His darkness needed a light.
And with each passing day, each new emotion that tugged at his soul, each new worry and fear over a war they might not win, he knew his battle might be lost.
Shane might be able to save the Pack’s future, but Brandon wasn’t sure anything would be strong enough to save him.
Things were changing, and Brandon couldn’t keep up.
And a Pack without an Omega wasn’t a Pack that could survive.
I need a mate, he said to himself once again.
Only he wasn’t sure he knew where to look.
Chapter Eleven
Charlotte’s heart was going to beat straight out of her chest. She’d run as wolf alongside others of her kind, her four paws pounding the ground. Those she’d run with hadn’t been Pack, but if she followed the path laid in front of her, they soon would be.
Outside the four walls of Shane’s home, a war was brewing. Humans knew of the wolves’ existence. Some wanted their heads, others to study what made wolves bleed. Some were fascinated by shifters, fanatics dangerously obsessed, forming passels of groupies and fans that Charlotte would never understand. None of the Packs ignored them, but those who begged to be changed or wanted a shifter in their bed weren’t what her people were concentrating on at the moment. No, they were more focused on their own government. The same government that was divided about what to do with the “shifter problem.” Some wanted to tag and collar them. Others wanted to study them.
Senators like McMaster wanted to call them animals, strip away their rights and privileges as humans and citizens.
Men like Montag took their greed and cruelty to the next level and created life and death in their labs.
The war was brewing. The battles outside their doors escalating.
But right now, this wasn’t about that.
This was about the three people, the three wolves, in this room, and what they were about to do. There was no fighting the attraction any longer. No begging for the pull to dissipate.
They would make love as one and bite into each other’s shoulders to form mating marks.
And if the moon goddess shined on them, they would create a mating bond.
It was a little too much for Charlotte to absorb…so she didn’t try.
Tonight, she would just feel.
Tomorrow she could worry.
And pray for more tomorrows.
Shane cupped her face, and she looked up at him. “You’re in your head again,” he murmured. “What are you thinking about?”
She leaned into his hand, enjoying the way his eyes darkened. “About everything.”
“That’s a lot to have on your mind,” Bram said from behind her. He put his hands on her hips, and she sucked in a breath. Both men were so much larger than she was, so freaking big height and width-wise with their breadth of muscle. Yet she knew they would never hurt her.
Perhaps not physically, she thought.
But emotionally? She couldn’t help but be fearful of that break she’d endured with Bram.
Not again.
She would not break again.
“I was actually trying to get everything out of my mind.”
“Everything?” Shane teased, his thumb brushing along her cheek.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close. His rock-hard erection pressed firmly against her belly as Bram’s did the same to her lower back.
“Not everything,” she breathed. “Not everything.”
“I never knew I could want someone this much,” Shane said softly, his lips a bare inch from hers. “How can I want you, want Bram, as much as I do, and yet know nothing about you?”
“You know the important things,” she said as she arched her neck for Bram’s lips. She shivered in their hold. She’d had her best friend’s lips on her before, but it had been nothing like this. Their mating before had been happiness, friendship, and promise. Now…there was trepidation that mixed with the heat and chemistry that came with not one, but two men who wanted her.
Who needed her.
Who she, in turn, craved, as well.
“You’ll know more after tonight, and more in the days to come,” she added. Her hands slid up Shane’s back, his body sweat-slick from the change, but hard, ready.
“You have the softest skin,” Shane murmured. “Doesn’t she, Bram?”