Of Savage and Sin (Wolves of Ossary #2)

CHAPTER THREE

–Naya–

THE LAST THING I expected when I walked through the front door of the old Colonial in New Hampshire Uncle Conner had purchased to keep me and my cousins safe was Kaia, not Storm, waiting for me.

“Hey there,”

I exclaimed, relieved to see her when she hugged me, and we both held on tight. “I…”

What? Deep down feared never seeing her again? “Missed you, cousin.”

“Same.”

Kaia squeezed tighter before she pulled back, held me at arm’s length, and looked me over like she had been doing since we were young, and she wanted to make sure I was okay. “How are you? You look good.”

Her brilliant blue eyes narrowed on me. “But how are you really?”

“You mean, how am I since going Renegade?”

I replied, answering what she wasn’t asking. “Fine.”

Nodding, I mustered a smile. “One hundred percent, still wearing my badge of honor,”

I assured her when she looked dubious, saying what the three of us had said to each other as kids when times got especially tough. “Still a warrior.”

Kaia eyed me for a few moments like the big sister figure she’d long been before she sighed, pulled away, and hung my fur coat on the rack by the door. “You say that, but something tells me you’re not.”

I took in her medieval attire—a black leather top cinched at the waist, black form-fitting pants, and black boots—not surprised she looked stunning in them. How could she not? Kaia had always been gorgeous with her native American skin, long black hair, and gorgeous features. With various weapons strapped to her, she was the epitome of badass, just like she’d always been. And now she was the alpha’s queen.

Honestly, it made perfect sense.

As did the tales I’d been fed over the past week.

She truly had traveled back in time. This really was happening. But then, deep down in a place I’d shoved aside for most of my life, I wasn’t all that shocked.

“I’m fine,”

I assured her again. Better than fine because I had a plan. One that would do away with Niall and Bain so I could live my life solo, standing on my own two feet. Or four paws occasionally, as it were.

“And what is this plan?”

Kaia asked, catching me off guard. “Oh.”

Her finely arched eyebrows inched up when she caught my surprise. “Not sure if you’ve heard, but I’ve hooked up with my fated mate and the kingpin of lycans, which means I’ve become pretty damn powerful.”

She gave me a look perfected when we were kids, and she knew I was hiding something from her. “Powerful enough to know without question when you’re keeping things from me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Which, as we both know, is ninety percent of the time.”

“More like seventy,”

I countered.

“Eighty-five, easy.”

Kaia plunked her hands on her hips, frowned at me, and sighed. “What are you up to now, Naya? Why didn’t you come last week so we could run together during our True Moon Shift? And, for the love of God, why do you think you can take on both Niall and Bain, because I feel them being expertly maneuvered like pawns on your latest mental chessboard.”

She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes even further, catching more and more of what I’d kept from her. “And we’ll talk more about how the hell you already know Bain.”

“Sorry about not being here for our run last week.”

I cringed and lied my ass off. “You know how Boston traffic can be and—”

“Stop.”

Kaia scowled. “Just stop because we both know you could have gotten here if you wanted to. Instead, you…”

I eyed Kaia warily when she trailed off, wondering what angle she was coming at me from now, only to feel a strange sense of dread. A dread she’d clearly caught because she unsheathed a beautiful coppery gold dagger that had to be worth millions, put a finger to her lips to silence me, gestured that I stand behind her so she could defend me, and slowly repositioned herself by the front door.

While tempted to remind her she’d been training me to fight for years and I could hold my own, I dutifully stood behind her, but not before pulling out the small blade I kept sheathed between my breasts whenever I went out, whether in jeans and a hoodie or an elegant gown. After all, I was raised in projects just like her.

“What’s going on?”

I whispered. “What’s out there because—”

The air whooshed out of me when a rap came at the door, and an all too familiar scent hit my nostrils.

“Shit,”

I seethed under my breath, not just smelling Niall now but sensing him on the other side of the door. “I thought I lost his tail in Boston, but the bastard still managed to follow me here.”

“You will want to answer that, mo maité,”

a deep voice with an Irish lilt said.

Thinking we were alone, I about jumped out of my skin when I spied a tall, dark-haired man standing behind us in the hallway leading to the backdoor.

My jaw dropped at the sight of him, not because he was so handsome with his ebony hair and chiseled features but because of his height, build, what he wore, and the massive sword attached to his back.

I had done my research after Adlin visited me, so I knew he wore black trousers, or triús, coupled with a tunic and a long leather great coat, or cóta mór, cinched at the waist, and black boots.

I also knew every inch of him was medieval Irish.

More than that, I knew he was Kaia’s mate and extraordinarily powerful.

I swallowed hard, fell to a knee, and lowered my head without understanding why, only that my inner beast would not have it any other way.

“What the,”

I ground out, trying to fight my wolf’s inner will because I didn’t bow to men ever, but it was impossible. “What is this, Kaia?”

“’Tis a start,”

the man rumbled, surprising me when he fell to a knee in front of me despite another knock at the door and raised my chin until our eyes met. “My name is Tréan, Alpha of the Wolves of Ossary and fated mate to Kaia. Your wolf forcing you to bow means you stand half a chance because things are about to become far more difficult, my friend.”

A strange but comforting warmth filled me as his golden wolf eyes stayed with mine. “I will stand by your side always, but you must stay strong, Naya. Stronger than ever. Can you do that?”

“I can,”

I answered obediently rather than defensively because something about staring into his eyes made me feel safe, and I couldn’t remember the last time I felt that way. Not really. Not entirely.

“Good.”

He nodded once, pleased, and it seemed my inner beast liked that because I felt strangely at ease when Kaia held out a hand and helped me stand, making me acutely aware that I needed to lose my high heels.

“All will be well, child,”

Adlin assured, surprising me when he joined us in the foyer, not in the white suit I’d first met him in, but long white robes cinched at the waist, making him appear the wizard he had claimed to be. He had presented himself as rather merry before, with his light blue eyes hinting at mischief, but now, he seemed serious, and his previously well-groomed white beard less kempt.

“Now is not the time to play your mental game of chess, though,”

Adlin went on, catching me unaware because Kaia hadn’t been wrong. I’d spent most of my life strategizing and manipulating people if it meant getting out of Southie and bringing Kaia and Storm with me. I had even tried getting Uncle Connor out, too, but feared he might never leave South Boston.

“Now is the time to be the determined lass you have always been and think clearly and decisively with just the right amount of cunning rather than…”

Adlin shrugged and winked at me. “Well, you know.”

I did and wasn’t sure if I should tell him to fuck off or not, but I decided against it because I didn’t think he was trying to insult me. I knew who I was and the things I had done to get my way. Knew I was driven and sometimes ruthless. It was why I was a millionaire now rather than a poor Southie girl riding the coattails of the next guy who came along promising her the world.

A world that had possessed its fair share of gangsters.

Sure, I had developed a taste for them, but only if they rode my coattails. If I controlled the bad boys rather than the other way around. Had I turned bad along the way, too? No, I don’t think so. But sometimes you had to become one to know one, so I wouldn’t say my hands were clean. Not if it had meant getting out of Southie and offering my cousins a better life.

Now, here I was, bowing and swearing loyalty to a guy I had just met and promising a wizard I’d play nice when I wasn’t sure that was possible. Not when it came to Niall and Bain. Not when it came to my midnight stranger or the guy who had made me into something out of a nightmare.

When a knock came at the door again, only more insistently, and Niall said, “Naya, open the door,”

from the other side, I knew nothing would go as planned.

He didn’t even need to say why. It was crystalizing all around me, from Kaia to Tréan to Adlin to…

If I had been in wolf form, my hackles probably would have gone up when I felt him drawing closer. When I knew, as only I could, that Bain was near me once more. Waiting. Watching. Yet when I stared down the dark corridor behind Tréan and Adlin, I saw nothing.

“’Tis time to answer the door, Kaia.”

Clearly knowing something I didn’t, Tréan nodded at my cousin once. “Time to accept that things are not what we had hoped.”

I tensed and frowned as Kaia wasted no more time but opened the door to Niall and several of his bodyguards. Enough men to alarm me because he had clearly headed this way with a mission.

And it wasn’t just me.

I felt rather than saw how tense Tréan had become when Niall eyed Kaia up and down and nodded with approval. “You always were sexy as hell, Kaia, but somehow medieval only makes you hotter.”

Not frightened when he should be considering everyone he faced in this foyer, Niall looked immaculate and perfectly groomed in his expensive black wool coat. His gaze flickered nonchalantly over Adlin and Tréan before landing on me and lingering with appreciation.

“Granted, I always wanted to fuck you because of your beauty, love, but your cunning was just as attractive.”

His wolven eyes flared at me with a sort of promise I didn’t much like. “Tonight, I found another reason to bend you over my knee.”

He winked. “You’ve been naughty yet again, trying to betray me, but alas—”

he shrugged— “I’m one step ahead of you.”

Rather than admit a thing, I kept my face blank and salty words off my tongue when, unbelievably enough, everyone let him walk right into the foyer. Not to say all eyes weren’t trained on him and that their hands weren’t resting on the hilts of their sheathed blades because they were, but no one made a move as one of Niall's men helped him out of his coat.

Peeling one black leather glove off at a time, Niall looked at me with amusement and offered a mock pout. “Oh, no, they haven’t told you yet, have they, darlin’?”

“Told me what?”

I managed, thankful my voice wasn’t hoarse because Niall had that super scary look in his eyes I’d known since we were kids. The one that told me he was on the edge of kicking someone’s ass in a bad way. Not that there was a good way because Niall had always been especially brutal. Although tempted to use my blade on him, frustratingly enough, it almost felt like my inner beast held me back, and I couldn't do it.

“So much to tell you, as it turns out,”

Niall said softly, darkly, stepping closer than I thought he would be allowed to. Cupping my cheek tenderly, he murmured, “Haven’t you heard? Didn’t you know?”

A maniacal light I knew all too well lit his eyes as he confiscated my blade effortlessly. “I own you now, bitch.”

His hand encircled my neck as if gently caressing me, but again, I knew better. “You couldn’t escape me if you tried.”

When a low, deep, wolven growl resounded from the darkened hallway, everything inside me stilled. Quieted. And nothing ever quieted inside me. Not since the night I lost my parents and my world changed entirely.

Yet now, with that deep growl, I stilled…quieted.

Waited.

Watched.

“Ahh,”

Niall said softly, clearly anticipating this as his hand tightened ever-so-slightly around my throat. He narrowed his eyes down the hallway. “There you are, Bain.”

At this point, any woman in her right mind would have trembled in fear, but when a huge pony-sized black wolf with silver undertones emerged from the darkness with his hackles raised at Niall and his long, deadly fangs bared in a growl, I felt a little less anger.

Yes, anger, and I only realized that as I took in Bain’s beautiful beast.

The problem? I had no idea why I was angry at him. All I knew was that despite still being determined to escape his clutches because I preferred to be alone and in control, he was preferable to Niall.

“I had no idea how much I wanted to meet you until I bit my mate,”

Niall went on, speaking to Bain’s wolf as he stalked closer, his teeth still bared and a never-ending growl rumbling from deep within his chest.

“No idea how much you would improve my standing in life,”

Niall continued, reeling me against him, his wolven eyes trained on Bain despite me trying to push him away. “Yet now we both know how far I will go.”

I went to slap Niall’s face, but he caught my wrist, somehow stopping Kaia, Tréan, and Adlin with a sharp shake of his head. Even Bain, it seemed, because his wolf remained mere feet from us without coming any closer despite the rage blazing in his reddish-gold eyes.

“What’s going on, Kaia?”

I ground out, speaking to my cousin rather than the monster holding me. I had meant to play him one way, but I felt off-kilter and angry. Confused. Out of control when control was crucial to me. “Why aren’t we kicking this asshole out of here? Why aren’t we—”

“Because he is your maker and mate,”

Adlin replied gently. His troubled yet kind eyes took in the situation before connecting with mine. “And because of those things, he is also your alpha.”

As it turned out, I had screwed up big time based on what Adlin revealed next.