CHARLOTTE

        I watched as my plan slowly came together. My sister’s life was about to fall apart and I was going to enjoy every single second of it.

        I don’t care that she was a child or that she was the same age as I was when our parents were attacked. She was the reason I was forgotten about and left to the mercy of the nanny our parents had employed for the both of us – she was the favourite child and, had they still been alive, it would still be the same now.

        She even had a better life than I did now. She had a mate that loved her and a mate that she actually wanted to father her children. She was the Alpha of her own pack and had two best friends who would do anything for her simply to see her smile. She even had a brother who loved her and would move both Heaven and Hell to protect her from the people who wanted to hurt her.

        Her life was everything mine wasn’t. I was stuck with a mate I didn’t want nor love. I was only with him for the convenience of being with him. I couldn’t wait until Ellie was dead and then I would be able to officially reject Luca, I would be able to live my life with Jonah and we would be able to have the family we have waited so long to have – faking the love I had for Luca was a small price to pay for the outcome I was going to get.

        “Mummy,” I looked down to see Daniel pulling on the bottom of my trousers. His face was covered in the chocolate I had given him to keep him quiet. “Where is daddy?”

        Locked in the cells because your aunt is a bitch who doesn’t want me to be happy is what I wanted to tell him. Unfortunately, at the age of just three, he didn’t need to know what I really thought of his family.

        “He’s working. I don’t know when he will be home,” I settled on instead. In reality, I didn’t really know where Luca was and neither did I care where he was, but Daniel had always been a daddies boy and I am sure that wasn’t about to change. He clung to Luca like a bad smell and, if Luca wasn’t sleeping or working, Daniel was with him and they were playing some weird childish game.

        “Daddy told me he would take me to the park though,” Daniel replied and I could hear the sadness in his tone which also meant he was about to start crying too. And that was something I couldn’t really be dealing with right now. A crying three year old was the last thing I wanted to be worrying about.

        “I am sure he will be back soon enough,” I muttered just as the sound of the doorbell sounded in the living room and an almost gleeful smile covered my face.

        “But I want him now,” Daniel began to cry and I mentally slapped myself for actually giving birth to such a pathetic excuse of a child. When all this was done with, Luca could keep Daniel because I didn’t want to deal with him. If he was more like Michael then it wouldn’t be a problem but he was nothing like his older brother.

        “Tough. Daddy isn’t here. Now go to your room while mummy deals with some business,” I said as I kept my tone to a minimum.

        “But—“

        “I have told you to do something Daniel so I expect you to do it,” I growled. Daniel run upstairs crying about how he hated me and he wanted Luca. I was used to this now because it was the same thing every single time I told him something he didn’t like. For a three year old he had a serious attitude problem.

        I walked over to the door and opened it with a smile on my face. There was no introduction needed because I knew the two of them pretty damn well since it wasn’t the first time I had used their services.

        Connor and Anna Swanson were thirty-two year old twins who would do anything for money. It didn’t matter what you wanted them to do, they would do and there would be no questions asked as long as you gave them their money – they became rogue together at the age of fifteen after their parents voiced their disappointment with their children due to their behaviour. Since then they have basically been criminals for hire.

        They were currently at my service once again though and I didn’t feel the slightest amount of remorse for what I was about to do. Ellie needed to understand how I felt and the only way to be able to do that is by taking her life away from her. Piece by piece I was going to destroy my sister’s life and there was no better place to start than with her pups.

        “Charl. It’s good to see you again,” Connor grinned as he pulled me in for a hug.

        “And you Con. I have missed you,” I chuckled. I moved away from him and stepped to the side so he could walk into the house. It wasn’t the first time he had been in this house but it was going to be the last.

        “What are we doing for you this time?” Connor asked. He sat down on the sofa and folded his hands in his lap as Anna walked into the house and closed the door behind her before joining on the other sofa.

        “I need you to kidnap my sister’s pups and take them to Bradley for me,” I replied with a slight shrug.

        “You never cease to amaze me Charl,” Anna laughed sinisterly. And that’s why I loved her. She really didn’t care what I wanted her to do, she would just find something to joke about – but then I had asked them to do pretty much everything for me. Assault, murder, robbery, kidnap. Everything.

        I didn’t have any limits and that meant there wasn’t a line for me to cross. I lived for myself and I didn’t care about anyone other than Jonah but he was on my side and had already told me to do whatever I needed to do in order to exact my revenge.

        “You must really hate your sister,” Connor smirked.

        “I want her to suffer. Kidnapping her children is the first step in doing that. And, when I have them, her precious mate is next on the list,” I grinned. I rubbed my hands together as I thought of the pain my sister was going to feel when she discovered that her mate was on the brink of death and there was nothing she could do in order to prevent it from happening.

        She would be too broken for the death of her children. I had already told Bradley he was welcome to do whatever he wanted to do with my niece and nephew – I wasn’t going to stop him and there wasn’t a chance in hell that Ellie was going to be able to save them.

        “Where shall we find her pups?” Anna asked curiously.

        “You will find them in the main bedroom at the pack house. The nanny is with them at the moment because both Blake and Ellie are currently preoccupied with questioning my lover. It should be easy enough,” I shrugged as I took my phone from my pocket to see that Bradly had messaged me to find out how our plan was going.

        “Anyone else in the house we need to worry about?” Connor replied.

        “Nope. Jackson is hauled up in the hospital thanks to Jonah and Luca is watching over Elliot to make sure nothing happens to her. No one will be there to stop you,” I said excitedly. I think the last time I was this happy was when Jonah told me that he loved me for the first time and he was going to be there for me. Regardless of what happened.

        “I do like it when they make it simple for us,” Connor grinned smugly.

        “Bradley has your money. When he has the twins, you will receive your payment,” I told them both as we all stood up and walked over to the door. I was about to open it when I flung open and Luca was there instead. He looked like he was ready to kill someone and there was some other guy behind him who was trying to convince him that he needed to calm the hell down.

        I didn’t know who he was. I had never seen him around the pack before and he didn’t smell of the pack either. Which meant Ellie must have let a rogue into her ground and she was letting him live with her in the house. Or he was at least helping out with the work around the pack – that was the only reason he would be with Luca.

        “We’ll be seeing you soon Charl,” Anna said. She gave me another hug and walked out of the house with a sinister smirk on her face. I didn’t want to know what she was thinking but I knew it couldn’t be good. Whatever was going through her mind was cold and cruel.

        “Real soon,” Connor added as he walked out of the house and joined his sister. I gave them one last wave and they walked away from our house to do what needed to be done while I turned my attention back to Luca and the new guy who was in our living room now.

        “Who were they?” Luca asked monotonously.

        “Just friends,” I shrugged.

        “They were rogues. They shouldn’t have been in the territory,” Luca growled. He may have been my sister’s Third in Command but that didn’t give him the right to go all wolf on my ass. Especially not when he was stood with a rogue himself.

        “You can’t exactly judge,” I replied as I pointed to the guy.

        “He was part of Moon Shadow prior to their downfall. He just hasn’t been fully accepted into the pack,” Luca said. I could see his fists clenched at his side and I could hear the way in which he was controlling his breathing which only served to make me smile to myself.

        I loved it when I got on his nerves and pushed him to his limit. Most of the time I did it for fun because I needed something to pass the time but there were times where it simply happened and he would lose his temper – he may scare other people when he goes crazy but I find it amusing that he thinks he can scare me that easily.

        There isn’t a lot which can scare me. I was raised by James and that meant I was trained to be fearless. I was trained to laugh in the face of danger and I was trained to attack if it was needed. I was just as strong as Luca and I could easily take him out if he dared try anything.

        “It would appear Ellie is slacking,” I chuckled to myself.

        “How do y—“

        “Daddy. You’re home,” Daniel shouted as he ran down the stairs and threw himself at Luca. I noticed how quickly his demeanour changed when he picked Daniel up and kissed his cheek, ruffling his hair in a playful manner. He was no longer tense and he didn’t have a look of death in his eyes.

        He was calm and he was happy. He loved Daniel and it was going to be a shame when he found out the truth. I still don’t know who was going to be more heartbroken. Luca or Daniel.

        “Where’s your brother?” Luca grinned.

        “In his bedroom. He is reading again. All he ever does is read,” Daniel complained and Luca let out a slight laugh. I folded my arms across my chest and threw myself into the sofa because I was bored now.

        I had things I needed to do and that didn’t include a confrontation with Luca. I needed to wait for the moment Ellie found out her children were gone because that was the moment I was going to attack the cells, I would release Jonah and we would run into the forest until we reached the border, where Bradley had sent some people to meet us.

        We would watch from a distance as the final pieces of the plan fell into place. Blake would be killed right in front of Ellie and she wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it from happening. Jackson and Elliot were next. We had people in the hospital ready to attack those two when they were given the word. Luca was after those two and his death would be slow and painful – the type of death he was used to inflicting on other people.

        And, finally, Ellie would be the last to go. Bradley was going to take great pleasure in ending her life himself. Not that she would have anything left to live for so she would willingly hand herself over to death, unaware that her children were completely unharmed and then Bradley would raise them like they were his own.

        They would be trained to be ruthless. Neither of them would have the time to be in love and all they will know how to do is kill. They would become our personal weapon.

        “And you promise we can go to the park afterwards?” I heard Daniel ask. I hadn’t been listening to most of the conversation but it sounded like Luca had made Daniel a promise of some description.

        “I promise. Even Michael can come if he wants to,” Luca laughed as I turned to see him putting Daniel back on the floor with a kiss to the top of his head.

        “I love you daddy,” Daniel said. He clapped his hands together happily before he ran up the stairs, shouting for his brother and telling him that they were going to the park with daddy when he was finished talking to mummy.

        “How do you know Jonah?” Luca asked. His cold-ass attitude was back as quickly as it had disappeared.

        “I told you. He’s just a friend,” I lied. I wasn’t exactly going to confess who he was when the twins were still on the territory. They needed to be gone before I told him anything.

        “And I don’t believe you. You’re lying about something,” Luca muttered.

        “Luca. I wouldn’t l—“

        “Stop fucking lying Charlotte and tell me. How do you fucking know Jonah?” he shouted. He slammed his hands down on the table in front of me and I noticed the slight shift in his eyes as he attempted to fight off his wolf. His breathing was so heavy that he was almost panting and his hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

        “He wants Ellie dead and, if you know him, that means you want Ellie dead too. So you had better start talking before I make you talk,” the other guy finally spoke up. He stepped forward so that he was standing beside Luca and, while he didn’t look as pissed as Luca did, I could tell his battle was internal and he wasn’t going to show me how he was feeling.

        “You really think I am scared of some nobody?” I snorted. Though I did have to admit he was pretty good looking. And he had some amazing muscles. I bet they were great to dig into while you are making love to him.

        “A nobody? Seriously? You think I am a nobody?” the guy laughed manically. He threw his head back as he let out an amused sigh before he looked back and made direct eye contact with me. The look actually sent shivers over my body and I had to force myself not to shiver with the cold.

        “You can’t be anyone important,” I shrugged.

        “I am an Alpha, Charlotte. I have more power in my little finger than you have in your entire body,” he smirked and he terrified me. Luca, he amused me. This guy, he terrified me and made me wish the sofa would swallow me whole. “Now, enough with the games, and tell us how you know Jonah.”

        “He is my lover,” I sighed in defeat. My eyes moved down to the floor and there was a sudden overwhelming sense of guilt filling me as I admitted that. My wolf wanted me to look at Luca, to beg and plead for him to forgive him, but I had more sense than that and I wasn’t going to go back on myself. “And the father of my children.”

LUCA

        “He’s my lover,” Charlotte sighed and she couldn’t even bring herself to look at me. She was in love with another man and she couldn’t even look at me when she admitted it. I was furious and I wanted to snap at her but I knew that wouldn’t be worth it because it wouldn’t solve anything. “And he’s the father of my children.”

        “He’s what?” I ground at the words. Those boys were everything to me and now she was telling me that they weren’t even mine.

        If she thought that she was going to take them away from me, she had another thing coming. She wasn’t taking those boys anywhere and if she so much as tried to take them from me, I would make sure it was the last thing she ever did.

        “Daniel and Michael are his children,” Charlotte muttered. Her attention was still on the floor and I scoffed at how much of a coward she was being. She was quick enough to decide she wanted someone else other than me in her life but she wasn’t quick enough to decide that she needed to tell me that she didn’t want me around.

        “Shame he’s going to die. So I guess that means I am still their father,” I growled. I was trying to keep my temper in check because the boys were upstairs and I didn’t want to scare either of them – I especially didn’t want to scare Daniel because he had never seen me lose my temper before and he was still too young to really understand the sort of person I was.

        “You had better not do anything to him,” Charlotte suddenly jumped up from her seat and dared to come face to face with me. She didn’t scare me and she certainly didn’t intimidate me – so if she was trying to do either of those things then she had failed.

        “Where did you meet him?” I asked.

        “I was a rogue and his mate had just died,” I shrugged. It wasn’t entirely the truth but that was the story we had always told people whenever they asked how we knew each other.

        “And now the truth,” he smirked knowingly. “If you’re going to lie, at least making it convincing and, if you can’t manage that, you should shut off the link.”

        “But even if you shut off the link, you had better not lie. You mess with Ellie, you mess with all of us,” Jayson added from beside me and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

        Charlotte may have been my mate but she lied to me. It wasn’t a small lie either, it was a huge lie and she seemed to think that I was going to go easy on Jonah when I got my hands on him, simply because she asked me to. That was never going to happen.

        Jonah was going to pay and I was going to making him pay. He had messed with the wrong wolf and he was going to know about that. He had taken my mate, almost killed Jackson and he was probably tormenting Ellie in some way right now too – if you mess with Ellie, it’s a given that you’ve messed with me too because she’s my best friend and I will do anything to protect her, no matter what she thought I had done to her.

        “Who the hell are you?” Charlotte snapped at Jayson.

        “Oh. How rude of me. Jayson Stone,” he replied sarcastically. He held his hand for her to take but she simply looked at it in disgust and pushed it away from her.

        “Well, Jayson Stone, I don’t care who I have messed with. You won’t do anything to me,” Charlotte chuckled.

        “Correct. But only if you start telling us the truth,” Jayson said calmly. I might not have known him all that long but, given he had killed without remorse while he was on his little adventure, I knew he wouldn’t care how he got the answers from her, he would just get the answers.

        His best friend was Blake and you didn’t need to be an idiot to know that, if you messed with Blake or anything involved in his life, you were messing with Jayson too. They were brothers and, no matter what had happened between the two of them, they were there for each other and I am sure Jayson wasn’t about to stop now.

        “I was part of James’ pack—“

        “I know that. That’s how we met,” I interrupted her coldly. I didn’t need to hear her life story because I had already heard it a thousand times before. But now I wasn’t so sure that she was telling the truth about anything she had told me in her past.

        “—And Jonah was part of Moon Shadow. We met when James allowed me off the territory and I paid a little visit to the Moon Shadow border after hearing how Ellie had been captured by their Alpha,” Charlotte continued.

        “Oh. I remember that day. She was a sarcastic little thing,” Jayson chuckled to himself as he looked across to me.

        “She was the same growing up. Answer for everything and, if she didn’t like you, you met a wall of sarcasm,” I laughed. I remember when we both started secondary school and Ellie hated everyone – she even hated the teachers and would act like she was better than them by either insulting them or using sarcasm.

        I was surprised when she made it all the way to the end of school without being kicked out. But when her parents were the Alpha and Luna of the pack, they were able to convince people she had had a rough start in life and just needed to be given a little more leeway with certain things compared to other people. It wasn’t a total lie but Ellie did use it to her advantage quite a lot.

        “She hated me. I mean, she wasn’t my favourite person either, but no one had ever hated me like she did,” Jayson replied.

        “I wonder how Blake copes with her at times,” I said. He was a saint in my books. He had put up with her for almost three years now and they were still going strong. He deserved a medal at times.

        “He loves her. And that love, that love makes you do funny things,” Jayson replied. His eyes now moved so that they were looking at Charlotte. Her mouth was open in shock as she realised who he was and probably what he was capable of doing. “Did you ever love Luca or was you only using his for whatever sick plan you have in motion?”

        I didn’t want to know the answer. Knowing she had feelings for another male wolf was bad enough without her rubbing salt into the wound but it was better than nothing knowing.

        I would be able to get on with my life and she could continue her miserable existence. Because that’s what it was going to be once I had finished with Jonah. She was going to be so damn miserable and she was going to understand the way she had made me feel by using me in her games – she was going to see that life wasn’t always fair and that you didn’t always get what you wanted.

        “Well?” I urged her when she remained silent.

        “I never wanted you Luca. I used you to get closer to Ellie and, now I have her where I want her, I have no need for you,” she smirked like she had won something. If she wanted to hurt me, she had done that and she knew she had done that. If she wanted to make me suffer, she had done that too and she also knew that. Hell, if she wanted to make me miserable, she had done that too and she probably even knew that.

        But I wasn’t going to let her do anything to Ellie. That girl had been there for me just like had been there for her and nothing was going to change that. I was always going to have her back and I was always going to be watching out for her – just like when we were kids and I was always watching her back, she didn’t know it most of the time, but I was the reason she had such an easy time at school despite her ways.

        I kicked the crap out of anyone who talked shit about her or even thought about asking her out on a date. I didn’t know at the time what she had been through but I knew something had happened to her and, when she told me about her real parents and how they were murdered, I understood why she hated people and why she didn’t want to get close to people.

        “What have you done?” I growled out.

        “I am just having a little fun. Getting the revenge which has spent years in the planning,” Charlotte laughed maliciously. I was itching to wrap my hand around her throat and squeeze until she could no longer force the air to fill her lungs. I wanted to hear her beg for her life. I wanted to watch as she clawed at my hands in a lame attempt to free herself from my grip.

        The only thing, and I mean the only thing, stopping me from doing all of those things was the fact the boys were upstairs and they didn’t need to catch me murdering their mother. They would never understand and they wouldn’t forgive me either.

        “How do you even know Ellie?” I asked through gritted teeth.

        “Damn. I knew there was something I was supposed to tell you when we met,” Charlotte chuckled in a dangerously low tone. Whatever she had done, I knew she didn’t feel any remorse for doing it. It’s almost like she was glad that she had managed to pull off whatever it was she had done.

        “And what would that be?” I could feel my restraint slipping and I needed to get the hell out of here before I did something which landed me in serious trouble.

        “She is my twin sister. That’s what I was supposed to tell you. Ellie is my twin sister and she is going to die,” Charlotte smirked.

        “Jayson. I need you to get the boys and I need you to take them to the pack house,” I commanded without even bothering to look at him. I was too distracted by the smirk now covering Charlotte’s face and the cold glint in the corner of her eye.

        “What are you going to do?” Jayson asked with concern.

        “I am just going to have a quiet word with my mate,” I replied.

        “Luca—“

        “Just get the boys and leave,” I stopped him before he could tell me not to do anything stupid. Even if he wanted to ignore me, he couldn’t do that because I was ranked higher than he was in this pack and his wolf knew that.

        He bowed his head in my direction before shooting Charlotte a look which could kill and then ran up the stairs without so much as another word to either myself or Charlotte. I was glad for that though because I would hate to shout at him and then have the boys come running to find out what’s happening.

        “Tell me what you have planned and tell me now,” I ground out. My teeth were clenched and the pain of holding my wolf back was really getting to me now. I honestly didn’t know how much longer I could keep him at bay for because he really wanted to come out and he really wanted to make Charlotte pay for everything she had done to the both of us.

        “Are you going to save the day, Luca? Are you going to protect my dear sister from her inevitable ending?” Charlotte mocked. She knew what she was doing and she was still going to play this game. She never had been the brightest bulb in the pack and she was really showing that now.

        “What ha—“

        “Dad. What’s going on?” I looked to the bottom of the stairs to see Michael standing there with his book in one hand and a packed bag in the other.

        “I need you to go to the pack house with Jayson and I need you to look after Daniel,” I replied.

        “Is everything alright here?” Michel replied. He may have only been eight years old but he wasn’t an idiot and he knew when something was wrong. He wasn’t anything like Daniel, who was full of energy and wanted to do a million things in one day, but he loved his brother and he would keep him safe if I told him it’s what he needed to do – Daniel looked up to Michael and Michael protected Daniel.

        “Daddy?” Daniel called and I could hear in his voice that he was about to cry. I hated it when he cried because the sound of his tears broke my heart, especially when there was nothing I could do about the reason he was crying.

        “Come here,” I smiled at him. I put my arms out and he ran into them. I picked him up and held him close, putting a kiss on the side of his head and he snuggled into my neck, wrapping his arms so tightly around me that I thought I was going to stop breathing. “I need you to go with Jayson and Michael for me.”

        “But why?” he sobbed quietly.

        “I just need to talk to mummy,” I replied quietly. I rubbed my hand gently up and down his back, the thing which always calmed him down and helped him to breathe, since he always had trouble doing that after getting emotional.

        “I have this awesome Lego set in my room and I have no idea how to put it together. Do you want to help me?” Jayson grinned. Daniel lifted his head from my shoulder and nodded at Jayson who walked over to where I was standing and happily took Daniel from my arms.

        I smiled gratefully at Jayson but I could see the look of sadness in his own eyes as he continued to smile at me son. I knew it was because he would never have his own children and he would never have the chance to love someone as much as I loved Daniel and Michael nor as much as Blake and El loved the twins – all he was ever going to get was our children but never his own.

        “Why do you have Lego in your room?” Michael asked curiously as he looked Jayson up and down.

        “I couldn’t sleep one night so I decided to have a look around the house and I found it hidden in one of the rooms. I asked Blake about it and he said he didn’t know who owned it so I took it,” Jayson shrugged and I chuckled at how casual he was about the question. Like it was normal for a twenty-nine year old to take a Lego set and put it in his bedroom for when he couldn’t sleep at night.

        “You’re weird,” Michael replied.

        “I know. Do you want to help us put it together?” Jayson asked with a slight laugh. In that moment I found myself feeling for Jayson because he would have been an amazing father if he had been given the chance.

        “Yeah. Come on Mike,” Daniel giggled in Jayson’s arms.

        “I love you boys,” I called after them as they walked out of the house.

        “I love you too daddy,” Daniel continued to giggle as he waved at me with a huge grin on his face.

        “Yeah. What he said,” Michael added and I couldn’t help but laugh. Michael had stopped telling me he loves when he was five because he said that men don’t love other men, even if they are their father, they still don’t tell each other that they love each other. I knew he loved me though so I never let it bother me.

        “Enjoying your last moment with the boys. How sweet,” Charlotte laughed.

        “I meant what I said. You aren’t taking them from me. They are mine and that’s how it’s always going to be,” I scoffed. She had won too many battles already so I wasn’t about to let her win another. The boys were staying with me and that was final, there was no arguing on the matter.

        “Jonah is the—“

        “Jonah is nothing more than a sperm donor. Now, enough about the man I am going to kill, tell me what you’re going to do to Ellie.”

- Did you miss Jayson? I missed Jayson and that's why he's in this chapter. Putting Charlotte in her place.

- What do you think of Daniel and Michael? I love them. And Luca as a father. If he was a real person, I would be in Heaven right now.

- Charlotte is such a bitch. Right? How much do you hate her right now?

- PART TWO COMING SOON.