Owen turned to the table. His wolf still forward. “I hereby instate Kaden Locke as my Beta and Cory Thomas as my Gamma.” His voice was gruff and I smiled, happy that he took my advice in bringing Cory in as his Gamma. They would do well for the pack. Bringing the pack into more modern times, just as my older brother wanted to do. “Cory, you should go to Rose. She would have felt the Luna power be removed.” I looked at Owen, his eyes had gone back to their normal color. “If that is okay with your Alpha.” Owen nodded and Cory came forward, holding out his hand to me. Smiling, I shook it. “You were the best Gamma I could have asked for over the years. Take care of Rose. Make sure she has everything she could possibly want and take care of that kiddo of yours.” “I’m sorry…what?” My mother’s voice rose. Cory turned and headed out of the room. The whole group still seemed to be in shock over what had just happened. The Elders were sitting in their seats, staring at each other. My mother
It had been three months. Three months of pain, torture and absolute hell. I loved every minute of it. We had landed in Italy and when we got to their supposed pack house, my jaw dropped. Sitting on a small peninsula, it was a three story Tuscan-style house. It was surrounded by rocks but that didn’t stop anyone from jumping into the surrounding sea. It still did have a regular pool. There were three offices, eight bedrooms, a library, a game room with a pool table and full bar, even a grand piano in the main living area. Frankly, it looked like a vacation home and was beautiful. Auri showed me to one of the larger rooms and had me settle in, making sure to take me out to fill out more of my wardrobe with local items from the nearby city. Apparently, this was just the tip of their territory. Crossing the highway a little south from it, there was a large piece of land that Auri had purchased and claimed. They were building another city in the hills for other pack members who came. Som
We lapsed into a silence except for Vale’s occasional sigh after putting a mouthful of food in his mouth. I took the opportunity to eye-fuck my mate. He was so young and still had a light in his eyes that came with being younger. There was also a hardness and an understanding of the world I knew that Bryan had been trying to drill into me since we got here. Vale saw and heard a lot from the High Council, I was sure. Both bad and good. He definitely took after Auri, though. There was a smile in everything she did, even after all the things I had heard she went through. Even after everything the previous Alpha King had done to force her out of her pack. Vale seemed to carry that same smile. “Little Alpha, are you lost somewhere in your thoughts?” I chuckled. “You know, I’m not an Alpha anymore.” Vale rolled his eyes, settling down his plate in the sink. “You will always be an Alpha, Ezekiel. Whether or not your leading a pack. You are an Alpha. My Alpha.” The last two words he growl
I leaned against the balcony railing of the bedroom. It was maybe about 2 a.m. and Auri had been right. The storm blew through for about 5 hours but now the night sky was clear. Taking a deep breath of a cigarette, I blew it out into the air. I had never been one to smoke but after the training and re-education, Auri and I would sometimes sneak off to have a smoke. Apparently, if Bryan or Hector caught her, she would be in deep shit. Since her body no longer healed like a normal werewolf, it was actually bad for her. She still did it with Morgan and now me. I wasn’t about to tell off the woman who I had seen destroy an entire camp of wolves what she could or couldn’t do. Shifting, I winced as my legs and ass radiated soreness. Sighing and looking over the ocean, I took another drag. “I didn’t know you smoked.” I turned to see Vale, naked, leaning against the balcony doorway. Taking him in, I exhaled out my nose, the smoke rising between us. “There is a lot we can learn about each o
“She just doesn’t get it.” I didn’t say anything as I stood next to him. “Ugh!” Vale threw up his hands. “She just expects me to take on the whole world and that’s not my job! I’m the Alpha King. Alpha. Werewolves. You know, our own people. Not everyone else.” He started to pace on the edge in front of me, walking back and forth as he continued. “That’s what the High Council is for. They need to deal with their own kind and make sure that shit does hit the fan! It’s not my fucking job to check on the witches or the vampires or the fey! I don’t care who starts this fucking war but you bet your ass I’ll be defending wolves!” “What if the wolves start the war?” He stopped to look at me. “I have an obligation to my kind to protect them. I’ve done my best to try and stop the spread of the drugs. Trying to get them to see fighting isn’t the answer. But at the end of the day…” “Even if a pack murders innocent lives and starts the war you’ll back the wolves?” His eyes snapped to mine. “
*** Vale’s POV *** I was laying on our bed, sprawled out in nothing but some gym shorts. Three days of hell. Three days of feeling like I was being thrown into a blender and pulverized. My cocky self had gotten both me and my mate into a world of pain. I thought when Hector and I were sparring back home, that was his final gear. It was not. Hell, he cranked it up maybe two or three gears. Now, I knew why Bryan said Hector could actually hold his own for a while with Mom. I sighed, closing my eyes. It has been three days and still not sign of her. She hadn’t come back and both Bryan and Hector said to not go looking for her. But three days was a long time. My heart hurt and guilt ate away at me. I knew I fucked up. When she blasted the load bearing support for the whole house, I knew I fucked up. My mom and I rarely had fights. This would probably be considered the worse. The one after she found Tyr and a fighting being a close second. We were too similar to have fights. We understoo
I sat at the desk looking over papers. The High Council was sending me over the multitude of requests and issues going on so I could weed through them to see what fires needed to be put out. It seemed like an uphill battle though. Weeks had gone by. Weeks and still not a single word from my mom. She didn’t even acknowledge me. It wasn’t a childish ‘tell Vale this’ or ‘relay this message to him’ or even just writing something down. No, it was as though I wasn’t even home. Ezekiel tried to talk to her after the first week but to no avail. You could even see the slight worry in Hector and Bryan’s eyes. My tablet was next to me with the current roster of people in the pack. We had a good amount of warriors. A lot of the families from the old captains from Harvest Moon came to join the pack. Their kids taking up the mantle since most of the other captains had retired. I was sending groups of three usually to each issue, helping put out the spots that were coming up. The problem was the a
“Vale?” Ezekiel’s voice sounded cracked and dry. I opened my eyes, looking down at him. “Hey, little Alpha. You doing okay?” He nuzzled further into my chest. “I…never want to go through that again.” Chuckling, I kissed his forehead. “I’m glad your coherent again. Come on, let’s get you out of this water. Get some water into you.” He nodded and I scooped him up in my arms. Ignoring the pain in my arm, I knew that even with my werewolf healing, it would take days for my arm to recover. Naresh was quiet in the back of my mind, tired from the continuous healing. I remembered what Hector said about my mom, that her wolf died trying to heal her and keep her alive. It was a fraction of what I’m sure she felt but I could understand it more now. I placed Ezekiel down and gently tried to see if he could weight on his legs without crumbling. “Vale, I’m fine. You can…” As soon as I let more of his weight fall, he started to drop and I just picked him back up. He whined, embarrassment flood