Watching the vampires rip Sarah apart in front of me had been awful. I couldn’t shake the vision of it, the red of Prince Keenan’s eyes as he stared at me. I knew it was a dream, but the sounds, the smell, watching it happen, it was overwhelming, and I hope, once again, that Sarah got away.It takes me some time to come back to my senses, to my current situation. I’m in Liam’s pack, I’m in my room, I’m in the large bed that I’ve been sleeping in, I’m in Liam’s arms.Wait, what??!! I immediately go rigid. When did he shift back? Why did he shift back?Liam said he wants to talk. He’s stroking my hair with one hand and his other hand is on my hip, wrapped around me from behind, holding me against him. It doesn’t feel forced, it feels comforting, safe. My hand is on his bare chest, a chest that is very muscular. Rather than feel the repulsion that I used to feel with the prince, I want to run my hand over his muscles. I want to see if his body will shiver at my touch that way that Cyran’
My sweet little mate is on top of me, riding me like a fallen angel. I love the devilish look on her face as she sets her own pace, forcing me to take what she’s giving me. Her scent envelops me and I’ve never felt such ecstasy in my life. My mate, my everything, is here, giving herself to me.I moan as she rolls off me, rolling over on top of her, burying my face in her neck as I kiss her, lick her. I can’t get enough of her sweetness, a sweetness that I’ve never had in my life and I never want to let go of.“Ummm, Liam?” Oh, the sound of my name coming from those sweet lips. I’m so hard I may burst before I can slide back inside her.“Mmmm, yes baby? Are you ready for another round?” I’m definitely ready for another round.“LIAM!”It’s the urgency, mixed with a bit of fear that has me pulling out of my half-dream state. I whip my head up and reality comes crashing down around me. I’ve got my mate pinned down on the bed, her eyes are wide in surprise and just a bit of lust.I practic
I don’t understand why Liam would do so much for me. Doubling his patrols, giving me a place to stay, planning to buy me clothes, feeding me, giving me medical treatment. No one does all that just because a person needs it. It that were the case, my family and I wouldn’t have suffered for years as rogues. I’m not sure I trust his reasons, but he does seem genuine that he wants me to be safe. ‘I trust him.’ Alessia says. ‘There was nothing deceitful in his scent when he was talking.’ ‘You trust him? We don’t even know him Alessia.’ I feel her almost fidgeting in my mind. ‘Alessia?’ ‘I don’t know why, but I trust both of them.’ I sigh. I trust her and she trusts them. And Cara and Artemis also trust them, so for now, I’ll let it go. I’ll just have to figure out a way to pay him back for all of his assistance. I finish getting ready, continuing to wear clothes that hide my scars and leaving my long hair down so the scars on my neck aren’t noticeable. I would like to get my hair cut
I wasn’t sure how I felt about being so open with Angel, but she’s my mate. I want to share everything with her, and have her share everything with me. After our moment in the hallway, I know she’s beginning to feel the pull of the mate bond, even if she doesn’t recognize that that’s what it is. Everything about my beautiful Angel is drawing me in. And even more than her sweetness, her scent and her taste, the idea that I won’t be alone anymore, that there will be someone to bear this burden with me? It’s almost too much to hope for. We arrive at the Nelson home a few minutes before we were supposed to arrive. I’ve brought a couple bottles of wine, since Cara didn’t ask me to bring anything. I go around the truck and help Angel out. She’s so short that it’s a big leap for her, but mostly, I just want to take any opportunity there is to touch her. I keep hold of her hand as we walk to the door and ring the bell. I can hear talking on the other side, and I hear Clint ask who could b
I had no idea when I agreed to come to Cara’s house for dinner that it would be this emotional. There’s so much going on, so many emotions, so many memories that are coming to the forefront. It’s a bit overwhelming.Liam has been very supportive. I’m glad he’s here. I’m not sure I could do this without him.“Anders, you want to help me with the ribs? Cara, are you ready with everything else?“Yep, we’ll get the table set while you go pull the ribs off the slow cooker.” She says to Clint before looking at us. “They’ve been cooking for several hours. They should fall off the bone.”I follow her to the kitchen. “What can I do to help?” I ask.Rik goes to the oven and begins pulling out what looks like twice-baked potatoes, some sort of vegetable casserole and something else that smells like mac and cheese.“It all smells delicious.” Liam says, coming up behind me and putting his hand on my hip. I’ve noticed that any time I move away from him, he makes sure that he moves close again, touc
After making sure my girl understands that there is nothing and no one for me but her, we walk back into the living room. “All good?” Clint asks and we both nod. “Good, have a seat, we have some important things to discuss.” I had already learned quite a bit about Angel over dinner. Her life has been hard, harder than mine. Her parents struggled while they were on the run, but they made the best of things. The time in the cabin seems like the only time in her teen years when she had some normalcy. I know the rest of her story is going to be hard for me to hear. I know part of it, but I need to hear it all so we can plan for the threat that is coming. When we sit, I pull Angel into my lap. She blushes but I don’t care. She’s worried that I want someone else, she will learn that I want everyone to know she’s mine. Plus, I know this next part is going to be hard for her, and I want to support her. “Angel,” Clint starts, “we need to know what happened to you. I know it’s hard, but in
I’m excited about training. It’s been years since I trained with my father and I was getting really strong then. ‘We’ll get stronger much faster with Clint as our instructor.’ Alessia says. ‘Do you remember training with him, or remember Andra training with him?’ I ask. ‘Yes, he was patient but tough. Andra was a stronger wolf because of Clint and Donovan.’ I’m lost in my thoughts when Liam speaks. “A penny for your thoughts.” I smile at him. “Do you actually have a penny?” I ask. He digs around in his pockets, then begins searching his car, finally coming up with a quarter. “Hey, hey! I should get twenty-five thoughts for this.” I’m laughing, watching his antics. I take the quarter and set it back into the truck’s console. “I was talking to Alessia about training with Clint and Donovan. She remembers Andra’s training and says he is a good and patient trainer.” “I had the opportunity to train with him once. He’s a clever fighter. He will teach you a lot of things that will mak
My Angel sings like an angel. Holy shit. Her voice is beautiful. As she sings, I take a guess on the title and look up the lyrics. I’m right the song is called Nocturne. It is a much softer song than what I would normally choose, but when my angel sings, it’s alluring. As she finishes, I kiss the top of her head. “You have a lovely voice.” I tell her. She looks up at me with those stormy gray eyes and smiles at me. “Thank you. My mom had a great voice. I’m glad to know that I inherited that from her.” I pulled up a list of songs similar to the one she had sung and set it to play. I kept it low and put my phone on the bedside table. I took her hand in my free one and moved my other hand into her hair, rubbing her head. I have noticed that she seems to like that, and I’m hoping it will help her to fall asleep. It doesn’t take her long before her breathing evens out and I feel the weight of her head more solidly on my chest. Even after such a difficult evening, I feel content with her
Three years later It’s amazing how much changes in three years. Two days after Sarah and Dustin officially adopted Sienna, Sarah found out she was pregnant. It worked out okay because her pregnancy was very difficult. As expected, she was on bed rest for most of her pregnancy. Dustin would take Sienna with him to his office or I would keep her with me, having set up a kid’s play area in my office. Sometimes, Dustin would carry Sarah to her desk when she got too stir-crazy and needed a break from sitting in her bed all day. At least being in the packhouse, he and I were always close and could monitor her. The doctor told her she’d have to have a C-Section because her internal scarring was too severe to allow for a baby to pass through the birthing canal. And five months after adopting Sienna, they welcomed baby Jackson Dustin Roberts into the world. They named him after our previous Gamma, since he had given his life protecting Sarah and the others who were in the bunker that day. Ca
Three months later To say that being a father has changed my life would be an understatement. You don’t know how much you can love another person until you hold your child in your arms for the first time and your heart aches because it’s so full of love. The mate bond is one thing, that is a gift given by the Moon Goddess and nothing could ever compare to that. But being a father feels like the greatest achievement of my life. My son is perfect, of course. All ten fingers, all ten toes. He was born with soft fuzz for hair that has started to grow in now and he definitely got my golden, curly locks. However, every time I look into his gray eyes, I see his mother. Angel says his eyes are the only thing he got from her and that we’ll have a mini-me walking around very soon. Works for me. I figure our little girl will look just like her mother. I hope so, it means she’ll be beautiful. Yes, it means I’ll have to go all Alpha on any male that looks at her but having a miniature version o
After the terrible week of funerals, the pack began the slow process of rebuilding. We had to fix several homes, the back of the packhouse and the bunker. Liam refused to let me assist and he also refused to allow me at training, so instead, I started training with Sarah. Since werewolf pregnancies are much shorter than human pregnancies, five months instead of nine, I only have a couple of months before my stomach will be too big to do anything. I went with Sarah to see Dr. Phillips. After letting Dustin mark her immediately after the war, she wanted to know if she could have his children. She had extensive testing and Dr. Phillips decided that any human would struggle with the shorter gestation of having a wolf pup. The scar tissue would cause problems with getting pregnant, during the pregnancy and delivery, but since she would put Sarah on bedrest anyway, it should be possible. Sarah had told Dustin that they could have pups but that she would have to be on bedrest during the ge
When the doctor told me that Angel was pregnant, I was concerned that she had kept it from me before the war. I was happy to learn that she hadn’t known until her strange walk with Clint who apparently brought her back to me. I’m not sure what that means or why it happened, but I’m forever indebted to him for bringing my Angel back.Dustin had prepared the funerals and pyres for our pack members. He had talked it over with me while Angel was unconscious, and we had agreed to have three days of funerals. There was so much sadness and pain among the pack members, but each of them deserved to have their time to say goodbye to their loved ones.I had spoken to Rik about the loss of his pack members. After Cara’s show of power, I wasn’t sure how many in his pack had survived. He lost nearly 100 pack members after losing the mates of those lost in the war. Thankfully, Cara’s power surge only seemed to knock their warriors out, not kill them as it had the vampires.Her strength was chilling.
When I wake, it’s in a dream state. I’m walking in a forest. I can hear small animals moving around, but nothing else. It’s very quiet here. Beautiful, but lonely. Where is everyone? “Hello? Liam? Alessia?” I call out loud. ‘I’m here.’ Says an exhausted sounding Alessia. ‘Where are we?’ In my head, she lifts her head off the ground, looking around. ‘I know this place.’ ‘Where is it? Are we near the pack lands?’ ‘No.’ she says, just as Clint steps out of the trees in front of me. “Clint!” I run to him, throwing my arms around him. “I thought you were dead!” “I am sweetheart. It was my time. But why are you here? It’s not your time.” I look around me again. “I don’t know why I’m here. I woke up here.” I turn to look at him, horrified. “Am I dead? Where is Liam?!” I demand. “Can you hear Alessia in your head?” He asks me. “Yes. I can hear her.” “Then, you’re not dead. How about we look around and try to figure out why you’re here.” He puts his arm around my shoulders, guiding
The blast threw everyone into the air and off their feet. When I get my senses back, I realize two things. Angel is unconscious on top of me, and I hear a keening sound in the distance that makes my heart hurt. I sit up, holding Angel in my arms, looking around. There are fae warriors and werewolves around me, shaking their heads trying to figure out what happened, just like I am. I follow the sound of the keening and realize it’s Cara. She’s holding her father’s lifeless body in her arms, rocking him back and forth. Oh no. Please tell me Clint isn’t dead. I see Rik, picking himself up off the ground, going to Cara. He pulls her into his arms and begins rocking her, trying to comfort her. I know the sound a person makes when they lose someone they love. That’s the sound that Cara is making now. It’s the sound of your heart breaking into a million pieces. I know that Clint is dead, and Cara’s heart is broken. What I thought was a bomb going off must have been a power surge from Cara,
When Keenan sends his first wave, there are hundreds of vampires. The power that Cara, Clint and I have together can only hold for so long. It drains all of our energy. We are able to wipe out the first wave of vampires, but the second wave mostly gets through. By the third wave, we break off and begin fighting individually. We stay together as long as possible, and I see Rik and Liam throwing vampires to Clint to take out. He’s a machine. He always was. Alessia remembers him from his younger days. He’s stronger than an Alpha, so powerful. Even now, in his revised wheelchair, he’s taking on more vampires than most of the wolves on the battlefield. I wasn’t expecting to be able to feel the death of our pack members. I’ve never been a ranked pack member and it’s hard to concentrate constantly hearing the howling of wolves in pain and then feeling their death in my mind and heart. Thankfully, my Guardian instincts kick in and I’m fighting like my Guardian spirit has fought for centurie
I snarl at Keenan’s comment to Angel. I wasn’t sure which one was him, but I knew it had to be one of the two pompous looking leeches. And now I focus my attention on him. He’s mine. For everything he did to Angel, I will kill him. Angel and the power of the Guardians, give them pause, but only for a moment. They must give a signal that I miss, because suddenly, hundreds of vampires are heading our way. Angel, Cara and Clint push out their aura, Angel making sure it’s directed in front of our line of werewolves and fae. A second wave starts almost immediately after the first. The first group runs right into the Guardian aura and are instantly turned to dust. The impact is taking its toll on them because the second wave starts getting through and another wave is right behind them. I see several vampires heading toward Angel and Cara and I jump into the fight. Cyran bursts through at the same time Kai, Rik’s wolf, does. We begin tearing through the vampires. Remembering what they sai
When I get back to the packhouse, I call the leaders of each safe room. “Are we ready? Is there anything at all that is still needed? War is imminent.” After making sure that we are set, the leaders of each room and I begin going around to make sure that all pack members know that the rooms are open. Anyone that may need some extra time to get to their safe room or bunker can head over now and get themselves set up. We have one she-wolf that is on the verge of delivering her pup. I have assigned a doctor to the safe room where she will be. We have also made sure that any other pack members that may need medical assistance during the war are in this same room. I’m just finishing up and getting the older, slower pack members settled in the safe rooms when I get the mind link from Liam. “Angel, where are you?” “I’m finishing getting the elderly and pregnant into the safe rooms.” “They are coming. They will be here at dark tonight. I’m headed back. Start getting ready. I’m about to se