“Willow! Come here!” Kane calls from the living room. Concerned, I run out of the bedroom where I’ve been trying to nap for an hour now and join my mate and son. Adare is standing in the middle of the room, his chubby little arms spread out as he tries to keep his balance. Kane is sitting flat on his ass, legs crossed, mouth open in a wide grin. “Come on big boy,” he coaxes. “Come to daddy.” I crouch next to Kane and softly clap my hands together. “Mama,” Adare squeals and takes his first step toward us. As soon as the baby figures out he’s not going to fall, he takes another step and another, bypassing Kane, heading straight into my arms. Excited, I pick him up and swing him through the air. “You did it!” I say and kiss his forehead. Grumbling Kane gets up. “Sure, forget about me. I just sat here for half an hour cheering you on,” he jokes, then starts laughing and kisses his son. “You are growing up way too fast.” “Mama,” Adare says again and gently pats my face. I kiss the pa
Kane's POV “How do you know?” Willow asks the two wolves. That is a question I should have asked, but I am already making plans to help Drummond, trying to figure out how I'm going to move a thousand warriors over the border undetected. Jackson reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a letter. He hands it to me without prompting. It’s written in code again. “Who deciphered this for you?” I ask. “Zael,” Glenn says. “He says to use your magic if you want to read it.” The vampire is getting on my nerves. For someone who keeps telling me I have to take command, he sure likes to order me about. Willow frowns and walks up to me. “Can you do that?” “Noooo,” I say with a sarcastic laugh in my voice. “I tried a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t so much as conjure a speck of magic.” “Because you were too distracted. Worried about me. Try it now.” I hover my hand over the piece of paper, but even though I can feel the magic swirling through me, the letter doesn’t change, and I still can’t
Kane's POVWe run all out until we reach the border separating Drummond’s territory from my property. Strictly speaking, since it’s in my kingdom, I don’t need permission to enter his territory, but Willow does. She’s going to feel uncomfortable all the way to Silver Star’s pack house, and I'm worried that it will affect her magical abilities.I lift my head and sniff the air, but apart from the border guards’ lingering scent, I don’t pick up on any humans, vampires, witches, or any other creatures.The place I chose for us to enter is quiet and unmanned. I chose it for a reason. Just on the other side, on Drummond’s territory, there’s a long strip of forest Silver Star wolves call the dead zone.The story goes that many centuries ago, before we had law and order, before we even had Kings and Alphas, werewolves would go to war with each other over every little thing – she-wolves, food, little snatches of territory, anything really if the tales are to be believed.So to put a stop to t
Kane's POVFrom the corner of my eye, I see Willow stepping behind a tree to shift while I try to get Lester to calm down. I'd go with her, but The Templar is a blubbering, gibbering wreck, and I can't leave him here by himself. All he keeps saying over and over again is that they’re all dead.At the same time that I'm trying to keep an ear on Willow and calm Lester, I have to fight against Dario who sees the other man as a threat, and wants nothing more than to rip his heart out and eat it for supper. “Stop,” I say sternly. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what happened.”But Lester’s can't hear me above his own sobs. He just keeps crying and screaming. Finally, I grip the front of his shirt, lift him off the ground, and smack him across the face with my free hand. Not so hard that I cause any real damage, but just enough for him to realise he’s been hit.Lester inhales sharply and abruptly stops screaming about how everyone’s dead, but he doesn’t stop crying.“Willow?” I call soft
Sighing heavily, I peek through the dead trees at the gathering Templars. They are noisy, and they don't seem to care that they're not very well hidden. There are several witches with them, casting cloaking spells, but either it's not working, or the witches aren't very good at their job. "Maybe they're doing it on purpose," Suri suggests. "Maybe," I reply. They are so arrogant in their certainty that they'll win this fight that some of them are already celebrating. They will not. I'll make sure of it. In the distance, though I can’t hear them while I’m in the dead zone, I can see the lights going out in the pack house. Soon, when Innocent is sure they’re all asleep, they’ll attack, and my time is running out. ** Before I even told Kane about my plan, I knew that he would protest and try to stop me, and by the time I was done laying it all out to him, the top of his head nearly blew off. “Have you lost your damn mind?” he asked, breathless with anger and concern for me. “No, but
“Oh thank God,” I cry and throw myself in Innocent’s arms. He can’t help himself, his arms snake around my middle and he pulls me into a tight hug. “I’ve been looking for you for you months.” “Have you now?” he asks, his voice cold, contrasting with the hug trying to comfort me. “You ran from me.” “No,” I sob. “No, they took me. I had no choice. I waited until the winter ended, and left…but Kane found me again, brought me back. I heard you’re here tonight and I snuck out after they all went to sleep, but I got stuck in that place.” Innocent’s hands tighten around my waist. “I sent Lester in there hours ago…” “Yes, I know. I found him. He was already dead. They’re all dead,” I screamed, my voice rising in pitch just as Lester’s did. Not bad acting, if I do say so myself. “Please, please…take me with you.” Innocent roughly pushes me away. Maybe I am not fooling him. “Why would I do that?” “I meant it when I said I wanted to change. I’ve found God,” I said, hoping my face is sincere
My mate is here. I didn’t know how much I wanted him, missed him, needed him, until I saw his shimmering golden coat in the moonlight as he broke through trees and came straight for us. All the tension I’ve been holding on to these last several weeks let go and my knees give out. I sink to the ground next to Innocent who is staring up at me with eyes that are filled with betrayal, and…terror. Good. It’s about time he knows what it feels like to be afraid and powerless. Dario’s war cry rises up in the night, filling my head with the desire to kill everything that’s a threat to me and mine. Is that what the cry does to everyone, I wonder. I fight the urge to shift and kill. I have the witches to think about. They aren’t used to werewolves, and in their fear, they’ve lost the ability to do magic. “Pruh—priestess?” a young girl says, tears streaming down her face. “What about the wolves?” I lean over and take her dirty little hand in mine. “They’re here to help. They won’t harm you. C
Kane's POV “What are we going to do with this lot?” I ask Jackson. We look out over the sea of humans, tied together with a collection of ropes and chains Drummond had gathered for us -- anything we could find to stop them from wandering off into the human territories and raising questions. All of them are in a frenzy, screeching and pulling at their restraints, trying their best to get away from whatever it is they are seeing. “I don’t know,” Jackson says. “We can’t bring them with us, we can’t let them go.” “We can’t kill them,” I say. “Why not?” Zael asks me out of nowhere. I’m slowly getting used to the vampire’s sudden appearance, but I don’t think it will ever stop annoying me. “They are helpless. There’s no honour in killing a lame animal.” “Werewolves and their honour,” Alhora says, landing next to Zael. “You were supposed to stay with Adare,” I growl at her. “Why? Willow is with him.” “She is hurt, she can’t--” Alhora waves her hand in the air, silencing me. “I gav
Dear readers, I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read Willow and Kane's story. This has been one of the longest books I've ever written, and when I started out I did not expect it to turn into this epic saga, but I regret nothing. Nothing I tell you :). I fell in love with Willow and Kane, and I am genuinely sad to say goodbye to these two, but unfortunately all stories must come to an end. Thank you for your support througout this wild ride. It means the world to me. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until we meet again. All my love, Celice
Kane Madden, Lycan King of Felan, wakes up to an unearthly racket right outside his bedroom door. Slightly concerned, he glances at his heavily pregnant wife and smiles despite his annoyance at his oldest son’s shenanigans in the hallway. Willow Madden, his mate of fifteen years is heavily pregnant with their second set of twins, two boys this time, and Kane sincerely hopes this is the last time. Goddess knows he loves his children, all eight of them, and he’s sure he’ll love numbers nine and ten just as much, but it’s getting difficult to keep up with all the pups. They are exhausting. For a time, he was sure that they’d never have more children, but after one wild afternoon in the forest, Willow did get pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, as their remarkable son predicted. She named the twins Josiah and Jocelyn, after the previous occupants of their home. Kane thought it was macabre, but Willow insisted, saying they had to honour their ancestors. That would be the same twins wh
It’s a beautiful summer’s day, and the drive up to the cabin is pleasant enough. Kane and I have found a peaceful kind of comfort in each other’s silence, and we rarely need to fill the quiet with inane background chatter. We are content, just being together. I inhale the lovely fresh air, remembering the first time I came here. The night Suri was born, the sheer exhilaration of feeling my wolf come to life...and that was all thanks to Agatha. Dear, sweet Agatha who never found a final resting place because we went to war and in the chaos, we forgot all about her. Our funeral home has since been bombed off the planet, and we just take care of our dead our own way as we'd done during the war. There aren’t that many of us left anyway. The few surviving wolves live here now, and those that refuse to come to safety are dying off – Templars bearing a lingering grudge either murder them, or the wolves yield to their unrelenting urge to join a good war. Kane once told me that wolves had be
Kane's POV I wasn’t sure what would happen in the months and years that followed after we signed the peace treaty, so we went with the tried and tested 'go with the flow' method. For a time, everything went back to normal. Drake and Patrick ran the business, and more and more my little brother took over my duties in the company. Proof, Willow liked to remind me, that Omegas are just as competent as any other wolf. The overseas wolves went home, and as soon as they were sure the threat had really passed, the European wolves followed suit. The only ones that stayed were the humans. I claimed the human town as part of my territory during the peace talks, and the residents now affectionately call it Wolftonia. Leif left, taking his strange sister with him. Only later did we learn that Silke’s time on earth was limited and that she had foreseen her own death long before she ever came here. Unbeknownst to all of us, including Willow, a völva’s dying energy projects outwards, and what we m
Adare runs around the garden with Roland. The two boys growl and stalk each other like prey. My motherly instinct is to jump up and stop them before one of them gets seriously hurt, but Rosie quickly grabs me and pulls me back to my chair. “No Queen,” she says. “That’s how they learn. They won’t hurt each other.” “Are you sure?” “I’ve seen them play this game a hundred times. I’m sure.” Dammit. My throat burns and I have to fight against the tears. I’m so happy that my son is home, but I’ve missed so much. He is the size of an average three-year-old and when I talk to him, I sometimes forget that he’s not even two yet. I choose not the think about it. I choose to focus on the here and now. My family is whole and complete and that's what matters “Mama! Look!” Adare squeals and tackles Roland to the ground. “Good job, buddy,” Kane says behind me. I look over my shoulder at my mate. “You’re back early.” “Yes. Peace talks broke down.” “Why?” “Clement wants my humans.” “I thought
Kane rolls over to my side and pulls me into his embrace. I don’t even bother to open my eyes. It’s been a wild few days. “Oh Goddess, no,” I complain. “Haven’t you had enough?” He laughs breezily in my ear. “Never…but for now, yes.” He flutters kisses over my jaw and neck. “How do you feel?” “Like I got run over by a penis-shaped bulldozer.” “Hey, you wanted it.” I finally manage to drag my eyelids apart. “I did.” I smile at my impressive mate. “The first two days were great.” “I know.” He rolls away and swings his legs off the bed. “The last day always feels more like a punishment than pleasure.” I turn over onto my side and stare at his broad back, the strong muscles flexing under his skin. “No regrets though, right?” He looks over his shoulder at me. “None.” He gets up and stretches, scratching his ass as he walks to the bathroom. A minute later, I hear him open the tap. We don’t have electricity yet, but I’m not so sure I miss it. Life is kind of peaceful without the cons
Kane’s POV I sit on the couch in the dark living room, watching the glowing embers in the fireplace, trying to ignore the call of Willow’s heat and the fever that's trying to consume me. I'd go to her, but she's still asleep. t’s not time, she can’t feel it yet, but she will in another few hours. I should be sleeping, prepare myself properly this time, but I can’t switch my milling thoughts tumbling through my head off long enough so I can go to sleep. I’ve already sent orders out to bring the power stations back online and ordered our army to stand its ground. There’s nothing else to do now but wait for Clement to come back so we can finish up the peace agreement. In the absence of entertainment or imminent danger, the only thing I have to keep myself occupied is my own thoughts, and all I can think about is the possibility that Willow will get pregnant. Here, in the quiet of the night, all by myself, I have to admit the truth. I never want her to get pregnant again – not becaus
Kane’s POV For the next few hours, we talk about the meeting with Clement, the future, and a whole lot of nothing. There’s something comforting in it, just friends having a chat about life, love, and everything in between. I glance at my watch, surprised to see that it was well past midday. “That’s it,” I say and get up, stretching my too-tight muscles. “We’re taking the week off. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of war to last me a lifetime.” “Shall I collect Adare?” Zael asks on our way out. “Not yet. I don’t…Willow thinks he’ll be safe here, but I want to make sure.” “If what she said about The Goddess is true, she’s probably right. She hasn’t been wrong so far, has she?” I scrunch up my face and rub my forehead. “I don’t know. I can’t think straight anymore.” Zael nods. “I know the feeling.” “Did you get any retaliation over the Raymond thing?” “Of course I did.” “And?” “And nothing. I handled it...it won't come back to you.” “Do you think this war is over?”
Kane's POVIt had been weeks since we slept comfortably, and even though we both sort of hinted at passing the night making love, neither of us could actually gather the energy to do more than snuggle down in each other’s arms.For the first time in weeks, perhaps months, I wake with a smile on my face, completely relaxed and almost happy. The only thing I need to complete my joy is my son, and he'll be here soon enough.I stretch languidly, and slip out from under Willow and go to the bathroom to get ready for my meeting with Clement. I hope against all hope that Willow misunderstood The Goddess and that there would be no human war. I hope, and I pray, that Clement would listen to my advice and stop it before it even starts.The castle is freezing, and I’m shivering so much that I cut myself several times while I shave. Rattling like an excited dog, I run back to the bedroom, pull an extra blanket over Willow, then rush to the closet so I can dress in one of my suits and my long, thi