Their Controlled Chaos

The exciting conclusion to the Wintervale Packs series is here!
Book 4 of the Wintervale Packs

Jinelle Sutton has known from a young age that she is more than human. Chaos is a big part of her life and she's learned to ball it up and hide it away from the world. Which isn’t too hard because she's always been a bit weird. A high IQ and social awkwardness means she's got very few friends. She longs for the day she doesn’t have to hide who she is. When she hears about a surrogate program with an alien shifter planet she jumps at the chance. After all, who to better understand her than alien shifters?

Daeria is much more than she expects. Her new friends are also surrogates and have special abilities of their own. She feels like she belongs for the first time in her life. Then there are the four wolf shifters who each claim to be her mate. The war that took so much from the Dearia shifters may have ended, but they're still dealing with the aftermath.

The evil that wants complete control over the planet seeks out a powerful relic that gives him anything he desires. It’s up to Jinelle, Harland, Turk, Seff, and Merric to find the relic before Xaxhin does. All the while, Jinelle’s powers grow stronger and more uncontrollable. Then again, when has chaos ever been controlled?

Chapter 1

Dearia, present day

“You got a package from Earth.”

Jinelle whirled around, her heart rate picked up with excitement from receiving gifts from her BFF on Earth. Of course, getting things from Earth, to where she now lived on Dearia—another planet, in another galaxy—gave snail mail a totally new meaning. It sometimes took a month or longer to get packages and letters. However, the shifters who lived on the beautiful alien planet had the technology to speed up space travel from planet to planet.

She held her hand out for the package, but Harland—one of her hottie wolf mates—stepped back and shook the box. “I wonder what this one has in it.”

“Hey! Don’t shake it.” She lunged for him. 

When he turned playfully, like he wasn’t going to give her the box, she poked him on the ribs. He grunted and jerked to the side. “Don’t start shit. I’ll have you bent over the couch.”

Desire flared deep inside her at his words. She’d been bent over things by him before. It always ended with her having a mind-blowing orgasm, or four. She took the box from him and rushed to sit on the couch. 

Mora sent little pieces of home. Over the last several months, she’d been going through Jinelle’s house, and her grandparent’s things. She and Mora agreed that it was best to sell the house. Jinelle told her to split the money from the sale between the coven and a charity of Mora’s choosing. Jinelle didn’t need the money, the surrogate program paid for her housing, food, and anything else she needed on Daeria. 

Then there were her guys—Turk and Harland, two of the Wintervale Pack enforcers. They pampered her and were constantly buying her things. It didn’t matter that she reminded them several times a day that she didn’t need pampering.

Harland sat next to her and watched her open the box. “Who’s sending you gifts? You don’t have a human mate on Earth, do you?”

She laughed out loud and pushed him playfully. “I’m too weird for human men.”

He leaned in and nipped her ear. “You are not weird. Who’s sending you gifts?”

Glancing up at him, she narrowed her eyes, while her lips curved into a smile. He was jealous. Not in a negative way, but a curious kind of way. “My best friend, Mora. She’s a witch and is cleaning out my family home.”

An ache formed in her chest. It’d been months since she’d thought about her life on Earth.  Her lonely pathetic life. Well it hadn't always been lonely. She had her grandparents until they passed away a little over a year ago. And there was Mora.

Harland cupped her chin and lifted it, forcing her to meet his stare. “What is it?”

She kissed his lips softly, then went back to opening the box. “A little more than a year before arriving here, I lost my grandmother. A few months before that my grandfather passed away. Mora was my glue for a while. Her family and the coven also helped me with controlling my chaos.”

“How long have you had your powers?”

She shrugged. “Since I was eight.” As soon as the images of that horrible night entered her mind, she pushed them out. She wouldn’t think of the night everything changed. The night she lost her parents and discovered she had the power to kill and create chaos with nothing more than a thought.

Opening the box, she pulled out the air pillows Mora stuffed on top of some framed photos and a few knick-knacks that belonged to Grandma. At the bottom of the box were several small items surrounded by bubble wrap. Her heartbeat increased, and she picked up the first one and unwrapped it, revealing a three-inch glass wolf howling. There were four more pieces in the that she took out and handed to Harland. 

“Unwrap them,” she said as she pulled a letter from Mora out and read it. 

Hi Jin!

Gods, I miss the fuck out of you. We have to video chat more often. Anyway, I found the wolves buried in your grandma’s attic. I’ve always wondered where they went. I remember seeing them out on her mantle when we were kids, then they just disappeared. The wolves always seemed otherworldly to me. Like they weren’t normal wolves. Maybe it was my witch intuition or an overactive imagination. Who knows? I thought you’d want to have them.

I’ll talk to you on our call next week. 

Love you, sis!

Mora

Tears stung her eyes by the time she finished reading. Harland cupped her chin again, and she laughed at him. He hated it when she got emotional. “I’m fine.” Then she indicated to the five glass wolves in various poses. “Those were my great grandmother’s. I had always loved them and felt drawn to them for some reason.”

“Do you know where she got them?” He stood and placed the wolves on a bookshelf above the TV. He positioned four of them around the one that she had always imagined was the female, while the others were males. It was odd, but that was what she felt was right.

“No. My grandma said that Granny got them as a gift from her mother-in-law. I’ve never met any of grand-papa’s family.” She watched as Harland studied the wolves.

“Something about them is familiar.” He shook his head and turned to face her. “I came by to see if you wanted to come to Wintervale with me. I’m helping Turk train some of the teens today. We shouldn’t be long. Afterward, we thought you could stay over and have wild passionate sex.”

Laughing at his words, she picked up the photos and knick-knacks and placed them back inside the box. “A kinky sleepover.”

“I like the sound of that.” Harland’s heated stare made her body tingle, while her core filled with liquid desire. She thought about it for a few. Well, not the sex part. She was always willing and ready. Turk and Harland were hot, and they made her feel amazing and loved. The latter made her hesitate.

She wasn’t sure why, really. It was like she was waiting for something or someone. But Turk and Harland didn’t push, which made it harder to resist the urge to bond with them. One of her hang-ups was the fear of losing them. After she lost her parents, then her grandparents, she didn’t want to get close to others out of the silly fear they’d just leave her too.

But the surrogate program was her way of getting past all her insecurities. She couldn’t be rejected by the shifters on Daeria. However, they could die. She was, after all, chaos. 

Studying Harland, she said, “I could hang out with Blake and see the new baby, while you and Turk are training.”

Blake was one of the five surrogates who traveled from Earth with Jinelle. Blake was also the demi-goddess of the sun, and mated to the Wintervale Alpha,  Jericho; his sentry  Mace; the Pack Beta, Serge; and the Healer, Castien. And they welcomed a beautiful, sweet little girl about a week after the last battle with Xaxhin, which was less than five weeks ago. The princess of Wintervale was just what everyone in the pack needed to take their minds off the negative shit going on around them.

What worried Jinelle was how silent Xaxhin had been. She’d done research  on Desire’s  Horn, but didn’t find anything she didn’t already know. The horn belonged to Ageos, god of desire, but it wasn’t just a magical horn that granted whoever blew into what they desired most. It was from a dragon—Ageos’s son.

If Xaxhin got the horn, all he had to do was blow into and make a wish. Then his desires to enslave the Daerian shifters and the Graxecon people would come true, then he could take over the planet. At least that was what Jinelle, the other women, and their mates believed.

It didn’t make sense to her. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t shake the feeling there was something more he wanted. Something else, rather.

Harland picked up the box from her lap, bringing her out of her thoughts. When she looked up at him, he lifted his brow. “I lost you for a minute.”

“Just lost in thought.” She stood and kissed him quickly. “Set the box on my bed. All I have to do is put on my shoes, and I’m ready.”

When he turned toward her bedroom, she watched him, admiring how his jeans hugged his ass. The men of Daeria all started wearing jeans after Nigel—the surrogate program recruit/liaison—brought them back from one of his trips to Earth. Now poor Nigel got lists of things to shop for while he’s on Earth.

Harland exited the bedroom and stared at her. One brow rose, and his lips twitched ever so slightly. Then he looked down at her feet. “Are you going barefoot?”

“I thought about it,” she said playfully. She was totally busted for ogling his backside. Smiling, she moved to the door where she kept slip-on canvas shoes.

Harland stepped up behind her and slid his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” After putting her shoes on, she turned in his arms. “I just keep thinking about ways to find the horn. Nothing in the archives tells me where it could be.”

Harland kissed her nose. “Talk with Blake while you are there. She might be able to help with research. She’s been recording Graxecon history, so maybe she has something that hasn’t been added to the archives yet.”

Her mood lifted. She hadn’t wanted to bother Blake, because she was settling in with her four mates and a new baby. Then again, it was Blake, and the woman would fuss at Jinelle for not coming to her in the first place. “I bet she’d like the distraction.”

“From what I hear, her mates have been driving her crazy with their overprotectiveness.” Harland laughed, then asked, “Are we driving or teleporting to Wintervale?”

Jinelle frowned. She’d only ported with the other demi-goddess’—Blake, Adrienne, Kindle, Tabitha, and Shaylin. It was easier to control her chaotic powers, when she had the other women to use as a buffer. Not that she ever told anyone that was what she did.  “We can drive. The weather is nice.”

They were entering the winter months. The air was crisp and cold, but not freeze-your-ass-off cold. It was perfect for her.

Meeting his gaze, she shook her head and pulled him out of her apartment in the Pinnacle Crown, located in the area between the three largest shifter territories, called Empyrea. It was once an undeveloped span of land that they called the neutral zone. After the first group of surrogates, who all mated with dragons, the council decided to turn the neutral zone into its own little village-like place for the surrogates. Empyrea was now a place where the three houses, or packs, could come together for events and shopping.

Harland didn’t ask why she wanted to take the transporter, and she didn’t volunteer the information. Balancing her powers was something she’d have to figure out on her own. Neither he nor Turk had any magic abilities, so it wasn’t like they could help her anyway. At least not with the magic part. They do train with her, which most times, turns into another kind of workout altogether.

Besides, they held back from her, taking it easy, so they wouldn’t hurt her with their super strength they get from being wolf shifters. Whatever. She wasn’t weak.

The transporter rolled to a stop outside of the Alpha house, in the center of the Wintervale village. It had two wings that extended off either side of the central part of the house and wrapped around to the back. The exterior was made from stone, with a glass dome in the middle of the roof on the west side. It was beautiful and rustic, with a modern, space-age look to it.

Before Jinelle got her seatbelt off, Harland had her door open. He offered her his hand, and she took it, letting him pull from the vehicle. Okay, so she said she didn’t need pampering, but it was nice to have their focus totally on her.

“Turk and I will pick you up when we’re finished with training.”

Standing on her toes, she kissed his cheek. “I’ll be here, safely guarded with Blake.”

Harland let out a teasing growl and claimed her lips in a toe-curling kiss. Fisting her hands into his shirt, she pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue swept inside her mouth, drawing a groan from her.

He broke the kiss and stared into her eyes. “I should go.”

She laughed when he didn’t release her, then she wiggled out of his hold and pushed him. “Then go.” 

Chuckling, he tugged her in for one more kiss, before he walked down the street toward the training center. 

Her heart filled with all kinds of emotions for that crazy man, she walked to the front door of the Alpha house and knocked. Castien, the wolf Healer and one of Blake’s mates, opened the door. He had his daughter snuggled to his chest. Astra. It meant star, and she was definitely her daddies’ little star.

“She’s so beautiful.” Jinelle stroked her cheek, careful not to wake her.

“Thanks,” Castien whispered.

Blake came up behind him and said in a louder voice, “I told you not to whisper. I need her to learn to sleep around noise, or every little sound will wake her and none of us will sleep.”

Castien winked at Jinelle, then stepped away from the door to let her in. As soon as she entered the house, Blake pulled her into a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Hi. Harland and Turk are plotting some kinky sleepover, so I get to hang out with you until they are finished with training.” Jinelle closed the door and followed Blake into the open space of the ground floor.

“Have you had any luck finding the horn?” Blake asked while sitting on the sofa.

Jinelle pressed her lips together to hide her smile. Blake didn’t waste any time asking about the horn. “No. I thought I could call to the creatars, but every time I try, I get nothing.”

“Why call to the chaos monsters?”

Jinelle shrugged. “I thought they could help find the horn. Plus, none of my research on the god of desire is getting me anywhere.”

Blake drew her brows together as if she were in thought. Then she reached to pick up the tablet from the coffee table. “I’m still working on getting all the Graxeconian history added to the archives. I think I read something about Ageos’s dragon.”

With a wave of a hand, Blake conjured a few file boxes. “You’re welcome to go through them with me.”

Mace, another one of Blake’s mates, entered the great room. He nodded to Jinelle in greeting before zeroing in on Castien and Astra. When he reached them, Mace bent to take the baby from Castien.

“You’ve been hogging her all morning.” Mace carefully extracted the baby from Castien’s arms.

“Because I got up first.” Castien stood and kissed Astra on the head, then cupped it. “Hold her head.”

Mace playfully pushed Castien away. “I know how to hold her.”

Jinelle giggled and met Blakes’s amused gaze. Then Blake rolled her eyes. “Just wait for Jericho, he tries to push his Alpha status and says he gets more time with her.” Blake looked at Mace and asked, “What do you know about the god of desire and his son?”

Mace thought about it for a moment or two while he sat on the sofa next to Castien and got Astra settled on her stomach, on his chest. “His son was a fire dragon and lived in the volcanic region.” He paused, and his eyes went round. “That’s where the horn is. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“And the obvious place to look,” Jinelle added. 

Mace shook his head. “It is, but it’s also the safest place to hide the Desire’s Horn. The region has four active volcanos, and at least one of them has lava flowing at all times. Besides, there are fire creatures that live there. They don’t like visitors.”

If the horn was there, it was worth the risk to go get it. Xaxhin would be crazy enough to go in, or at least sending his minions on a suicide mission. “Do you have a map of the area?”

Mace frowned, but pointed to the box closest to Blake. “There’s one in there. It’ll have the coordinates, so you can pull up a satellite image of what it looks like.”

Blake removed the lid and sifted through the files inside until she found the map. It was a digital version, but not like a tablet. Jinelle moved closer to inspect the thin, glass-like device.

Glancing at her, Blake smiled and said, “Watch this.”

She set it on the coffee table and pressed the center of the glass with her finger. Instantly, it expanded, covering the entire coffee table. “Wow, that is so cool.”

Mace nodded. “That’s an old image. I need to have Seff update it because I’m not sure how much of it has changed. But he’ll be better to talk to about getting information on the region.” Pursing his lips, he held Jinelle’s stare. Then he shook his head. “You need to research as much as you can about the area before going in. Have a few of the dragons to do a flyover. But do not go there alone.”

Jinelle hadn’t planned on it. She may be the demi-goddess of chaos, but she wasn’t stupid. Plus, she didn’t follow chaos, it followed her. There was a difference. 

A knock sounded on the door, making Castien jump to his feet. “That’s Dad,” he said with a grin at Mace. “You’re about to lose our little star.”

Jinelle laughed softly when Mace flipped Castien the middle finger. She focused back on the map until the door opened, and the rumble of male voices filled the foyer. Sensations glided across her, making her look up into vivid green eyes. Warmth filled her. The man had dark brown hair that covered his ears, and features similar to Castien.

Holding her gaze, Castien’s dad crossed the room to her. She stood and faced him, while feeling everyone else in the room stare at them. The man took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m Merric.”

“Jinelle.” Her reply was a little breathy, and she knew why.

She’d found another mate.