea.

“I’ll work on my tantrums far, far away from you from now on. And I know, you’re going to bitch that
you’re  in  trouble  again,”  he  said  so  quietly  it  was  like  an  angry  whisper.  “But  I  really  don’t  like
getting upset, Rowan. Yelling is not fun for me and it fucks with my powers. I’m not a drama queen
and I don’t thrive on anger. So I’m sorry you think I do this for kicks but I don’t. If something hurts my
feelings then it was something that shouldn’t have been said or done.
“And yes, maybe discussing things with you would have been the right path but I was going to wait
until  after  our  first  vacation  together  to  sit  down  and  talk  this  out.  Instead  I  have  Blaine  in  my  face
before I even got to have coffee or go swimming or fishing with anyone going on and on like a broken
record giving me guilt trips. According to him it’s being a hypocrite that I can see in other people’s
brains but I don’t ever tell you guys what’s going on with me.
“But then here you are bitching that I’m always throwing temper tantrums about what’s upsetting me.
So  apparently  two  of  my  three  mates  can’t  even  decide  what  they  want  and  the  third  is  always
cracking jokes because everything is just so fucking funny to him, even things that are sensitive topics.
And I’m so not the only one here with a fucking temper. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to go see the
island and find a room of my own. Alone!”
“Guess we’re one of the inner circles who’s in trouble with their Omega,” I grumbled as he walked
away. “I make jokes when I’m nervous or don’t know what to say.”
“Sometimes  you  have  just  let  things  go  before  others  have  and  it  doesn’t  upset  you  anymore  but  it
does  others,”  Blaine  hedged.  “Sometimes.  But  we  all  do  it.  I  think  it’s  just  that  it  was  his  Florida
escape topic and we keep hovering. I heard him tell someone last night that we still think he’s going
to run again. I do worry about that a lot.”
“So do I,” Rowan admitted with a wince. “Shit. Do you think we’ve been harping and crowding him
and didn’t even realize it?”
“We love him so I think of course we were,” I answered. “Balls. We’ve got some groveling to do.” I
glanced at Rowan. “You especially. That was a bitch thing to say to him. He doesn’t just fly off the
handle for any little thing. He’s justified when he gets pissed.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t say he wasn’t. He just extra blows up sometimes.”
“Don’t we all?” I challenged him. He bit his lip and then nodded. Yeah, we all did. We picked up our
bags  and  headed  towards  where  the  ramp  would  go  down.  Maybe  I  wasn’t  so  excited  about  this
vacation after all. Balls.
* * * *
Asher

“Babe, I need your help,” I said quietly to Jaxon as the boat pulled into the dock.

“You don’t look like you’re tenting your shorts,” he snickered as he bumped his shoulder with mine.
“What do you need, stud?”
“We can’t just stand by and let all these guys’ matings turn to shit. No one’s cheated, no one’s done
anything so bad that it can’t be fixed. There’s too much outside stress and we both know that. If none
of this other shit was going on, then none of their matings would be blowing up.”
“Agreed, but I’m not sure what we can do but I’m in.”
“Good. Get your guitar and plug-in thing. We’re having a cookout with live singing and lots of making
up.”
“Live singing? Karaoke won’t make anyone forgive a bad singer,” he chuckled.
“We have a good singer. Trust me. Let me make sure he’s on board and then you guys can figure out
the best songs to play you both know.”
“You’re sexy as hell when you’re plotting to take over the world to help it,” he said quietly as he

stared into my eyes.
“I love you too, Jaxon,” I whispered. He smiled brightly and kissed me. “Glad we got that settled.”
He turned to head back down below and then looked at me over his shoulder.
“Yup, now we just need to get the short one to tell us.” He gave me a wink. “I love you too, Asher. I
love all of you.”
I smiled as he sauntered off whistling a happy tune. Yeah, we could give all these fighting couples a
push. I wanted to give fate a thumbs-up as the man I needed stormed past me.
“Got a second, Rowan?”
“No, I need to drown myself in the ocean,” he grumbled. “Try me again later.”
“How about we figure out a way to fix things with your mate first.”
“That’s  why  I  was  drowning  myself,”  he  sighed  as  he  leaned  against  the  side  rail  as  the  boat  shut
down. “I just get so frustrated. I’m always doing the doggy paddle to keep up instead of swimming
forward. I’m supposed to protect my family but from the Council? The whole Council potentially. It’s
more than I can do.”
“So you lashed out about always feeling in the wrong and temper tantrums,” I finished for him and he
winced. “Yeah, I heard it. Want to help me fix some things and woo your mate?”
“Yes, god, yes. I’ve been wracking my brain and I can’t come up with anything. Maybe it’s the salt in
the air but I feel about ten points stupider.”
“Find Jaxon after we unload all the food. You’re singing. He brought his guitar and we’re having a
cookout. I’ll be damned if I sit here and let the people we care about fall apart.”
“I’m in,” he said with a toothy grin. “What else do you need?”
“Lots of help. We’ve got enough food to make for an army and not a lot of time. I want fire pits built
on the sand so we can get this done and something for Jaxon to stand on and electricity for his plugin
box.”
“You mean amp?” he chuckled.
“Yeah,  sure.”  I  shrugged.  I  liked  music  and  watching  my  man  perform  but  I  couldn’t  play  an
instrument to save my ass nor knew anything about them.
I found Tristan, Wesley, Jared, Bay, Levey, Harkin, Cameron, and Rhyce before they got off the yacht
and  told  them  the  plan.  Of  course  they  were  all  in.  We  hurried  to  get  everything  off  the  boat  and
started setting up what we’d need on the beach. The rest of everyone were heading right to the house
but we needed this set up now.
“What are you plotting?” Brody asked me as stopped by me on the beach. “You have that look on your
face.”
“I  have  a  look  for  plotting?”  I  chuckled  as  I  stared  up  at  him  from  where  I  kneeling  and  setting  up
stones for the cooker pit.
“Yeah, it’s that one that says romance and mischief all at the same time. It’s a cute look like you’re
happy and also determined.”
“Well  you’re  good  because  that’s  how  I  feel.  We’re  setting  up  a  wooing  party  so  the  couples  can
make up. We just have to set the Valentine’s Day mood apparently.”
“Can I help?” he asked after a moment. “I know I’m not romantic but I can take direction well.”
“Yeah, but I plan on wooing you tonight so you can’t know everything going on.”
“Why would you need to woo me? I’m already yours, Asher.”
“Are you really?” I asked gently. “Have you decided to let us in?”
“I did, but now that I’m seeing the stress of being an Omega and inner circle blow up what everyone’s
built up, I’m not sure it’s wise.”

“It’s scary, that’s for sure,” I said as evenly as I could as I kept working on the pit. “But some things
in life are worth taking the jump for. Maybe tonight will change your mind that it’s right.”
“Maybe.” There was an awkward pause  where  both  of  us  weren’t  really  sure  what  to  say  next  that
wouldn’t risk potentially fighting. “How about I get all your bags to whatever room we’re going to be
in and then I’ll come find you to see if there’s anything I can do?”
“That  would  be  great. And  pass  the  word  that  we’re  doing  a  cookout  at  five  sharp.  Just  don’t  tell
anyone the rest of the plan.”
“You got it, 007,” he chuckled before leaning down and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for
being patient with me, Asher. I know it’s not easy and I don’t want you guys to hate me down the road
or think I need coddling. I just have to do this my way, the right way in my eyes, or it could fall apart
later.”
“You’re  worth  the  wait,  sweet  thang,”  I  drawled,  using  my  best  Jaxon  impression.  Brody  chuckled
and headed back to the boat. Well, at least he was smiling and there was still hope he’d let us in one
day. That was a start. For now, I had a trap to set for tonight to catch wayward couples in and make
them fall in love with their mates all over again.
* * * *
Harkin

“Dude, this place is creepy,” I said with a shiver as we got the first load of everything to the front

door.
“It’s  the  right  place,”  Slate  stated  again.  “There  was  a  sign  on  the  dock  that  said, Welcome  to
Lilleulv. If you shouldn’t be here or weren’t invited, leave because we do bite.  I mean that kind of
says we’re in the right place.”
“Totally,” I agreed with a shrug. “I wasn’t doubting your mad driving or mapping skills, just saying
the place is creepy.” I stared up and up at the mansion again. It was weird. Not so much the design but
we were out in the middle of nowhere, deserted island type place, and about a mile inland from the
dock was this massive, massive house. It was like the Governor’s mansion in the middle of a tropical
island like in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Just weird.
“Think we’re going to find Governor Swann and Captain Jack Sparrow soon?” Wesley mumbled as
he reached for the door with the key Lord Ellys gave him.
“I know, right?” I exclaimed, glad I wasn’t the only one who had thought that. Weird. Wesley turned
the key and pushed open the door only to have several shrill wolf howls go off. I grabbed him and
moved him behind me. “What the fuck was that?”
“It wasn’t in the movie, that’s for sure,” Slate said quietly as he pulled out a gun. I raised an eyebrow
at  him.  “Ex-military,  dude.  We  all  come  packing.  Why  do  you  think  we  were  all  so  adamant  about
driving  and  then  loading  certain  cases  ourselves?  We  didn’t  want  someone  stumbling  onto  loaded
weapons.”
“Whatever,” I chuckled, holding my arm out for him. “You take the lead then.”
He  nodded  and  then  pulled  out  a  flashlight  as  he  stepped  inside.  Wesley  and  I  followed,  Bay  and
Levey flanking us. Bay moved over into the corner and flipped some switches.
“Power works. That’s a plus,” he mumbled. We walked down the main hallway, taking in the ornate
decorating right out of the 1800s. I seriously felt like I was in a museum and I would end up breaking
everything.
“Um,  guys,”  Wes  hissed  as  he  pulled  on  my  arm.  I  glanced  down  at  him  and  then  where  he  was
pointing. There was a message written on a large mirror in marker.

One Omega to another, your place is with your three but if you find you need a new place for all,
the doors will open for you here. It will take your gifts to make that happen though and prove you
should really be here. Otherwise this house has eyes and ears and will eat you alive so get out now
if  you  can’t  handle  the  challenge.  A  fifty/fifty  shot  an  Omega  not  of  a  bloodline  has,  but  of  a
bloodline  the  house  will  welcome  you.  Run  if  none  of  this  made  sense  because  the  wolves  will
descend on you.
“I thought this place was uninhabited,” Slate growled as he glanced around. “What wolves? We just
got here.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I assured him. “We’ve got two Omegas of a bloodline of them. We’re all good. It’s
just a warning for those who might want to raid the house or stumbled upon it.”
“Right,  but  what  is  it  that  I  can  do  that  other  Omegas  can’t?”  Wesley  mumbled  as  he  stared  at  the
mirror. Then a bright smile spread across his lips and it hit me.
“The elements,” I chuckled. “You can control the elements and you’ve taught Brody how too.”
“Smart is so sexy,” he purred as he gave me a wink. “I’m thinking wind since water and fire would
destroy the house.”
“Go for it.” I gave him a nod as I smiled at Bay and Levey. They glanced at Wesley with pride and a
little mirth in their eyes… Just like was in mine. This was the fun part. “Hang on to your hats, kids.”
“What  does  that  mean?”  Slate  asked  as  he  glanced  around.  “I’ve  never  seen  the  show.  I’m  at
Carson’s, not Tristan’s where he was.”
“Shut up and watch,” Bay growled as Wes tried to focus. He took a couple of deep breaths and then
his hands flew skyward. I laughed as my hair swirled around my head and my shirt filled with air as
if we were standing outside on a very windy day.
“Holy shit that’s cool,” Slate whispered in awe as he glanced around. He pointed to the floor where
the rug was. “And here’s the answer.” I looked at where he was and saw a file folder secured to the
floor so when the rug went flying it would still be there. Cool.
“I feel something odd,” Wesley mumbled. I followed after him as Slate, Ollie, and Bay focused on the
folder. “Like a void when someone’s blocking me.” He walked out of the main hallway and to the left
which ended up being the library. I glanced around, smiling when he blew windows open and aired
out drapes as the wind he was creating flowed around him.
“Be careful of the windows being open in here too long, babe,” I warned him as I glanced around at
the very, very old books on shelves. “The humidity and salt in the air could ruin these.”
“Always so smart and thoughtful,” he said with a grin. He lowered his hands and the wind stopped. I
walked over and closed up the huge bay windows again.
“It just needed a quickie airing out. It smells like a freshly cleaned room now instead of stuffy.”
“I couldn’t have hurt the books with just that, could I?”
“No way,” I answered even though  I  didn’t  have  a  clue  on  old  books.  Wesley  didn’t  need  anything
else to feel guilty about that he shouldn’t. “What were you feeling in here?”
“This,”  he  mumbled,  glancing  at  the  wall.  “Something  back  here  was  blocking  my  energy  but  it’s
gone. It could have just been a gap in where I was focusing.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never had anyone able to block me before,” he admitted. “Brody can kind of if he
tries really hard. But this would have to be someone older and more powerful than me to be a void.
Or I just was spreading myself too thin.”
“Let’s go with that answer until we know more but I’ll warn everyone that there’s possibly someone
here already for sanctuary and to be careful.”

“You always come up with the best plans,” he chuckled lovingly. Then he held up a hand, no wind
this time as if he was feeling for something in the air. “Got it.” I watched as he reached out and pulled
on a mounted candlestick and one of the bookshelves slid to the side and revealed a hiding panel that
moved back with a loud stone grinding sound.
We stepped inside but couldn’t see anything. I pulled Wes back out, not wanting him to go in alone,
and called out for Slate.
“We need the flashlight,” I explained as he jogged into the room. “Wesley found something.”
“Yeah he did,” Levey exclaimed excitedly.  “I  always  wanted  to  go  in  a  secret  passage.  Oh  my  god
this is so cool.”
“Anyone else feel like the Scooby gang except we’re all wolves?” Bay drawled as he looked around
the doorway.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” I chuckled as I turned on the flashlight and stepped into the room,
holding Wesley back slightly. “Fuck me sideways.”
“Yeah, I second that,” Slate gasped as we took in the room. It was  full of gold, jewels, and all kinds
of treasures. In the middle was an easel with another note.
The house is open to all wolves in need, to always be run by an Omega to make sure that no one
with ill will or harboring evil wishes comes to this safe haven. Use what you want of the house,
make  it  your  own,  but  destroy  or  throw  out  nothing  because  it  is  our  history.  Except  this  room.
This room is for my son if he is ever to be found. This is his inheritance. Touch it not unless you
are pure of heart and truly want to find him when I could not so that he might be reunited with his
history. Touch it or take it for self-gain and my ghost will haunt you always until you go mad.

“I don’t understand,” Wesley whispered as he stepped closer to the easel. “His son was lost?

How do you lose a kid?”
“You don’t,” Slate said sadly. “You lose a child when they die or are taken. Since the note seems to
imply the son is alive, I’d say this poor guy had his son kidnapped from him.”
“We have to find him,” Wesley gasped as he looked around the room. “There’s got to be a way we
can find his son. He needs to know this is where he truly comes from.”
“Wes, we don’t know how long ago this note was even written,” I said gently. “We don’t know if the
son  is  alive  or  dead. And  you  already  are  trying  to  take  over  the  free  world  so  it  truly  is  free  for
wolves. How are you going to add this to your plate?”
“We have to try,” he whispered as he stared at me with big eyes. “Brody’s working on leads for more
bloodline  Omegas  and  we’ve  got  one  right  here  now.  He  can  put  this  to  the  top  of  his  list.  We  can
make this work.”
“Okay,” Bay sighed after we all shared a look. “You’ve got that pouty determined look. We can look
through what the guy left us but we’re not traipsing all over the world on some ghost chase. We’ll see
what we can do with the information he left but no more massive missions. You’ve got enough going
on, we all do.”
“Deal,” Wesley agreed excitedly. He glanced around the easel and smiled when he pulled out a file
folder. “We keep this room secret for now. We don’t know who else is here on the island with us.”
“You felt something?” Bay asked as he glanced around nervously and Slate had the gun back out in a
flash.
We  filled  him  in  as  we  left  the  room,  making  sure  everything  was  put  back  just  as  we’d  found  it.
Levey still looked like he was going to burst at the seams with excitement over the whole thing.
“Now we just need to find a treasure map and go hunting with shovels,” he chuckled as he rubbed his
hands together in glee.

“Sorry,” Slate drawled as he held up the folder they’d found under the rug. “All we have here is a
map of the house, which rooms are ready for guests, and what needs fixing. Lennox is going to have
some fun with this. One of the stoves is out according to this and it says it’s from 1920. I’m sure he
can find parts in the house to fix that.”
“We wanted an adventure,” I chuckled and shrugged. Sounded like fun to me. After we checked out
the map we figured out where everyone was going to bunk down and got everyone that wasn’t
working on the cookout on bag delivery duty. When we were all done, everything unloaded from the
yacht and put away so we could function in a strange mansion, we had just enough time to shower and
get down to the beach.

Chapter 6

Falcon

I smiled as I watched Sampson play cabana boy at the makeshift bar we had set up on the beach.

Actually, we just carried the massive one off the yacht that was for parties and could easily be
moved… Well, besides the fact it was big. It hadn’t been like bolted down or anything.

The little guy was really coming out of his shell and I was glad for that. So were Kiefer and

Baptista. They were having a blast and all the extra guards who had come, all unattached, seemed to
be in heaven at the eye candy the Omegas were. Though there were a couple I especially had my eye
on and prayed to fate a good romance could be found.

Everyone had at least a drink or two by now and according to Asher the food was coming along

nicely.
“This  is  so  cool,”  Lennox  said  quietly  as  he  sat  down  next  to  me  on  the  picnic  table.  We’d  found
some closer to the house and dragged them over for the party. “I’ve never been to like a luau or seen
someone perform live. I mean, and we know them. Did you know we had such talented friends?”
“No,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “I’m as shocked as you are. Too bad Hugo didn’t bring his drum
set because we would have had a whole band apparently. I heard him telling Jaxon he had something
he could set up with his laptop to give him more than just the guitar and Rowan singing. Percy plays
bass too and brought his gear. I swear it’s like it was planned because who would think to bring it on
vacation?”
“People who weren’t sure they wanted to ever go home,” he answered as he stared at the big fire our
friends were putting together in the big clearing away from the tables, food, and makeshift stage.
“We  found  a  drum  set  in  the  basement!”  Baptista  yelled  as  he  and  Sampson  came  running  over.  “It
was totally weird like I know this house or something. I found a music room.”
“Sweet,” Hugo exclaimed. “That’s better than what I was rigging up. Let’s go see what they got.”
“I  know  we  hover  too  much,”  I  said  quietly  to  Lennox.  “We  don’t  mean  to.  We’re  holding  on  too
tightly because we’re scared. You were already taken from us once and it would kill us if something
happened to you. So yeah, we need to relax but I don’t know how with everything always going on. I
mean, when doesn’t the shit hit the fan in our lives?”
“I know. I was thinking about that too and seeing what’s going on with my friends,” he mumbled as he
lay  back  on  the  wood  and  covered  his  eyes  with  his  hands  to  get  some  of  the  last  rays  before  the
sunset. “I just don’t want to end up like Carson and his guys. They’re imploding because they didn’t
say enough or the right way to really communicate and I bet they all thought they were doing fine but
with all of us always on edge one match can blow it all to hell.”
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying.” I leaned back on my elbows and tilted my neck to get some sun as

well. We were used to it given our pack was in southern California but this sun was much hotter here.
“Did you have fun last night?”
“Yes and no,” he answered after a moment of thought. “Wesley got fun drunk and so did some of us
but watching Vencentio and Carson’s worlds crumble made me want to constantly cry. It was nice to
just let it all out though and get drunk. We did have some good times and everyone talked a lot about
what’s going on. It helped to know we weren’t the only ones having these issues.”
“I can see that.” We were quiet several minutes and then I decided just to get out the question that was
on  my  mind.  “Would  you  want  to  stay?  Leave  the  pack  and  the  four  of  us  just  move  here  forever?
Brody was saying they could buy a place in Russia and spend half the year at each.”
“Yes,” he whispered as he turned on the table to face me. “Does that make me a horrible person that I
would just leave our pack like that? I mean, I wouldn’t do it if all of you weren’t coming with me but
my vote is I want us to move here.”
“No,  it  doesn’t  make  you  a  bad  person  at  all.”  I  reached  over  and  cupped  his  cheek.  “Because  my
answer is probably going to be the same. I want to spend a little more time here and see how we’d
really be living but yeah, I like the idea to run.”
“Maybe one day,” he mumbled wistfully as he lay back down. I nodded as I enjoyed the sun, laughing
when I heard a loud drum thump.
“My bad!” Baptista shouted as he picked back up the drum. We all had a good chuckle at that. The sun
was just setting as everything was set up and our entertainment for the night took the stage. Everyone
was making catcalls and hollering as they got ready.
“Okay, be nice, everyone, we didn’t even get a sound check and have never played together before,”
Rowan said as he went up to the mic. “And I don’t even have my guitar so I’m only singing tonight.”
“Take off your shirt and we won’t even notice if you can’t sing!” Ollie called from the bar. Rowan
shrugged and pulled it off, getting even more catcalls. It was hot after all. The other guys did too and
seriously  they  were  like  every  gay  man’s  wet  dream. And  straight  ladies’  I’m  sure  but  none  were
here.
“Baptista, you’re up,” Rowan said as he nodded to the laptop set up on the speakers they pulled out
from somewhere. Who knew.
“I brought us some drinks,” Blair said nervously as he joined us. “Asher said we needed to get good
seats for the show.”
“Oh yeah, I helped pick the songs they’re doing in the hopes it sparks something,” I replied as I took
the drink.
Percy started it off first then Baptista played out a few notes on what looked like a tablet hooked up
that had a keyboard option. Hugo joined in on the drums and we groaned. Our man was hot.
“He’s forgiven,” Lennox whimpered. “Hot drummer mate.”
“Rowan can really sing,” I chuckled as he belted out a few intro notes like P!nk but obviously a few
octaves lower.
“Ever  wonder  about  what  he’s  doing, ”  Rowan  sang  and  I  nudged  Lennox  to  look  across  from  us
when Vencentio’s head snapped to stare over at Marlow. “How it all turned to lies.”
“Oh shit, please let this work,” I whispered as I saw Vencentio exchanging words with Galvin and
then pull away.
Rowan kept going as he watched what was going on and I even saw him cross his fingers.
“I’m not giving up!” Vencentio shouted as he jumped off the bench and stormed over to where Carter
and Marlow were sitting.
“You’ve gotta get up and try, try, try, ” Rowan belted out just as Vencentio reached them. He shoved

Marlow hard and then smacked him in the chest. P!nk’s “Try” was about the best option we had to
help with such a volatile situation.
“I  don’t  have  tits.  None  of  us  do  and  you’re  going  to  have  to  deal  with  that  and  stop  whatever
fantasies you’ve got going on!” He shouted over the music as I saw Baptista turn down something on
the speakers and they got quieter as they kept playing. “You made a commitment to us and you will
keep it or I’ll bite you so hard in bad, bad places.” Then he turned to Carter and smacked him as well.
“And you need to leave the past alone.
“I won’t ever be Sampson and I’m sorry you had some perfect Omega you let get away but enough is
enough. I’m the one you’re mated to.” Vencentio gave a strangled sob as he turned and pulled down
his shorts to reveal his ass. “I’m early on our six months but I got this done before the trip because I
promised  I  would  and  I  love  you.”  Then  he  pulled  them  back  up  and  spun  around.  “Now  love  me!
Love Galvin and I enough to stop this shit.”
“I do,” Marlow choked out as he grabbed Vencentio and pulled him into his arms, ignoring that the
Omega was hitting him. “I’m sorry. It’s not about tits or who has a dick but the person themselves and
I love you three. I just needed time.”
“Time for what?” Galvin asked as Vencentio stopped fighting.
“I saw a woman last month and I mean she was hot,” Marlow explained as he hugged Vencentio for
comfort. “And so what, right? I checked her out and laughed because her boobs were so obviously
fake. Then it hit me that I’d never see a pair of breasts again. It never registered with me before.”
“You mated three men almost six months ago and month five you realize you’ll never be with another
woman?” Vencentio asked as he leaned back and stared at Marlow as if he was nuts. “You smoking
something?”
“No,” Marlow chuckled, shaking his head. “We’ve always got something going on. There’s not a lot
of me time to think. We jumped into this so fast and then we’ve been fixing the house and helping the
pack, and helping other packs, and fixing what we can and lending resources and—”
“Yeah, it’s been a lot,” Galvin agreed. “I’ve been exhausted for months.”
“Yeah,” Marlow said quietly and then shrugged. “And it hit me like a month ago and I freaked like oh
my god huge kind of revelation. So yeah, I’ve been checking out women but not in the way you think.
This notion has been in the back of my mind and when a hot woman walks by and I think, Do I really
miss that over the great life I have with three loving men?”
“What’s your answer?” Vencentio asked nervously.
“No, I don’t. It’s not about who has what plumbing. I love you three. But yes I will keep checking hot
women out and you need to deal with that. Just because they have boobs and you don’t doesn’t make
anything wrong with what I’m doing,” Marlow answered firmly. “I saw you checking out the guards
after  they  shifted  back  and  were  naked. You’re  allowed  to  look  but  you  jump  on  me  because  it’s  a
woman and not a man.”
Vencentio nodded. “You’re right, okay. But you’ve been looking at women weird and I thought it was
something different than what you just said. I can deal with this and I’m glad we discussed it.”
“Me too,” Carter and Galvin agreed.
“And Carter doesn’t want Sampson,” Marlow said gently as he rubbed Vencentio’s back. “It’s guilt.”
“How  did  you  know?”  Carter  whispered  as  his  eyes  darted  from  his  men  to  Sampson,  who  looked
like he was ready to melt into the sand.
“Because it’s who you are,” Marlow chuckled. “You have a big heart and it eats at you that Sampson
was the one abused and while you were both in shitty situations, you found happiness first and the one
who was worse off is still alone and you worry about him.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he mumbled and then sighed as Sampson’s eyes filled with tears and the Omega
ran away. “Shit.”
“You don’t have any reason to be sorry,” Vencentio said quietly. “What you feel is understandable
and good of you. I just kept seeing Sampson in your thoughts and I freaked. I thought you missed him.”
“No, I just want him to be happy,” Carter replied sadly as he looked at where Sampson was running
away.
“I’ll get him,” Slate said smoothly as he jumped off the table.
“No, it’s all good. I got this,” Calver, one of the other guards, replied and started jogging. “You don’t
even like him, right?”
“You asshole,” he growled and shoved the man. “I said I got this.”
“You guys have fun fighting,” Gareth chuckled as he ran past them. “I’m more than glad to comfort the
very hot, very sweet single man.”
“Fuck,” Slate and Calver snarled before turning and running after him. Nice. Gareth would probably
be faster since he was one of the Alpha candidates staying with Tristan.
“I’d say Sampson is going to be very, very happy soon,” Vencentio chuckled as he waved good-bye
to the guys going after Sampson as if they were paying attention.
“We good then?” Carter asked as he moved closer. He smiled when Vencentio nodded.
“Then can we see the tat again?” Marlow growled as he stood and threw his mate over his shoulder.
“I want to see my name on this hot little ass.”
“Take me into the jungle and ravage me,” Vencentio moaned. I threw back my head and laughed.
There was hardly a jungle but there was lots of untamed foliage so whatever he wanted to call it, I
guess.
“One down,” Hugo mumbled as I turned and bumped fists with him. “Was that your pick?”
“Nope, the next one is.”
* * * *
Cameron

“Please let this work. This has to work,” I whispered as the music started for the next song.

Tristan moved his hand to my shoulder and squeezed as we all sat on the picnic table and prayed our
friends could get through this. I smiled when Rowan did a cool move with the microphone stand and
pointed to Edric, giving him the crooked finger to come closer. His mate did, sauntering slowly.

Rowan took the mic out of the stand and gestured to the ocean with his free arm. “Well meet me at

the water.”
Everyone smiled at that one, Blaine moving up behind Edric and dancing with his little mate. A few
more couples moved over to the designated dance floor, recognizing the tune as a good love song.
Carson, on the other hand, his eyes filled with tears as he tried to move away from Ian. Declan looked
as if someone kicked him in the nuts as he watched his mate crying. Taylor looking about the same.

“ Someday I’m gonna steal your heart,” Rowan sang and then took the deep breath for the chorus

as Declan got to his feet.
He moved towards Ian and Carson from one side as Taylor did the same from the other. It was like
poetry in motion and proof that love can be enough and overcome anything. I’m not sure who saw
whom coming first but it was like they just knew part of them, their mates, were coming closer.
Rowan belted out the chorus with Jaxon backing him up on the other mic as Rowan pointed to Edric.
At the same time Declan reached Carson and grabbed him, his smaller mate fighting him. “I’m gonna
steal your heart away.”
And that’s when it happened. Declan mashed his mouth down to Carson’s. Right in the middle of the

chorus. Ian didn’t seem to notice as Taylor got too close and he went to push his mate away. Taylor
slapped his arm out of the way and used his other one to grab Ian around the back of the neck. Their
mouths clashed as their bodies collided.
“Epic,” Tristan whispered as we all moved closer together, staring at them knowing full well wild
horses couldn’t stop us from seeing how this turned out. It seemed Falcon picked the right song with
Augustana’s “Steal Your Heart.”
“I love you,” Declan cried as he wrapped his body around Carson’s. “I love you all so much. Please
don’t leave me. I’m sorry. I had doubts and I shouldn’t have and I blew up. You’re the strongest man I
know and you don’t need to be coddled or make things all about you. It’s about us and I don’t want to
be anything but us ever again.”
“I love you too,” Carson said as he wrapped his fingers in Declan’s hair. “We’ll figure this out. We
had a fight and we all blew up. It happens but I’m not anywhere as long as I’m loved and wanted.”
“You’re wanted,” Declan practically sobbed as he sank to his knees. “My soul belongs to the three of
you. I can’t lose any of you.”
“Good,”  Carson  growled  as  he  went  with  his  mate.  Then  he  pulled  Declan’s  head  down  until  they
were kissing again, their bodies falling to the ground.
“Totally epic. There’s just no other word for this night,” Jared whispered and I couldn’t have agreed
with him more.
“I  never  cheated.  I  didn’t  want  to  cheat,  I  wasn’t  going  to  cheat,”  Taylor  growled  when  he  and  Ian
broke  apart  for  air.  “I  missed  the  spark  of  something  new. A  guy  was  flirting  with  me  and  I  kept
dreaming about it because I’ll never have that new relationship feeling again, that excitement over a
first kiss.”
“No, none of us will,” Ian said quietly as he searched Taylor’s eyes. “And you want that again?”
“Don’t  we  all?”  he  chuckled,  shaking  his  head.  “You’ve  been  with  other  men,  so  has  Declan  and
Carson. I’m the only one who’s only been with the three of you. Everything’s been so much drama and
upset that I wanted to feel that spark.”
“And now?” Carson asked from the sand as he and Declan stared up at him.
“What  I  have  is  more  important  than  the  excitement  of  kissing  someone  for  the  first  time,”  Taylor
answered. “I just needed time to come to that decision on my own. I needed to work it through. I can’t
help that I dreamed about someone else but it wasn’t about him. He was faceless in the dream. It was
the excitement but when we got here I realized, we’re not exactly boring. We’re always doing new
things and throwing spice into our life.
“I wouldn’t trade our lives for a million first kisses with a million different guys. I just couldn’t see
that in Chicago where I haven’t wanted to be. I don’t want us to lead the pack anymore. I want us to
run off and live here or wherever. I hate being a Beta but I stay because I love you guys. All I want is
you guys and to be happy.”
“Us too,” Ian agreed before mashing his mouth back to Taylor’s.
“Awesome,” I chuckled as the song wrapped up and our friends made up. “Fucking awesome.”
“Thank god,” Tristan whispered as the four of us hugged tightly. “They were too good together to ever
break up.”
“Amen to that,” I agreed, kissing each of my men when they brought their faces closer to mine. Amen
to that.
* * * *
Marlow

“I wouldn’t trade this for any woman in the world,” I moaned as I traced my tattooed name

running down Vencentio’s ass with my tongue. “Nothing is sexier than this.” Then I thought about how
that sounded. “Okay, well, it’s a tie for all my sexy men.”

“Nice,” Carter grunted as Vencentio sucked his cock. “Don’t grovel. It is like the sexiest thing

ever. Get him stretched out.”
I nodded, not looking to start trouble where there wasn’t any. I quickly finished preparing our little
mate as I kept kissing his tat. I’m not sure how I ended up being the one to show him how great it was
first, probably because I had been in the biggest of trouble, but I wasn’t complaining.
Using the extra slick I had on my fingers to get my cock ready, I then pushed into Vencentio’s perfect
ass.  We  both  moaned  and  Carter’s  eyes  just  about  rolled  back  into  his  head  from  the  vibrations
Vencentio was sending down his cock.
“I’ve got some residual anger,” Galvin admitted as he shoved his cock in my barely prepared hole.
“So this might hurt a bit.”
“That’s not a punishment when we both know I love it that way,” I mumbled as I braced my hands on
Vencentio’s hips, the dual sensations already driving me nuts.
“I know,” he growled and started fucking me desperately. The four of us moved as we had before but
not  like  we  had  before  if  that  made  sense.  We’d  never  had  a  fight  like  this  and  it  was  a  desperate,
clawing need to reconnect as our passion hit new levels. It was like extreme makeup sex… Not worth
the fight but something we’d also never forget.
“I love you,” I screamed to the three of them as they set my body on fire. Sex had never been like this
when  I’d  been  with  women.  I  didn’t  think  it  was  because  it  was  a  woman  though,  just  I  had  never
been in love with them. But I’d dealt with the fact that I’d grown up thinking I was straight and clearly
I wasn’t.
No man who loves a fat cock in his ass while fucking another ass could be straight.
And I was fine with that and never being with another woman because it wasn’t about the sex of who
I was with but the person. I was lucky enough to have three of the highest caliber of people love me
and share my bed. I wouldn’t ever forget that.
“Oh fuck,” Carter groaned as he came first. I leaned down and started stroking Vencentio, knowing
we were going to fall like dominos soon. Sure enough he was next, his ass tightening around me as
Galvin cried out and filled me. I was last, my climax slamming into me with the force of a fucking
train.
It felt like it went on forever. My hands shook on my mate as I stared down at my name permanently
marked on his body. It was amazing and so was the sex and I was a lucky, lucky man. When we were
spent,  Carter  flopped  back  on  his  ass,  wincing  when  something  poked  him  probably.  Galvin  pulled
out of me and I sat back on my feet and brought Vencentio with me so he was on my lap.
He glanced at me curiously over his shoulder. “I don’t want you getting poked by whatever we’re all
in here or bitten by anything. You need to just stay right here forever.”
“On your cock?” he giggled, raising an eyebrow at me.
“I meant staying snuggled up with me but your way works too,” I teased. “We all good now?”
“Yeah,  I  think  we  all  made  up,”  Vencentio  answered  as  he  glanced  around,  everyone  nodding  and
smiling. “Good. Now we just need to decide if we want to live on the island or go back to our lives.
Anyone actually like Santa Fe?”
“No,  not  really,”  Carter  hedged.  “It’s  not  so  much  leaving  Santa  Fe  that  bothers  me.  I  mean,  those
guys will be fine now that you helped them with their wolves. They don’t really need us. It’s more
once we run we can’t ever go back. I mean, really. If we got caught, the Council could have us killed
since we ran.”

“But it’s not fair. Other wolves can leave the country or transfer to other packs outside the US if they
move or just have no pack if there isn’t one,” Vencentio bitched as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“You guys could step down and just leave. I’m the one who can’t go and the reason we’d have to
run.”
“You’re right. It’s not fair but it’s the current rules and I just want to make sure everyone takes that
into consideration while we talk about maybe giving up our lives at home and living here.”
Everyone nodded and we were quiet for a bit, the mood kind of ruined. Then I had an idea how to
make us perk up again. “I think we’d know more if our wolves checked out the island. Who’s up for a
run?”
“Genius,” Galvin chuckled, giving me a quick kiss before shifting. Vencentio stood and winked at me
before changing forms as well. Carter and I were last and we hurried after our mates. Maybe we’d
like the island and it would be worth running. I know I thought it was worth it already just to keep my
men safe and not having to deal with all the shit we did. But we’d make the decision together as a
family… Just as we should.

Chapter 7

Carson

“So we’re officially making up and not canceling your contract or mating with us, right?” Declan

panted as he draped over my back and kissed my shoulder as his sweaty chest moved against my
back.

“I’d think so,” I answered nervously. “Or we just had makeup sex for the purpose of sex only.”

Wait, did that even make sense? Wow was my brain a little muddled.

“Shut up and fuck again,” Ian growled as Taylor pounded into his body. “We’re fucking making

up, no one’s fucking leaving, and you will fucking like it!”

“That’s a lot of fucking,” I chuckled. “Taylor?”

“Not leaving. No one’s leaving if I have to hunt them down and chain them to me. Love you all too
much,” he managed to grunt out in between thrusts.
“Fine but then we’re not doing two on two,” I grumbled. I moved Declan off me, ignoring his
questioning look. Then I took his hand and practically pushed him in front of Ian. “You know how to
take Ian’s dick in your ass. Get to it. You’re giving me a blow job for all my heartache while I make
out with Taylor so we’re all connected as we should be.”
“Whatever you say, my mate,” he chuckled and slid under Ian. Taylor slowed his thrusts as they
worked out the logistics.
“Forgive me?” Taylor asked me hesitantly while Ian was quickly getting Declan stretched.
“You should have talked to us before all this and I don’t mean about your working out stuff in your
own head,” I answered carefully. “We all wish we could have our first kisses again. I get that and you
needed to work through that on your own. But the other stuff, hating being a Beta and not wanting to
lead the pack. You should have told us that.”
“How?” he whispered. “How could I say I hated my job and I was tired of the stress it took on all of
us? We give everything for those people. We have for years. I’d rather kidnap Omegas if they need an
out plan. That part I like. We help them. The rest is just playing parent to a bunch of grown-ups who
won’t act like it.”
“Just like that. That’s what you should have told us,” I answered gently. “We’ll start coming up with a
few different plans. If we move here, then what? I want detailed plans of getting us all out, what we

do  when  we’re  out,  and  how  we  keep  other  Omegas  from  suffering  as  I  did  before  we  talk  about
moving.”
“I thought you and Ian were leaving?” he asked as Ian growled.
“Talk after sex,” he bitched.
“Yes, Ian,” I chuckled. I moved into position as Taylor started working his hips. Declan’s mouth was
like heaven and it took almost no time for me to blow. I held out as long as I could. I really did but
after the emotional roller coaster I’d been on the past few days, I didn’t have any energy left to fight
off pleasure.
I  screamed  as  I  came,  Ian  going  next,  and  Declan  and  Taylor  coming  in  third  together.  When  I  was
spent I sat back on my heels, smiling at the picture my three men made, sweaty, sexed up, and cum
filled. Nice. And I had almost lost that. Yeah, I had a reason to have gotten upset, and when I thought
Taylor  was  cheating  or  wanted  to  off  the  vision  I’d  seen,  my  reaction  was  valid  though  severe.  I
couldn’t ever blow up like that again.
“Baby?  What’s  up?”  Taylor  asked  quietly.  I  shook  my  head  as  tears  burned  in  my  eyes.  “No,  no
secrets or keeping things in. We’ve seen that doesn’t work for us.”
“I almost destroyed all of this, us, because I blew my top. I can’t believe I did that. If you guys hadn’t
fought for Ian and me, we could have all broken up.”
“We’ll always fight for you,” Taylor said gently as he moved over to me and pulled me into his arms,
making me stand. “We will  always fight for us. I knew what you said last night was out of anger and
because you thought there was no other way. That didn’t mean I’d ever let you or Ian go. It just wasn’t
going to happen. We don’t have calm lives, Carson. If we have a perfect life and you blew like that
then yeah, I’d be pissed.
“But  we’re  here  checking  out  an  island  because  all  our  lives  might  be  in  danger.  We’re  under
tremendous amounts of stress. It’s crazy times and we’ve got challenges we’ve got to overcome. So
you blew and Declan had a moment of doubt and I had some shit spinning in my head. So what? It’s a
blip on the radar and we’re moving on, no fault, no blame, and keeping our family together. Deal?”
“Yes,” I sighed as I hugged him back.
“So basically you’re saying that I’m the only perfect one of the group,” Ian hedged. I glanced over to
him and saw he was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
“Yes,  that’s  exactly  what  he  just  said,”  Declan  chuckled  as  he  cleaned  up.  “Let’s  go  eat.  I’m
starving.”
“Yeah, I’ve not eaten all day,” I agreed as I grabbed my shorts. I used Declan’s shirt to clean up as he
did.  We  could  just  take  a  dip  in  the  ocean  so  that  was  just  to  get  us  back  to  the  beach.  Not  like
everyone didn’t know what we’d been doing. “Where’d you get the lube?”
“Oh, I had a bunch of people give me some when I lifted you off the sand and carried you away, Ian
and  Taylor  right  behind  us,”  Declan  drawled.  “Apparently  this  was  a  master  plan  to  get  us  back
together along with Vencentio’s inner circle.”
“Fine by me. It worked,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “And I want to dance with my men later.”
“Deal,” they agreed. We made our way back to the party, everyone clapping as we joined them… As
Vencentio and his inner circle stepped out of the foliage on the other side of the party. There were all
kinds of whistles and catcalls as we all stood there and practically blushed. Okay, I did fully blush.
Then I thought, fuck it, and rolled with it. I walked over to Rowan, got up on the stage, and kissed his
cheek before doing the same to every guy there. “Your mates are very lucky men.” I eyed over Rowan
especially. “You could get me out of anything I’m ever wearing with that voice.”
“Thanks, but I’m good,” he chuckled nervously and almost instantly had his arms full of Edric.

“I keep him very, very busy,” my friend growled at me.
“I’m sure you do. Tit for tat, brother,” I snickered. It took Edric a second but then his face lit up with
a smile.
“Yeah,  I  already  forgave  them.  They’re  going  to  try  and  back  off  a  bit  and  give  me  some  room  to
breathe.  And  the  rest  of  it  I  decided  I’m  spanking  Rowan  for  being  mean  tonight  after  he  keeps
serenading me.”
“Deal,” Rowan purred as he nuzzled Edric’s neck. “You better eat up though because I’ve got a lot of
groveling planned and you’re going to need your strength.”
“So do you. I’ll make you a plate and you guys can take a break after your next song.” Edric gave him
a quick kiss and we got down off the stage.
“Really? Your clothes would fly off for him?” Ian asked with a snicker as I got moved back by my
men who were piling food on their plates.
“No,  but  I  wanted  him  to  make  up  with  Edric  after  plotting  something  so  nice  for  the  fighting
couples.”
“Actually, the plan was Asher’s,” Cameron chuckled. “Falcon and I helped pick out songs and found
lyrics and luckily only Hugo had to quickly learn one of them. The other guys knew them already. It
was like a team conspiracy plot.”
“Nice,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “Well I’ll have to thank them later as well. Did someone pull
out Rowan’s cake from Costco? We should at least give the man his cake.”
“Yeah, he does totally deserve it,” Edric purred as he stared at his man. “So does Colin. Maybe I’ll
wear  the  cake  and  let  them  eat  it  off  me.”  Rowan  and  the  band  started  up  again  and  this  time  was
playing Maroon 5’s “Love Somebody.” “I  love this song and he knows it. Yeah, god, he’s forgiven.
I’m going to cream in my pants just watching him.”
“Always a good goal,” Declan chuckled. “Mayo on your burger, baby?”
“You’re making a plate for me?” I asked as I set back down the plastic plate I just picked up. “I can
do it.”
“Of course you can,” he said, blinking at me in shock. “We don’t do things for you because we don’t
think you can. We do them because we love you and want to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“I know, but you’ve got to be starving too.” I moved closer to him and bumped my hip against his.
“You’re a growing boy who needs all his nourishment.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have two hands,” he chuckled, showing me the other plate he was making up.
“But if you get our drinks I’ll make sure to give you lots of grateful kisses.”
“Deal.”  I  headed  over  to  the  bar,  seeing  Sampson  still  wasn’t  back.  I  hoped  that  worked  out  okay.
“Hey, Kelvin. Can I get a few rum and Cokes?”
“Sure, Carson,” he answered with a nod and started pulling out stuff. Nice that he had jumped in to
help. “Hey, um, so, can we just go talk to the Omegas we’re not guarding or do we need permission?”
“You  can  talk  to  anyone  you  want,”  I  chuckled,  seeing  how  nervous  the  man  was.  “Who  are  you
asking about?”
“Baptista,” he muttered. “But then I heard him say he wanted to stay here and not go back to Chicago.
He said he’d rather be ungrounded and potentially volatile than go back with another inner circle.”
“Well,  he  can  stay,  that’s  up  to  him,  but  he  needs  to  find  wolves  that  can  claim  him  and  keep  his
powers stable. I think he’s just nervous, like we all were, about getting screwed again.”
“Can I just ask him out and not be his Beta? If we’re staying here then it doesn’t matter, right?”
“I don’t know who’s staying or what the plans are yet. There are a lot of variables in that, Kelvin. I
know that shouldn’t stop you from talking to Baptista if you like him.”

“He’s so sweet. I mean, he’s been helping the band with anything they need, making sure they all have
water between songs and whatnot,” Kelvin said with a soft smile as he kept pouring. “To have gone
through so much crap like he has and to be that nice, still that full of life, is just amazing to me.”
“Then stop talking to me and to talk to him,” I chuckled. Kelvin nodded as he finished up our drinks
and went to turn away. “Bring him something fun and fruity to drink and ask him if he doesn’t mind
tasting it for you. That would be a great icebreaker.”
“Yeah, I can do that. Thanks, Carson.” I nodded as I grabbed my four plastic cups and headed back to
the table Ian and I had started at. It was almost full now but we managed to fit.
“You guys good now?” I asked Vencentio quietly.
“Yeah. I still feel shaky and we’re going to have to be extra cautious of each other’s feelings for a
while but I think we’ll pull through this just fine. You guys?”
“Same.  Still  more  to  discuss  but  I  know  we’re  all  willing  to  work  on  it  so  that  makes  all  the
difference,” I answered. Then I bit into my burger and moaned. “Fuck. Asher is a good cook. Did he
do all of this himself and plan the party tonight and plot to get us all back together?”
“Yes, yes, I did,” Asher chuckled. “I had help but we’re going to have to come up with some type of
help rotation. I’m feeding an army here and there’s too much prep and cleanup.”
“I’ll  help  with  clean-up  duty,”  Kiefer  offered.  “I  like  doing  dishes  and  cleaning.  Just  don’t  ask
Baptista. It still makes him cry when people talk about chores with him.”
“He can’t go the rest of his life and not ever have to pick up a mop or wash his own clothes,” Asher
said hesitantly as he glanced at me. “Or am I missing something?”
“Since Baptista wasn’t being physically abused or like what was happening to Gideon was a security
risk to wolves being found out, he was rescued last,” I answered quietly so the man didn’t overhear
me. “It’s been harder for him to open up or let go because he was last, like to him that says his pain
wasn’t really valid. It was, but we had to prioritize. So it’s not just about being their slave, it’s that he
feels everyone’s laughing at him for bitching about it. He went through something traumatic and if not
doing chores for a while helps, then so be it.”
“Yeah, I get it. That’s rough. Poor guy. He seems really nice.”
“He’ll offer to help and I know he can cook, but asking or telling him to do something and he freezes
up  like  he’s  back  with  his  old  inner  circle.  It  probably  seems  silly  to  some  that  cleaning  is  so
traumatic to him but we don’t really know what he suffered through. George has been doing sessions
with him on the phone but it’s only been a few months.”
“No, I gotcha. I’ll make sure not to ask him for help,” Asher agreed.
“We’ll help clean up when everyone’s done eating too,” Declan offered. That was fine by me. We all
needed to pitch in to make this island vacation work. I was still going to get my dance with each of
my men tonight though. Even if the music was done playing.
* * * *
Dewey

Now that I knew Taggart didn’t want to stay in Wichita and Percy and Azyle were open to the

discussion of moving to the island, I was all about checking the place out. The next morning I was up
with the sun and heading down to the kitchen with my laptop. I wanted to see as much as I could about
the perks of the place and what worked well. I started making coffee and realized we would probably
need a lot of it.

I found a few of those huge coffeemakers for parties that serve like fifty-five cups and plugged

them in. It took me a bit but I found the filters, beans to grind, and got it all going. Then I found where
someone had pulled tray after tray of morning pastries from the freezer and started pulling off the

covering. I wasn’t as good of a cook as Asher, but I could hold my own for breakfast. I started
scrambling eggs and cutting up fruit when Tristan stumbled into the kitchen.

“Coffee just finished brewing,” I told him as I pointed to the first pot.

“What are you doing up so early, pint size?” he muttered as he grabbed a mug and got to work on his
coffee. “We need a fucking espresso machine.”
“That’s  an  easy  enough  fix,  Tristan,”  I  chuckled,  shaking  my  head.  “Don’t  go  getting  all  cranky
because the house didn’t know you’d want espresso.”
“There’s one on the boat.”
“Then  your  second  cup  of  coffee  can  come  from  the  yacht,”  I  snickered.  God  I  had  forgotten  how
much of a grump he was before his coffee. “And I wanted to check the place out and then I just started
making breakfast. Asher did an awesome job last night but I can help this morning. I had my laptop
going too. Did you know there’s WiFi? I have like the best signal on my phone, we get Wi-Fi. Is there
cable?”
“Do you have a mute button?” he bitched as he sat down at the counter. “Yes, there’s cable. There’s
actually a cell tower on the island so we have everything tricked out here. Wesley told me that.”
“Oh, thanks, Dewey,” Asher said as he walked into the kitchen. “I was hoping I wouldn’t be cooking
all by myself this morning.” He saw the pastries and smiled. “You defrosted these nicely.”
“I thought you did,” I hedged. “They were sitting out when I got down here.”
“I forgot to put them out,” he replied, his eyebrows scrunching together in thought. “I saw them in the
freezer last night and I meant to but I forgot.”
“Someone else must have after you were in here last,” I offered.
“Maybe,” Asher agreed, not looking too convinced though.
“Or there’s just a ghost in this house,” Tristan muttered from the counter. He lifted his head enough to
have some more coffee and set it right back down. “I forgot to pack soap. We realized it yesterday
before  the  party  because  we  had  soap  on  the  yacht.  I  told  my  guys  I  was  going  to  hunt  down  some
soap and they went to get the party set up. I couldn’t find anyone and forgot.
“Went back to our room later and there was two bars of soap on our counter. And it wasn’t Jared,
Cameron, or Rhyce. It just magically appeared and none of us told anyone we needed it.”
“We don’t believe in ghosts, do we?” I hedged, glancing between the two of them.
“You’re asking?” Asher chuckled. “I’m not sure I believe in ghosts who bring soap to wayward, in-
need guests.”
“But I’m just asking, like, in general do we believe in them. I mean, Tristan and Edric have had a lot
more contact with witches than I have and I would think they would know if ghosts exist.”
“They do. I’ve seen some,” Wesley grumbled as he walked into the kitchen. “Not here but that might
explain what’s been going on. I’ve been noticing gaps in the energy as if someone’s blocking me. I bet
a powerful ghost could do that.”
“Well at least it’s a nice ghost,” Tristan chuckled, shaking his head. “He put out pastries to defrost
and brought me soap. Wow, do we live in a crazy bubble or what? None of us are freaking over a
ghost.”
“As you said, it’s a nice ghost. Maybe the previous owner is happy that someone is in the house now
so they’re not alone.”
“Probably,  but  ghosts  don’t  just  happen  when  everyone  dies.  They  have  to  die  violently  or  have
unfinished  business,”  Wesley  muttered  and  then  his  eyebrows  shot  up  to  his  hairline.  “And  then  I
really might know the answer. The previous owner left us a file, well two actually. One was normal
stuff, warranties on appliances, map of house, fuse box, cell tower info, and on and on.

“The  other  is  a  file  about  his  son  who  was  kidnapped.  I  say  we  set  up  a  task  force  and  start  going
through it all while we’re here. Brody’s got some leads on journals, and that library seems to be full
of  them  and  old  books.  Maybe  we  can  piece  together  who  are  the  other  bloodlines  and  where  are
they.”
“So the mansion is really ours, right?” I asked as I kept cooking the scrambled eggs with cheese I’d
put together. Then I walked over and threw bacon in the other pan. Asher smiled and took over that
for me while popping bread in the toaster. “I mean, we could really move in here today.”
“Yeah, and you’re not the only ones thinking of staying,” Wesley answered as he snacked on a pastry.
“A lot of us are actually. We just don’t know how to do it best or whether we will all come.”
“I’m worried if some of us come how much trouble the ones who don’t will be in after they’re gone,”
Tristan said quietly. “I think we need a group meeting at or after breakfast to discuss all this. Then we
can set up your mystery squad for the file, and the rest of us split up into teams to check everything
out. We’d need to see what kind of supplies the house needs before we could even consider running
to here. Also we’d need a plan B. Brody was talking about a mansion in Russia.
“And we’d need to make friends in Puerto Rico because if we move here that’s where we’ll have to
go to get most of our supplies. Also ship out whatever we sell. I know Taggart made swords and was
badass with herbs. He wants to check out what the island has and maybe set up a company for that
stuff.”
“But technically Puerto Rico is the US, right?” I asked nervously.
“Yeah,  but  we’ve  got  Beta  candidates  who  want  to  stay  here  and  they  won’t  be  outlaws  from  the
Council. They just moved. So we’d have to be careful they don’t draw attention but they could blend
in I’m sure.”
“Okay,  so,  we  need  to  make  a  plan,”  Wesley  said  as  he  glanced  around  the  kitchen.  “I’ll  be  right
back. I need paper, lots of it.”
I chuckled as he hopped off his stool and raced out of the kitchen. That man really did love his plans
and plottings.
“I’m going to start waking everyone up and let them know we’ve got a breakfast meeting going on,”
Tristan mumbled as he stood. “Or I’m really going to bang on doors and shout for people to get their
asses downstairs.”
“We have Marines for that. One of them has to be up. Make them use the booming voice,” I snickered,
thinking about how Lief and Slate had bossed us around a few times since the trip started.
“I heard you need a Marine?” Slate chuckled as he walked into the kitchen. Tristan filled him in. “I’m
on it, boss.”
“Good, then I can sit here and drink my coffee.” Tristan sat back on the stool and did just that.
“Not much sleep last night?” I joked as I finished the eggs and set them in a warming tray. Damn, that
was a lot of eggs.
“And  that  won’t  feed  even  half  of  what  we  have  coming  down,” Asher  chuckled.  “Can  you  make
pancakes?”
“Yeah, but I suck at flipping them.”
“Make the batter and I’ll help with that.”
“Good deal.” I quickly got to work but glanced at Tristan when he cleared his throat.
“No, to answer your question,” he drawled as he waggled his eyebrows. “I didn’t get much sleep last
night. Apparently  I  have  great  moves  on  the  dance  floor  and  my  men  liked  it  very,  very  much. And
after feeling good about getting couples back together, a drunken Cameron said he wanted to make a
baby.”

“And expected you to grow a uterus?” Asher joked as he finished up with the massive poundage of
bacon. Now he was working on sausage. Damn.
“Nope. It’s his joke of asking for sex without saying he wants to fuck,” Tristan drawled. “But part of
me thinks he does really want a baby. Or at least one day.”
“I’d  like  to  have  one  someday,”  I  admitted  with  a  shrug.  “But  it  might  not  be  in  the  cards  for  us
especially if we run but who knows. I’d think Wesley and Brody would definitely want to carry on
their bloodline.”
“Already in the process of finding a surrogate. Lord Ellys was incredibly helpful with that,” Wesley
said  as  he  walked  into  the  kitchen  again,  writing  furiously.  “He  loved  my  grandfather  and  doesn’t
want my family tree to stop with me either. He’s looking for Brody as well though I’m not sure either
of us are ready. Knowing that man, he could find one for all of us if we wanted.”
“That gives me hope for one day,” I said with a smile. Just then there was noise outside and the back
door was flung open. At the same time Slate was upstairs shouting for everyone to get their asses up.
“Baby,  we  went  for  a  run  and  caught  a  wild  boar,”  Taggart  said  excitedly  as  he  carried  it  inside.
“They’re all over the island. You can totally tell this is owned by wolves. I bet someone brought them
here  when  they  moved  here.  There’s  a huge  population  of  them. And  you  should  have  seen  us.  We
took this bad boy down!”
“It was awesome,” Percy agreed. “I can’t say I’ve ever had that much fun on a hunt. We have to limit
though so we don’t kill the population. I wonder what they eat. Should we start leaving them food?”
I  left  the  pancakes  for Asher  and  darted  over  to  my  laptop,  a  little  shocked  how  excited  my  naked,
covered-in-blood  mates  were.  I  quickly  looked  up  boars  and  read  out  loud  what  I  found.  “Not
indigenous to the region. They’re scavengers so they eat just about anything and no we don’t have to
worry about them.”
“Sweet. We’re having wild pig for dinner tonight,” Azyle chuckled. “Where do I put it?”
“Is  there  a  garage?  Don’t  bring  it  in  here  with  breakfast,” Asher  growled.  “You  have  to  drain  that
sucker, chop it up, and on and on. Or take off its skin and we can do a pig roast tonight.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. I’m skinning it!” Percy said as he opened the back door up. “Baby, you want to
see this?”
“No, not even a little,” I groaned, the idea grossing me out. In wolf form, fine, I could eat raw meat
and not be bothered, but yeah, that didn’t mean I wanted to skin the massive fucking pig. “Find a place
to set it down and clean up. We’re having a group meeting over breakfast, which is almost done.”
“Yes, Dewey!” they called out and raced out the door.
“Apparently they’re excited to be here and probably stay,” Wesley chuckled. “We’ll have to work on
getting the kids down here too then.”
“How are we going to get everyone out if they want to? I mean it’s not like we can drive a moving
truck down here,” I asked with annoyance. There was going to be a lot more hoops to moving here
than I had originally thought and for whatever reason that really made me want to pout.

Chapter 8

Lennox

“No but we can rent shipping containers and pay a freight boat to bring them all down,” Brody

mumbled as we walked into the kitchen with our men. After the ruckus Slate had made I was pretty
sure the dead would be awake and in about as good of a mood as we were. “I looked it up yesterday
when people were talking about possibly staying. We’d have to decide if we wanted to sell our cars

though because I don’t think there are any roads here really.”

“We’ll have to investigate that,” Wesley agreed, adding it to the list. “Okay, so I figure today

we’re going to split up and figure some shit out. We need to make friends or get the lay of the land on
islands for shipping goods out and receiving stuff.”

“We can do that,” Lief offered. “The yacht needs fuel and we can start checking things out. I have

some contacts in the area. Well, closer to Cuba really.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Stationed at Guantanamo for a bit, our hot Marine?” Jaxon chuckled.

“We  can’t  say,”  Carter  answered  as  he  and  everyone  else  started  trickling  in.  “Coffee?”  Wesley
pointed to the huge pots that were done. “Awesome. We seriously can’t say but we can tell you that
we  know  the  area  of  the  Caribbean  and  Virgin  Islands,  just  never  this  far  out  east  instead  of  more
south.”
“Cool. So do the Marines want to handle that part?” Wesley asked, still taking notes.
“No, I want to take Brody with. He’s never been out of the country before. We’ll hook it up and make
all kinds of friends and I’ll check what contacts I still have here,” Lief answered. “Anyone else who
wants to come is more than welcome to. But I think it will take more than one trip.”
“Yeah, I’ll head out the trip tomorrow,” Slate said as he moved closer to Sampson.
“Get away from me,” the Omega growled and pushed the man. “You threatened to dump a bucket of
water on my bed if I didn’t wake up.”
“It was a blanket threat, Sampson, not meant just for you.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not going to see my bed now, buster,” he grumbled. “Tell me there’s some juice
around here.”
“I’ll get you some, you poor thing,” Gareth cooed before sticking his tongue out at Slate.
“Thank  you,”  Sampson  whispered  as  his  face  heated  up.  “That  would  be  nice.  I  know  most  people
need coffee to wake up, but I’m like a bouncy squirrel if I get caffeine. I just like citrus to perk me
up.”
“I’ll  keep  that  in  mind.”  Gareth  leaned  down  and  snuck  a  kiss  from  Sampson,  who  turned  even
brighter until the tips of his ears were even red. Then he shot Wesley a look.
“I saw nothing, I know nothing,” Wesley mumbled. “You’ve already been activated and what happens
on the island, stays on the island. And I don’t ever want to hear about it unless you plan on staying at
which time our role of guardians to unclaimed Omegas is over.”
“Except we’re in charge of them so we’ll be in deep fucking shit,” Carson said quietly. “They can’t
run unless we do or at least whoever they were staying with.”
“You  really  think  if  one  of  us  runs  the  others  won’t  have  to?”  Tristan  chuckled.  “Like  the  Council
would ever believe we didn’t know where the other was going.”
“We can figure that part out later,” I said gently. “Let’s just get some information today like Wesley
said. So Brody’s circle is going to get fuel and check out the islands. What else is there to do?”
“You’re the resident Mr. Fix it,” Wesley answered as he handed me a list. “This is what the previous
owner left us as wrong with the place. We need to know how bad this stuff is and what we need to do
to fix it.”
“I can check it out and get a list of parts I need for when they go to the bigger islands. Maybe they can
pick up what I need,” I mumbled as I looked over the list. “I don’t know furnaces though so I’m of no
use there.”
“Taggart does,” Dewey said as he flipped a pancake. “And they went hunting as wolves and killed a
boar. They said we have a ton on the island.”
“Real boar hunting in wolf form?” Calver asked, his eyes going wide as he practically drooled. “I’m

so calling the next hunting party.”
“Me too,” Gareth and Slate said together and then gave each other an evil look.
“Okay, so your inner circle’s on fixing. Brody’s group can leave me his research and my circle and
Carson’s can start the search for the previous owner’s son. Who’s doing what else?” Wesley asked as
he kept writing.
“I worked as a surveyor before becoming a Beta,” Galvin offered. I can map out the island if we have
equipment.”
“We’ll get some in Puerto Rico,” Lief offered.
“Actually  there’s  a  shitload  of  stuff  out  in  the  garage  and  storage,”  Taggart  said  as  he, Azyle,  and
Percy came inside, naked and looking like they washed in the ocean. I must have looked too long with
my tired brain because I heard threw low warning growls as I was surrounded.
“We have our task so let’s take breakfast to go and get to it,” Hugo bitched. I bit back a smile as I
nodded.
“Check out what you can downstairs and take inventory. We need to know what we have as you’re
fixing things and start stocking up,” Tristan said. I grabbed the notebook and pen Wesley handed me
as Hugo escorted me out of the kitchen.
“Food? I’m hungry,” I whimpered playfully, teasing him.
“I  told  Blair  and  Falcon  to  load  up  some  plates,”  he  answered  me  as  he  kept  us  moving  down  the
hallway, his hand on my lower back. “It seemed safer since you have wandering eyes this morning.”
“Right, because you weren’t looking too. They’re hot,” I chuckled. I saw the death look Hugo gave
me.  “Besides,  I  wasn’t  really  focused  like  drooling.  I  was  thinking  about  when  you  guys  would  go
swimming naked after running in wolf form and then jump me when you got back in the house.”
“Oh,  so  you  weren’t  wanting them  to  jump  you?”  he  drawled,  raising  an  eyebrow  at  me.  I  knew  I
should have been angry he doubted me but with everything going on and all the fighting, everyone was
on  edge.  Instead,  I  dropped  to  my  knees  and  pulled  Hugo’s  running  shorts  down  with  me.  “I  didn’t
bring you out here for this.”
“I’m just showing you what I feel after seeing them naked and wet like I’ve seen my men,” I purred
before swallowing down his cock. Hugo let out a tortured groan and ran his fingers through my hair.
“That’s  it,  baby.  Make  it  up  to  your  man  that  you  were  checking  out  other  guys,”  he  taunted  with  a
growl. “Suck my cock so good I forget I was mad.” I moaned at the taste of him and he breathed in
harshly between his teeth. “Don’t tease me, Lennox, or I’m going to spank you.”
I chuckled. That wasn’t a punishment and it turned Hugo on more than it did me even. I deep throated
him  until  my  nose  was  buried  in  his  short  hairs.  I  wonder  if  he’d  start  waxing  for  me  so  we  didn’t
have to worry about sand getting in them. The sand here was very fine, whereas on our beach back
home it was mostly rocks with some coarse sand that wasn’t fun to play in.
I could see playing in the sand here a lot.
“Baby, do that thing,” he begged. I couldn’t help but smile. Hugo always got what he wanted because
he was the best at asking for it. I cupped his balls with my right hand as I palmed his ass cheek with
my left hand and raked my thumbnail over his hole. Hugo started to scream out but bit his lip to keep
quiet for most of it as he shot down my throat. I moaned at the salty taste. Like a margarita without the
alcohol… Always delicious.
“Are we next because we weren’t happy with the way you were ogling them either?” Falcon asked
with a snort.
I  pulled  off  Hugo’s  spent  cock  slowly,  teasing  them.  Then  I  stood  and  snagged  a  piece  of  bacon.
“Depends if you brought coffee.” I smiled when Blair handed me a cup. “I was telling Hugo that it

wasn’t  about  them  being  naked  though  I  do  enjoy  a  nice  physique,  but  that  I  remember  three  men  I
loved doing the same thing recently after taking a swim and then jumping me.”
“We’re going to jump you now,” Falcon growled and grabbed my ass.
“No, we’re going to wait and look over what we have to so we don’t delay their trip to get fuel,” I
said gently. “But after that you can interrupt our doing inventory and bang me any way you want for as
long as you want.”
“Mean,  babe,”  Blair  groaned  as  I  sauntered  away,  leaving  them  all  standing  there,  Hugo  with  his
pants still down.
“Mean is not giving it to you if you don’t get your butts in gear and help me,” I threatened with a big
smile they couldn’t see. Sure enough I heard them walking quickly after me. I bet they would have run
except they didn’t want to spill coffee. “I wonder where the tools are for this place? There’s got to be
a workshop around here somewhere, right?”
“Taggart said there’s storage outside,” Hugo offered.
“Yeah, but I figure that’s not where they’d keep the nice tools because of the weather on this island
and  all  the  salt,”  I  mumbled  as  I  studied  the  map  Wesley  gave  me.  “Okay,  well,  let’s  see  if  I  can
figure out this furnace in the boiler room, otherwise it’s up to Taggart, and maybe we can find tools
along the way.”
They agreed and we ate as we walked which was a little difficult with eggs and pancakes so I mainly
ate bacon and pastries… Such a hard life I lived. We found the stairs going down, which surprised
me because they got hurricanes probably around here and flooding so why was there a basement? I
got my answer as we reached the bottom of the stairs. The place’s foundation was so thick, so well-
constructed, that it made most bomb shelters look weak. Nothing was getting through here.
“This has got to be several feet thick of the best stuff,” I mumbled as I thumped the wall. Then Falcon
found the light switch and I saw something on the floor. Walking over to it, I bent down to pick it up.
Odd.  It  was  a  top-of-the-line  screwdriver  that  had  to  be  part  of  a  set.  “And  it’s  just  lying  on  the
ground?”
“Or it’s the ghost,” Blair chuckled. I gave him a weird look. “When we were getting food together,
Tristan warned us about Casper or whoever’s ghost is around. They said he’s been helpful.”
“Like  leaving  you  a  trail  of  tools,  babe,”  Falcon  snickered.  I  looked  to  where  he  was  pointing  and
sure enough there was a fucking trail of tools down the hall. We followed them, picking them up as
we went. We looked into the rooms by where they stopped and I smiled.
“Jackpot. Wow. This is like my dream workroom,” I giggled with glee as we went inside. The room
was  huge,  complete  with  massive  tool  storage  set  up,  work  benches,  saws,  and  all  the  trimmings  I
could ever have wanted. Hell, it put the tool displays at hardware stores to shame. “I’m in heaven. If
it all works you’ll never get me to leave here.”
“Goofball,” Hugo teased me. I gave him a wink and quickly picked out a bunch of tools I would need
to fix a few of the things on the list and at least check out what else I needed to.
“Thank  you,  Mr.  Ghost,”  I  said  as  we  stepped  back  out  of  the  workroom.  “I’m  taking  this  as  your
blessing to use your tools and take over the room as my own. I take very good care of my belongings
and I’ll be good to your stuff always.”
“Glad you got that settled,” Falcon drawled, turning his wrist in the “move it along” sign.
“What’s the rush?” I asked innocently.
“The faster we get this done so they have a list for their trip to the main island, the quicker we can
have sex!” he exclaimed as he threw his hands in the air.
“Oh, I forgot about that,” I giggled. I was glad Blair was carrying the tools because when the three of

them started growling, I took off for the first job to be done. I laughed like an idiot as I went because
the best part was when they caught me. They always made it interesting.
* * * *
Tristan

Since Jared and Cameron knew everything there was to know about engines, we ended up with

garage duty. Azyle was good too, I guess, and was rebuilding a classic car that my men whistled at
when he said what it was. It didn’t mean anything to me. Cars were for driving and could be cool or
pretty at times. Or pretty cool too I guess. But that was about it for me. Rebuilding an engine or
restoring a car was about as boring to me as watching paint dry.

“Okay, I got the furnace fixed so we can have heat if we ever need it,” Taggart joked as he joined

us. “But actually, it can be used as a kiln or metal work without heating up the house. The design is
impressive and custom built. I can use it for my work.”

“That’s great, Tag,” Dewey said with a bright smile before focusing back on me. “Okay, run me

through this again? We’re going to start a wind storm and blow all the dirt and dust out the door.
How?”

“Wesley showed me how and while I can’t do it like he can I can do a little bit. Just hold on to me

like you’re scanning me and I’ll show you while channeling your power so we can do more.” I sighed
when he just looked at me funny. “I know but there’s not an instruction manual as to how this works.
I’m just winging it and hopefully you can catch on.”

“Alright,” he chuckled as he grabbed my arm. “Use me to clean the garage.”

“I’m glad there are a few roads because I would miss driving too much. Think we can have some of
our cars shipped here? I mean, those are worth a lot of money,” Jared asked and I blocked him out.
Then I focused on the room and basically shot energy out from me to make wind. The door flew open
and I focused on the wind from me going out the door so it took the dirt and dust with it.
“Wow,” Percy whispered so I knew we had to be doing something. When I got the hang of it I opened
my eyes to see dust from everywhere racing out the door as if it was following the pied piper.
“Nice,” Dewey cooed. “I get it. Let’s clean the room and then I’ll try it again on my own later.”
I  nodded,  not  wanting  to  talk  and  break  my  concentration.  Then  we  moved  along  the  room,  always
careful  to  face  the  door  so  the  energy  coming  from  us  didn’t  blow  the  dirt  the  wrong  way.  Five
minutes later it was done and I was exhausted and crackling with energy all at once.
“You okay?” Rhyce asked me as he set down his note pad and pen. He’d gotten the job of inventory
out here since he didn’t know what anything was, like me, he could write down what everyone else
said.
“Fine,” I answered, licking my lips. I didn’t know what it was but something about tapping into this
much power always left me with a side effect… I got so fucking hard and horny. “Just sit down and
rest for a bit, Dewey. I’m going to walk off the aftereffects with Rhyce.”
“Okay. Have fun,” he panted as he leaned against Percy. “That was awesome. We cleaned the whole
garage in five minutes.”
“It was very impressive, babe,” Percy agreed with a chuckle. I took Rhyce’s hand and dragged him
outside with me. Once we were away from the garage I pushed him up against a thick tree that hid us.
“What  the—”  he  started  to  ask  but  I  mashed  my  mouth  down  to  his.  I  felt  powerful  and  alive  and  I
wanted a piece of my man right that second.
“Going  to  fuck  you,  Rhyce,”  I  growled  as  I  yanked  his  shorts  down  and  fisted  his  cock.  “Any
objections?”
“No, none at all,” he panted as I sucked up a bruise on his neck. “Except we don’t have any slick.”

“Yes, we do. Dewey slipped me the tube he had with him when he saw what I wanted to do to you in
my head when we were done. I guess his men jumped him after breakfast demanding sandy sex so he
had some on him,” I explained as I got it out of my pocket. I spun my mate around and growled at the
sight of his firm, muscular ass. I quickly opened it up and slicked up my fingers. “Hang on to the tree
because I’m not going to be able to hold back and I don’t want you hurt.”
“Love you too,” he cried out as I pushed two fingers into his ass. “Fuck, you are horny.”
“For you,” I moaned as my wolf rode me hard after calling that much energy up. “Rhyce, I need it. I
have to, please.”
“Like before?” he asked as he tilted his neck and looked at me. “What is it about when you try new
things that you have to bite me again?”
“It’s power and my wolf likes it,” I answered as I pushed in a third finger and kept stretching him as
quickly as I could. “But he can’t use power like I can and wants to leave his mark. I’m not really sure.
I just need to fuck and bite after a rush like that.”
“Then do it. I’m ready, Tristan,” Rhyce moaned as I fucked him with my fingers faster. “Shit! It’s so
hot when you go feral like this.”
“Glad you like it.” I growled my approval when he whimpered at the loss of my fingers after I pulled
them out. I used the slick on my cock, just pulling down the front of my swim trunks, and then pushed
into his ass. Rhyce went to lean over because the angle was so tight and I bet it burned. “Don’t you
dare move!” I slapped his ass hard and bit his shoulder gently.
“Yes, Tristan, whatever you want,” he moaned like a slut and stayed where I wanted him. That’s what
I was talking about! I worked my cock into him as fast as I could without hurting him and then moved
his feet farther apart. I stopped biting him and sucked up another bruise on his shoulder.
“You  know  what  I  want,  Rhyce.”  I  started  slamming  into  his  hole,  smiling  when  he  screamed  my
name.  I  loved  the  sound  of  my  men  letting  me  know  how  much  pleasure  I  gave  them.  His  ass  kept
sucking me right back in every time I pulled out, as if pissed I wasn’t keeping his hole full the entire
time.
“Tristan, please,” Rhyce begged about ten minutes later, constantly pounding my cock inside of him.
“Please, babe. I can’t hold out anymore.”
“Fine  but  we’re  going  twice,”  I  warned  him.  Rhyce  moved  one  hand  to  stroke  his  cock  as  I  bit  the
side  of  his  neck.  He  shouted  in  pleasure  until  his  voice  went  hoarse  from  overuse  as  he  came.  I
followed  him  right  over,  snarling  around  his  skin  as  I  filled  up  his  hole  with  my  cum,  wave  after
wave of pleasure hitting me.
“Fuck, that was hot,” Jared moaned from our right.
“You like that?” I drawled as I licked Rhyce’s bite, glancing at my other mate. Smirking when I saw
Cameron  was  there  as  well  and  both  had  tents  going  in  the  front  of  their  shorts,  I  had  a  change  of
plans. “Then you have a minute to get ready if you want some before I fuck Rhyce again.”
“I need more than a minute,” Rhyce mumbled. “I’m going to feel that for days.”
“Was I too rough?” I asked, concern breaking through the hormone fog I was in.
“No,” he chuckled tiredly. “Hell no. It will hurt so good that I’ll remember every thrust.”
“I’m almost ready,” Jared grunted. I glanced back over to him and saw he’d picked up the lube I’d
dropped and was kneeling on the ground with his finger buried in his ass. “Please? Let Rhyce rest. I
want some of that.”
“I promised him two rounds though,” I purred as I fondled Rhyce’s sac. He breathed in hard through
his teeth.
“I’m good, my love. You took really good care of me. Give some to Jared,” he muttered as I teased

his oversensitive groin. I kissed his shoulder to hide my smile as I pulled out of him. I knew full well
I’d worn him out. And I was still raring to go. Nice.
“Well, if you’re sated, then okay,” I agreed.
“I got him,” Cameron chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Rhyce and helped him with his shorts.
“You know that you fuck us faster than we can fuck you, right?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” I answered hesitantly as I glanced between my men. “Really?”
“Yeah, especially after you call upon a lot of power like you did in the garage. Your hips move faster
than we can see really,” Jared agreed. “It’s fucking fantastic to experience.”
“Okay then.” I growled as I sank to my knees behind him, pulled his hand free, and slammed my still-
slick cock into him. “Then let’s make another of my men tired, happy, and sated.”
“Yes, oh fuck yes,” Jared moaned as I grabbed his hips hard. I repeated the same performance with
Jared, biting and sucking up bruises all over his neck and shoulders as I fucked him senseless. When
we were spent I started to finally feel the energy that had been bouncing around inside of me subside
some… Until I realized Cameron was slicked up, stretched, ready, and fucking posing for me.
I snarled as I pulled out of Jared and he practically collapsed on Rhyce’s lap. “Thanks, my love. That
was amazing.”
“You  too,”  I  chuckled  as  I  fondled  his  hole  before  getting  to  my  feet.  Then  I  had  a  new  target.
Cameron  give  me  a  smirk  as  he  stroked  his  cock,  knowing  full  well  what  he  was  about  to  get.  I
stormed the five steps to him and moved his leg out that was perched up on a tree stump and slammed
my cock into him as I mashed my mouth to his. “Fuck, are you hot.”
“Not as hot as you are after wearing out the men we love with that pole you call a cock,” he grunted
as I invaded his body. “Bite me, Tristan. I want marks all over me.”
“Shit,” I hissed as my cock twitched inside of him. I loved it when he talked to me like that. We were
wolves, so yeah, we liked to bite and be bitten by the ones we loved but Cameron seriously got off on
it. And  I  fucking  thought  it  was  hot.  I  cupped  his  ass  to  make  sure  the  tree  didn’t  slice  him  up  as  I
pounded into him, his leg wrapped around my hips.
“Yeah, baby. Oh shit, deeper,” Cameron begged. “Fuck, I need you all the way inside of me forever.”
“Always, Cameron. Always yours,” I panted, knowing this was about more than sex. We were in this
together…  Forever  and  no  one  was  leaving.  Not  when  we  loved  each  other  this  fiercely,  this
completely. “Come, now!”
Cameron screamed out my name as I bit him, his short nails digging into my back. Then I felt his teeth
in my shoulder and I grunted as I came, filling him up with the proof of my desire. My climax was
wave after wave of bliss.
“It just keeps getting better and better,” Cameron whispered as he licked my bite.
“And we keep getting more and more kinky,” I chuckled.
“Six of one, half a dozen of the other,” Jared joked from Rhyce’s lap. I glanced over at them and saw
the big grins they had for me. Yeah, all the same as long as we all enjoyed ourselves, and I sure as
hell always did with them.

Chapter 9

Wesley

“There it is again,” I growled as I jumped to my feet in the library. I’d been feeling it all day and

now into the night. We’d just finished dinner and everyone broke back up into their respective tasks,
my circle searching through clues and sorting journals.

“What? What has got you on edge all day?” Bay asked, sounding about as frustrated as I felt. I

glanced at Levey and Harkin, seeing the same frown. Whoops.

“Let’s go find out,” I answered as I locked on the energy. I darted out of the library, my men on

my heels. “All day I’ve been getting blips of energy. Like someone was trying to block me or didn’t
have the strength to keep it up. That or there are aliens darting all around us within a mile so I could
feel their energy.”

“Yeah, I doubt that,” Levey snickered. As we ran by the garage, Bay stuck his fingers in his mouth

and whistled for Tristan and Dewey’s inner circles to follow us. Carson had been with us in the
library so he and his men were right with us.

But the time we got close to the energy we had a real posse going on. It was almost amusing if

whatever had been screwing with me all day hadn’t been driving me crazy.

“Guess there’s a cemetery on the island,” Harkin mumbled as we came to the gates of it.

“Sorry,  we  knew  that,”  Percy  said  sheepishly.  “We  told  Tristan  and  Galvin  so  he  could  map  it  out
tomorrow now that we found the surveying stuff he needs.”
“Everyone be quiet,” I growled, trying to focus. I scanned the area and my head snapped to the right.
There it was but it was fading fast. Not being hidden but fading… Why the fuck was it fading? And
then it hit me. “Shit! He’s dying.” I raced there, crashing my knee into a tombstone I didn’t see in the
failing light. It didn’t matter though because the energy stopped before we could have gotten there.
“Holy shit,” Tristan hissed as we all skidded to a halt. There were three freshly filled-in graves and
one with an open casket and a man inside of it.
“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” I said sadly as I stared down into the grave. Then I saw the large
envelope.  “Who’s  got  a  flashlight?  It’s  too  covered  here  with  trees  to  read  it  with  what’s  left  of
sunlight.”
“I got it,” Bay said as he pulled out a flashlight and grabbed the envelope. He opened it up and his
eyes went wide before he started to read out loud for us.
Please  don’t  try  to  revive  me.  My  four  hundred  years  is  up  and  I  want  to  be  with  my  mates.  I
apologize if I have scared any of you as the ghost you spoke of. I promise there are no specters on
the property.
I wanted to welcome you and make myself known but since my time was coming to an end and my
mates  had  already  passed,  I  had  days  only.  And  what  would  have  been  the  point  of  making  new
friends only to lose them? I have seen the way you care about your people and each other and you
are  the  highest  caliber  of  people.  The  house  is  yours.  I  know  you  are  looking  for  my  son  and  I
cannot thank you enough for that.
I  hope  you  are  able  to  reunite  him  with  his  heritage.  If  he  is  found,  the  house  and  island  will
legally  go  to  him  with  the  clause  that  you,  your  loved  ones,  and  friends  are  always  welcome  to
make this your home or build on the island. You’ve taken great care to appreciate what’s been our
home for over three hundred years and I know I leave it in good hands. I hate to ask it but if you
could please put my body to rest, I would appreciate it.
Good luck in your search for Mikey and if you do find him, let him know his fathers always loved
him and never stopped searching for him. It filled my last days with joy to know that there were
good  people  who  would  take  care  of  the  house  my  mate  and  Alpha  built  for  us.  My  journals  are
hidden in one of the many secret passages and from what I’ve heard of your discussions there is a
lot more to being an Omega you need to know of.
And I left the names for all the other bloodlines in there as well. I also contacted Misha Botkina.
He is a bloodline Omega that my family has always had an arrangement with. Like young Brody

said about buying a mansion in Russia, Misha has a castle that, like this island, is open to all in
need of protection and sanctuary.
He will be a good ally in the fight you have ahead of you… Because you will have one, my young
Omegas. Word has already spread of what you did with the American High Council and I promise
you the ramifications will be more than you ever foresaw. Trust your hearts to the ones you love,
protect your friends nobly, and think with your heads instead of your emotions and you will make
it through the trying times to come just fine.
All my best and thank you for handling what I asked you to in advance,
Matthew
“Wow,” I whispered as I blinked down at Matthew. “Just wow.”
“Yeah, I’ve got nothing else to say besides that either,” Tristan mumbled as he jumped into the hole.
There was a slight space between the casket and the edges of the grave that had been dug. “May you
and your inner circle journey to heaven well, my friend. The angels always need new singing partners
and I’m sure there will be lots of good hunts in your future up there in the clouds.”
I felt tears burn in my eyes as Tristan closed the casket. It was the right thing to do and it had been
Matthew’s wishes. “What a sweet man.”
“What do you mean, babe?” Harkin asked me softly as he grabbed a shovel while Cameron reached
down and gave Tristan a hand out.
“His days were numbered. It wouldn’t have affected him if we met him and then he passed. It would
affect  us.  He  stayed  in  the  shadows  his  last  days  so  he  didn’t  bring  us  heartache  of  having  to  lose
someone,” I explained. “Think about it. If you lost your mates and had to suffer that while trying to
make strangers comfortable in your house, all to spare them pain. That’s a sweet, kind man.”
“Yeah,  yeah  it  is,”  Carson  agreed.  “It’s  hard  to  lose  anyone  but  I  know  if  it  was  me  I’d  also  be
excited.”
“Excited to lose us?” Declan exclaimed, looking at Carson like he was nuts.
“Yeah. I mean, death is just the beginning. If you guys died, I’d miss you for however many days it
would  take  until  I’d  join  you  but  I’d  also  be  excited  for  what  came  next  for  us.  I  mean,  could  you
imagine all the fun we could have in heaven?” His eyes lit up at the idea.
“I love the way you see the world, my love,” Declan replied before giving Carson a quick kiss. “I’m
sorry I questioned you.”
“Question away. I’m just glad I can still keep you guys guessing,” he chuckled. I smiled at my friend. I
didn’t know what came for us after this life but I hoped he was right. It would be nice to think that
there was more after our time on earth and I could spend the afterlife in heaven with my men.
We were quiet as they quickly filled in the grave, all of us lost in our thoughts. Then we said our last
good-byes to the man we never knew but who’d given us so much.
The silence was killing me and I blurted out the one thought I had running through my brain. “I wonder
if the angels are voyeurs. I mean they see everything already, right? Were they watching Bay fuck me
silly earlier? Would they rather get the close-up in heaven?”
“That’s where your mind went with all of this?” Levey choked out as he tried not to laugh.
“Apparently,” I drawled, shrugging. Everyone had a good laugh at that one. But of course none of us
knew  the  answers.  One  day  we’d  find  out  but  until  then,  I  was  just  glad  for  the  time  I  got  with  my
mates.
* * * *
Brody

I was shaking as I carried the breakfast tray up to my room. The plan had sounded so great in my

head, not cheesy at all. Now though? Oh god, I just wanted to melt into the floor with nerves and how
dorky I felt.

For one, apparently I hadn’t been the only one to think of making breakfast in bed for my men on

Valentine’s Day. Two, a few months with Asher and none of his cooking skills had rubbed off on me.
Three, frosting sucked. It never stayed where I wanted and it just got everywhere. I’m sure I looked
like a hot mess which spoke volumes for my grand gesture.

What a disaster! It was too late to turn back now though because I had no backup plan. Which I

needed to seriously remember this moment and always have a backup plan from now on.

“We were wondering where you were,” Jaxon bitched as I walked into the room. “We’re not

going to end up hovering but it’s a strange house and island with a lot of shit going on, Brody. Would
a note have killed you? Don’t you think we would have noticed you sneaking out of our bed hours
ago?”

I blinked at them in shock and at first I got angry. Then I realized they were right and I swallowed

it down. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking it would take as long as it did and I could surprise you. But
you’re right. I would have been worried if the situation was reversed and I’ll be more considerate in
the future.”

“Okay, thank you,” he sighed as he took the tray from me and set it down on the table. Then he

turned and hugged me. “Thank you. I’m sorry to be a bear but I woke up missing my Omega and the
man I love and freaked out. There’s too much crazy going on right now and I got scared.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Jaxon,” I whispered, my heart soaring as it always did when they told

me they loved me. “Can I give you your surprise now?”

“Powdered-sugar-covered Brody?” he purred, licking my neck. “Very nice.”

“No,” I giggled when his tongue tickled. “Seriously, this is my Valentine’s Day grand gesture. You’re
going to want this.”
“I’m all ears.” He let me go as Lief and Asher joined us. They each got in a lick, laughing that they
always knew I was sweet. Dorks. I got them to sit down and handed them each a covered plate.
“So,  hopefully  the  symbolism  makes  sense  since  I  didn’t  really  know  how  to  do  this.  I  know  it’s
dorky  and  I’m  a  loser  but,  well,  it’s  all  I  could  come  up  with,”  I  rambled  as  they  pulled  off  the
covers.
“I have a strip of frosted sugar cookie,” Jaxon muttered in a confused tone. “Red frosting.”
“Put our pieces together,” Asher suggested, holding his plate closer to Jaxon’s as Lief did as well.
Yeah, it was hard cutting a massive heart cookie in three pieces so it would look like that’s what it
was.  I  was  grateful Asher  figured  it  out.  “He’s  giving  us  each  an  equal  piece  of  his  heart  cookie.”
Then he glanced to me with wide eyes. “Is this just the cookie? You said symbolism, right?”
“Yeah,  it’s  symbolic,”  I  agreed  quietly,  staring  down  at  my  suddenly  interesting  toes.  “I  can’t  bake
really though so you might not want to try it and just understand what I—” I yelped as Lief grabbed
me around the waist and dragged me onto his lap.
“It’s like the best cookie ever in the history of cookies,” he purred before kissing me silly. “I love you
too, baby. This is awesome. It’s officially my favorite Valentine’s Day ever. Are you going to claim
us later too?”
“Yes,” I breathed as I nodded. “I love you, Lief. I want us all to be everything to each other.”
“Good,” Jaxon growled as he grabbed me and kissed me next. “Love you, Brody.”
“I love you too,” I whispered nervously. Then I looked to Asher, who was holding his arms out for
me. I moved to straddle his thigh and brushed my lips over his. “I love you, Asher.”
“Love  you  too. And  you  should  be  covered  in  sweets  all  the  time,”  he  said  with  a  chuckle,  kissing

along my neck. “It’s a hell of a way to wake up.”
I smiled as I moaned at the fun he was having. Maybe goofy and dorky was okay once in a while. My
men seemed to like it. Or maybe that was just the sentiment behind the whole thing. Either way, it
worked for me and they were happy.
* * * *
Edric

The next day we rotated some of the tasks. I was in the library with my men taking over the

cataloging of books and searching for clues with all the unattached Omegas and guards. Vencentio and
his circle were checking out the island and mapping it out. The outing to Puerto Rico had been a
success so there was no need for more unless we wanted to but there was time for that.

It was Valentine’s Day after all. We had simple and calm planned for tonight but until then we had

tons of work to do.
“That’s odd,” Baptista said quietly as he stared over a photo album. We’d found a bunch of them with
Matthew Montague’s journals. It took Wesley a few tries and a lot of frustration looking for all the
secret  passages  but  to  me  it  had  been  a  fun  treasure  hunt.  Though  it  was  treasure  in  the  way  of
information and memories.
I hopped off the stepladder and glanced at what he was looking at. “What is?”
“This  kid  looks  like  me,”  he  chuckled  nervously.  “This  picture  was  taken  when  he  was  two  and  I
have a picture of when I was three and it’s almost the exact same.”
“That is odd,” I hedged as I studied it.
“Except this boy has dark hair and I have blond of course,” he mumbled as he turned his chair to the
laptop sitting by him. “I’ll show you.”
“You have your baby pictures on Wesley’s laptop?” That didn’t sound strange or anything.
“No,” he snickered, shaking his head. “My hair was a dark blond/light brown when I was young or
something so they didn’t know I was going to be an Omega. It killed my mother since she never got
into the wolf culture, thinking most of it was archaic.”
“She’s right,” Kelvin drawled. “It is.” He moved behind us as did Gareth.
“Guess we’re putting the cleaning and cataloging the books on hold,” Blaine chuckled as he joined us.
“I could use the break.”
“Anyways, after I got sold my mom practically dedicated her Facebook page to me, hoping if I saw
someone still cared then I could get through whatever was happening to me,” Baptista explained.
“You weren’t allowed to call her?” Gareth asked and I winced.
“No.  I  spent  over  eight  years  trapped  in  the Alpha  house  being  their  maid  and  whore.  They  didn’t
exactly give me phone privileges,” Baptista answered bitterly. He clicked on a few links and then the
picture popped up. “There. See, I look just like the kid.”
I glanced at the picture in the photo album and did a double take. “Yeah, you  really do. Do you have
any  younger  pictures  of  yourself  or  maybe  cousins?”  I  gently  took  the  picture  out  of  the  album  and
held it up to the laptop monitor.
“Jesus, it’s like a spitting image,” Calver mumbled.
“No,” Baptista answered me. “My parents said they couldn’t afford a camera before I was three so
they didn’t have any baby pictures of me younger. I never thought to question it.” I blinked at him a
minute. I would have. I could get parents not having money for a camera if times were tough but no
one in his extended family had one or even grandparents that could have taken baby pictures of him. It
sounded shady.
“Zoom in on your hair,” Kelvin said quietly as he pointed to the laptop. Baptista quickly saved a copy

of the picture to the laptop and reopened it so he could zoom. When he did, I didn’t have to ask what
Kelvin had been looking for. “Is that hair dye growing out on the tips of his hair?”
“It looks like it,” I agreed. “But why dye a kid’s hair?”
“To hide he was an Omega,” Calver guessed as he looked at Baptista. “So why stop though? Did they
get busted? But there are blonds who don’t end up Omegas so no one could have known at that age.”
“Or  someone  was  covering  up  that  he  could  be  an  Omega  and  then  he  wasn’t  with  that  person
anymore,” I whispered after I had flipped to the next page in the album. “Baptista, it’s about to get
weirder.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he glanced at what I was looking at. “How is there a picture of me
in that book?” He sounded almost hysterical and I didn’t blame him.
“It’s not you. It’s one of the previous owners of the house and he looks a few years older than you,” I
answered as I pointed to what was written under the picture. Sam Montague ’85. “But he had to have
aged well because if he just died at four hundred then he was, well, old.”
“But the cameras weren’t as good back then as they are now,” Kelvin added as he studied it. “There’s
a  faded  note  here. On the way to the hospital when Mikey was born.” We flipped to the next page
and I thought of something as they went on and on about how the guy looked like Baptista. I moved
away  from  the  table  and  went  to  the  file  that  Matthew  had  left  us  about  his  missing  son.  I  quickly
opened it and checked out the birth certificate.
“Holy  fucking  shit,”  I  whispered  as  tears  filled  my  eyes.  Everyone  stopped  and  looked  at  me  but  I
stared  right  at  my  friend.  “The  child’s  name  was  Michael  Baptista  Montague. At  three  you  would
have  known  your  name.  Changing  it  would  have  been  hard  but  I  bet  getting  you  to  answer  to  your
middle name wouldn’t be as bad.”
“No, no, this isn’t happening,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “I have parents. Those men who just
died cannot be my fathers. No. I don’t want to hear about this again.”
“Let’s go get some air,” Kelvin said gently as he shot me a look. I nodded. I’d back off but something
inside of me told me that what we found was the truth and Baptista had been lied to all his life.
Fuck a duck. My poor friend.
* * * *
Vencentio

Everyone ended up calling it a day on the work after what Edric and Baptista had found. I was

glad that there were studly men fighting over who got to comfort him. He’d need that support system
in the days to come.

“Another strawberry, my love?” Marlow purred as he rubbed it over my lip.

“You’re stuffing me silly,” I giggled.
“No, but if you’re done eating I will,” he growled and I smiled. Yeah, I hadn’t left myself open for
that one.
“I’ve never done it in the ocean. Will you protect me from sharks?”
“I’d  be  more  worried  about  all  the  lobster  traps  Brody  set  up.  I  swear  he  is  determined  to  have
seafood every night for the rest of his life,” Galvin drawled. “He’ll either give up or become a master
trapper which would benefit us.”
“Amen  to  that.  I  love  lobster  and  shrimp.  Hell,  that  boar  was  awesome  the  other  night.  I  could  get
used to this roughing it. Next I just need to learn to fish.” I chuckled at the idea. A few of my friends
had been learning and while most did fine, Brody had a few problems. Namely snagging his hook on
shit.  So  far  nothing  more  major  than  tearing  Jaxon’s  trunks  but  we  were  all  leery  of  going  by  him
while he had a rod in hand.

“Let’s get naked, the waterproof lube,  and  in  the  water  then,”  Carter  suggested  as  he  eyed  me  over
like lunch.
“I have phone duty,” I tsked him. Just as fate would have it someone’s phone started ringing. We were
taking turns making sure someone kept all the phones safe and so no important calls slipped through.
All the people here were in charge of others after all. I saw it was Carson’s phone as I picked it up.
“Carson! You have a call coming in from home.”
“Answer it,” he yelled from the water as he started swimming to shore.
“Hello, this is Carson’s phone, Edric speaking,” I said as politely as I could.
“Edric, it’s Dorothy. I need to speak with Carson. Is he there?” she hissed.
Her tone worried me. It was like she was hiding and trying to whisper while still being understood
without getting caught. “Yes, he’s coming now. Is everything okay?”
“No, I need to speak with him now.”
“Okay, hang on.” I jumped to my feet and grabbed a towel as well. Just as Carson stepped out of the
water  I  reached  him  and  he  quickly  dried  off  his  hands  before  wrapping  the  towel  around  his
shoulders. “It’s Dorothy. Something’s wrong.”
“Dorothy? Are  you  okay?”  he  asked  after  taking  the  phone  and  started  walking  down  the  beach.  I
focused on the waves and headed back to my men, not wanting to eavesdrop on what was going on.
“What’s up?” Marlow asked me worriedly.
“I don’t know but I don’t think it was good.”
“What?” Carson bellowed loudly enough that I actually jumped as I turned to look at him. “Do as they
say, Dorothy. We’ll figure this out. I need to talk to Tristan but yeah, tell them we’re not there if you
think that will help. I love you.”
Tristan,  along  with  everyone  else,  was  already  on  the  beach,  knowing  something  was  up.  Carson
looked pale as he hung up the phone. He took a shaky step and almost fell but then Declan caught him
and wrapped his arm around Carson to support him.
“Talk to me about what?” Tristan asked, his face scared. “What’s going on, Carson?”
“Your father just invaded the Chicago pack. We’re no longer in charge and your father is searching
for me and the Omegas we had staying with us.”
“I will gut that man,” Tristan snarled before pulling his friend into his arms. “We’ll figure this out and
get  Dorothy  out  of  there.  My  dad’s  a  power-hungry  douche  but  he’s  not  a  bastard.  He  won’t  hurt
anyone.”
“I know. I just, yeah, she called to warn us to stay away. We need to talk to him and the Council to
see what’s going on. I think Matthew’s warning was right. The shit is hitting the fan big-time,” Carson
whispered, obviously in shock as he moved into the circle of waiting arms of his men.
“Happy fucking Valentine’s Day,” Galvin growled. “Screw romance and time to go to war.”
I  just  glanced  around  at  all  our  friends.  Yeah,  their  faces  all  said  the  same  thing.  The  shit  never
stopped coming and while that sucked, Valentine’s Day was just a day. We might be fighting for our
very lives soon… And none of us would go quietly or ever give up.