The three of us are all Carnage Wolf Alphas.
But Tieran is the strategist.
I’m the brawn.
And Caius is the brains.
“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” I tell Tieran.
“I’ll have the yacht prepped and waiting,” he replies, ending the call.
Well, this day just improved itself drastically. Once I rid myself of this stuffy suit, I’ll be all wolf.
And maybe I’ll have an Alpha toy to play with tonight.
It’s been a long time since I entertained a female capable of taking my strength. The two Betas and the single Alpha on the island claimed their males before I even had a chance to offer myself. So I’ve been forced to indulge my needs with humans instead. Which is pretty much like fucking glass.
Not fun for me.
Not fun for her.
Not fun all around.
But a pretty new wolf? Mmm, yes, please.
Maybe I’ll engage in Caius’s game.
Depends on how the welcome party goes.
Welcome to Carnage Island, little wolf, I think with a grin. I hope you like to bite.
4
CLOVE
I can’t shift.
I’ve tried for four days and my wolf won’t allow me to return to human form.
The guards think I’m being defiant. The intake judge called me feral. And the social worker in charge of my case stated she couldn’t help me because I didn’t want to be helped.
If only that were true.
My wolf refuses to let me defend myself in human form. Everyone thinks I killed my mother because Alpha Bryson told them I did.
He claimed I turned feral when I found out my true lineage.
He acted like he felt bad for me.
He called it a “sad, helpless case.” And then went into a speech about how he couldn’t put me down, that it wasn’t my fault for being born this way.
Yet he didn’t have a single problem with Alpha Crane’s wolves killing my mom.
And he didn’t care at all about laying the blame for her murder at my feet.
My wolf is furious. I am furious.
But I’m also terrified.
They’re taking me to Carnage Island, home of the cruelest wolves in existence.
Because they think I killed my mom.
I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to bite.
They put a muzzle on me, my snarling only adding to the rumors of my feral state. My wolf is pissed and wants to kill the guard who clamped her mouth shut.
He keeps looking at my wolf with a hungry gaze, his nose twitching as he scents me.
I growl in response, my animal allowing the sound through.
He smiles, clearly amused by my show of defiance.
I am such a dead wolf, I think, sighing.
The boat zips along the water, leaving the land behind as we head toward my new home. For however long I survive, anyway.
Something I know my former Alpha is counting on.
“She won’t make it long enough to talk,” Alpha Bryson said to my father before the officials arrived the other night.
I was barely lucid at the time, my head pounding from Canton knocking me out.
Part of me thought it was all a dream.
But one glance at my paws told me it was very real.
I lost consciousness again soon after that. Then I woke up in a cell where my social worker read the charges to me.
My mom’s dead.
My pack disowned me.
And the Elders think I killed my mother in a fit of rage.
Panic and fury suffocated me in the next moment, causing my wolf to react aggressively.
Which was when the guards knocked me out with a tranquilizer.
That happened to me three times in the last few days.
I very much do not want to go through it again while on our way to the most dangerous island on earth. So I’m focusing on my breathing and trying not to freak out.
But my mother’s screams continue to reverberate through my mind.
She begged them to stop.
They laughed.
My own father allowed it to happen.
Not my father, I remind myself.
But he was still her mate.
How could he be so cruel?
Why didn’t she tell him the truth? a small part of me whispers. She should have told him about the Carnage Wolf and what he did to her.
But then she would have lost me.
My father would have made her abort the child.
I wouldn’t exist.
That’s why she didn’t tell him.
Because of her love for me.
And now she paid the ultimate price with her life.
A tear longs to sneak from my eye but my wolf refuses it. She’s still very much in charge and presenting a confident air that has me cringing inside.
It’s a bravado I don’t feel.
She’s in survival mode, not allowing me to run the show. If I could speak during my trial, I may have been able to negotiate where the Elders sent me.
But no.
My wolf cemented our fate by snarling at the intake judge instead.
I try to close my eyes, to just relax in the open ocean air. Alas, the guard moves to the right, keeping my wolf on high alert.
At least I can’t feel the wintry air. My fur keeps me warm as we zip along the water to the islands off the coast of Canada.
Only Wolfe Island can be reached by a bridge to the mainland. All the Reject Islands beyond it are accessible by ferry or helicopter only.
Or, in my case, via speed boat.
Probably because these guards want to drop me at the water’s edge and escape before the Carnage Wolves can sense their presence.
I’ve never actually seen one up close, the Black Mountain Pack having never crossed into our village back home. The pack enforcers guaranteed our safety there.
But no one is guaranteeing mine here.
I’m in a damn cage.
One I suspect these assholes are not going to let me out of.
I shiver at the thought. If my wolf allows me to shift, then I can use my fingers to free us.
Assuming I can even shift with a muzzle attached to my head.
I frown inside, uncertain. These are the types of things I’ve never been taught.
The boat begins to slow, the guard up ahead yelling, “Get her ready!”
Mister Muzzle stands, his lips curling in a way that makes my skin crawl. “My fucking pleasure.”