Wolf Betrayed (Betrayed by Blood Book

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Wolf Betrayed

Bethany Shaw
Copyright © February 20th 2024 by Bethany Shaw

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
 Contents

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
14. Fourteen
15. Fifteen
16. Sixteen
17. Seventeen
18. Eighteen
19. Nineteen
20. Twenty
21. Twenty-One
22. Twenty-Two
23. Twenty-Three
24. About Bethany Shaw
25. Also by Bethany Shaw
 One

Lincoln

WATER FILLED MY MOUTH. My lungs screamed as I tried to take a breath. I thrashed against my captors. My wrist snapped,
transitioning. My razor-sharp wolf’s claws tore into flesh, making my brother Mikey cry out, but he didn’t let up on his assault.
My nails retracted, and my arm transformed back to my human one. I didn’t have the strength to stay shifted for long. Poison
coursed through my veins, draining me of energy when I needed to be at my strongest.
Mikey shoved me farther under the water. I grasped the edges of the bucket and pushed up with what strength I had left.
Mikey pushed harder, shoving me deeper.
The icy water poured into my mouth, nose, and ears, drowning out his shrill yells. I didn’t know why he kept asking me
questions when my head was two feet under water. It’s not like I could answer him. At the rate he was going, he’d kill me.
I couldn’t breathe. My body convulsed. White dots blurred my vision, and I struggled against his ironclad grip. I gnashed my
teeth together so hard, blood filled my mouth.
He pushed me farther under until my head collided with the bottom of the barrel. Pain exploded just above my left eye. The
water turned crimson as I bled out.
My body spasmed, fighting to draw a breath. This was it. I was going to die. My pulse raced at the revelation. I struck out,
trying to hit something, anyone, so I could free myself.
It was no use. Mikey was on top of me, pushing my face against the bottom of the barrel. My vision tunneled. My heart
pounded so fast I thought it might beat out of my chest.
I pictured my wolf, willing it to come fully to the surface. He couldn’t. The wolfsbane pumping through my veins made it
impossible to fully turn.
My lungs ached, desperate for air. I couldn’t give up.
Don’t stop fighting. Don’t you ever stop! Do you hear me, Lincoln?
Someone was yelling my name, encouraging me to keep fighting. They sounded like they were miles away.
I didn’t want to give up, but my body was betraying me. I couldn’t make my rubbery limbs move.
Just when I thought I was done for, Mikey yanked me out of the water. I gasped in a breath. It was a raw, shaky sound that
made my lungs burn more. My body trembled, and I coughed, spitting water out of my mouth.
My knees gave out, and I toppled forward onto the dirt floor. The ground bit into my trembling body, and the dried debris
stuck to my face. Rivulets of blood rolled down my nose and trickled over my cheek. I stared at the mixture of dirt and leaves
as I rasped, trying to catch my breath.
Mikey kicked me from behind, hitting me right at the base of my spine. “Who else is working with you?”
I curled in on myself, wrapping myself in an embrace. My eyes slid shut, and I sucked in large gulps of air, imagining for a
moment it was Sloane holding me. I could almost feel her warmth and the soft caress of her fingers threading through my hair.
Sloane gasped. “Lincoln!”
A weight pressed against my chest. My eyes popped open, and I stared up at the woman I loved.
My mate, my everything.
She was here. Well, not really. I’d willed her to me, allowing our minds to connect. She was safe at her home a few hundred
miles from here.
I struggled to sit up. I didn’t want her to see me like this. I was broken, bleeding, and weak. Worse, Mikey was still here, his
beady eyes staring at me. If he had even an inkling that Sloane and I were mated, he would make my torture a thousand times
worse, and hurt Sloane more in the process.
Sloane pressed her lips to my forehead and held me tightly. “What did they do to you? I should have never left you. I’m so
sorry.”
 She peppered kisses over my face as she continued to murmur her apology.
I could hear the emotion in her voice, even though I couldn’t see her face.
Mikey walked around to the front of me and leered before kicking me. “Who are you working for?”
Pain exploded in my abdomen. The air whooshed out of my lungs, and I couldn’t breathe.
Sloane screamed as she clung to me. At first I thought maybe Mikey had kicked her somehow, but the way she was rocking
me back and forth… Maybe not. Thank God. I’d kill him if he dared touch her.
Her arms tightened, and she lay over me like she was trying to shield me with her body.
“Stop it!” she screamed.
Mikey kneeled in front of me, his hand going straight through Sloane like she wasn’t there. Neither of them noticed the other.
I said a silent thanks for that small miracle.
Mikey grasped my jaw between his thumb and pointer finger, wrenching my face up so I had to look at him. “You will tell
me, Lincoln. So help me, you will.”
I glared at him but didn’t say a word.
He shoved my face away and then bitch-slapped me. He got to his feet and started to pace. “I’ll stick you back in the water
again. I’ll let you pass out next time.”
I let my head fall back to the floor and closed my eyes. I pushed Sloane away. She didn’t need to see this.
She clutched me tighter, her nails biting into my skin. “Lincoln?”
I reached out to her with my mind. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be okay.
My promises sounded weak even to my own ears.
Her teary eyes met mine, and she shook her head. “Please don’t push me out. Lincoln, I…”
She dissipated, leaving me alone with Mikey as I pushed her farther out of my mind.
Mikey paced in front of me, running a hand through his dark hair. “I’ll give you credit for being tougher than I thought you’d
be.” He turned back toward me. “But I will break you, Lincoln.”
I squeezed my hands into tight fists to keep them from trembling. It was freezing in here, and having my head dunked into ice
water wasn’t helping.
There wasn’t much that scared me. I’d already lived through one nightmare when I was a kid. If I could survive watching my
mother and sister get murdered, I could survive the abuse Mikey had planned.
I had to protect Sloane and Sawyer. My mates. Keeping them safe was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant my
destruction.
Mikey stooped down next to me. “Dad left your punishment to me. He’s going to go after that bitch soon. You know, I think I
might ask Dad to spare her life. She’s feisty.” He clapped his hands together and grinned. “The kind of woman I would enjoy
breaking in.”
My throat vibrated as a growl ripped its way through me before I could stop it.
Mikey threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll take her in front of you, too. Make you watch. Maybe you’ll tell me about your
secrets for her.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Don’t react. You’ve already given him too much. He can’t know what Sloane means to you.
Mikey patted my cheek. “What do you think, big brother?”
I flicked my gaze to Mikey’s face. There was still a nasty mark where she’d got him just before our escape. Dad had
forbidden him from shifting to heal it since he’d let two women get past him.
“I think you better watch your back,” I told him. “She’s already bested you once. It’d be embarrassing if she did it again.”
Mikey’s eyes and hand shifted. His pawed claw landed on my chest, and he dug his nails into my skin, raking them down my
chest.
I gritted my teeth, wincing as he tore into my flesh. Blood beaded on my skin and dribbled down my torso.
He pointed to his face. “She will pay for this.”
Not if Sawyer and I had any say in it. “We’ll see.”
Mikey dug his nails deeper and wiggled his paw back and forth. I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of
crying out. My body trembled, and I exhaled through my nose, trying to keep my breathing even.
He leaned in so our noses were almost touching. “I’d be more worried about your current predicament if I were you.” He
retracted his nails and rocked back on his heels. “Why don’t we try again? Where is your laptop? We’ve been through your
room. It’s not there.”
I flopped onto my back and stared up at the barn ceiling. I blinked as I focused on the rafters and the way they connected at
the top. There was a giant spiderweb up there. A large brown spider was in the middle, and some unfortunate bugs were caught
on the right side.
Mikey nudged me. “Where is your laptop, Lincoln?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “It’s still here and someplace you will never find it.”
That was a lie. It was safe with Sloane, hopefully being put to good use. She knew how to access my shifter haven website,
DarkSide.
Mikey stood and brushed the dirt from his pants. “So in your room, then? That’s good to know.”
His feet thumped against the floor as he walked away from me. I held my breath, hoping he was leaving. I wasn’t so lucky.
He stomped back toward me, a needle in his hand. He kneeled and jabbed the syringe into my forearm.
I cried out as the wolfsbane entered my bloodstream. Sweat beaded my brow, and it stole my breath away as the blinding
heat scorched through my body.
Mikey laughed as he pulled the needle out and threw it into a bin to the side. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He stood up and kicked the shackle at my ankle before he disappeared.
I held my breath, waiting. The seconds ticked by endlessly before I finally sighed and relaxed.
The second my defenses were down, Sloane was back.
She sat on the floor behind me and cradled my head in her lap. “Oh, Lincoln, what did he do to you?”
My arm shook as I reached up and held her hand. “I’m okay. Promise.”
I tried to smile, but it ended up being more of a grimace.
Her face fell, and tears pooled in her eyes. “What does he want?”
“Information. I think we’ve scared them.” I licked my lips as I tried to smile. My jaw ached, making it feel more like a
grimace.
She pushed the hair away from my face. “They aren’t the only ones scared.”
I grasped her wrist tighter. “They are coming there, Sloane.”
She looked away from me and used her hair as a shield to hide her face. “I know. Our scouts have spotted them. They seem
to be in a holding pattern for the moment. We don’t know what they are waiting for.”
I swallowed. “You’re still at your house?”
She nodded but didn’t look at me. “My dad and the other alphas think we stand the best chance of holding our ground here.”
“Reinforcements came?”
She lowered her face to mine and pressed our foreheads together. “They did. You did a good job getting the word out. Packs
aren’t waiting for the meeting time. They are coming now in droves. Alpha Dane has spooked a lot of alphas.”
I trailed my fingers through her long locks. They were so soft. “That’s good news.”
She gave me a small smile as she sat up. “I hope so.”
I wrapped one of her locks around my finger. “Sawyer is with my dad. He’ll make sure you stay safe.”
A stray tear glided down her cheek. “I wish we were still together. I hate being apart and not knowing what is happening to
you. You keep blocking me out.”
I trailed my finger over her cheek and swiped away a tear. “I don’t want you to see me like this. And I don’t want Mikey to
know how much you mean to me, Sloane. If he knew about you or Sawyer, he would exploit it. The things he’s already
insinuated…”
I gritted my teeth.
Her brows furrowed, and she looked determined. “I fought him once. I can do it again. Besides, you were a good teacher.”
I frowned. She’d gotten lucky. Mikey was one of my dad’s most skilled and brutal enforcers. His downfall had been
underestimating her. I doubted she’d get so lucky again.
“We didn’t have nowhere near long enough for me to teach you to fight,” I told her.
“I could ask my brothers, Mark and Brandon. With everything happening, I don’t think they’d tell me no.”
I nodded. “Good.”
She leaned down and pressed her lips to mine, letting them linger for a long moment. “But I’m going to leave it to you and
Sawyer to finish my training.”
I slid my eyes shut and savored another kiss. Even though Sloane wasn’t really here, her presence helped ease the ache in my
body.
I gave her one last peck and then rested my head against hers. “I’d be glad to.”
She sighed and relaxed against me. “I miss having you in bed with me. I miss your smell.”
“Are you saying I stink?” I laughed and then instantly regretted it.
My sides felt like they were being ripped in two. I coughed.
Sloane pulled back and rubbed my back. “We have to get you out of here.”
Her eyes swirled with unshed tears, and her brows were dipped into a scowl.
I wasn’t worried about myself. Only her. My dad might let Mikey torture me, and my brother had a sickening fascination and
pleasure for it, but they couldn’t do anything to me that I couldn’t survive. I never wanted to see someone I loved die in front of
me again. That was my worst fear.
I’d been powerless to help my mom and sister. I never wanted to be in that position again.
I drew in a long, painful breath and then let it out slowly so I could control my breathing again. “I’m okay. I promise.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.”
 I pulled away and grasped both her hands, giving her a gentle shake. “Worry about yourself. My dad and the pack are coming
for you.” I opened my mouth to tell her about Mikey’s threat but thought better of it. “Stay vigilant.”
She craned her head to the side and squinted. “Do you hear that?”
I frowned and listened. Crickets chirped in the background, but that was it. Nothing seemed out of place.
Sloane stood up, her eyes widening. “Oh no. It’s the alarms. I think we are under attack.” Her face paled as she turned back
to me. “I have to go.”
I reached out for her. “Sloane…”
My words died as she disappeared, leaving me alone.
I darted my gaze around the barn before seeing the shackle that kept me in here. I yanked on the chain, but it was no use. My
father had made sure the chain was reinforced. No one had ever broken it before. Even if I could get free, there was no way I
would make it to Sloane in time to protect her.
She was on her own.
 Two

Sloane

MY EYES SHOT OPEN, and I jolted upright, throwing the covers off me. My bedroom door flew open.
My mom poked her head inside. “Sloane, my love, get up. Hurry! They are here.”
The air whooshed out of my lungs, and it felt like someone was stepping on my chest. I met my mom’s frantic eyes and
swallowed.
Alpha Dane was here.
My mouth went dry, and a cold chill zipped down my spine. He was going to make good on his threat to murder my family.
No! That’s not going to happen. We are ready for him.
I squeezed my hands into tight fists. “I can go out there and help fight.”
This was my fault. I brought him here.
My mother scowled. “Absolutely not. I need you here with me. There will be wounded, and I’ll need someone to help me
tend to them as they come in.”
I drew in a shaky breath and nodded. “Okay.”
My mom waved for me to follow her and called over her shoulder, “Let’s go, my love.”
She disappeared down the hall, knocking on all the doors, rousing anyone who wasn’t already up.
I hurried out after her and nearly collided with Willa in the hallway. The moment Willa saw me, she wrapped her arms
around me and pulled us both to the ground when she all but collapsed against me.
Her body shook as she sobbed into the crook of my neck.
I patted her back and made a hushing sound. “It’s okay. Come on. We have to get downstairs.”
I wrapped my arm around her waist and got my footing before leading her down the hall to the stairs. I wasn’t the only one
here with something to lose. Willa had a mate and a brother. Not to mention the pup growing in her belly. Almost everyone here
had family.
My heart pounded so violently I thought it might beat out of my chest, and I was forced to draw in a short breath to keep from
hyperventilating.
The pack needed me to be strong. I needed to pull myself together.
I gripped the banister tightly as we made our way down. Willa leaned on me, and I practically had to support her weight as
we took one step at a time.
The limp in her leg was pronounced. I wondered if she would ever walk normally again. Her pregnancy made shifting
impossible, leaving her to heal at a snail’s pace.
I could see the bandage bulging from underneath her pants. “How are you feeling? How is your leg holding up?”
It might not hurt to take her mind off the impending attack if only for a few seconds. I wouldn’t mind a distraction either, but
as we reached the bottom of the steps and I saw all the terrified women and children gathering in the front room, I knew there
was no way my brain was going to focus on anything else but the current incursion.
Willa made a noise in the back of her throat, drawing my attention back to her. “I’ll live. It’s not me I’m worried about.”
Her gaze shifted to the window where the curtains had been shoved open. The first rays of sunlight were beginning to beam
in. A deer and her fawn grazed in the grass, completely unaware of the battle that was about to come. If only I could be so
lucky.
But I wasn’t, and I had people depending on me to be a leader.
I stiffened my spine and straightened my shoulders. “Let’s get you to the sofa so you can sit down.”
I didn’t wait for her to respond before leading her to the couch and helping her to sit next to me.
Willa sank down into the cushion and leaned back so her head was resting against the pillows and she was staring up at the
ceiling. “I can’t help but think that this is my fault.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes, and her bottom lip trembled. “I should’ve never run away with Jacob in the woods. I’ve put
everyone in danger and cost my parents their lives.”
Willa put her hand on her belly and let her eyes slide shut. Her face crumpled, and tears glided down her cheeks.
I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me. “This isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. Or mine. Or
anyone, except for Alpha Dane’s. He’s a maniac doing this to everyone. Don’t forget that.”
I sat taller as I let my words sink in. None of us asked for this. Alpha Dane was a tyrant, determined to squash anyone who
didn’t agree with his way of thinking. Our only crime was standing up for ourselves, for our freedom. There was no shame in
that.
My mom cleared her throat as she made her way down the stairs with a couple of girls. She ushered them to the couch on the
opposite wall before she moved to the center of the room.
The room quieted, and everyone turned their attention to her.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out, looking around the room once before she began to speak. “I know we are all afraid,
and that is perfectly okay. You have every right to be, but we are stronger than they think. We fight with purpose and out of love
for those who still walk this earth and for those Pack Wolf Blood has taken. We will stay in this room together until we are
given the all clear. Should the fight come to us, the younger women will change as needed to help protect those who cannot. Let
us pray that it does not come to that.”
I fell back into the couch next to Willa and shifted my gaze around the room. There were a couple dozen of us women in here.
I knew why they didn’t want us out there.
Alpha Dane saw women as breeders and nothing more. Any woman caught would meet a fate worse than death.
Willa grasped my hand with her cool, sweaty palm. “Jacob is out there. I can feel how nervous he is.”
I reached out with my mind. Sawyer was here, too. My heart pumped violently at the realization. No one here knew that
Sawyer was on our side. They only knew about Lincoln. He could be killed by friendlies. Or killed by his father if he was
caught helping us.
I put my hand over my heart and looked toward the window as I reached out to him with my mind.
Sawyer, please be safe.
His reply was almost instant. You too. Where are you?
The main house. All the women are being kept in the main house in the front room.
Sawyer was quiet for a long moment. My dad‘s given orders for us to bring any women in alive. I’ll do my best to keep
everyone away from the house.
Willa squeezed my hand, bringing me back to reality. “It’s Sawyer, isn’t it?”
I turned to look at her, my mind racing. “What do you mean?”
She gave me a sad smile. “I know that look. You were talking to him in your mind, weren’t you?”
I moved closer to Willa so I could whisper in her ear. “Nobody knows about that. Not really, anyway.”
Willa nodded and looked down at her lap. “Sawyer was one of the only people who was kind to me. He protected me from
the moment I stepped foot onto his pack’s land. If it weren’t for him, I’d have been dead before you even made it there. I owe
him so much, and you too. Your secret is safe with me.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “He is one of the good ones.”
“I’m glad he’s on our side. I hope he can make the difference in this fight.”
I hummed my agreement. Sawyer being on our side was huge, but it put him at risk. His role wasn’t going to be easy. People
were going to die. Alpha Dane had already made that clear, and Sawyer had to play his part.
Willa shifted on the couch and ended up leaning forward so she could see out the window too. “How long, do you think? Do
you think the fighting has already started? I don’t hear anything.”
I blew out a long breath. “I’m not sure, and I hope not long.”
The faster the battle ended, the more likely the outcome was not good. But the longer it was, the more casualties there would
be. It was a lose-lose for all.
Willa squirmed. “I don’t think I can just keep sitting here. I can feel Jacob’s anxiety too, and it makes it all worse.”
I knew the feeling. With the way my heart was pounding so fast and the blood pumping through my veins, I wanted to be out
there running, fighting, too.
“What did my mom say about the baby?” I asked.
We both needed something to take our minds off this.
Willa turned back to me. “It’s still too early to detect anything with any medical equipment. She said it could be a few weeks
yet before that’s possible. But I can feel it. I think it’s okay. Your mom said that I looked good physically, other than my leg. Not
being able to shift sucks. I didn’t think I’d get pregnant my first time. Honestly, I’m not sure we were thinking at all, but I’m
happy.”
I put my other hand over the top of hers and patted it. “That’s good news, and my mom always says that everything happens
for a reason.”
Even the bad things.
I rolled my shoulders back and tilted my head from side to side, but it didn’t relieve the building tension between my
shoulder blades. “I’m sorry I didn’t come by to check on you sooner.”
My gaze slipped back to the window. I still couldn’t see anything out there. The deer were gone. I guess they finally came to
their senses, or the fighting scared them off.
Willa tapped her foot on the floor. “It is good news. After everything that’s happened, I think we could all use it. And I know
you’ve been busy. We’ve been back less than a day, and it feels like it’s been weeks already.”
She was right. Time seemed to be moving fast and slow at the same time. It had been this way since I’d arrived at Pack Wolf
Blood.
I sat up straighter, my eyes narrowing as I continued to stare outside. I didn’t see anything, but the way my skin was crawling
on the back of my neck made me think that something was out there. “I spoke to my father and some of the other alphas about
our time inside the pack.”
Willa shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I wish I could wake up and it was a horrible dream.”
My pulse spiked, and the hair on my arms tickled. I still couldn’t see anything outside, but every instinct in my body was
telling me to run, and it took everything I had to stay rooted in my spot.
I inhaled a deep breath and let it out before standing up. I walked to the window on rubbery legs and stared outside,
watching, searching.
I narrowed my eyes and pumped my fists at my side. They were close. But where?
There! In the distance were two wolves skulking toward the house through the brush.
My mom came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder, making me jump. She put her mouth practically next to my ear.
“What do you see?”
My fingers twitched. I wanted to point, but if they were watching me, I didn’t want them to know I’d seen them. It might make
them speed up their attack.
“They’re next to the bushes, hiding just to the right of them.” I sounded breathless.
Sweat beaded on my brow, and I wiped my palms on my pants.
My mom inched forward a little farther and was practically hugging me from behind. “I see them too. If they get any closer, I
want you to shift. Do you hear me?”
My mom smoothed my back with her palm. “And if things look like they’re going to turn upside down, I want you to take the
women you can, and I want you to run.”
I turned toward her with a gasp. “Mom.”
My mom pressed her lips together into a thin line. “Sloane, don’t get me wrong. I want you to fight, but if it’s obvious we
have lost, you need to take those able to run. Don’t look back. We have made some friends in Tennessee. They are sending
reinforcements even now. But should we fall before then, you should go there for help.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
My mom squeezed my shoulder. “Please don’t argue with me, Sloane. We all know what will happen to these women if they
are captured.”
I gritted my teeth and steeled my shoulders. “Then we won’t lose.”
My mom smiled. “One of the things I love about you, my love. You are so strong, even when you have every right to be
afraid. And don’t lose your hope. No matter what happens. Promise me.”
Movement caught my eye, and I sucked in a breath. It was them; they were coming.
My mom pulled me back from the window and into the center of the room. She grabbed my hand tightly as she turned to
address everyone. “At least two enemy wolves are coming. Sloane, transition. Anyone else who is able to fight, please shift to
help protect those who can’t.”
She let go of my hand and nudged me away. “Should we fall, anyone who is able to run should. There’s a pack in Tennessee
who has agreed to take us in if needed. Go there. Don’t wait.”
No one got the chance to argue with her or ask any questions. The glass shattered behind us, sending a chorus of screams
echoing through the front room.
I jumped backward, my own scream sticking in my throat. Two wolves darted toward the window I was just at, and a man
stood outside holding a brick in his hand. He lifted his arm up and tossed the brick like it was a baseball.
It hit the glass, shattering it. Shards of glass fell like a waterfall.
The two wolves ran towards the opening. I stood rooted in my spot, my mind spinning a million miles a minute.
Sawyer’s voice popped into my mind. Sloane! You have to fight. I’ll be there.
You have to fight, he’d said.
I snapped out of my trance. Pull yourself together, girl.
Sawyer was coming, and he would help. I just had to stay alive and keep everyone else here alive a little while longer. I took
a few steps back from my mom, looked around, making sure the coast was clear, before I leaped forward, triggering my
transition.
My wolf sprang to the surface. My bones snapped and realigned in a matter of seconds. I landed on all fours and focused my
attention back to the window.
I could hear the crackling of other bones. Good. I wasn’t going to be fighting alone.
I hunkered down and licked my lips. My pulse roared in my ears as the two wolves approached the window. Almost here.
I couldn’t breathe. The room tunneled around me. The first wolf growled and then leaped toward the window. I lunged
forward, launching myself at him.
We caught each other in midair. My attack surprised him and gave me an advantage. I twisted so that when we landed I was
over top of him. The moment we hit the ground, I started to tear into him. He wiggled beneath me, fighting to get the upper hand.
I had to be fast. He was a trained enforcer and much stronger than me.
I extended my claws and drug them down his torso.
He yelped in pain and fought harder. Somehow, he managed to get his bottom feet beneath my belly and pushed up, sending
me flying off. I soared through the air and landed with a crunch on my right side.
It knocked the air out of my lungs, leaving me wheezing and my chest screaming. There was no time to lick my wounds. I
scrambled back to my feet, the hair on my back rising as I snarled at him.
He sprang forward, and I darted to the left, barely avoiding him.
The wolf snarled at me and stalked forward. I snapped my gaze around the room, looking for reinforcements.
I blinked my eyes rapidly as every muscle in my body tightened. No one could help me. Only two other women had
transitioned, not as many as I’d thought, and they were both taking on the second wolf together.
I gulped. It was up to me to fend this goon off by myself.
My mind spun, and the room closed in around me. The only thing I could hear was the frantic beat of my pulse roaring in my
ears.
Sloane! I’m coming. Be strong. Almost there.
Sawyer’s voice grounded me.
I snapped my gaze to the wolf and growled. He surged forward. I hopped up on my back two feet, and we caught each other
in a deadly embrace. I gnashed my teeth at him, but he was stronger than me.
He shoved me backward. My paws slid across the floor, scrambling for purchase, but he was too big. I was going down. My
body tilted to the right. I made one last-ditch effort to keep my footing but failed.
The wolf snarled at me, his sharp canines inches from my throat. This was not how it would end for me.
I wriggled, getting my front right foot under him. I flexed my paws and swiped at his underbelly with my claws. They sank
into the wound I’d already given him. I dragged my paw across it, sinking my nails in as deeply as I could.
He whined, winced, and then backed off me. He shook his head and took a few steps back, like he might be trying to decide
if he was ready to go for round three. I twisted and got to my feet. He looked over his shoulder and then at me again. If wolves
could smile, I’d say he was grinning. I darted my gaze around the room until I saw what he was so proud of.
The two women must have lost their fight with the other wolf, because he was stalking toward my mom and Willa.
They were trapped in a corner with nowhere to run. My mom stood protectively in front of Willa. They didn’t stand a chance
against him as humans, and there was no way I would get over there in time.
The wolf ducked down, ready to lunge.
 Three

Sloane

TIME STOPPED. I COULDN’T breathe. My heart hammered in my chest as I dove to the side and sprinted for my mom.
I was never going to get there in time, but I had to try. The wolf behind me launched himself at me and landed on my back. I
yelped and ducked down, rolling to the right with my momentum.
It was enough to shake him off me. I sprang to my feet and bolted for my mom and Willa.
Another wolf flew through the open window. Its scent hit me, making my belly do a flip-flop.
Sawyer.
He was here. A weight lifted off me, and I could breathe again.
He lunged toward where my mom and Willa were cornered and attacked the wolf. He pounced on top of him, drove him to
the ground, and somehow snapped his neck in a matter of seconds.
The wolf went limp beneath him; he turned back toward me. His eyes widened, and an overwhelming sense of fear
surrounded me, making my pulse quicken.
Sawyer’s voice screamed in my head, Sloane, behind you.
I’d been so focused on saving my mom and Willa that I’d forgotten about the guy behind me. I moved to the side with just
enough time to avoid being clobbered. The wolf snarled at me and made like it was going to attack.
He never got that far.
Sawyer was there. He was everywhere. He finished wolf number two just as fast as he finished the first one. He moved
away from his victim, his eyes darting around the room before finally landing on me. Our gazes locked.
Are you hurt? he asked through our bond, his voice coming out a growl.
I did a quick mental assessment. I might be a little sore, but I was unscathed for the most part. I’ll be all right.
Good.
I could hear the relief in his voice, even though he wasn’t actually speaking to me out loud.
His attention snapped to the window, and his wolf seemed to relax before he spoke to me again. My father has given the
order to retreat. We just got word that more enforcement for you is on the way, and we are going to be outnumbered.
I let out a breath and sat down on my haunches. Thank goodness.
Sawyer ducked his head down and exhaled. Sloane, it’s not over yet. It won’t be over until my dad is dead. You may have
won today, but believe me, we will be back.
We?
Sawyer glanced back up to meet my gaze. Yes, we. I can’t protect you here as well as I can there. My dad doesn’t know
what I’ve done. I can be your eyes and ears on the other side. I can tell you when he’s coming and what he’s planning. And
someone has to stay there to help Lincoln.
My belly did a somersault at the mention of Lincoln. He’s in rough shape.
Sawyer’s nostrils flared. I know, which is why I have to go back. Mikey is on the warpath. My dad gave him free rein to do
whatever he wanted to Lincoln.
Oh God. My stomach turned, and I thought I might get sick. I’d seen enough of Mikey to know that he was malicious and pure
evil. He was going to enjoy torturing his brother.
Sawyer took a step forward like he might nuzzle my neck, but he stopped and retreated a few steps back. I have to go before
my father becomes suspicious of my absence. Stay safe, Sloane. Train. Practice fighting. Build up a tolerance for
wolfsbane.
That’s right, the wolfsbane. I’d been meaning to talk to my dad about that. It had just been so crazy, and everyone had a
million questions they wanted an answer to right away.
 Sawyer backed away from me, drawing me from my thoughts. He was going to leave.
A lump formed in my throat. Sawyer.
He shook his head. I have to go, Sloane. I’ll always protect you, and the best way for me to do that is by going back with
my dad.
With those words, he darted away, leaped back out the window, and hurried into the trees. I watched until I couldn’t see him
anymore. My heart was heavy, and my eyes burned like I might cry. A low yowl escaped my throat before I could stop it.
My mom‘s voice brought me back to reality. “I’ve just heard from Alpha that they are retreating. Is anyone in here hurt?”
I turned back toward the room. There was glass everywhere, plus the two dead wolves who had shifted back into men upon
their demise. One of the women who had transitioned with me was licking at a particularly nasty wound on her flank, and the
other had a hind leg that was mangled. Aside from that, everyone else was unscathed.
We had been lucky, and we all knew it.
My mom looked at me with a frown on her face. It was the look she gave me when she was worried about something.
“Sloane, why don’t you get changed? We must prepare for the wounded.”
I ducked my head down and bounded up the stairs toward my room. The door was open just a crack, and I was able to nudge
it open all the way with my nose.
I triggered my shift, arching my back and stretching out my legs. The bones snapped, realigning until I was crouched on the
floor in my human form. I stood and went to my dresser, grabbing the first things I found and throwing them on. I only took a
moment more to toss my hair up so it was out of my eyes before making my way back downstairs.
The enforcers and alphas were already trickling in. Severely injured were being sent to the infirmary, and those who could
heal with a quick shift were sent to the kitchen for some food. Shifting sped up our metabolism. Speaking of, I was famished,
but that would have to wait. My mom was waiting for me.
I hurried down the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood as I did. I pushed the door open. My mom looked up
to meet my gaze, and she waved me all the way in. She’d already set out antiseptic and stuff for stitches, along with a crap ton
of gauze.
I looked around the room and chewed on my bottom lip. The room smelled sterile, and it made my nose itch. The walls were
a bright white, and the lighting overhead made the room feel like a movie set. I hated it.
“What do you want me to do?”
She pointed toward the medicine cabinet. “Get syringes and some ice packs. I want everything on hand. Who knows what we
might need.”
Licking my lips, I went to the cabinet, started pulling out the supplies, and set them on the table by the gurney. “Have you
heard how bad it is yet?”
My mom let out a heavy sigh. “We’re still counting the casualties on our side. There are at least six severely wounded who
will need immediate medical attention and can’t transition. And multiple others that I’m not sure about.”
A lump formed in my throat. Casualties. We’d lost people. I knew it was going to happen, but it didn’t make it any easier.
I closed the cabinet door and turned back to my mom. “Is there anything else you need me to get ready?”
My mom looked up. The worry lines came back, and she set the rest of the bandages she had in her hand on the table. “What
happened back there, Sloane?”
I wiped my hands on my pants and did my best to avoid her gaze. “What do you mean?”
Her nostrils flared, and she smacked her hands on the table, making the tools rattle, before going to the door and shutting it
all the way. “Don’t play coy with me, Sloane. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
I sighed and looked down at the floor. I curled my toes against the icy-white marbled tile. “Sawyer is on our side, Mom. I
already told you about how he helped Willa and me.”
She made a sound in the back of her throat. “That back there went a lot further than just helping. Are you sure he isn’t trying
to lure you into a trap? Are you willing to stake the pack and your family’s lives on that?”
I snapped my head up and met her gaze. “Yes, I would bet everything on that.”
I stood taller, pulling my shoulders back. Sawyer was one of us. I could feel it in my heart.
My mom‘s jaw worked, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “He is much like his father. You are young. He could be
using you to get close, to gain your trust so that he can pull the ultimate betrayal.”
I swallowed and shook my head. “It’s not like that, Mom. I know him. I trust him.”
She dropped her hands to her sides and fisted them. “How? How can you know that? Sloane, you were there for barely a
week.”
It was my turn to be angry now. “You don’t know what I went through there. You don’t know what I thought, Mom. Sawyer is
a good man. He’s my mate, and I trust him with my life and everyone else’s here, too.”
My mom licked her lips, and one of her hands went to the necklace at her throat. She always wore the heart-shaped gem
around her neck. It had been a gift from my dad on their wedding day.
“Mate?” The anger seemed to have left her voice.
 I drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then nodded.
She rubbed the necklace between her fingers. “The way you spoke earlier, I assumed that it was Lincoln.”
My pulse spiked as I tried to think of what to tell her, how to make her understand something that I barely did. It was
impossible, and yet here we were. “Lincoln and Sawyer are twins, Mom. I don’t understand it, but both of them are my mates.”
My mom was quiet for a long time and just stared at me, her mouth going slack. “Both of them?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave myself a hug. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
She dropped her necklace and moved her hands to her temples. “Twins are very rare for shifters. But it’s my understanding
that human twins are very close. I don’t see why it would be too hard of a stretch for that to extend to shifter twins as well.”
I looked down at the floor and gathered my thoughts before addressing her again. “I trust both of them. I know Sawyer comes
across as being tough and cold, but he’s not. He just wants to protect Lincoln and me.”
My mom came across the room and put both hands on my shoulders. “If it hadn’t been for him, I would have died today.
Willa too, probably. I’m sorry I was angry, Sloane. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. He’s his father’s right-hand man. It’s
hard to believe that he’s on our side, but if you trust him…”
I put my hand over hers. “I do. He wants to stop his dad just as much as we do. The only reason he went back today is
because Lincoln is still there.” My face fell and my stomach knotted. “He’s in bad shape. He got caught helping Willa and me
escape. He’s the whole reason we were able to get away, and he’s paying the price for that betrayal.”
She reached up and patted my cheek. “If you say you trust him and that he is your mate, then that gives me no other choice but
to trust him, too. But be careful with him. I know you think he’s good, but his father is very evil. And if Alpha Dane knows
Lincoln betrayed him, then, well, let’s not go down that road.”
She gave me a tight-lipped smile.
She didn’t need to tell me twice. My mind was already reeling with what Sawyer had said about Mikey having free rein on
Lincoln. That sicko could do anything to him.
The infirmary door burst open, and two men brought in an injured wolf that I didn’t know. My mom and I sprang apart. My
mom hurried to the other side of the table and instructed the men to lay him down gently.
She started barking out orders, and the two guys fell in line, getting her what she needed before disappearing out of the room
again.
I stepped up to the table. The guy was unconscious, and he looked like he was barely breathing. He had a long laceration that
stretched from his right shoulder all the way down to his hip bone on the left side. The wound was deep, and his chest was
painted crimson from the blood loss.
My mom used a damp cloth to start cleaning up his chest.
My stomach turned. He’d been cut so deeply you could see all the way to the bone. I wasn’t sure how he was even still alive.
My hand flew to my mouth as bile crept up my throat, making me gag.
My mom’s eyes darted up toward me. “Are you going to be all right?”
I swallowed and exhaled slowly. I stood taller and met her gaze. “Yes, I’ve just never seen an injury this bad before.”
My mom slumped down, and she looked down at the man with a small shake of her head. Her lips were pressed into a thin
line, and even she looked a little pale. “Neither have I. I have a feeling we will see worse before the war is over.”
Guilt washed over me again, and I had to remind myself for what felt like the millionth time that this wasn’t my fault.
My mom must’ve read my thoughts because she looked at me again. “The fighting was coming whether you came back home
or not, Sloane. These men who have joined us… They’re all missing their daughters or sisters. Some even had their wives
taken. He seems interested in any woman of childbearing age, regardless of whether they are mated. Alpha Dane hurt a lot of
people. Don’t blame yourself.”
My throat felt scratchy, making me clear it before I could speak. “I know. It’s just hard not to.”
My mom pointed toward the table. “Hand me the scissors and the alcohol and the sutures. And I know it’s not your fault, and
I know you know it too, but I’m going to keep reminding you so that any time you feel guilt slipping in, you know the truth.”
I handed my mom the requested items while I slid my gaze over the injured man. He had cuts all over his body and a
particularly nasty one on his temple.
“Do you want me to clean up the head wound?”
My mom stood on her tiptoes and looked up to where I was pointing. “Yes, please. I fear he is also going to need a blood
transfusion, and fast. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
My mom cut some of the suturing string off. “I did ask some of the girls to start collecting blood and bring it to us, as I feel
there might be a need for it.”
I dabbed at the guy’s forehead, cleaning the cut as best I could. This wound was also deep. I could see the soft tissue.
Emotion clogged my throat. “Do you think he’s going to make it?”
My mom pressed her lips together into a thin line. “I’m not sure. These wounds are deep. Even if we do get them sutured, he
will need blood. The risk of infection is high. They definitely know how to cut deeply, and he won’t be in any condition to shift
for a while. Willa’s wound was just as bad. The infection is what worries me the most about her and everyone else.”
 “Poor Willa.” I’d known she was injured, and I’d seen the infection, but at the time, I’d been so caught up in saving our lives
and escaping that I hadn’t even seen how badly hurt she truly was.
Willa might be emotional, but that girl was a fighter.
“She said that you gave her a clean bill of health, for the most part?”
My mom sighed and leaned against the gurney as she worked. “The infection seems to be under control. It looked swollen
last time I checked, but still better than when she first got here. The antibiotics I gave her are helping. When I first saw her leg,
I feared we might have to amputate. Thank goodness it won’t come to that.”
My eyes widened and my belly churned. It had been that bad?
A thought occurred to me then. “Mom, could wolfsbane allow them to cut deeper, and could it cause these terrible
infections?”
My mom stopped what she was doing and looked up at me. A thoughtful expression appeared on her face. “Wolfsbane?”
I went back to dabbing at the wound on the guy’s head and put some antiseptic on it. “Pack Wolf Blood uses wolfsbane,
Mom. They’ve been taking a little bit at a time so they can use that against their enemies. I know that’s what they did to the
Delidos so that they couldn’t shift.”
My mom started suturing again. Her face had gotten paler, and her eyes were misty. “I know. Your dad has let a few men try
it.”
“You don’t approve?”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Wolfsbane is like poison to us. We don’t know the long-term effects it could
have, and you may be right that it is causing these severe injuries. I’d like to beat Pack Wolf Blood without stooping to their
level. Intentionally poisoning ourselves is a disaster waiting to happen.”
“But it is possible to build up a tolerance to that?”
My mom made a face like she was about to get sick. “I suppose it could be. I know that humans have built tolerances to
poisons before. But I would suspect it would cause kidney problems as they try to cleanse their systems. And there’s a
possibility that it could still make someone very sick or even kill them at that. There is no telling how someone’s body will
react.”
I bit my lip. “Do you think it’s something we should consider for everyone?”
“I’m against it. It’s your father who is open to the idea. It could be dangerous. Imagine if one of the kids got ahold of it
somehow.” She pressed her lips together as she shook her head. “But he does have a point. It could also help us. If we build a
tolerance to it as well, it makes the playing field much more even in the next battle. But going down the same road that evil man
is going is a slippery slope. For all we know, the wolfsbane is what made him mad.”
She pointed towards the guy’s head. “You should start suturing that one as well. The area is clean, and you don’t want to
damage the skin around it.”
I picked up the supplies with trembling hands as I considered my mom’s words. Alpha Dane’s pack would never fight fair,
but we had to do something.
Our lives and freedom depended on it.
 Four

Sloane

I SIGHED AS I threw my bath towel in the hamper. Eleven dead and thirteen severely wounded. Four of them were critical.
Mom said if they made it through the night, it was a good sign, but without the ability to shift, they had to heal the normal way.
A severe injury made shifting risky because it could cause further damage or even death. We still had to be stable enough to
change. It took a tremendous amount of energy.
I shook those thoughts away as I flipped off the light and made my way into my bedroom.
It had been a long day, and I was happy to tiptoe across my beige carpet and curl beneath my comforter. I pulled the plush
bedding up to my chin. My eyes slid shut the second my head hit the pillow.
It didn’t take long for the humming and the odd sensation of connecting to one of my mates. I held my breath, wondering if
this would be a pleasant encounter or if Lincoln was being tortured again. I prayed it was the former.
I blinked my eyes open and frowned. We were in Lincoln’s room. I breathed in the earthy aroma and felt the muscles in my
body begin to unwind.
The corners of my mouth twitched as I turned, and my gaze landed on Lincoln. He was standing in the middle of the room,
looking as sexy as he had the first day I’d met him, and not a scratch or bruise on his body.
“Is this real?” I fought the urge to run into his arms.
The floorboards creaked as he closed the distance between us. He reached out and took both my hands. “It’s real enough.
We’re both sleeping. We can be wherever we want to be this way.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as a lump formed in my throat. I gulped in a deep breath. We were together. That was what mattered.
I didn’t want to waste our time being sad. Maybe I could will us some place away from all of this.
“I’d like to be on the beach with the hot sand between my toes and the waves crashing against the shore.” I peeked one eye
open and then the other.
My shoulders slumping, I looked down at the hardwood floor and huffed. I wanted to take Lincoln far away from here.
Someplace safe and warm, if only for a little while. Tears burned my eyes and I sniffled. “That didn’t work.”
Lincoln chuckled. “There might be some limitation on what we can do. I’ve never been to the beach, but I’ve always wanted
to go.” He shrugged and looked around his room. “This should do.”
I tugged on his hand and led him to the bed. The mattress dipped beneath me as I took a seat. I patted the spot next to me.
“How are you feeling? You look good.”
Lincoln blew out a long breath as he sank down next to me. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him. I let
my head fall against his shoulder and my eyes slip shut again, and I just inhaled his scent. Pine needles were my new favorite
smell. Calmness washed over me as I exhaled.
I burrowed into his neck. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He ran his hand up and down my arm. “We’re sleeping. Dreaming, in a way. I feel perfectly fine right now.”
I guess that made sense that he would feel good in a dream. Physically, he was probably hurting. I wished I could take his
pain away. Get Mikey away from him so he would stop hurting him.
Lincoln kissed the top of my head. “I don’t want to think about all that right now. I want to just enjoy my time with you.”
I kissed his neck. “It’s funny how we’ve become accustomed to being with each other. I feel like we’ve known each other a
lifetime already.”
Lincoln and Sawyer were home. I didn’t think I would ever feel comfortable again until we were all three together in the
same room for real. For now, this would have to do.
Lincoln combed his hands through my hair. “I miss having you in my bed.” He rested his cheek on my head. “Tell me about
the ocean. Have you been?”
 I couldn’t stop my smile. “My mom and dad used to take us on vacations every few years when we were younger. I loved the
ocean. If I wasn’t swimming, I was just watching the waves crash against the shore.”
I closed my eyes and could almost catch a whiff of sea salt.
“Maybe one day, me, you, and Sawyer can all go together.” He sounded wistful.
“Have you ever been?” I asked quietly.
He made a sound in the back of his throat. “No. We’ve always stuck close to home, even before anything happened with my
mom and sister. I think my dad has always had paranoia. It just got amplified after they died. Now the only time we ever go out
is to terrorize neighboring packs.”
I opened my mouth and then shut it again. I didn’t know what to say to that.
Lincoln put his hand on my thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “One of the things I’m looking forward to most is starting a
new life for everyone.”
I turned so that I was facing him. “I like that idea a lot.”
He nudged me. “Where else have you been besides the ocean?”
I chuckled and looked down at my hands. “We took a trip up to the East Coast, New York City, and then Boston. It’s not the
same as the ocean or even home. Too many people, too many smells, and it’s never quiet. I swear nobody in those towns ever
sleeps.”
Lincoln rubbed my leg, his hand slowly inching up my thigh. “I’ve heard that, but I wasn’t sure if it was actually true or not.”
I shrugged. “It might not be so bad for normal people, but we have heightened senses. I feel like it’s especially worse for us
because there are no trees, no place to run. I get antsy if I can’t shift at least every other day.”
“Did you go there just for a vacation? Or something else?”
I shook my head. “We did a lot of fun things while we were there, but we were also there for business. My dad was meeting
with some of the alphas from around the nation.”
Lincoln sat up straighter but didn’t say anything.
I drew in a breath and then let it out. “This was about three years ago. I think a lot of people knew your dad was becoming
unhinged. They started making preparations, but a lot of people also didn’t want to acknowledge that there was a problem.
That’s why it’s gotten so bad now. It’s because nobody thought it would ever affect them.”
Lincoln huffed and shook his head. “Yeah, I can understand that. History is full of people who knew things were going awry
but chose to do nothing instead.”
“I guess it’s true what they say. History always repeats itself. I just hope one day we can all learn from our mistakes.”
Lincoln was quiet for a moment. “I’m sure the packs will learn from this. They will have to.”
I thought that too. But hopefully, it wasn’t at such a cost that it made everyone lose their livelihoods. My mind drifted to the
men who had died today and then to the ones who were still fighting for their lives. This war wasn’t going to be forgotten.
I shook my head and closed my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this. If this is the only time we get together, just us, I want to
talk about something else. Anything else.”
Lincoln leaned forward and kissed my lips. His mouth was soft and moved gently against mine. I wound my hands around the
back of his neck as I scooted closer to him. I was happy to just stay here and kiss him.
His hand moved from my thigh to my hip, and he pulled me closer so I was sitting on his lap. His gaze drifted from my eyes
to my lips. “We can keep talking, or we can just relax for a few minutes.”
I pressed myself against him, groaning when I felt his hardened cock beneath my butt. Heat bloomed inside me, and the
moment would have almost been perfect except…
“What about Sawyer?”
Lincoln gave me another peck. “We won’t do anything without him if you don’t want to. I just want to love on you for a few
minutes, nothing more. And I don’t think he would mind. Nor would I if it was just the two of you. We are all three together, but
it doesn’t mean we have to do everything together. Does that make sense?”
I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth and nodded. “It does. I just don’t want anyone to feel like they’re being left out. You
both are important to me.”
Lincoln put his hand under my chin and tilted my face so I was looking at him. “No one is going to feel left out. Sawyer and I
are happy to have you. Whether it’s both of us together or one of us at a time, we both understand and are okay with it.”
I shifted in his lap so I was straddling him. We both moaned when his length rubbed against my core.
“I think I’m spoiled from the last time. Both of you at the same time…” My face flushed and my heart quickened at just the
thought of them both filling me again.
Lincoln put his hands on my hips and helped me move so I was grinding against him. “We’ll have that again, sweetheart. I
promise.”
I let my head fall back as I put my hands on his shoulders. “Are you sure Sawyer won’t mind?”
My voice was breathless and barely recognizable to my own ears.
Lincoln leaned forward and kissed the column of my neck until his lips were against my ear. “Why don’t you ask him
yourself?”
I didn’t get a chance to ask him what he meant. Sawyer’s scent enveloped me, and I felt him behind me before he spoke.
“Lincoln’s right.” He pressed his belly against my back, reaching one hand down to my breast so he could knead it.
I couldn’t hold back a breathless giggle as I turned to look at him. “How long have you been here?”
Sawyer gave me a wide smile as he squeezed my nipple, rolling it into a tight bud through my thin tank top. “Long enough
that I can tell you that what Lincoln said is absolutely correct.”
He pressed himself against me, sandwiching me between the both of them. His cock was rock hard against my back. I was so
hot right now, I might’ve melted.
His other hand went to my other breast, fondling it through the fabric of my shirt. “We both just want to make sure that you’re
happy and safe. One of us can take care of you, or both of us. It’s just whatever the moment brings.”
Sawyer took his hands off me and backed away. I whimpered, immediately missing the warmth.
He stood up and went to the window, pumping his hands at his sides. “We will be home soon. I’ve never seen my dad retreat
before. It’s a good thing you had reinforcements arrive today. I’m not sure how much longer your pack would’ve withstood that
attack. My dad won’t underestimate you again.”
I looked down at my lap. The mood had been shattered by reality.
I slid off Lincoln and took the spot next to him again. “I know. We were very lucky. We were lucky you were there.”
He’d saved my mom and Willa. Maybe even all of us.
Sawyer turned back toward us and leaned against the wall. “I want you to learn to fight, Sloane. Lincoln and I will teach you
when we can, when we meet like this. But someone else will have to help as well.”
I pressed my lips together. “I’ll speak to my dad about it as soon as I wake up.”
Sawyer bowed his head. “Good.”
Lincoln cleared his throat. “Have you been using my computer and the website to connect with other packs? There are
hundreds across the world we can reach out to.” He rubbed my back as he spoke.
I nodded. “We have. I think my dad and some of the other alphas were already working on a plan before we even sent out the
SOS.”
Lincoln smoothed his hand down my spine and let it rest just above my hip. “I’m glad. I don’t want anything to happen to you,
Sloane.”
I arched my brow and twisted so I could cup his face. “Me? I’m more worried about you. Mikey has no soul.”
He was as cold and callous as his father. Maybe even worse. That was a terrifying thought. At least Alpha Dane had a
motive, as twisted as it was. Mikey just seemed to enjoy inflicting harm.
Sawyer pushed off the wall and closed the distance between us, his feet thudding across the hardwood.
He stopped in front of us and crouched down. “You are both in grave danger. I’m doing everything I can to keep the both of
you safe.”
Sawyer looked over his shoulder and frowned. He shot up to his feet. “I have to go. We’re home.”
He disappeared just as fast as he’d come. Before I could say anything else, Lincoln began to fidget beside me. The room
around me began to fade and then took shape as the barn.
My pulse roared in my ears, and I couldn’t breathe as I realized that we weren’t alone anymore, or rather Lincoln wasn’t.
Mikey was here too, and judging by the wicked gleam on his face, he was back to punish Lincoln.
 Five

Sawyer

I PUMPED MY FISTS at my side. The leaves and twigs crackled beneath my feet as my father and I marched toward the barn.
My stomach ached and my mind wouldn’t shut off as I worried about what I might find and what I would have to do.
Dad was always testing me.
It wasn’t just my apprehension I had to contend with. I could feel my mates’ emotions. It made my heart pound violently
against my ribs and the hairs on my arms stand on end.
My nostrils flared as their fear hit me like a semitruck. Sloane. God, was she still connected to Lincoln?
I didn’t want her to see this. Mikey was brutal, and my father would only encourage his actions. It was like he didn’t care
how far Mikey went, even though we both knew that he was out of his mind.
We were close enough to the barn now that I could hear Mikey screaming at Lincoln. He wanted answers. Ones that my
brother would never give to him.
Lincoln wasn’t a fighter like I was, but he was one of the strongest people I knew, even though he wore his emotions on his
sleeves. I envied my brother in that way sometimes. His connection to Sloane was already so much deeper because of it. He
knew how to touch her and when.
I knew that Lincoln understood me. We’d been mates in a way since the womb. It was Sloane I worried about. I didn’t ever
want her to think that I was cold and callous like the rest of my family.
My father rubbed his hands together as we approached. I could almost feel the excitement coming off him.
“If anyone can break Lincoln, it will be Mikey.” He sounded proud, like we were talking about winning some grand prize
and not beating one of his sons into submission.
I gritted my teeth and fisted my hands so tightly I almost triggered a shift.
Control yourself!
I cleared the tickle out of my throat. “Lincoln is of no use to us if we can’t even talk to him.”
My dad grumbled under his breath. “True, but there are ways of getting him to talk without completely injuring him.”
He was talking about the wolfsbane. We all took it in very small doses. Just enough so we could build up a tolerance so we
could affect other packs and keep them from shifting without harming ourselves. The doses he was giving to Lincoln were
ridiculously high.
It could kill him.
I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek when I heard Lincoln cry out in pain. I blinked my eyes open and stood taller
and straighter. I lifted my chin up and stared straight ahead. If I showed any weakness towards Lincoln now, we would all be
done for.
“What are our next steps? I’ve never known you to retreat before.”
My dad‘s entire body trembled as a low growl erupted from his throat. “They had more wolves than I expected. It’s a
mistake I won’t be making again.”
I pulled the neck of my sweater away from my throat. “You didn’t use the wolfsbane today.”
It was a statement, not a question. I knew better than to question my dad’s actions. He always had a reason for everything,
even when it was certifiably insane.
Red tinged his cheeks. “Our supply is low. I didn’t think it would be needed. The pack is small, less than a hundred. They
have a lot of extra help there now. At least a hundred enforcers were in the woods. Once we replenish our wolfsbane, they will
pay for the men we lost today, and Sloane and Willa won’t get the same treatment they did during their last stay.”
“What about the baby?” It wasn’t mine. A fact I hoped my father never found out.
My dad frowned. “I have no intentions of killing either of them. All the women will be brought in alive. The baby will be
raised with us in the house. Willa will go with the rest of the women to the enforcers once she gives birth.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Willa would crumble if we took her baby and gave her to the enforcers. She’d barely held it
together living in my room, and I’d never touched her.
A loud thwack crackled through the air, and Lincoln cried out, drawing me from my thoughts and back to the conversation.
“We’ll need more men to do that.”
Lincoln groaned in the distance, and a fleeting image of Sloane that wasn’t mine filled my mind, making me stumble.
Thankfully, my distraction went unnoticed.
Dad didn’t miss a beat. “We will be taking a lot more men with us next time.”
“If we take too many men, we could leave our pack vulnerable.”
My dad put his arm out in front of me, forcing me to stop and turn to him. “I’ve called for reinforcements. The packs we have
taken on are stable now. I’m bringing more of our men home. It’ll take a couple weeks for the men and the wolfsbane, but the
next time we go, there will be hell for what they’ve done to us today.”
I bowed my head. “Good. I’m glad to hear things are going well with the other packs.”
This was horrible news. I had hoped that some of the packs would rebel, put up some sort of fight. It looked like we weren’t
going to be that lucky.
My dad clenched his hand into a tight fist and shook it. “Once we squash the last bit of resistance, we will have the entire
West Coast, and then we’ll start working our way east.”
I forced a smile. “We are making quick work. How long do you think it will take us to cover the entire upper forty-eight?”
“It took us three years to get to where we are. A little over, actually. With our manpower now, we should be able to move
faster. And there are fewer packs in the more populated areas.”
My dad dropped his arm and motioned for me to follow his lead. We were almost at the barn now.
“And what happens after we take all the packs in the US?”
My dad put his hand on the barn door and gave me a wicked smile. “Why would we stop there? We will move into Mexico,
Canada, maybe even to Europe. But I think most importantly, we need to build our numbers.”
I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. “You’re still intending to tell the human world about us?”
He looked at me like I was mad for not seeing his master plan the way he did. “Of course I am. They need to know that we
are superior to them. What they did to your mother and sister is unacceptable. I won’t see any other pack suffer at their hands
ever again.”
My father and I have had this fight over a dozen times. There was a reason we didn’t tell people that shifters existed. Sure,
we could shift and we were fast and strong, but they had guns and tanks and bombs. At the end of the day, we could be as strong
as we are, and it wouldn’t matter going up against any of that.
My dad patted my shoulder before throwing the barn door open. He strode toward Mikey and greeted him with a clap on the
back.
I stood in the doorway for a long moment. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Lincoln. He was lying on the dirty barn floor.
Cuts and bruises riddled his body, and dirt and straw stuck to the dried blood.
The smell of his blood and sweat mingled with his natural earthy scent, making me gag. I put a hand over my mouth and
feigned a cough.
I needed to figure out how to get him out of here. That wasn’t going to be an easy task. My father was watching everyone like
a hawk.
Speaking of, my dad turned back to look at me.
I forced my gaze away from my twin and marched into the barn. I stopped a few feet from Lincoln and did my best not to
look at him. As I swept my gaze over the barn, I exhaled slowly, realizing that Sloane wasn’t here. Lincoln was blocking her.
He’d gotten good at that. I was both glad and sad about it at the same time.
No one should have to endure Mikey’s torture alone, but Sloane didn’t need to see this.
My dad looked between Mikey and me. Then he moved closer to Lincoln and kicked him right in the side. I gnashed my teeth
together and forced myself to watch without flinching.
Pain ricocheted down my side, making my vision tunnel.
Shit! I’m feeling Lincoln’s physical pain, too. I hate when this happens. Focus!
I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood. I swayed on my feet before the pain subsided and then disappeared
completely.
Lincoln grunted and curled in on himself.
My dad crouched next to him, grabbing onto his dark hair and yanking his head back. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Lincoln.
Just answer your brother’s questions.”
Lincoln blinked up at my dad with an angry glare. His nostrils flared. “No.”
My dad flung Lincoln back so fast I was afraid his head was going to snap off. “You would rather help them than your own
family?”
 He stomped back and forth in front of Lincoln.
Lincoln swiped at his bloody lip with the back of his arm. He didn’t try to get up though. “I can’t go along with what you’re
doing, Dad. You’re killing innocent people. I’m afraid to even ask what’s happening to the women being kept in the enforcers’
barracks.”
My dad stopped pacing and put his hands on his sides as he glared at Lincoln. “I am making things better for us. There will
be some hiccups along the way, and not everyone will agree. But I never thought I’d be fighting against my own son.”
Lincoln looked at the floor and just shook his head. “Mother would’ve never wanted this. Imagine how you would feel if
someone was doing this to Hannah.”
That was the wrong thing to say. My mother and baby sister were a sore spot for my dad. And had been ever since their
deaths.
My dad roared and kicked Lincoln like you would a soccer ball to score the game’s winning shot. I winced at the crack of
ribs breaking. Lincoln wheezed and coughed, fighting to catch his breath. My dad went to kick him again.
“Dad, that’s enough.” I didn’t even realize I’d said the words until both he and Mikey were looking at me.
Lincoln stared too, his eyes wide. He gulped and looked at our dad and brother, watching them closely.
I swallowed and met my dad’s gaze, doing my best to ignore every instinct in me telling me to grab Lincoln and run.
“Look at him.” I motioned to Lincoln, who was still struggling to breathe. “If we keep this up, we run the risk of killing him.
Mikey’s already pumped him full of wolfsbane. He isn’t healing at all. Look at all the bruises and cuts. We will get nothing
from him if he dies.”
I hoped I hadn’t shown my hand. My dad knew that Lincoln and I were close.
My dad scowled as he closed the distance between us, crossing his arms over his chest. “You aren’t getting soft on me now,
are you, Sawyer?”
I kept my eyes locked on my dad’s. “Of course not. I just want to make sure that the one person who can give us the
information we need doesn’t get killed.”
My dad stayed silent for a long minute. He was looking for any signs of weakness in me.
I took the opportunity to further drive my point home. “Lincoln is the only one who knows where his computer is. He’s the
only one who can crack his codes. Even if we trusted someone in town to try to break them, it could take them days or weeks,
maybe even longer. Like it or not, Lincoln is smart, and our best bet is to break him without killing him.”
My dad narrowed his eyes before returning to Lincoln. He sighed. “He does look a little worse for wear. Mikey, lay off the
abuse for another day. Give him a moment to heal before you continue.”
My dad turned back to me and pointed his finger. “You know what I love about you most, Sawyer?”
Love? That was a word I hadn’t heard him utter in years.
When I didn’t answer, he continued, “You have my brashness, but your mother’s calmness. Maybe what we need is for you to
try to talk to him.”
Me? “I can try.”
Mikey growled and threw his arms open as he glared at our father.
Dad snarled at him before turning back to me. “One day, Mikey. Calm down.”
Mikey grinned like a Cheshire cat. “You have twenty-four hours to talk some sense into him. And then I’ll be taking back
over.”
My stomach rolled. God, he actually enjoyed this. My father, at least for all his cruelty, didn’t seem to enjoy hurting us.
My dad put his hands on both mine and Mikey’s shoulders and looked between the two of us before settling his gaze on
Mikey. “It’s just the three of us now, boys. I don’t care what happens to Lincoln once I get the information.”
Mikey whooped and did a fist bump in the air. “Does that mean I can finish him?”
My dad shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll let you do what you wish once we have everything we need. I’ll need to check the
information over and make sure it’s all there first.” The smile slipped from his face, and he held up a finger. “Don’t do anything
before then. We still need him alive for now.”
I swore under my breath and then ground my teeth together.
My actions didn’t go unnoticed.
My dad looked at me and lifted his brow. “Does that bother you, Sawyer?”
“No.” My reply was immediate, and I was proud of myself for keeping my tone even when all I could see was red blurring
my vision.
“Good.” My dad sounded pleased for the moment.
I still had him fooled, or at least I hoped I did.
Mikey moved back toward Lincoln and squatted next to him. “You get a small reprieve, but I’ll be back, and I’ll be ready to
make you talk.”
He smacked a fisted hand into his open palm.
Mikey stood up, twisted on his heel, and then sauntered out of the barn.
 My dad watched him go, only shaking his head slightly once Mikey had disappeared into the night.
I met my dad’s eyes. “I’m worried about Mikey.”
My dad didn’t say anything for a long moment.
Then he scrubbed a hand over his chin and looked away. “We will need men like him. So long as he knows we are in charge,
I’m not worried about it.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze and then turned for the door. “Come on. We have planning to do. Our
next attack will be swift and final.”
 Six

Sawyer

I SHUT THE DOOR to my bedroom and closed my eyes as I sagged against the wood. It was well after three in the morning.
My dad had kept me out all night strategizing and thinking of our next move. He’d been right in saying it would be swift and
final.
I shuddered at what he wanted to do.
Every muscle in my body was on edge. My head pounded with an ache that felt like it would never go away. All I could think
about was my brother lying on that barn floor, and what might happen to Sloane if I failed.
I stood to lose everything. I had to stay strong and keep my emotions in check. My father trusted me. He told me every idea
he had, right down to the gruesome details.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and opened my eyes. My room was dark, the only light coming from the moon as it shone
in from the far window. I kicked my shoes off and headed for the bathroom, then stripped and turned on the water as hot as I
could get it.
I stepped under the steamy stream and let the water pelt me, wishing I could wash away everything.
All I could see was Lincoln beaten and bloody or Sloane about to be attacked. If I hadn’t been there earlier…
I didn’t even want to think like that.
I smacked my hands on the tile hard enough for it to sting. I gritted my teeth so hard that I was afraid I might crack them. This
situation was getting out of control. I needed a plan fast.
The world around me began to spin. A roaring sound filled my ears. But all I heard was white noise until she spoke.
“Sawyer?”
I spun around. Sloane stood just outside the shower, looking like an angel.
“Sloane,” I whispered, my voice breathless.
She stared at me through the glass, her beautiful eyes wide and full of concern. Her long brown hair was tossed up in some
messy do, and loose strands accented her face, making her look sexier than should be possible.
Tears shimmered in her eyes, making me snap out of my funk.
I shut the water off, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around my waist as I exited quickly. “What’s wrong? Is everything
okay?”
She swiped her finger under her eye, but it didn’t stop a tear from falling. “I haven’t been able to get in contact with Lincoln
since earlier. Mikey came back. Do you know if he’s okay?”
I exhaled through my nose and pulled her to me. Breathing in her scent calmed me. She smelled like maple and cinnamon.
“He’s hurt, but he’s alive. I promise. I was there with him not too long ago.”
She sniffled and wrapped her arms around my neck as she buried her face in my shoulder. “I’ve been so worried about the
both of you.”
She pulled away. Her eyes grazed over me like she was inspecting me for injuries.
I cupped her face. “I’ve gotten Lincoln a small break from Mikey. I’m going to have him feed me some bad intel to lead my
dad astray.”
Sloane closed her eyes, her shoulders slumped. “That’s a good idea. How long do you think you can keep that going?”
My dad had given me a day. He wouldn’t give me extra time, but I didn’t want to worry her more. “I’m doing everything I
can to keep the both of you safe.”
It wasn’t enough. I was failing my mates when they needed me the most.
Another tear slid down her cheek. “You saved my mom and Willa today. I don’t know what would have happened if you
hadn’t been there.”
 Nothing good, that’s for sure.
She blinked up at me. “You are still safe, right? Your dad doesn’t suspect anything?”
“We just spent the last few hours talking about our next steps, so no. I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t know about me.”
Sloane reached up and put her palm on my cheek. “Good. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you.”
I cleared my throat and pulled away from her. I went to my dresser and pulled on a pair of boxers and some shorts before
shucking my towel into the hamper in the corner.
Sloane padded after me, going to the bed. She ran her hand over the bedspread.
“It still smells like Willa.” Her nose crinkled.
I cleared my throat. “It’s from all the blood. I don’t think I’ll ever get her scent out.”
And I had tried everything, even bleach. I’d probably have to buy a new mattress.
She wrapped herself in a hug and nodded. Her gaze drifted to the bench at the window, and she shivered.
I grimaced. That was where Willa’s parents’ severed heads had been sitting only a few days ago.
“Can you tell her that I buried them down by the stream?” Or at least I’d buried the pieces of them that I had had.
Sloane licked her lips and tore her gaze away from the bench to stare at the bed. “I’m sure she will appreciate that.”
I shifted my feet. “Nothing ever happened with Willa. You know that, right?”
Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth and shut it. “I know.”
“Good.”
Sloane sighed and let her arms fall to her sides. She sat down and ran her hand over the comforter. “Will you just lay with
me for a little bit?”
“Maybe we could work on some fighting techniques instead. I know Lincoln showed you some already.”
Her face fell. “I’m so tired.”
“I know, but my dad is already making plans for retaliation. You need to be ready. I might not be there next time. I need to
know that you will be able to protect yourself.”
She fidgeted with her hands. Red rimmed her eyes, but she didn’t cry. “I know what’s at stake, Sawyer. I helped my mom
tend to the ones too severely wounded to shift. I saw a man die on our table today. He just faded away despite our efforts. My
mom and I alternated CPR for ten minutes before she called it. A handful of men might not make it through the night. It’s been an
awful day. Tomorrow, we can do whatever training you want. I just want to lick my wounds tonight.”
“Sloane.” There was no time for rest. “My dad is already making preparations for the next time we attack. He’s getting more
wolfsbane and calling in more men. As soon as he has both the men and wolfsbane, he’s coming back. You need to be ready.”
She shot to her feet. “I will be ready. I just wanted….”
She looked away.
My jaw worked. She wanted comfort. Something I wasn’t good at giving. I was too much like my father in some ways. My
stomach churned at that thought. I didn’t want to be anything like the man he was.
Sloane bit her bottom lip and then closed the distance between us. “You’re right. Your dad isn’t resting. He’s probably still
up plotting, or whatever he does.” She tapped the tips of her fingers together. “Lincoln showed me some, but he said you were
the better fighter.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ve done a lot of training with my dad and the other enforcers.”
She pursed her lips and sucked in a deep breath. “Good. Then I can learn to fight like them.”
No. This was all wrong. I didn’t want her to fight like the monsters here.
Her brows dipped down into a scowl. “You can’t have it both ways, Sawyer. Either you train me to fight like your men or
you don’t. They won’t expect me to know their moves.”
I tapped my temple. “Are you reading my mind now?”
She laughed and closed her eyes as she shook her head. “Yeah. I guess so. It’s not so hard when you’re screaming your
thoughts at me.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a rough day for me, too.”
She closed the distance between us and hugged me. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, playing a double agent and
watching over your shoulder every step of the way. Then having to worry over both me and Lincoln.”
I rested my forehead on her shoulder as she smoothed her hand up and down my back.
She kissed the top of my head. “You don’t have to do this alone. Lincoln and I are here with you. Don’t carry the burden by
yourself.”
I got what she was saying, but it didn’t help the part of me that wanted to keep them separate from all of this. It was also so
hard to let go. I had to keep my emotions bottled up so my dad couldn’t see them. It kept us all safe.
Sloane’s lips were on my cheek, blazing a trail across my skin. I lifted my head and captured her mouth. She gasped,
allowing me entrance. I swiped my tongue across her teeth and skimmed my hands down her back until I found the spot just
below her ass. I picked her up, causing her to squeak with surprise. Her legs wound around my back on instinct, and I carried
her to the bed.
 I set her down gently and stared at her in awe. Sloane was mine. My mate. I’d displeased her, and I had to make it up to her.
I picked up her foot and kissed the top of it. The pants she wore were baggy, making it easy for me to push them up so I could
kiss up her leg to just above the knee.
Her sweet, tantalizing scent called to me. I buried my face at her center, making her groan. Her hands went to my hair, gently
pulling.
She smelled like heaven, like my salvation. I knew Lincoln wouldn’t mind if I had her by myself, but did she?
I looked up at her. “I want to put my mouth on you, Sloane.”
She blinked, and then her gaze met mine. “Okay,” she said breathlessly.
I didn’t waste time, sitting up long enough to drag her pants and panties down her legs. I tossed them to the side before
dipping back between her thighs.
Sloane whimpered as I kissed the inside of her legs, slowly working my way to her core. She wiggled her hips as I pressed
my lips against her center, moaning loudly as I started to lick and suck.
She tasted better than should be possible. I could stay here all day, making her come again and again. One day we would
have time to stay in bed at our leisure. That was a promise. Lincoln and I would take turns worshipping her. We’d also take her
together.
God, that had been amazing. The three of us intertwined and coming together.
Speaking of coming, Sloane seemed like she was getting close. She keened, canting her hips as I ate her out. Her knees
squeezed my body, like she was afraid I might stop before she found her pleasure. I would never let that happen.
All I wanted to do was taste her sweetness as she came in my mouth. I moved my hand so my thumb was at her core too and
pressed against her clit, making her hips fly off the bed.
She whispered my name repeatedly as she continuously ran her fingers through my hair.
I kissed the inside of her thigh. “Let go, Sloane. I want you to come in my mouth.”
That seemed to be the only coaxing she needed. Her sweetness flooded my tongue, and I lapped up every drop of it.
Her legs fell open, giving me even better access. I pushed my index finger inside and then pumped it slowly in and out before
adding my pointer finger. She whimpered.
I tiptoed my other hand up her chest, going beneath the fabric of her tank top and only stopping at her breast. I rolled the
nipple between my thumb and forefinger.
She tugged on my hair so I had to look up at her. “Mmmm, Sawyer, I need you inside of me.”
I grunted as I moved away from her long enough to shuck off my shorts and boxers. Sloane sat up and stripped off her tank,
exposing her milky breasts to me.
I dove forward, capturing one of her buds in my mouth as I pushed her back on the bed. She squirmed underneath me, her
hands going to my bare ass.
I hooked one hand under her knee and hauled it up around my waist as I kissed up the column of her neck until I found her
lips. My cock throbbed, teasing her entrance.
She wiggled again. “Sawyer, please. I need you.”
She blinked at me, and my resolve melted.
I pushed into her, sliding in slowly, inch by inch. She was so wet and tight, it took all my willpower to not come. I buried
myself to the hilt and trembled. She fit me like a glove. Of course she did. We were made for each other.
If Lincoln were here, we’d be complete. Soon. We’d all be together again soon.
I peered down at Sloane, giving her a minute to adjust to my length. I smoothed my hand over her thigh and bent down to give
her a kiss.
She swiped her tongue over my lips and put her hand on the back of my head. I took that as my cue to start moving. I hiked
her leg up higher around my waist, driving my cock deeper.
She rolled her hips beneath me and bit her plump lip as she stared up at me. I held her gaze as we started a steady rhythm of
me pulling out to the tip and then pushing back in, all while she bucked beneath me.
My pulse spiked, and every nerve in my body stood on edge. “You are amazing. You know that, right?”
Her eyes fluttered closed. “Mmmm, not so bad yourself.”
“The things you do to me, Sloane.”
She reached up and skimmed her finger over my lips. “What do I do to you?”
I couldn’t formulate the words to tell her, so instead, I leaned forward and caught her mouth with mine. This kiss was
rougher than before. I hoped that what I couldn’t say was being conveyed by the intensity of my actions.
Sloane wrapped her other leg around my waist and arched her back, drawing me impossibly deeper. She threw her head
back and came with my name on her lips. Her inner walls milked my cock until I followed her over that edge.
I came with a growl, stiffening for a moment before every muscle in my body released as I spilled inside her.
She panted as she stared back up at me. I leaned down and kissed her again. This time, it was soft and slow.
She closed her eyes and smiled. “This feels real.”
 I kissed the corner of her mouth. “It is real. Our connection is deep. We can touch each other even when we are miles apart.”
She trailed a finger down my face. “I’m glad. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t see you or Lincoln again.”
I rolled off her and then pulled her to me so we were facing each other. “This is temporary. We’re going to figure it out.
Lincoln is going to be all right.”
She gave me a peck. “Promise?”
“Always.” I never made a promise I couldn’t keep.
And I wasn’t going to let my dad make a liar out of me. Sloane and Lincoln would be safe, even if it was the last thing I did.
 Seven

Sloane

I PADDED DOWN THE stairs, stretching slightly and wincing when I was sore in all sorts of places. Sawyer and I had quite
the time last night. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning, but that didn’t stop the heat from creeping across my
cheeks.
I needed to keep my thoughts in check. The living room was full of life this morning, and I didn’t want anyone asking
questions. And…oh my god…what if I’d been loud? What if people heard me in my room?
I wanted to turn around, run back up the stairs, and hide under my blankets. It was too late.
My mom waved to me when she saw me and beckoned me over. “Sloane, I need you to come with us.”
She was making a beeline for me, and Willa was right behind her. My friend gave me a shrug when our gazes met.
My mom hurried ahead toward my dad’s office while Willa waited for me at the bottom of the stairs.
I hooked my arm with hers. “How are you feeling today?”
She rubbed her injured leg and grimaced. “Still stiff and a little sore, but the infection seems to be going away. Sleeping next
to Jacob and having him with me has made such a difference. After yesterday… I just keep waiting for things to get better.”
I patted her hand. “They will. We have to believe that.”
She nodded toward the open door. “What do you think this is about?”
My belly did a somersault. “If I had to guess, Pack Wolf Blood.”
I’m sure my mom had spoken to my dad about Sawyer and Lincoln by now. Would he be as understanding as she had? It was
their father who had killed Darrin. Darrin was supposed to take over for dad as alpha of the pack. Dad was close to all of us,
but he’d been extra close to Darrin the past few years since he’d been training him. What if he found Lincoln and Sawyer guilty
and as bad as their father just for being his sons?
Willa made a noise in the back of her throat. “I heard them talking. I think they are planning something. They might want more
details from us about what it’s like there.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed hard. “Planning something?”
Willa shrugged as we crossed the threshold into the office.
All eyes fell on us, but it was my dad who had command of the room.
He stood from his seat behind his mahogany desk. “Sloane, darling, close the door, will you?”
I let go of Willa’s arm and shut the door, making sure it latched. Then I followed Willa to the couch, my hands trembling at
my sides. I took a seat, putting my hands on my lap and fisting them together.
I roamed my gaze over the room. Both my parents and brothers were here. Willa’s brother, Ian, was also here, and so was
Jacob.
My dad strode towards the coffee table and took a seat on the edge of it so he was facing Willa and me. “I’ve been speaking
a lot to the other alphas. We want to go back for the women who are still a Pack Wolf Blood. We think now is the time since
Alpha Dane retreated. We believe his numbers are lower, and he won’t be expecting us to come to him.”
My heart hammered in my chest so hard I thought it might explode. “You’re going there?”
I sounded breathless even to my own ears. This was our chance to save Lincoln.
My dad sat up straighter. “Yes. We haven’t sorted all the details yet. We were hoping to get some more information from the
two of you, as you are the only ones who have been on the property.”
I scooted forward so I was sitting on the edge of the couch. “What do you want to know?”
My dad gave me a tight-lipped smile and looked at Willa and then back at me. “Anything you can tell us about the layout of
the land, how many men you think might be there, and most importantly where the women are most likely being held. I know we
asked you this before, but that was the day you came home. I’m hoping maybe now that you’ve had a few days at home, you’ll
maybe remember more details.”
I shared a look with Willa.
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and spoke up first. “Sloane and I didn’t get to leave the main house, but one time
Sawyer took us shopping. I’m afraid I don’t know where the girls are.”
I looked down at my hands, clenching and unclenching my fingers before I spoke up. “We didn’t leave the main house, not
really. The only time I came out was when Lincoln took me down by the stream to show me where his hideout was… Where
his and Sawyer‘s hideout was.”
My mouth was dry, and with my pulse racing, I cleared my throat. “That’s the way that we escaped. But I think I can get you a
better layout of the land and find out where the girls are being held. I just need some time.”
I cast a quick glance at my mom. She offered me a kind smile and inclined her head. She had told Dad. I wasn’t surprised. I
didn’t think they kept anything from each other.
My father sighed heavily and leaned back. “Your mother has told me about your connection to Sawyer and Lincoln.”
I ducked my head and nodded. Heat swept over my face, to my ears, and down the back of my neck.
My dad stood up and began to pace the room. He put his hands in his pockets like he always did when he was thinking.
“Sloane, are you one hundred percent sure they can be trusted?”
“Yes.” My answer was instant.
My dad stopped pacing and stared at me. I did my best not to wiggle under his scrutiny.
Willa lifted her hand up like a kid might raise theirs in class. “I didn’t talk much to Lincoln. But I do trust Sawyer. He saved
my life. He knows this baby is not his, and he said nothing. He protected me the best he could from his father and everyone else
while we were there. And from what I saw, Lincoln and Alpha Dane do not see eye to eye.”
My dad exhaled, making his nostril flare. He flexed his hands in his pockets. “Do you think he will give you the information?
We need the layout of the facility so that we can plan a rescue attempt. Our goal is to be on the property for as little time as
necessary.”
I shot to my feet, maybe a little too fast, because I caught a wave of dizziness and almost had to sit back down. I fought the
urge to run out the door and prepare right now to go to Pack Wolf Blood.
“I think he’ll give me everything we need. But there’s something we need to do while we’re there. It’s Lincoln. Alpha Dane
knows that he helped Willa and me escape. He’s in bad shape. If we don’t rescue him with the girls, I’m afraid he’s going to
die.” My voice hitched, and tears pricked my eyes.
The reality of what I’d said sank in. It was the truth, too. Lincoln was on borrowed time. Every second that he was a prisoner
meant there was more time for Mikey and Alpha Dane to torture him.
My dad shared a look with my mom. She gave him a nod.
He turned back to me. “And you know where he is being held?”
I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. “He’s being kept in one of the barns. I’m sure I can find out which one so we will be
able to help him too.”
My dad shook his head, a frown on his face. “There is no way I’m letting you anywhere near that place.”
“Dad.” I put my hand over my chest, gripping my tank top as I fought the urge to scream at him, throw myself at his feet, and
demand he let me go.
Acting like a petulant child wouldn’t get me anywhere though.
I rolled my shoulders back and held his gaze. “Please let me go, Dad. I’m the only person here who can go and has been
there before.”
I put my hand on Willa’s shoulder.
She slumped and turned to look up at me, her bottom lip quivering. “Sloane, no.”
My dad hesitated for a long moment. He shuffled his feet as he tapped his fingers against his leg, and I could tell he was
thinking. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to keep talking. I knew him, and if I went on and on, he was more likely to
turn me down.
He drew his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you understand what it is you’re asking for,
Sloane? There’s a very real possibility that those who go might not come back. If Alpha Dane gets his hands on you again…”
Neither of us wanted to imagine that outcome.
I curled my toes into the plush carpet. “I know what’s at stake, Dad. I’ve always known, and I want to do everything I can to
help protect our pack and our family. I want to help you get the girls back, and I want to get Lincoln. His website is still the
best chance we have at finding other packs out there, warning them, and getting people to come help our fight.”
My dad closed the distance between us and put his hands on my shoulders. He leveled his gaze at me. “I don’t disagree with
you. But I don’t want anything to happen to you either.”
I gave him a sad smile, and a single tear trickled out of my eye. “I know, Daddy. But we are at war, and nowhere is going to
be safe until we stop Alpha Dane. I want to do my part.”
He stared at me for a long moment, and I couldn’t breathe as I waited for his reply. He glanced away from me to gaze at the
other people in the room. I almost forgot they were here since the conversation had been mostly between me and Dad.
My brothers looked like they didn’t know what to think, the same with Jacob and Ian. My mom, though… She had her hand
over her mouth and was chewing on one of her fingernails. She was nervous because she knew me, and she knew my dad.
Dad pulled me into a hug. “Get the information. We leave as soon as we have it, and you can come. God help me.”
I squeezed him back. “Thank you, Dad. We’re going to rescue everyone there.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Yeah, we are.”
My dad released me and moved back to his desk, and I took a seat on the couch next to Willa. She hooked her arm with mine
again and rested her head on my shoulder.
Ian took a couple of steps forward. “How soon do you think you’ll be able to get the information?”
I adjusted the strap of my tank top as I thought about that. “I found it’s easier to connect to Sawyer recently. Lincoln has been
blocking me out due to the torture. He doesn’t want me to see that. But I’m not sure either. It could be me. I don’t really
understand all of this yet.”
They seemed to be totally random at times, but there were a few similarities.
I found a spot on the couch and stared at it. “It’s usually easier to connect when I’m relaxed or sleeping. I’m not entirely sure
how it works, though, to be honest.”
Sawyer and Lincoln were better at it than me, but the pair had been connecting to each other for years.
My mom came to the couch and sat on the opposite side of me. She put her hand over top mine. “Your bond is new. You’re
still trying to figure out how it all works. All you have to do is think really hard about seeing your mates. Picture them in your
mind. When you reach out to them, give them the sense that it is important. That you need to see them. The rest should do itself,
but don’t be surprised if it takes you a few tries.”
“I’ll try to connect with one or both of them.”
My mom patted my hand. “Good. Why don’t you try that now? Our goal is to leave first thing tomorrow morning. We’re only
going to talk strategy, but we need to know those plans as soon as you can get them. Our window for attack is small. You can
attempt to do it here, or I understand if you’d rather go to your room or someplace quieter.”
I opened my mouth to protest. How could they plan without me? But then I realized that they needed the information I was
gathering to finalize any plans. The sooner I got what they needed, the better.
I stood up and started for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I didn’t wait for my dad to officially dismiss me before exiting and closing the door behind me. I speedwalked through the
house and took the stairs two at a time before all but jogging back to my room and shutting and locking the door behind me.
My mind was whirling a million miles a minute by the time I sat down on my bed. I thought my chest might explode from the
way my heart was thumping frantically.
I drew in a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth. Closing my eyes, I called Sawyer and Lincoln with
my mind. I focused on both of their faces and how much I needed to talk to them right now.
I prayed one or both of them answered.
 Eight

Sloane

I OPENED MY EYES and groaned as I flung myself backward onto my pillows. My gaze went to the Tweety Bird wall clock
above my door. Fifteen minutes with no success. I fisted the blankets in my hand and watched the second hand tick around the
clock.
Darrin had given me that clock when I was a kid one year for my birthday. I’d loved the cartoons when I was younger. We’d
watched them together every day after school.
Darrin… I covered my face with my hands. Darrin was dead because of Alpha Dane.
I rubbed my eyes before letting my hands slip back to the bed. I stared at the clock until my vision blurred, filling my mind
with thoughts of my sweet big brother and then of my mates.
The room began to hum, and I blew out a breath, almost laughing when I realized that it was working. The shape of the barn
came into view. I braced myself, expecting to see Mikey tormenting Lincoln again. But it was nothing like that.
Sawyer sat next to Lincoln, who was eating a big bowl of steaming hot oatmeal. It smelled like there was enough brown
sugar in it to give him a toothache. When they sensed my presence, they both looked up.
Lincoln blinked at me, his eyes bright and full of warmth. A small smile pulled at the edges of his lips.
I put a hand over my mouth, stifling my cry. Cuts and bruises littered his body. He looked like he’d lost weight in the past
couple of days, too. For all I knew, that bowl of oatmeal he was eating was the first thing he’d had since the day we fled.
Sawyer stood up, brushing the straw and dirt off his pants. “Sloane, it’s good to see you again.”
He shifted on his feet like he wasn’t sure what to say or do.
We were going to work on his awkwardness and his inability to show affection. I bounded toward him and threw my arms
around him, enveloping him in a hug and kissing his neck.
He stiffened and then relaxed, wrapping me in an embrace.
I squeezed him tighter. “I’m glad to see you, too.” I pulled back and glanced at Lincoln. “Both of you.”
I took Sawyer’s hand and led him back to Lincoln. I sat crisscross on the dirt floor, and Sawyer sat next to me, putting me in
the middle.
I grabbed Lincon’s hand too. “We need to talk, and fast.”
Sawyer frowned. “What’s going on?”
I squirmed in my seat. “My dad and the other alphas are planning an attack. They want to get the other women out, and my
dad agreed we would help get Lincoln out, too.”
Sawyer’s brows dipped into a scowl. “Coming here?”
I bobbed my head up and down and couldn’t contain my grin. “Yes.”
Why wasn’t he excited?
Lincoln gave my hand a squeeze before picking it up and kissing the back of it. “That’s dangerous, Sloane.”
Sawyer pulled his hand away from me and rubbed it over his jaw. “Not just dangerous. It’s suicide. The pack is heavily
guarded. Even if you were successful, my father would retaliate. A transgression like that would be considered an act of war.”
I held my chin high. “We are already at war. It started the moment your father took that first girl. It’s just escalated since then.
We aren’t going to sit around anymore while he terrorizes those of us who are left while picking us off one by one. It’s time to
stand up and fight back.”
Lincoln cupped my face, turning me so I had to look at him. “You were attacked? Are you okay?” He shot Sawyer an
accusing glare. “You didn’t tell me that our men got that close to her.”
Sawyer hung his head. “I kept her safe.”
A growl vibrated from Lincoln’s chest. “You should have told me she was in danger.”
 Sawyer bared his teeth as red crept over his face. “I was trying to save your life too, in case you’ve forgotten.”
Lincoln balled his free hand into a tight fist and hit his leg with it. “It doesn’t matter. Our mate was in danger, and you didn’t
tell me.”
I snapped my fingers. “Hey. We are all in danger every second of every day, and we are all on the same side here.”
I gave Lincoln the stink eye and then Sawyer. Now wasn’t the time for us to fall apart.
Both my men had the decency to look ashamed.
Some of the tension relaxed from my face, and I reached over and put my hand over top of Lincoln’s. “I’m okay.”
He exhaled loudly, letting his shoulders sag. “This time, but my dad will come back. He will bring you back here alive.
Willa too. He’s going to punish you for leaving, for betraying the pack.”
I mashed my lips together and looked away. My pulse quickened and my throat tightened. Alpha Dane had made it very clear
that I would pay for any betrayal. If he caught me, I had no doubt that I would be punished severely.
My mouth went dry. What if he killed my parents like he did Willa’s? Oh God. He’d decapitated them and set their severed
heads in the room with her. My stomach rolled.
Sawyer sat down next to me and put a hand on my back. “We aren’t going to let that happen. We will keep you safe.”
He turned his attention to his brother. “Sloane is right. We have to get you out of here.”
Lincoln frowned and shook his head. “I don’t want Sloane coming here. It’s not safe. Mikey is like a crazed animal. If he
found her here…” He looked away.
I shuddered at his implications, and the lump in my throat grew larger.
Sawyer took my hand again, and he met Lincoln’s eyes. “We aren’t going to let Mikey or Dad touch Sloane.” He gave us both
a pointed look before fixating on Lincoln. “Dad still wants access to your computer. I was thinking I could tell him that you
shipped it somewhere. Maybe we would still be able to intercept it or something. It would get him away from the pack and
give Sloane and her pack a chance to make their move.”
Lincoln chuckled and let his head fall back. “You do realize that I don’t actually need my computer to access everything,
right?”
Sawyer frowned and shrugged.
I shared a look with Sawyer. I mean, I guess it kind of made sense.
Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Sure, it’s nice to have my computer. I have all my passwords and bookmarks on it. But everything is
stored on the servers online. In the cloud. It can be accessed from anywhere. You just need to know my password.”
I nodded and looked up at the ceiling as I processed what he was saying. “You just gave me the computer because it was
easier because you already had everything pulled up?”
Lincoln leaned forward and kissed my brow. “Exactly. But I think you’re onto something, Sawyer. Dad doesn’t understand
technology like I do. If you tell him that I shipped it some place, he’ll probably take a good group of people with him to
intercept it.”
I squeezed both of their hands as my heart did a little happy dance in my chest. “Then my pack comes and gets the girls and
Lincoln while the numbers are low. Maybe we could do some damage here, too.”
Both guys looked at me with deep frowns on their faces.
But it was Sawyer who spoke up. “Sloane, I don’t want you anywhere near this place ever again. I’ll help orchestrate so
your dad and pack can come, but I don’t want you here.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m coming here. I don’t think they would intentionally leave Lincoln, but he’s separated from everyone
else, and I know those men. They’re going to choose their daughters before him. Someone has to come and make sure that they
get Lincoln out of here, too. I’m the only one I trust with that task.”
I didn’t think anyone would intentionally leave him, but family always came first. And women were coveted in most packs I
knew.
Lincoln reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Sloane, it’s dangerous here. Mikey will be here, and I know
you beat him last time, but he’s furious about that. It’s made him…” He closed his eyes and huffed.
“He’s a lunatic,” I supplied. “Yeah, I know. And I’m sure he’ll be out for my blood if he catches me, so I won’t let him.”
Lincoln opened his eyes and stared at Sawyer before turning back to me. “Sloane, I don’t even want to tell you what he
threatened to do to you. Please stay home, where it’s safe.”
Sawyer and Lincoln shared a look before Sawyer tucked his finger under my chin and turned my attention to him. “Lincoln is
right. Mikey is unhinged. He’ll hurt you.”
I pulled away from Sawyer and looked at my lap as I let go of both of their hands so I could wipe my palms on my pants. “I
know how dangerous Mikey is. He’s worse than your father, and that says a lot. But nowhere is safe. Those wolves came into
my home. Attacked my mom. Keeping me there doesn’t make me any safer.”
I sat up straighter. “I want to learn to fight from both of you. And I’m going to need the layout of the compound so I can
provide it to everyone else. They want to come as soon as possible, and I plan to come with them.”
They weren’t going to talk me out of it. Lincoln was getting out of here even if I had to drag him by myself.
 Sawyer swallowed. “I’ve always admired your strength, Sloane.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hand, so I let him continue.
“I can see that we won’t talk you out of it, so I’ll give you the information that you need. Just please promise that you’ll be
careful.”
Tears pricked my eyes, and I nodded. “I promise. We’ve only just begun to explore our relationship. I’m not ready to leave
any of us yet.”
Lincoln grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like this.”
Sawyer huffed as his brows pulled together. “Neither do I, but Sloane’s right. Your best bet of getting out of here is with her.
And we’re a team. All three of us together are equal. Like it or not, she’s going to have to fight in the battles to come, even
though every instinct inside us tells us to protect her and keep her safe and away from it.”
Lincoln’s nostrils flared. “I don’t want anything to happen to her. You’re letting her walk right into the wolf’s den.”
I reached back out and put my hands on both of their legs. “I don’t want to see anything happen to either of you.” I turned my
attention directly on Lincoln, my eyes softening as tears clouded my vision. “Knowing that Mikey has been hurting you,
torturing you… I can’t sleep. It’s eating me up inside, and you keep locking me out, so I have no way of knowing if you’re okay.
I’ve been so worried about you.”
Lincoln covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want you to see that.”
I replayed that first day when I’d seen Mikey beating him in my mind. My chest tightened, and my jaw began to ache from
clenching my teeth so hard.
I licked my lips and blew out a long breath to steady myself. “Sawyer and I don’t want to see that either, but you’re here, and
I don’t want you to be in this alone. Let us in with you. You shouldn’t have to face him alone.”
Sawyer got up again and went to the barn door, looking outside. After a moment, he turned back to us. “I’ve gotten Lincoln a
reprieve for today. I’ll wait until this evening to tell my dad about the computer being shipped, and I imagine he’ll make a
move to intercept it right away. Tomorrow, Mikey will probably be back.”
A knot formed in my belly. Mikey would be extra brutal once they had the information they needed. “You’ll need to say
something so that they don’t hurt Lincoln too badly. And also protect yourself. I don’t want you getting caught in a lie either,
Sawyer.”
Sawyer massaged the back of his neck. “I know how to handle my father. It will be fine. You should know, though most likely
I’ll be going with him to search for the computer.”
I drew in a shaky breath. That meant I would be on my own. Sawyer wouldn’t be here to protect Lincoln and me. I took
another glance at Lincoln. He was okay for now, but we weren’t actually awake and moving around. He was injured, and I
wasn’t entirely sure how severely.
If Sawyer wasn’t here, and Lincoln was in as bad a shape as I feared, I would be on my own.
 Nine

Sloane

I EXITED MY DAD‘S office and pulled the door closed behind me. He had a good layout of the compound now. Sawyer and
Lincoln had helped me draw up a map. We would be leaving first thing in the morning.
I wished I could fast forward the next twelve hours and wake up ready to go. The house was full of life as everyone gathered
and talked about their plans. Their energy hummed around me, both making me restless and wanting to curl under my blankets
in bed.
My mom’s voice rang out over everyone else’s. She was ordering a few of the other girls around the kitchen. It was Sunday
night. We always made a big meal for the whole pack and gathered.
My mom was making a beef roast for dinner. I could smell the tender meat cooking all the way from here. My stomach
grumbled, but I had no desire to eat.
I flexed my fingers at my sides and looked around the hall. I’d only been back for a few days, and I was already leaving
again. Once this was all over, I never wanted to leave this house again.
That wasn’t entirely true. My mind drifted to Lincoln and my conversation earlier. The beach would be amazing. How I
wished we could go there and just forget everything that was happening.
Movement to my right caught my attention, and I turned to see Willa standing in the hall entryway. She gave me a little wave
before limping down the hallway toward me.
She was more mobile than she had been, but I could still see the thick bandage wrapped around her upper thigh, hidden by
the fabric of her sweatpants.
She wrapped her arm around mine and rested her head on my shoulder. “I heard the news. We’re leaving first thing in the
morning. Well, you and most of the pack.”
“We have to go back for those girls. Sawyer was able to give me more information about where they are.” It was too bad that
we hadn’t been able to help them before, but Willa and I had barely made it out of there alive.
And Lincoln…
Willa clung to me, her nails biting into my forearm. “I didn’t realize there were any other women there. I feel bad that I was
so obtuse.”
I gave her a small shake. “You were a prisoner, and Alpha Dane was a bully to you. You couldn’t have known.”
Lincoln had mentioned them a few times, and part of me felt guilty for not going for them when we ran, but if we had, Willa
and I would be chained up in the barn with Lincoln.
“Hmmm, yeah, maybe.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and led the way down the hallway towards the stairs. “I heard Jacob is staying behind.”
If the unthinkable happened to me, I knew Jacob would keep Willa safe.
She lifted her head up as we rounded the corner for the stairs, and her grip on my arm tightened as we slowly made our way
up. “I wish you were staying behind, too. Ian’s going. He volunteered. Sloane, I’m so scared.”
I couldn’t deny that there wasn’t a knot forming in my belly and that I didn’t think I’d be able to eat or sleep tonight, or in the
morning, for that matter. “I’m scared too, but I have to go. I have to get Lincoln out of there.”
Willa sighed, gripping the banister as she hauled herself up the last step. “Are you sure I can’t talk you out of it?”
I plastered a smile on my face. “I’m sure. I’ve made up my mind. Trust me, Lincoln and Sawyer already tried.”
She pouted and shook her head as she went into my room, plopped down on the bed, and then flopped back into the pillows.
She grabbed one of the plush, decorative teal ones and held it to her chest. “I understand. If I was in your shoes, I would go
after Jacob.”
I closed the door and lay down next to her so we were both staring up at my white popcorn ceiling. Darrin used to tease me
that if I needed to put myself to sleep, I should count the dots. I missed his sense of humor.
I put my hands over my belly, hoping that the churning inside didn’t decide to make obnoxious noises that would embarrass
me. “I’ll be home before you know it. You’ll see.”
Willa whimpered and sniffled. She rubbed a hand under her nose. “I know. I’m just afraid for you. I’ve never had a sister
before, but I kind of feel like you’re my big sister now, Sloane, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
I rolled so I was on my side and propped my head up under my hand. I pushed some hair off Willa’s shoulder and gave her a
small smile. “I feel the same way. And I have no intentions of leaving you, I promise.”
She let out a long sigh that turned into a breathy laugh. “Good, because I remember what we talked about when we were
there. We’re going to take down Alpha Dane. You and me together. I don’t know how yet. I haven’t worked that out, but it’s
going to be us. I’ve never seen anything so clearly in my life.”
A smile pulled at the corners of my lips. I loved Willa’s spirit. “I remember, and you’re right. It will be us. We’ll figure out
the details. It might be spur of the moment, but we’ll get him.”
The grin fell from her face, and she looked away. “I heard Mikey is still alive.”
She put her hand on her throat as she swallowed.
I blinked back tears at the reminder and drifted my gaze to the Tweety clock. Only about eleven more hours until we hit the
road.
“He is. Unfortunately.” I should have finished him off when I’d had the chance. Lincoln might not be in such bad shape if I
had.
Willa grabbed my hand. “Promise me you’ll be careful. I think out of all of them, Mikey scares me the most.”
I shivered, causing gooseflesh to rise on my arms. Willa was right. Mikey was the worst out of all of them.
“I’m going to stay as far away from my him as I can. I promise.” I hoped I could keep my word.
Lincoln hadn’t said what he had threatened, but I could imagine.
Willa closed her eyes and shoved the pillow to the side so she could rub her belly.
Maybe one day in a few years, when I was a little older, and it was safer, I would have a wolf pup growing in my belly.
Maybe it would be two pups. One would be Lincon’s and the other Sawyer’s. I bit my lip to keep from smiling at the thought.
I turned to look at her. “How have you been feeling? How is the baby?”
Willa sat up and rubbed her hands together, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Doing well. I know it’s too early for any
medical equipment to pick up anything, but I can already feel the connection to them.”
I shifted so I was propped up on my elbows. “What does it feel like?”
She paused and bit her lip as she cocked her head to the side. “It’s kind of like the mate connection.”
My brows knitted together. “Like how you can interact with each other?”
Willa frowned like she was thinking too hard. “Yes, in a way, but it’s also different. I don’t really know how to describe it,
but I can feel the baby.” She motioned her hands like she was trying to think of the right word. “I can feel their presence, if that
makes sense, and he or she is doing perfectly fine.”
I put my hand over the top of hers on her belly. “Good, I’m glad to hear it.”
Her shoulders went lax as she blew out a heavy breath. “Me too. I was really worried about everything that happened. It
wasn’t just the physical injuries, but also the stress of the situation and my parents.”
She looked away and did her best to blink back tears, but that didn’t keep a few from trickling down her cheeks.
I pulled her into a hug. “Sawyer said he buried your parents down by the stream.”
She nodded as her whole body shuddered. “That was kind of him. I still can’t believe they’re gone.”
She covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her sobs.
I rubbed her arms and opened my mouth, but nothing came out. There wasn’t anything I could say to her to make it better.
Alpha Dane had brutally murdered her family and then flaunted their deaths.
My jaw worked, and cold chills shot down my spine. That could happen to my parents, too. I chewed on my cheek to keep
from crying.
Willa turned her head so she was looking at me. She swiped at her red-rimmed eyes. “I didn’t know it was possible for us to
have two mates. How does that work?”
I laughed, and some of the pressure left my chest. “I’ll let you know when I get that all figured out. I don’t really know how
to describe it. Sawyer and Lincoln are both so different but so similar at the same time. I love them both, but each one has a
different way of showing their emotions, and it’s just trying to get to know them on the individual level.”
Willa made a humming sound. “I was fortunate to have known Jacob my entire life. And I don’t envy you at all having to
learn not only one man but two. Men can be weird sometimes. Say one thing but mean another.” She forced a smile as she ran
the back of her hand over her cheek. “Sawyer seems like a nice guy, but he holds his emotions in. I was terrified of him at first
because of that. It was really hard to tell what he was thinking.”
I grunted and closed my eyes, picturing my strong, sexy mate in my mind. “Yeah, he does keep everything bottled up. I think
he has to. It’s the only way he can protect himself to keep Alpha Dane from finding out he’s working against him.”
 Willa patted her stomach. “I can’t imagine. I barely survived under his scrutiny, and I was only there for a few weeks. Is he
coming back with you?”
I hesitated for a moment as my heart began to pound. We hadn’t discussed what he would be doing, only that he would most
likely be with his dad.
Which meant he wasn’t coming back with us. He would still be stuck behind enemy lines with Alpha Dane and Mikey.
 Ten

Sloane

I ROLLED ONTO MY back and threw the covers off me, blowing out a long breath. I couldn’t sleep. It was too hot and then
too cold. My mind wouldn’t shut off.
I darted my gaze to the clock and had to squint to see the hands in the near pitch black. Almost three in the morning. My alarm
was set for six. There almost wasn’t a point in staying in bed.
I should still try. We had a few hours of driving, and then I’d get to see Lincoln again. I mashed my lips together as my pulse
picked up. He was going to be back here with me in less than twenty-four hours. Tomorrow night, I’d be able to cuddle up to
him and maybe then I could get some blessed sleep.
Maybe. Sawyer wouldn’t be here though.
I fiddled with the edges of the blanket. Sweat beaded my brow, and a weight pressed against me, like I was being shoved
into the mattress.
How long could he keep hiding from his dad? Sawyer was good, but a person could only lie for so long before they were
caught. What if we didn’t get to him in time?
The world around me hummed, my vision darkened, and a bout of dizziness circled me as I was connected with my mates.
Lincoln was sitting in his bed, and Sawyer was pacing a fine line in front of it. They both stared at me when I appeared.
Sawyer ran a hand through his hair. “Thank God, Sloane. We’ve been worried about you. We could feel your nervous energy
all evening.”
I put a hand on my chest, wishing it could slow the frantic pounding of my heart. “I’m sorry. It’s been a whirlwind of a day.
We are all set to leave first thing in the morning.”
Sawyer exhaled slowly, his features pulling into a scowl before he nodded. “So are we. My dad thinks the computer is in a
small town in Wyoming. We should be halfway there by the time you get here. And long gone by the time we turn around and
come back.”
I rubbed my foot on the floor across an invisible spot. “You definitely won’t be here then?”
A lump formed in my throat, and I blinked my eyes to keep from crying.
He shook his head. “No. I couldn’t come with you even if I were. Sloane, it’s safer for you and Lincoln if I’m here. I can
keep you both one step ahead.”
That’s what he kept saying. It didn’t mean I liked it.
Lincoln got up from the bed and stopped in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Is there any way we can talk you
out of coming? I don’t like it.”
I looked at Lincoln and then at Sawyer. “I’m coming.” I put a hand under his chin. “If the roles were reversed, you would
both come for me, and no one could stop you.”
Lincoln frowned, and Sawyer sighed heavily.
I leaned in and kissed Lincoln on the lips. “I don’t want to spend the little bit of time we have together arguing. You aren’t
talking me out of it, so please stop trying.”
Lincoln groaned and dipped his head so his chin was to his chest. “If something happens to you because of me…”
I grasped his hand and reached out to Sawyer with my other hand. He closed the distance and slipped his hand into mine.
“We have to have faith that everything is going to work out. And we all need to remember that the choices we make are our
own. No one is to blame.” I gave his hand a squeeze. “You sacrificed yourself for me. Now you are paying for that. It eats at
me, but it was your choice, and that’s how I get by.”
Sawyer nodded. “She’s right, Lincoln. We all have tough choices ahead in the days coming.”
He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “I don’t like it.”
 Sawyer put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder. “You don’t have to.”
I closed the distance between me and Sawyer and caught him in a surprise kiss. He stiffened and then relaxed, his lips
melding with mine. I sighed as I leaned farther into him.
Lincoln growled from behind me, and I gasped against Sawyer’s mouth when Lincoln pressed up against my back, his hands
going to my hips. My mates sandwiched me between them, pressing their bodies against me.
I had Sawyer’s hardening cock pressing into my belly and Lincoln’s right against my butt. Heat rushed through me, and I
almost forgot to breathe.
Sawyer peppered kisses down my left cheek to my neck at the same time Lincoln moved along my right. I whimpered and let
my head fall back against Lincoln’s shoulder.
He grunted, his hand sliding between me and Sawyer and going for the hem of my pants. He dipped it below the waistline
and tiptoed his fingers to my panties. They delved deeper until he was just outside my core.
Then Lincoln traced his thumb around my clit before pressing two fingers inside me. I bucked against Sawyer.
Lincoln put his mouth on my ear. “You are already so wet for us, sweetheart.”
Sawyer continued kissing down my collarbone. He wrapped the strap of my tank top around his fingers and tugged it down,
exposing my left breast. He bent down and sucked the tight bud into his mouth.
I keened. My hands went to his head, holding him against my chest as he kissed my tender peak.
Lincoln kissed my neck again, placing open-mouth kisses across my cheek until he angled my head so I was kissing him. His
tongue flicked against mine before moving along my teeth. My knees started to buckle when he thrust another finger inside me.
Sawyer and Lincoln both grasped my hips and pressed themselves harder against me so they held me up with their hands and
their bodies. They were both so hard right now, and all I could think about was how impossibly perfect it had been when
they’d both taken me at the same time.
Sawyer nibbled on my breast before pulling away and working his way to the other one. He rolled my strap down my arm. I
shivered when he blew on my nipple. He grunted before taking that one into his mouth.
I reached one of my hands behind Lincoln’s head and pulled him into me while still clutching the back of Sawyer’s. My
knees trembled, and every nerve in my body began to tighten.
Sawyer glanced up at me, his eyes piercing mine. “That’s it, Sloane. I want you to come for us.”
He tweaked my breast with his thumb and pointer finger.
That was all it took. A wave of pleasure washed over me, making me cry out. Lincoln pumped his fingers faster and harder,
drawing out my pleasure. Sawyer delved back in, drawing my breast back into his mouth.
Lincoln kissed the edge of my lips and then my cheek until his mouth was on my ear. “That’s it, sweetheart. Let it go.”
I was on cloud nine. Floating. All I could feel was the pleasure my men were giving me. Every muscle in me went lax.
Lincoln nibbled on my earlobe. “Tell us what you want.”
“Mmmm.” I couldn’t form words.
Sawyer pressed his cock against my core, making me hiss. “Is this what you want?”
I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a croak. I cleared my throat and blinked my eyes rapidly as I tried to focus on
them.
“Both of you.” I sounded breathless.
Lincoln slid my pants down my legs until they fell on their own and pooled at my feet. “You want us to take you at the same
time again?”
“Yes!”
Sawyer chuckled. “We’re going to make you feel good. I have an idea.”
He pulled away from me, making me whimper, and he strode across the room to the bed. He worked his pants off as he
moved and kicked them into the corner. He took a seat on the bed and then lay back so that his feet were planted on the floor.
Sawyer patted the bed. “Come straddle me.”
Lincoln let go of me. “Go on, sweetheart.”
I padded over to Sawyer, boneless. My tank top strap slid farther down my arm, and I ripped it up and over my head and
dropped it on the floor.
The bed dipped beneath my weight as I put one knee on either side of Sawyer. He grasped one of my hips and pumped his
cock before guiding it toward my entrance.
Slowly, I slid down his length, taking him in inch by inch. I didn’t stop until I was sitting flush against him. He was so deep
and so thick.
Sawyer groaned and bit his lip. “Lean forward, Sloane. Let me kiss you.”
I did as he asked, bending until my mouth was against his. He kissed me roughly, his hand tangling in my hair as his lips
caressed mine.
Lincoln’s hands pressed against my back, and his hardened length trailed along my backside. I wiggled my hips, growing
wetter by the second. He rubbed his member down my butt and then guided it to my core.
 He put a hand on my hip, and together, we moved until he slid slowly inside. I put my palms on Sawyer’s chest and tried to
catch my breath. I was so full of both of them. Lincoln moved slowly until he’d buried himself all the way inside me.
He leaned down so his chest was against my back. “Let us know when you’re ready, sweetheart.”
Dots blurred my vision. I was already so close to the edge.
“I’m okay.” My voice was a hoarse whisper.
Lincoln pulled out slowly at the same time Sawyer rolled his hips. I screamed at the sensation. Both of them growled as they
set a steady pace.
Sawyer curled his hand around my head and pulled my lips back down to him. Lincoln put his hands on my back, gently
kneading my flesh as he pumped in and out.
Another orgasm was igniting inside me. My mates were touching places inside me I didn’t even know were there. White
bursts exploded behind my eyes. Pleasure coursed through me, building with each magnificent thrust.
Sawyer pushed his tongue between my lips, letting it glide along mine. Lincoln reached between us, maneuvering his hand
until his thumb found my clit. He applied pressure in time with his thrusts.
It was too much. The sounds coming out of my mouth were wanton, and the way our bodies slapped together made me hotter.
Lincoln grunted behind me, pressing my clit harder.
I gasped for a breath. “Oh god.”
Lincoln leaned forward and bit my shoulder. “That’s it, sweetheart. Let go. Come for us.”
I shattered around them. Stars burst behind my eyes.
Then my body went lax. They pumped me harder and faster until they let out a unified guttural sound and spilled inside me.
Afterwards, we all lay together panting as we lazily came back to ourselves.
Lincoln slowly eased out of me and then moved across the bed. I got off Sawyer on shaky legs and crawled to Lincoln.
Sawyer pulled up behind me, and they sandwiched me between them again, but this time Sawyer was at my back.
He kissed the back of my head. “How do you feel?”
I closed my eyes and inhaled. “Like I’m having the best dream.”
Lincoln chuckled as he brushed the hair out of my face. “You sort of are, sweetheart.”
I blinked my eyes back open. “It’s hard to believe this isn’t real. You both feel so…”
I trailed off as I felt Sawyer’s member already hardening behind me.
Sawyer pressed against me. “It’s real, Sloane. We might be miles apart physically, but right now, we are all right here.”
I let my eyes flutter closed and sighed. This was perfect, and I just wanted to take a moment to remember it. It could be a
while before the three of us were together like this again.
Once Lincoln was free, Alpha Dane would be out for blood. Sawyer might not get a chance to rest. Not to mention, there was
the horrible possibility that he might get caught.
No. No. I wasn’t going to think like that.
Sawyer kissed my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”
Before I could say anything to either of them, a blaring alarm ripped through the room, jolting me out of our shared dream
and back to the reality of my bedroom. Only the shrill siren didn’t stop once I was awake.
My heart seized. Oh god. What now?
 Eleven

Sloane

I SHOT UP, SHOVING the covers off me. The alarm screamed, and I could hear yelling from outside.
This couldn’t be happening. Sawyer and Lincoln would have told me if Alpha Dane was coming. Unless they didn’t know.
And if they didn’t know, it meant Sawyer was out of the loop and his dad suspected him.
Oh no. What if he was in danger too?
I rolled out of bed, darted across the room, and threw my door open. The house was in chaos. People were running around.
Girls were crying in their doorways.
It wasn’t like last time. I didn’t see my mom, but I did see Willa down the hall. She was standing in her doorway, her face as
white as a ghost.
I jogged down the hall to her and pulled her into a hug.
Willa fell against me, hiding her face in my shoulder. She clung to me like I was her lifeline. “Jacob is on patrol tonight. He
isn’t talking to me. What’s happening?”
I licked my lips as my mind reeled, trying to come up with an answer I didn’t have.
I looked up and down the hall for any sign of my mom. My pulse raced, and I was afraid my heart might beat out of my chest.
What was going on?
Someone had tripped the alarm. Maybe more reinforcements had arrived.
My mom came racing up the stairs, one hand clutching the banister and the other waving at us. When she reached the top, she
put a hand on her chest and drew in a few deep breaths.
She glanced up and down the hallway before clearing her throat. “It’s okay. Try to go back to bed if you can. The situation
has been contained.”
The girls murmured to themselves and then filed back into their bedrooms, closing the doors behind them.
My mom assured a few more people before hurrying toward Willa and me.
Willa let go of me and grasped my mom’s arms. “Is Jacob okay?”
My mom gave her a small smile and patted her cheek. “He’s fine. No one was injured.” She turned to me, the smile slipping
from her face. “We found three wolves spying on us. We aren’t sure if they saw us mobilizing. Your father wants to leave
within the hour while we might still have the element of surprise.”
I wrapped my arms around my middle and nodded. My stomach felt empty, hollow.
Willa whirled around, her eyes wide. “Sloane, please stay.”
Mom blinked back tears. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”
I gulped and looked between them. My hands and my back were clammy. I dug my fingers into my arms to keep them from
trembling.
My mom reached out and rubbed my arm. “No one would fault you for staying here.”
I held my head up. “I have to go, Mom.”
She closed her eyes, and her shoulders drooped before she nodded. “I understand, my love.” She embraced me. “Promise me
you’ll come back.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I breathed in her scent one last time. This morning was so much like the last time I’d left. Only
this time, I knew I was coming back, and I was bringing Lincoln with me.
But not Sawyer. I shivered at the reminder.
“Sloane?” my mom whispered.
Right, I hadn’t answered her yet. “I’m coming back, Mom. I promise.”
She squeezed me tighter before letting me go. “I love you so much.”
 Tears blurred my vision. “I love you too.”
She let out a shaky breath. “I’ll see you soon.”
I nodded, not sure that I would be able to talk without bursting into tears.
Willa’s bottom lip trembled when I met her eyes. She threw herself at me and put her arms around my neck, holding me like
she might never let go. “Be careful.”
I smoothed a hand over her back. “I will. I’ll be back before you know it.”
She finally released me. She wiped her eyes with both hands and forced a smile. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
My mom put her arm around Willa and motioned to my door. “You better get ready, my love. Your father wants to leave in the
next fifteen minutes.”
She bit her lip, but it didn’t hide the slight tremble in it.
I let out a shaky breath and padded down the hall to my room. I kicked the door shut behind me and raced to my dresser for
some clothes. I stripped out of my night clothes as fast as I could and dressed in record time, only taking a few quick seconds to
toss my hair up.
Mom and Willa weren’t in the hall when I emerged. Good. It was hard enough to say goodbye the first time.
Downstairs, the front room was filled with men. They all looked on edge, some of them ready for a fight. They needed to be.
It’d be a miracle if we got to Pack Wolf Blood and back without any incident. My brother Brandon saw me first and waved
his hand. I pushed through the crowd, joining him and my other brother Mark, along with Willa’s brother Ian.
I pushed my hands into my hoodie’s pockets. “Hey.”
Mark clapped me on the shoulder. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
I pressed my lips together and met his gaze. “Yes. I lived there. I know what I’m going into.” My nostrils flared as I huffed.
Mark patted me. “I know. It’s just this time will be different. There will be fighting.”
I balled my hands in my pockets. “I know what Alpha Dane is capable of.”
My gaze inadvertently drifted to Ian. His eyes met mine, and he hung his head low.
Willa must have told him what happened.
Mark let go of me and looked around the room. “Is that Sawyer guy going to be there, too?”
Brandon smacked Mark in the stomach. “Knock it off,” he hissed. “Dad doesn’t want us to talk about him.”
I lifted my brow at that.
Brandon glanced at the busy room and then turned back to me, keeping his voice a low whisper. “He doesn’t want anyone to
know about his involvement. Just in case.”
I didn’t have to ask what he meant by “just in case.” There could be spies here. It made sense, as much as I hated the idea.
Alpha Dane was powerful. He had hurt lots of people and taken many women and girls prisoner. He could have men here
thinking they were going to get their sister or daughter back if they fed him information.
I gave Brandon a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks for looking out for him.”
He inclined his head. “Of course. I heard what he did for you and for Willa.”
Ian mumbled under his breath before he glanced back up at me. “She told me how he saved her. She told me what you did for
her, too.”
Brandon tapped Ian’s back. “The three of us are going with you to collect Lincoln while the rest go after the women. Dad
wants to make sure we get him. That DarkSide site is really something else.”
My belly fluttered. “Good. I’m glad it’s helping.”
Ian smoothed a hand over his hair. “We’ve made contact with more packs, thanks to it. More reinforcements are coming.”
I’d lost track of how many packs had pledged themselves to our fight. Enough that I hoped it would make a difference. Alpha
Dane had a lot of men working with him.
The room quieted to a few hushed whispers. I turned around to see my dad standing on the bottom step. He had a few of the
other alphas standing next to him.
He cleared his throat. “Good morning. I know it’s a bit earlier than we planned, but we think it is best to head out now. As
you all know, we found a few of Pack Wolf Blood’s spies around our perimeter. We don’t know what they may or may not have
told Alpha Dane, and we don’t want to risk him being ready for us. We are mobilizing now and leaving. Please find your party
and head to your vehicles.”
I frowned and pursed my lips. I didn’t have a party. Dad hadn’t mentioned anything to me about it. My blood pressure spiked.
Was I going to be left behind after all?
Brandon must have sensed my trepidation. He put his arm around me and hugged me. “Hey, you’re with us. Don’t worry. We
aren’t leaving you behind.”
I let out a breath. “Thanks.”
Brandon held up my dad’s Bronco keys. “I’m driving.”
I lifted a brow and cocked my head to the side. “Dad is letting you drive?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t totaled a vehicle since—”
 Mark snatched the keys out of Brandon’s hands. “It’s only been two months. I don’t think so. I’m the oldest. I’m driving.”
Brandon rolled his eyes and nudged me. “He’s no fun.”
Mark growled and jabbed his finger at Brandon. “Knock it off. This is serious. Don’t you understand that? Or is everything
just a big game to you?”
Brandon’s brows dipped into a scowl as he huffed.
My younger brother was something of a jokester. He always knew how to brighten up a room, and I also knew that
sometimes he made light of situations to keep everyone from knowing how scared he was.
I stepped between my two brothers. “Relax, Mark. He knows how serious this is. We can’t afford to fight. We should get out
to the car.”
I didn’t give either of them a chance to respond before I brushed past Mark and made my way into the crowd of enforcers
filing out the front door.
The room smelled sour, like fear, sweat, and there was still a faint scent of my mom’s roast. My stomach growled. Great,
now I was hungry. Knowing my brothers, there was a box of granolas or something in the car. Mom was always joking about
how hard it was to keep them fed.
Mark caught up and fell into step next to me. “I’m sorry, Sloane.”
I shared a look with him and sighed, letting some of the tension leave my shoulders. “I know. This is tense for all of us.”
He shifted the keys between his hands. “You should try to contact your friend and see if they’ve left. We’re going to be early.
We don’t want the full pack there when we show up.”
He opened the passenger door for me. I climbed in, and he shut it.
Mark was right. We had a few hours’ drive, but we were leaving a full two hours ahead of schedule. Sawyer had said first
thing in the morning.
We should still get there after they’d left, but they would be a lot closer to home. We would have to be quick. If we were
delayed for any reason, this could go sideways fast. I’d reach out to Sawyer as soon as we hit the road.
Ian and Brandon climbed in the back, and Mark took the driver’s seat, shoving the key into the ignition and revving it to life.
Engines around us roared, and headlights flooded the night, shining brightly down the long drive. My chest grew heavy as the
full weight of what we were going to do pressed against me.
I leaned my head against the window and let my eyes slide shut. The car lurched and rocked back and forth as we inched
across the uneven ground.
My mind went to Sawyer. I focused on his dark hair, his soft eyes, and his earthy scent. I said his name in my mind over and
over again until I felt the familiar buzz of our minds joining.
The moment he saw me, his head fell back, and he let out a loud, breathy sigh. “Sloane, thank god. We were worried about
you when you disappeared.”
I closed the distance between us, faltering slightly when he opened his arms to me this time. He wrapped me up close and
rested his chin on the top of my head.
I breathed him in. His scent washed over me and calmed my fraying nerves. “Your dad had scouts here. They tripped the
perimeter. We got them.”
Sawyer pulled back, a frown marring his handsome face. “He had men still there?”
“You didn’t know?” I asked, my voice soft.
He shook his head. The worry on his face grew deeper. “He didn’t tell me that.”
There were dozens of reasons why Alpha Dane would keep Sawyer in the dark about the men. Not all of them had to do with
him suspecting Sawyer of anything.
I gripped Sawyer’s hands. “We’ve moved up our timetable. We’re already on the road, heading in your direction.”
He mashed his lips together and squeezed my hands. “It should be fine. We will be a few hours away from the pack by the
time you get here.”
Relief flooded me, and I fell into him again.
He rubbed soothing circles on my back. “They’re just getting the girls and Lincoln and leaving, right?”
I nodded, even though I hadn’t been part of the planning. Their main goal was a rescue mission. I didn’t think anyone would
jeopardize that by doing something stupid.
“Good. There’s no way we’ll get back before you’re gone.” His hand stopped moving along my back. “My dad won’t take
this transgression lightly. It’s possible he won’t wait for reinforcements before attacking again.”
I peered up at him. “He’s not the only one getting more wolves.”
Sawyer exhaled and closed his eyes. “I know. I fear this is going to get ugly.”
“It already is.”
He pushed his fingers into my hair. “I don’t want you caught in the crossfire.”
I leaned in and placed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I don’t want you to get caught up either.” I worried my bottom lip and
glanced up to meet his gaze. “Do you think your father suspects you? Is that why he didn’t tell you about the spies?”
 He let go of me and scrubbed a hand down his face while turning his neck like he was trying to work out a kink. “Lincon’s
betrayal shook him. He might be questioning everyone. If I can make it look like someone else ratted them out, it would be
good for my cover.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. He was playing such a dangerous game.
“Cast the shadow away from you,” I told him. “I hope it works.”
“Me too.” He looked over his shoulder like someone else might be there.
He rolled his shoulders back and took me by surprise when he caught my lips. The kiss started rough but quickly became
tender, and it ended all too soon.
“I have to go. My alarm is going off. I can’t be late.”
“Be careful.” I grasped his arm tightly.
His eyes softened, and an unreadable expression filled his face. “You too.”
And just like that, he was gone. I wrapped my arms around myself as I slowly came back to the car.
I shifted so I was leaning fully against the door and let my eyes slide shut again. Foreboding washed over me, and a lump
formed in my throat.
What if Alpha Dane did suspect Sawyer? He could be in danger, and he was about to be behind enemy lines by himself.
 Twelve

Sloane

TIME HAD NEVER MOVED so slowly, even though I’d been drifting in and out of consciousness. The four-hour car ride felt
like it was four days.
It didn’t help that no one was talking. Ian and Brandon were sleeping in the back. Mark was focused on the road, but I could
tell by the way he kept gripping the wheel and then flexing his hand that he was on edge.
I shifted in my seat and groaned. My neck was stiff, and it ached when I turned it to the right. I squinted at the dash clock.
Mark looked at me and then at the back seat. “You’re awake.”
I massaged my neck. Once I shifted, I could get the kink out. “Yeah.”
Outside, it was impossible to tell where we were. Most of the drive was wooded, and the street we were on was lined with
trees and had no lights or crossroads for me to reference.
Mark must have sensed my thoughts. “We should be there in about twenty minutes.”
I wiped my hands on my pants and stared out the window. A bout of nausea rolled through me, followed by a sense of light-
headedness. I blinked my eyes rapidly and drew in a deep breath.
Mark glanced over at me again. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I answered a little too quickly, making my voice sound clipped.
He exhaled loudly and gripped the wheel again. “It’s okay if you aren’t. I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean for it to come
across like I didn’t think you should go.”
I glanced at him.
He let go of the wheel with one hand and raked it through his hair. “I don’t want to lose another sibling, Sloane. I don’t want
to see Mom and Dad go through that again. After you left, it got bad.”
I put a hand on my chest, and my mouth popped open. “What do you mean?”
His jaw worked. “You could feel the tension in the house. Mom and Dad are solid, but us kids mean everything to them. They
were terrified for you. I think they were afraid we’d get you back like we did Darrin.”
I gulped as bile rose up my throat. I’d never get the image of my brother’s severed head out of my mind. His mouth and face
were contorted in a scream, and his wide eyes were filmed over and stared vacantly, forever frozen in horror.
Mark cleared his throat. “Dad was planning to come rescue you with the other alphas. You coming back and giving us the
layout just sped up the process. He regretted handing you over to Alpha Dane from the very beginning. It ate him up inside.
Mom, too.”
I put a hand over my racing heart. “There is a part of me that wishes I’d never gone.” My chest tightened. “But it saved lives
and bought time.”
And I’d met my mates. I’d never be sorry for that.
“What you did was incredibly brave.” There was admiration in his voice.
It didn’t feel brave. The ordeal had been both terrifying and something else I couldn’t describe.
“Did the other girls go voluntarily?” I asked quietly.
I’d never really heard one way or the other about how they ended up there.
Mark shook his head. “I think some were like you, and others were forced when their packs were overrun.”
Alpha Dane would kill all the men in our pack and take all the women if he could. I get why my mom told me to run, but we
also needed to stand up and fight. Lincoln had told me that the men in Pack Wolf Blood thought women were weak. We needed
to show them how wrong they were. This was our fight, too.
I patted my chest. “When we get home, will you teach me to fight?”
Mark and Darrin had taken over most of the training for our pack about a year ago. Now it fell on just Mark’s shoulders.
 His brows knitted together, and for a moment, I thought he might refuse me, but then he nodded. “I’ll teach you, Willa, anyone
who wants to learn.”
“Good.” Between him and Lincoln, I would learn two different styles.
Sawyer, I was sure, would train me as well when we connected.
Mark slowed the car to a stop while he pulled us to the side of the road. His face turned pale as he shut off the ignition.
I swallowed hard as I looked at the line of cars along the edge of the road. We were here. My chest tightened, and I couldn’t
breathe.
Mark pointed. “Pack Wolf Blood is about a mile inward that way.”
I fiddled with the neck of my sweater. I’d have to take his word for it. I’d drawn the maps, but I was horrible with directions.
The last time I’d been here, I’d been fleeing for my life and hadn’t paid attention to the lay of the land. It was because we’d had
Lincoln’s electronics that we’d been able to get a map back to my house.
Mark turned around, putting his hand on my headrest as he peered into the back seat. “Brandon, Ian. We’re here.”
The other two wolves stirred in the back, groaning as they stretched.
Mark drew in a breath and let it out through his nose before turning back to me and killing the ignition. “The three of us are
going to accompany you to find Lincoln. Do you think we should go on foot or as our wolves?”
I bit my lip as I considered his question.
Ian scooted so he was peering in between the two seats. “If it helps, a group of men are going in their wolf forms to scout
ahead before the rest of us even leave the car.”
Oh, that made sense.
I adjusted the collar on my neck again. “He’s restrained, or was the last time I saw him. We should only shift as a last resort.
I’ll need help to get him free.”
Ian slid back into his seat. “Then we should stay on two feet for now.”
Mark mumbled his agreement. His gaze went to the passenger window. He was watching, waiting for the all clear.
I held my breath, or tried to. This was taking an eternity. I couldn’t sit still. The seat had grown uncomfortable. Something
was jabbing my back, and my legs were falling asleep. I tried to pull them into my chest but had to set them back on the
floorboards. I shifted to one side and then the other. Nothing seemed to help.
I let my head fall back against the seat and closed my eyes tightly. Come on. Come on. Give the all clear.
I pumped my fists in my lap to keep my hands from twitching. What was taking so long? We should be on our way already.
Maybe something had happened. No, Sawyer would have alerted me if they hadn’t left or something was up. But what if Alpha
Dane was onto him? Maybe this was a trap?
I jumped when Mark put his hand on my shoulder. My eyes flew open, and I drew in a ragged breath.
He gave me a pat. “Hey, we’re ready.”
This was it. I unbuckled my seat belt with shaking hands and opened the car door. A combination of dizziness and nausea
washed over me as I stepped out of the SUV. The cool, crisp night air greeted me, making my symptoms worse with the
temperature change from the car.
I leaned against the door and fought to get my bearings. I licked my dry lips and drew in a deep breath.
You can do this, Sloane. You have to get to Lincoln. He’s counting on you. Sawyer also.
I stood up straight and steeled myself. I looked at my two brothers and then at Ian.
Mark pointed to the trees where men and wolves were already disappearing. “We will need to head west when we hit pack
grounds. Our goal is to get Lincoln and come back to the car and leave. Everyone else is working on getting the women out.”
Would the four of us be enough to rescue Lincoln? What if we ran into resistance?
I shook the thoughts away. Most of the men would be out there watching the women. They would never guess that we were
coming for Lincoln. As far as I knew, Alpha Dane had no idea about my connection to either of his sons. He would never
suspect that I’d come back for Lincoln. Neither would Mikey, for that matter.
Brandon ripped his hoodie over his head and tossed it into the back seat before closing the door. “We should set a steady
pace and jog. I know the others plan to move as fast as possible. I don’t want to be the last ones here.”
We all mumbled our agreement. I knew Dad would come back for us, but I wasn’t so sure about the other alphas. They cared
about their families and pack mates. I understood that, but we all had to be a team. No man left behind and all. That was how
we defeated Alpha Dane.
Mark shifted on his feet. “Ready?”
He looked at all of us, and each of us gave a nod as we transitioned our eyes to those of our wolves.
Mark took off first, and the rest of us joined him. We set a blazing trail through the woods. I could vaguely hear the birds
singing and the crickets still chirping over the frantic pounding of my heart. The ground was dewy and wet, making my feet
slide as they dug into the mud.
I pumped my arms at my sides and forced myself to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth.
We darted in and out of the trees and hopped over logs. Our footfalls were quiet and calculated as we made our way through
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 The end being now so certain and so near, the bright courage of
the man returned; there was no shrinking with the closing scene so
close at hand. He was not brought back to the Tower after his
condemnation, and he passed his last night upon earth in the Gate
House at Westminster, close to which the scaffold stood in Old
Palace Yard. He had a last parting that evening with his devoted
wife, his “dear Bess,” but neither dared to speak of their only
remaining son—that would have been too bitter a pang for them to
bear. Sir Walter’s last words to his wife were full of hope and
courage: “It is well, dear Bess,” he said, referring to Lady Raleigh
having been promised his body next day, the only mercy allowed her
by the Council, “that thou mayest dispose of that dead which thou
hadst not always the disposing of when alive.” Then she left him.
During the long hours of that last night, he composed those beautiful
lines which will last as long as the language in which they are written:

“Even such is time! who takes in trust

Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust:
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days.
But from that earth, that grave, that dust,
The Lord shall raise me up I trust.”

Raleigh wrote these lines in a Bible which he had brought with him
from the Tower.
Carlyle has summed up Raleigh’s life and death in the following
pregnant lines, in his “Historical Sketches”:—
“On the morning of the 29th of October 1618 in Palace Yard, a cold morning,
equivalent to our 8th of November, behold Sir Walter Raleigh, a tall gray-
headed man of sixty-five gone. He has been in far countries, seen the El
Dorado, penetrated into the fabulous dragon-realms of the West, hanged
Spaniards in Ireland, rifled Spaniards in Orinoco—for forty years in quest a
most busy man; has appeared in many characters; this is his last appearance
on any stage. Probably as brave a soul as lives in England;—he has come here
to die by the headman’s axe. What crime? Alas, he has been unfortunate:
become an eyesore to the Spanish, and did not discover El Dorado mine. Since
 Winchester, when John Gibb came galloping (with a reprieve), he has been lain
thirteen years in the Tower; the travails of that strong heart have been many.
Poor Raleigh, toiling, travelling always: in Court drawing-rooms, on the hot
shore of Guiana, with gold and promotions in his fancy, with suicide, death, and
despair in clear sight of him; toiling till his brain is broken (his own expression)
and his heart is broken: here stands he at last; after many travails it has come
to this with him.”

Sir Walter Raleigh died a martyr to the cause of a Greater Britain;

his life thrown as a sop to the Spanish Cerberus by the most
debased and ignoble of our kings. Raleigh’s faults were undoubtedly
many, but his great qualities, his superb courage, his devotion to his
country, his faith in the future greatness of England, were infinitely
greater, and outweighed a thousand times all his failings. The onus
of the guilt of his death—a judicial murder if ever there was one—
must be borne by the base councillors who truckled to the King, and
by the King himself who, Judas-like, sold Raleigh to Spain.
Some less interesting State prisoners occupied the Tower towards
the close of the inglorious reign of James Stuart. Among these were
Gervase, Lord Clifford, imprisoned for threatening the Lord Keeper in
1617. Clifford committed suicide in the Tower in the following year.
About the same time, Sir Thomas Luke, one of the Secretaries of
State, and his daughter, were imprisoned in the Tower on the charge
of insulting Lady Exeter, whom they accused of incest and witchcraft,
but, whether the charges were true or false, they were soon
liberated. James’s court seems to have combined all the vices, for
Lord and Lady Suffolk were also prisoners in the fortress about the
same time, accused of bribery and corruption.
To the Tower also were sent the two great lawyers—Lord
Chancellor Bacon, and Sir Edward Coke—the former for having
received bribes, the latter for the part he had taken in supporting the
privileges of the House of Commons. Here, also, two noble lords, the
Earl of Arundel and Lord Spencer, were in durance, owing to a
quarrel between them in the House of Lords, when Arundel had
insulted Spencer by telling him that at no distant time back his
ancestors had been engaged in tending sheep, to which Lord
Spencer responded: “When my ancestors were keeping sheep,
yours were plotting treason.” The dispute seems scarcely of
sufficient importance to have sent both disputants to the Tower.
In 1622 the Earl of Oxford and Robert Philip, together with some
members of Parliament, were sent to the fortress for objecting too
publicly to the suggested marriage of the Prince of Wales, afterwards
Charles I., with a Spanish princess; and the Earl of Bristol was also
in the Tower for matters connected with the same projected alliance.
It was not always safe to have an opinion of one’s own under James
the First.
The last State prisoner of mark to be sent to the Tower in James’s
reign was Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, who had been found
guilty of receiving bribes in his official capacity as Lord High
Treasurer.
 CHAPTER XIII
CHARLES I. AND THE COMMONWEALTH

With the close of the reign of James I. the Tower ceased to be a

royal residence—the Stuart kings, in fact, never passing more than a
night or two in the old fortress prior to their coronation, after which
they only visited it on very rare occasions. James himself only
occupied the Tower-Palace on the eve of opening his first
Parliament; and as the plague had broken out in the city at the time
of Charles the First’s coronation, that king did not even stay the
previous night in the building, nor does he appear ever to have
visited the fortress during the whole of his stormy reign of four and
twenty years.
A very remarkable man occupied a prison in the Tower early in
Charles’s reign. This was Sir John Eliot, “fiery Eliot” Carlyle calls him.
He was first of that noble band of patriots who defied Charles’s
tyranny, and had been sent to the Tower in the winter of 1624–25 for
censuring Buckingham during Charles’s second Parliament, but he
remained there only a short time. In the March of 1628, however,
Eliot, with a batch of independent members of the House of
Commons—amongst whom were Denzil Holles, Selden, Valentine,
Coryton, and Heyman—was again imprisoned in the Tower. Eliot had
boldly declared that the “King’s judges, Privy Council, Judges and
learned Council had conspired to trample under their feet the
liberties of the subjects of the realm, and the liberties of the House.”
Denzil Holles and Valentine were the two members who had kept the
Speaker in his chair by main force; the others were committed to
prison for using language reflecting on the King and his Ministers.
For the following three months these members of Parliament were
kept in close confinement in the fortress, books and all writing
materials being strictly kept from them. In May, Sir John Eliot was
taken to Westminster, where an inquiry was held but no judgment
given. After his return to the Tower, however, Eliot was allowed to
write letters, and was also given “the liberty of the Tower,” and
permitted to see a few friends. In the month of October Eliot and the
others were taken to the chambers of the Lord Chief-Justice, and
thence to the Marshalsea Prison, a change which he jokingly
described as having “left their Palace in London for country quarters
at Southwark.” Then they were tried, and Eliot, being judged the
most culpable, was fined two thousand pounds, and ordered to be
imprisoned in the Tower during the King’s pleasure. As for the fine,
Eliot remarked that he “possessed two cloaks, two suits of clothes,
two pairs of boots, and a few books, and if they could pick two
thousand pounds out of that, much good might it do them.” The
fearless member never quitted the Tower again, for a galloping
consumption carried him off two years after he had written the above
lines. There can be no doubt that this consumption was not a little
owing to the harsh treatment he endured. In 1630 he wrote to his
friend Knightley, alluding to rumours of his being released. “Have no
confidence in such reports; sand was the best material on which they
rested, and the many fancies of the multitude; unless they pointed at
that kind of libertie, ‘libertie of mynde.’ But other libertie I know not,
having so little interest in her masters that I expect no service from
her.” His prison was frequently changed, and many restraints were
put upon him, for, on the 26th of December, he writes to his old
friend, the famous John Hampden, that his lodgings have been
moved. “I am now,” he says, “where candle-light may be suffered,
but scarce fire. None but my servants, hardly my sonne, may have
admittance to me; my friends I must desire for their own sake to
forbear coming to the Tower.” Poor Eliot was dying fast in the year
1632, but his last letter to Hampden, dated the 22nd of March, is full
of his old brave spirit, and the gentle humour that distinguished this
great and good man. The letter concludes thus: “Great is the
authority of princes, but greater much is theirs who both command
our persons and our will. What the success of their Government will
be must be referred to Him that is master of their power.” The doctor
had informed the authorities that any fresh air and exercise would
help Eliot to live, but all the air they gave him was a “smoky room,”
and all the exercise, a few steps on the platform of a wall. On the
27th of November Eliot died, “not without a suspicion of foul play,”
wrote Ludlow some years afterwards.

The Byward Tower

Eliot’s staunch friends, Pym and Hampden, moved in the House
for a committee “to examine after what manner Sir John Eliot came
to his death, his usage in the Tower, and to view the rooms and
place where he was imprisoned and where he died, and to report the
same to the House,” a motion which shows how matters had
changed for the better since the days of Elizabeth, none of whose
Parliaments would have dared thus to question the treatment of
State prisoners.
The blame of his untimely death—for he was but forty-two—rests
upon those who let him die by inches in his prison as much as if they
had beheaded him on Tower Hill. John Eliot died a martyr in the
cause of constitutional liberty as opposed to monarchical autocracy.
Eliot’s son petitioned the King to be allowed to remove his father’s
body to their old Cornish home at St Germains, but the vindictive and
narrow-minded monarch, who would not even forgive Eliot after
death had intervened, refused the prayer, writing at the foot of the
petition, “Lett Sir John Eliot’s body be buried in the church of the
parish where he died.” No stone marks the spot where he is buried,
and his dust mingles with that of the illustrious dead in St Peter’s
Chapel in the Tower, but his name will be remembered as long as
liberty is loved in his native land.
We now come to a period of quite another sort.
In Carlyle’s “Historical Sketches,” John Felton, the assassin of
Buckingham, is thus described:—“Short, swart figure, of military
taciturnity, of Rhadamanthian energy and gravity.... Passing along
Tower Hill one of these August days (in 1628) Lieutenant Felton sees
a sheath-knife on a stall there, value thirteen pence, of short, broad
blade, sharp trowel point.” We know the use Felton made of that
Tower Hill knife on his visit to Portsmouth, where Buckingham was
then about to set sail for his second expedition to La Rochelle; how
he stabbed the gay Duke to the heart, exclaiming, as he struck him:
“God have mercy on thy soul!” how he was promptly arrested,
brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower.
The reason, or reasons, for Felton killing Buckingham have never
been made clear. He appears to have been a soured religious
fanatic, but the crime was doubtless owing to some fancied injustice
regarding his promotion in the army; and it has been thought that it
was merely an act of private vengeance, rather than one of political
significance. But after his arrest a paper was found fastened in
Felton’s hat, with the following writing upon it:—“That man is
cowardly, base, and deserveth not the name of a gentleman or
soldier, that is not willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of his God,
King, and his countrie. Lett no man commend me for doing of it, but
rather discommend themselves as the cause of it, for if God hath not
taken away our hearts for our sins, he would not have gone so long
unpunished.—Jno. Felton.” A sentiment which goes to show that
Felton assassinated Buckingham with the fanatical idea of benefiting
his country.
 So hated was Buckingham by the people, that Felton passed into
the Tower amid blessings and prayers. He was placed in the prison
lately occupied by Sir John Eliot in the Bloody Tower, and before his
death made two requests—one, that he might be permitted to take
the Holy Communion, and the other that he might be executed with a
halter round his neck, ashes on his head, and sackcloth round his
loins. On being threatened with the rack in order to induce him to
give the names of his accomplices, Felton said to Lord Dorset that,
in the first place, he would not believe that it was the King’s wish that
he should be tortured, it being illegal; and, secondly, that if he were
racked, he would name Dorset, and none but him—a capital answer.
When he was asked why sentence of death should not be passed
upon him, he answered: “I am sorry both that I have shed the blood
of a man who is the image of God, and taken away the life of so near
a subject of the King.” As a last favour, he begged that his right hand
might be struck off before he was hanged. He suffered at Tyburn,
and his body was gibbeted in chains at Portsmouth. “His dead body,”
writes Evelyn, “is carried down to Portsmouth, hangs high there. I
hear it creak in the wind.” An eye-witness describes Felton as
showing much courage and calm during his trial and at his death,
and Philip, Earl of Exeter, who attended the execution, declared that
he had never seen such valour and piety, “more temperately mixed,”
as in Felton’s demeanour. This is surely one of the strangest
mysteries in our history.
Prisoners still continued to come to the Tower, and in 1631,
Mervin, Lord Audley, was executed on Tower Hill for a crime not of a
political nature. Six years later a very distinguished ecclesiastic,
John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, was imprisoned for four years
within the Tower walls. Williams, who was a Privy Councillor, had
repeated some remarks made by the King, in which His Majesty had
advocated greater leniency in the treatment of the Puritans, and was
accused of revealing Charles’s private conversation, and being an
enemy of Laud’s was very hardly dealt with in consequence. He was
deposed from his bishopric, fined £10,000, and imprisoned in the
Tower, where he caused some surprise, if not scandal, by not
attending the church services in the fortress. However, after his
release, Williams was reconciled to the King, and in 1641 became
Archbishop of York. He had been successively Dean of Salisbury
and Dean of Westminster, and had succeeded Bacon as Lord
Chancellor in 1621, just before he had been appointed to the See of
Lincoln. Williams certainly belonged to the Church Militant, and
during the Civil War defended Conway Castle most gallantly for the
royal cause. At the end of December 1641, he was back again in the
Tower, with ten other Bishops who had protested that, owing to their
being kept out of the House of Lords by the violence of the mob, all
Acts passed during their absence were illegal. The Peers arrested
the protesting Bishops on a charge of high treason; and on a very
cold and snowy December night they were all sent to the Tower,
where they remained until the May of 1642.
Lord Loudon, who had been sent by the Scottish Covenanters to
Charles, had a narrow escape of leaving his head on Tower Hill in
1639. According to Clarendon, a letter was discovered of a
treasonable nature, signed by Loudon, addressed to Louis XIII. of
France, and Charles ordered Sir William Balfour, by virtue of a
warrant signed by the royal hand, to have the Scottish lord executed
the following morning. In this terrible dilemma Loudon bethought him
of his friend, the Marquis of Hamilton, and gave the Lieutenant a
message for that nobleman. Now it was one of the privileges of the
Lieutenant of the Tower that he could at any time, or in any place,
claim an audience with the sovereign. Hamilton persuaded Balfour to
go with him to Charles, but on arriving at Whitehall, they found that
the King had already retired for the night. Balfour, however, taking
advantage of his privilege, entered the room with Hamilton, and
together they besought Charles to re-consider his decision, pointing
out to him that Loudon was protected by his quality as Ambassador
from the Scotch. The King, as was his wont, was obdurate. “No,” he
said; “the warrant must be obeyed.” At length the Marquis, having
begged in vain, left the chamber, saying, “Well, then, if your Majesty
be so determined, I’ll go and get ready to ride post for Scotland to-
morrow morning, for I am sure before night the whole city will be in
an uproar, and they’ll come and pull your Majesty out of your palace.
I’ll get as far as I can, and declare to my countrymen that I had no
hand in it.” On hearing this, Charles called for the warrant and
destroyed it. Loudon was soon afterwards released (Oldnixon’s
“History of the Stuarts”).
Now comes the story of the last days of one of Charles’s most
noted counsellors—last days that, as in the case of many before
him, were passed within the grim precincts of the Tower, and were
the prelude to execution. On the 11th of November 1640, the Earl of
Strafford was at Whitehall laying before Charles a scheme for
accusing the heads of the parliamentary party of holding a
treasonable correspondence with the Scotch army, then encamped
in the North of England. Whilst he was with the King the news
reached him that Pym at that very moment was impeaching him in
the House of Commons on the charge of high treason. Strafford at
once made his way to the House, but was not allowed to speak, and
shortly afterwards heard his committal made out for the Tower. At the
same time Archbishop Laud was arrested at Lambeth Palace, and
carried off to the great State prison. “As I went to my barge,” Laud
writes in his diary, “hundreds of my poor neighbours stood there and
prayed for my safety and return to my home.” But neither he nor
Strafford were ever to return to their homes. Perhaps Strafford’s life
might have been saved had it not been for the King’s action, for
when it became known that Charles had plotted with the hope of
inducing the Scottish army to march on London, seize the Tower and
liberate Strafford, the great Earl was practically doomed. The city
rose as one man, a huge mob surging round the Houses of
Parliament and the Palace of Whitehall, shouting “Justice.”
For fifteen days Strafford faced his accusers and judges at
Westminster Hall, his defence being a splendid piece of oratory. He
proved that on the ground of high treason his judgment would not
count, and his judges were compelled to introduce an Act of
Attainder in order to convict him; but for the next six months he was
kept in the Tower, uncertain as to his ultimate fate until the 12th of
May 1641, when the Bill of Attainder was passed by the Lords.[3]
Charles had sworn to Strafford that not a single hair of his head
should be injured; but on the Earl writing to him and offering his life
as the only means of healing the troubles of the country, the King
yielded, and deserting his minister, gave his assent to the execution,
and signed the warrant.
On the following morning Strafford was led out to die. There is no
more dramatic episode in the great struggle between Charles and
his people than that when Strafford, amidst his guards, passed
beneath the gateway of the Bloody Tower, where, from an upper
window, his old friend, Archbishop Laud, gave him his blessing. The
Archbishop, overcome, sank back fainting into the arms of his
attendants. “I hope,” he is reported to have said, “by God’s
assistance and through mine own innocency that when I come to my
own execution, I shall shew the world how much more sensible I am
to my Lord Strafford’s loss than I am to my own.”
Knowing how bitterly Strafford was hated by the people, the
Lieutenant of the Tower invited him to drive to Tower Hill in his
coach, fearing he might be torn to pieces if he went on foot.
Strafford, however, declined the offer, saying, “No, Mr Lieutenant, I
dare look death in the face, and I trust the people too.” With the Earl
were the Archbishop of Armagh (Ussher), Lord Cleveland, and his
brother, Sir George Wentworth. On reaching the scaffold Strafford
made a short speech, followed by a long prayer, and giving his final
messages for his wife and children to his brother, said: “One stroke
more will make my wife husbandless, my dear children fatherless,
my poor servants masterless, and will separate me from my dear
brother and all my friends; but let God be to you and to them all in
all.” He then removed his doublet, and said, “I thank God that I am
no more afraid of death, but as cheerfully put off my doublet at this
time as ever I did when I went to bed.” Then placing a white cap
upon his head, and thrusting his long hair beneath it, he knelt down
at the block, the Archbishop also kneeling on one side and a
clergyman upon the other, the Archbishop clasping Strafford’s hands
in both his own. After they had left him Strafford gave the sign for the
executioner to strike by thrusting out both his hands, and at one
blow, “the wisest head in England,” as John Evelyn, who was
present, says, “was severed from his body.” On that night London
blazed with bonfires, and the people rejoiced as if in celebration of
some great victory.
 The great Earl’s mistake was in serving and trusting such a king
as Charles. Later on it transpired that Charles had a plan of
removing Strafford from the Tower by throwing a hundred men into
the fortress, thus relieving the Earl, and keeping possession of the
Tower as a check upon the city. In pursuance of this plan, on the 2nd
May 1641, Captain Billingsby with a force of one hundred men
presented himself at the gates of the Tower, but Sir William Balfour
refused to admit them, and the King’s scheme for taking the fortress
fell to the ground.

The true maner of the execution of thomas earle of

strafford Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland vpon Tower hill the 12th of May 1641

A. Doctor Vsher Lord Primate of Ireland

B. the Sherifes of London
C. the Earle of Strafford
D. his kindred and Friends
Execution of the Earl of Strafford, May 12th. 1641.
The first beginnings of a Tower regiment, according to Mr J. H.
Round, was the appointment of two hundred men as Tower Guards
in 1640. In November of the same year Charles promised to remove
this garrison, but he did not do so until the city offered to lend him
£25,000, on the condition that these troops should be taken away, as
well as the ordnance from the White Tower, which was a perpetual
menace to the safety of the city. Aersen, the Dutch Ambassador,
writing to his Government about this time, says, “le dessein semble
aller sur le tour.” Still the King would not withdraw the soldiers or the
cannon, and then the House of Lords expostulated with him, but
Charles excused his breach of faith by saying that his object was
merely to insure the safety of the stores and ammunition in the
fortress.
After his plot to seize the Tower had been made public, the train
bands belonging to the Tower Hamlets occupied and garrisoned the
fortress. These train bands, as well as those of Southwark and
Westminster, were distinct from the city train bands. On the 3rd of
January 1642, the King made another attempt to garrison the Tower
with his own troops, which also proved a failure. On this occasion Sir
John Byron entered the fortress with a detachment of gunners and
disarmed the men of the Tower Hamlets, but the city train bands
came to the rescue, and Byron, with his gunners, had to beat a
retreat. When, in 1642, the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John
Conyers, resigned his charge, the Parliament conferred the
Lieutenancy upon the Lord Mayor of London. Later, in 1647, when
the city had taken the side of the Parliament against the King, Fairfax
was appointed Constable; the Constables had succeeded each other
according to the chances which brought the King or the Parliament
to the top, thus Lord Cottrington had been replaced by Sir William
Balfour, and he in his turn had given room to Sir Thomas Lumsford,
a “soldier of fortune,” writes Ludlow of him in his “Memoirs,” “fit for
any wicked design.” Lumsford, so uncomplimentarily referred to by
Ludlow, was supposed to be willing to act according to the King’s
good pleasure, and succeeded in making himself so unpopular with
the Londoners, that they petitioned the House of Lords to beg the
King to place the custody of the Tower in other hands, the Lord
Mayor saying he could not undertake to prevent the apprentices from
rising were Lumsford allowed to remain in office; so Charles
unwillingly gave the keys of the fortress to the care of Sir John
Byron. Byron, in his turn, was succeeded by Sir John Conyers, who
had distinguished himself in the Scottish wars and had been
Governor of Berwick; and after Conyers followed Lord Mayor
Pennington,[4] “in order,” as Clarendon writes, “that the citizens might
see that they were trusted to hold their own reins and had a
jurisdiction committed to them which had always checked their own.”
From 1643 to 1647 the Tower remained in the hands of the
Parliament. In the latter year the army obtained the mastery, and Sir
Thomas Fairfax, the Commander-in-Chief, became its Constable,
under him being Colonel Tichbourne as Lieutenant of the fortress.
Shortly after the King’s execution, however, Fairfax resigned his post
of Constable, none other than Cromwell, himself, stepping into the
vacant place.
But we must return to Archbishop Laud, who for four years was a
prisoner in the Bloody Tower in the prison chamber over the gateway
of that gloomy building.
In his diary, the Archbishop has left a minute account of a
domiciliary visit paid him by William Prynne in 1643. The
Archbishop’s trial being determined on by the House of Lords,
Prynne was commissioned by the Peers to obtain Laud’s private
papers. “Mr Prynne,” writes the Archbishop, “came into the Tower
with other searchers as soon as the gates were open. Other men
went to other prisoners; he made haste to my lodging, commanded
the warder to open my doors, left two musketeer centinels below,
that no man might go in or out, and one at the stairhead. With three
others, which had their muskets already cocked, he came into my
chamber, and found me in bed, as my servants were in theirs. I
presently thought on my blessed Saviour when Judas led in the
swords and staves about him.”—This surely is rather a bold
comparison for an Archbishop to make?—“Mr Prynne, seeing me
safe in bed, falls first to my pockets to rifle them; and by that time my
two servants came running in half ready. I demanded the sight of his
warrant; he shewed it to me, and therein was expressed that he
should search my pockets. The warrant came from the close
committee, and the hands that were to it were these: E. Manchester,
W. Saye and Seale, Wharton, H. Vane, Gilbert Gerard, and John
Pym. Did they remember when they gave their warrant how odious it
was to Parliament, and some of themselves, to have the pockets of
men searched? When my pockets had been sufficiently ransacked, I
rose and got my clothes about me, and so, half ready, with my gown
about my shoulders, he held me in the search till half-past nine of the
clock in the morning. He took from me twenty and one bundles of
papers which I had prepared for my defence; two Letters which
came to me from his gracious Majesty, about Chartham and my
other benefices; the Scottish service books or diary, containing all
the occurrences of my life, and my book of private devotions, both
which last were written through with my own hand. Nor could I get
him to leave this last, but he must needs see what passed between
God and me, a thing, I think, scarce offered to any Christian. The last
place that he rifled was my trunk, which stood by my bedside. In that
he found nothing, but about forty pounds in money, for my necessary
expenses, which he meddled not with, and a bundle of some gloves.
This bundle he was so careful to open, so that he caused each glove
to be looked into. Upon this I tendered him one pair of gloves, which
he refusing, I told him he might take them, and fear no bribe, for he
had already done me all the mischief he could, and I asked no favour
of him, so he thanked me, took the gloves, bound up my papers, left
two centinels at my door, and went his way.”—(From “Troubles and
Trials of Archbishop Laud.”)
Prynne, whose ears Laud had been the means of cutting off some
half-dozen years before, must have enjoyed this visit to his old foe.
On the 10th of March 1643, the Archbishop was brought to his trial in
Westminster Hall, but amongst all the charges brought against him
none could be considered as proving him guilty of high treason.
Serjeant Wild was obliged to admit this, but said that when all the
Archbishop’s transgressions of the law were put together they made
“many grand treasons.” To this Laud’s counsel made answer, “I
crave you mercy, good Mr Serjeant, I never understood before this
that two hundred couple of black rabbits made a black horse.”—(In
Archbishop Tennison’s MSS. in Lambeth Library. Quoted by Bayley.)
Laud’s trial lasted for twenty days, the chief accusation brought
against him being that he had “attempted to subvert religion and the
fundamental laws of the realm.” The outcome of the trial was that
Laud was beheaded on Tower Hill on 10th of January 1644. Laud
was a strange compound of bigotry and intolerance, of courage and
of devotion to what he considered to be the true Church, and of
which he seemed to regard himself as a kind of Anglican Pope. His
life and character are enigmas to those who study them, and his
death became him far better than his life had done.

WILLIAM LAUD
Aerts Bisschop van Cantelbury, binnen London
Onthalft den 10 January, Anno 1645
Arnt Pieters Excudit

Carlyle, in a delightful passage in his posthumously published

“Historical Studies,” writes: “Future ages, if they do not, as is likelier,
totally forget ‘W. Cant,’ will range him under the category of
Incredibilities. Not again in the dead strata which lie under men’s
feet, will such a fossil be dug up. This wonderful wonder of wonders,
were it not even this, a zealous Chief Priest, at once persecutor and
martyr, who has no discernible religion of his own?” “No one,” said
Laud, when told of the day on which he was to die, “no one can be
more ready to send me out of life than I am to go.” Indeed, no one
could have left life in a calmer or more tranquil manner than did the
Archbishop. It must be a great support to have a sublime opinion of
oneself, and if ever man had a sublime opinion of himself it was
Laud. The comparison he made in his diary, and which I have
already quoted, between his Saviour and himself—between Prynne-
Judas and Laud-Christ—proves the ineffable self-conceit of the
prelate.
The fact that he himself was notoriously indifferent, if not callous,
to the sufferings of others, has destroyed all the sympathy that might
have been felt for this strange character in his fall and tribulations.
For a mere difference of opinion Laud would order ears to be lopped
off, noses slit, and brows and cheeks to be branded with red-hot
iron. His best and most enduring monument is the addition he made
to St John’s College at Oxford, of which he was at one time the
president, and in whose chapel his remains were re-interred, after
resting for a time in the Church of All Hallows, Barking, and in the
library of which his spectre is said to be seen occasionally gliding on
moonlight nights, between the old bookshelves.
After the month of August 1642, when Charles had unfurled his
standard at Nottingham, the Tower, although nominally still in the
King’s possession, was in reality held by the Parliament; and its
prisoners were those who were opposed to the representatives of
the people. Among these was Sir Ralph Hopton, who had protested
against a violent address made by the Parliament against Charles,
Sir Ralph having declared that his fellow-members “seemed to
ground an opinion of the King’s apostacy upon less evidence than
would serve to hang a fellow for stealing a horse.” This remark
brought him to the Tower, where he was soon joined by another
member of Parliament, Trelawney (or Trelauney), who had informed
the House of Commons that they could not legally appoint a guard of
troops for themselves without the King’s assent, under pain of high
treason (Clarendon).
Sir Ralph, afterwards Lord Hopton of Stratton, distinguished
himself later in the war in the West of England, where he had much
success, and with the help of Sir Beville Grenville, gained a signal
victory over the Parliamentarians at Stamford Hill, near Stratton, in
Cornwall. Fairfax, however, ultimately proved too strong for him, and
finally Hopton left England, dying at Bruges in 1652.
Besides these, Sir Thomas Bedingfield and Sir James Gardner
were committed to the Tower by the House of Lords, “for refusing to
be of the counsel of the Attorney-General,” whilst the Earl of Bristol
and Judge Mallet followed them to the fortress, “merely for having
seen the Kentish petition.” This petition was drawn up by the
principal inhabitants of that county, praying, “that the militia might not
otherwise be exercised in that county than the known law permitted,
and that the Book of Common Prayer, established by law, might be
observed.” Lord Bristol soon obtained his liberty, but Mallet was kept
a prisoner for two years on the charge of being “a fomentor and
protector of malignant factions against the Parliament” (Clarendon).
In the same year, Sir Richard Gurney, Lord Mayor of London, was
sent to the Tower on the charge of having caused the King’s
proclamation against the militia, and for suppressing petitions to
Parliament, to be published in the city. Sir Richard was dismissed
from his mayoralty, and imprisoned during the pleasure of the
House. Another Lord Mayor, loyal to the cause of the King, Sir
Abraham Reynoldson, was, six years later, also a prisoner in the
Tower; but his incarceration lasted only two months, whilst Gurney, it
seems, remained for several years in the fortress. The Parliament
meted out heavy punishment for “opinions,” Lord Montagu of
Boughton, the Earl of Berkshire, and some Norfolk squires, being
likewise sent to the Tower on a charge of favouring the King’s side,
and of being hostile to the Parliament. In 1643 Justice Berkeley was
imprisoned by order of the Lords on a charge of high treason, and
also a Mr Montagu, a “messenger” from the French Court to the
King.
 At this time whole batches of Cavaliers began to be frequently
brought to the Tower. Of these, Sir William Moreton, who was
captured at the fall of Sudeley Castle, of which he was the governor,
remained a prisoner until the Restoration, when he was made a
judge. Another was Daniel O’Neale, who had greatly distinguished
himself on the royal side in the Scottish war, and later in England. He
was committed to the Tower on the invariable charge of high treason,
but, like Lord Nithsdale, about half-a-century later, he managed to
break his prison in female attire, and succeeded in reaching Holland,
whence he returned to serve under Rupert as a lieutenant-colonel in
the Prince’s cavalry. According to Clarendon, O’Neale became a
celebrated adept in court intrigue in the time of Charles II.
In this year (1643), Sir John Conyers was in command of the
fortress, having received the charge from the Parliament in the hope
that he would be gained over to that side. On being asked to take the
command of the Parliamentary army, Conyers, however, declined,
his refusal causing so much annoyance to the leaders of that party
that he thought it more prudent to resign his charge of the Tower,
being, as Clarendon puts it, too conscientious, “to keep His Majesty’s
only fort which he could not apply to his services.” His place, as has
already been said, was given to Sir Isaac Pennington, Lord Mayor of
London.
In 1644, Sir John Hotham, and his son, Captain Hotham, who had
been imprisoned in the Tower in the preceding summer on the
charge of intending to surrender the town of Hull to the King, were
both beheaded on Tower Hill. Hotham may be described as the
Bazaine of the Parliament. The town of Hull was the greatest
magazine of arms and ammunition in England. Charles had in vain
summoned Hotham, who was the Governor for the Parliament, to
surrender the town, and on his refusal had declared him a traitor.
There is little doubt that both Hotham and his son were Royalists at
heart, and both were convicted of having entered into a
correspondence with the King’s party in order to come to terms for
the surrender of the town and arsenal to the Royalist forces.
Another governor—Sir Alexander Carew, who held Plymouth for
the Parliament—was beheaded in the same month as the Hothams
for a like “intention.” Carew is said to have been decapitated with the
same axe with which Strafford was killed, and it was reported that at
the time of Strafford’s trial, Carew had said that sooner than not vote
for the Earl’s death, he would be ready to be the next man to suffer
on the same scaffold, and with the same axe: a wish which was
literally fulfilled. (Dugdale’s “Short View of the Late Troubles.”)
By one of those strange vagaries of fortune which are the
characteristic of the history of this period, and in which the Tower
played its accustomed part of imprisonment, George Monk, the
future Duke of Albemarle, and one of the makers of our history, was
imprisoned in the Tower for three years after his capture by Fairfax at
the siege of Nantwich. He was a colonel at the time, and only
regained his freedom by consenting to take the command of the
Parliamentary forces sent to Ireland (Ludlow’s Memoirs).
Two of Monk’s fellow-prisoners, Lord Macquire and Colonel
MacMahon, who had both been fighting on the Royalist side in
Ireland, made a desperate attempt to escape from the Tower in this
same year (1644). They succeeded in sawing through their prison
door and lowered themselves by a rope, which they had been
enabled to find through directions written on a slip of paper that had
been placed in a loaf of bread, sent to them by some of their friends.
They got down into the moat, across which they swam, but were
taken on the other side and hanged at Tyburn in February 1645,
although Macquire pleaded that, as an Irish peer, he had the right of
dying by the axe and not by the halter. For allowing the escape of
these officers from their prison chamber the Lieutenant of the Tower
was fined heavily.
That splendid cavalier, “Old Loyalty,” as he was proudly called,
John Paulett, Marquis of Worcester, who had defended Baring
House so long and so well, came a prisoner into the Tower in this
same year, accompanied by Sir Robert Peake, who had aided him in
the defence of his home, and who had also been taken prisoner after
the storming of the place. They were followed by Sir John
Strangways, who had been taken at the siege of Cardiff. In 1647 Sir
John Maynard, Serjeant Glynn, the Recorder of London, and the
Lord Mayor, Sir John Gayre, with some of his aldermen and sheriffs,