Wolf Fated (Beta Wolf Academy Book 5) Read online

  WOLF FATED

  BETA WOLF ACADEMY: BOOK V

  JJ KING

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Want More Fated Mates & Hot Wolves?

  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR FATED MATE REJECTS YOU?

  ALSO WRITTEN BY JJ KING

  About the Author

  The characters, places, and events portrayed in this book are completely fiction and are in no way meant to represent real people or places.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this eBook with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2022 JJ King

  All rights reserved.

  Kindle Edition

  Print - 978-1-989794-27-2

  eBook - 978-1-989794-28-9

  For my bitches.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This one goes out to all my kinky chicks. I got you, Boo.

  CHAPTER 1

  Breathe in, breathe out. Again, Lexi. One more time…

  I stepped into the Dublin hospital room on legs that felt like water. Chase’s hand on my elbow held me up and kept me steady to take a trembling step toward my sister.

  Toward Rose.

  She lay in the bed, so small and fragile, not at all like the woman she’d grown into. She was a hero to us all. A role model, the bravest of us, the one who had fought tooth and nail to free herself, find our family, and rescue everyone from Raphael’s clutches.

  Her chest rose and fell, so shallow I could barely see it. Her face, usually rosy and bright, so beautiful, was pale and drawn. A sob slipped from my lips, and I threw up my fist, biting down on my knuckle to physically stop myself from crumbling.

  “We’ve got you,” Dimitri said, his voice thick with the sound of his Russian homeland.

  Chase’s hand closed around my waist as he moved behind me to brace my length should I fall to pieces. I leaned back on him, borrowing his strength, knowing it was far from weak to lean on my mates when I needed them. I expected the same of them from me, and we’d all been getting better at it in the past months.

  I just wished there was a time in our future when we wouldn’t have to lean on each other so hard.

  “Rose,” I said, moving toward the bed and my unconscious sister. “Can you hear me?” I asked, even though I knew from the doctor’s reports, she hadn’t woken yet and probably wouldn’t for some time. The doctor’s reports had also spoken of burns, significant burns covering the majority of Rose’s body.

  The irony hadn’t escaped me.

  My sisters and I had been created in a laboratory from the eggs of kidnapped wolves and the seed of the late, great Pierre LaFlamme, Alpha of Canada. He’d been burned, too, in a fire Raphael set to incapacitate him long enough to steal his genetic material—his sperm—to fulfill the prophecy, which had turned out to be centered on Pierre’s daughter, Katherine. He’d survived the fire and unknowingly fathered a legion of young wolves, then had died without knowing any of them existed.

  We did exist and were strong and smart like he’d been, like Katherine and her brothers were. We were resilient. Rose would make it through. I knew that deep in my soul, just as I knew my mates would always be there for me and me for them. Some things were just bone-deep… or deeper.

  The door opened, and Liam Doherty slipped in. Rose’s mate looked like death, even more than she did since most of her burns were hidden beneath a draped sheet, held up on four corners so it didn’t touch her body.

  He lifted his head and met my gaze as if the simple act drained him of every ounce of energy he had left. My heart, already damaged so badly, crumbled at the devastation in his eyes, and I launched myself forward into his arms.

  “She’s strong,” I crooned, lifting my hand to the back of his head to stroke his hair as I’d seen Rose do a million times. “She’s going to be fine, I promise. She’s been through worse.” I didn’t elaborate. Liam knew Rose’s history, my history, and saw through our trauma to who we really were, who we were still becoming, and he loved us as we were.

  He nodded weakly. “I know,” he whispered, looking at his mate. “But it’s destroying me to see her like this. Why couldn’t it have been me?” he asked plaintively.

  I pulled back and stared him straight in the face.

  “You listen to me right now, Liam Doherty,” I said, making my voice sharp. “As painful as it is for you to stand here and watch her, it would be just as painful for her to watch you. You can do this. You’re strong and brave, and you love her more than life itself.” I smoothed his hair again and smiled sadly. “Do this for her. Be the strong one for her. Okay?”

  He took a deep breath, registering my words, and nodded slowly, resignation and renewed hope rising on his face.

  “I can do that,” he said.

  “Good,” I whispered. And it was good. My pep talk helped me put my sister’s situation into perspective. She wasn’t dead. She was still alive and healing in this hospital bed.

  Eight of our sisters and five of the staff they’d come to know and love hadn’t been so lucky.

  My heart twisted painfully at the thought of them, the oldest sixty years old. They’d just celebrated her birthday three weeks before. The youngest had been fourteen, just a child, so sweet and innocent. I didn’t have all the reports yet, could barely stand to think about it, but I knew they’d died in the explosion that had decimated our home. The explosion that had been set by sadistic assholes, The Brotherhood.

  Anger surged through me at the thought of the newly coined name, obviously chosen in opposition to The Sisterhood. The emotion pushed aside the overwhelming grief that had been my constant companion since hearing of the devastating blast. It was easier to breathe when I shifted my focus from pain to rage.

  I didn’t have the power to undo what had been done, the loss of my sisters and Rose’s injuries, but there was a new enemy to bring down, and I could damn well focus on getting justice.

  If justice felt more like vengeance right now, so be it.

  I pulled back, giving Liam room to make his way to Rose’s side, and steeled myself for what I needed to do next.

  It was time to go home.

  ♀♀♀

  “Breathe, Lexi,” Lucian murmured, stroking his hand over my hair as I knelt on the soft verdant grass overlooking the ruins of what had been my home and sobbed.

  We’d had to pull over to let me dash out of the car and vomit just moments after we’d crested the hill that displayed the castle to its best advantage. It was the same view I’d memorialized in the painting, the one that hung in our living room back at Beta Wolf Academy.

  Tearmann Castle, the majestic buildings, ancient and impressive, had been more than just a structure. It had been a safe haven, a refuge—our first real home. Its name literally meant sanctuary.

  Now, it was destroyed.

  And along with it, our hopes and dreams for so
many of our last sisters.

  Guilt curdled in my stomach. I hadn’t known those who perished very well. The youngest had been just a child when we’d been freed from the mountain, and the oldest, Rebecca, had been a quiet soul. That’s why she’d been in the library when the explosion had gone off and why she’d been one of the first to die, according to the coroner’s report.

  I’d asked Lucian to read the report to me as we drove from Dublin to the ruins. I hadn’t wanted to hear about the deaths, but I needed to. Rose had been our leader and still was, even though she lay unconscious in a hospital bed, but even leaders needed to rest and recuperate. So, it was my turn to step up, my turn to take the reins and lead our sisters into battle. It sounded dramatic, even in my own mind, but it steeled my spine and helped me focus.

  I’d listened to the rundown of injuries and deaths as we drove and kept my shit together, then completely lost it at the first glance of my home in the rubble.

  “We don’t have to do this,” Dimitri said, kneeling next to us on the grass to stroke my back. “If it’s too much, Lexi, we can come back another day.” His voice entreated me to walk away, to give myself time, but I couldn’t do it.

  I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with air still tainted by acrid smoke, and took Lucian’s and Dimitri’s offered hands to stand.

  “No,” I said, smiling weakly at Dimitri. “I need to do this… for them,” I added, my voice cracking with emotion. “And for me.”

  We climbed back into the car and slowly drove down the hill toward the ruins. The closer we got, the clearer those milling around, sifting through the rubble, searching the stones. I recognized faces, some covered in cuts and bruises that still hadn’t healed, some untouched because they hadn’t been here when the explosion had rocked our world.

  My heart swelled with love and pride when I spotted Fiona, Jessa, Natalia, and Diana working side by side. They’d flown with us to Ireland, then gone on ahead to the castle while we headed straight to the hospital.

  We’d experienced a pretty intense bonding event, taking Faolin and Aiden down the way we had. They’d glanced at me with questions when we’d gone in separate directions at the airport, probably wondering if I’d recede into my little bubble again, but that was okay. They had no real reason to trust I’d changed, that this time, I’d lean on them.

  I had changed, though. With everything I’d been through, everyone I’d lost, but mostly because of my mates. We’d been thrown together, forced to learn how to be strong and vulnerable at the same time. I’d learned that depending on those who loved me, who I loved, didn’t make me weak. It made me stronger.

  I’d need all the strength available to make it through the battles to come. We all would.

  The girls turned as we pulled to a stop and climbed out of the car. Jessa, Natalia, and Diana rushed forward, hands outstretched as if we hadn’t parted just hours before. Fiona followed at a slower pace, watching me carefully.

  “You made it! How is she?” Jessa said so quickly, the words blended together.

  I squeezed her hand and looked each in their eyes.

  “She’s still unconscious but doing well. I spoke to her doctor before we left, and it looks like she’ll have a few weeks of recovery, minimum. The burns were extensive.” I swallowed the bile that threatened to rise and nodded.

  Natalia blanched. “How extensive?”

  “First-degree burns over almost every inch of her body from the neck down,” I said, holding nothing back.

  “Old Ones,” Diana sobbed, biting her knuckle as tears streamed down her face. “I just… I can’t…”

  I touched her arm, then pulled her in for a tight hug. “I know. She’s going to be okay, though, so let’s focus on that.”

  “And on hunting those bastards down and making them pay,” Fiona said with a snarl that called to the dark fury I’d been trying to ignore.

  I twisted my neck to catch her gaze and nodded, letting her see the steel in my eyes.

  “Every last one of them,” I agreed. “How’s the leg?” I asked, pointing my chin toward her right leg.

  She shook it in front of her and shrugged. “Right as rain. He barely made a dent.” Her lips curled in a feral grin. “Fucker thought he could take me down. Pfft.”

  I unwound my hand from behind Diana’s back and fist-bumped Fiona.

  “Okay,” I said resolutely, pulling out of the hug. “What’s the plan?” I eyed the remains of the castle and imagined the bodies they’d found crushed beneath the stone. Tears welled, and I let them fall.

  “The plan,” a familiar feminine voice said from behind me. “Is to let the construction crew take over here, so we can focus entirely on what truly matters.” Dalia stepped up next to Jessa and nodded a greeting. Her face was set, her eyes steely. All the laughter and amusement that usually graced her beautiful features were gone, replaced with grief, rage, and ferocious determination that made my heart sing.

  “Dalia,” I said, offering her a wan smile. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  It was the truth. Over the course of the last few months, the older woman had become more than just an acquaintance, more than a friend even. I’d lost my mother so long ago and blocked out most of the feelings I’d had about her murder because it was impossible to survive with them close to my heart.

  Being forced to deal with Aiden and Faolin once more and to work with Dalia one-on-one had brought a lot of those feelings to the surface, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Finally, after all these years, I’d worked through the pain and anger, and I’d come out the other side. The assholes responsible for her death were behind bars, put there because of me and my sisters. There was a pride in that, in finding justice for my mother and avenging her death.

  Dalia loved Rose, too. The three friends—Katherine, Rose, and Dalia’s daughter-in-law, Daphne—were inseparable. We were all hurting, and she understood that and felt it deep down.

  I squared my shoulders, borrowing her fierce strength, and faced her.

  “We’re going to need a new war room,” I said, thinking of the one we just left behind.

  Dalia nodded. “We will, as well as the rest of the troops. They’re on their way. Katherine and Sylvie are coordinating it.” Her hands fisted by her sides. After a moment, she blinked as if coming out of the trance. “How is Rose doing?”

  “She’ll be alright in time, but she’s pretty banged up.” I didn’t go into specifics. I knew Dalia would have that information soon, if she didn’t already. The woman was a force to be reckoned with—exactly what we needed right now.

  Even though we had won the battle against Raphael’s army, we’d stepped directly into the path of war with an enemy far greater than the one we’d brought down.

  CHAPTER 2

  I stepped through the threshold of the library and caught my breath.

  The room was a carbon copy of the library that had welcomed me the first time I’d stepped foot into Tearmann Castle. The books were different, the knickknacks more modern than anything we’d had tucked away on shelves back home, but the stonewalls, the high ceilings, and the ancient wood that lined almost all the walls were the same.

  My heart ached for home, family, and security.

  That was why we were here, settling into a nearby castle that had been up for rent. Liam’s father, the Alpha, had taken care of the arrangements. He had sent a file filled with details and an envelope of keys and passwords that would grant us access to the huge structure that was old, like the home we had just lost.

  I glanced at my mates as they walked confidently through the room, unaware of the similarities breaking my heart. They gathered around a large, round table that reminded me of King Arthur and the Knights of the old realm. I loved those stories when I was a little girl. I still did. Who didn’t love tales of bravery and chivalry, love and daring?

  Walking along the bookshelf, I trailed my fingers over the spines of books I didn’t recognize. Pausing, I pulled one out and read the title, then pushed back wh
en I realized it was a literary journal. Not my preferred type of reading, though I wasn’t one to scrutinize anyone’s reading choices. I kept walking, searching until I found what I was looking for.

  Classics bound in leather-lined bookshelves that had been dusted clean and showed signs of wear. These books I understood or loved and had reread multiple times, unlike the literary journals I’d left behind. I searched, carefully reading each spine, until I found the story of King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. I didn’t have time to read it now, but seeing it there, so familiar in a place that touched my heart, was like a soothing balm.

  Our home was gone, but it would be rebuilt, stronger, more precious for its destruction. We wouldn’t let the brotherhood win—not now, not ever. With that thought in mind, I strode away from the bookshelves toward my mates.

  We took our seats, Lucian to my right, Dimitri to my left, with Chase at his side. Across from me, Fiona sat next to Dalia, her eyes watching every move the natural-born Alpha made, as if memorizing her strengths so she could copy them and become more than she already was, which was considerable enough.

  I watched my sister and was filled with pride at how fierce she’d become, how relentless and bold. She taught me more than one lesson, and I was grateful beyond measure to her and the others for giving me another chance to be a sister they could be proud of.