There was no hesitation in his reply. “Yes. They already feel like my brothers, and I guess I can handle sharing you with them.”
After today he’d be a full pack member, registered with the Alpha Council and everything. They’d taken the news of a second dragon surprisingly well, but they were trying to mend bridges with the Reeves pack, after dismissing our concerns over Fletcher.
Which ended with a massive battle in our street.
Talon and I didn’t talk again until we reached the built-up areas of Golden Claw. He was the sort of alpha I could exist in comfortable silence with; the warmth remained without any need for conversation.
In the city, he pulled his enigmatic gaze from my face to observe the shifters around us. His dragon focus locked in on the various alphas, betas, and deltas hurrying about their daily lives with work, school, and college. We had sports teams, we had office buildings, and we had many cafes and restaurants, quite a few owned by the very pack he’d found himself part of—not that money meant anything to Talon.
Our pack might own Reeves Industries, a billion-dollar company, but it wasn’t even in the top one hundred of the best parts of them. I’d live in a hovel, with a fucking pair of roller skates as my transport,if it meant I got to wake up every day with these possessive, dominant, gorgeous alphas. You couldn’t buy what truly made life worth living, though I would admit that after driving supercars, the benefits wereverynice.
“They just don’t feel like shifters,” Talon noted, his flat expression visible in the reflection of the window. “Dressed in so many clothes, with buildings closing in around them. It’s constricting.”
I nodded, taking in our surroundings with an open mind. “I’m not going to argue that we do sacrifice a sense of freedom and wildness for this life. But our ancestors weren’t out there naked or in their beast forms sleeping on the ground either. We literally haven’t done that since the first of our kind. This is our evolution, and what you mightnotice if you look past the veneer of civility is that they’re happy now too.”
It might not be the same as the past, but it also wasn’t worse. Just different.
Talon acknowledged my words with a few nods. The shifters on the streets would freak out if they knew a dragon had them in his gaze, even if he meant no harm.
When we stopped at a set of lights, Hunter and Slade pulled in on either side of us, and we all got more than a few stares. Everyone knew the Reeves pack—we were impossible to miss.
It was a pack that everyone adored and feared in equal measures, and I still found it hard to believe I was part of their world. After a lifetime of never being wanted, I now had so much love and care in my life that it was oftentimes overwhelming. This was the part that made this pack so special, never the money.
At the next corner, Hunter pulled out in front and I followed him along unfamiliar streets. We moved from the dense urban landscape into nature: shrines to our goddess, parklands, and small huts. I trailed the bike all the way to a parking lot and pulled into a spot beside a familiar Bugatti. Kellan had parked his baby away from the main lot so no one would accidentally scratch it. Not that anyone would dare unless they had a death wish.
The bites on my neck tingled as I closed in on my mates, two of whom stood at the entrance of the sacred land dedicated to the moon goddess. Kellan and Finley were in suits as well, leaving Slade and Talon the only two dressed like they were SWAT officers. Which was their fanciest attire, so it worked out.
My gaze lingered on Golden Boy first. His tan suit was a near perfect match to his wolf pelt. Then I moved on to Grouchy Bear, in a navy number with no tie. Most of the alphas hated ties or any real restrictions on their beasts. Finley and I had a rocky start to our pack life, but we were healing in the most wholesome of ways. We’d sealed our bond two nights ago, and I would forever cherish that brief moment of pure bliss with him before my world fell apart the next morning. With the arrival of Constantine and his unwelcome news.
When I turned off the engine, Kellan had my door open and seatbelt undone in a flash. When he lifted me out into his arms, he spun me around until the pretty blue dress I wore with tights and brown leather boots flared around me. My feet hit the ground in timefor a scorching kiss on my lips, and I loved his caramel scent and warm embrace.
Golden. My sweetest alpha. Who could also turn deadly when his pack was threatened. “Shortcake,” he groaned. “I fucking missed you, and I love this matchy-matchy blue dress with your eyes. A shifter could forget what we’re here for with you looking like that.”
It had been less than two hours since we all ate breakfast together, but for Kellan Jackson, two hours apart was an eternity.
His second kiss was more demanding than the first, and by the time he handed me over to Finley, I’d forgotten my name, the day of the week, and thenewend-of-world issue we faced.
“Hey, darlin’,” the bear drawled, and all of my insides turned molten at that sinfully sexy rumble. “I missed you too. You look stunning… a perfect gift from the goddess.”
The thick dark lashes surrounding his whiskey-colored irises dragged me under, and all I could think about was how he’d fallen asleep last night still buried inside me. Finley was insatiable when it came to touch and remaining close, and honestly, the big alpha had me addicted.
Except for Talon, after each of my bondings I’d had a night or two alone with that alpha, letting our essences really settle. And there were two more to go.
“I missed you both too,” I said with a sniffle, popping up on my toes to press my lips to Finley’s. As always, the bear kissed me until my lungs ached from a lack of breathing.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
CHAPTER 3
EMME
“Did you speak to the council about the logistics of incorporating a sixth into our quintet?” Kellan asked Hunter as we approached one of the largest huts in the sacred park.
“Yeah, they don’t care,” Hunter scoffed. “Those useless fucks are so far up my ass at the moment I wouldn’t be surprised to find them in the hut today. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I’ll never again seek permission from them to protect and strengthen my own damn pack.”
Slade nodded, expression grim. “This is not their business, and I’ve calculated our odds against the Termaine witch and her allies. We have a much better chance of survival with a completed and fully strengthened quintet. Talon and I are one essence, twin souls, and this should work.”
Completed and fully strengthened.
