An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)

An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)

Carrie Ann Ryan



Dedication


To those lost in the darkness.

There is a light, a break in the bleak.

Don’t give up.





Acknowledgements


Five years ago when I wrote about Kade and Melanie in An Alpha’s Path, the first novel of the Redwood Pack series, I never thought I would one day be writing a book about their grown son living in a world where the terrors he faces are even more dangerous than a demon with a plan of world domination. From the cover colors, the title, and to the idea that there is an answer through the darkness, Finn’s story comes from his father’s path. I knew that going in, only I didn’t know I was on that same path as well.

I’ll be honest and say Finn and Brynn’s story broke me. These two took a toll on my heart and my brain, but in the end, after rewriting their complete story three times, An Alpha’s Choice is ready for you.

I want to thank Kennedy Layne for holding my hand during my drafting stages. You have no idea how much you helped me by just listening. Thank you Chelle for taking me on during my panic and bringing their story to life with your edits. I adore you and now I know that we have a bright future together with our words. Thank you Rebecca and Dr Hubby for your help along the way. Finn and Brynn are brighter because of you. The Sprinting Ladies are always there for me, so thank you Shayla Black, Carly Phillips, Julie Kenner, Lexi Blake, Kennedy Layne, Angel Payne, and Jenna Jacob.

Also, thank you Steve Berry for listening to me talk while I tried to get through the plot issues I was having. Who knew a walk on the beach while we were searching for sharks, turtles, and sea glass would help spark the drive I needed to finish this book?

As always, thank you readers for being here with me every step of the way. For those of you just starting on this journey I hope you adore Finn and Brynn as much as I do. For those of you who have been here since the beginning—Finn is waiting…





An Alpha’s Choice

Brynn Brentwood has spent the whole of her life protecting the Talon Pack through terrors only she will ever know. She’s never asked for more in life other than to live to take her next breath and to ensure her family is safe. Regardless of her selfless wishes and the atrocities the former Alpha committed, she has always known that fate would provide for her as it had countless others. Fate is what has carried her through with one exception—upon meeting the one wolf who could be hers, he doesn’t feel their bond.

Finn Jamenson has been broken more than once, left beaten and half dead—and that was before he was an adult and Heir of the Redwood Pack. When called upon to work with their allies, the Talons, he finds himself intrigued with a woman who his wolf doesn’t claim as his own. Though he knows there could be something there, he refuses to tempt himself with a wolf who could never be his when his own mate could waiting for him.

The world changed in a blink of time and now the two wolves must fight as one—ignoring the burning temptation between them—when their people are threatened. With one wrong move, their homes could be destroyed and its up to Finn and Brynn to save them all…if only they could save themselves.





Chapter One


The echoes of helicopter blades chopping into the wind came closer with each passing breath. Brynn Brentwood fisted her hands at her sides, knowing there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

They’d come for her family, her Pack. They’d come for her.

They’d come for answers no one truly wanted to hear, and yet, Brynn knew she’d fight to keep the truth at bay and keep what it revealed safe.

That was her job, her passion, her life.

The humans were coming for them, and the wolves at her back and at her side were as ready as they’d ever be. The reveal they’d always prepared for—and yet had prayed would never happen—was here.

The world would soon know that shifters were real…and close.

Brynn let out another breath, her eyes on the clearing around the wards of the den. When Leo, her now dead uncle, had shifted in front of a live-feed, he’d told the world—or whoever had been watching—that the things that went bump in the night were indeed real. Though her brother Gideon, the Alpha of the Talon Pack, had killed Leo, the ramifications were far from over.

In fact, they were just beginning.

“Brynn, you hear that? They’re coming.”

Brynn looked over at her brother, Ryder, the Heir of the Pack and second eldest of them all. He’d fought by her side to defeat Uncle Leo, the elder named Shannon, the elder, and the handful of others who had tried to take over the Pack. He looked a little worse for wear with blood trickling down his side and dirt on his hands, but they all looked similar. They hadn’t been able to shift and use their full strength to defeat the others. She and her family had been so afraid of showing what they truly were to outsiders, that they’d won the battle without shifting. As it turned out, all that work was for naught, though.

The humans—most likely soldiers—were coming. Were here. She could scent them on the wind, hear their feet pad along the forest floor. Oh, they might think they were being stealthy, but her wolf hearing could sense them.

Another thing the humans would fear about them.

Brynn thinned her lips and nodded at Ryder. “Gideon sent most of the Pack behind the wards and into the tunnels that connect to the Redwood Pack den. They’ll be safe there. The humans can’t see through the wards, nor can they even venture too close, but that won’t stop them from doing all in their power to figure out how to stop us.” They would find a way. Humans always found a way.