In the seductive follow-up to A Pack of Blood and Lies, Ness Clark’s heart and legitimacy are again put to the test. She thought the fight was over, but it was only just beginning. At the end of the trials, Ness Clark has earned her spot in her all-male pack and has won over her new Alpha, Liam Kolane. But her place amongst the Boulders and at Liam’s side is compromised. First when her cousin, who’s become enemy number one, claims Ness helped him elude his death sentence. And then, when August Watt, Ness’s childhood friend and confidant, comes home to Boulder, Colorado. Although August’s plan was to pledge himself and return to active duty, he finds himself incapable of leaving. This becomes problematic for Liam and Ness, because a mating link has clicked into place between Ness and the ex-marine. If not consumed, the link will fade, but that’ll take months. How long and hard can two people fight a physical attraction that renders their bodies unreceptive to anyone’s but their mates? Ness is tired of fighting, tired of having to prove herself worthy of her pack’s trust and of her Alpha’s affection. But when an enemy pack arrives and threatens the Boulders, she has two choices: step aside and let the wolves who have pushed her away fend for themselves, or step up and help them fight the newcomers. Ness has never stepped aside…not for anyone. Why would she start now?
Chapter 1 1
T
he first time I shifted,
I was eleven. I still remember the matching looks of shock on my parents’ faces. Where my mother’s gaze had remained wide, my father’s had crinkled with a smile. He’d crouched with his arms wide open to corral me. Disoriented and unsteady, catching me had been a swift affair. Dad had pinned me against his chest until my wolf quieted, until I morphed back into a naked child made of flesh and tears instead of fur and claws. And then he’d wrapped me up in a fleece blanket, whispering, “It’s okay, Ness. Everything will be okay.”
He was wrong.
After that day, nothing had ever been okay.
What are you thinking about, babe? Liam’s voice resonated inside my skull, making me jump. I could morph into a furry beast, yet communication without sound was still bewildering.
I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to hearing my Alpha speak to me through the pack’s mind link.
My Alpha . . .
With blood pledges, Liam had been sworn in mere minutes ago as the Boulder Pack’s new Alpha. His dream had come true. And mine along with it, because I’d gotten to swear my allegiance to him. I was now part of the pack who’d shunned me because of my gender. Take that, Heath Kolane.
How Heath had birthed a son as fair and good as Liam was almost as mystifying as an Alpha’s ability to speak into minds.
Smiling up at Liam, I threaded my fingers through the soft, black swoop of hair that fell into his reddish-brown eyes and pushed it off his forehead. “Nothing. Nothing’s on my mind, besides how proud I am of you.”
Tonight was his night. I wouldn’t spoil it with my glum thoughts.
His gaze hunted my expression. Although Alphas could speak into minds, they couldn’t read what crowded them. “Ten more minutes, and we’ll head out.”
I looked around the large stone-walled room of Headquarters where the pledging ceremony had taken place. Outside, the world was going to sleep. Inside, the party was just beginning. The animated chatter and the tinny scent of blood drying on the pledges’ wrists made my head spin.
“We can stay longer, Liam. I’m not in any rush.” It wasn’t as though I had anywhere to go . . . anyone to see.
No, that wasn’t completely true. I’d made a friend in Colorado: Sarah Matz. She was a deejay on Thursdays and Saturdays at a place called The Den, and a Pine wolf the rest of the time. Technically, she should’ve been my enemy—the Boulders and the Pines despised each other—but since we’d met at her brother’s engagement party, she’d been nothing but friendly. Actually, Sarah was only pleasant after her first cup of coffee. Before that, she was a major grouch.
Still, her personality beat the fake pertness of the Boulder wolves’ girlfriends who all seemed to resent me because I possessed something they didn’t—the werewolf gene—and because I’d defied Liam Kolane, the boy reared to become Alpha.
As I watched Liam talk animatedly with the pack, my stomach throbbed. Hunger, I supposed—I’d had a sandwich, but that was hours ago. Unless the throbbing was emanating from my nervousness. Liam had asked me to go home with him once the evening concluded. I’d never gone home with a man before.
I pressed my palm against my abdomen that was hardening by the second and walked toward one of the walls where drinks, cold cuts, and energy bars had been laid out on a long wooden table. I fished out a peanut butter bar from a glass salad bowl and was about to peel off the wrapper when headlights flashed over the window, blinding me in the process.
My first thoughts were that my traitorous cousin, Everest, had come to right the wrongs he’d caused by blackmailing me into believing I’d killed Liam’s father.
But then the driver got out.
The energy bar slid from my fingers and toppled back into the bowl.
I could almost feel the earth shake as his boots hit the ground.
After pledging himself to Liam, August Watt had stalked out of Headquarters. And yet, here he was again, minutes later. I hoped he’d returned to apologize for his odd behavior, but his rough stride and narrowed eyes told me that was most definitely not his intent.
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