A Beta's Haven (7 page)

About this Author

USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought
she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on
to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen
fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book
in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for
her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and
not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.

Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and
novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*)
that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.

www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

Also from this Author

Now Available:

Redwood Pack Series:

An Alpha’s Path

A Taste for a Mate

Trinity Bound

A Night Away

Enforcer’s Redemption

Blurred Expectations

Forgiveness

Shattered
Emotions

Hidden Destiny

A Beta’s Haven

Holiday, Montana Series:

Charmed Spirits

Santa’s Executive

Finding Abigail

Her Lucky Love

Dreams of Ivory

Dante’s Circle Series:

Dust of My Wings

Her Warriors’
Three Wishes

An Unlucky
Moon

Ever After

Montgomery Ink:
Ink Inspired

Ink Reunited

Coming Soon:

Redwood Pack

Fighting Fate

Loving the
Omega

Dark Fates

Dante’s Circle:

Tangled Innocence

Fierce Enchantment

Montgomery Ink:

Delicate Ink

Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another
romance from Fated Desires?

From USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s
Dante’s Circle Series

An Unlucky Moon

Chapter One

The fiery depths of hell were a cool afterthought compared
to the torment of what lay before him. Hunter Brooks ducked the punch aimed at
his head and rolled to the ground, coming up on his feet a few yards away. He
never let his gaze leave his opponent, even as he moved his arm to stop a kick
to the neck.

The low roll of thunder in the distance set his wolf on
edge, but he tamped it down. The rain would come eventually, and Hunter wanted
to make sure he was done with this before then. The circle was already a mud
pit, the wet sludge clinging to his torn jeans—he didn’t want to deal with more
of that.

His wolf brushed along the inside of his skin, an
animalistic presence that wanted revenge, blood, and death.

The man within him wanted the same thing.

The other wolf came at him at his fastest speed, but Hunter
was faster. His hands shifted to claws, and he slashed out, catching the other
wolf along the shoulder. His opponent screamed as blood seeped from the deep
wound, but Hunter didn’t care. He squeezed his fingers together, cutting the
other man deeper.

His opponent met his gaze, the anger all but lashing out at
him.

Hunter had seen the depravity of a winged demon bent on
quenching its thirst and lust on decaying corpses within the depths of the
gladiator games.

This wolf had nothing on that.

His opponent slashed his claws down Hunter’s side, but
Hunter moved too fast for the other wolf to break the skin.

He’d spent enough time playing around with this wolf,
allowing him to
think
he actually had a chance. Hunter lifted a lip and
showed fang, growling deep within his chest. The air around him seemed to
freeze, and time stood still.

Hunter cocked his head to the side as fear seeped into the
other wolf’s eyes. Finally, the other wolf knew its life relied on Hunter’s
mercy.

The others called Hunter an animal.

They called him depraved.

Soulless.

Yes, this wolf had something to fear, but death would not be
among them.

Not today.

Hunter kicked out then twisted, causing the other wolf to
fall to his knees in pain. He gripped the bastard by the neck and squeezed.

“Forfeit,” Hunter growled, his voice scraping against his
throat from lack of use.

The other wolf’s eyes rolled back, and then he slammed his
hand to the ground twice.

The murmurs and howls around them forced Hunter to look at
the crowd. He and the other wolf stood in the center of the Nocturne Pack
circle, blood and mud covering their bodies and worn jeans. Other members of
his Pack growled around them. Some had looks of relief on their faces. Others
held a bit of fear…or anger.

The latter would have to be dealt with soon.

“Matthew calls forfeit,” Liam Murray, council member and
one-time friend, called out. “It is up to Hunter whether to call death, but the
circle has chosen. Hunter is our Beta.”

“As it should have been in the first place,” Josiah, their
Alpha, spat. “I have spoken and the circle has agreed. My choice reigns.”

“For now,” Dorian Masterson whispered, though Hunter wasn’t
sure if anyone else had heard the bastard.

Hunter had keener senses than most wolves due to his
bloodline and destiny. His stint in the gladiator games of hell had only honed
them stronger. He’d been back only a month, and he still didn’t feel as though
he fit in his skin. Everything had changed in his absence.

The council had grown with more power. His Alpha had grown
weaker without Hunter there to protect him. Josiah’s last protector had
perished

Samuel…Samuel, Hunter’s brother, had died protecting the
Alpha when the council had tried to take over.

None of it made sense to Hunter. He’d fought for his life
countless times and killed so many demons and other supernaturals that he
wasn’t sure the blood would ever leave his hands, yet when he’d returned to the
human realm, he’d faced another battle.

His own Pack.

Hunter rolled his shoulders then stalked toward his Alpha,
who stood surrounded by the five council members. That alone pissed him off to
no end. The council should have no place near the Alpha. There were only
advisors on good days and whispers on bad ones.

Yet they stood there and had demanded a fight to the death
to secure the position of Beta.

A position that Samuel had held.

A position Hunter had held before he’d been taken by the
demons and forced to serve.

He knelt in front of his alpha, glaring at the others as he
did so.

“My Alpha,” Hunter grumbled then turned his head to the side
to bare his neck. Others gasped around him, but he ignored them. They
should
have been the ones to bare their necks, but they’d become lax in their duties
and rituals.

They’d thought the Pack was a democracy.

They would soon be proven wrong.

Josiah put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder and nodded. “You’re
a fine Beta, Hunter. You will make me proud. You
make
me proud.”

Something warm started to fill him, piercing through the ice
at his Alpha’s words, then dissipated. His wolf howled within him and hardened
against the intrusion. No, it wouldn’t do any good to warm at his Alpha’s
words.

Hunter wasn’t a warm man. He was a killer—his Alpha’s
killer. He’d been raised to be that wolf, and he’d fulfilled that promise in
hell. Now he was back within the confines of his Pack and ready to kill again.

Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Hunter, good fight,” Alec Brennan, another of Hunter’s
one-time friends and council member, said as he slapped his shoulder. “You almost
killed that Lloyd wolf.” A vicious gleam entered Alec’s eyes, and Hunter
grunted.

“Let the wolf live in his memory of defeat,” Hunter growled.
“I’m not in the mood to kill a useless slug who isn’t worthy of the title
Beta.”

“Watch what you say about my son,” Gregory Lloyd snarled.
The older council member tried to come at him, his teeth bared, but Alistair
Jacobs—the remaining council member—held him back.

“It would do no good to fight like animals,” Alistair
drawled. “We might have the wolves at our beck and call, but we
will
remain civilized.”

Hunter snorted at that. There had to be over a hundred
wolves surrounding them in human form, each shirtless, ready to shift if
necessary. Each adult male—and some of the juveniles—were marred with scars and
tattoos that celebrated their victories in battle.

At any moment, since the circle was over, they could break
out in brawls to release the tension.

There were only two ways to release the tension riding
through their bodies—fighting and sex. As wolves, they didn’t care about
privacy and modesty. If there was a woman—or a man, if that was their
inclination—in front of them, they’d fuck them hard, letting the stress and
worries from the day seep away.

Since there were no willing partners at the moment, Hunter was
sure a fight would break out soon. Blood and sweat would soon permeate through
the air, filling Hunter’s nostrils to override the stench of betrayal and anger
that poured from the wolves that had lost their hope today.

Today, like most other days, fighting would rule over sex.

The females were back in their homes—what few females they
had. Wolves were born, not bitten, in their world, unlike what the fandoms
believed. Though it was easy to get pregnant, it was hard as hell to keep that
baby and even harder to produce a girl.

Their absence at the circle meeting had been the council’s
decision, not the Alpha’s. Their history had always held their women in deep
respect. Not only were they wolves in their own right, but strong fighters as
well. They were feared among the men if someone threatened their pup.

Yet the council had declared them weak in Hunter’s four-year
absence. Apparently the women—and men—who had fought back against the council
taking over had been beaten or killed.

Nothing was right in the Nocturne Pack.

Hunter kept blaming the council for all of it, but he knew
it wasn’t the five of them. No, it was three of them who held the power—or at
least thought they did.

For now.

“Come on,” Liam whispered. “Let’s look at those cuts of
yours at my place.  It will rain soon anyway. I’d prefer not to get my hair
wet.” He grinned at his last remark, but Hunter didn’t respond. Unspoken was
their need to talk about the undercurrents within the circle.

Hunter had been back in the human realm for a full month, yet
change took time. After Ambrose, Jamie, and Balin—and of course the young
demon, Fawkes—had rescued him from the depths of hell, he’d returned to the
realm he’d grown up in.

Unlike most supernaturals, wolf shifters and some other
types of shifters lived within the human realm but were hidden deep within the
forests. Their own magic kept the humans away and their secrets buried. Other
supernaturals lived in other realms that were accessible through only the human
realm. It was as if the humans themselves were the glue that held everyone
together.

Fitting considering the humans weren’t really humans at all
but merely diluted down versions of supernaturals themselves. They didn’t know
the things that went bump in the night were real and had no idea that, within
themselves, they held the ability to change into another being…if something
were to alter their course, that is.

Hunter had grown up with the humans around him and his Pack
at his side. They might be dark and depraved in the best of times, but he’d loved
them like his own.

He’d thought he’d return to the Pack he’d known, but that
had not been the case.

Four years was a long time to be gone.

Everything had changed and not for the better. Though one
thing might offer the light on his horizon.

He’d left her alone so he could find his place and be better
for her. Now it was time.

He’d find her soon. His Becca.

“You must be thinking about a woman,” Alec teased as they
made their way back to Liam’s home. “You’re smiling.”

Hunter grunted then walked inside the place with Liam and
Alec following. He turned on the lights and stretched his arms over his head.
He was damned tired after that run even though he still felt a bit on edge
since he hadn’t hunted big game.

“I don’t smile,” Hunter growled.

Alec just shook his head and stole a beer from Liam’s
fridge. Liam scowled and slapped the back of Alec’s head.

“You never ask to take my shit,” Liam snapped.

Alec frowned. “I didn’t think I had to, Murray,” he drawled.

Hunter blinked at the two of them, their tension different
than it had been before he’d been gone. While before the two had always
bickered and annoyed each other, this felt different. Before they’d always
smile and get over it, the tension dissipating after a few moments. Now,
though, there seemed to be an underlying current between the two that Hunter
couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Guys? It’s beer. Get over it.”

The two men swiveled their heads at him and glared. They
might have looked nothing alike, Liam with his dark looks and blue eyes, Alec
with his brown hair and green eyes, but right then, they had the same
expression.

Hunger, anger, and confusion all rolled into one.

What the hell?

Looking at Liam, Alec twisted off the beer cap then took a
long swig. Liam’s jaw clenched as he ground his teeth together, and then he
handed Hunter a bottle.

Hunter looked between the two men but put his questions
aside. He had enough to deal with without delving into whatever drama they had.

“Tell me about what I missed,” he said after a minute of
awkward silence.

“Everything, Hunter,” Liam said.

“No shit,” Hunter snapped. “Give me specifics.”

“When you left—” Alec began then cut himself off. The other
man clenched his jaw then took a deep breath. “No, when you were
taken
,
things went to shit. We still don’t know how you were taken to the demons,
Hunter. You have to believe that.”

Hunter nodded and meant that. He knew the two men in this
room wouldn’t have sold him to the demons. That was all he knew though. He had
his ideas of what had happened, but no proof.

Finding out how he’d been sold as a slave to the highest
demon bidder was high on his list of priorities.

Liam cleared his throat then put his hand on Alec’s shoulder
before sitting down on the couch. Alec shot him a look, and Liam pulled his arm
away.

“When you left, Masterson, Lloyd, and Jacobs thought they
found an opening for their plan,” Liam continued. “They’ve never hidden from
those who’ve looked as though they want to take over the Pack. They want to
bring the wolves into the twenty-first century, as they put it, and force a
democracy.”

Hunter cursed. “We’re wolves. That cannot happen. None of
the other Packs who have tried that have survived. We’re not humans. We have
wolves wrapped around us, deep within the very aspects of our souls and beings.
Denying an Alpha should hurt.”

Liam nodded. “You’re not telling us anything Alec and I
haven’t said before. The amount of pain, though, depends on the Alpha.”

Hunter held back a grimace. “Josiah is getting older, but we
don’t age like humans. His power should only increase with age.”

Alec shook his head. “Not without a Beta who can support him
or without the magics that got him the position anyway. An Alpha can’t survive
without a Beta. Josiah holds all the magic and strength of the entire Pack on
his shoulders, but he can’t rule and be himself without another to lean on.”