Page 128 of Soul of the Chaos

“Not yet, alpha, but I will soon,” I growled. “Because you’re gonna mate me. No more excuses.”

He laughed, low and throaty. Sounded like Grimm was very much on board with my sadly—mostly theoretical—plan. A fresh gush of stickiness pumped from my stomach, sending a wave of nausea through me. Seriously, how much more of this blood stuff did I have to spare?

“Yes, mate,” he murmured in agreement. “No more excuses. Just hold on a little longer, yeah?”

“I’ll do my best. But as soon as I wake up again, we’re getting to it. No dilly dallying.”

“Dilly dallying,” he snorted in amusement. “Where’d you get that one?”

“Winter,” I shrugged. “She talks like a walking dictionary when she’s in charge.” Words evaded me for a few seconds before I forced my lips to shape around a few more necessary thoughts. “Grimm?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll be here when I wake up, right? You’re not gonna do a runner on me and pretend this never happened?”

“Meant what I said, baby,” he growled, his wolf a fierce promise in his throat. “Not letting you go. Not now. Not ever. So get ready for a jealous, demanding alpha all up in your business. My wolf ain’t gonna take it easy on you.”

“Mmm,” I whispered snuggling in as my body gave way to the inevitable. “Sounds like a challenge.”

48

FOGGY INFIRMARY

Silver

Fuck. Had to wake up. To be there for her.

Who?

My mate. Sasha. Make sure she stayed put.

Where was she going?

Nowhere. Because we needed her. All fucking three of us needed our mate. Sasha was our light. That woman was ours.

Grimm claimed her.

That’s right. In the heat of the moment, there had been no hesitation from the Prez of the Soul Reapers. Only a soul-deep need to see this through. To ensure the best of us survived. I’d felt Sasha’s wash of elation, too, upon hearing his bold claim.

Despite our earlier bravado, I knew Grimm was our missing piece. The last part which needed to fall into place to make the four of us whole. And, regardless of his stubborn belief that Sasha was better off without him, some part of our alpha knew the truth.

Grimm was just as essential to Sasha’s happiness as Mongrel and I. That alpha owned a piece of her heart and he was finally ready to fight for that precious gift. Bullet, tooth and claw.

While Sasha had been sent to bring love and light into our lives, Grimm had been sent by the Blood Moon Goddess to reach into our mate’s darkest moments and drag her back from that nightmare world. He’d done it back at the auction and he’d fulfilled his purpose again today.

Like an avenging angel, he’d unleashed the Goddess’ wrath on our enemy and snatched our mate from Death’s jaws. So she couldn’t die on us. Not now. Not when our alpha was finally ready to claim his truth.

The wolf inside me whimpered. Sasha’s lifeline was so thin, so lackluster compared to her usual blazing presence in our bond. It made my animal want to crawl away and hide under a rock. Instead, I forced my eyes open.

The first thing I saw was Mongrel and my eyes filled with tears.

My heartbroken beta was standing with his back against the wall between our two beds, his leg kicked up to hold him steady as he watched the proceedings. The beast was riding his frame hard but I could see my gentle mate inside. He was here, fighting to stay present and sane.

His sturdy presence fortified me in a way words could never express so I sent him all the love and admiration I could muster through our bond.

Mongrel’s blazing eyes snapped to mine, trapping me in a possessive, desperate gaze.

His wolf’s legendary strength and savagery had been on full display throughout battle, matched only by our wildest brother—the Soul Reapers’ Enforcer—fighting at his side. My feral mate had taken down enemy after enemy without a second thought. But he was drowning as he begged me to fix this.

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