Note: This chapter was written as a special holiday chapter during Christmas, right after the chapter where Eric and Claire passed away. It gives a little bit of insight into their lives before they were in hiding. I hope you enjoy it!EricAnother Winter Solstice. Another birthday, come and gone. Another year without a mate.Growing up, having my birthday on the Winter Solstice was always fun. I got extra presents, and it was as if everyone was celebrating my birthday, even though they were really just celebrating that the days would get longer again. But in my innocence as a child, it seemed, of course, that it was mainly about me.Now, at 25, and still mateless, it was less exciting. Now, I dreaded the holiday, and dreaded my birthday.It didn’t help that this year, my best friend, my future beta, Damien, had found his mate only weeks ago — a witch named Veronica — and they were joined at the hip now.I had no ill feelings towards him — truly; I was ecstatic for him. Finding your m
A LITTLE OVER 1 YEAR AFTER THE EPILOGUEJUNIPER I paced back and forth in our bedroom as I waited for Lukas to come back from morning training with Drew and Finn. He’d left me sleeping. Or, at least, he thought I was sleeping. I was half awake when he brushed a soft kiss on my cheek and tucked the blankets around my naked body before he walked out of the room. I had been too antsy and on edge to sleep, too ready to enact my little surprise for him. The double doors to our room opened just as a wave of nausea rolled through me. “Oh goddess,” I whimpered, and then ran into the bathroom before Lukas could see me. I turned the faucet on so he wouldn’t hear me retching, but it was pointless. The bathroom door slammed open and his worried gaze scanned over my body right before I hurled my guts out into the toilet. But instead of turning and leaving me, Lukas walked straight to me, kneeling down next to me and rubbing my back underneath my pink and blue plaid shirt, the skin to skin co
King Tobias POVKing Tobias Bancroft gave a smug smile as he looked around the table at the people who were dining with him. He toyed with the stem of his crystal wineglass in front of him. The dark red liquid reminded him of the blood of his enemies, the blood he had spilled in order to get to the position he was in today — King of the Werewolf Kingdom.The long, ornate mahogany table was adorned with gold place settings. The most expensive long-stemmed roses in the entire realm sat in the centerpieces placed at precise spots along the length of the table.His court members were all in attendance, dressed in their very best, in rich fabrics and colors. The women wore exquisite evening gowns and ballgowns and decorated their bodies with glittering jewels. The men wore designer suits tailored in a perfect fit to their bodies.He had no regrets, none whatsoever, about the steps he and his father before him had taken in order to secure their rightful place on the throne. They guaranteed
JuniperThe blaring alarm clock near my ears jolted me from my sleep. My eyes blinked open and shut as they tried to adjust to the light seeping in from around the room-darkening shades that covered the massive windows in my bedroom.I loved the view those windows provided of the sprawling forest during the day and the expansive heavens late at night, but I never failed to curse their existence in the early hours of the morning. No amount of room darkening curtains could mask the light from the blazing sun rising high into the sky.I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to block out the sound of the alarm and clinging to the last remnants of my dream. It was a futile act, as the memory went away like sand through my fingers at the beach.I flopped my body over with a groan. My arm searched the nightstand fruitlessly for the alarm to shut it off, only vaguely aware of what my hand was touching in place of where my alarm normally sat. It felt odd, like a small box with something crinkly and d
LukasI lay awake in my king-sized bed. My body was on top of my navy blue comforter, watching as the hours ticked by on the clock that served as my screensaver on my iMac.It was five in the morning, which meant that I still had at least two more hours before Juniper would wake up for the day. Two more hours before I could text her and ask her to meet me. About three hours before I could see her, before I could tell the world that Juniper Costa was my mate, my future luna.Three hours until I could take her into my arms and hold her perfect, tiny, soft body against mine in something more than just a quick hug between two best friends. I could kiss her plump, pink lips, and be able to place my mating mark on the creamy, smooth skin of her neck. And she — she would know that Selene meant us for each other. She would feel the tingles and sparks of the mate bond I had felt for the last two years, since my own 19th birthday.I wish I could say that those two years had been easy for me, b
JuniperNothing.There was nothing. No sparks, no magic pulse or zap or jolt or…Just skin touching skin.I grabbed the gifts, hugging them to my chest, blinking back tears. He was watching me, and I couldn’t tell anything about what he was feeling. I was obviously not his mate. He wouldn't be able to control his wolf the way he was if I were his mate. If I was his mate, I would be in his arms, his soft lips pressed against mine. If I was, he would have said, “Mine!” If I was, I would have felt something, anything, when we touched each other just now, but I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.I walked to one bench near the well, quickly sitting and unwrapping the larger of the two gifts before we could speak any words between the two of us. I would not comment on the lack of a mate bond if he wasn’t going to, either. There was no reason to acknowledge something that obviously didn’t exist.The wrapping paper fell away, revealing an extensive set of colored pencils, the special high end
Drew Wings. Fucking gold wings had just appeared out of my best friend’s back. And I didn’t mean small, delicate, wispy things. I’m talking giant, pure gold wings. They were still beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But they looked nothing like what I pictured when I imagined a fairy with wings. Because it was obvious that’s what she was. Not a witch. Never a witch. A fairy. A fucking Fae. In our pack. Out of all of our pack members, I should have known, should have realized when we were kids, that she wasn’t a witch. Her magic differed from mine, relying more on the elements rather than coming only from inside her and being limited by the amount of power held inside. Like I was. Being only half witch, I had a very limited power level inside of me. Not even half of the amount of power June had, if you didn’t include the power she could draw from the elements. If you included that, well, mine was a drop in the bucket compared to her power level. She reached behind her body, the matching
Juniper Every person who was in my living room was currently acting like an idiot. Drew was sputtering like a fool and jumping off of the couch like there were ants in his pants, Myles was throwing Drew around like he weighed nothing, and my parents were watching everything that was happening with laughter in their eyes. And me? Well, I just wanted to know what the fuck was going on, and whether Drew was my mate. I had spent a lot of time focusing on what I was feeling around him, and thinking about what had happened, and I had concluded that we were not, in fact, mates. I couldn’t be sure until somebody told us with one hundred percent certainty. There were no sparks when we touched, and I had detected no hints of jealousy or possessiveness from Drew. Just his overwhelming need to protect me that had him needing me within arm’s reach at all times. “Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I just — I need to know,” I began. “Is Drew my mate?” I finally asked, my voice barely audible