“We're going to be fine. I promise we're going to be fine,” Milo assured, and Maddox just closed his eyes, throwing back his head in the airplane seat.“Do you feel that way too?” he asked him.“Yes, but not because of the she-wolf, but because of you and... Briccia. I like her,” Milo confessed.Maddox felt the lump in his throat, and a dry, sharp pain, as if his heart was slowly being crushed.“Milo, I feel like I'm going to die,” he said, misty-eyed. “I'm tired of what I am. You're the only good thing I have.”“Don’t forget Rhia and that jerk Casthiel... There are people who love us...” Milo reminded him, and Maddox sighed. “Maybe, when it's all over, we should go far away.”His lycan didn't answer. He just clung to the Keqzhara's hilt and tried not to think of anything else as a man from the crew came over to tell him they were about to arrive at their destination.Maddox had never been to Salvador de Bahia, so he pulled out one of the tablets that had been made available for him a
Lidora Nader had ceased to be the Crazy She-Wolf of Asthan the moment she had returned to being the Nanny of the Last Queen. Yet she continued to roam the forests with her herbs, her potions, and her stories to amuse the children.She was the first one Aidan and Rhia turned to when Bhremi settled on the rug in front of the fireplace in their living room, howling every two seconds as if she were a she-wolf rejected by her mate.“This is not good,” the old woman murmured, checking on her. “Bhremi is depressed, but Briccia is worse. I've never seen her so bad. It's as if my little girl had broken. She hasn't eaten, she hasn't slept, she won't stop crying, she's sure something bad happened to her wolf.“Her wolf?” Aidan asked, raising his eyebrows at that use of the possessive.Lidora looked at him, narrowing her impish eyes.“Do you want me to tell you what I really think?” she asked in a whisper and with an air of complicity.“Of course,” Aidan crossed his arms and ducked his head to he
Aidan nodded on the living room couch before Rhia kicked him in the calf mercilessly. The twins hadn't stopped crying since dawn, and by ten in the morning, he was going crazy.“Don't think you're going to do that when we have kids. Wake up!” And for Aidan that was the cutest scolding in the world.“How many are we going to have?” he asked with a smile so wide that Rhiannon stopped in front of him.“At the rate we're going, I think I'm going to fill you with puppies sooner than you think,” she replied, and Aidan stood up, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her.He was about to suggest leaving the babies to the nanny when Milo burst into the room.“Let her go, you idiot, or I'm going to find a way to pour water on you myself.”Aidan rolled his eyes with a condescending smile.“Where's your lycan?” he asked the wolf.“That's why I'm coming. He needs help,” snorted the wolf.“Did something happen?” Rhia said worriedly.“Everything happened!” said Milo, making a sound that sounded l
All the lycans who could make a difference were in that meeting room: the Alphas Dimitri, Konan, Hiro, Dereck, and Noah; the Paladins Alanna and Maddox; and the counselors General Gallagher, Cedrick, and Brennan. In three days they had managed to bring them all together.Maddox had explained to them what had happened in America. He had shown them Myra's letter and told them about the twins—it was impossible not to—yet their location had not been revealed to anyone. The Alphas, even Konan, who did not have the best relations with Rhiannon, had been shocked by what was happening.They needed to act before Erea got what she was up to, before the same freedom that had been taken from their wolves was taken from them as well. However, they could not agree on the best way to attack.Nader was the leader, but Erea was more dangerous.Throughout the meeting Rhiannon's face had been a grim mask. She was upset, she was angry, and she was definitely not reacting well to it all. Aidan could sense
“How could you? You were the only brother I had all my life!” Aidan yelled at him, pulling Brennan up by the collar of his blue uniform. “How could you hurt my mate, the woman I love?”“That's not true! I would never hurt you... I would never—”“No, not him,” Alanna said, “but you'd do anything to make Rhiannon disappear from his life. Wouldn't you?”Aidan let go of Brennan and approached Alanna with a frown.“What are you talking about?” he growled.Alanna bit her lips hesitantly.“I've had centuries to watch him,” she said quietly. “He... has feelings for you.”Aidan pulled back with a gesture of bewilderment.“What?”“Brennan helped the resistance for many years, yet he never openly betrayed you,” Alanna continued. “When news of Myra's pregnancy broke, you had him lock Rhia in the penthouse at 180 Street... and he called me. We warned her to get away from you. He took her out of town himself and warned her not to come looking for you again.”“Is that true?” Aidan asked, turning to
Aidan felt his heart break as his nose began to bleed. Inside him, Akela and eighteen other wolves howled in anguish.The Alphas looked at him with concern because by now, they all knew that, unless a ghost had broken his nose, that was caused by what they were doing to the queen.He wiped his nose angrily as he prayed to the Goddess for two things: first, that Rhiannon would be able to send him a sign of where she was, and second, that all those who were hurting her would be alive when he arrived, so he could have the pleasure of ripping their throats out himself.The pilot had come in to announce to them that they were about to land in New York when the first cut opened on the skin of his forearm. He pulled up his sleeve and enjoyed every wound that was beginning to emerge on his skin as Alanna pulled his hand across the table and copied every letter and number that painfully appeared on it.2300s N CataractThe wound healed in a few minutes but the scars did not disappear.“What do
Arriving at last at the international airport of Iguazu awakened an adrenaline spike among the lycans that could be felt for miles. The paladins organized them and in less than twenty minutes they were reconnoitering the hangars designated for private flights. Aidan seemed so calm that the rest of the Alphas were on edge.It was one of Dimitri's soldiers who sounded the alarm for everyone to approach one of the hangars. Aidan knelt down next to the drops of dried blood visible on the floor, and Akela growled angrily.“It's hers.”“We have a trail!” he shouted, and then turned to Maddox. “Twenty small squads, three scouts. Five-mile perimeter. We're going to start sweeping. Move out!”He personally followed the main trail while the Alphas organized and began the hunt. Thanks to Rhiannon's foresight, the scouts didn't lose the trace more than twice, and when they finally arrived in front of the cataracts, they saw that it did indeed veer north, crossing the Iguazu.They advanced through
The white spear was pulled out of Cedrick's body, and he turned around, holding his wound with both hands, to find himself face to face with Brennan Tarik.“You...” he muttered, bleary-eyed and staggering.“There's something you're right about,” Brennan said to Cedrick. “I've loved him all my life, I'll be loyal to him until my last breath... and he's always known that. He's my Alpha, he's my brother, he's my friend, and he's always been aware that I'd rather drive a fucking Keqzhara through my own chest than hurt him.”He took a couple of steps back without taking his eyes off Cedrick and pressed the button that opened the glass door. Aidan stepped out, walking past him, and gave his Beta a hug.“Are you all right?” he asked, holding her neck and making him look at him.“Well, now I have ‘playing dead’ as part of my special skills,” Brennan replied with a crooked smile.“You were a very convincing dead man,” Aidan said and laughed, turning to Cedrick. “Wasn't he?”The lycan staggered