Charming the Alphas (Hex My Heart, #5)

Lucian, Marabelle & Zane

TALINA PERKINS

T
his is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

CHARMING THE ALPHAS

HEX MY HEART SERIES

Copyright© 2015 Talina Perkins

Excerpt from HEXING THE ALPHA

copyright© 2015 Talina Perkins

WWW.TALINAPERKINS.COM

Edited by Em Petrova

Cover Artist: Bookin' It Designs

eBook ISBN: 9781311674319

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the permission in writing from the Author.

To all my readers.

I am truly blessed you joined me on the journey. Thank you!

I
loved diving into Lucian, Marabelle and Zane’s story and I know I couldn’t have written their story without the help of a fabulous team. To my husband. Thank you! Your encouragement and support means the world to me. To my wonderful editor for suggesting Marabelle get to tell her side of the story, for editing it, and for plotting with me. Thank you, Em, for helping me shed my fear in order to find Marabelle’s and discover her inner woman. Lucian and Zane thank you, too!

Thank you to my four kiddos. You guys are the very foundation for my success! You prove to me that dreams are made for coming true every single day!

I love my witches and wolves. The Hex My Heart series was my first paranormal romance series and now I get to dive into another supernatural world to bring you more of what you love. Charming the Alphas may be the end of a series, but it’s the beginning of a whole new adventure! Thank you dear readers for joining me on the journey and for all the love you share for my books. I am truly grateful!

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Epilogue

Other Titles

Hexing the Alpha Excerpt

About the Author

“M
arabelle, what’s wrong, what happened?” Her sister's face flushed and her eyes clouded over as they did when she had a vision of the future. “Tell me, Marabelle. Tell me everything.”

“I... well, I kinda mighta played with magick and it backfired. Sorta. I got my powers back.” Marabelle shifted her sister’s attention away from what gave her the freaked out look and beckoned her powers to the surface. Indigo laced the length of her arm to pool in the palms of her cupped hands. She couldn’t hold back a sly smile. “Whatcha think?”

“No way! That’s amazing.” Her sister tucked the corner of her sheet between her breasts and that was when Marabelle noticed the Sweet Briar Sheriff wearing a little less than his usual khaki uniform.

“Yeah, well, the High Council knows and I need to leave town. Like yesterday.” Marabelle pulled back, her hands on Harmony’s bare shoulders.

“That was fast. Almost like they were waiting for it to happen. And the dragons I see? The blood? What’s that about, Marabelle?”

Marabelle froze and cleared her mind. Her sister’s handy knack of foreseeing the future would get her in trouble this time. Couldn’t let that happen. Not if she wanted her plan to work.

Lucian and Zane walked in, their heads held high, and she watched as their attention zeroed in on the sheriff, Caden.

“There’s trouble,” Lucian began from where he stood by the door. “We should gather the other enforcers and meet back at the pack’s house.”

Caden corrected Lucian, crossing his hands over his chest. “I’m not pack, not my problem. Not until it leaks over to the human’s side. Make sure that doesn’t happen, enforcer.”

Zane stepped up beside her. “You could be. Pack, that is. Jake has made it clear there’s room for another wolf in our ranks. Besides, shit is about to get ugly and you don’t wanna be caught with your dick in your hand.” Zane looked pointedly at the sheet wrapped around Caden’s waist.

“Colorful, bro. Nice way to get arrested too.” Lucian admonished.

“But true.”

They held Caden’s gaze for a brief second before they came to a silent understanding. This whole mated thing would take some getting used to on that level.

“What do you need from me? What can I do to help?” Harmony squeezed Marabelle’s hands with a gentle understanding.

“I have no idea what you saw, but... you need to kill me with this.” Marabelle held out a two-foot-long, silver-tipped dagger Obsidian had given her moments after landing. “And you need to make it look like they did it.” Understanding dawned as Harmony looked between Marabelle’s new mates.

Honor blinked a few times before speaking, her mouth in a flat line. “Congratulations are in order, but you’ll have to forgive me for not jumping for joy.” Every word her sister tossed out hit her harder than the last. Honor let the weight of the blade settle in her hands. “You defied the Council once, and now this? And what the fuck did you ask me to do? Are you crazy?”

She tipped her chin up, unwilling to back down. That last part was beside the point. A certain amount of crazy glued her whole plan together. Otherwise, who in their right mind would want to off themselves? A pang of regret settled in her heart, but she didn’t have a choice. Honor’s mind had to be running a million miles an hour, and part of Marabelle felt guilty for what she just asked her to do.

Marabelle grabbed her hands and looked her dead in the eyes. “I know you can do this. We’ve worked magick together in the past and I know what you’re capable of.”

Honor physically shuddered and she didn’t even try to hold back the horrified look on her face. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna do it. What makes you think I’ll cross that line, Mara?” Honor shook her hands free and stepped back a pace. “Once you work black magick, there’s no coming back.”

“You have a mate now.” She shot a glance at Caden, who glared at her.
Whatever.“
If we don’t do this thousands, maybe millions, will die. Can you live with that? Or can you?” She asked, looking between her sister and her mate.

A dragon head decorated the handle of the blade, and Marabelle watched as her sister’s finger traced the snout seconds before her face turned blank. Another vision.
Shit.

Slowly Harmony raised her head and held her gaze. “You will die tonight. Your death by this may lead to another war even greater than the last. We may not prevent anything and the goddesses refuse to reveal what they know. Now I ask, can you handle the weight of that burden?”

A flicker of agony wormed its way into her resolve. Marabelle didn’t know if she should dance for joy her sister would help or run like hell. “I’m winging this all the way, but yeah, that’s my plan.”

E
ve of winter solstice, several hours earlier.

Blood and black magick.

The stench rolled over him and stung with every inhale of frigid winter air. No mistaking death. He knew the evil that lurked in the darkness all too well for it to hide from him.

It drained the energy from the air for three damn counties and clawed at Lucian’s frayed nerves no matter how much distance he put between them and the dump site. His throat grew tight and he swallowed past the disgusting, lingering copper aftertaste of standing over a dead body for eighteen-plus hours.

As enforcers they’d been called out to give answers and all they had to offer were more damn questions.

The most pressing question was how could a dead man kill again?

His gut turned in on itself.
Marabelle
. How had she gotten herself tangled up in this? Moonlight struggled to push through the ominous dark clouds that hung over them but failed.

Petal kissing metal, Lucian gunned the 4x4 and white-knuckled the wheel as he hugged the outside line of a deep curve making their way back to Sweet Briar Hollow.

Black ice caught the back wheels and sent him and Zane skidding across the dark, deserted road. With the storm rolling in if they took a nosedive off the side, no one would find them till the spring thaw. He eased up a notch.

Winding back mountain roads were the fastest if not the most dangerous route through the sleepy town. He knew every turn and dip in the road that led them home. With a pop of the clutch, Lucian down-shifted and backed off the accelerator, turning the wheel in the opposite direction, praying to whomever might be watching that the tires caught traction.

Centuries of alpha shifter blood coursed through his veins, and right now he’d sacrifice every last drop if it meant they could save her. Like a bomb clock ticking down, Lucian’s gut tightened with every second. Teeth gnashed together, he worked through the jagged pain as tarnished magick tore into him. Anger fueled the need to drive his fist into the nearest—anything. But in all honesty it wouldn’t curb the savage urge to sink his teeth and claws into the man behind the heinous crimes they’d witnessed tonight.

Reluctantly they’d left Marabelle alone last night while out on pack business. After arriving on the scene, what they witnessed left them beyond horrified. He had the strongest stomach a shifter could have, and it still made him queasy thinking about the poor human woman and what the beast of a man left of her.

It fell on them to spread the nightmarish news and tell the alpha of two packs that a werewolf serial killer had risen from the dead and apparently had an agenda.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’m thinking it too. We can’t force her in a cell or lock her away even if it is for her own good.” Zane scraped a hand down his face and peered out the passenger window into the blackened night. “How the hell are we supposed to keep our mate safe when she’s working with the enemy?” He slammed a fist down on his knee. Lucian kept his gaze glued to the road, but he got where his friend was coming from.

Zane, the other male half of their unconventional trio, flicked his phone open and pressed replay. Dulcet tones filled the small cabin of the pickup, and their sexy librarian’s usual laid-back tone sounded hurried and hushed as though she didn’t want someone to overhear her.

Zane sat forward and held a finger up to signal the sound he wanted Lucian to hear.
“Something has come up. Don’t wait up for me. I know I said I would bide my time, but I can’t. I hope you both understand.”