Taelin-My head was a little fuzzy, like I had just woken from a long nap, but I was still tired. None of that mattered right now as I held Ryker. I knew I asked what happened, but it had been more of a reflex.I remembered exactly what happened. Bits and pieces were a little foggy, but I knew what had happened when I had been asleep. I remember hearing Ryker’s voice and that I was pregnant, along with the fact there was now a cure.The only thing that didn’t make any sense to me, was how was I cured? I had overheard Leo say that the cure wasn’t working on me. So, if the cure hadn’t worked, what did?“Ryker?” I whispered, while my hand slowly rubbed against his back.Instead of answering, he pulled back from me. Swinging my legs over the side, with his help, I sat up so I could look at him. His hands moved to frame my face, with one hand on each side. His lips crushed against mine, taking my breath away. His kiss was like fire, hot and needy.It took a lot of effort for me to break th
Taelin-Still having my mouth devoured by Ryker, I barely registered when he lifted me into his arms. I didn’t realize he was carrying me, until he pulled away so he could watch where he was going. Feeling content in his arms, I leaned my head against his shoulder.Cradled in his arms, I allowed him to carry me up the stairs. We barely made it a few feet on the landing before we were swarmed by everyone. I could feel Ryker’s frustration, but I also knew they were just concerned about me.“How are you feeling, Luna?” Sara was the first to ask her question.“Much better. I owe you an apology for putting you in a difficult position.” Lifting my head, I looked at everyone that had gathered around us.“It was no big deal. You are my Luna and friend. I will always be there for you when you need me.” Sara smiled with delight.“Who would have thought you would be the key to the cure. Is it a lot of pressure?” Ryan was the next to speak.“Did it hurt?” Carter asked next before I had a chance t
Taelin-For the rest of the night, Ryker and I took advantage of every place in the house. We moved from the stairs, to the hall, to the bathroom, to the bed, back to the stairs, the living room, and even the kitchen. Other than my mother’s room, we did a full workup of each other’s bodies.The shower had happened twice. Once standing up in the shower, the next taking a bath. Currently, we are back in my bed, where we just finished our tenth or so round. We would have continued if it weren’t for the fact that I got hit with morning sickness.At least now, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before the infection took over me. It quickly passed, but we decided to stop for now. I was laying on my back, with my head propped against a pillow, as Ryker laid on his side and held me.For a moment I thought he had fallen asleep because he hadn’t moved for a few minutes. I couldn’t complain though because I was enjoying just laying here with him. His head was resting on my chest, while his a
Taelin- “You did what?” I asked the Alpha King incredulously. “I have sent for your friend Theo to be brought here. He is due to arrive at some point today. When we knew we were close to creating a cure, I figured you would want him here. The thing is though, he is in,” The Alpha King paused as he looked over his shoulder at Ryan. “She calls them tanks. Stage three rogues.” Ryan answered the Alpha King’s unspoken question. “Ah, yes. He has entered the third stage of the transformation. I believed you would want to cure him soon. I also thought it would be an effective way to test the cure before we send it out.” The Alpha King finished. When Ryker and I returned to the packhouse, this had not been what I expected. Leo had met us in the clinic, to run some more tests. He also drew a little more blood from me because he needed more. I had told him to take as much as he needed, if it didn’t leave me weak or hurt anything. We both agreed that it was for the best that we only filled o
Taelin-After finding the ring, I placed it in a safe spot, in my room. No matter how hard I tried to stop it, I ended up breaking down into tears again. I was never one to cry, so this was only starting to annoy me every time I became emotional over something that shouldn’t make me emotional.Being that we had barely made it ten minutes at the packhouse without me getting sick and crying, I decided I wasn’t in any shape to return. Until I had a better hold on my hormones, I was a walking timebomb right now. It took a bit of convincing, but I had Ryker leave to take care of things without me.It has only been an hour since he left, but at least I managed to keep myself busy with fixing my bedroom door. The bathroom was going to take a bit more work, but I made it look a little more bearable. I was only glad that I hadn’t started crying again.A knock on the front door caught my attention. I had just sat down in the living room, in an attempt to read the book my mother left behind. It
Taelin-Arriving at the packhouse, I was overwhelmed with a rush of anxiety. Pausing outside of the door, I took a deep breath before opening the door. I could tell Ryker was being patient with me, but I was starting to feel a little coddled.I was a warrior, yet ever since I became pregnant, my emotions have been all over the place. I needed to get control before I felt every emotion I have locked up over the years. My entire life I have trained to become a warrior, which meant I had to keep myself levelheaded.“Do you need a minute?” Ryker asked when I paused once more at the top of the stairs that would lead us to the basement.Shaking my head, I focused on my breathing and not my emotions. During the last few steps, I heard thrashing around inside a metal cage. Like something exceptionally large was trying to break free.“If we don’t get a hold of him, he is going to break free!” A familiar female voice yelled from the basement.Taking the last few steps, I stopped cold when I saw
Taelin-“How are you here?” I asked Amanda, after coming back downstairs and joining her in the living room.We were sitting on the couch, while the men were in the dining room, aside from Theo, who I left in his room. I thought Sara would have returned to the packhouse by now, but I had a feeling she was staying away from Carter until she figured out what she wanted. In the meantime, I figured I would talk to Amanda since I had a lot of questions.“After I left, I went home for a bit, and then I was kicked out. My family decided I wasn’t good enough because I left the program. Shortly after, the Alpha King contacted me and asked me to return because he needed to discuss something with me.” She crossed her legs on the couch as she spoke.“He told me that I was good enough to become a warrior, but he understood that the boys were making it difficult. I tried arguing with him that you were doing good, but he just said you were different. Everyone can see just how special you were, even
Taelin-Returning to my house, Sara was still where I left her. “Figured out what you are going to do?” I asked, joining her on the couch once more.“I think so, but I don’t know if it is the right thing to do. Carter is great and I know he will make an amazing mate.” The look on Sara’s face made me think there was a ‘but’ that was supposed to follow what she said.“But?” I asked, getting straight to the point.“But, I don’t know if I love him. I like him a lot and I get excited when he is around, but it is mostly because he is so hot. We get along well as friends and yet I don’t feel that I can be my complete self around him. Not like I was before I had to become serious because of what happened to our kind.”“What makes you think that?”“We used to fight, and he picked on me a lot, called me annoying. I didn’t like him too much either. This war has changed us, but now that we have the cure, I can be myself more. What happens if he doesn’t like who I was, and we end up getting in a s
Taelin-“If we would have known you were going to take this long to join us, we would have just started the party without you.” Theo teased us when we entered the large dining hall, where we were having the party.“Can’t have a birthday party without the birthday boy.” I stuck my tongue out at him as I led R.J into the room.He has been walking on his own for nearly a year now, but I still held his hand because he had a tendency to run off on his own also. Between everyone that lived here and the staff, he could be a handful at times. I blamed his father though because there was no way I had been this wild as a child.My mother disagrees with me, but I will deny it. Laughing to myself, I didn’t get extremely far before my mother pushed through the others to make her way toward R.J. Speak of the devil and she shall arrive.That is the way it has been here lately. Any time I so much as think of my mother, she shows up out of nowhere. I was beginning to think that she had radar detection
Taelin-“What are you thinking about?” Ryker whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, while I looked over the balcony from our room.From this view, I could look over the town where the Palace resided. There wasn’t much, other than a few houses where the staff of the palace lived. Everyone that lived inside the Palace were warriors and those training to become warriors.I never thought much about the life that everyone that lived here had until I came here, not as a sixteen-year-old girl training to join the Royal Guard, but as the current Alpha King. It was still weird that I was referred to as an Alpha King. I was the first female to take on the role as Alpha, but I felt like the title should remain as it has always been.Placing my hands on his arms, which were embracing my shoulders, I leaned against his broad chest. “I was just thinking back to when I first came here. I still can’t believe that it has been more than five years since I showed up here with
Taelin-When the start of the battle commenced again, I took a deep breath. I might have lied about my lung, but I wasn’t entirely sure. All I knew was I was still capable of fighting, even if I felt like all the air inside of me was being sucked out and my lungs felt like they were on fire.What I told Ryker was true, however, I wasn’t going to last another ten minutes. I either needed to end this now or let him take me out. I had been playing it safe as much as possible. His movements were fast and just one hit from him was enough to knock me on my ass.Running around and dodging him wasn’t doing me any good because every breath I took was painful. The more I tried to get away from him, the more likely I would get injured. Regardless of if I was working with less lung capacity or if I was just winded, I knew it would be a matter of time before I passed out from the exertion.I had felt that the Beta had tried to speak to me telepathically, but I still had my mind blocked from anyone
Ryker-I had been watching the timer and neither had moved for seven minutes. Taelin looked regal in her stance, like she was completely in her element. The Beta had seemed unwavering, until just moments before he made the first move.At first, I thought something was wrong because they both stood out on the field without moving for a long time. The second the Beta made the first move, I held my breath and waited to see what would happen. It wasn’t that I didn’t support my mate in this, but the fear was still there.“About time.” I heard someone say sarcastically from behind me.Without looking, I felt Ryan turn around, more than likely to make a comment to whoever spoke. Reaching my hand out, I placed it on his arm firmly. This was Taelin’s fight and there was no point in anyone trying to talk others out of what they were feeling.“Don’t. Words won’t do any good. Let Taelin show everyone what she is capable of.” I spoke, without taking my eyes off my mate.Ryan sighed and faced forwa
Taelin-I thought I was ready for this, but now that I was standing in the middle of the arena, surrounded by onlookers, I suddenly became nervous. The Beta of all the werewolves still wasn’t here, but I had arrived a little early. After watching the last video of the Beta’s fighting skills, I quickly got ready.I figured if I arrived before anyone else, I would have a chance to get a little time to meditate. Upon arriving though, I saw many others had already arrived. The crowd was a lot larger than I expected it to be.Frank informed me that many people that had been relocated here from safe houses wanted to see if I was capable of becoming the next Alpha. Ryker was standing next to me, wanting to show his support as we waited. The whispers of the crowd were loud, making me wonder if it was done on purpose.“There is no way she can defeat our Beta. She is just a girl. Look at her, she is tiny.” A male voice from the crowd said, his voice a little over a whisper.“She is cute though.
Ryker-Taelin seemed prepared to fight with the Beta, but I wasn’t ready for it one bit. I don’t know what she was thinking by agreeing to let him shift. It wasn’t a sure thing if she could shift or not, but there hasn’t been a she-wolf that could, while pregnant.Wanting to give Taelin a bit of space to get her mind right, I have kept myself busy helping Leo. Today was the day Taelin would be facing the Beta in the arena, but there were still hours before it was scheduled. For the past three days, I have helped him fast-track distribution.We were almost done, but we needed a little more of Taelin’s blood. Since she was getting ready to fight, I wouldn’t allow Leo to take anymore until after. I am sure that if she knew we needed it, she wouldn’t hesitate, which is why I told him to stay away from her.The last thing I wanted was for her to ask how things were going and for him to end up telling her. She was more worried about others than she was about her own self, which was both ann
Taelin-In the last few days, we have only had a few run-ins with rogues. There hadn’t been many, so we were able to cure them and relocate them to the nearest safe house. I also felt much better, and my mind was more clear than it had been.It helped that I managed to do a little meditation. Which, I have also learned that I would more than likely need to continue a daily meditation when able. It not only allowed me to focus and ground myself to what I needed, but I was able to learn to control the intensity of feeling everything I did.It wasn’t perfect and sometimes it could be a little overwhelming, but I managed to get it under control. It helped that Ryker stayed near me. It was like he could sense when I was uneasy. His touch helped calm my mind as well, although I was fairly sure it was because of the mate bond.I also had plenty of time to think and get a grip on things. A few days of mostly silence and more than enough time to think did help a lot. I started to come under th
Taelin-“How are you feeling?” Ryker asked after I finally moved into the seat next to him.I would have stayed on his lap for the entire journey, but I had become slightly uncomfortable from being cramped in a vehicle for so long. It was now nighttime, but we chose to continue driving. The further we got, the faster we could arrive at the palace.“Other than needing a shower and a little sleep, I feel good.” As I spoke, I leaned against him, using his shoulder as a pillow.“Is there a safe place we can pull over for the night?” Ryker asked Frank, who was now driving.“There is no need. Really, I am fine. I can sleep here.” I attempted to argue, knowing that the more we stayed on the road, the faster we would arrive at our destination.“There is a safe house not far from here.” Frank answered, completely ignoring me.Sitting up, I tried to wipe the sleepiness out of my eyes. It was more than likely from the stress of the day and now that I could feel every werewolf. It wasn’t too bad,
Taelin-Time had slowed down for a moment, but when it sped back up, everything happened so quickly. One moment I was standing, looking at Ryker, the next I was being blown back, with a heavy object landing on me. Dazed by the blast, it took me a moment to realize that I was still alive.My ears were ringing, and I could feel something wet coming from my ears. Every part of my body ached, and it was difficult to breathe. There was a body lying on top of me and I didn’t have the strength to push it from me.Instead of trying, I simply lay there believing I was dying. I realized the moment it happened that I was going to die, I just wished it would have been instant. Tears blurred my vision at the thought of leaving Ryker behind and not getting the chance to hold the baby I carried.I should have been more careful and not so thoughtless. Because of my actions, I would hurt Ryker in the worst possible way, not to mention that the cure would die with me. Hopefully, Leo gathered enough of