Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)

Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)

Carrie Ann Ryan




Dedication


To Chelle.





Acknowledgements


I feel like I write the same things here each time and I can’t help it. I have such an amazing team and I know I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without them. So thank you Charity for not only my cover, but my sanity. Thank you Chelle for your counsel and edits on this one! I know you didn’t get to sleep much, so I thank you. Thank you Tara and KP for keeping me going as well as organized. And thank you Avery, Skye, Christi, and Kimberly for helping me flesh out the plot…and not for freaking out when I mentioned I wanted to write about a tank.

Thank you Dr. Hubby for understanding when I need to work weekends and when I started to cry randomly thinking about this book.

And as always, thank you dear readers for sticking through everything with me. I’m so freaking blessed with y’all!

Happy reading!





Wolf Betrayed


The Talon Pack continues with the daughter of a traitor, the man who can never be her lover, and another man she should never want…her enemy.

Charlotte Jamenson was born to the Pack that threatened the world, but grew up in the one that saved it. She’s spent her entire life repenting for lies and faults that were never hers to bear. When she falls for her best friend, Bram Devlin, she thinks she’s finally found forgiveness for the blood in her veins; only a mating bond never came.

Bram knows there’s something missing within his mating with Charlotte, but there’s nothing he can do about it. Their Pack is in danger, and it’s his duty to protect their Alpha—even if it means sacrificing his life. When he’s put in charge of protecting a new member of the Talon Pack, he realizes he and Charlotte may just have a chance at something more than heartache.

Shane Bruins sacrificed his life and his future to protect the Packs from the men he worked for. Now, thanks to circumstances beyond his control, he’s not quite who he was before, and his life is on the line yet again. Only this time, he isn’t alone, and the two wolves in his path might be the only things that can calm the beast inside.

The war isn’t coming, it’s here, and the Talon Pack will have to rely on three souls who know they aren’t what each other wants—but exactly what they need—to win.





Chapter One


Charlotte Jamenson ducked beneath a fallen tree branch and inwardly cursed when she tripped over an aboveground root. If she’d been in her human form, she’d probably have said the word aloud and added a few others, as well. Instead, she huffed a breath, lowered her head, and moved faster through the woods.

Her wolf pushed at her, ready to take control and let the run do what it needed to: relieve the tension and stress that came with being who she was in a Pack on the brink of war. Yet she couldn’t quite let her wolf come to the surface even though she was in that form. Her human half needed to think, to feel the dirt beneath her paws, and hold on to what little control she had over her life. The war was coming, perhaps it was even here, and she didn’t have a clue how she could help.

She was the adoptive daughter of the former Omega of the Redwood Pack. The true daughter of the traitor to the Central Pack.

Yet she had nothing to show for her blood other than the guilt that came with continuing to breathe when so many others did not.

The other wolf with her nipped at her flank, and she sped up, thankful that he’d pulled her out of her thoughts of self-pity. She had enough trouble figuring out how to help her people without falling into a depression over where she’d come from yet again.

Charlotte didn’t bother to turn and bite at the other wolf for daring to touch her. This was Bram, her best friend and everything else that she could possibly ever need, he could nip at her if he wanted. She’d just nip back.

When he tried to snap at her again, she slammed her body into his. He was so much bigger than she was, though—in either form—that he didn’t budge, and she almost stumbled. He let out a soft growl, even as they continued their pace, as if admonishing her for being so careless. Either that or he worried about her too much. As this was Bram, it was probably a mixture of both.

They continued their run, their pace increasing until she was panting and losing steam. She hadn’t been sleeping well, not with the steady unrest around them and the wolf at her side, and now it was starting to show. She wouldn’t be much help to her Pack and family if she didn’t start taking care of herself. And while this run had initially been part of that, as all wolves needed the exercise, she was going to hurt herself if she didn’t slow down and head back home.

Bram seemed to sense her needs—as always—and slowed down first. She held back another sigh and matched his pace until they were both walking back toward the set of trees where they’d left their clothing.

When they reached the area, she let out a low moan, knowing the pain from the change was coming. Even though she’d done this countless times before, the transition between wolf and human, human and wolf, never got any easier. For people like Bram, who seemed to excel at everything he did, it looked as if he gently flowed from one form to another. He never showed any signs of weakness, never looked like he wanted to pass out from the pain. That was probably why he was an enforcer and protector for her Uncle Kade, the Alpha of the Redwood Pack.