Waking up in Cain's arms feels right, he's like the calm amongst the crazy. I've accepted that something is going on and I don't know if I'll ever understand it, but this is the new normal I guess.Cain pretends to still be asleep when I turn to look at him, I can tell he's pretending because his eyes are forced shut and his mouth keeps twitching like he's trying not to smile."Morning, stay asleep. I'm just going to get some uni work done before Calista does that self defence class with us." I whisper in his ear, throwing the blanket off of myself and then, with a little burst of confidence, I lean down and kiss him on the lips.I'd anticipated just a quick peck, but as soon as our lips touch, his arms wrap around me, pulling me against him and rolling so he's got me pinned me beneath his body. "Morning." He grins down at me and while there's nothing especially erotic about his smile, there seems to be another part of him that seems very awake, separated only by the material of his
The rogues are getting cocky, somehow getting past the patrols at the exact right moment and leaving before the patrol is close enough to trace them. As soon as Flame woke me and told me she saw a wolf-like creature watching the house I contacted the patrol to tell them, but something needs to be done. It's been getting better between us, so I've been avoiding telling her what we are, but I'm not sure how much longer I can put it off. My father called an emergency meeting as soon as the patrol reported finding nothing outside, so I left Flame in bed watching films while I went downstairs to his office. Darius, Zac and Cally were already waiting outside when I got there, and of course Gene, Levi and Samuel were inside, with Caleb and Anastasia, both of whom were on patrol tonight. "... Was nothing but a lingering scent." Anastasia is finishing her report as we enter the room and she smiles warmly at me. She was my mother's best friend and considers herself an unofficial aunt since m
Yesterday was bizarre to say the least, I'm not sure how to digest all the information so, for lack of a better option, I'm not. I'm walking around, talking to people, trying to keep myself as busy as I can and pretending all this crazy shit isn't happening, because if I really stop to think about what I saw and heard yesterday, then I'm not sure how I'll come back from that level of insanity. I was only just getting to grips with the idea that I might possibly have lost my memory and created new and fake ones to replace them, that's unlikely but possible, isn't it? It's like something amazing you'd watch on TV, but this… werewolves? They aren't real, everyone knows that, but Cain transformed… shifted… right before my eyes. He's told me I can't tell my friends about it, says it needs to be kept a closely guarded secret or the humans would panic. He says it goes back to a time when humans knew about us… us, because he says I'm one of them, which I can't even begin to comprehend… anyw
My father, Gene, Zac and Cally left to interrogate the rogue early this morning. They haven't waited the usual forty-eight hours and there's a lot of meaningful looks passing between them which is irritating me, knowing they know more than they're telling me.Flame is still asleep after her ordeal yesterday, I have no idea why she was over near the hospital, or why she was alone, but I could feel her fear and pain where I was all the way on the opposite side of the pack. By the time I got to her, Allison had already sedated her and she was sleeping peacefully, her sister beside her, playing the part of concerned sibling.Despite Allison's pleas, I ejected Merida from the house. Despite her fierce resistance, I re-assign her to training and night patrols for the foreseeable future, telling her that if she ever puts Flame in danger again, I won't hesitate to execute her on the spot. The only reason she's still alive now is because I know it would upset Flame to lose her, but I won't be
I wake up feeling like I've done some sort of marathon. My whole body aches, I feel weak and like part of myself is missing. Guilt fills me, knowing I'm feeling like this because of that pill and that probably means I was pregnant and my body is working on getting rid of the baby. I didn't think I'd feel like this, I certainly wasn't ready for a baby, but now I wish I could take it back.I whisper apologies to my stomach, as if the baby might somehow be able to hear me, praying to whoever is out there to somehow save my baby, regardless of what it might mean for me.Getting up proves difficult, but I drag myself into the shower, then back into my room to focus on the notes of dreams. I'm so thankful Gale wrote them down now, but it's still weird knowing these are memories of a life I don't remember.Darius brings me food and sits with me for a while, asking if I'm ok because I look pale, but I just pretend I didn't sleep well and eventually he leaves when Merida makes an appearance.
It's obvious something is wrong the moment I step across the border into the packlands. Two many wolves are patrolling the borders and when they see me, their eyes go wide and they scatter like flies, disappearing from my sight.My stomach becomes heavy, not wanting to consider the main reason they would be avoiding me, but I speed up anyway, knowing it'll be at least another hour before I reach the packhouse, even running.If Kade were here, he'd be able to mindlink, but it'll be tomorrow at the very earliest before he arrives, so my only hope is to meet someone who'll be brave enough to tell me why there's a morose atmosphere across the pack.After the group of patrol wolves, I don't see a soul the entire time it takes me to get back and my suspicions and anxiety are at their highest. My father's office door is closed but I'm headed upstairs anyway, straight to her room and, finding it empty, I go to mine and then each of her friends in turn.No one's seen her for hours and despite
"Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm faster than you." I cackle, sprinting ahead and aiming for the dense woodland, knowing that Cain will struggle to get through them as quickly as I can.I dive into a hole in a tree, backing up as far as possible and holding my hand over my face to cover the sound of my breathing.His heavy footsteps get closer and I have to resist the urge to giggle as he stomps past my hideout."Come out, come out wherever you are." He taunts, stopping to listen for any noise. Suddenly, I feel two hands grab me under the arms and lift me through the roots above me."I found you, little red." He grins, his eyes twinkling with amusement."Oh, Mr big bad wolf, what sharp teeth you have." The ring on my left hand sparkles in the fading light as I use my thumb to expose his beautiful white teeth."Mmmm, all the better to eat you." He smirks, tugging me close and whispering in my ear. "Let me demonstrate before the woodsmen ruins our fun."His lips mee
Her eyes meet mine and I refuse to believe she's telling the truth, but when I look around, I'm not sure I can everyone else is as confident as me. What she's said, what she's implying, that my Flame, my mate could be a traitor, no, she wouldn't. "Liar." It only takes a few seconds for my emotions to boil over, the wolfsbane seems to burn away instantly and Kade is pushing through to snarl at my mate's sister. "I'm sorry, Cain." She drops her head submissively and now I know she's lying. Too confident I would never hurt her for Flame's sake, she's one of the few who have never bowed to me before, so this act she's got on… I'm not sure what she's playing at but I refuse to believe her. She starts to babble on about what Flame did, how she almost orchestrated Chloe's death and I can see Jaden getting more and more worked up over the death of his mate. "Wait." My father's voice seeps into my mind when I'm about to silence Merida. "I know you're angry, but let the girl trip herself up
It's been seven months since we left Ekron and Merida's ceremony. My parents are not only refusing to believe she was working against us, but that she's dead altogether. It's gotten so bad that Amara has had to move out and into the packhouse. My mother is convinced she'll find Merida and has been searching every day for her. We took her to where it all happened, but instead of helping them accept it and move on, it just gave them a place to base their search. Coal is reluctant to separate the packs until Maloney is found, or so he says, there's something else going on in his head that he's not sharing with me and I'm letting it go for the time being, if he's not sharing it means he hasn't worked it out yet, so I won't push him until he's ready. It's at least giving me the opportunity to get to know the potential Alpha's a bit better and hopefully it will help maintain pack relations when the time comes. The would-be Alpha's aren't pushing the situation, I'm guessing they've realised
Flame and Ekron's wolves circle one another, Onyx is silent, assessing him as he snarls and snaps at her, waiting for the best moment to make her move.When she does, sinking her teeth into his neck and digging her claws into his side, I notice movement in the crowd and ready myself to intercept anyone trying to intervene, but instead I see a slow trickle of deserters slipping away to become rogues. The remaining individuals glare at them, spitting out words like "traitor" as they pass."Cain, how's it going?" Gene links with me and I can tell by his tone that something is wrong."Flame's fighting Ekron, about a third of the pack have left to become rogues. What's going on with you?" I link back, my eyes following the fight in front of me. Ekron is good, he must have been trained well, but he's got obvious tells, which Onyx is taking full advantage of and by the sounds of the crowd, everyone can tell she's winning."We've found the humans. It's not good Cain, we've got Doctor Fayer th
As soon as Coal told me about Ekron and Maloney, I tried to mindlink Amara, telling her so she can go to Merida and hoping to cause a distraction so I can get to speak to Ollie.The angry screams of Merida and rush of footsteps past our room gives me my opportunity, Coal stays in the room to cover for me and I run up the corridor, following the vague scent of him to lead me to the right place.Coal said there was a guard in his room, but fortunately for me, the guard must have been one of the ones to run towards the chaos, become the doors slightly open and Ollie is on his own inside."Leila." He greets me happily, as though we're still at uni and I've just popped over to say hi. He catches himself and bows. "Sorry, Alpha Tegwen.""Ollie, what are you doing here?" I scan the corridor carefully before closing the door."You know why, it's all I want." He tells me, lowing his voice as though if any wolves were around they wouldn't hear him. "Don't worry though, as soon as I've got my wo
We're being followed, it's obvious from the moment we get close to our destination. No one is visible but the scent of wolf is too strong to just be a territory thing.Tegwen looks at me, sensing it too and then we look back at Levi who is already loading weapons for Tegwen's friends. He's cracking jokes with the humans, his humour belying the serious warrior underneath, constantly alert and assessing his surroundings. His eyes meet mine for the briefest of seconds and flick towards my window. When I look, it initially seems to be just a dark section of forest, but, deep within the shadows, I can see the dark outline of a wolf running alongside the car."We're surrounded." Levi mindlinks me, while simultaneously handing a shotgun to Gale and showing her how to load the cartridges."Now, don't point this at anyone you want to see again. Even wolves can't recover when they resemble Swiss cheese." He jokes and Gale laughs, nodding her head as she looks over the gun in her hand, oblivious
"Ollie, no I can't." I say as gently as I can, while studying the map on Alpha Abaddon's office wall - I can't seem to call it my office yet, at least not in my own head, it doesn't yet feel real."But why not?" He actually stomps his foot like a child having a tantrum and I'm surprised, I've never seen this side of him before."Ok, aside from the fact we are currently in the middle of a war, it's also too dangerous, you could die." I drag my eyes away from the map long enough to look at him."Emery was fine and I'm stronger than her, even when she isn't injured, if she could survive it then I'm bound to." A knock on my door has us both turning to see Anastasia striding inside, an earnest look on her face."Look, Emery was a chance we took because she was dying anyway, we would never have considered it if we had any other choice and have you seen her? She is not 'fine' at all, she's struggling and terrified of the ch…""But that's because it was never something she considered. I want
We were foolish to think it would be over this early, that it would end with the death of Eligor and his followers would fade back to wherever they came from. Samuel is inconsolable and if it weren't for his desire for revenge, I'm not sure he wouldn't have ended his own life by now. As it is, we've had to get Flame's parents to take Amara home because his wolf seems unable to separate twin from twin, projecting his fury at Merida onto her and demanding her death in recompense for the loss of his mate.In the meantime we've sent scouts out to search the area for any signs of Merida or Ekron or any gatherings of any description. Thankfully Flame's parents have also stepped in to help Emery with her wolf, because Flame is torn between her friend and leading the now far too large pack."We found marks up by the Western border but they're odd. Too obvious, like they've been left there on purpose." Darius pulls up a picture of some slices in a tree, swiping through them all and each is sl
When I wake up, I instantly know something is wrong, I'm alone in a hospital room and though I can feel Coal is close and obviously there should be staff around, the sound proofing means I can't hear anything going on outside of my four walls."Find Coal, something is going on." Onyx confirms the tickle of fear running down my spine, so I carefully remove the tubes from my body and sit up, tentatively feeling the stitches running along my stomach. The wound seems to have healed, but it still feels a little bruised when I move and a jolt of worry has me placing my hand lower, where my baby is."She's fine, luckily your sister went too high." Coal pushes open the door, his eyes raking all over me, dark circles under them show me the stress and exhaustion he's trying to hide."What's going on?" I notice he closes the door fully behind him, closing out the brief snippet of the chaotic noise outside."How are you feeling?" He asks instead and now I know it's bad."I'm fine, now what's goin
Flame clings tightly to my hand as we join the crowds, all walking slowly through the roads. Darius appears beside me, escorting her human friends who have been allowed to witness tonight's event. I'm a little concerned about how excited Ollie seems to be by everything, he's not changed his mind about wanting to become one of us, but that's a problem for another time and he is at least trying to be respectful by reigning in his excitement to just wide eyed staring. Gene and Levi have gone all out for tonight's funeral celebrations. They just have involved pretty much the entire pack to have gotten all of this done in such a short time. Flowers and lights lead from every road up to the clearing and a stage has been erected to one side of the numerous bonfires. Photographs line the stage, my father amongst them, and even though I was there, it hits harder to see the smiling faces of those we lost. We exchange brief words with those we pass, accepting condolences and offering them back,
There's so much to do and not enough time to do it, I don't know how Alpha Abaddon ever got to leave his office. It feels like every other minute I've got someone trying to contact me, directly inside my mind too, it's not like when I thought I was human and could pretend I'd left my mobile on charge if I didn't want to answer it, no, this lot have a direct dial straight to my mind and there's no answer phone or text option. My parents have been respectful and I think that's only because Samuel went over there late last night to explain the situation, but they're amongst the cacophony of voices jostling for priority inside my head, not only because they know I remember who I am, but also to talk about Merida. I don't know if they know where she is, I can't even consider the fact that they might have known that she was working for Eligor all along and what about Amara? Her twin sister is a traitor, that's going to take some digesting. Unless she already knew? In which case she could b