Riannon was locked in her room and the feeling was not new to her. Now thatshe had time to think about it, she had been trapped before. In her first marriagewith Brayden. She was a hostage to that relationship and her own reputation.Trying to be perfect all the time was exhausting. It was funny that only deathhelped her to see the vicious cycle. Gideon helped her to get free from it. Andjust like that time, soon he would help her to her freedom once again. She knewit.But by the time he came to get her, she was sure that she would destroy thisplace. And when she heard a knock on the door, a smirk formed on her lips.“Onyx, help me out to scan this place,” she asked her wolf, and now she couldsense that there was only one person behind the door. A female. Two guardswere standing at a distance that would make it hard for a regular shifter to knowwhat they were talking about. Those two were new. The Paddington and the foxshe knew were replaced by Castiel and now no one was fulfilling her everyrequest like before. The fox king learned his lesson.“Riannon,” Bridgit whispered, “Do you hear me?”“Yes,” she smiled, knowing that the presence of the werebear was the proof ofher plan working.“ How did you manage to get here? I thought that everyonewould be punished...”“Everyone was punished,” Bridgit confirmed with a sigh, “But I am not everyone. Ihave some privileges around here and Castiel either trusted me or forgot to stripme of them yesterday.”“Good for you,” Ria chuckled, “He didn’t forget to strip me of my privileges, asyou can see.”“Oh, Riannon, you are still the most privileged woman here. Just the fact that youare locked in the room that’s right opposite to his own is proof of that.”Ria swallowed. She did not want to think of Castiel sleeping this close to her.

“Anyway, he is not here now,” Bridgit assured her, “and I want to speak to youagain. Do you have any kind of a plan?”She did have a plan. A few actually. But this right now was her number one plan.She wasn’t sure though that sharing the details with the werebear was a goodidea though. All they had was two conversations and during the first one, Bridgittried to kill her. This wasn’t a friendship built on trust justyet.She was probably silent for too long and the girl on the other side of the door gotthat right. “Listen,” Bridgit sighed,”you probably don’t get how it feels to bebetrayed by a man you loved.” Oh, the irony of that statement was not lost onRia, but she did not say a word.“When we joined the harem one by one, we knew that he wasn’t exclusive witheither of us. But each of us believed that there was a possibility of that. Castielcould make you feel like you are the only one for him. While he is with you... butover time, I think all of us realised that this would never be the case. However, itwas too late because each of us had feelings for him.”“Bridgit,” Riannon couldn’t stop herself from saying, “he is hot as hell, yes. Butthere is no way that every single woman could fall in love with him. Have youseen his lab? Have you seen what he is doing there? He learned to create scentsthat give you a similar response that you would have if you met your mate. I hateto be the one telling you that, but he is so good because he was experimenting alot. And I think that he was experimenting on you. All of you.”The werebear girl on the other end of the door was silent but then startedspeaking again with“We all came here willingly, and we agreed to be with him willingly too. The rest ishistory.”

For a moment there Riannon was worried that she had lost her new ally. Was ittoo late for those girls? Was there some kind of addiction to those scents? Afterall, Brayden was an Alpha and he had fallen to the charm pretty fast. She alwaysthought that it was because of Roxy’s siren abilities, but what if those artificialscents were to blame too?“But,” Bridgit chose to continue her speech, giving her hope, “When we enteredthe Eden there was anit on both ends. Each girl agreed to be with him and not to be the only one. Eachof us had adifferent reason for that. Some had no choice, like me, some already likedCastiel, some were seeking, political gains and some were so poor that living inthe harem of the fox king did not seem like a bad thing at all. The list goes on andon. But there was one condition that he himself set for all of us. He was alwayssaying that it’s important to him that each of us lived here willingly. He made it abig point and this was one of the reasons we all trusted him so much. He saidthat we could leave whenever we wanted.”“And?” Ria leaned over the cold door.“And when after the revelations of yesterday, a few girls expressed the desire toleave, he did not let them,” the she-bear’s voice trembled. “Everyone is locked inthe Eden now. Now we know why there is only one door and no windows exceptfor the ceiling that we can’t get to.”“The Eden is locked yet you are here,” Riannon pointed out. She still wasn’tconvinced she could trust the woman she was talking to.“I know how it looks,” Bridgit replied to that calmly, “but I was here for years. Iearned his trust. And he doesn’t know yet that he lost mine. I was thinking aboutwhat you told me. As long as I stay here, I will never meet my mate. And I wantto try that, to experience that. I want to be the only one for someone. I don’t thinkI want to share anymore. I want to love and be loved in return. I want a mate who

would never lock me up or lessen me. I want what you described to me. I want allof it if that makes sense.”“It does.” Ria could feel that the girl was telling her the truth. “So? Do you have aplan?” she asked once again. “I do,” Ria finally admitted, “Do you think you canfight and open the door of the harem on yourOwn?”“We can, but there are more guards here than usual. We wouldn’t be able totackle them on our own.”“You won’t have to,” the Alpha smirked, “All you have to do is wait for my signalto act.”“What will the signal be?” Bridgit asked.“Oh, don’t worry,” Riannon chuckled, “You will recognise it when you hear it.”“I hope you do understand that we entrust our lives to you,” the werebear said, aslight hesitation in her voice.“And I am not making you any promises.” Ria wanted to be honest with thesegirls, who were already lied to so many times. “I am asking for your trust, yes. ButI cannot promise you that when the action starts every one and each of you willsurvive. If you want to have your freedom, you will have to fight for it yourselves. Iwill be with you – this is something that I can promise. Because I will be fightingfor my own freedom and the freedom of my people. I have already been fightingfor it for a while. I know that we deserve it and I know that this is what the MoonGoddess always wanted for her daughters. I changed the laws for women, and Iwant to live in the kingdom that I am building with my mate to see the changesthat I made with my own eyes. Every red girl would be welcome in my land if theyhave nowhere to go. This is also something that I can promise. But for the rest –you will have to make your own decisions now and if

The silence was her reply and she was atraid that this wasn’t what the werebearwanted to hear. But she sensed how the girl placed her hand on the door.“I will tell the others,” she said, “I can’t speak for them now. But I am willing tofight by your side, Riannon.”A sigh of relief escaped her and she smiled to herself. This was exactly what shewanted.“I need to go now,” Bridgit whispered, “The ones willing to fight will be waiting foryour signal whatever it is.”“As I have already told you – it would be hard to miss,” Ria grinned.Gideon was getting closer and closer with his best warriors to the place where,according to the little fox, his mate was kept. They took mostly lycans and someof the very best werewolves since Maya insisted on it. A huge force was leftslightly behind them in case things got really bad. He couldn’t march with theminto this territory and give themselves away immediately. He at least hoped to getto Riannon first.The scent of warriors guarding the perimeter hit his nostrils and he motioned forhis people to stop. Through the bushy branches of trees, Gideon noticed theglimmering of the distant lights. The palace of the fox king was well hidden deepinside the woods. This kind was used to not being together all the time and hidingin small groups so that enemies couldn’t find them even within their territory.They would have been searching these woods forever of not for the top of thedisappointed and broken Roxanne. He orderedfor her to be moved into a better cell now. Purely because she was pregnant.He made a few steps, counting the guards that he would have to kill to get closerwhen he felt her. His mate. She could feel that she was agitated and not happy.He could also feel that, despite all that, she wasn’t broken. She was determinedand stayed strong. And the feeling of pride for her filled his chest.

“Riannon,” he called her name via the mind link and immediately felt a wave ofhappiness and relief coming from her via their bond.“Gideon!” There was so much in her voice. He knew that she had been waitingfor him, that she missed him. He never admitted it to himself, but he had beenworried. He had been worried that Castiel would do something to her, trick her,bewitch her or whatever. He had been worried that he could hurt her even thoughhe knew that his mate was strong. Waiting and not knowing had been an agonyfor him and he was so happy to hear her voice. Just one word of hers healed hisheart and his soul.“Are you okay?” he asked.“Yeah,” she said and he could tell that she was smiling through tears. He couldfeel her sharing his emotions through their bond. “And you?”“I am now! I am coming for you,” he chuckled, “Just give me a moment or two.” “Iwill wait for you for the eternity if I have to,” Ria reassured him.“You will not have to, my love,” he gave her a promise that he intended to keep.But then suddenly he felt her worried and distressed. “Riannon, are you all right?What is happening? Speak to me!” he was desperate to know what was goingon.“He came to take me somewhere,” she informed him quickly. “He knows that youare here. I think it’s a trap, Gideon.”“It couldn’t have been anything else,” he tried to calm her down and give herstrength, “I am ready to face whatever he has got!”“And I will help you,” his mate promised, switching off their connection.“I’ll see you soon,” he said into the emptiness before him, hoping that she couldfeel his intentions.And then he shifted his men following his command.

They were as fast as lightning, cutting through the bushes before their enemiescould even see them, digging their sharp teeth into the werebears, leaving thefoxes to the werewolves to deal with.Gideon was ripping throats and guts out, each kill bringing him closer to hiswoman.He had almost reached the building – a very tall mansion with a glass dometowering over its centre when he received a distress syngas from Reid.“What is wrong?” He asked him via the link while still staying one bear afteranother.“They attacked us. They were expecting a backup from this side I guess,” hisBeta notified him, growling. Reid was probably fighting too now. This meant thatwhoever Gideon had with him was it.“Can you take them down?” the Lycan king asked. “Yes, but it will take time. Willyou manage without us?”“I think so,” he replied, “But when you are done there, come here. Since theyknow already, there is no point in staying behind.” His Beta cut him off and it meant that he was in the very heart of a battle. AndGideon hated it. He hated that someone tried to take his mate and his friendsaway from him. This made him and Mars even more furious. Their commonbeast was threatening to overtake them too. Because it hated that someone triedto take what was his...He was already near the entrance when he heard the loudest and most piercinghowl, recognising his mate...“You are coming with me!” Castiel burst into Riannon’s room, grabbed her handroughly and pulled her after him.

“Just leave me alone!” she struggled against him, not making it easy for him.Onyx inside of her was ready to act any moment.“Stop it, Ria, I am just taking you to a safe place! I don’t want you to get hurt!” hegritted his teeth, throwing her into the arms of two werebears, whose grip waspainfully tight.“Hurt?” she scoffed. “These are my people over there and they came for me! I’drather believe that you are trying to cover yourself with me! And why don’t you tryto take your girls to that wonderful safe place?!”“Because,” he was next to her in less than a second and grabbed the hair at theback of her head, tugging it to make her look at him, “Because the only one I amworried about is you.”He crashed his lips into her and she completely did not expect this. His tonguewas forcing itself inside and trying to dominate her. The two guards were stillholding her hands and she felt him using Gideon’s scent again. As if it could havehelped to make her agree to any of this.Anger boiled inside of her, like lava. It spread down her veins and filled herwhole. So much for not forcing women!Riannon wanted blood and blood she got because she bit him as hard as shecould, spilling the warm ruby liquid from his tongue and his lips.Shocked, Castiel stepped away, looking at her with wide eyes and covering hismouth with one hand. It took him a few seconds to process what she had done,but then a smirk appeared on his face, which annoyed her even more.“Not your Queen!” each word was punctuated with the growls from the outsidewhich were getting closer and closer, “Gideon’s!”“We’ll see about that!” Castiel spat the blood onto the immaculate marble floor ofthe passage they used, “Bring her to the dungeons and lock her in the best cellmagic

until it’s over. Tripple the men guarding her. I want them to never get to her until Iam dealing with this!”“Will be done, my king,” one of the bears said, and Riannon burst out laughing.She couldn’t stop for a while and now the three men looked at her, not knowingwhy she had such a reaction.“You see,” Ria raised her chin and tilted her head slightly, “this is exactly yourproblem! You recognised me as this special, perfect Luna but even now you arenot taking me into consideration. And this is exactly why a man like you will neverbe by my side!”“No offence, my dear,” Castiel smirked, “but I know that you haven’t been able toshift since your wolf returned.”“Oh, really?” she snorted, relaxing in her captors’ hands to give them a falsefeeling of overpowering her finally. “And who told you that? By any chance wasthat your spy Marcus?”The king’s face changed but it was too late.“You think I am a powerless female who can’t shift?” Riannon snarled, her eyesglowing with pure light, “The Moon Goddess herself blessed me! Now, watch meshift!”It took her less than one breath to let Onyx out in all her glory, their silvery-whitefur glowing just like the last time. She could feel how power was streamingthrough her and she knew that she could destroy anyone in her way now. Shehad been brought back for a reason. And this fight that was ahead of her todaywas a significant part of it.Castiel and his two bears were looking at her in shock and she used that momentto lift her head up to the moon and let out the deepest and longest howl of herlife. In that howl, the Moon Goddess herself was joining, calling to every womanin the area to fight for what was right.

Deep inside the Eden, every girl in red heard that howl and Bridgit’s mouthopened when she recognised the sign they all had been waiting for. They felt theancient goddess’ call and most of them chose to respond to it.“Ladies, it’s time!” Bridgit commanded and one by one they were turning into theirbeasts – wolves, bears, lionesses, panthers, birds, reptiles... Castiel sure gothimself an amazing and rare collection. But now he was about to taste their fury.Bridgit’s white bear, Uma, was the one to knock out the doors of Eden and toattack the guards outside of it. But the rest joined her quickly, destroying anyonewho stood in their way. They all had enoughand they all craved freedom now.Gideon had to blink twice when he saw a fox being thrown out of the window. Hewas finishing off yet another bear when he finally could have a glimpse of whatwas going on inside. And it seemed like there was pure chaos.“After me!” he commanded to his warriors and jumped inside through the windowon the first floor. Enemy warriors were throwing themselves at him, but he dealtwith them at ease, amazed by the sight of a huge eagle pecking out one of thefoxes’ eyes. When the bird was done, they looked at each other and he wasn’tsure if it would attack him next or if they were on the same side.But the bird flew away upstairs and he followed it, his own men bursting insidethrough windows at the very same moment. beautifui queen was lignting twowerebears at once, siashing the inroat or one of them witn ease.Their eyes met just for a second in the chaos that was surrounding them andwarmth spread over both of their hearts. Some fox dared to attack him and hesnapped its neck in two, moving towards his mate. Onyx finished off the secondbear and he was amazed by her strength and grace all over again. Even now, inher wolf form, she was the Queen. His Queen.

They let themselves just two desperate seconds of reunion when their noseswere dug in their furs. Riannon could smell blood on him but she also knew thatnone of it was his. He had already killed many in those minutes since they lastspoke, so many!“Who are all those creatures helping us?” he asked her when they looked intoeach other’s eyes again.“Castiel’s harem,” she giggled, “I guess he wasn’t making them as happy as hethought.”“You don’t say!” he chuckled, “Ria, you are amazing! Not only are you safe, butyou also managed to stage a coup.”“Ah, don’t exaggerate!” she snorted, “Just doing my usual thing and multitasking!”“Where is he?” Gideon knew that it was time to get back to business.“I am not sure,” she said, knowing without any further explanation who he meant,“He ran almost as fast as I shifted. So much for making me his queen!”He knew that she was joking but he growled anyway, “In this life, you will only bemy Queen, Riannon.“I have no objections to that,” she agreed, “Let’s go! Onyx can recognise hisscent now even if he changes it! We need to find him!”“How does she do it?” Gideon followed her, without any kind of hesitation.“Perks of being blessed by the Moon Goddess,” Riannon chuckled, “And we alsoalready tasted his blood a few minutes ago. Now we will recognise himanywhere!”Onyx was following the trace and they sprinted out of the house just in time tomeet Reid with the rest of the warriors.“Finish them off,” Gideon commanded, his wolf nodding his head back to themansion. “Be careful not to hurt any of the harem girls. They are on our side.”

“Maya,” Riannon greeted her Beta, “Find Bridgit, she is a white bear. She is incharge of the harem now. Help them, they were all captives for years!”The two Beta’s followed their commands without any extra questions and the twoAlphas continuedtheir way.She could feel that Castiel was alone, abandoning all his people just to savehimself. Some leader hewas!“He went this way!” she pointed to Gideon the path, “I think he is trying to reachthe border with the werebears. If he manages to do it, he might be protected andwe will have to back off.”“Not going to happen!” her mate sped up and she had a hard time keeping upwith him even now in her upgraded wolf form.They saw his red fur soon. Castiel was running for his life, but when he heardGideon’s mighty roar, he knew that he wouldn’t make it to the border and hestopped, preparing himself to fight. One of his eyes was glowing red as usual andRiannon realised that in his fox form he was blind. She also noticed that a part ofhis face looked burned. Just what happened to him?But she threw those thoughts away. He wasn’t the one to feel sorry for. He wasthe one who pianned everytning and later destroyed the werewoives and thelycans on the union, leaving just a few behind as his puppets. If they didn’t stophim now, everything would be for nothing. So, she was ready to attack him, butGideon stood in her way.“With all due respect, Riannon,” he said, “But you have nothing to prove as awarrior. And I don’t want my woman to fight while I stand and watch. I should bethe one to kill him, not you.”

That was debatable, but she saw the determination in his eyes and knew howimportant it was to him, so she stepped aside, giving him the honour of slayingtheir common enemy.Without a shade of doubt, Gideon charged at the fox and the latter managed torecoil. He tried to attack the lycan in a desperate attempt to gain someadvantage. Ria could tell that Castiel was a good warrior, but it wasn’t enough ifhe was fighting against her mate.The lycan king was bigger and stronger, he was also faster, so very soon histeeth cut into the fox’s flesh, making him shriek from the pain. The master ofschemes did not expect to fight today and it was clear to them both.Not wishing to prolong his agony, Gideon slashed his side with his sharp claws,bright red blood spilling onto the grass underneath them.Castiel was desperate, trying to make one fatal blow after another. His caninesand claws were aiming at the lycan’s vital organs but he barely managed toscratch him.Gideon pressed him to the ground, breaking his arms and legs one by one. Thepain was so immense that Castiel turned back into his human form. The king andthe queen followed his example, and Gideon sat on top of him throwing punchafter punch, breaking his handsome face once and for all.“This is for the explosion at the Summit! This is for kidnapping my mate andholding her against her will! This is for Dean! And this is for your schemes! Andthis one is for sending that siren to kill her in herpast life!”Castiel’s eyes went wide and Riannon placed her hand on her mate’s shoulder.The touch immediately helped him to calm down and look at her.“Past life?” Castiel hissed, barely being able to speak. “So, this is why you kneweverything... That... explains it.”

“What you did was awful. All those schemes and traps!,” Riannon decided to tellhim what was on her mind after all, “You destroyed so many lives! Includingmine!”“I wish I knew,” he chuckled, coughing up blood, “I would have stolen you awaysooner...”Gideon punched him again, preparing to make that one fatal blow to end thiswhen Riannon stopped him. Something was off.“Why are you laughing?” she asked, every fibre in her tensing. “This was a trap,”he told her, looking at her only. “We already figured that out,” Gideon clenchedhis fist.“No,” Castiel gave them a crooked dark grin, “This is not the trap. The two of youstill did not learn to deal with foxes even after two lives. This was just adistraction....”