Prologue
Ash’s POV
I stood there, watching at the last of the flames licked at the charred remains of what once had been my daughter’s killer. The blackened body was unrecognizable, but if you looked hard enough, you could still see the fear and pain in his eyes as the flames bit into his flesh.
I should be happy…
I should be celebrating that I’d gotten my revenge.
I should be relieved, knowing I brought my daughter’s murder to justice.
But I didn’t…
All I felt was---
Empty!
Alone…
I didn’t have a purpose anymore. After 15 years, all I’d ever done was to take care of my baby girl, Shaya. She was my world. The one who pulled me through when I lost my mate. The one who brightened my day and the one who owned my heart…
I met my mate, Jody, at only 16 and we’d mated the second we graduated high school. She got pregnant soon after, but something went wrong during the birth. The doctors managed to save our daughter, but my mate blead to death.
And ever since then it had only been her and me…
I’d been devastated after the loss of my mate. Hell, I hadn’t even had the will to live. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep… I didn’t even want to hold Shaya, blaming her for my mate’s death. But one of the nurses had taken the little bundle and forced her into my hands – before she walked away.
I remembered cursing and snarling at the nurse, but the second I met those incredible bright eyes of my daughter, my heart melted. Everything that had been dark and gloomy, suddenly became bright and light. She filled everything inside of me, and since then, she was everything to me.
Everything!
Sure, I’d had a fling or two after my mate had passed, but I never got serious with anyone. I spent my energy on raising my daughter instead of building a relationship, and that tended to make a lot of the she-wolves jealous.
But fuck them!
I would always put my baby girl first. I made sure that she had everything she needed. And with me being the Beta of the biggest and richest pack in the world, I hadn’t even doubted for a second that I’d be able to do it. I was best friends with the alpha. I had been personally handpicked by him, ever since they realized that I had a ranked wolf.
I’d been so cocky and so sure of myself…
And I’d let her down!
I raised her, never knowing that the true danger she faced was the boy she grew up with. I worried about rogues and other boys trying to get to her.
I never once suspected the one kid I trusted…
I never expected to be betrayed by my best friend!
My gaze moved to the man, whom I’d once called friend. We’d grown up together and when he lost his mate, I helped him cope with the loss, having been through something similar. I reminded him that his son needed him and that he wouldn’t be alone. I always believed that that brought us closer together and was why, I trusted him when he was there for me after---
I’d been such a fool!
I gritted my teeth as bitterness tainted my tongue and I spat at his corps. I hated the son of a bitch and I hoped he fucking suffered in hell! His body was just as badly burned as his son. The stench of death, ash and burned meat filled the air. The glow of the wood looked ominous in the dark---
But the warmth was comfortable…
Strange to think that at an execution sight, I thought to myself and dug my thumbs into my jean’s pockets. What I really wanted to do was to go over there and desecrate their burial sight. To tear them apart and piss all over them. Hell, I’d even take a shit on them, if only to make me feel something.
But I didn’t feel anything…
They were already dead and no matter what, I wasn’t going to inflict more pain on them.
They were gone.
My revenge was complete…
And I---?
“Makes me crave roasted chicken,” a voice suddenly said behind me, and I spun around to see Dargan casually walking up next to me. He had a goofy grin on his face – one I was sure was permanently there! – as he crossed his massive arms over his chest. The guy didn’t look like he took anything seriously and was an easy to like, lovable hug-a-bear.
The truth couldn’t be farther from reality though…
The guy was massive and even half dead, he was more alpha then even the most powerful alpha I’d ever come across. He was clever, patient and once he sat his mind on something, he didn’t let it go until he had what he wanted. And he was ruthless in a way, where he didn’t give you any warning before he attacked.
You’d just be dead…
“Or perhaps that’s just because we’re pregnant, I don’t know,” he continued, suddenly thoughtful when he looked at me. “How soon does pregnancy cravings set in?”
And that’s how I knew it was Dargan!
And not his twin. The idiot couldn’t stay on topic to save his life and had a mind that just didn’t work like everybody else’s. Or at least that was my first clue. The second was because, despite being twins, I’d just spent two days alone with Darian and I’d learned to tell them apart.
Dargan had been an alpha’s pup and raised as such.
Darian had been raised to be his replacement.
But being an alpha wolf, Darian hadn’t always been very cooperative; meaning he had a lot of scars. One of them, had cleaved the right eyebrow in half, making it rather easy to tell one brother from the other…
I mulled over his question, wondering if it would be pointless to tell him that HE wouldn’t get any pregnancy cravings – his mate would. Or in this case mates, because – of course! – he’d taken two mates!
The man never made anything ease…
“I---,” I began, still torn between telling in the truth or just lie. I decided to go the highway, and said: “Wouldn’t know.”
It wasn’t a lie – completely!
It had been 15 years since my own mate had been pregnant and I honestly didn’t remember what it had been like. I only remembered what had happened after, and honestly, even then those first few months were a blur…
“Hmm,” he murmured, still seemingly deep in thought, before he turned around and faced the corpses before us. The woman who raised him had been among the dead and his own brother – a man he’d grown up calling “uncle”. But looking at him, you wouldn’t think that the man had just successfully murdered his entire family. Hell, he looked like he was ready to call it a night and---
Yeah, order something for dinner…
“It doesn’t make her come back,” he suddenly said, surprising me. “But it makes it a little more bearable, no?”
I wasn’t sure…
It didn’t help the emptiness I felt inside or the hole that seemed to be taking up my chest. I didn’t feel much of anything actually…
“A little,” I replied anyway, and shrugged. “Like you said, she’s not coming back no matter what I do.” I chuckled, remembering what he’d said on the phone the other day.
“I guess I’ll just be your Beta then,” I shrugged. Dargan looked at me funny for a moment, before he had that epiphany moment and realized---
“Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you,” he exclaimed, with a huge smile on his face. “Ashley and Gaia are going to be the Alphas from now on. I’ll be the Alpha Enforcer.”
“What?” I gaped, before I could help myself.
An omega and a latent she-wolf?!
Alphas?!
But Dargan just laughed as if I’d just said the funniest thing!
“I hope you’re not a sexist prick,” he chuckled and slapped my back way harder than necessary. “I’d really hate to kill you after everything we’ve been through!”
He laughed and walked off, leaving me stunned behind for a second.
Was he really going to let his pregnant mates run the pack?!
Was he serious?
But then I remembered that--- this was Dargan!
Anything was possible really…
Grinning slightly, I pocketed the neckless, that Dargan had given me, and followed him to where his mates were waiting.
Guess I was going to ask my new Alphas if I still had a job…
