Mother of Wolves Read online
Mother of Wolves
Wolves of Crimson Hollow Book 4
M. H. Soars
Michelle Hercules
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Also by Michelle Hercules
Also by M. H. Soars
About the Author
Mother of Wolves © 2019 by M. H. Soars & Michelle Hercules
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Editor: Hot Tree Editing
Prologue
Gardens of the Huntress – Mount Olympus
Pegasus had promised himself that he would never set foot in the place, not after the humiliation he’d endured at the hands of Artemis, the proud daughter of Zeus, his master. He had been able to keep that promise for a few centuries. A blink of time for someone like him. Definitely not long enough to make him forget the pain.
He wouldn’t be there if he had a choice, but refusing the request of a god wasn’t something he could do, even if that god was Hades. The Lord of the Underworld had summoned him, something unexpected to Pegasus. There was no lost love between Hades and Zeus, which in consequence extended to Pegasus, being Zeus’s champion and all.
Hades had a valid reason for wishing to speak to him. He had news, grave news that affected Artemis. Pegasus couldn’t ignore it, even if he wished it so. Not because of Artemis—at least, that was the lie he told himself. The information Hades passed on to him would affect many lives, mortal lives. Pegasus, being one of the few immortals who still possessed a moral compass, couldn’t let innocent people suffer because he was afraid to face the goddess who had mocked him after he professed his love.
Deep down, he knew his humiliation was his fault. He should have known Artemis only had eyes for her precious wolves that, in the end, forsook her for the love of a mortal woman.
Pegasus’s lips curl into a satisfied grin. As the mortals say, karma is a bitch.
Not much has changed since the last time he visited Artemis's sanctuary. The gardens are still abundant with flowers, and the grass is soft and luscious green. Birds chirp as they fly playfully from tree branch to tree branch. In the center of the garden, the familiar white pergola with its twisty vines offers partial shade to the comfortable-looking chaise lounge Artemis prefers. However, instead of finding her lounging lazily there with a glass of red wine, he finds a woman with tangled hair sitting on the floor and cradling a large bottle of amber liquid. She’s been drinking whiskey and, by her unkempt appearance, lots of it.
“Oh, look who’s come to gloat,” she slurs.
Pegasus stops short of stepping under the shade of the pergola. A whiff tells him Artemis has not only been drinking for quite a while, but she also hasn’t bothered to bathe either. He’s never seen the goddess in such a sad state.
“I didn’t come here to mock your pain, but perhaps I should have come sooner. What happened to you?”
She waves her hand in a dismissive way. “Oh, nothing. Just my beloved wolves that preferred to share an insignificant mortal girl than to be with me.”
Artemis has always had a flair for the dramatic. As spoiled as deities usually were, she took the grand prize as the most mercurial among them, losing only to her twin brother, Apollo. To this day, Pegasus hasn’t figure out what drew him to the goddess in the first place. They were nothing alike. He was solid ground, and she was fire.
“You need to pull yourself together. I’ve come with grave news from the Underworld.”
“Pff. What’s Hades plotting this time?”
“It has nothing to do with Hades.”
She takes a large sip from the bottle, sloshing liquid on her now stained white gown. She wipes her wet lips with the back of her forearm, reminding Pegasus of the lowly mortal soldiers he’s had to assist once or twice in his lifetime.
“Out with it already, boy. Your presence is killing my buzz.”
With a deep breath, he continues. “The Furies have escaped.”
Artemis raises her eyebrows a fraction. The gesture is fleeting, and soon her attention returns to her drink.
“Did you hear what I said?” Pegasus presses.
“Yeah, I heard you. I don’t know why you think I should care about the Furies.”
In a rare show of impatience, he rubs his face, then fixates his stare on a potted plant hanging from the pergola.
“May I remind you that you were the reason the Furies were imprisoned in the Underworld in the first place? And also that they vowed to seek revenge once they escaped?”
Artemis tsks. “If you’re concerned about my well-being, you shouldn’t be, my dear. I’m a goddess. The Furies can’t harm me.”
“No, but they can hurt your wolves now that they’re living in the human realm.”
A flash of anger shines in her eyes as she straightens her back. He’s relieved to see a proper reaction from her—only his relief came too soon.
“They’ve chosen to become mortals. If the Furies come for them, I don’t give a damn. Let their mate defend the fools. She’s so special, after all.”
“Just because she bears your mark doesn’t mean she’ll be able to stop the Furies. She’s no match for them.” Pegasus raises his voice, not believing that Artemis would let her wolves be harmed.
She pushes the bottle of whiskey aside and staggers to her feet. “That’s too fucking bad. Now, if you only came here to deliver that news, you can leave.”
“Your wolves’ mate is pregnant,” Pegasus finally reveals. He didn’t want to part with that information, afraid Artemis would do something to harm the woman in a fit of jealousy.
As he expected, that news has the most significant impact on the goddess. Her bright green eyes, which were flashing anger a minute ago, are swimming with absolute pain now. He almost feels sorry for her.
She turns her back to him, her shoulders sagging forward. Pegasus is overwhelmed with the need to touch her, offer comfort. But he knows better than to approach her when she’s wounded like that—or at any time, for that matter.
“Are you certain?” she asks in a small voice.
“Yes.”
She doesn’t speak for a minute, and with each passing second, Pegasus feels the atmosphere become tenser. Finally the goddess whirls around, her loose, almost see-through dress billowing with the movement.
But only her garment is as light as air. Artemis’s expression is the complete opposite. Storm clouds seem to gather in her gaze, and her face resembles the marble statues erected in her honor.
“I hope the Furies have something extra wicked planned for them, then.”
Pegasus’s stomach clenches as he watches the goddess he once held on a pedestal become a monster. “You don�
�t mean that.”
“Oh yes, I do.”
Chapter 1
Red
“Are you ready?” the technician asks with a twitch of her lips.
“Hell yeah,” Sam answers enthusiastically, even though the woman wasn’t looking at him.
Serena, another supernatural who works at Crimson Hollow Hospital, smiles broadly. She has fae blood, but no one knows how close her connection to the fairer folk really is.
“I’m more than ready,” I reply.
Tristan laces his fingers with mine. I look up, meeting his gaze, and as usual, my heart does a backflip. We’ve been mated for a little over seven months now, and I can’t believe I get to call him, Dante, and Sam mine. Sometimes I think I’m dreaming.
Serena squirts cold gel on my huge twenty-eight-weeks belly and uses the transducer probe to spread the slimy texture over my lower abdomen. We found out that I’m carrying triplets the first time we came here, but today we finally caved and decided to learn the babies’ genders.
At first, I didn’t want to know, but last month, Dante had a vision about them, and Tristan and Sam thought it was unfair that he knows more about our babies than we do.
“All right, here they are,” Serena says, pointing at the moving black-and-white blur on the screen.
I squint, trying to make out their individual shapes. Serena applies gentle pressure on my belly as she glides the probe, which squeezes my full bladder.
“Whoa, I see the pee-pee of one. It’s a boy!” Sam points at the monitor.
“Actually, that’s the arm.” Serena chuckles. “But you’re not wrong. This one is a boy.”
Sam tackles Tristan, hugging him sideways. “One for our team!”
Grumbling, Tristan replies, “Take it easy.”
I glance quickly at Tristan and catch his upturned lips. He might not express his feelings as loudly as Sam, but he’s just as excited.
“You’re silly. There’s no team,” I reply.
“Yes there is. Team Red.” Dante winks at me, making me blush.
“Are you ready to know the gender of your second baby?” Serena asks.
“Yes!” Sam answers loudly enough that it counts for all of us.
“Congratulations, it’s another boy.”
“If you yell, I’m kicking you out,” I warn Sam, who already had his arms raised for a celebration.
I turn my attention to the monitor, but from the corner of my eye, I see him and Tristan high-fiving each other. Silly men.
Serena frowns as she slides that probe left and right. “Hmm, I can’t quite get a visual of the third baby’s genitals. He or she is hiding from us.”
“A hundred bucks it’s another boy,” Sam pipes in.
I grunt. “Oh God. I hope not. I can’t handle another penis in the house.” Tristan snorts while Serena raises an eyebrow at me. “What? You don’t think I have enough with this trio?” I point at the guys.
“I hear ya. In any case, it doesn’t seem like we’re finding out the gender of the third baby today.”
I pout, sadder about that than I should be. Damn stupid hormones.
Serena hands me a tissue so I can clean myself, and then I slide off the bed and run to the bathroom. When I walk out, the guys have all the printouts from today’s scan.
Dante steps closer and throws his arm around my shoulders. Leaning close to my ear, he whispers, “Don’t worry, my love. It’s not another boy. It’s a girl.”
“Really?” I squeak.
With a smile, he nods. “A beautiful blonde little girl, just like her mother.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and then he caresses my cheek. The simple gesture gets me all choked up. Tears form in my eyes, and I’m two seconds away from bawling.
“Yo, what’s going here?” Sam asks.
“You lost your bet.” I wipe away the couple of tears that escaped.
“Huh?”
“Third baby is a girl,” Dante replies.
“If you knew the genders already, why didn’t you tell us?” Tristan asks.
“I didn’t know. I only saw the girl clearly in my vision.”
As if in response, I feel a kick, and instinctively I know it’s my baby girl.
She’s going to be a fighter, just like me.
“I’m so excited for you, Red. And obviously I expect to be the godmother of one of your puppies,” Kenya says.
“Of course you are. So, how are things with your mother?” I take a big sip of my strawberry milkshake, one of my new cravings.
She sighs, sagging her shoulders forward and focusing on her fries. “Strained. She still hasn’t really explained why she never told me about the supe community. I mean, she’s still maintaining the same old excuse that she was trying to protect me, yada, yada, yada. But is that all?”
“Why would you think there’s more?”
“Because. She gets super tense every time I bring up the subject. And when I ask about my father?” Kenya whistles. “Mom gets stiffer than a board. Total avoidance mode.”
“I’m sure she’ll come around eventually.”
She pops a fry in her mouth, her eyes going out of focus as she chews. “I’m thinking about trying Zeke again.”
“How many times have you tried?”
“Ten.” She shrugs. “But who’s counting? I don’t get it. I’ve tried bargaining, pleading, but nothing will make him spill the beans. I thought imps lived for deals.”
“Just please don’t offer something you’ll regret. He might be our ally, but he’s still an agent of Hell.”
Kenya squints, scrunching her nose. “I know, okay? I’m not about to sell my soul to him. Too bad Nina is out of town. I heard she’s good in the acquiring intel department.”
I sag against my seat. Nina skipped town soon after we defeated Harkon, and Billy has been a mopey mess ever since. I thought he would get over his crush on Leo’s sister, but it turns out I was very wrong. Pair him with Nadine—who has every reason to not be Miss Sunshine—and we have Daria and Jane from the Daria cartoon on our hands. I’d get “Woe Is Me” T-shirts for both of them if I were meaner.
“Maybe I can talk to your mother. You know, use my huge pregnancy belly to gain sympathy points. I can even cry on demand. Anything will trigger the waterworks these days.” I offer Kenya a smile. I’m glad that despite everything—aka me turning into a wolf shifter—we’re still best friends.
“Thanks, I might take you up on your offer. So, who was the lucky winner on the daddy lottery?”
I rest my head in my hands. “Ugh. Sam. Can you believe it?”
In true Kenya fashion, she throws her head back and laughs. “That’s priceless. I can’t believe Sam will get to play the baby daddy for your folks.”
“I know, right? Tristan or Dante would have been much better choices. I can already picture my mother’s disapproving glance when she finally learns I got knocked up by the lead singer of a rock band. It was hard enough telling them I was pregnant and being vague about the father’s identity.”
“No shit. I know how my mother would react. Castration comes to mind.” She snorts.
“If she only knew.” I laugh.
“Bitch.” Kenya throws a fry at me.
“Jokes aside, I can’t tell my parents that I’m a wolf shifter mated to three alphas. My father knows about the supernatural community, but Mom is clueless.”
“Tell me when your folks get here. I’ll be there for moral support.” Her eyes twinkle with mirth.
“Yeah, moral support, my ass.”
Her gaze moves to a point over my shoulder, and her eyes widen as her jaw drops.
I know that look. She spotted someone she likes.
“Hubba hubba. Where did that piece of Heaven come from?”
I start to turn, but she grips my hand. “Don’t look back yet. He’s coming this way.”
The guy in question walks by our table and takes a seat on the high stool in front of the counter. Immediately I see why Kenya was drooling all over her fr
ies. The dude is definitely attractive, with long, tousled blond hair that reaches his shoulders and a physique designed to impress the ladies. He’s talking to the waitress, so I can only see his profile, but even that’s enough.
“He looks like he just stepped off a California beach.” I drink from my milkshake to disguise that I’m ogling the stranger.
“Exactly, a Californian dreamboat.” Kenya sighs.
In that exact moment, the stranger turns and looks straight at me. Shit. He totally caught me staring.
I should look down, but there’s something in his eyes that hits me straight in the chest. Suddenly, I can’t draw air in, and I start to panic.
“Red, what’s wrong?” Kenya touches my arm.
Finally, I’m able to break away from the guy’s creepy gaze and look at my friend.
“I don’t know.”
“Your face went white all of a sudden.”
“I’m not feeling well. Can we go?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I turn to where the stranger was sitting to see what he’s doing, but he’s gone.
Chapter 2
Red
I can’t shake the strange feeling that took hold of me in the diner. It’s been a few hours since Kenya dropped me off at the compound, but my chest still feels heavy. That stranger who came into the diner is the cause for my current mood. If Kenya hadn’t seen him too, I might have thought he was a figment of my imagination. But he was there, of that I’m sure. Only he didn’t stay long enough for me scrutinize him further.
I’m in the Alpha Manor’s kitchen, cooking dinner and attempting to forget what happened. I definitely don’t want to mention the mysterious man to my mates. The last seven months have been blissfully stress free—at least where demons trying to kill everyone are concerned—and I don’t want to worry them over a bad feeling that could be only a figment of my imagination. But maybe I should mention the guy to Dr. Mervina just to be safe.