Carnage Island (Reject Island)(96)

Alpha Bryson became our primary challenge seven years ago.

And now he’s dead.

A bit anticlimactic for my taste, but that’s Tieran’s way. He’s not the type to prolong torture or make someone suffer. When he has the upper hand, he uses it without remorse.

I’m just sad I didn’t have a chance to take the bastard’s head.

It would have made for a nice trophy in the den.

But I don’t want it bad enough to go back there to take it. Not when Clove is in our bed right now, likely mewling and writhing in pleasure.

Fuck. I’m so damn hard.

I know Tieran is, too.

However, he’s still speaking, voicing a tribute to the lives lost now.

It’s really only Alpha Duncan, but he mentions the misguided enforcers from Nantahala Pack as well, saying they were not of sound mind with Alpha Bryson being their leader.

He mentions Alpha Kin, too.

Which is met with growls because he’s already told the pack about his betrayal.

“He was still a Carnage Wolf,” Tieran reminds them all. “But his actions against this pack will keep him from being properly buried.” He looks at Alpha Dirk then and nods.

Alpha Dirk doesn’t even hesitate. He picks up Alpha Kin’s body and tosses him into the bonfire, drawing more howls from the crowd.

But Alpha Duncan is treated much differently.

His body is wrapped up for shipment back to Black Mountain Pack territory to be buried among the warriors of our kind.

Everyone is silent for the ceremony, which Alpha Ebony and Alpha Pan lead. They don’t hide their emotions, their grief a palpable presence the pack embraces in kind.

Alpha Duncan was a good wolf.

A strong man.

An excellent clan leader.

He will be missed by us all.

All statements I don’t say out loud, but think as the final preparations are made for the transport of his body back to the pack headquarters.

Tieran helps Alpha Pan and Alpha Ebony carry him to the yacht. Beta Lock and Alpha Mackin are waiting to help guide the transport.

Alpha Pan and Alpha Ebony will go with Alpha Duncan.

Tieran hugs them all, saying a few private words to each of them.

Private words that I realize I can hear.

Not with my ears, but in my mind.

Because I can hear Tieran’s thoughts.

My brow furrows. Well, that’s new.

He glances at me, then returns his focus to the others.

Fully mated clans typically develop a telepathic link that allows mates to talk to each other, but I didn’t realize ours would happen so quickly.

Actually, I wasn’t sure if ours would happen at all, what with Clove being a half-breed and all.

However, I can feel her in my soul. Hear her in my mind.

And tapping into it is a huge mistake. Her need slams into my gut, causing my knees to buckle and sending me to the sand with a groan that I can’t hold back.

“Right,” Tieran says, clearing his throat. “Volt and I are needed back at the den. Our Omega has just gone into heat.”

I don’t see their reaction, my mind entirely focused on Clove’s need.

“Yes, we’re mated,” I hear him explaining.

Which earns us a round of howls that only make me want to growl.

Mine, my wolf is saying. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Ours, Tieran replies flatly, directly into my mind.

It’s loud enough and stern enough that it snaps through my drunken haze and seizes control of my focus. I snap my gaze up to his.

He smirks. I growl.

I’ll race you, he says, taking off toward the trees. First one back knots her first.

Fuck that, I curse, chasing him. You already knotted her in the shower. It’s my turn.

Only if you beat me to the den, he taunts, a good ten yards ahead of me.

My wolf snarls at him.

And the fucker laughs.

So I start thinking about all the ways I can kill him with a blade.

It doesn’t deter him in the slightest. He’s running full speed, driven by his wolf.

As much as I hate to admit it, he’s faster.

Which means he beats me to the den. But rather than fulfill his part of the deal, he pauses on the doorstep to watch Caius and Clove play.

They’re a sensual ripple on the bed, fucking with abandon, and utterly lost to the bliss of the moment. That sight alone is worth waiting a few minutes.

So I quietly back away to work on gathering items Clove is going to need—like food and water.

Tieran accompanies me, helping me carry everything into the room to sit beside her nesting material.

Caius is a panting mess on top of her, both of them lost to a climax that appears to be unending, until finally he rolls off of her on a sigh of relief. “Your turn,” he says, settling in for the show.

Tieran grins, then glances at me before nodding at the bed. “Take her.”

He won the race.

But he’s giving me the prize.

Yet another reason why he’s a better wolf than me.

I shuck off my boots and jeans and crawl over a writhing Clove. She’s a little sex monster, snarling with need. The minute she sees me, she bites my pec.

I groan, loving that she’s claiming me all over again like it’s the first time.

When she’s done, I repay the favor by kissing a path down her body to bite her thigh again. She cries out in confusion, wanting my knot, not my teeth. But Tieran quiets her by capturing her mouth in a bruising kiss. I’d tell him to silence her by sliding his dick down her throat, but he’s going to need to knot her next.