Page 50 of Ruin

Drake walked back towards the table and sat while Lionel and Stone silently straightened the room, both keeping an eye on Jed.

Connor didn’t remove his attention from me. Stormy and the colour of the deepest sea, his eyes focused purely on me. I waited, not lowering my gaze even though my cheeks heated at the obvious lust pouring from him. He was still trying to wrangle in all the power that fought to escape his body, and with the claiming riding us both high, it was taking all of my self control not to climb his stunning body and start riding him in front of everyone.

Owen coughed, his brows raised and a smirk on his face, though all of the males in the room had moved far away from us, or rather me. “Hey, you two need a minute?” he said.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as Connor raked his gaze down my body and back up, standing totally naked, with a raging hard on and not a bit of embarrassment. “No, we need more than a fucking minute.” Clothes shimmered across his body. “So let’s get this meeting done.” His voice was still a low growl. “Come here.”

My nostrils flared. I wanted so much to smile and step back, to push his buttons, but that kind of challenge was dangerous for us both right now. A bead of sweat ran down his temple and his jaw muscles tensed. A wave of power rolled over me and I knew he was close to losing control. I wouldn’t drop my gaze, but I did walk into his body, then slid my arm around his waist. His body was like rock; he was so tense. He pulled me in and faced the others.

Jed stood at the other side of the room with the shirt shoved under his nose, his face swollen.

“So you’re the Prime?” Jed mumbled.

Connor didn’t bother answering, just stared.

Jed slid his gaze from Connor—right to me. Connor growled. Jed quickly looked away.

“So where have you been, Prime? Your pack thought you were dead.”

Connor’s predatory gaze bored into Jed. After a pause that got uncomfortable, he decided to answer. “I was a prisoner of Berith’s. I escaped a couple of days ago.”

Jed’s eyes narrowed, but he wisely didn’t ask anything more.

“No more questions about me or my mate. You can be here for operational meetings; as I believe that was the agreement between Drake and whoever sent you. Anything else to do with this pack—which is now under my protection—is off limits. Keep your men away from my shifters. If they harm any of them, male or female, I will not ask questions, they will die.”

Jed raised his brows, but nodded once.

“Wise move, man,” muttered Lionel.

“Owen, you remain alpha here, but I am Prime. You will keep me informed of any issues you think I need to know. You, and every member of this pack get my protection and loyalty, and in return I expect yours.”

Owen nodded and smirked at Connor. “Always, Prime.”

Connor nodded back, and the respect these two had for each other was clear. Jed watched them silently, and I wondered what kind of loyalty his band of mercenaries had for him.

Connor spoke to the remaining men. “I am your Prime. Any questions about our attack on the prison come to me. Anything to do with pack life goes to Owen. Are we clear?”

Lionel, Alex and Stone nodded their agreement. Connor turned to Jed and met his stare. I willed Jed to move his gaze, and not test Connor’s word. Jed might operate outside a pack, but he was dealing with a cold-blooded killer. One who it seemed was willing to give him a chance—for now.Don’t push your luck…

Jed dropped his gaze and nodded.

“Good. Let’s go through the fire power and warriors.” Connor turned the plans to better see them. “We need a game plan.”

It took the rest of that day to agree on assault tactics for the prison. Connor and Owen were both experienced former SBI operatives, as it turned out, so was Jed, who settled into professional mode quickly. The small army of shifters they had was split into squads. One to deal with security at the camp, one to take the science wing and rescue any more prisoners, one to hold the prison compound, one to defend the way out from ground to science wing level, and another larger force to destroy Berith’s rooms.

“The rift is a huge fireplace in this room.” Connor jabbed his forefinger on the plans. “I always thought it was evil. The fire that burned in it was constant and viciously hot. The fireplace itself is also big enough to walk through.” He tensed, his top lip curling. “It was in my nightmares and torture sessions more than once.” I placed my hand over his. He twisted his head and smiled tightly at me. “Berith once told me hellhounds and Weres are the same thing. Weres were the guardians of Hell’s gate—until we grew a backbone and left through it. It was Zander who told me that the King of the Weres revolted and pulled his kind through those gates right before they were sealed shut by an army of angels, leaving Satan to guard his own gates.”

“Damn, really?” breathed Lionel, his eyes wide.

“Yep. Apparently an angel, the deity we know as the Mother Wolf, guided them as spirits into newborn humans whose souls were pure enough to host a Were’s.”

“I never knew that. Why isn’t that in our history books?”

Connor shrugged at Owen’s question. It was Alex who answered. Doppelgangers were immortals just like high fae, so I guessed he had a whole load of accumulated knowledge rattling around in his head.

“Some hellhounds were gifted forms other than lupines by the Mother, but all of them cycle back to a human who is strong enough and pure enough to carry them. Sometimes, that is the newborn of a shifter, sometimes it is of a fully human couple. Weres age; albeit very slowly, but their human side is not immortal. When humans pass on to the afterlife, their animal-spirit returns to the Mother Wolf to be reborn. And as with many things, over time, fact gets twisted into legend or it gets forgotten.”

I bit my lip, wondering how old Alex really was. “So does that mean that Prime is the actual Were that was the original King of the Hellhounds?” I looked up at Connor. “Thatyouare now one with the Were King? The one who led them to freedom?”

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