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2024-10-29 19:42:56REID
“So that’s all of it,” I sigh, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees and scrubbing a hand over my face.
After Serena spilled her guts to me on the floor of my office, I asked the guys if we could meet up so I could disclose everything to them. I didn’t want to put her on the spot and make her rehash everything, so Brock offered up his place for us to gather and she stayed behind at my packhouse. Knowing I was dropping a bomb, I wanted to approach my friends with this before taking it to the six-pack council so we could get on the same page- and in the hopes that they’ll stand by me when I do have to break it to the council. As of right now, I’m still not sure how that’s going to go.
It’s not just the five of us tonight- all of my friends brought their mates along since they’re also close to this situation, and because we’ve been trying to bring Chase int
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Alpha Reid 24
SERENA I’m emotionally drained. Putting everything out there for Reid was a lot, and as cathartic as it was to get it off my chest, it was just as exhausting to rehash it all- I feel like I could sleep for a week straight. Now that everything’s out there in the open, it’s like I can think clearly for the first time in a long time. Clearly enough to realize that I should’ve done this sooner. I should’ve opened up and let myself trust Reid. As silly as it sounds, until that chat with Astrid, it never really occurred to me that I had the option of picking a side. That I had a choice. I had blinders on, conditioned to believe that there was only one way to save them. I’m still terrified that something could go wrong, but I believe Reid when he says he’ll do everything he can to get Olivia and my pack out alive. I hope he does, because if anything happens to my little sister, I’ll never be able to forgive myself. I’m not su
Alpha Reid 25
REID “Fuck,” I sputter as I hit the dirt, Serena’s forearm coming across my throat to hold me down. She leans her face in close to mine, a devilish smirk on her lips. “That’s twice in a row, tough guy,” she teases, waggling her eyebrows. All I can focus on at the moment is the way she’s straddling me, pinning me down with her lithe body resting on top of mine. The heat between her thighs is almost right where I want it- a few inches lower and she’d feel just how much. We’re both panting heavily from the exertion of sparring, but if it were my choice, we’d be doing something else to make us pant like this. I bring my hands to her legs, pressing my thumbs to her inner thighs as I run them all the way up to rest on her hips. “Guess you’re just that good,” I smirk. She leans in closer, her lips brushing mine as her long red hair drapes around our faces like a curtain. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say y
Alpha Reid 26
SERENA For some reason this feels like the calm before the storm. My lie bought us a little bit of time, but the monsters are still coming, and they’ll be here before we know it. Until then, I should try to embrace the good, right? Except every time I feel a little bit of happiness, it’s quickly followed by an overwhelming sense of guilt. Here I am, running free, suddenly living some semblance of a ‘normal’ life with friends and a mate, while my sister and pack suffer at the hands of a lunatic. What kind of person does that make me? It's so hard to sit back and do nothing. Reid says that we can’t show our hand before the big battle- that rather than go in and retrieve my people, we should wait to take out the shadow pack here, then carry out our rescue mission once the threat has been extinguished. He says that’s the best way to preserve the safety of the people I care about, but I can’t help but feel like I’m failing them by
Alpha Reid 27
REID I can’t even remember the last time I danced. I do recall the last time I came close- at Astrid’s Luna ceremony, the drinks were flowing, I was rolling on a solid buzz, and I almost joined the other guys when their mates dragged them to the dance floor. A few months before, back when I was seeing Arabella, she’d often pout and whine to try to get me to dance with her at the bar on Saturday nights. I always refused- dancing has just never really been my thing. At least I didn’t think it was my thing, until I see Serena out there shaking her ass and every guy in the vicinity eyeing her up. That ass is mine, and I suddenly want to gouge out the eyes of any man in this place that dares to cast a glance in her direction. The alcohol must be intensifying the possessive instinct I have toward my mate; my blood is boiling in my veins and my wolf is positively murderous. I can’t remember the last time I danced, and dancin
Alpha Reid 28
SERENA “Serena…” That rough, scratchy voice sends a wave of dread rushing through me. I grasp through the dark trying to find a way out of the cell, but my hands land on nothing but cold concrete walls. “You can’t run from me…” His voice again, hard and strained, like his throat is bleeding. Like he’s swallowed nails. I’m panting, frantically searching for a way out, but that voice just keeps getting closer. The voice of a monster. My fingernails scrape against the concrete walls as I desperately claw for an escape through the pitch black. “Serena…” I’m in full-blown panic mode when my hands land upon something fleshy. A figure pushes forward, dim light catching his face through the shadows. I see those eyes- so dark they’re almost black, completely devoid of any emotion, like they’re dead. The eyes of a monster. Hands wrap around my arms, pulling me with him into the darkness. “No
Alpha Reid 29
REIDNow that our Denver allies are here, it’s like someone pressed the fast-forward button. Time is moving way too fast; every minute that passes, we’re marching closer and closer to war. Most of the time, I like being a leader. I’m good at it. In war time, though, it’s the toughest position to be in. I’m constantly second-guessing every choice, every decision. When lives hang in the balance, every angle has to be examined. Even one life lost is too great a cost.Casualties are a cruel inevitability of war. No matter how meticulously we plan our battle strategy, it’s simply impossible to protect everyone. Soldiers will fall, and with each one, a little part of me will die, too. The bonds in our squad and our packs run deep. Each individual loss is crippling to the whole.There are so many frustrating ‘unknowns’ when it comes to developing battle strategy, all of which have t
Alpha Reid 30
SERENAI felt it when he held me in his arms and consoled me after my nightmare, and I felt it when he kissed me in front of his pack without hesitation. I felt it when he told that little boy that I was his Luna. I felt it when I watched the way he spoke to his pack and when I saw how they looked at him with so much admiration and respect.I can feel it- I’m falling for Reid.I shouldn’t be surprised. Not only does the mate bond make me biologically predisposed to fall for him, but the man is so damn easy to fall for. He’s smart, kind, courageous, devastatingly handsome, impossibly sexy… he’s perfect; I can’t find a single flaw. Me, on the other hand… how am I supposed to ever measure up to that level of perfection?I allow myself to dwell on my self-doubts all the way to the squad complex, each adoring thought of Reid countered by a self-sabotaging one of my own. It&rsqu
Alpha Reid 31
SERENA“Hey gorgeous,” Reid drawls, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe of my bedroom.I look up from my spot on the edge of the bed- I’ve got one leg pulled into my chest and I just finished applying a second coat of bright red toenail polish. Painting my toes may seem like a silly thing to do, given the fact that we’re on the eve of a war, but little menial tasks like this help to distract my anxious mind.“Hey handsome,” I breathe, a smile instantly coming to my lips as I look up at him.He’s wearing a simple white t-shirt and my favorite pair of grey sweatpants, his dark hair a little tousled and messy- and damnit if I’m not getting a little hot just looking at him. Don’t get me wrong, the man looks slick in his usual slacks and dress shirt, but there’s just something so sexy about him when he’s relaxed like this rather than all buttoned up a
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Alpha Reid 44
SERENA“Alright, line up, let’s do it again!” I call out, clapping my hands together as the young trainees scramble to obey my instruction and get in line.I hear Fallon chuckle from beside me as she watches the kids practically trip over their own feet to take their places. “Hustle up!” she encourages, sliding me a smirk.It has been two months now since the war with the shadow pack. Two long, hard months of picking up the pieces and figuring out how to move forward, both as individual packs and as the six-pack alliance. We’ve banded together to fix some of the things that were broken or damaged in the attack. We’ve helped each other heal. We’ve planned for the future and taken on new challenges, like this weekend program that Fallon and I started for high schoolers interested in joining the squad someday.This youth training program was Fallon’s brainchild- she
Alpha Reid 43
REID “Yo, Reid!” Jax greets, waving an arm over his head from across the practice field. I haven’t been up here to the complex in nearly a week now, but we’ve all been slowly trying to get life back to some semblance of normal in the aftermath of the war with the shadow pack. For the squad, that means daily training, even though we no longer have any immediate threat to prepare for. The guys and I talked it over and it doesn’t make sense to disband the squad just because the shadow pack is gone. For starters, having a dedicated fighting force to protect the territory is a smart move in case trouble comes knocking again. It also provides us a pool of qualified candidates for selecting teams of enforcers to track down the splinter groups of rogues that used to be with the shadow pack. But most importantly, the warriors who live up at the complex eat, sleep, and breathe the squad life… they’ve selflessly dedicated themsel
Alpha Reid 42
SERENA After my family was killed, there were no funerals to attend. I never saw their bodies lying in coffins or heard anecdotal stories of memories from friends who came to pay their respects. When my parents and brothers were murdered by the shadow pack, they were just… gone. Instantly forgotten by the ones who took their lives, their bodies disposed of like trash. I was made to believe that I was the only one left to remember them. In those first few hopeless days, I felt like I was drowning in my grief. It was almost too much to bear, and I found myself wishing that I’d died, too. The days in that cell bled together into weeks and I lost pieces of myself with each one that passed. Then they brought my sister to me, and everything changed. Knowing that Olivia was alive, that some of my pack had survived the attack- that was all I needed to find the will to keep going. To survive. Even when I felt desperate, hopeless, I d
Alpha Reid 41
REID“Damn, Red,” I growl, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe of our bedroom as I peer inside at my mate. She’s standing in front of the full-length mirror, fussing over her appearance even though she’s a total knockout.Her eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Is it too much?”She turns at the waist to face me, and I can’t help my eyes from drifting down her frame. She’s wearing a tight light grey sweater dress and black suede thigh-high boots, her makeup impeccable and her hair pulled over one shoulder in loose red waves.“It’s too much,” she sighs, turning on a heel and stomping off toward the large walk-in closet that we moved her things into yesterday afternoon.“Serena…” I catch up to her in three long strides, capturing her wrist and yanking her toward me, spinning her into my chest. She lets out a little puff of air a
Alpha Reid 40
SERENAAfter leaving the council meeting in Riverton, we follow Beta Rob back to the packhouse in Norbury. I’m not sure what I expect, but when we walk in and I see Chase slumped on a couch in the living room, eyes glazed over as he stares blankly out the window, my heart sinks. What Rob said earlier was right- he looks like absolute shit. His hair is sticking out in all directions and his red-rimmed eyes have dark circles etched underneath from lack of sleep. He doesn’t even glance over when we walk in, and when Rob calls out to him, he doesn’t so much as acknowledge our presence. It’s like his body’s here, but his brain has completely checked out.“Wanna step into your office?” Reid asks Rob, turning and clapping him on the shoulder. “We can go over what arrangements you’ll need to make for the funeral, maybe Cy and I can take a few things off your plate.”Rob n
Alpha Reid 39
REIDThe events of the day replay in my dreams all night like a horror movie that I can’t turn off. I’m back on that ridge, watching as Xavier staggers toward Gray, lunging in a last desperate attempt to fight him off. I see Gray tear out his throat again, hear the gurgling sound as Xavier struggles for air, blood spurting from the gaping wound in his neck and staining the snow. This time, though, when I go to turn away, something gives me pause. I look back to see Xavier rise again, still bleeding from the neck but still very much alive. Everyone else has their backs turned, and I open my mouth to warn them, but no sound comes out…My eyes fly open, the sunlight pouring in through the window stinging them as they adjust to the brightness. My heart is racing, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to my brow. I reach in front of me, then behind me, my hands meeting nothing but the silken bedsheets. No Serena.I
Alpha Reid 38
REID I haven’t let Serena out of my sight since we left the bunker where her sister and pack were being held prisoner, and I’m not sure I ever will again. I thought I fucking lost her. I can’t even explain how desperate I felt in that moment; like my heart was torn from my body and locked behind that door with her. After we got everyone out, we brought in the bus that we had waiting nearby to load up Serena’s pack and bring them to our territory. Serena’s sister rode in the SUV with us and I don’t think Serena let go of her hand the whole way back. Then we got her pack settled into the bunkroom at the squad barracks and Olivia settled into Serena’s old room at our packhouse, since Serena wanted her close and she’s basically already moved into my room anyways. It's nearing midnight by the time we get everyone else taken care of and the two of us are finally able to turn in. “I need a shower so bad,” Serena groans as soo
Alpha Reid 37
SERENA When Reid tugs my hand, I quickly snap out of my own hesitation and back into warrior mode, hustling to get to the doorway with him before the shadow pack wolves catch up to us. Right as we slip through, I hear snarls from behind us as they’re thwarted by our friends who’ve shifted to cover our backs as we advance. “Brooke, any idea where this route leads us?” Reid pants as we continue sprinting down the corridor. “There’s an access door at the end to another wing,” she replies, her voice coming through the speakerphone in Reid’s pocket. “I’ll have it open for you in three… two…” I hear the latch to the door in front of me click right as I come upon it, yanking it open and stepping through. As soon as I do, a foul odor hits my nose- like mold and human excrement and death. I stop in my tracks, my blood running cold. “What’s wrong?” Reid breathes as he skids to a halt beside me. My jaw goe
Alpha Reid 36
SERENA “I don’t see why we can’t just walk up in there,” Theo grumbles. “Their boss is dead, what do they have to fight for?” “Now’s not the time to get cocky,” Reid warns, shooting Theo a look. “We need to stick to the plan.” Gray sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Reid’s right, we don’t want to take any chances. The most important thing is getting everybody out safely.” I nod emphatically in agreement as Reid slides his hand over mine, giving it a little squeeze. We’re gathered in the conference room at the complex, regrouping and getting ready to head out to the location where my sister and pack are being held. It’s about a forty-minute drive from here and if we leave soon, we’ll arrive before dusk. When Xavier drew his last breath up on that ridge, I let out a breath that I’d seemingly been holding for months. The shadow pack has felt like an iron fist around my throat since they crashed into m
