“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jonathan asked as we stood outside my childhood home. Erick and Anderson were also nearby. It felt good knowing I was being protected.“No,” I admitted. “But I have to. If there is a letter here that my mom wrote for me, I owe it to her to read it.”Jonathan didn’t argue with me; I knew he was just as nervous as I was. Since finding out I was pregnant, he’s been more adamant about protecting me. Not that I minded, there’s no telling what Rock was capable of.Melissa stood at the doorway with a plastered smile upon her face. It seemed she had another bruise on her upper cheekbone that she poorly tried to cover with a concealer that didn’t even match her skin tone. She still reeked of my mother’s lavender perfume and wore my mother’s jewelry. One was a charm bracelet, with a couple of the charms I got for my mother on her birthday. One was a little silver charm that had the word “mom” engraved on it with a small sapphire gem in the center. The other wa
That morning, before Arina arrived to speak with Rock, Ronnie heard the yelling between Melissa and Rock. She sat on the staircase as she often does when there’s a fight going on in the house and she could hear her mother crying in the living room.Rock was angry with her but from what Melissa was saying, it didn’t seem like he had any right to be angry.Ronnie was now 16 years old and not as naive as she once was; she understood what most of their arguments were about.“You brought her into our home?! You fucked her in our bed. Do you have no shame?” Melissa cried.“The same way I fucked you in the bed I shared with Emlin,” he yelled in return.“Do you love her?” Melissa asked, her voice quivering.“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rock hissed back. “You sound stupid.”“I’m not the one fucking other women in our bed, Rock,” Melissa yelled.Her words were cut off toward the end as the back of Rock’s hand went across Melissa’s face. Ronnie flinched as the sound of the impact sounded through the ho
Erick watched as Ronnie took off towards the woodlands. He had never seen anyone quite as beautiful as she. Her red hair fell messily around her shoulders and down her back reminding him of wildfire. Her skin was fair, but her features were naturally bold and bright. Her lips were tinted a cherry red, and her eyes were the color of a malachite stone.However, as soon as he realized who she was and her age, he knew he had to take a step back. He was 18 years old, and she was 16, they couldn’t be together for another few years. He suddenly understood how Jonathan felt those years he had to stay clear from Arina.Upon meeting Ronnie, he knew it was inevitable.She was his mate.“Seriously man?” Anderson said from his posting on the other side of the door. Ronnie had just taken off and Erick couldn’t keep his eyes off the direction she ran towards. “She’s Arina’s little sister.”“Arina doesn’t even think of her as a sister,” Erick said in his defense. “They’re practically strangers.”“She’
The fact that Rock thinks he has such leverage over Arina’s life is laughable. Jonathan wasn’t sure what he was up to, but he wasn’t buying the act and he knew Arina wasn’t either.Yes, she signed a contract giving him more control over her life, but it was only until the baby was born. Over his dead body will Rock try to dictate anything Arina does or be a part of any of their decision-making when it came to their child.Arina wrote in the contract that Jonathan, or someone of their choosing, would accompany her whenever she had to see Rock. She knew Jonathan wouldn’t allow her to see Rock alone; not that she would even want to.It’s been a few days since their meeting with Rock and Arina has hardly said a word about it.Since mentioning that Emlin had an affair with Boris Conway, Arina’s been apprehensive about going to Silverside to take photos of Makenna Conway’s 16th birthday party. Jonathan couldn’t blame her, that was a lot of information to take in all at once, and according to
Jonathan was already home when I arrived home from work. He looked more bothered than usual.“What’s going on?” I asked him, sitting beside him on the couch. I entwined my fingers through his and peered up at him through my lashes.“An outsider has been hunting on our grounds,” he answered.“What?” I asked, keeping my wording short. That couldn’t have been right. No wolf dared to hunt outside their given hunting grounds. It was against the law and violating that specific law could mean death on their end.Nobody was that stupid.“Edward Harris came to my office today and told me that they could smell an outsider as they hunted this morning. I went down to the woodland forest with Chief Miller and his deputies to check it out,” he explained.“Was it another pack?” I asked.“I’m not sure yet. They are still out there tracking the scent,” he answered.If it’s a wolf from a pack, that could cause a territory war to break out between packs. A lot of innocent wolves could die; women and chil
They mated. Erick mated with my 16-year-old half-sister, Ronnie. This was not something I wanted sprung on me right now. The fact that one of Jonathan’s best friends mated with someone in my family that I don’t trust whatsoever. Now he’s all defending her and telling me I need to give her a chance.Like hell, I’d do that. “Arina?” Jonathan said, trying to calm me down. I’ve been fuming and walking back and forth for the whole hour after they all left. I’m not even sure what to say at this point. This is all too much for me, and on top of that, I’m PREGNANT.“Arina!” Jonathan said again, this time louder.I stopped pacing to look at him.“You are getting so worked up over this,” he said.“He mated with Ronnie, Jonathan. Ronnie!” I yelled.“I get that. I do. But maybe he’s right. Did you ever actually speak to Ronnie?” He asked.Since all the years I’ve known Ronnie, we have never actually had a full conversation. So, I knew he was right. I never knew what to say to her. I hated to ad
Silverside was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. It was a city of silver concrete skyscraping buildings that practically touched the clouds. The roads were made from freshly paved cement and were filled with tons of rush-hour traffic.I had never seen this many cars in my life; I’ve lived in the countryside my whole life that I almost forgot that cars existed. Except for Jonathan’s, but we don’t use it that often. Just as there were many cars on the roads, there were probably more people swarming the streets.Looking over at Jonathan, he seemed to be just as amazed as I was.Rolling down the window I was hit with the scent of street food from a nearby vendor. They seemed to be selling hot dogs and fried dough. I’ve never tasted fried dough before, but I knew Natalie at the bakery in Sabrebite, has been bragging about her fried dough recipe for a long time.As we pulled up to the Conway Manor, my mouth dropped open. It sat on a hilltop of leafy green grass and blooming spr
Watching Arina from across the ballroom, Boris knew he was in trouble. She found the paintings that Emlin had done and from her reaction, she knew her mother painted them. Once she noticed the watermark she was stumbling backward and looked to be almost sick.The only reason she would react like that is if she knew something was going on.Boris couldn’t get over how much of Emlin was inside of Arina: personality, interests, even her looks.Arina’s eyes scanned the ballroom until they found Boris.He thought back to the last day he saw Emlin. It was the day she painted that photo. Nikini was out of town at a conference and Emlin was staying over for a few days. Arina, at the time, was just an infant. After Boris’s and Emlin’s first night of passion, it was something that neither of them wanted to end. Emlin felt safe with Boris and Boris had felt something he hasn’t felt in a long time. Happiness.As much as he loved his luna to be, Nikini, there was something about Emlin that was unf
Ronnie stood in the mirror, staring at her small figure as the white gown hugged her body perfectly. She wore a strapless wedding gown that had light pink flowers decaling the sides and wrapping around her waist. The dress flowed delicately around her legs and down to the ground, expanding its lacy fabrics around her feet.She wore her hair down but pinned back with a white barrette that had small pink flowers entwined in it; her hair also had the same pink flowers looped around her curly locks.Arina was in charge of doing her makeup and she did a perfect job; she made it seem like Ronnie wasn’t wearing any makeup at all, but it still highlighted her fair features, brightening them.As she finished getting ready, Jonathan and some of their other friends were setting up the wedding venue at the Oaktree. Ronnie wanted to get married somewhere that was meaningful to everyone. She figured the Oaktree would be perfect, that way she knew Emlin would also be attending and a part of the wedd
I’ve been scared. The last couple of weeks has been a little rough on me mentally and physically. Since we returned home from the Overseer manor, my body hadn’t wanted to cooperate with me. It started with my mood swings; I’ve been snapping at Jonathan for no reason. My body has been sore all over. I’ve had this migraine I couldn’t shake. I’m overly tired.I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me until this morning when I tried to change into my wolf form to go hunting and I realized I couldn’t.Pregnant?Could I really be pregnant? Were we ready to have another baby?Emee was still a lot to take care of and they were still so young. However, now that I was a full-fledged adult werewolf, that meant this round of pregnancy should be a lot easier and less painful. Hopeful I won’t almost die during this childbirth.“What’s wrong?” Jonathan asked as he came into our bedroom.I was standing in front of the mirror, staring at my body. I already had body dysmorphia and hated the way I looked; no
It was time.It was time he finally took on the role as Overseer; officially. The world needed an Overseer, and he couldn’t delay the process any longer. They’ve gone too long without any actual order and because of that, so many people had gotten hurt. A lot of packs have been overturned; Alpha’s are abusing their powers and hurting their lunas.Witches are being summoned and used for attack. It wasn’t fair to everybody to have to continue living in fear. Even when every obstacle that came their way was defeated, a lot of wolves still got hurt and killed because of everything that’s happened.Arina’s mom, Jonathan’s dad, Jessica, Spencer, Anderson, Nikini, and even Arina at times have had it so badly this past year. He could hardly imagine what the rest of the world was looking like without Jonathan by their side.He didn’t want to wait around to find out any longer. He needed to start being the Overseer that everybody deserved. He was ready to rise to the top.He called his mom over
Weeks had gone by since I spoke to Jessica about Spencer. From the sounds of the guest room not long afterward, it seems she took my advice and decided to give Spencer a try. I hadn’t mentioned to Jessica about being able to hear them because I didn’t want to embarrass either of them. But I was glad Jessica finally listened to her howling wolf and gave in to her desires.Since then, they’ve been closer than ever. Wherever Spencer goes, Jessica goes, and vice versa. It was nice to see her finally loosening up since Greggory and actually trusting another male wolf. They both had it rough in their lives; Jessica a little bit later in life, but what she went through was terrible and it nearly killed her.I couldn’t blame her for having these trust issues.When she had amnesia, she didn’t remember all the things she’s been through with Greggory. Sure, she had the evidence of the abuse and knew what happened, but she didn’t have those painful memories that came attached with them.Maybe wit
He was always around now; one minute he was a mystery guy in the town of Moon-Valley and now he was living in the room next to hers. Spencer. What kind of name is Spencer anyways? Why did he have to show up and turn everything around? Not that he did anything bad. Actually, he kind of saved her life and she would forever owe him that debt. But she didn’t want to owe anyone new a debt that couldn’t repay.He was always looking at her with this loving admiration bullshit and she just got her heart ripped out of her chest by a man she used to look at like that. She thought she knew what love was and she thought she finally found her mate but ended up being a complete lie. She would be stupid if she fell for that again. She couldn’t fall for that again.But Spencer didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would lie to her; then again, neither did Greggory. She knew Greggory her entire life and she thought he was someone she could trust. Sure, he was a flirt with the ladies around town and did
Jonathan seemed weird when they returned from Silverside. Well actually, he seemed weird after he returned from his night in the town with Boris. But she wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed, so she didn’t bring it up.Things were finally starting to be good again and she didn’t want to ruin that for anybody. In a couple of weeks, she was going to be celebrating her 17th birthday party. She was excited to be that much closer to adulthood where she can finally marry Erick and have him as her mate. She wanted more than anything to spend the rest of her life with her mate.Erick kept saying he had a surprise for her on her birthday; she already knew they were going to have a huge party in Ironclaw, but she didn’t’ know what the rest of the surprise was going to be. She had to admit that she was curious and excited all at the same time. She was happy to get together with her friends and family to finally have some fun and have no worries.Things were finally getting better.Jonathan and Ari
Arina, Emee, and the rest of the crew stayed back at the manor once the ceremony came to an end. Jonathan wasn’t planning on telling anybody, other than Boris where he was headed. He didn’t want to worry anybody, but there were questions he needed answered.He told everybody he was going out into the town with Boris to try and get his mind off Nikini’s death. Which he fully plans on doing, but he also needed to make a small stop somewhere first and speak with somebody.The prison waiting room was quiet; just the light tapping of the dispatcher typing away on his computer in the corner of the room. The television was turned off because of how late it was. Boris didn’t ask any questions as to why Jonathan wanted to see Rock. He was done asking questions about anything now.Jonathan followed Boris through the male wing of the prison; it was much like the female wing, except it smelled fouler. Like Willa, Boris was kept at the far end of the prison. Once they reached his door, Jonathan co
A few days had passed since Willa and Greggory were defeated and locked away. Ronnie and Erick finally felt safe enough to return to Ironclaw full-time and stay in the house they took from Rock. Jessica and Spencer stayed in our guestroom because Jessica didn’t feel comfortable returning to the home she shared with Greggory.She says there are too many painful memories that took place in that home in such a short time that she couldn’t bear going back there anytime soon. I couldn’t blame her. That was the house he was once married to Rachel in. That was the house where he nearly killed Jessica and she was trapped inside.Spencer was glad to be anywhere, as long as he got to be near Jessica. I think she was still conflicted and confused about her own relationship with Spencer. She doesn’t remember anything from when she lost her memory; so whatever connection she once had with him, was completely gone. Except for the connection, she felt when she first met him.She no longer trusted he
Spencer was waiting for us outside the bunker doorway; his features looked pale white. I saw some blood trickling from his knuckles from when he was punching the door in an attempt to get it open. As we approached him a flood of relief washed over him, and I could literally hear his heart rate lessening.“I brought some reinforcements,” I told him, motioning for my mom and Naomi.He stepped aside from the door to join me as we watched my mom and Naomi approach the door cautiously.“Were you able to hear and speak with them?” I asked, keeping my tone low.He shook his head; the grim look on his face returned.“No, I tried to link them, and I couldn’t get a hold of either of them,” Spencer said.That wasn’t sounding good; that heavy feeling in my stomach was returning.“With the enchantment, Willa put on the bunker, it seems she put a block on it as well. You won’t be able to communicate with them until we get it open,” Naomi answered, overhearing our conversation.I breathed out in rel