Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)(29)

“Hurt the other Packs and hurt me? I still would have taken you down.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Xavior spat. “Not when we had the power of the Shaman after we killed her.”

Oliver froze. “You…you killed your Shaman? I wasn’t aware you had one.” The Shaman was the cat’s third in power, like Oliver and Gibson were to their Packs. To kill a Shaman…that was a death sentence.

A way to be sent to the farthest of hells.

Shamans held power, magic, but they were weak. Innocent.

“We didn’t have one,” Jonah said softly, horror in his voice. “Not yet…”

“She wasn’t of age yet,” Xavior said with a shrug.

Oliver’s stomach turned as Mandy gasped in his hold. He felt the heat of her tears on his chest and he knew she mourned for the little girl who had died because of the greed of one man and his followers.

“Who?” Jonah asked, his voice pure rage.

“The one you thought the SAU took,” he spat. “Just like they take so many of ours and we do nothing about it. Only it wasn’t them. It was us. We’re stronger than the SAU. And we’re stronger than you. We siphoned her powers and used them to bring out the Omega so we could kill him, and then we messed with the visions of the Foreseer. You see, we were the power. Not you. We deserve to be Alphas. And that bitch wolf, Claire, we killed her, too. She should have died long ago when she outed us to the humans, but you weren’t strong enough to do it. We took control because you couldn’t.”

Jonah turned to someone behind Oliver and gave a slight nod. Oliver turned and brought Mandy’s face to his chest as the Feline Beta snapped the neck of the lion female who had attacked Mandy.

“You broke our laws,” Jonah began, and Oliver turned his attention back to the Alpha. “You killed a child. You attacked those outside our Pack. You killed a woman to see if you could. You…you are not ours. You are nothing.” He smashed his fist into Xavior’s cheek, and the lion hit the ground, unconscious. The Alpha let out a long sigh. “His death isn’t mine,” he said softly. “But of the child’s parents if they so choose. If they can’t, I will take their burden. I’m sorry for the actions of my Pack.”

Oliver stood on shaky legs and gripped Mandy’s hand. Gibson, now somewhat healed since he was a shifter and bandaged stood with them, gripping Oliver’s other hand.

“It’s over,” Oliver said into the silence. “We can’t let this ruin what we were becoming, what we’ve become. The future is unclear, but we must stand as one, stand together if we are to find our freedom.”

“It isn’t lost on me that the SAU hasn’t come into the compound to see why we’re fighting,” Gibson added. “Something is coming and we have to break through our pasts to ensure we have a future.”

Mandy squeezed Oliver’s hand. “We’re Pack. All of us. I know they attacked us, but you didn’t. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

And with that, the three Alphas of the Packs, Holden of the wolves, Jonah of the cats, and Andrew of the bears bowed their heads at the three of them.

Mandy shook, no doubt exhausted from the fight and being in the presense of so many Alphas. Gibson also shook, and Oliver knew he had to get his mate home. He nodded back to the Alphas and squeezed his mates’ hands before leading them down the path, back to his house.

They had fought their enemies and had found the true reason behind his dreams…at least for the moment. He prayed this would be the last of it within his Pack. His people, all shifters, weren’t supposed to fight within the Packs now, not with so much on the line. Their true enemy was the SAU.

He just prayed they would be strong enough to do what needed to be done in the end.

But for now, he had Gibson and Mandy.

They were safe.

And they were his.

That had to be enough.

And it would be.

For now.





Epilogue


Mandy bit her lip, trying not to make a sound as she watched them go at it. But how could she stay silent as they sweated in front of her, moaned in front of her, did that in front of her.

Gibson had Oliver bent over the bed, slowly making love to him and making sure their bear was comforted, loved, and oh so sated. When Gibson looked over at her in the chair and winked, she licked her lips and winked back. He smiled then and lowered his body over Oliver’s, his fangs out as he marked him as his own.

Oliver growled softly, his head thrown back in ecstasy. When Gibson moved away, Oliver stood and fisted his hand in Gibson’s hair. He crushed his mouth to his before biting into their wolf’s shoulder to mark him as his own.

Mandy let out a moan.

Her men turned toward her, intent in their gazes. When they held out their arms to her, she stood up and walked slowly toward them.

They made love—soft, sweet, and perfect. Everything she’d always imagined in a mating. And when they marked her, she knew she was adored, cared for, and treasured forever.

And when they flipped her over onto her belly and went harder, she knew they’d found her strength. She’d fought for herself on the battlefield, though it had pained her, and yet these men would always cherish her, here and out in the world.

After a long shower where they explored one another some more, they dressed and decided to walk around the perimeter of the compound for Gibson’s shift before they met with Ariel and Holden. In the two short days since the attack, they had fully healed, and the Packs were learning how to rely on one another once more. Theo was healed as well, though he’d been hurt far more than any of them. From his act of sacrifice alone, she’d known he’d always be there for her, even if it wasn’t as he’d thought it would be.