Page 101 of Homecoming

“Yeah. Yeah, she was beautiful. She had deep green eyes just like yours.”

“Did you ever love her? Like properly love her?”

“I don’t know. Not at first. But then I didn’t know her. It was an arranged marriage, a marriage ofconvenience,to join the two packs together. But in the end, I guess perhaps I did—probably more than I realized, until it was too late,” he sighs.

“So why did you sleep with Alana if you loved Isabella?”

“Things were different—I was different. It was that kind of lifestyle. I owned Selene’sandI liked to party. I won’t apologize for what I was. It was the times, the place—it’s what I was expected as a wolf. "

“Wait… what did you say?” Kat’s mouth drops open. “Did you say you owned Selene’s… before Rhys? But I thought you… the military… How? Wow, I didn’t know that.”

“You had no reason to know that. But just the same as now, the commune had to make money, and that was how I made money. Same way Rhys does.” He sighs and rubs his head as Kat stares at him. “But I was also an asshole. I partied hard and took what I wanted—the girls, drink, drugs.”

“But everyone I’ve spoken with says what a great pack leader you were. Are you saying you weren’t?”

“I was. I was the perfect pack alpha—I kept the pack well protected. But keeping a pack safe doesn’t come easy. There are a lot of dangers to considerandwell, sometimes I had to do… some really bad things. But ultimately when the real danger came, I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.”

“That’s when you were with Alana? When Isabella was killed, and you’ve always blamed yourself for that?”

“Alana really needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. Yeah, I was with her. They couldn’t have picked a better time to come for the commune. It’s almost as if they knew I was wrapped up elsewhere.”

“Why did you marry Isabella?”

“Her mother was dead and when her father passed… it wasn’t appropriate for Isabella to run the pack. She’d come of age and that meant she had to marry an alpha. The pack didn’t have one considered suitable, and her aunt had bigger ambitions. Times were different. There was no way the rest of the alphas would’ve accepteda she-wolf leading them. But they also couldn’t settle on a leader. They fought each other constantlyandthat’s when, eventually, Isabella’s aunt approached the third in my pack about a union. She knew what she was doing. She wheedled her way in with my number three before she suggested the merger. He and Marco then made a persuasive case, continuing until eventually I came around to it. Long story short, I married Isabella, we bonded, and she fell in pup. While she was pregnant, I drifted… I’d spend more and more time alone in the city at the club and she was content to remain at the commune. Alana had already turned my head by then. She had what I would describe as auniqueskill set. Truth is, I couldn’t resist her—it’s just how it was.”

“But Alana’s a shifter and you were a wolf pack leader. She must’ve been one helluva good dancer to keep your interest over a Luna wolf in pup. Maybe I should take some lessons from her?” she laughs.

“I don’t think so. It was a phase I went through. We liked to role playandshe’ddress upfor me. I guess that’s how she attracted my attention.”

“Okay, I get it. So how did Isabella die? I mean, I know you said vamps came for her, but what happened?”

“I don’t know. Not exactly. By the time I sobered up enough to get the full story, they’d prepared her for cremation. I never saw her body. With the bond broken, I lost it for a while. Her aunt told me to stay away. She was angry—hell, I’ve never seen a woman with so much rage. I should have seen what was coming, that she was preparing Ezra to make a play for the leadership, but I was too drunk most of the time to care. It cost me everything.”

“Wait… she was preparing,Ezra? Are you saying Isabella’s aunt was Elspeth? Oh my God, did they plan to take over the pack all along?”

“Once I lost the commune, my status dwindledandI spiraled deeper out of control. Once I hit rock bottom, I had nowhere to go. But Marco and Edwards they never gave up on me—they dragged me out of the gutter—we threw all in with the military program and I clawed my way back. But I set myself on a course of revenge as the younger alphas grew up. Rhys had already leftandI tempted the others away from the bullshit going on at the commune. Edwards helped me setup the team, and we used the military resources to hunt down those responsible for Isabella’s death.”

“Wow, I really didn’t know all that. I mean Digby told me some of it but… so the team… Edwards… there are more teams like ours out there?”

“Not all dangers are human—it takes specialist skills to deal with the threats we address.”

Kat stares with her eyes wide—the emerald color cuts deep inside him as she offers a smileandleaning forward, gently strokes his face before kissing him.

Her mussed-up blonde curls brush over his chest and as she drags her lips down his body, Darius leans back against the soft goose-down pillows and closes his eyes. The steel-like sharpness of her nails rake in deepening red lines on the skin of his taut stomach and Kat flits a quick glance upwards. Her eyes softly focusing on him as he opens his and looks at her with a smile. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you think?” she grins.

A groan escapes his lips as Kat strokes her hand along the shaft of his rapidly hardening dick. “Mm…” he groans as she licks her lip teasingly. “Kat, perhaps you should try to get some more sleep?”

“You don’t want me to do this?” She sits back, still admiring the diamond ring as she wraps her fingers around the pulsing want of his dick.

“I know what you’re doing,” he smiles. “I see you looking at it. You know you can’t have it.”

“I know you said that, but I’m just admiring it. It looks really good against the tone of your skin, don’t you think?” She flashes a smirk before her head drops and she trails her tongue over his erection.

“Mm…” he groans louder and eases himself into a more comfortable position. Then, gathering her hair bunched in his hand, he watches as she eagerly sucks his dick.

The sudden and loud thudding knock on the door startles them both and, disturbed by the banging, Darius lets go of her and quickly stands up.

---