Simon, Ian and I make our way to the library, and it’s everything I dreamed a pack library would be. It’s decorated in masculine greens and grays, trimmed in rich mahogany. A cushy carpet muffles my steps as I examine the bookshelves that fill all four walls of the long room. Thousands of titles, gilded in gold and silver, line the rich, dark leather spines of books on every topic imaginable. Magical volumes make up the bulk of the collection, but there are also books on law, which doesn’t surprise me, and an extensive collection of medical texts, which also makes sense. One of Cassian’s fathers is a doctor.
More modern, graphic paperback books fill another bookshelf, including books about films and books about technologies I recognize the names of but couldn’t even pretend to understand.
And just beyond those are the most colorful books of all. An entire bookcase is packed full of romance novels with bright colors and whimsical titles on their spines. They’re well worn and clearly loved, read over and over, until the spines have cracked, and they remind me so very much of Marcus’ old detective novels. Not in color or style, but in the wear they show: the yellowing paper, the creases on the covers, the pages slipping free from old glue.
I think of the first editions of Marcus’ favorite series I stumbled upon in a used bookshop in downtown Fairhaven, that are now tucked into a corner of my closet at the pack house, still wrapped in brown paper.
I remember the day I bought them perfectly. It was a lazy Sunday, a golden late summer afternoon not long after the start of term. Luca, Simon, Marcus and I were exploring a new corner of the city when we stumbled upon the bookshop, and I couldn’t resist peeking inside. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular when I caught a few familiar titles—titles I recognized because Marcus had read the books to me during sleepless nights spent curled up on the couch in our cottage. I picked the first beautiful hardcover off the shelf, turning it over in my hands and examining the illustrated dust jacket before realizing just how old the book was.
When I opened it up to see its publication date, I found a signature scrawled across the title page in dark blue ink.
I may have done a little dance in the bookshop because what book lover wouldn’t want signed first editions of their favorite series?
I made Simon distract Marcus as I pulled every signed volume they had off the shelf, and he kept my honor guard busy while I bought the books and begged the bookseller to wrap them for me so I could surprise Marcus with them.
I was going to give them to him as a late Yule present the moment we returned to the pack house after the holidays.
And now I’ll never get the chance.
“Junes?”
I startle and turn to find Cassian behind me, a mug in one hand.
“Are you all right?”
“Just lost in thought.” I take the mug from him with a smile. “Thanks for the mocha.”
“Come on. Have a seat while I get a fire started.”
I drift over to the table, not at all surprised when Ian pulls me down onto his lap. I set my mug down and cuddle into him, drawing his scent into my nose. His bergamot-and-cedar scent grounds me, as it always does, and I sigh as I sag against him.
Cassian starts the fireplace, and all I want to do is curl up with my men in front of it and read, but I have to share what transpired after I left the pack house before Yule.
Luca slips into the library and shuts the door behind him. His hair is still damp from his shower, and saints, he’s a beautiful sight.
“Clean enough to kiss you now?”
I reach up for him. “Yes, please.”
He grins that heart-stopping smile of his, stoops down and captures my lips in a kiss that rights my off-kilter world and sets it spinning again.
I miss Marcus, but being here with my men is soright.
And it could still be taken from me.
Ian shifts me into Luca’s arms, kissing me on the forehead as he does, and my wine-and-cherries alpha wraps me in a tight hug.
“What’s on your mind, princess?” he asks, nuzzling his nose against my cheek.
“I was so close to losing all of you,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “When Willow came to take me home, I thought… I thought I might never see any of you again. That Rad would mate me and…”
“Hey,” Luca says softly. “He didn’t. And he won’t.”
“If you all hadn’t arrived, if my Hawthorn hadn’t distracted him… He was trying to break into my room. He had every intention of mating me.”
Alpha scents spike around me, and I feel Luca tense beneath me.
I rush onward, needing to get everything out before my alphas succumb to their rage. “Aspen told me to leave my door unlocked. He said I wouldn’t live long enough to play my part in Project Halcyon if I didn’t.”
