“Th–thank you.” He stares at me for a moment longer, grinning like an asshole but I can’t bring myself to smile back.

  “Hornby, you may continue.” Julian claps and takes a step back, his beta copying his movements almost exactly. It’s kind of strange. The beta didn’t say two words to me, didn’t even acknowledge me.

  “Very well,” Hornby states. “Where was I?” He looks up at the sky for a moment. “Oh yes,” he says, waving his hands. “This ceremony is something that has been done by the pack for years and years. And we will continue to celebrate it for many years to come.” He holds out his hand, palm up, for me to take. I slide mine into his and he turns. “Boys, this woman is yours to love, to cherish, to protect. Completing the mate bond is more than just a physical act. It is a promise. A promise to always be there, to always tell the truth, to always make things right.” He begins to move forward and I copy his movements. We reach my guys and I look up at them, finally calm enough to really see them.

  They are amazing. I… I love them. All of them. Tears sting at my eyes again as I look over my three handsome men. Mine. They are all mine. All of them, and they have been for a while now. Something about seeing them like this now, standing side by side, I know everything is going to be okay, we are going to get everything figured out. Because we have each other.

  “It is time now.” He holds his hand forward, offering mine out to the guys. Thorne takes one while Hunter takes the other. Castor places his hand on my lower back and we disappear inside of the tent.

  It’s lovely inside. String lights hang from the top. A large bed is set up in the middle of the room. Candles sit along small tables along the outside of the tent, not close enough that it’ll burn the material, but enough to be far away from the bed. Dark red rose petals are strewn about along the bed and the floor.

  They all turn to look at me, a mixture of emotions on their faces but all I can be in this moment is happy. Happy that I have them all. Here, with me.

  “What do we need to do?” I ask, suddenly feeling shy. I know what the plan was: to pretend. But something inside of me really wants these boys right now. This is suddenly so real for me. Sure, I think this whole ceremony thing is a crock of shit, along with the pack business, but this is still important to them. This is supposed to make it more real for them.

  Castor digs in his pocket, pulling out a small packet. He tears it open, shoving the wrapper into his pocket. He offers out his hand, gesturing for mine and I give it to him. He makes work of removing the cream on my arm, the one that was placed to hide my mate mark. When he’s finished, I look at it with so much emotion, so much feeling.

  This really means something.

  I haven’t spent any time really thinking about this, reflecting on it. Maybe it’s the celebration, or having everyone here together not fighting. Or maybe it’s the flowers and the lights, and how pretty this room looks. How I feel beautiful in this dress. Maybe it’s all of it. But something… something about tonight is special and I decide that I want to go with it.

  “For one night, I’d like to forget all of the bullshit. Let’s forget everything. Everything but us.” I look from Castor, to Thorne, to Hunter. “No fighting. No arguing. No talking about anything negative. Tonight is just about us, having fun, and enjoying this celebration.”

  A hesitant smile crosses Castor’s lips the same time Thorne nods. I look to Hunter who only looks nervous. Castor and Thorne look to him as well.

  “There is something I need to tell you guys.”

  Fifty-six

  Leona

  “Hunter, what the fuck are you talking about?” Castor growls.

  Well, there goes that.

  “Look, I don’t have time for this right now. You can be mad at me all you want later, but right now, Cas, I need a favor okay? Julian is here, and so is Travis. I need you to go to the alpha house and get her.”

  “What?” Castor shakes his head, his face full of disbelief. “How do you expect me to do that?” He gestures around us. “Look where we are, they are all right outside that door, waiting for us to go back out there.”

  Thorne is beside me, listening to the conversation. I still can’t believe everything Julian said. I knew he was a slime ball, I could just feel it. But things make more sense now. It makes sense why Hunter was such an asshole, why he didn’t seem to care when his mom went missing. It was all because of Julian. Hunter has been dealing with all of this alone, by himself, for months.

  “You should have told us,” I say sadly. “You should have told me.”

  Hunter frowns before speaking. “I know that, and I’m sorry. I promise you I will make it up to you, somehow. But if Cas doesn’t sneak out and get my mother out, I don’t think she’ll live to see tomorrow. Julian does not want this happening. He’s expecting me to charge out of here any moment.”

  “How the fuck do you expect me to do all of this so quickly?” Castor asks quietly.

  Thorne is still quiet beside me. I sneak a peek up at him and his face is expressionless. I can’t tell how he feels. Is he angry? Sad? I have no idea.

  Hunter blows out a breath. “Shift into your fox, sneak out under the tent this way,” he points to the back of the tent. “Go through the woods and across the road. The alpha house is there. Once you go inside, go down the hallway to the left and there is a door. It’ll be open and it’ll lead to the basement. Go to the left again and it’s the first door on the right.”

  “And how am I supposed to get in?”

  Hunter shakes his head. “There wasn’t a lock on the door. It should be open.”

  “Yeah, Hunt, should.”

  Hunter gives him a pleading look. Castor swears under his breath before loosening his tie and pulling it off.

  “You fucking owe me big for this, Hunter. Fucking big.”

  Castor

  I shift quickly and sneak under the tent, dashing for the woods. It’s a good thing they set the tent up the way they did or this never would have worked. I still can’t believe I’m doing this! Of course, I care that Julian has Hunter’s mother, but we need a better plan than this. I don’t think it’s going to work, it seems way too easy.

  I run as fast as my fox feet will take me. I reach the alpha house in no time. I shift into human form to get through the door and I’m happy to find the house empty. As far as I can tell, anyway. I follow Hunter’s directions. Left down the hallway, through the door to the basement, and left again. I reach the long hallway and can’t believe what I see. There are at least ten doors down here, each with a window and a heavy door that can be bolted from the outside.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Julian?”

  This is worse than I expected. I always knew something was up with him, with this pack in general. Wolves are fucking slimeballs. How Leona turned out so kind and loving is beyond me. She’s got to be the one and only. Wolves are just born assholes, I swear.

  Julian has been trouble for us since we first came to this pack before anything regarding the alpha even came up. He was a little shithead and he and Hunter used to fight all the time. It makes sense Julian would go after him now.

  But what does make me happy, as much as I’m pissed at Hunter for lying, this whole situation tells me one thing. It tells me that Julian is scared.

  And he fucking should be.

  Because this whole pack should be ours, and it will be. One day.

  This wolf messed with the wrong shifters. Once we get a handle on what is going on with Leona, we will challenge Julian and he will fall from his spot. He never should have had it in the first place. He has only two mates, and they don’t even have a proper arrangement. They all do what they want with who they want. If it works for them, whatever. But there is no way in hell I would ever let anyone other than myself, Thorne, or Hunter touch Leona.

  No fucking way.

  Julian will get what he deserves for this.

  I take a step forward and peer inside of the window.

  And what I see, it isn’t fucking good.

  Fifty-seven

  Leona

  Hunter and Thorne move to the bed and make a mess of it. We have to do everything we can to make this believable. Only as I watch them pull and tug at the blankets, I realize I want this to be real. I don’t want to pretend to do this. My wolf stirs inside of me, feeling alive for the first time in a long time. She’s been so quiet lately, it’s as if she isn’t there. I don’t know what it is but I know I need to talk to Callan about this. Maybe he can find Ms. Boone again. Maybe something went wrong or they didn’t do something right. I’m sure things aren’t supposed to be like this.

  I slip out of my shoes and reach Thorne’s side. I place my hand on his arm and he stops what he’s doing, turning towards me. I reach my hand up to run my fingers over the side of his face and through his beard. His eyes fall shut and he breathes out a satisfied sigh. I drag my hand down his arm and bring his hand to my hip, stepping closer to him. I throw my arms around his neck and pull him down so I can reach his lips.

  “I really want this, Thorne. Let’s make this real.”

  Maybe it won’t be really real because Castor isn’t here, but it can be close, right? And if he gets back soon enough, we can make it real, because he still has to play his part anyway.

  A satisfied sound rumbles in his chest as he captures my mouth. God, I’ve missed him.

  “Are you sure?” he asks.

  I look over to Hunter. “Yeah, I’m sure.” I reach my arm across the bed and he walks around, coming to stand behind me. Thorne looks up and I can feel him and Hunter looking at each other. Something passes between them, something that I can only hope will make things better for the future. I begin to undo Thorne’s tie and unbutton his shirt. I feel Hunter doing the same to his own behind me. When Thorne’s chest is bare, I press kisses along his abs, trailing down until I’m on my knees. I quickly undo his pants, my mouth almost drooling at the bulge in his pants. It’s been so long since I’ve been with Thorne. Since I’ve been with any of them, really. His pants drop to the floor and the heavy weight of his cock bobs out in front of my face. I lick my lips before bringing them to his plump tip and placing one soft kiss. He hisses between his teeth, his fists clenching at his sides. I smile at the effect I have on him. I love it.

  I wrap my hand around him and stroke slowly as my tongue slides along the soft, velvet of his length. Hunter lifts my dress from behind and runs his long fingers over my ass. He must have said something to Thorne, because as his hands grip around my waist to lift me up, Thorne is moving towards the bed. He sits down, his cock now in my mouth. I move to get back to my knees. “Nuh-uh,” Hunter whispers, pulling my hips up. My dress gets pushed all the way up now and his hot breath can be felt between my legs.

  Oh, yes. This is going to be good.

  I’ve learned that Hunter loves using his tongue on me. He loves licking me, tasting me, pleasing me. Of course, I have zero complaints about that.

  My panties get moved to the side and Hunter’s warm tongue is sliding along my slit and circling my clit. I moan, but the sound doesn’t come out, muffled by the size of Thorne in my mouth.

  I feel Thorne growing harder. I squeeze him tighter with my hand and move my mouth faster. His fingers tangle in my hair but he doesn’t control my movements, he allows me to do as I please. My free hand grips Thorne’s thigh, helping to keep myself upright as Hunter assaults my pussy with his tongue.

  “Fuck, I’m going to come, baby.” Thorne groans deeply in his throat, his hips bucking forward. The moment his cock begins to pulse in my mouth I’m sent over the edge. Cum squirts into my mouth, sliding down my throat, silencing my own cries of pleasure. The orgasm is still going when I feel Hunter slide into me from behind. He slams in, grinding his hips in circles before pulling out and slamming in again.

  Thorne is still hard so I decide to keep playing. Wet slaps ring out around us and I’m certain everyone outside can hear this.

  Something about it excites me though.

  Not that the elders can hear me, but something about knowing Julian knows we are in here fucking, it thrills me. I don’t know why, I couldn’t explain it if I tried.

  “I’m coming,” is all Hunter says before he’s stilling and emptying inside of me.

  We all move to the bed and lie down for a moment, trying to catch our breath.

  “I feel like such an asshole for that,” Hunter admits.

  “What? Why?” I ask, confused by what he said.

  “Cas is out there trying to help my mom and I’m over here…”

  “Hey.” It’s Thorne who answers him. “Don’t think like that. Everything is going to work out. Cas is going to get here, the plan is going to work. He’ll be back any minute, we can finish what we need to do. You can sneak off into the house to make sure your mom is okay, we come back and mingle for a bit and go from there. Don’t feel bad for living your life, Hunt.”

  His only response is to nod.

  As we’re just finishing getting dressed, the side of the tent starts to make a sound and we all look that way. Castor sneaks back in, underneath the tent flap and shifts right in front of me.

  I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing that.

  “I’m sorry, man,” is what he says. Hunter pauses, his lips turning into a frown. “She wasn’t there.”

  Fifty-eight

  Leona

  It took some time to calm Hunter down and get through his head. I have no idea what Julian could have done with his mom but Castor is sure she is still alive. He said the room looked dirty still, but there was no blood. It didn’t smell of any cleaning products. He’s sure she isn’t dead.

  The guys put on a perfect performance, crying out in pain as if their mate mark was being burned into their skin tonight, instead of the few weeks ago when it happened. When we exit the tent, our clothes are as disheveled as they should be, considering we all undressed and redressed. And thanks to Thorne keeping his fingers in my hair, it’s messed up as it should be.

  We all look freshly fucked.

  Which is so stupid to say, but if that’s what these people want from us, then I guess they can get it.

  We’re met with clapping as we exit the tent. My eyes immediately search out Julian, who has a sly grin on his face. One that says he knows exactly what he’s doing.

  And that’s all well and good. He can know exactly what he’s doing, but he doesn’t know who he is messing with. He may think Hunter is weak for whatever reason. But he’s not. Especially now that we are all involved.

  I’m not sure how this is going to play out, but thankfully, Castor was smart enough to help buy us some time.

  See, Hunter was supposed to pretend to complete the ceremony, the way we’d planned on doing it anyway. That was what he told Julian he would do. Julian doesn’t want us to be mated, knowing my guys will then be more powerful and can take his spot.

  Little does he know we’ve been mated.

  We’re smarter than him.

  We have the upper hand here, even though Julian thinks he did.

  The only problem is, once he sees the mate marks, he’ll know Hunter wasn’t messing around.

  But if Castor is as good as he says he is, then any minute now…

  “Julian!” his beta shouts. “We have a problem at the house. We gotta go.”

  Julian’s eyes find mine. He looks from me to the three guys standing behind me. I know they're wearing the same sort of expression I am. A confident, cocky as fuck smirk.

  Sure, we’re playing a dangerous game here because we don’t know where Hunter’s mom is. We don’t know where Julian took her or what he did with her, but we’re trusting Castor and assuming she is still alive.

  Julian could throw a fit and kill her now, but they don’t think he will do that just yet. And knowing what I know about him. I agree. He’s too weak to get rid of the only pawn he has to play with. Because without Hunter’s mom, he has nothing.

  ***

  Our families and the rest of the pack all start to show up a little while later. And we do our best to keep our moods light and happy.

  This day is for us. We are celebrating with our friends and family, and when Briella comes running over from the side of the house, shouting my name, I don’t think I could be any happier.

  It’s been less than a week since I officially moved out but I miss my family more than I can explain. They all file in and Lenny is the first to reach me, other than Briella, of course. After giving her a big hug and telling her how much I love her beautiful dress and shell necklace, I’m pulled into Lenny’s arms and he doesn’t let go for a long, long time. I move to the rest of them, giving a huge hug to Friday, Alec, Maddox, and Callan. They all whisper their praises to me in my ear. Telling me how happy they are for me, how proud they are, and how much they miss me. Having my family here along with everyone else only makes this even more perfect. They all get introduced to the guys’ families, though they were warned about Hunter’s father, who seems to be keeping himself scarce anyway.

  I’m shuffled around, being introduced from person to person. It seems, every time I turn around, it’s to meet someone new. I was told this pack isn’t all that big but it seems they weren’t telling the whole truth. These people are never ending. When Jillian and Toni show up with their group of guys, everyone turns their heads at the entrance they make. Yipping and hooting the entire way in. They all pull me into a hug and congratulate me. They both tell me how they’re so excited for their ceremonies coming up too, something I knew but honestly forgot about.

  On the next full moon, a month from now, they will be going through this same thing. It’s not always common for groups to celebrate on the same day, but sometimes it happens. And Jillian and Toni couldn’t be more excited, they do everything together anyway.

  We finally sit down to eat and the food is delicious. There are easily a hundred people here, everyone sitting around at tables, eating, smiling, and laughing. Someone comes around and offers us all a glass of champagne, even though we’re underage.