Is that where you thought she'd end up? Thanks for reading!
Ryan’s POV I was doing my best to focus on work, tying up loose ends before our time away with our mate, but the pack house was so noisy with all the workers setting up for our big event. Thinking about the reason for all the noise just distracted me further. I couldn’t stop wondering what tomorrow would hold. What would her dress look like? How would she fix her hair? Would she be as excited as we were or would she be more nervous? All these thoughts played on repeat in my mind. It had only been two months since we met our mate, my beautiful angel, but so much had happened in that time, it felt like we’d been waiting for forever to make her officially ours. My wolf clearly did not understand the complexities of running a pack, nor did he care. He was just as anxious as I was, if not more, and kept urging me to forget about work and go find Kat. Of course he wanted to mate with her. That’s what he always wanted. But right now he would settle for just having her in his arms. I want
Reegan's POV Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. What the fuck was that noise? Blinking against the bright lights assaulting my eyes, I struggled to make sense of my surroundings. Sitting up, I cupped a hand over my eyes to shield them from the light and managed to look around. I was in a bed that wasn’t mine with an IV in my arm, monitors sounding in my ears, and a throbbing headache. Why the hell was I in the hospital? What the fuck had happened to me? “Welcome back to the land of the living. Though I’m guessing you’re going to wish to be comatose again soon enough.” Ryan’s disembodied voice said from somewhere in the room. His tone was flat, like he had no life left in him, and it immediately set me on edge. My wolf was still sleeping off whatever this was so my senses were dull but it didn’t take a wolf or our twin bond to hear the pain in his tone. He stepped into view and his face confirmed what I thought I’d heard. His eyes were dull and sunken in his skull. Dark circles under his eyes
Reegan's POV Ryan's words hit me like a ton of bricks, knocking all the air from my lungs. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was stand there and stare at him, frozen in place. How could I argue with him? I couldn’t. Because he was right. I did this. This was the Moon Goddess’ way of paying me back for all the selfish choices I’d made, nothing more than I deserved. Only, her retribution cost so much more than just my own happiness. It was destroying the people I loved. But maybe that was her plan all along. There was certainly no better way to make me pay for my sins. Sure, I never actually promised any of those women anything in exchange for sex. I never had to. They were all too eager to throw themselves at me, just happy for whatever scraps I offered them. If any of them were under the mistaken impression I would make them Luna, it was a misguided assumption on their part. Or maybe some of them had intended to use my indiscretions to climb the social ranks.
Kat’s POV I’d been in Forest Trails with my aunt for over a week and, as far as I knew, no one knew I was here. Aunt Isa, as I’d taken to calling her, had told me my father had called her looking for me mere moments before I’d arrived. Of course she told him I wasn’t here because I hadn’t been at the time. It had taken a lot of begging for her to agree to keep my presence from him. In the end, she only agreed not to call him with the information herself but refused to lie to him outright if he directly asked again. It was the best I could hope for but I knew I’d need to tell him myself soon. I was currently lying in bed, the same place I’d spent the majority of my time over the past week. That was another problem I’d have to remedy soon. I wasn’t sure how I would manage it. My wolf had gone from blood curdling howls to painful whimpering to curled up in a listless ball in my head. Without her energy pushing me, I was finding any motivation of my own hard to come by. As hurt as I
Kat’s POV Aislinn and Cara ran together for hours, playing together, chasing small woodland creatures, their spirits reconnecting. My aunt and I were mere passengers, along for the journey. At times, Aislinn would stop and encourage me to join Cara in trying to channel our power. She would ask us to align our thoughts, focusing our energies together towards a common goal. Her expectations were low, only suggesting small displays such as pulling water from a stream to drink, moving small rocks or branches, or lighting some twigs on fire with our mind. All we actually managed to do was concentrate so hard on levitating water from a stream that we lost our balance and fell in, drenching ourselves and Aislinn with the backsplash. Still, she never became frustrated or lost her patience with us. And though my aunt never spoke, content to let her wolf run the show, I could sense her amusement. “Enough for today, little one.” Aislinn’s voice floated into my head as we laid in a clearing,
Damien’s POV One of my pack members, Isabella Byrne, had returned to my territory recently after traveling abroad for some time. It was standard procedure to debrief with anyone who’d spent more than a month or two outside the pack for safety purposes. Isabella had been back for a while but I’d been too busy to meet with her. I wasn’t particularly worried, knowing she’d gone for personal reasons, but I still needed to follow protocol. I was on my way home from checking on a minor border disturbance when I decided to just swing by her house and see if she had time to talk. I pulled into the drive and jogged to the door, hoping to catch her at home. After initially staying with friends, she’d finally settled into this cute little cottage on the edge of town. I knew she lived alone and usually kept to herself so I was pretty sure she’d welcome the visit. Ringing the bell, I heard an unfamiliar voice call out from inside. “I’ll get it!” the melodic voice called out. My wolf stirred a
Ian’s POV In a matter of minutes, I’d gone from begging the Moon Goddess to return my daughter to me safely to wanting to strangle her myself. I knew she was hurting. I’d talked to her mates multiple times a day since the day she’d left them, so I was well aware of the misapprehension she was operating under. And I knew her well enough to know what it must be doing to her, thinking the very pain she’d tried to avoid came for her anyway. Still, how could she be so selfish to let me worry about her that way? I knew the answer to that. She didn’t trust that I wouldn’t tell her mates. And if I was being honest, she might have been right to worry. I was still debating with myself whether or not to call them. With every conversation we’d had this past week, I could tell their thin grasp on sanity was unraveling. Knowing all too well what it felt like to lose a mate, I hated to let them suffer when I could ease it for them. In the end, I settled for a compromise. Kat only said I could
Kat’s POV I wandered the streets of the little town comprising Forest Trails’ city center with no real destination in mind. Planning ahead wasn’t really an option given the circumstances. One minute I was rushing from my room, excited to see my dad and the next minute I was frozen in place, watching him pull my aunt into his arms and claim her as his mate. So now, I was wandering the streets in unfamiliar territory, trying to sort out my feelings. The possibility that my dad would find a second chance mate had never really crossed my mind. It wasn’t something we’d ever talked about and I’d foolishly assumed he’d be content to cherish my mother’s memory alone for the rest of his life. Considering how long a wolf’s life could be, that had been rather short-sighted of me. Now that the unexpected had become reality, and with my mother’s sister no less, I was not at all sure how to feel about it. I hadn’t left because I was angry, though maybe it had seemed that way. I had left because