Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)

Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)

Alexandra Ivy & Carrie Ann Ryan



Stolen



The Beginning


Twenty-five years have passed since the Verona Virus nearly wiped out human civilization. It was only when the shifters reluctantly came out of hiding to offer their blood as an antidote that the virus was brought to a halt.

Instead of creating harmony between the two species, however, the humans took control. The shifters found themselves branded, collared, and forced to live like animals. The Canine, Ursine, and Feline compounds are small and territorial, their populations on the edge of extinction. Each Pack is suffering from infighting, and even worse, the humans keep finding ways to enforce new laws that threaten their very existence.

The Alphas and other hierarchy are the only ones that stand in the way of their people’s demise.

Or are they?





Chapter 1


If everyone didn’t get the f*ck away from him, they’d be responsible for the trail of clawed up *s in his wake. Holden Carter, Alpha of the River Pack, ran a hand through his hair. His muscles strained, and his wolf prowled far too closely to the surface for his liking. It didn’t matter that they sat on old couches and the scarred wooden floor in his home. He’d take them out one by one if they wouldn’t let him breathe.

“You look ready to kick someone’s ass, Alpha, you’d better rein it in.”

Holden turned to his second, Soren and narrowed his eyes. The smug bastard might be a Beta, but there wasn’t a submissive bone in his body. The only thing that kept Soren from leading like Holden was his wolf.

The wolves determined dominance, not the strength of the man beneath.

Instead of smashing his best friend’s face in, Holden lifted a lip in a semblance of a smile. Of course, from the look on Soren’s face, it must have come out as more of a grimace than an actual smile. Oh well, the man deserved it. As did the rest of them. Hell, he needed to run. Or a drink.

Anything at this point.

Holden turned back to the wolves in front of him and let out a low growl. Each man and woman quieted, the collars around their necks a stark contrast to the color of their skin. He f*cking hated the collars his brothers and sisters wore more than the metal one wrapped tightly around his neck.

It reminded him that the Pack wasn’t free.

Weren’t equal.

Weren’t human.

They were caged and branded, but not forgotten.

He’d make sure his Pack was never forgotten.

That was his duty as Alpha. One of many.

“You’ve aired your grievances,” Holden growled out, his wolf clawing at him. “The collars can’t come off. It’s a death sentence at this point. You know this.” The collars themselves wouldn’t kill them if they took the metal cages off their necks. No, it was the humans who held that power. They had eyes everywhere, a hold over their lives and future.

“But we can overpower the humans,” Theo, a younger wolf, bit out. He had been born within the compound walls and had never stepped foot outside as a free man. Between the need to find some semblance of who he could be and the natural aggression of a new adult wolf, Theo always toed the line of wolf and man. “We’re wolves. We’re powerful. Not like the f*cking cats and bears in the other compounds.”

Rumbles from the other wolves who agreed with him.

Holden suppressed a growl of agreement. The cats and bears were in their own compounds and had their own troubles. Many of the wolves in the Pack had never seen another type of shifter. The humans had broken from their brethren, and the results weren’t a shared connection of pain. Instead, the old taunts of cat vs wolf vs bear had turned to something far more feral.

Again, Holden didn’t want to think of that. Instead, he wanted—no needed—to run.

“That’s enough,” he growled, his wolf in his voice. “We’re not all dominants. There are submissives, non-fighters, and children to consider.” Holden let out a breath. Always so much to consider and never enough leverage to protect his people from atrocities of the worst kind.

Humans.

The wolves, cats, and bears had been locked within their own compounds for twenty-five years. Two and a half long decades where a new generation had been forcibly denied a glimpse the outside world; destined never to breathe the air of freedom, never to run on four paws for as far as their legs could take them.

Instead, they’d been collared, imprisoned, and branded like cattle.

Holden rubbed his left forearm where the brand of his species, his people, burned as it had when he’d turned fifteen and been forced to wear the mantel as Alpha and savior of his kind. The tribal wolf howled at an unseen moon—ironic since the humans who’d designed the brand had done their best to cut the wolves from their nature and their need to be one with the earth. The act of defiance in tattooing the left side of his Pack tattoo had cost him dearly, but he’d never regret the ink on his skin.

Not when it meant his people had a chance at life.

Holden squeezed his forearm, his claws breaking through the tips of his fingers slightly before receding. He had better control than any wolf here, but sometimes, the wolf needed to run.

The men and women who sat in his home were his council. Not a true council since wolves didn’t work that way, but they were the pillars of their Pack, their compound. Each of them wove within the den, learning what they could and keeping the peace. For if a wolf stepped out of line, it wouldn’t be the Alpha in all cases to punish them. Instead, the humans would take that on their shoulders and make them an example. The people in front of him helped him keep his Pack in line and let him know of problems that he could be unaware of as Alpha.