I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and when she doesn’t answer, I crawl over to her, where she is sat on a mattress. It’s only as I get closer that I can see she has been gagged. A piece of material wrap around her head and stuffed in her mouth She looked petrified as I reached a hand out to pull her gag down and backs away.“Did Lucian do this?” I whisper in the dark, I didn’t need Daryl to find me, not right now.“Yes” she whispers back at me, her eyes moving to the hatch.So this is why Lucian suggested staying in my bedroom for forty eight hours. He didn’t want me to discover Tasha. What was he planning on doing?I pull at the chains on her wrists, but they don’t budge, even when I ask Reaper for help with strength. They are locked tight, the same as the ones around her ankles. How long had Lucian been planning this?“I’m so sorry.” I mutter. She may not have told us the truth about Roland, and I may have been mad at her, but she didn’t deserve this from her own mate. “It’s oka
It’s over in a few minutes, but the damage to her skin is done. Huge blisters are quickly forming on her skin, she needed medical treatment and quickly.Her body slumps back against the wall, no longer being able to cope with the pain, but thankfully this time, I’m able to break the chains, freeing her.The men are still fighting below us and have crashed through another wall as I try to shake Tasha awake.“Come on, wake up. I need to get you out of here!”She doesn’t stir and I pull her with me, dropping down through the hole and pulling her still body to the bedroom. It wasn’t like I could escape naked.Quickly pulling on some clothes and trainers. I look around the room, stuffing some basics in a bag for Tasha and I. Thankfully we were around the same size so my stuff would fit her fine.Daryl’s wallet sat on the side cabinet, at first I hesitated but grabbed his credit card and the wad of money in the back plus his keys. I would be able to link him to let him know where we were.“
“No, it just can’t be. He worked hard to keep us alive!” Reaper whines at me as I watch Tasha sleep.Tasha and I had had a good conversation with a lot of tears and hugs thrown in. She had admitted that she never wanted to become like us, that she just wanted to get to know me. After all, I had kept coming to her in her dreams before actually turning up on her doorstep. The whole time all I could think about is what Lucian had done. Had he really been playing all of us? Had he been working with Amber all along?“But Reaper, what if that was part of his plan? I did his dirty work for him, killing Amber. Everything he told me to do, I listened to him, I confided in him. He used us!”She retreats to the back of my mind. I knew she was feeling confused, frustrated, annoyed that once again we had somehow been tricked.I search for a link to Daryl, to anyone from his pack. I should be able to speak to someone because Daryl had marked me. But all I got was silence. Maybe the distance between
She refuses to say anymore. Keeping her eyes locked on the road and ignoring any of my pleas.“Lucian will kill her.” Reaper tells me but it wasn’t just that I was worried about, it was the fact that Lucian was still alive. Daryl hadn’t killed him.As the miles passed, the ache in my heart slowly began to disappear but a new feeling was coming into place. At first it was nausea and then I truly began to feel sick. My stomach continued to churn as Tasha drove until I finally force her to stop. Pushing the door open, I don’t even manage to unfasten my seat belt before the vomit comes.Thankfully it goes out the door rather than in the car and on me.“Shit, are you okay Ash?” she grabs a bottle of water from the back seat and hands it too me“Yeah, it’s probably something I’ve eaten!” I wave her away as I guzzle down the water.“But you haven’t eaten yet today. You said you weren’t hungry.”“Oh. Maybe it was something I ate yesterday.”“You ate the same as me yesterday. Is this because o
“Pregnant?” Tasha repeats the words quietly as her eyes focus on my stomach.“Apparently so” I mutter back at her.Her chair slides back from the table and she stands.“Tasha?” I ask, wondering what she was up too. When she turns and walks straight out the food court.“I’ll go.” Jax offers.“What’s that about?” I didn’t understand, was she disgusted that I was pregnant. Did the hunter in her not want me to be this way?Daryl hasn’t said anything and is busy unwrapping burgers for me.“You know something?” I glare at him.“Sort of. Lucian screamed something about killing his own child before he took off. Well so Jax tells me, I was out of it."“Tasha was pregnant?” When?"“I believe so, but I am unsure when.” It explained why she had reacted the way she did. I couldn’t imagine having something like that taken away from me, but I also wondered what Lucian did to her. Wolves didn’t have miscarriages.“Give her time and I am sure she will talk about it.”I nod my head at him.“He didn’t k
She finally breaks down, telling us how she met Lucian on a hunt one night. He hadn’t been afraid of her, and she wasn’t afraid of him. He had freely answered her questions without so much as making a threat. It became a habit. Lucian would always turn up every couple of days while she was out hunting. Tasha tells us that she knew he was there, watching, waiting and she was even certain that he was bringing vampires for her to hunt. Like he enjoyed seeing her kill them.It went that way for a few months, until one night Lucian had turned up to her house. Telling her that he could no longer resist her. They had slept together that night and she had hated herself. What was worse is how Lucian had just disappeared in the night when she was asleep.It was after their night together that she began having dreams of me.“You told him?”“Well, yes, but not at first. His visits grew in frequency. Nearly every night he would wait until my father had gone hunting before sneaking into my room. I
I sit quietly, completely in shock as he speeds us down the road.“Daryl, we have to go back.”“Not a chance. I just need to get you to safety.”“But Tasha, she needs our help.”“I don't even know where she is or if Lucian somehow managed to get her out before I got to the car. Look when I know that you are safe, then we will worry about Tasha.”His voice is low, he’s angry, he had just lost his Beta to an explosion.He races us through the roads, his eyes constantly searching the grounds in front of us. I was starting to get scared by his speed and clutch at my seat belt.“Daryl, slow down.”“I have to get you back to the packhouse.”“The packhouse won’t protect me.”“Maybe not, but there and hundreds of people who will.”The car speeds down the road and Daryl swerves in and out of cars. I was certain he was going to crash, he was driving like a mad man.He swings the car onto the drive that leads towards his pack and finally slows down. Here we were hidden by the trees and it was li
“No!”“What do you mean ‘no’? What if it works Daryl? What if I can stop Lucian? Amber managed to do it to me!”“Maybe it will work, but what if it doesn’t? I am not putting you or the babies in anymore danger!”“I need to know what he has done with Tasha!” the growl rolls through me as I became more and more irritated.“Please Ash, just think of the babies!”“I am Daryl. That’s the problem, I am thinking of them. I don’t want them to come into a world where they are permanently under attack by my own brother. I need to stop him, for good.”It’s only as we come to a stop in front of the packhouse that I see it has been rebuilt. Bigger than before and instead of two floors an extra floor had been added. How much damage had Lucian and Daryl’s fight caused?“We had to rebuild. Honestly, there wasn’t much left after Lucian took off, besides I never really liked the old packhouse anyway.”“How?” Tasha and I had been away for weeks not months.“It’s surprising how quick the pack come togeth
A few months has passed since all the craziness with Lucian. Things had settled down massively, well, apart from being thrown into motherhood and raising triplets. I was just glad I wasn’t doing it on my own.Daryl was still getting used to having a smaller pack. Although he had already been out trying to recruit other packs that were smaller than ours. Some had accepted whereas others had told him where to go. The pack was still much smaller than the average wolf pack with less than a hundred people now after many had lost their lives in the fight against my brother, but he was certain he would make it great again. After all, he really wanted to pass on an almighty pack to Daryl Junior, the eldest of the triplets.In just a few months the three of them had grown quite quickly, instead of being like three-month-olds, they looked more like eighteen month olds and certainly liked to keep me busy and on my toes, especially since they were already walking and running. I assumed they were
More bullets come as I keep low, the stench of Lucian’s blood filling the air as he hovers above me. With each bullet, I am splattered in his blood, but it continues to do little more than slow him down.“You have not learnt a thing!” he roars at me as his claws wrap around my neck, lifting me from the ground.I should have been afraid, scared for my own life as I faced death when he suddenly stills. My feet dangling in the air at least ten inches from the ground. His deep amber eyes staring into mine, but he was quiet, no sound was coming from Lucian and yet everyone around us was yelling.His claws pierced the skin of my neck, my own blood trickling down over my cool skin as I watched Lucian’s nostrils flare. He was enjoying my scent, like it was something he had been longing for. This was not in my plan.His teeth sink into my shoulder as I let out a scream, and I see people charging towards Lucian. Daryl was shouting out something about protecting the Luna.Lucian’s jaw refuses to
“I will stop this.” I try to reassure the tiny beast in my arms, but I still didn’t know if I could even kill him, if it was even possible.“She will never be yours!” Lucian’s voice howls around us making Natasha’s little beast cling to me harder. Her tiny claws piercing my skin as they dug into me, her body trembling as his voice echoes around us.“Drop the spell.” I whisper to the small beast. Lucian was using her to put the spell around the dungeons, to stop others from getting any closer, but she was still a baby, could she even understand what I was saying? Could my reassurance be enough?Her small furry body continues to tremble against mine until it suddenly stops, momentarily scaring the crap out of me. When I hear soft snuffles coming from her and gently turn her head. She had fallen asleep on me. She had gone from a terrified little beast to one in a deep sleep, she had needed me so much more than I had ever known, and I feel a shift inside of me. The need to protect her, no
“It’s not that simple is it. I may have some magical abilities, but he still has years over me. Years of training, years of knowledge, years of planning what he calls his redemption.”“But there is something he possibly didn’t account for. A mother’s love, a mate’s love. The fact that a whole pack will be right behind you.”It just didn’t seem true. Maybe I had been looking at this all wrong and it wasn’t just my fight anymore.“Then how am I supposed to make myself stronger?”“You already know Ash, look at the things you have been capable of. Personally, I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”I was completely soaked from the heavy rain as I stared up into his amber eyes, the blue flecks shining brightly through the storm. It wasn’t just me that had changed but it seemed like he had too. His once sulky and moody self had mellowed out.“What ever happens Ash, you have three babies that need you.”I slowly bob my head, he was right, but I had still left them to check on my best
No one stops me, no one even comes after me as I race through the forest towards her house. She had to be here, it was where it had all started.As I break out of the forest, I see it, her small house sitting on the opposite side of the road. A trail of blood leading up the few steps as the door sat open. Anyone could walk in here, anything could have found her.Creeping towards the house, I knew the trail of blood belonged to her. It was dry though and had been sat here for a while, but it didn't remove her scent.“Tasha?” I call out her name as I step in through the front door, hoping for some kind of response but I was met with silence and what was worse is the trail of blood ended in the middle of the room. There was nothing, no body, no pool of dried red, but more importantly there was no sound.The floorboards didn’t creak like I was used to, no weird smell from all the herbal teas she had scattered around.“Can you hear her?” I mutter to Reaper. I didn’t even know why I was ask
The omega keeps her head low, not speaking as she remained in the room. She was our biggest risk right now; she was the only one to know that I had had a third baby and I couldn’t have her revealing that information, not to anyone.“You can’t say anything!” I plead with her, hoping that she would understand.“They need to be checked over.” She mumbles back at me and Daryl shakes his head“Kiera, you cannot tell anyone, you cannot share the news of Ash having a third child. Do you understand?” He was using his Alpha tone, a tone that I was only to familiar with.The omega gulps, her eyes wide as she slowly nods her head.“I need you to say it Kiera!”“I won’t tell anyone, but how are you going to hide her, what if she is a poorly pup?”Daryl looks between me and the omega as I gently rock our little girl.“Kiera, you will become Ashley’s personal maid. You will do nothing else in the house except for helping Ash and tending to the children and monitoring any changes in them!”“But the
“For you!” Lucian punches the stone wall of his cell, splitting the skin on his knuckles which heals instantly.“I don’t understand”“Of course you don’t sister.” He laughs manically as he tries to pull the bars apart. I was glad Daryl had reinforced them.“You weren’t to know I was going to have children.”He looks at me from the corner of his eye. I was so stupid, I had told him of the vision, the one where I was left alone with twins, the one where Daryl was not in the picture. How could I have been so stupid?“You told me that not all visions were correct that some were just created in my own mind!”“Yes, but I saw that vision too, sister. Getting into your head was much easier than you trying to get into mine. Any time your wolf was dormant, it left an opening. A chance for me to see everything!”“Just kill him Ash” Daryl links me"Whicjh is why you wanted Amber to trap me?"He starts clapping."About time you figured that out."“You would never have found me without Daryl!” I ye
The omega hands her to me, she was much smaller than the boys with tufts of dark hair that matched Daryl’s, bright amber eyes peeping out under her eyelids.I still didn’t understand, the doctor had shown me the monitor, pointed out the two boys, how could he have missed a third baby or even a third heartbeat.Silent tears run down my face as I look at the three of them, how could I protect them? How could I protect my daughter from my brother? He was so set on taking her.“You did well.” The omega smiles at me as she drapes something over my legs, but I glance at the door. I had a bad feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.“He’s coming.” I mutter.There is fear on the omegas face as her eyes widen and her body stills.“You’re scared of him?”“Every omega is.” She sits next to me.“You know I’m not talking about Daryl, don’t you?”She nods her head and mutters Lucian’s name back to me.“What did he do to you?”He didn’t have anything to do with the omegas.“You don’t know?” she que
It was strange after experiencing Amber's world!Being able to run through Lucian’s mind with his beast chasing me was something I had never considered happening, nor did I think it was even possible and yet here I am. To be in someone’s mind was almost disgusting, you never know what they might be hiding and it was apparent that Lucian had been hiding alot.I had never bothered to ask the name of his beast, but something tells me it’s up there like mine. Reaper, another name for death and she certainly did have a dark side.“Tell me where she is!” I scream as I continue to run.“Give us your daughter!”“I have already told Lucian, they are boys, no females.”“You lie! I can smell it. You are carrying a girl!”Here I had no bump, if anything my stomach was flatter than flat. Was this how Lucian really saw me?He chases me through the greyness of Lucians mind. There was no colour, like he only saw things a certain way. Anytime I get a chance to grab something to throw, I do. Lucian con