As it pulsed into being, she released a shriek, her head rocked forward, her eyes on mine as she gaped at me, even as she rocked. Moving faster now, using the knot to her own gain, she tugged at it as she was supposed to, clinging to it with her pussy walls until she exploded around me.

As I’d been warned from the beginning of time itself, I watched as, with each exhalation she made as her orgasm detonated her from the inside out, small speckles of gold light burst from her pores, bathing me in it, soaking me in the rays.

Only then, when she had her pleasure, could I come. Only then, when I was touched by her light, could I explode into her, roaring my delight, roaring my need as my woman, my mate, claimed me as much as I claimed her. In the Pool of Dreams, Aqueirai, in Nevaehai…two places I’d never envisaged seeing, never mind where I imagined I’d mark her as mine.

For an eternity.

Sabina

When Austin slapped the hyena in the chair, I ducked my head, hating to see this, hating to be a witness to such brutality, but the bitch of it was, I knew when someone was lying in the pack, so my mates were hoping that, ergo, I’d be able to detect lies from the hyenas.

The logic sucked. Because here I was, in a room in the basement I hadn’t even known existed, with instruments and devices strapped to the wall that I wished I could unsee, all as we tried to figure out what the purpose was for the hyenas’ attack.

Jana had always been self-serving, to the point of idiocy. She had to have brought her people here for a reason. It was how she worked. It couldn’t simply be because of that nonsense over a vision, could it?

It was a testament to how little sisterly feeling there was between us that I wasn’t even saddened by her death. Mostly, I was just saddened by the trauma we’d all been put through.

Knight had saved so many people the other day, not just our pack, but the pack of naturals too. But it wasn’t like he’d clicked his fingers and made everything better. We were both exhausted, both weary, and being here was the last thing I wanted or needed.

We’d locked the surviving hyenas in cages, and the man in the chair had reverted back to human skin while imprisoned. He was our second attempt at discovering the truth. There were another twenty cages in here, still with hyenas in them, shifters who refused to revert to this skin. It was smart, considering how much more vulnerable they were, which meant this one—and the guy before him—were not so smart.

The room was the length of the house, but half the width. Though I’d known there was a basement, and I’d known it was for storage, I’d never imagined there’d be an in-built torture chamber, ready and waiting for an attack that required people to be interrogated.

The rectangular-shaped room had gray walls with all kinds of spatter on them that I truly hoped was an artistic device and not blood, as well as rusty metal things that looked as if they’d been used during the Spanish Inquisition—not the latter half either. This stuff was all medieval, and disturbing with it.

At the back, there were randomly-strewn cages, and in the far corner, there was even a kind of jail cell, solitary confinement-style. Right at the front, toward the exit, there were four chairs that were bolted into the ground, crude wood carvings with steel bolts and rough clasps that looked pretty damn impossible to escape from.

The male in the hotspot’s hands and feet were bolted to the arm rests and legs, and he was naked. Not a stitch on him, except for the parts where blood had seeped and covered his flesh.

My mates had been born with a beast inside them, but I’d never been exposed to that side of them before. Not where it felt…unnecessary.

Of course, it was necessary. We needed to understand the motives behind the chaos of the other night, even if we’d managed to right all the wrongs that had befallen us. No one had died, thanks to Knight’s incredible gift to the pack, but that didn’t mean people weren’t confused, hurting, and distressed after the brutality of an unnecessary battle.

I could sense their unease, their need to understand, so that was why I endured this torture. Why I’d watched a man being butchered in front of his clan, by my mate, because that was what being a leader meant.

You had to do things you didn’t like.

You had to see things you didn’t want to see.

Austin knew each slap hurt me, but he’d stopped looking at me with apology in his eyes after every smack, every stab. I knew even that was only because each glance at me had made him look weak, and the other hyena had mocked him for it.

That was when I’d seen that my nurturing side was a weakness at this moment. That was when I’d learned I had to toughen up.

I stood by the door, ready to get the hell out of here if I thought I was going to puke like last time. Over by the only window in the basement, a low one that peered out onto ground level, Eli was sitting in a desk chair in front of a desk that was barren of all papers—because it made sense that there’d be no paperwork in torture—and Ethan was leaning against the wall at his side, watching events with a brooding stare.

Both of them had been quiet since the attack two nights ago. I wanted to comfort them, but my milk had just come through, and as Lara had said, Knight was no longer hungry. I’d expected to feel triumph at finally being able to nourish my son, but there was only relief and no joy at being enough for our wunderkind.

The second they’d seen how I could feed him better than before, however, they’d backed off, and because I didn’t understand the whys or the hows, and because there was a hell of a lot going on, I was okay just to climb into bed and to sleep.

But after today?

No way.

I needed affirmation. I needed it badly.

This side of my mates wasn’t one I was used to seeing, and I needed to feel the old them, to reconcile what battle did to them. I knew it changed soldiers, and my men, while alphas, weren’t soldiers. They were just shifters. Leaders. But not meant for battle.

I flinched when Austin sliced into the hyena, his claw appearing on his right hand like it was normal. Like he could just grow that kind of shit at his very whim. I’d never seen him do that before, and I had to figure it was because of the situation… At least, I hoped it was, and that it didn’t happen when he had a finger inside me.

Sheesh.

I’d only ever seen these partial shifts during moments where control was lost, but Austin was totally himself. Stern, assured, even.

I thought about anything other than watching the skin part, revealing shredded fat and torn muscle, about the blood oozing out of the wound, sliding down the hyena’s writhing chest as he struggled against his bonds, trying to escape the rough justice my mate was intent on giving him.

White noise filled my ears, buzzed in my brain, overtaking it like a swarm of wasps were invading my head. I knew it was them. I didn’t know how or why, just who. And it was overwhelming.

“Just tell us why, for God’s sake,” I shrieked, overcome, when Austin anointed the other side of his chest with a similar mark, and the beast howled.

The sound morphed into a cackle, one that I remembered from my haunted dreams, from my terrified nightmares. It sank into my bones, loading me with a fear that triggered an anger so deep, my she-wolf demanded I act. These bastards thought any and every emotion was a weakness.

It wasn’t.