Klarissa's Atonement
Retribution, 3
Klarissa Caruso has lived her life as the unwilling weapon of her father, Vincent Caruso—a man determined to wipe shifters from existence. Brilliant in virology but broken by years of abuse, she flees into the arms of fate and finds herself bound to twin tiger shifters Rune and Kamon, Elite Shifter Enforcers who recognize her instantly as their mate.
But when Caruso launches a war on Chicago, kidnapping children and unleashing toxins Klarissa herself once created, she must decide if her atonement lies in sacrifice or survival. With her mates at her side and her brilliance as her weapon, Klarissa will either save the shifter world—or fall with it.
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Klarissa's Atonement
Copyright©2026
All rights reserved, Evernight Publishing
“Goddamn it, Violet,” Jacob William’s, one of Violet’s endlessly patient mates strode into the room, “I told you to wait for me before you charged in here. We don’t know who this woman is, or what the hell she’s here for. She might have been sent to kill any damn one of us, and I don’t want you getting to know her if we’re going to have to put her down.”
Kamon’s tiger hissed with displeasure at that.
“You’ll find that very difficult to pull off,” Rune said in a low, deadly tone. “Klarissa is our mate. Mine and Kamon’s and we will defend her with everything we have. You think to fucking take her from us, you might want to put a bullet in our heads first, because that’s the only chance you’ll have.”
Violet’s jaw dropped open slightly. “Wow, Rune. I had no idea you could get that Alpha gravel mess-with-me-and-mine-and-I’ll-have-your-ass tone in your voice like the rest of them.” She turned toward Klarissa. “Sorry, friend to be, I thought you might only have to deal with one overbearing and highly over protective feline mate, but it looks like the fates have thrown two of them at you. Which means that you’ll have to fight for the right to go out whenever you want, and you’ll never get things your way again.”
Kamon was about to mention that Violet had two such mates, but they never seemed to get their way when he noticed movement on the bed. He stepped forward at the same time as Rune, making their way to the bed. Kamon moved around to stand on her right side, while Rune moved up on her left.
Kamon held his breath as she moved slightly, her eyelids fluttering against her cheeks, and her left hand lifted from the bed as if reaching out for something.
“Mama,” she whispered in a broken tone, one filled with grief that had his heart aching. “I’m sorry, I failed you, I—” her voice broke on a sob, and Kamon couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Shh, waan jai,” he leaned down, to press a kiss to her forehead, sliding his hand down her arm until he could hold her hand in his. “Wake up for me, now, come on, show us those beautiful brown eyes.”
He watched her face intently, her expression morphing from pain to confusion.
“Don’t keep him waiting too long, baby,” Rune murmured to her gently as he lifted her right hand to press a kiss against her bruised hand. “He’s an impatient man.”
They watched as Klarissa fought against the shrouds of unconsciousness, and no doubt the drugs the healer had administered when they were getting her settled the night before. Kamon willed her to open her eyes and look at them, and when she finally did, blinking a few times to clear her vision, he was stunned at just how beautiful her eyes were. Dark brown, edged with a lighter brown, so unusual that he might have thought her a shifter had he not known any better.
“I thought I was seeing double, but there are two of you,” she whispered, and he smiled back at her as her gaze flew between him and Rune. “I thought I might have had a concussion, and was seeing double, but now I can see that you are only almost identical.”
“Almost identical?” Kamon heard the amusement in his brother’s tone. “How is it that you think you can tell us apart, when most can’t.”
Klarissa was quiet for a moment, her gaze moving back and forth once more between him and Rune, before she answered. “It’s more than just one thing. It’s there in the shape of your eyes, a subtle difference in the color.” She held Kamon’s gaze. “You smile and it’s genuine, but it seems difficult for you, like you don’t use it a lot, but you should, because you have a beautiful smile.” Kamon blinked at that as Klarissa turned to level her gaze at Rune. “But your smile, no less beautiful that his, yours comes easily. Almost naturally.” She shrugged in the cutest damn way, as if embarrassed by what she was saying. “So, yeah, almost identical.”
Kamon looked up as Kieran Murphy, Alpha of the Black Ridge Pride, his mate Josie, and his cousin Liam McMurtrie entered the room.
“Glad to see you are awake, Klarissa.” Kieran spoke as he moved to the foot of her bed and stood staring down at Klarissa with hard eyes. “I heard you were looking for me and were here to give me a warning. Something about death coming for me, and you being the harbinger of it.”
Kamon felt his mate’s hand tremble in his own, and his tiger paced with suppressed energy within him.
“No, that’s not what I said,” Klarissa said in a quiet voice that shook. “I said that death was coming true, but it is not just coming for you, but for all shifters, and not just shifters, but some human’s too. It is coming indiscriminately, and it will change the very fabric of this city. Death is coming, Alpha, and I know what it looks like, because I made it.”