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"Also on the way out of the country with your team leader and his attractive student," said Ash. I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to wipe that smug look off his face. When I opened them, I saw Cole's face and realised the only thing stopping him from hurling himself across the room to throttle one of the Kings of Hell was that he wasn't actually in his wheelchair and couldn't get to him. Probably for the best. Theo was growling, a low threatening sound coming from his chest and his eyes were gold again.
"We don't negotiate with criminals," he said, his words barely human as his wolf fought to take over.
I crossed the floor slowly and took his hand.
"Theo," I murmured. "Theo." He turned to look at me, and I saw the fury and the worry in his eyes. "Theo, we have to do this."
"A heist, Sariel, that's crazy! We work for the Concordia - there's no way Branson would let us do this, even if Alastor and Lily..."
"Then we don't tell him. Alastor said we got time off after the mission, right?"
Theo nodded. "We do, but..."
"Theo, please. It's Lily. It's Alastor, Theo. We can't... he wouldn't abandon us.'' I looked up at him, trying to say more with my eyes and the way my hand squeezed his than my words could say. Ash couldn't know that I was supposed to be Alastor's mate. More to the point, he couldn't know how close to breaking I was, how much I was hating myself right now. Alastor could be hurt. If we didn't do this or if we failed, I might never see him again and the last thing I'd told him was that I didn't want him.
"Theo..." I begged, my voice breaking.
He swallowed, and squeezed my hand, glancing round at Cole and Carlisle. They said nothing, but Theo nodded and turned back to Ash. His grip on my hand tightened, as he looked up at the King of Hell and nodded, his eyes fading back to brown.
"Ok, Ash. Let's plan a heist."
Epilogue
ALASTOR
Ibolted through the arid night, the loose gravel of the desert mountains giving way beneath the pounding of my paws. I was a black streak against the stark landscape, the only sounds my heavy breathing and the thud of my heart keeping time with my sprint. Exhaustion clawed at my flanks, but I pushed harder, driven by the need to escape the maelstrom of guilt inside me. The cool night air did little to quench the burning shame that licked at my conscience.
Cole's face haunted the edges of my mind, only increasing the void Sariel had left behind. I'd used him — God, how I'd used him — and the realisation gnawed at me even as my hellhoundform devoured the miles. I cared for Cole, more than I dared to admit. But Sariel... she was the one who cracked my chest open and let all the shadows out.
I couldn't outrun the torment. The faster I ran, the closer it clung, like the dust clouds I kicked up that settled back onto my fur. I should have been better for both of them; instead, I was a curse on both of them. I had been told by many of my own people that we didn’t do relationships, or emotion, that it would only lead to heartbreak and death, and for so long, the thought had barely disturbed me. I worked, I travelled, I fucked, but this woman walking into my life had set it ablaze like a match to tinder. Sariel had started a wildfire inside me, and now it raged beyond my control, and Cole was the first victim.
The pain and despair of rejection churned through my body and mind, and I slowed, struggling to deal with the intensity of it. Theo had warned me. I should have listened to him, but I was strong and in control, and a little thing like heartbreak wouldn’t break me. How wrong I’d been. This agony was physical as well as emotional, twisting my guts and leaving my hound whining. Alcohol had dimmed it for a time, but even the effects of nearly a whole bottle of whiskey hadn’t been enough to stave it off for long. When I’d come to my senses after fucking Cole, the torment had hit me like a fucking truck, and I could barely even get my words out. He’d seen it, seen the agony inside me, and he’d have kept pushing until I broke. I couldn’t bear to see the pain in his eyes when he realised what I’d done, and he deserved more than that. More than me. So, I’d run like a fucking coward.
CLAIM!The awareness rasped through my mind, an image coming from him that had me both recoiling and growing hard at the same time: Sariel beneath me on my bed, her refusing me, and me forcing myself on her. Shoving my cock into her and fucking her hard until my knot locked us together and the bond formed between us. My hound showed me her tears and hermoans as she succumbed to the inevitable, but I shook my head hard, trying to clear the vision away.
No. I would never force her, never.
CLAIM!The growl reverberated through my chest, and I wheeled off to the right, his instincts pulling me back to the camp, back to her.
No. We are not going back to her.
The image hit me again as he showed me her writhing underneath me, her resolve beaten down and her pussy soaking my cock, her screaming my name as I pounded into her. Even in this form, my cock strained at the thought and the hound dragged me along, heavy paws hitting the ground as the camp came into sight. I fought to gain control over our form, but the hound inside fought back, and my mind felt heavy and slow. It must be the whiskey, I thought.
CLAIM!
No!She doesn’t want us, I insisted. And we are not forcing her. We don’t deserve her. Or him. We are just us. Just alone.
MATES.Another vision in my mind, this time Sariel was bent over Cole’s desk moaning as I plunged into her wet pussy, my fingers buried deep inside Cole’s ass as I fucked them both.CLAIM MATES! MAKE SUBMIT.
I finally wrenched control from him, skidding to a stop, the tents only a couple of hundred yards away. Before he could take it back, I shifted, dropping onto all fours, the harsh ground scraping at my hands and knees, my head dropped and my cock so fucking hard it hurt.
"Enough!" I roared into the night, the sound echoing off the barren rocks. I would never force Sariel or lay claim to Cole through coercion. Love wasn't about possession; I knew that much, even if the beast inside me raged against it.
I hated myself more with each thunderous beat of my heart. Hated the power that surged through my veins, the darknessthat whispered seductive lies of dominance and control. But most of all, I hated the despair that clung to me as tenaciously as my shadow.
"Dark," I growled to the beast within, my voice guttural and strained. "Evil. That's what we are. We don't deserve them. Not Cole. Not Sariel."
My heart was a lead weight, every beat a reminder of my failings. Longing clawed at me, a desperate ache for something pure in this tarnished existence. But I was a creature of shadows, unworthy of their light.
