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024 | DREAMING
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Stede and Tarar left me in the woods, my skull cracked and blood seeping into the thick wool of my cloak. I did not let myself cry, even as time blurred into nothingness and I was swept between wakefulness and unconsciousness. My only constants were the red-hot pulsing of my wounds and the ragged blade of betrayal that was stuck deep into my heart.
But I did not let myself cry. I had never been one to give into tears before. It was not in my nature to feel sorry for myself – but then I supposed I’d had little reason to fall into self-pity before. I’d been the strongest, the fastest, the bravest – and now I’d let two Warrior Wolves best me, simply because they were my Warrior Wolves and it felt entirely wrong to hurt them.
I drifted in the darkness, clutching to the memories of burning blue eyes that unravelled me to my core.
And, after an indeterminable amount of time, I felt pressure on my head wound. I hissed through clenched teet
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I stared at her, stunned. “To kill him?” I repeated. I felt stupid, numb. This should have made me ecstatic. So why did it feel like my heart was breaking?Mum nodded excitedly, her face pulling into one of its rare smiles. Her bright blue eyes flashed in the lamplight. “Yes. We can free you soon, sweetheart. You won’t have to spend much longer pretending to love that monster.” Her upper lip curled, and her eyes roved over the scars on my face. “What has he done to you?”I swallowed around the razor-sharp lump forming in my throat. “Nothing more – nothing since I sent you that letter.”She raised an eyebrow at me. “Did he not attack you on the way here? I had assumed – you were clearly lying, after all, sweetie, you are a terrible liar–”I snorted. “I know. I was lying – but not about him.” I sighed heavily. “It was Stede and Ta
Alpha Ares 027 | SNOW AND SIN
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I stared at him and he stared back at me. Our noses brushed; we were so close I could hear every shaky inhale of breath he took and every thump of his heartbeat. He eyed me ravenously, as if I were another meal he could never get his fill of. I remained unguarded, the walls I had so meticulously built to keep him out catching fire in the heat of his burning blue gaze.He swallowed noisily. I watched as his throat bobbed. Stars, he was handsome. He made me dizzy in all the best ways – although that might have been the concussion. If I even had one. It was a convenient excuse, so I decided I most definitely did.My morals went up in smoke as his lips brushed mine.“I’m not pretending,” he murmured, his breath warm and his lips soft. A shiver ran through me. “You have claimed me, heart and soul. I did not think it possible, Haile, but despite all odds I find myself consumed by you. That is why…”“Why what?&rdq
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Alpha Ares 031 | DUSK AT DAWN
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Alpha Ares 141 | EPILOGUE
One year later I smoothed my hands down over my thick cloak. Nerves swarmed in my belly: not the dizzying kind that made me feel faint, but the sort that cast a hazy glow over everything as I walked along the winding woodland pathway. Torches flickered every few feet; orange roses of light bloomed across the mossy, dew-damp earth beneath my boots. “Nervous?” asked Dad. “A little.” I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. “It’s silly, I know. There’s nothing to be nervous about. I’ve been his Luna for the last year – longer, really – but this feels…” I trailed off, unsure how to word exactly how it felt. Official? Real? “It’s been such a long time coming, sweetheart.” “Yeah. Part of me wishes we’d done this straight after the battle, but it made sense to wait until the pack was remade.” Unable to help myself, a grin pushed hard at my cheeks. Everything looked beautiful today, I thought, the pine trees bottle-green beneath the golden setting sun. Everything was glazed with the
Alpha Ares 140 | COME TOGETHER
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Alpha Ares 139 | KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
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Alpha Ares 138 | SURRENDER AND SACRIFICE
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Alpha Ares 137 | BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAIN
We were all so focused on Aliana that none of us heard the quiet tap-tap-tap of claws pacing the stone hallways of the Pack House behind us.And then Scillian smiled. Behind him, the Sable Stalker Alpha and Luna smirked, too, a cruel hook of their lips that made my blood boil; off to the side slightly, Bloodpelt Prowler’s Alpha grinned toothily. They were all so smug, so sure of themselves. So sure that they’d won.“What is this?” Dad asked flatly.“Oh, this?” Scillian brightened impossibly further as he gestured to Aliana. “A game.”“You wouldn’t hurt your own daughter.” Dad sounded less convinced about that than he had a minute ago. “Let her go, and let the battle recommence.”“My daughter is a traitor. And, worse than that: she was running from a fight.” Scillian scoffed. I watched his face closely as he walked, every stride slow and purposeful, towards Aliana. He caressed her cheek, but I looked beyond that. I searched out his eyes through the snowfall, and I found only adoration
Alpha Ares 136 | THE END OF US
I knew, deep down, that this was my last hurrah. I knew, deep down, that if it were not, I would’ve let the pain and the shock hold me back from fighting one last time. My body was weak, but I would not succumb to its needs. This was no ordinary battle, and I had never been one to give up.I felt the pain and let it make me stronger. Adrenaline surged through my veins. I would fight by my mate’s side, and I would try to make it mean something. That was all I could do, now.We neared the Pack House. The tension surrounding it was thick with foreboding; the stillness of the battlefield was somehow worse than when the air had been metallic with spilled blood and the snow melting from the heat of the felled bodies upon it. Now, fresh snow dusted the blood soaked fur of the dead, masking the worst of the atrocities that had been marked upon the land in stark pools of red.Everything was calm. Everything was quiet. Some dark premonition made the back of my neck crawl with the sense that, at
Alpha Ares 135 | BE AMONGST THE STARS
I was numb, inside and out, as I watched. My mind struggled to break free of the overwhelming melancholy, the agony so strong that the only way I could deal with it was to feel nothing at all.The cold helped. A bitter wind whipped between the boulders, sending snowflakes into a flurry. They turned my vision blurry: everything was black and white and grey again, as it had been in the time before Ares. Everything, that was, except for the blood.And there was so much blood.It was start against the pale backdrop of the mist and snow. A physical mark of violence, marring the purity of the white beneath. And, atop its own puddle of red, sat my ear. I shuddered every time my gaze drifted over it; it was the sort of thing I didn’t want to look at but also couldn’t look away from. It was grotesque, torn at a ragged angle, the flesh pink within – My lip curled. It looked so alien to me now, that missing piece of me. I couldn’t imagine how I looked, bloodied and battered, one ear gone. A sn
Alpha Ares 134 | HAUNTED
Claws ripped into me on both sides. I flung Elena off easily enough; she was so small that, even exhausted as I was from hours of adrenaline-fuelled fighting, it didn’t take much effort on my part to dislodge her. Distantly, I heard her pull herself to her paws again. But in this fight, both physically and in the heart of it, she didn’t matter. This was between Etta and I.I winced as Etta’s claws ripped free of my fur and flesh. Blood spat from the wound, hitting the snow and melting the ice surrounding it. I wrenched myself backwards, darting behind the nearest boulder and peering out around it. ‘Why are you doing this?’ I asked – no, I begged.‘I promised myself.’ Her mental voice was nothing like the one I remembered. Etta was often sarcastic and teasing, but there had been a warmth beneath even her cruellest of jokes that had dissipated after Damon’s death. ‘After you left, and after the attacks began. I had to do something for him.’‘Damon and I were friends.’ I edged backwards
Alpha Ares 133 | ON THE WINGS OF FATE
I’d made my choice when Ares mindlinked me. He sounded weak and weary, but very much alive. My heart leapt at the familiar sound of his voice, of gravel and honey, loosening the knot that had been pulling my chest taut ever since the battle had begun.‘I had to run, beautiful. There were too many of them, but I managed to get away.’That was all I needed to hear. I turned and shifted into my wolf form, preparing to race across the empty stretch of battlefield that had been left behind the attacking armies as they approached.‘Are you okay?’ I asked. There was one other thing I needed to hear, it turned out.‘I’m fine.’ I was pretty sure he was lying, but if he was well enough to lie then I didn’t have to worry about my mate too much. ‘Are you? What happened with Nazte?’‘Nothing. It was weird.’ I fell forwards, landing on paws and snapping my jaws. ‘He wanted to know how Cendres was. We just… Talked.’The cabin’s front door banged open behind me. I twisted around, catching sight of Na
