Fighting Fate (28 page)

hands on each other’s faces as they communicated through their bond. Charlotte came up and knelt

beside them on the couch, a smile on her little face. Cailin gave a happy sigh at the sight. It had been

too long since that little girl had truly been joyous. Maddox grinned down at his daughter then pulled

her close, providing the perfect photo op for Willow and her camera.

North and Parker were playing chess in the corner with Lexi helping North by telling him what

moves their son made. Her brother really seemed to be getting used to his blindness—not that he was

giving up. Far from it. Cailin had a feeling between her brother, Noah, and Emeline, they’d find a way

to cure him.

There was always hope.

“Ready to eat?” Logan asked, his breath on her neck. She’d been feeling poorly for the past

couple of weeks thanks to morning sickness, and it had been a bear to actually keep food down.

Right then though, she was famished. “I’m starving.”

“Good. You need to keep your strength up.” From the knowing gleam in his eyes, she knew

exactly
what he meant by that. Dirty, dirty wolf.

“Did someone say food?” Adam asked. He, too, hadn’t been hungry until recently.

“Dinner’s ready, just on the warmers,” Mel added. “Come on all. I’m starving too.”

Everyone went to the dining room table that had just been put in that morning. Cailin traced her

fingers on the familiar table and sighed. At least she didn’t cry this time.

No one spoke as they each sat down, getting the children set up in their chairs, but plates

remained empty.

Kade cleared his throat. “I know we’re eating here from now on, but it felt right to move Mom

and Dad’s table in here. It fit all of us before and…and, well, I didn’t want to say goodbye to it.”

Cailin smiled, a sense of peace washing over her. She’d never fully get over the loss of her

parents, but now it wasn’t a full-time ache every time she heard their names or anything about them.

“They would have wanted that, Kade,” Cailin said. “Same as you making their home into the

enforcer’s den. That way the single men who are just becoming part of your crew can learn to work

together. I don’t think any of us could ever live there, you know? What you’re doing is working .”

Everyone agreed, and after a moment of silence for what had been lost, they began filling their

plates and started eating.

“I forgot to tell you,” Kade said after they’d all been eating for a few minutes. “Mel and I were

talking to Emeline about Finn and his new Heir powers, and she found a few things that might interest

us.”

Jasper perked up. “Really? What is it?”

“Usually, as you know, powers are given over after the Alpha is ready to move on. But since…

but since it happened the way it did, we had to change quickly. Since Finn is so young, it changed

how things will probably work out. Our next son or daughter will become the Beta when they reach a

certain age, and then the other powers will show up either in our family or at least within our Pack

around that time too. It will be a little weird since we’ll have two generations of powers in one Pack,

but it will work out.”

“Meaning when it’s time, I won’t be the Omega anymore, but have the memories to help

whoever becomes the next one,” Maddox said.

Kade nodded. “That could happen in twenty years or a hundred. Sometimes Packs even skip a

generation or two in changeovers since we’re all so long-lived.”

“The Talons are doing something like that right now too, right?” Cailin asked.

Kade frowned but nodded. “Something like that.”

He didn’t elaborate, but Cailin didn’t pressure him. Some things said between Alphas needed to

remain between Alphas.

“So we’ll move on eventually,” Adam said. “Things will change, but no matter what, we’ll be a

family.”

Logan squeezed her hand. “No matter what.”

Cailin looked at each of her family members and took them in. They had all fought bravely in one

way or another. They’d each lost something close, sometimes even more than they thought they could

handle. The adults had bathed in blood and had been reborn into something stronger, something more

cohesive even among the fractions.

They were healed. They were whole.

They were the Redwood Pack.

The End

Coming Next in the Redwood Pack World:

Maddox and Ellie have another story in Loving the Omega and Emeline and Noah find their happy

ending in the Dark Fates Anthology.

Then…

The Talon Pack

A Note from Carrie Ann

Thank you so much for reading
Fighting Fate
. I do hope if you liked this story, that you would

please leave a review. Not only does a review spread the word to other readers, they let us authors

know if you’d like to see more stories like this from us. I love hearing from readers and talking to

them when I can. If you want to make sure you know what’s coming next from me, you can sign up for

my newsletter at
www.CarrieAnnRyan.com;
follow me on twitter at
@CarrieAnnRyan,
or like my

Facebook page.
I also have a
Facebook Fan Club
where we have trivia, chats, and other goodies.

You guys are the reason I get to do what I do and I thank you.

Make sure you’re signed up for my
MAILING LIST
so you can know when the next releases are

available as well as find giveaways and FREE READS.

This book was a labor of love. Each time I tried to write a certain scene, I broke down. I’ve

known what would happen to the Redwoods since I first started
A Taste for a Mate
and looked into

Edward and Pat’s eyes. I knew their children would need to one day become where they were born to

be and become leaders in truth. While it hurt to write, I hope you know that this was not a decision

that was made lightly. I was up unable to sleep for nights as I wrote this book. In fact, I did the same

when I was hinting at what would happen in the previous books. The Jamensons will heal. I hopefully

will heal as well. The Redwoods are like my best friends and it is difficult to part with them.

I’m not leaving the Redwoods yet, however. In July,
Loving the Omega
, will be out in the

world. Maddox and Ellie have one more story in them that revolves around Charlotte. It was nice to

go back and see how this family is working. There are a few surprises in store as well. Coming in

August, I will be in the
Dark Fates Anthology
with my story called
The Hunted Heart
. This is

Emeline and Noah’s story. You saw hints of them here, but now you get to see where they are now.

I’m also not leaving this world completely. You’ve met some of the Talons and because I fell for

Gideon the first time he walked on the page to help the Redwoods, I knew I had to tell his story. I also

knew I wanted to write some of the Redwood Pack children’s stories. Rather than write two full

series where I wasn’t sure how they would work together, I’m doing one better. The Talon Pack

series will be out in early 2015. It is set thirty years in the future and will revolve around the Talon

Pack and how they are interacting in the world and with the Redwoods. Because it’s set thirty years

in the future, I get to write about a few of the Redwood Pack children finding their mates.

The first novel will be about the Talon Alpha Gideon and….Brie, Jasper and Willow’s daughter

thirty years from now.

If you don’t want to wait that long, I also have my Dante’s Circle and Montgomery Ink series

going in full swing now so there’s always a Carrie Ann book on the horizon!

Thank you so much for going on this journey with me and I do hope you enjoyed this final full

book in the Redwood Pack series. Without you readers, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Thank you again for reading and I do hope to see you again.

Carrie Ann

USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No,

she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid

and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in

her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author

suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other

stories were born.

Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on

her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime

soon.

www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

Also from this Author

Now Available:

Redwood Pack Series:

An Alpha’s Path

A Taste for a Mate

Trinity Bound

A Night Away

Enforcer’s Redemption

Blurred Expectations

Forgiveness

Shattered Emotions

Hidden Destiny

A Beta’s Haven

Fighting Fate

Holiday, Montana Series:

Charmed Spirits

Santa’s Executive

Finding Abigail

Her Lucky Love

Dreams of Ivory

Dante’s Circle Series:

Dust of My Wings

Her Warriors’ Three Wishes

An Unlucky Moon

Ever After

Tangled Innocence

Montgomery Ink:

Ink Inspired

Ink Reunited

Coming Soon:

Redwood Pack

Loving the Omega

Dark Fates

Dante’s Circle:

Fierce Enchantment

Montgomery Ink:

Delicate Ink

Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another romance from

Fated Desires?

From USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Dante’s Circle Series

“I’m done with men.”

Nadie Morgan barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friend Faith’s proclamation. She

was pretty sure the woman had said something similar before in the exact same exasperated tone.

Faith usually said things like that, considering she was trying to find a man to match who she was and

who she wanted to be.

Not an easy thing when Nadie wasn’t sure Faith knew who she wanted to be in the first place.

Well, Nadie probably shouldn’t be casting stones, considering she stood in an eerily parallel place.

Faith ran a hand through her blunt black bangs, leaving them in their perpetual disorder, then

curled her lip up in a snarl.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, Nadie Morgan. If you’d ever get off your virgin ass and actually

tell him you want him, maybe you wouldn’t be in the same predicament as me.”

Nadie froze, the sounds of the bar slowly faded away so she couldn’t hear her friends’ reactions

—if there
were
reactions. An odd numbness settled in, tunneling her vision so all she saw was Faith

and her wide eyes set in a pale face.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of their friends stiffen as well, then turn toward

Faith, their mouths opening, most likely to defend Nadie where they thought she would never be able

to defend herself.

In most cases, they’d have been right.

“Well, that was blunt,” Nadie finally said, her throat dry. What else was she supposed to say?

She was surprised she could speak at all. It wasn’t as if Faith was saying anything untrue or far from

Nadie’s mind. It just hurt to hear it in the first place.

She’d rather have buried it forever and not looked back, but she knew that would have been

weak.

Weaker than she’d been acting already.

“Oh crap, I’m so sorry, honey.” Tears filled the normally strong-willed woman’s eyes, and

Nadie immediately forgave her. There hadn’t been any true damage, and all Faith had done was tell

the truth.

“It’s okay.” She raised her hands at her friends, and they quieted whatever words they were

about to say. “No, really. You just got dumped. It sucks, so you lashed out, and I’m a pretty good

target at the moment.”

Faith shook her head then got up and walked around the circular table where they always sat

when they came to Dante’s Circle. Normally, it was a place that had become a sort of home to them,

and right then, it was nice to have that familiarity. Faith wrapped her arms around Nadie and Nadie

hugged her back. Hard. “No, it’s not freaking okay. I’m hurt and in a pissy mood, but that doesn’t give

me the right to act like a cruel bitch.”

“Just a normal bitch then,” Becca, deadpanned, then flipped her fiery red curls over her

shoulders.

“Hey, don’t call Faith a bitch,” Lily added in then came up to wrap her arms around Nadie’s

other side. “Well, she might be one, but we’re trying to change that. And Nadie honey, I love you.

Don’t listen to what Faith said.”