***POV:Amara***It’s been over a week since Trent and his search team left on their mission to find survivors. They sent back 7 survivors almost immediately. The survivors have done extremely well, working, assimilating, settling into their new homes. They are even well liked. I am glad that it has been an easy transition, gives me hope for the future of our colony. My future on the other hand is looking bleak.Violet has been a great comfort to me in this time. She has helped me keep together the broken pieces of my heart, trying to give me some hope. I am supposed to work in the refugee center with mom today. I don’t feel like doing anything, let alone leave my house and go be around people. I groan loudly to no one since I am all alone and proceed to get ready.I walk into the refugee center and spot my mom across the building. She beams at me and strides towards me, enveloping me in a big hug. I haven’t seen her since the day Trent left, trying to keep all my misery to myself. She
***POV:Trent***Time seemed to be going so slowly. I am itching to get home. The first mission was a success, and it seemed to set the tone for this being a quick and painless excursion. The days after sending home the first survivors proved us wrong, hitting us with obstacle after obstacle. We have come across humans that have practically turned feral, humans that there was no way could be integrated into any kind of functioning society. We started leaving flyers with names of survivors we had rescued at city halls in the towns we went through. We left notes saying to leave word there and we would be checking back just in case any family came searching for our survivors, or if other survivors had been missed in our searches.At those points along our travels where it seemed like we would never find any redeemable survivors, we focused on retrieving anything useful to send back. I especially took care of Tony, the owner of the Moonlight Club, and sent him back cases and cases of alcoh
***POV: Amara***I slept on the boat last night to make sure I was ready to go as soon as they were on the move. I can’t believe I am doing this, but I am going out of my mind, and at least doing something gives me some reprieve from my insanity. I am eating an orange, waiting on the boat, when my mother mind-links me.“What are you up to darling? Feeling any better?” She asks hopefully.“Yeah mami, you were right, I needed some rest and to clear my head.” I am being short but hope she doesn’t notice. I just don’t want to give myself away, but I am entirely too anxious for normal chit chat with my mother.“Good honey. Have you given any more thought to telling your father?”“Not yet, but I will, I promise.” I lie, I feel so guilty, but I must keep it together long enough to get out of here.Suddenly, the tracker starts beeping.“Mami, I got to go, Violet is waiting for me.” I lie again and cut off the mind-link.I wait for the boat to head out far enough. I start my boat up and slowl
***POV:Trent***I wake up, naked and on the forest floor. What the hell happened? My entire body is sore. I then realize that nothing is sorer than my dick. In that moment it all comes back to me. What the hell have I done? I look around and see Heather sleeping naked next to me. This crazy chick came out into the woods after me and then went into heat. Between our former connection and the inevitable pull of a female wolf in heat to an unmated wolf, I was powerless. Yet, I still feel like shit, so much guilt. I can't even remember how many times I came inside her last night. With her having been in heat, the probability of her ending up pregnant is high. What am I going to do if that happens?I turn to her and poke her shoulder to wake her up. “Heather, wake up.” I grumble.She stirs and sleepily opens her eyes grinning at me. “Good morning lover,” she says happily.“Cut the shit Heather, you know damn well I couldn’t control myself last night, not against you being in heat.”“Say wh
***POV: Cole***From the moment I spotted her, I had the urge to take her in my arms and protect her at all costs. Now this girl, this stranger, looks like she is about to die in my boat in the middle of the river. I have to get her home where my parents can help her. The fact that my parents are doctors has come in handy in this aftermath of a world more times than I can count.I get the boat going again and hit the max speed. I keep peeking back at her and I think I see her chest moving like she is breathing. She’s beautiful, even with her beaten and covered in blood I can see it. I pull up to our dock and rush her in the house, screaming for my parents to come help. I take her into the guest bedroom that my parents turned into a makeshift exam room for when any of the neighbors are in need of medical care. Mom rushes in first, taking in the almost dead girl in my arms.“Heavens Cole, what happened to her?” She says as she moves towards me wasting no time.“The Parker brothers had h
***POV:Amara***I hear faint music, beautiful music. I feel weightless. Am I dead? I creep towards consciousness, the music bringing me forward. What a beautiful melody. There is a voice singing along to the music, deep and husky. It’s like it is calling to me. I open my eyes and I look around. I have no idea where I am, but everything hurts. I become aware of the IV attached to me. I sit up a little and look down at myself. My foot injuries from the trap have been cleaned and stitched. I see a few other stitches on my right arm, lots of bruising. My hands immediately trail down to my stomach. The baby, what about the baby? It all comes rushing back to me at once. Trent and Heather, the horrible men, and a vague memory of the man who saved me, and something about his smell. Tears start falling, I am overcome with the emotions of all that has happened. I dry my face as best I can. I need to get up, I feel stiff and want to see more of where it is that I am. I am wearing a light, loose
***POV:Trent***It has been weeks being out here in the aftermath, looking for survivors. We have covered a lot of ground and are finally cleared by my father to head back. Heather stayed with us this whole last week, no matter how much I tried to send her back. All I want is to get back to Amara and figure our shit out. I don’t know if I can convince my father, but maybe if I come at it from a different angle, and I can get him on my side. The South Coastal Pack and all that Alpha Carlos reigns over will become Amara’s when he steps down. I am sure that with as much as Amara loves me, she will submit to being my Luna, allowing me to run both packs. That is no small acquisition, being that Alpha Carlos’ pack is bigger, stronger, and wealthier than ours.Amara is far more beautiful than Heather, so add to that all that she brings with her, it really was a no brainer for me. She is good, kind, intelligent, pure, all the things that Heather isn’t. And yet, Heather is right, I do always f
***POV:Cole***I had to get out of that room, I felt like I was suffocating. What is it about this perfect stranger that has me feeling such a pull towards her? Sure she was beautiful, even with all her bruises, anyone could see that. But I’m not usually a sucker for just a pretty face. I did feel a responsibility towards her though. I have to do something about the Parker brothers. God only knows what they were planning to do to her if I hadn’t shown up. I go outside and stare at the sun setting on the water to calm my thoughts just as my mother shouts out that dinner is ready. All I hear now is footsteps everywhere rushing to wash hands and claim seats, these kids are always starving after a full day of fun on the farm.I walk in and take a seat, my mother placing the extra chair for Amara next to me. I give her a questioning look.She shrugs and says, “You were her rescuer darling, I figure she may feel most at ease next to you.”I roll my eyes and my sister Imogen lets out a loud
***POV: Imogen***After a lengthy brainstorming session, we split up and Violet took me to see the kids. I wanted to check in on them, but wanted to give them a chance to get reacquainted with their parents after being apart for so long. It was good to see them and they are definitely settling in.So now we are getting ready to go out as a group for the night. The big buzz is the ball that will be happening in a few days. Apparently they have already had a few off colony guests portal in, and it’s apparently a big deal.
***POV: Trent***That didn’t go the way that I wanted it too, but lately nothing has. Amara saying I don’t love her, that I’m not capable of loving her… how dare she? She doesn’t know what my feelings are, what I am thinking. At least she has the capacity to understand. Heather is not even capable.Being around Heather makes me feel like I am actually losing brain cells. She is not an Alpha, she is just not capable of understanding me. And now I am stuck with her, thanks to my pup growing inside her.
***POV: Cole**The next day we are all assembled at Tobias’ packhouse bright and early. Of course, ‘we’ are missing Amara, but Tobias, Imogen, Violet, and Cyrus are all here. Tobias gathered us to share all of the things he has uncovered about Imogen and I.We sit around the large table in his dining area, and one of the wolves from his pack is busy putting out a nice breakfast spread around us.“Tobias, I appreciate the hospitality but I am dying here man, when can we just find out what is going on?” I ask, trying to not be rude, but most likely failing at this point.He looks at me knowingly. “I get that you are anxious for more information, but we are still waiting on one more person to join us before we get started.”My heart skips a beat, Amara must be coming. While I hate where we are with things, I would never turn away an opportunity to see her.
POV: TrentAmara opens the door and I barge in past her. The look on her face tells me I am completely unwelcome, but I don’t care. This woman is mine whether she wants to accept it or not. I stride in to the living room and sit down on the bigger couch. She is still standing by the open door, looking at me, assessing me, obviously trying to figure out what to do next. She closes the door and pauses there for a minute, finally turning and walking over to where I am. She sits down on the loveseat across from me.
***POV: Amara***Back at my packhouse and I can’t stop thinking about Cole. I am in a loop of replaying what just happened. I don’t know how I am supposed to do this, walk away from this feeling, abandon this gift of my fated mate. I leave my room in search of, well anyone really. I don’t see Violet, of course Imogen is now at Tobias’, my mother isn’t anywhere either. My last stop is my father’s study, and sure enough he is there. I watch him for a moment before knocking on the partially open door. He is poring over a large volume. From here it looks like our wolf directory for the other colonies, he’s probably working on finding me a match.I lightly tap on the door and go in as he looks up and smiles at me. “Where is everyone?”“Not sure, but I know your mother went out to do some “errands” on the other side of the colony, whatever that means.” He said distractedly, going back to his research.“What are you up to Papi?”“Well, I’ve spoken with some of the Council members, and it loo
***POV: Tobias***All day I have felt this incredible pull to get back to Imogen. I walk into my packhouse and I am hit with some ridiculously good smell coming from the kitchen. Imogen is perched at the stove stirring what looks like pasta sauce. She is surrounded by a handful of pack wolves, who all appear to be thoroughly enjoying her company. It throws me off a little, but not in a bad way.She says something and everyone in the room erupts into raucous laughter. I watch her, throw her head back and laugh unashamedly and it does something to me. After they settle, I am finally noticed by one of my wolves, Peter.“Hey boss.” He says, smiling at me a very relaxed and at home smile. “We were just hanging with Imogen here, she offered to make us dinner so we wouldn’t be hungry enough to eat her.” They all laugh and he wiggles his eyebrows at his own joke. They obviously don’t know she is my fated mate and their future Luna or he would have never dared make a joke like that. Imogen loo
***POV: Tobias***Luna Claudia rakes her eyes over me, as if she is trying to read my mind. I get it, it is odd for me to have requested we meet alone. We are sitting outside of her packhouse, within the walls of their private garden. In a spot like this it’s easy to forget all of the strife brewing within our colony, and even more so the strife that the rest of the world is buried in. It’s beautiful and full of blooming tropical plant life.We sit across each other, with a small table between us. She looks at me, her piercing gaze starting to turn impatient.“I’m sorry to be taking up your time Luna, I know it was a strange request.”She nods and softens her face a bit. She has always been kind to me, motherly even. “So tell me Tobias, what brings you here under these odd circumstances?”I launch into my retelling of all the things that Alpha Thomas told me. She listens quietly and thoughtfully. When I am done, I notice she is wringing her hands in her lap.“So Imogen is your mate, a
***POV: Imogen***It feels like this day has taken forever to come to an end. I really enjoyed hanging out with Amara and Violet, and getting to see all of the colony, but I am exhausted. I think it’s just an overload of new information and feelings for me to process, and it’s just taken it out of me.Violet walks me back to Tobias’ packhouse. While I am excited at the thought of seeing him, and reveling in the anticipation of getting to know him better, the fact that we are going back there and not back to Amara’s makes me sad for Cole.“Violet, you think there is any way that Amara will come to her senses about Cole?”Violet stops and turns to me. “That is such a complicated topic Imogen. I know where you are coming from, they are perfect for each other, quite literally. It’s just a lot of complication.” She sighs, looks away for a moment and then turns back to me again. “How many female Alphas have you seen?”“I guess so far I have only met Amara.” I shrug.“And that is all you wil
***POV: Tobias***My visit with Alpha Thomas was the right move. He has listened to me carefully as he always does, and put some pieces together for me that I would have never put together otherwise.“Tobias, there is a prophecy that is older than we know about two human siblings that are destined to save the werewolf race. It really isn’t talked about much, especially since the collapse, because what wolf wants to admit that their future depends on humans?”“Not talked about much? I haven’t even heard this and I am an Alpha.”“I know son, but losing your parents so early on really robbed you of years of knowledge and training that you should have gone through before becoming an Alpha. Don’t get me wrong, you have done a great job without it, but still would have been nice for you to benefit from that as others have.”I nod, momentarily losing myself in thoughts of my parents. Snapping out of it, the questions come flooding in. “So who knows about this prophecy? Where did it come from