Dragons of Cinderhollow Bundle
Hawke Oakley
Copyright © 2019 by Hawke Oakley
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Designer: Cosmic Letterz
Created with Vellum
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Contents
The Hybrid Alpha’s Baby
1. Gabriel
2. Gabriel
3. Dante
4. Gabriel
5. Dante
6. Gabriel
7. Dante
8. Gabriel
9. Dante
10. Gabriel
11. Dante
12. Gabriel
13. Dante
14. Gabriel
15. Dante
16. Gabriel
17. Dante
18. Gabriel
19. Dante
20. Gabriel
21. Dante
The Panther’s Pretend Mate
1. Raja
2. Raja
3. Lorenzo
4. Raja
5. Lorenzo
6. Raja
7. Lorenzo
8. Raja
9. Lorenzo
10. Raja
11. Lorenzo
12. Raja
13. Lorenzo
14. Raja
15. Lorenzo
16. Raja
17. Lorenzo
18. Raja
19. Lorenzo
The Dragon’s Doorstep Baby
1. Scar
2. Ryu
3. Scar
4. Ryu
5. Scar
6. Ryu
7. Scar
8. Ryu
9. Scar
10. Ryu
11. Scar
12. Ryu
13. Scar
14. Ryu
15. Scar
16. Ryu
17. Scar
18. Ryu
19. Scar
20. Ryu
The Mage’s Second Chance
1. Halo
2. Halo
3. Kassius
4. Halo
5. Kassius
6. Halo
7. Kassius
8. Halo
9. Kassius
10. Halo
11. Kassius
12. Halo
13. Kassius
14. Halo
15. Kassius
16. Halo
17. Kassius
18. Halo
19. Kassius
20. Halo
21. Kassius
Also By Hawke Oakley
Afterword
The Hybrid Alpha’s Baby
1
Gabriel
“I’m pregnant.”
That was how it all started. With my best friend Otis - the second-last omega in the pack without a mate - uttering those words with a mixed expression of relief and sympathy on his face. Relieved for himself, of course, and sympathetic for me.
And clearly he wasn’t without a mate anymore.
Despite my friendship with him, I still had to force a smile. “That’s great news,” I said. “Your mate must be happy.”
“He is,” Otis admitted, “but I think he knew I was cutting it close. The breeding season is ending pretty soon, and…”
Otis trailed off. His eyes flashed with sympathy again. Neither of us needed to hear the end of that sentence. It was a well-known fact what happened to any omega who didn’t pick a partner by the end of the breeding season.
Only banishment from the pack into the terrifying, horrible outside world, of course.
“He’s a nice guy,” Otis continued. Judging by his gentle smile, he was trying to distract me from thoughts of my own imminent doom. “You should meet him some time.”
“Yeah,” I said simply, with absolutely no intention of doing so.
It was a cool night. The wind roared beyond the pack boundary, but the massive stone and concrete walls surrounding us blocked off most of the chill. I’d heard the outside was always a few degrees colder than inside the pack walls, but it’s not like any of us ever willingly went out there. It was practically a death sentence.
“Come on,” Otis said, taking my hand. “Let’s go back to my place.”
And meet your new hubby? I thought bitterly. But I wasn’t about to bitch at my best friend for things that were out of his control. He wasn’t the reason I was full of so much fear and anxiety right now, and I shouldn’t take it out on him.
“Okay,” was all I could muster.
I’d been to Otis’ place many times before, but the moment I stepped inside his house this time, I knew instantly something was different. It smelled different. It smelled of alpha. I wrinkled my nose without meaning to. It felt strange, almost uncomfortable, for a scent I was so familiar with to be disrupted like this.
“I’m home, dear,” Otis called as we entered the front foyer. When we left our shoes at the door, my eyes were stuck on the huge pair of leather shoes already sitting there. They clearly didn’t belong to Otis. Must have been his alpha’s.
“Welcome back,” a deep voice said right before a man’s face appeared in the kitchen doorway. He was a tall man with a tough but gentle face and big hands. I recognized him as an alpha named Dustin. I’d seen him around the pack before.
Not bad. Otis could’ve done worse, I thought.
“Come on in. I’m making deer stew,” Dustin said before kissing Otis on the forehead. It was a display of affection, but I wouldn’t exactly describe it as intimate. It looked more like two acquaintances greeting each other instead of two lovers. I almost felt embarrassed watching it.
“You know Gabriel, I think,” Otis said, gesturing to me.
“Ah, of course. Hi, Gabriel,” Dustin said.
Dustin shot me a strange smile that I didn’t know how to interpret. Then I realized it was the same relieved-yet-sympathetic expression Otis had given me earlier. Like he was safe, but he felt sorry for me.
There were the thoughts of the wall and the outside world again. My stomach flipped.
As we sat down for dinner, Dustin handed out bowls of stew while Otis did the cutlery. They moved like two strangers trying to accommodate each other’s space, an awkward dance of shuffling and tucking limbs in Otis’ small kitchen.
In Stoneheart pack, it was customary for the alpha to move in with the omega as a sign of respect. The alpha would either sell his previous home or rent it out to the next generation of unmated wolves. Watching Otis and Dustin try to shuffle around in Otis’ small kitchen made me wonder if that was just another ridiculous Stoneheart tradition.
Not as ridiculous as the whole banishment thing, though.
When they sat down to eat, I noticed they kept a healthy distance from each other.
Just like strangers.
I almost wanted to ask how Otis got pregnant if they were this good at avoiding each other, but I bit my tongue.
“So, Gabriel,” Dustin began after we started eating, “how’s the mate search going?”
I wanted to laugh. Not because it was funny - quite the o
pposite - but because of the awkward ridiculousness of this situation. He might as well have asked, How’s the not-getting-yourself-killed going?
“It’s not really going,” I said with a small grimace.
Dustin swallowed his food. “Oh.”
“You’ve been looking, though, haven’t you?” Otis asked with an encouraging smile.
The truth was that I hadn’t. At all. As always in our pack, there was a surplus of alphas and never enough omegas. It wasn’t a big pack in the first place, so I knew all the available alpha suitors, and to be honest, none of them appealed to me. None of them were my type, and I sure as hell couldn’t see myself getting busy with one, having a pup or two, and settling down with that guy for the rest of my life.
“I still have time,” I said. As the words came out, they sounded defensive.
Otis and Dustin exchanged glances.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Dustin began, with all the gracelessness of an alpha who meant well but was telling me something I obviously already knew, “but the breeding season ends in two nights. The moon is nearly waned to darkness.”
Another Stoneheart pack superstition. Breeding season ended on the first new moon before summer.
“I’m aware,” I said stiffly.
Otis frowned, then gently put his hand on top of mine. “Gabriel… I don’t mean to pry, but this is serious.”
Thanks, Otis. I had no freaking idea.
“I know,” I said, my voice firm.
“What’s stopping you from choosing an alpha? Surely you would have no problem with that. You’re a handsome young omega,” Dustin said.
I was in no mood for his compliments. I was getting increasingly sick of this conversation.
“In fact,” Dustin continued, not sensing the tension radiating off me in waves, “I have a few friends who would love to have an omega of their own. I could let them know, if you’d like.”
“I’m not something to be had,” I spat, harsher than I intended. Both Otis and Dustin looked shocked.
“Sorry,” I muttered, “but I’m not interested in being owned like an object just because of the organs I was born with.”
Otis looked down at the table. Dustin blinked in confusion.
That made my skin crawl.
“Is it?” I asked harshly.
“Those are the rules,” Otis continued, parroting the words of the pack elders. “Mating and keeping the population up are necessary for our survival here. The rules are for our safety.”
“So me deciding not to pop a baby out is jeopardizing the safety of the pack?” I shot back.
Otis’ eyes widened. “This is the way things have always been, Gabriel. We can’t do anything about it.”
Dustin put his hand firmly down on the table. “Gabriel, calm down. I know you’re scared because it’s so close to the new moon, but you still have plenty of time to mate.”
“I don’t want to mate!” I snapped.
Otis’ jaw dropped. Dustin stared at me as if I just admitted I was the devil.
“I don’t want to mate, okay? I don’t want to get knocked up by some random alpha I barely know just because the elders decreed it so!” I continued, gesturing wildly.
Dustin stood up. “You know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t.”
I stared back, testing his gaze. It seemed he was going to tell me no matter what.
“They’re going to banish you,” Dustin said. “On the night of the full moon, on the blackest night, you’ll be kicked out from the safety of the walls.”
I slowly crossed my arms, not breaking eye contact.
“It’s dangerous out there. Even for a wolf shifter. Especially for a wolf shifter,” Dustin growled. “Raiders are always out there, waiting, you know that, right? They’re always waiting for some unknowing wolf to stray out of the walls. Haven’t you ever heard of Loni?”
I nearly rolled my eyes. Had I ever heard of Loni. I practically couldn’t go a single day without hearing about him, especially from well-meaning alphas who were eager to take me as a mate.
Dustin continued without my reply. “There’s a reason for all the elders’ rules, and he’s the reason for this one. He was a lazy, arrogant omega with no regard for the pack or his own safety. All he wanted was a simple life lived by his own hedonism.”
Otis had shut his eyes, as if hearing the story was painful for him.
“So come breeding season, he chose not to mate. None of the alphas were good enough for him,” Dustin continued, narrowing his eyes at me. “He said he was sick and tired of this cramped, walled-in life where he saw the same faces every day. Tough luck,” Dustin added, his own comment.
“Well, one night he figured he’d had enough. When his heat came and none of the alphas interested him, he decided to look elsewhere. He thought he would be safe - that he was stronger, faster, and smarter than anyone else who had ever left the walls. That was his fatal mistake. He unlocked the main wall door and waltzed right through the boundary, acting like he owned the outside world.”
Otis let out a small whimper, anticipating what came next.
Dustin still stared me in the eyes. “The raiders were on him in a second. The guards at the top of the walls were the only ones who saw what really happened, and they were all too sick and traumatized to talk about it. All everyone else heard were his screams. Blood-curdling, bone-chilling screams. He was killed, or worse.”
Dustin shook his head. “That’s why we need to mate before the end of the breeding season. It’s natural for omegas to seek outside blood for breeding. But we don’t have that luxury here. Because Loni waited too long to mate, his body made the choice for him. To leave. And he paid for it with his life.”
When he stopped speaking, he just stared at me, and I stared back. What did he expect me to say?
“So the reason we kick out omegas who refuse to mate is because there was an omega who refused to mate and got killed for it? Makes a lot of fucking sense,” I muttered.
Otis gasped.
Dustin growled deeply in his throat. “I think you should leave now, Gabriel.”
“Gladly,” I muttered. I stood and headed for the door.
“Gabe! Wait!” Otis cried. He followed me, desperately clutching my arm. “Please promise me you’ll pick an alpha. Please. I don’t want you to die.”
“Then maybe the elders shouldn’t kick me out,” I snapped.
He dug his heels in. “They won’t listen! Even if I tried, they wouldn’t care!”
I paused. Otis was on the verge of tears. My anger wavered and I pulled him into a quick hug.
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Then please stay.” Otis’ voice cracked. “There are so many nice alphas.”
“I’m sure there are. But I can’t do this, Otis. I can’t do what you’re doing.” I glanced up at Dustin, who was watching us from the kitchen doorway. “I can’t dedicate my life to a stranger.”
Otis’ lip trembled, but he said nothing this time. He wiped the tears from his eyes.
“I’ll stay safe,” I promised.
Otis nodded, but clearly didn’t believe me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I believed me either.
“Have a good night,” I said, then put on my shoes and left.
2
Gabriel
The moon was a tiny white claw scratch in the sky. Tomorrow night, it would be completely gone, leaving the sky empty and black, and leaving me with a heavy decision to make.
I needed to clear my head. I walked down the street to the outer path that circled along the wall’s perimeter.
I had two choices: mate, or die.
Not really the best choices.
On one hand, I could pick an alpha and mate with him, bear his kids, be stuck with him for the rest of my life, all that fun stuff. I knew all the alphas in
the pack already. It wasn’t like I hated any of them. Of course there were a couple douchebags, but the majority seemed like nice guys, like Dustin. But that was the problem. They seemed like nice guys. They were practically strangers to me,
Here in Stoneheart, alpha and omega did not interact unless they were mated. It wasn’t forbidden or anything, it just… didn’t happen. There was nothing to bring us together. Before mating, we lived separate lives. Omegas hung out with omegas, alphas with alphas. Just more ridiculous Stoneheart pack culture.
I’d heard things were different in other packs. Not from books or TV - no, that would have been heresy. But word of mouth travels fast in this pack. There were rumours of packs that did things differently than us. Alphas and omegas living together as equals... I believed it.