Taken: The Viking Werewolf's Concubine: Taken: The Viking Werewolf's Concubine, #8

By Desiree Broussard

The final book in the Taken: The Viking Werewolf's Concubine series!

 

Briony was one of the few humans who survived being taken as a concubine to the planet Scorched. She survived the brutality of the planet, the leadership, and the werewolves who called it home. But after a surprising turn of events, she's free. She's ready to put the negativity behind her and heal, but just when she thinks the nightmare is over an old enemy returns and a new enemy is revealed.

Rolf let his mortal mate slip through his fingers, but he's determined to get her back even if he has to chase her across the galaxy to do so. But he better hurry. Little does he realize, his mate is wanted by many. There's a bounty on her head. Should she fall into the wrong hands, he might not ever be able to save her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Desiree Broussard
• Release date: Jan 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201060060

Book preview

Chapter 1

CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS, a woman's computerized voice announced from the speakers in the small cabin of the space shuttle. You have arrived at your destination.

Thank God. Briony looked out the window next to her, biting her lip as Keenan lowered the shuttle to the ground. They were in an abandoned train yard, the very same train yard she'd been in the night she was taken, so very long ago. It was the safest place for Keenan to return her to. The train station hadn't been used in years, at least not for the purpose it had been created for.

She sighed. So much had happened. So much had changed; yet, so much remained the same. Now, she was back where she had started, and her time on Scorched was starting to feel surreal. Dreamlike. She wondered if it would always be that way.

Keenan was silent as he opened the hatch. Briony undid her seat belt and stood on shaky legs. She gripped the edge of the doorway to climb out, but then she abruptly stopped. Where will you go next? she asked as she turned her head to look back at him. Keenan's eyes were haunted when they met hers. He was pale and gaunt, but then he sighed, and at that moment, he looked like a weight had been lifted off of him.

I don't know, yet, he replied. But even if I did, it wouldn't be safe to tell you.

Briony wasn't offended by the bluntness of his words. After everything she'd seen on Scorched, she could understand his hesitation. Surely you don't think they'll come after me? She laughed. If it came out a little bitter, she didn't care. Suddenly, Briony just felt deflated, tired, and empty.

Rolf doesn't want me, she explained, looking out into the night. He never planned on staying mated to me. He made that clear from the beginning. Once he became king, we would have gone our separate ways anyhow. He wants to rule Scorched with a purebred woman at his side. Not a mere mortal like me. So I owe you my gratitude. Without you coming to get me, there's no telling what might have happened next. At least here on Earth, I know where I stand. I have a fighting chance.

Keenan muttered a curse. Rolf is a bloody fool, he said, shaking his head. For what it's worth, I loved Abony. I still do. We didn't get a lot of time together, but I will cherish the times we had for the rest of my life. She always spoke highly of you. She made me promise that should something happen to her, I would look out for you. She wanted me to watch over you and keep you safe, so that's why I offered to bring you home. It's what she would have wanted.

His revelations surprised her. She hadn't realized Abony's mating had turned into a love match, but she was glad it did. Briony firmly believed that everyone needed to feel that kind of love at least once in their lifetime. Short and fleeting it might have been, but Abony was loved and had been loved deeply by the man sitting next to Briony. Losing her had nearly destroyed Keenan. Abony would always live on in Keenan's heart, just as she would in hers.

You've more than fulfilled your promise, Briony assured Keenan, releasing him from any obligation he might still feel towards her. After the time she'd spent with him, she liked him, even trusted him, but the last thing she wanted was for him to feel as if he needed to monitor her or limit her in any way. Her days of being in captivity were over. It was for the best that Keenan was going his own way. Besides, seeing him would only be a raw reminder of the one she'd left behind: Rolf.

She wasn't strong enough yet to think of her mate—her ex-mate. She had to fully immerse herself back into her own world, thus breaking free of anything or anyone who reminded her of him. It was the only way she could cope with her loss. And Briony made no mistake. She knew with everything in her she'd lost a great deal. She'd lost the only man she ever loved, and with the way she was feeling at that moment, she wasn't sure she'd ever get over that. In that aspect, she had some understanding of how Keenan felt. Both of them had lost someone they loved, with no possibility of ever getting them back.

She climbed out of the space shuttle. Thank you again, Keenan, she said in parting. And good luck.

He nodded and pushed a button to close the hatch. Briony turned and walked away. From behind her, she heard the shuttle lift off. Seconds later, it flew over her head and disappeared into the dark sky.

Briony crossed her arms and rubbed them briskly as she looked around. Little had changed in the time she'd been gone. Step by step, she retraced her way back home, the ghosts of her past revisiting her with a vengeance. Memories from her childhood crowded her thoughts.

With the exception of her time on Scorched, she'd lived in Illinois her entire life. And though Earth was in shambles with everyone broke and struggling and barely surviving, it was home to her. She'd never known anything different. Her grandmother had taught her everything she knew about survival, and it was because of her Briony was still alive. Grandmother Grace would be spinning in her grave if she knew how far her lessons had really gone, all the way to another world and back. Briony smiled to herself as she thought of the woman she still loved so dearly, but her eyes were full of  tears.

She cried as she walked along the familiar route back home. She questioned whether she would ever heal from her grandmother's loss. Then she thought of Rolf. She hoped and prayed he had survived his war on Scorched and then sobbed when she considered the fact that she would never know his fate.

In her time on Scorched, she had found love. Now, she just felt broken. Adrift. Devastated. Confused. She'd lost the two people who had meant everything to her, all in a very short period of time. She didn't know how she was going to pick herself up from her grief and move forward. Taking it one day at a time seemed like too much, so Briony decided to take it one hour at a time. One minute.

She stopped at the corner of the street that would lead her home and took long enough to breathe deeply and wipe her eyes. She didn't know what to expect. For all she knew, her childhood home could have been looted or worse. Times were tough for the population. People often picked out an empty house and took it for their own, as there was no police force big enough to stop them from doing so. Not anymore, though her grandmother had often talked of a time when things had been different. A time when food wasn't scarce, and there were laws in place and enforced to protect the innocents of the world.

But that had been before Briony's time.

All she knew was survival.

She stiffened her shoulders, steeled her spine, and stepped around the corner. She inhaled sharply at her first sight of the place she'd believed she would never see again. Home. Even though it was dark, Briony knew every weathered inch of it. The overgrown grass, the peeling paint, the fallen gutters, it looked exactly as she remembered it. The two women hadn't had the skill or money needed to maintain it as much as they would have liked to, but to Briony, it was the most beautiful place on Earth.

Suddenly, Briony was overcome with nostalgia and longing. She was finally home, and she couldn't wait to get inside. She wanted to return to the fold and everything familiar. To cocoon herself up within the familiar four walls and heal from all of the tragedies she had gone through. To find herself again, though she wondered if that