The chain snapped as the punching bag ripped.

Sand burst out, spraying Lorraine's boots.

She was hardly breathless as sweat coated her face.

She debated between cleaning up first and continuing the punishing routine of training she had started at dawn.

The second option won almost immediately.

She got into position for a set of kickboxing lunges.

The first round of kicks had the dummy almost snapping off its stand.

"Wow. Someone woke up bright and early." The amused tone had Lorraine straightening as she turned around.

The tight sensation that had settled in her chest all morning eased slightly as she saw the red-haired woman by the door.

"My queen." Lorraine bowed in greeting to the one person she respected most in her new world. Queen Athena.

A woman who had risen from being a rogue to becoming the first queen of the kingdom she had united, the United Kingdom of Werewolves.

Meeting Athena had been one of the best things to happen to Lorraine. She was one reason the despicable "rogue" tag had been lifted from Lorraine's life. Who would have thought the daughter of a sex slave would become a beta general?

"Lorraine." Athena's brilliant smile graced her exquisite face, her jade green eyes glinting as she took in the burst bag.

"Trouble sleeping?" she enquired gently as she took Lorraine's hand.

Lorraine always thought Athena's keen eyes never missed a detail. Yet she tried anyway.

"No, not at all. I slept fine. I just want to get an early start," she said hurriedly.

Athena's eyes lingered on Lorraine's for a moment, and she thought the queen might probe.

Lorraine was not sure she had rallied her willpower enough to hold back from spilling everything bothering her to the queen right there.

She hated feeling this way. For years, she had lived on duty and action alone. So the torrents of emotion that had been battering her since what happened at the Mirage Pack were not normal for her.

Athena's presence had always soothed her, but at the moment, Lorraine just wanted to scream while pulling at her hair.

The undignified image that thought conjured in her mind made her straighten up as she decided to do what she hated most. Lie to the queen.

But instead of asking, Athena simply squeezed Lorraine's hand gently, patting the back with her other hand as she said, "I am glad you did. Of course, you will let me know if there is anything you'd like to discuss?"

"Of course, my queen," Lorraine responded with relief.

She watched Athena step over to where the boxing gloves were kept.

"It's been a while. Spar with me?"

"Yes, my queen." Lorraine responded, getting her gloves too as she wondered if the session would help her get rid of the anxiety she had not been able to dispel all morning.

Athena was not actually dressed for training in her cream-coloured jumpsuit and slippers.

Yet she casually tossed her slippers aside and gave Lorraine quite the workout with a precise series of fists, kicks, and tumbles.

She looked just as regal while flipping Lorraine over her shoulder as she did when presiding over pack matters from her throne.

"Better?" Athena said as she held out her hand to pull Lorraine up from the last flip.

"Better." Lorraine responded with a smile, surprised that she actually felt a bit better.

Athena had that effect on others.

Soothing without probing. A better queen, Lorraine could not think of.

"You ladies looking to outdo us or something?"

Lorraine felt the slight change in Athena's stance even before they both turned to the man entering the training hall with his beta.

Love was painfully evident on Alpha Raymond's face as his eyes zoned in on Athena, his big smile crinkling the sides of his eyes.

He kissed Athena soundly, a humming sound in his throat that had Lorraine looking away awkwardly.

It was not as if it was the first time these two had shown their love so openly, but with what had just happened that almost made them lose each other, Lorraine could not help but feel mushy inside seeing them like this again.

"I miss you so much, my queen," Raymond said breathlessly as they finally separated.

Looping her arms around his neck, Athena teased in response, "I just left you in bed minutes ago, my alpha consort."

"Too long," Raymond answered, rubbing his nose against hers.

Lorraine looked away with a genuine smile caressing her face as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Her gaze met Justin's and he winked at her.

She resisted her customary glare at him and simply looked away.

There was a time she had thought the mild attraction between them might lead to something.

But now...Logan.

Athena's giggle at whatever Raymond was whispering to her was Lorraine's signal to get out of there before the lovebirds scarred her for life.

She looked at the sand she had intended to clean up and back at the door, muttering, "I will come back for that."

Athena tried to pull back and was pulled right back into Raymond's embrace.

His intended kiss landed on her collarbone as Athena looked from the sand to Lorraine's retreating back, saying, "No, leave that for the maids to handle."

"Yes, my queen." Lorraine responded hastily, not bothering to look back as she heard kissing sounds.

"Well...ehn, I will go do that...thing," Justin called out to Raymond.

The latter did not bother to respond as Justin turned on his heel and followed Lorraine out.

Justin chuckled as they headed towards the Alpha House. "Damn. Those two make being single so hard."

Lorraine did not bother to wipe the smile off her face as she responded, "I can't believe that bitch almost succeeded in ruining their bond."

"She got what she deserved," Justin said gravely.

Lorraine's brows rose at his statement. "Well, who would have thought you had a penchant for violent death, beta?"

Guinevere, the impostor, had shot herself when her schemes blew up in her face.

He shrugged with a grin. "For those who deserve it, yes. I am full of surprises, you know. Want to find out about others?"

He winked when she shot him a glare.

Then his look suddenly turned serious. "I am just so glad you are okay, Beta General. You won't believe this, I know. But I actually missed you while you were gone."

Lorraine stiffened when he suddenly held her hand.

She was about to shrug him off when a terse command snapped through the morning air.

"Take your hands off her!"

Chills danced on Lorraine's skin even as her blood spiked with awareness.

Damn Kiara wouldn't let go of her obsession with him. 

She and Justin turned in the direction of the voice, and her breath caught in her throat.

The glower on Logan's face was so ferocious that she swallowed automatically. And not from the way her core was melting at his domineering presence.

He had not used his alpha command, but it was damn close.

"I will appreciate it if you stay the fuck away from my woman." He said in a deceptively soft voice that only made Lorraine's warrior instinct remain on alert.

She had no idea if it had happened when she turned or if Justin had been the one to let go, but her hand was no longer in his.

A very preferable development. Still, a word in Logan's statement stuck in her craw.

"I am not your woman," she gritted.

"Oh, baby. You are mine and mine alone. Which means staying away from other men."

The audacity. "You can't tell me what to do!" She seethed, gleefully welcoming the roaring anger in place of the awful feeling that had been pulling at her all morning.

Though he was a beta and no match for Logan even in build, Justin shifted slightly in front of Lorraine, saying, "Is he bothering you, Lorraine?"

Lorraine's brow puckered a bit as she wondered when they had gotten on a first-name basis.

She was about to respond when a low growl rumbled out of Logan as he stalked towards them like a hulking beast homing in on his prey.

Lorraine was slightly impressed by how Justin stood his ground still. 

She, on the other hand, was slightly nervous at the way the alpha's exposed forearm seemed to thrum with restrained energy.

Nervous! Can you believe that? She recoiled from the silly feeling just as Logan got to them.

His smile was chilling as he looked down at Justin like he was an annoying fly.

"You are bold, my man. Bold to dare to think my mate needs your protection."

Justin squared up. "You are the Luna's guest, Alpha. And as much as I respect that, you..." He suddenly stiffened as his ocean-blue eyes jerked from Logan to Lorraine. "Mate?" 

Disbelief and something close to pain rang in his tone as his eyes beseeched Lorraine. "You are his...mate?"

"You get the memo now?" Logan's scoff scraped on Lorraine's nerves. "Now scram. You really should know better than butting your nose where it's not needed."

This insufferable...

"He is not my...anything!" Lorraine snapped.

Something flickered in Justin's eyes as they snapped back to hers, "But he just said..."

"I am going to reject him." Lorraine declared, eyes burning holes through Logan.

A growl erupted from him as he shoulder-shoved Justin out of his way.

"No, you are not!" Tawny eyes burnt like coals into Lorraine's shocked face.

Before she could draw a breath, firm arms were pinning her legs together while she dangled over his shoulder.

"Hey, you can't just...!"

Nausea rose in Lorraine's throat as he swung around, his cold tone directed at Justin, "Try me. Fucking try me, beta."

Lorraine blew the bouncy ends of her bob out of her face as she kicked hard at his shin.

She barely connected before he swung around again, moving lithely like she weighed nothing.

"This is ridiculous. Put me down, Logan!"

"Not a chance." 

His response, coupled with the fact that Lorraine's gaze caught on some soldiers a few paces away, infuriated her.

She was the beta general, their superior. And the mortification of being thrown over a man's shoulder like a...ninny was just too much to bear.

She kicked hard at him, doubly attacking with her fists too.

All she got for her trouble was a break in his stride. Oh, she almost got away.

Her body even slid down his, reminding her of how hung he really was.

Molten heat shot through her core, and Kiara's shameless cartwheels were the only thing Lorraine blamed for how easily he hauled her right back onto his shoulder.

Then he had the nerve to pat her butt, his chest rumbling against her confused body as he said, "Now, stay put. We are almost there."

"Where the fuck are we going?" She snapped.

She finally looked around to see that they were in the woods.

"A place where we can talk."

"Right." She snorted. "We couldn't have done that at..."

Her words trailed off as she saw the unexpected view ahead.

The fight went out of her for a moment as she gaped at the sheer beauty before her.

The treehouse perches high in an ancient oak, its steps carved intricately into the trunk of the massive tree, vine-wrapped, with its cracked glass dome catching the golden rays of sunrise. The light filtering through the surrounding tree branches giving the environment an ethereal look.

"What the...?" She was unaware of how breathy her voice sounded as she felt the last dreg of tightness leave her chest.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" 

She nodded as she looked around reverently at the way the woods wrapped lovingly around the site, like a mother nurturing a child.

The path to it was overgrown and seemed to have only been recently disturbed, but...

The sound of a door shutting jolted her out of her reverie.

Wait...

"What are you doing?" She asked automatically as she felt her body slide down his again. Damn the fucking heat.

He held her suspended, their faces only slightly apart as he whispered, "Putting you down as you demanded, Prickly. Unless you don't want me to." He added suggestively, a new look entering his drugging eyes, messing with Lorraine's breath.

"Let me..."

"You are so beautiful." The reverence in his tone stilled the hands she had raised to his chest to push him off.

No man had ever called her that. Not the way he just did.

None would dare to.

Capable, yes. Strong? Preferable.

Beauty...it's not just...her. It's for soft women. Not the likes of her who could hand a man's ass to him before he fully got the words out.

At least that was fully believed before Athena.

Athena was beauty, elegance and strength wrapped into one indomitable spirit.

Still...

"Put me down," she ordered, breathier than intended.

"If you insist." He heaved a long-suffering sigh as he set her down. 

Lorraine swung away from him, hands brushing the short ends of her hair that barely graced her neck.

"What is he doing to me?" The perplexed thought surged as she stalked to the single window letting in more light to rival the one filtering in through the glass-domed roof.

Her eyes caught on the worn leather chair by the corner. The old brass telescope and faded star charts to her left speak of time past.

Pine scent and dust motes tickled Lorraine's nose as she wondered how her morning had turned out this way.

The floorboard groaned slightly as she turned back to face him, asking, "What do you want from me?"

He leaned casually against the door. Yet she knew he had no intention of letting her get past that door.

"To talk," he said simply with a shrug.

"There is nothing to talk about." She folded her arms defensively.

"There's plenty to talk about, Lorraine. And you know it. You are my mate, and..."

"...I don't want to be."

He straightened and tucked his hands in his jeans pocket, eyes sharpening on hers as he drawled, "Too bad, babe. We are already fated."

"Very easy. I rejected you, remember?"

"I don't want your rejection!" He growled.

His eyes flared at her as he took a step forward.

Lorraine's stance immediately shifted into defence, even as Kiara groaned.

But then, he stopped abruptly and swung towards the door again.

"I want you, Lorraine. You, my prickly queen. I want you as my Luna. I..."

"No, you don't." Lorraine took an unconscious step backward as torment fired up in her body. "You...you just want...to fuck me." She blurted out in desperation.

"What?!" He gaped at her for a moment, looking genuinely confused for a second. "Of course, I don't want to fu...what are you talking about?"

"So, you don't want me that way?" Lorraine asked before she could stop herself.

"Of course I want you... I..." he took a step forward and she moved back immediately, hating the cowardly move.

The frustrated growl beneath his breath seemed to reverberate in her chest as his gaze held hers captive.

"You know I want you, Lorraine. I want to fuck you so bad that it's all I can think of. I want..."

"Then do it." The words rolled off Lorraine's tongue like they had a life of their own.

She cringed as it fell on her ears. Yet deep down she knew she wanted it out.

The result on him was almost comical. He blinked.

"What are...?" 

"You want to fuck me? You are right. I want you too. Let's get it done and over with. After that, accept my rejection. Deal?"

She thought it was a fair bargain. Men getting their way with a woman was always a win for them anyway. She expected him to snap it up.

Instead, his face darkened dangerously as a growl erupted from him, "Lorraine!"