Crown of Embers Book 1 (Blood Warrior Pack Series Book 9)

Sometimes my life seems so surreal. I look back at where I came from - a run-down shack in the middle of a bayou - to where I am today. I never would have guessed I could feel so loved, so settled, and so ready to take on the world to protect my home, my family, and my way of life. 

Lying here in bed as rain tapped against the windows, surrounded by my mates while all my babies slept just down the hall, felt like pure heaven. Last night I dreamed of those musty motel rooms I used to haunt, hiding from a king while keeping tabs on another king. I used to prefer those dingy motels; I used to want to stay anonymous and stalk the dark web for answers.

“Mama!” I chuckled at Jolene’s sweet voice down the hall. My little angel was awake and ready to face the day.

A long, drawn-out sigh came from the big dragon next to me.

“I’ll go get her.” Tucker slipped out of bed and padded across the room to slip on a pair of sweatpants.

Smoke chuckled beside me. “I think our peaceful morning is about to become very loud.”

He wasn’t wrong. As soon as Tucker walked into the nursery, a chorus of little chattering voices drifted up the hall. I slipped out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt before going to help Tucker with the seven who were awake.

“What’s the game plan for today since Trina is visiting family and London is sick?” Volt was sitting up, rubbing his face. His hair was sticking up, and his eyes still had that sexy, sleepy look that made me want to crawl back in bed and devour him.

“Dallas is taking the older kids to the park later this morning so we can get some work done. Trina is supposed to be back tomorrow morning, and London is starting to feel better, so hopefully she will feel up to helping tomorrow before she heads to the bakery.”

“Does Dallas realize what she is getting herself into?” Alex rolled over with a sigh, staring at the ceiling.

“She handles all seven like a boss. Hell, I’d trust her with the entire brood. She’d have them learning life skills while organizing the chaos that has become this house, all while they believed they were manipulating her. That female has some serious skills.” Smoke was chuckling.

Smoke was very fond of his personal assistant. When he hired her as a virtual assistant, I questioned that decision. Then, she had to flee her pack when her father tried to barter her for more land and an alliance. When the alpha-heir of the Diamond Moon Pack was carried into my home - in wolf form - I never expected her to become such an important part of my family.

Dallas Winter is also the Alpha King’s niece, something neither had known until she showed up and the Diamond Moon beta followed and revealed her biological mother’s name. Dominic’s sister disappeared over twenty years ago, and he never knew she had found her mate or had a daughter. He also never knew Anne had been beaten to death because she gave Alpha Robert a daughter instead of a son.

Once everything was sorted out and Alpha Robert fled his pack, Dallas did not want to return to the Diamond Moon Pack. She gave up her alpha-heir title, and Dominic installed a new alpha for that pack. Dallas stayed here with her mates. I cried when she asked to stay, and I know Smoke did, too. She is family, simple as that.

She is also just as organized as I am, and my children adore her. Maverick and Cruz resisted for the longest time, but even they have decided Dallas is one of the best people in the world. It helps that she creates fun, interesting, and interactive stories that keep the kids entertained, teach them lessons, and get them moving and using their imaginations. Even my brother and dad were a little infatuated with Dallas.

Walking into the nursery, I chuckled. Potty training seven has been going great, but on mornings when they all wake up together, the bathroom gets a little crowded. Sending Maverick, Mathias, and Cruz to the master bedroom so they could use that bathroom, I helped Jolene wash her hands while Zuri finished her business.

Once the girls were ushered out to Tucker, Zaden came dancing in with a death grip on his sleep shorts. “Mama! I have to pee pee!”

Shaking my head, I made sure he didn’t try to paint the bathroom. That was something Maverick and Cruz took great delight in. When Griffin laughed and encouraged Maverick to try and write his name while peeing, I made Griffin clean the entire bathroom.

When I caught Crash doing the same thing with Cruz, I handed him the cleaning supplies and pointed. Cruz stared at me with his mouth hanging open. “Daddy is in trouble?”

“Yes, Cruz. Daddy is in big trouble. Pee pee goes in the toilet, not on the floor or walls. If you do it again, you will be the one cleaning it up.”

My son’s eyes opened wide, and he shook his head. “Not me.”

“Yes, you. If it is your pee on the walls or floor, it is you who will be cleaning.” I put my hands on my hips and looked toward Maverick. “That goes for you, too, Maverick.”

It took everything in me not to laugh when Maverick pursed his lips exactly like Griffin does when he is ticked off. I was thankful Malik was starting to show more of a milder temperament. I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle two with Griffin’s temperament.

Once the circus of getting the children dressed and ready for the day moved downstairs and demanded breakfast from Cassian, I drew in a deep breath.

Dallas was already settling the little ones at the table. When Maverick tried to push her and then yelled at her for being in his way, she turned and arched one brow. That was all, one perfectly arched eyebrow. The little terror dropped his head and apologized.

I really needed to learn that exact look. My babies knew when that particular eyebrow arched; they were skating on thin ice, and Dallas wasn’t pleased. Hawk stepped beside me and chuckled.

“She’s been here a year, Sonni. If you haven’t learned how to replicate that look, give it up. She made Peter apologize without saying a word. He insulted her, and she simply gave him ‘the look’” Hawk used air quotes around ‘the look,’ and I grinned.

Even Sebastian and Griffin seemed unable to avoid the consequences of Dallas’ infamous eyebrow. Drake tries to keep his distance. He once said he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that look ever again. Hawk, on the other hand, seems to take great delight in pushing her boundaries. Her mates do, too.

After Dallas took charge of the seven older pups plus Jazz and Kiefer, I headed into SmokeShield. The extra office has been converted into a war room complete with a huge map on the wall where we were keeping tabs on Carter Silver, the new Rogue King.

Carter was Luna Sasha Warrior’s twin brother. He had been turned out of the Silver Fang Pack when it was discovered that his father, and probably his mother, tried to have Sasha killed. It was a messy situation and one that I wasn’t sure Sasha had ever moved on from. Her uncle, Alpha Rick, took the alpha title from her father, Leonardo. He also took Leo’s mate - Sasha and Carter’s mother.

Sasha was raised in Leo’s home until she was eight, and a rogue attack killed everyone except her. She was then sent back to her mother, her memories locked, until she stumbled into Sebastian and realized he was her mate. I kind of wished I had been around when all of that went down. A front-row seat to that shitshow would have been fabulous.

It also would have given me more insight into what makes Carter tick. He was named the Silver Fang alpha-heir, but he wasn’t the true heir - that was Sasha and now her son, Eric. The Alpha King arrested Rick for his crimes; Grace - Sasha and Carter’s mother - fled, and no evidence was found against Carter, but he disappeared to somewhere west.

Standing in front of the map, I looked at the dates and locations of the small to mid-sized packs that Carter had somehow infiltrated and turned the leadership against the Alpha King. I wondered again how a rejected alpha-heir was able to start building such a strong base. He hasn’t been in power that long. Somebody has to be funding him, but who?

Sighing and tabling those thoughts for now, I turned to the opposite wall and stared at the photos and profiles of every single member of the Dragon King’s council.

Two needed to be dealt with immediately, but my father was being stubborn or sentimental or just plain stupid. Hawk and I have been investigating the council members, and Armand has supplied us with a lot of information about the two troublemakers.

Karl Schmidt and Wilbur Schmidt, brothers born in the Black Cliff Colony. As I stared at Karl’s profile, something flickered in my memories. Karl Schmidt. I had seen that name before, but where?

It was going to drive me up a wall until I remembered where I knew that name from.