Swept inside the castle, annoyingly parted from Nikolai almost straight away. Maddox silently stays with me, always a few paces behind. Heavy-set guards lead us into a spacious, firelit parlour. Dawn is breaking through the huge sash windows, lined by purple velvet curtains, signalling the end of one of the worst nights in our race’s history. Freya has changed into black mourning, her brown curls still wild but her figure hidden beneath a frumpy long black shift. Sat next to her is Zena, Cillian’s date.Her grey eyes study me and she has a striking familiarity. Then again, when your parents are pack rulers, you meet an awful lot of people. My brain is too frazzled to work her out right now.With no sign of the Alpha’s we are left surrounded by a dozen guards from all three packs. Freya, Zena and I have no ability to mind link, any conversation open to a dozen different pairs of ears. We need some privacy, somewhere to breathe. Beta Adrian, assigned to Freya, stood with his arms fol
Staring directly in his face I prayed Priya would keep herself low, to not give away any emotion with tell-tale pink shards in my eyes. “Look, you know he threatened me before the Ceremony, he’s attacked one of Cillian’s Beta’s too. He’s not right…he’s too flawed,” before he placed his hand on mine. I quenched a flinch, enduring his hold, noticing him adding a stroke of his thumb along the top. Primly, I replied, “I am trying my best to make it work. I believe in the value of the mate bond but I am sorry you got hurt.” The lie made my stomach churn. I wondered if Nikolai would pick up on it wherever he was in the castle.. If he sensed betrayal would he charge in here and lose control? Phillipe sighed dramatically, running his free hand across the back of his neck. “It is not your fault, just as tonight was not mine. We cannot be held responsible for the actions of our mates.” Continuing to stare into his eyes my throat hitched as his eyes turned fully purple. Phillipe kept his vo
There is a new vibe in this castle. So many new, rapidly promoted Rising Star Beta Guards lurking around every corner. Outnumbering White Forest and Shadowlands substantially. I remember visiting this castle often as a child. Luna Hollie and Brandon always made it warm and inviting. The fixtures are all more lavish than White Forest. More marble, gold, and brighter, bigger windows should make it less cold. Except it feels like a morgue now. Talon is clawing away with anxiety. I trust Maddox to protect her, but we need to get out of here. It didn’t help that when Cillian led me towards the dungeon to interview the arrested men, we found Phillipe in one of the cells. All the prisoners were dead. A scattering of limbs and blood covered the walls as the newly crowned Alpha stood naked, panting, and covered in blood. His white shock of hair was spattered with gore, his pristine suit in rags on the floor. “What the fuck Phillipe! How are we to interrogate this?” Cillian cried in frust
My boots clipped along the grey flagstones until we felt the morning sunshine on our faces. Maddox followed as I walked towards the empty herb gardens. Surrounded by thick plumes of sage and rosemary it made my head dizzy. Nikolai and Maddox looked at me with concern, neither of them questioning what they had just witnessed just yet. All dressed head to toe in black, we looked more like assassins than mourners. From his black pants Nikolai produced a folded letter. “Maddox, can you find us a motorbike, we’re getting out. I need you to ensure my mother and father get this message. Beta Adrian can stay with Freya for now. I need you to switch to my parents. They are not left in a room without someone awake watching. I trust you to pick the right people from the Beta Warriors. Nobody brand new. They will protest but I demand it. Beta Guards in shifts, constant vigilance.” I stood in awe of my mate. How had he gotten taller in the couple of hours we had parted. Confidence oozed from e
Every time I think I have a handle on her she takes my breath away. Those boots, shit she was in trouble the instant she ripped her dress to get more comfortable on the bike. Black leather clinging to her calves, I only wished they went higher. Talon growled appreciatively, /She wants us to make her ours, let us give our mate exactly what she wants./ “I don’t think we’ll be needing this,” I whisper as I slowly unhook her black lace bra. The material is so soft asI make sure not to graze her skin. I want her desperate for my touch. Begging for those already solid nipples to be sucked and teased. For fireworks to dance upon her. Her green eyes widened as I tied the material of her dress around one wrist, then I lifted her arm up, flicking the material over a tree branch before lifting her other arm. Pausing, looking into her eyes, already switched to being pink as candyfloss, chewing at her lip with longing I had to ask. “Happy?” “Very, but hurry up,” she snapped back with a flirty g
The vision swirled around me, the same as every time. Ascending wooden stairs, a door opening to reveal a bedroom with brass horseshoes above the bed. There she was. Waiting with a maniacal grin and wild brown hair. Feral, unpredictable eyes peering out from the brown hair, wearing her sackcloth, peasant style dress.She raised her arms, her smile widening even further as she whispered, “you,” before her and Nikolai moved towards each other, as if preparing to embrace.So far, so familiar. A black void swallowed me, waking up with my wrists pinned by Nikolai. Restraining me as I flailed, crying “No! no! Why can’t I see more!” my frustration boiling over.“Vee, I’m here, I’m here,” he whispered, looming over me, allowing his spiced scent to calm me. He let go of my wrists and helped pull me back up to sitting where I held my head in my hands.“I need to see more! Every night I try to get a clue, a hint of anything we can use but I’ve never managed. Your mother could pause it, even take
Vee’s dropped to the floor and blabbering like she’s speaking in tongues. Helplessly I cradled her in my arms, taking slaps and scratches as her arms flailed wildly. “What’s happening?” Leona hissed, aware of the few remaining townsfolk watching this scene. “She’s having a vision!” “Genevieve has the gift?” Leona exclaimed with her eyes wide. “What can we do to help!?” “I don’t have a fucking clue,” suddenly wishing I hadn’t been so closed off to my mother. Had Genevieve felt she could tell me about his side of her life sooner, maybe I wouldn’t be so bloody clueless now. My heart ached as she thrashed, coughing like a drowning woman. I pressed her to me and thought of how much she meant to me. She has calmed my wolf down with the same gesture. I didn’t think of sex, her body, and those sumptuous moans of pleasure that I had become addicted to. The first thing that came to my mind was the look in her eyes when we danced at the Ceremony. Holding her to me as we were meant to be. H
I’ve never killed anyone before. I’ve run through hundreds of sparring routines, every offensive and defensive position you could imagine has been run through, in theory. To take a blade across a mans throat is different. I thought it would be tougher, yet the sharpness of the bladed arrows and their silver made it like slicing through butter. Knowing that person wanted to harm Nikolai, Priya practically guided it for me, keeping my hand steady and nerves in check as the blow struck. Laden with bows and arrows the archers were not prepared for close combat at all. The garbled, bloody noises the bastards made as they fell were harder to absorb. The briefest resistance from the windpipe as the blade followed its path. Kharkov, Jackson, and my father taught us all well. We knew to keep pushing the weapon as far as we could. To slash was not enough. The shove of the blade must be deep enough to put the man to the ground. At the same time we were taught to use our free hand to rip out an