Rhett still isn’t right with me, it’s been a month since I grabbed his shirt and lashed out. This is why Kate has got to go, she’s messing with my head too much. I shouldn’t be losing it with my most loyal Beta, the man I would trust with my family's life. So, to make amends, I asked him and Glenn to come with me on this town inspection. Normally just one would come with me along with a load of Strategists, accountants and other miserable administrators. I wanted to have some fun, forget about…certain people anyway. Except it wasn’t fun. The town was a dusty, run-down shithole. And certain people, Kate, never left my mind. My father hadn’t invested in it for years and it showed. Even the farming land was poorly maintained. I understand it’s hard to farm when it's constantly sunny and there is limited water but even by our low standards this town was wrecked. It was sobering stuff, not helped by the fact Rhett was still icy. We had room’s laid on by the town mayor, a pudgy, greasy
By the time I look up from my notes it is dark. The library is empty, only one light visible across the whole floor. There is a good chance I’m going to get locked in again if I stay much later. I can see the flames of the bonfire party out of the window. The music and whooping thuds dully through the window. Closing my eyes it feels like I was there years ago, not six weeks. So much has changed since then. When I heard footsteps pounding up towards my floor I gathered my books, preparing another apology for the steely eyed librarian. What I didn’t expect was Alpha Dex. Grey tshirt, black leather jacket, hot as hell even with a look of seething hatred on his face. His eyes caught mine and my throat seized. Instinctively I grasped my books closer to my chest, afraid of what any other bodily reaction could be. From the doorway, he paused. My heart dropped at the idea he might just leave, before suddenly storming towards me. Ruby red flashed through those espresso coloured irises.
Even though a crowd of people is the last thing I want I need to see Roxie. I’ve got to try and make some sense of all this, make this night about more than giving to my attraction to Dex. All my possessions abandoned for now in the library I jog over to the far end of the compound where the bright, crackling bonfire towers high, sending billowing black smoke into the clear sky. It wasn’t hard to spot Roxie, as usual she was in neon, a lemon and lime coloured mini dress paired with a black leather jacket. It looked ferociously expensive, but then I guess she can afford it. /Don’t be bitter/ Raya scolded as I sighed, hoping the breeze would whisk away any remaining scent of arousal on my skin. Stood with Cherry, Matt, Felix, Sinead, and Martha. They were all having fun. Until they saw me. With a tut and an eye roll the immaculate Martha and Sinead tapped Roxie lightly on the arm. “Don’t worry, we know YOU have to talk to her”, was the implied message. Bitches, feeling a flash of an
Last night was ridiculous. Lying naked in my huge wooden four poster, drowning in crisp white sheets I cannot work that girl out. The fury in her eyes towards me was genuine. Kate hates me yet within a second, those very same eyes are filled with lust, her wolf beckoning mine forward. I’ve never felt Alba get dizzy before, it was unnerving to feel him lose control as Kate worked her magic. When I finally had her where I wanted her, she should have melted, screaming my name. The way she repeatedly clenched around my fingers, she was fighting against me even as she kissed me like a tigress. Even then she refused to yield. “Never,” she had said, she is never going to cry my name. I’ve never made someone angry with me explode like that before. I wasn’t even intending to go there. I wanted her to confess that she was messing with me. That the rumours are true. Instead I end up breathless as she stared into my eyes, her fingers gripping my hair as she climaxed. You’re not that special,
The next few days saw me purposely avoiding Roxie. If she had cheated on Felix, I didn’t want to know, for a million different reasons. She had done irresponsible things when we were children, taking other's toys, maybe even money from a purse one time but I tried to think the best of her. I’m clinging to the idea that she wouldn’t break someone’s heart. When Rhett returned my things from the library, I was so embarrassed. He knocked at the door holding the pile, his huge grin just visible within his sandy beard as he watched my face drop in realisation. “So he told you to fetch these back to me?” “Yep. Is that all of it, I haven’t missed anything?” “Just my dignity,” I joked with a smile as I dumped the collection of pads and books onto the bed. “I heard that you’ve tried to speak to someone about all these cheating rumours?” no doubt my eyes wide with desperate hope as he coughed. “I did yeah. It’s tough though, I don’t know why but they are convinced the matter shouldn’t be d
I sacrificed a full day of lessons to get that place organised, but it was worth it. Every part of me ached as I scrubbed the full room. Big enough to house six, its rusted bunk beds, whilst not shining, were at least clean and germ-free. There were no broken windows at least, just the busted door lock. Even so I slept like a log. A run seemed the best way to start off this new phase. At least I could artificially boost my mood by getting out into the wilderness before the sun made it unbearably hot. In just my black sports bra and black fitted shorts I tied the door shut with some string and set off. Like a misty morning’s fog burning off to reveal the blue sky above, my mind cleared. Every kilometre I felt braver, more like myself. This whole thing was a temporary setback. I can run to the nearest town from here, I’ll be able to get a job. Maybe Rhett will be able to lend me a bicycle. I turned from the path into one of the surrounding orchards. Following the strict straightly pl
Dex looked around to make sure we were completely alone before continuing, his olive skinned arms glistening in the sun. I wanted to concentrate fully but that black edge of his tattoo continued to peek out from under the hem of his t shirt. “So, Alpha Austin of Greenway Pack…last Conference he implied that a section of the widowed Lady Gwyneth’s territory should be returned to his pack. It’s a lie. He’s testing the water to see who would stand up for the Highton pack.” Managing to switch the lustful, hungry side of my mind I off I listened properly, as if it was my job, “How did the leaders fall?” “I openly disagreed with Austin but it is my fathers move to make. Luna Madeline and Alpha Frank are clearly on Austin’s side. Eduardo challenged in the meeting but he would never stick his neck on the line. Not even for me.She’s on her own.” “But you want to help her?” He kicked the dirt as we got back onto the track, heading past some other rundown accommodation blocks. “I do, not on
“Dex,” she said, shivering under my caresses. At hearing her whisper my name my soul soared. Alba was pushing, urging me to wrap her up tighter to me, to keep her safe from every dickhead out there. As she kissed me back, her lips softly sought out my neck and collarbone, her little slim fingers toying with my hair in a way I didn’t even know I adored. “Let me help Kate, I’m not going to hurt you.” “Just…make me forget all the other stuff,” she whispered into my neck, as my hands continued to feel all the bare skin her running gear displayed. Earlier, when Alba sensed she was running by me I felt like a bolt of lightning had struck. I was frozen, watching her move through the tree line, honey hair bouncing in a ponytail, that beautiful figure of hers athletic yet moving like a dancer. I’m an Alpha, I run for nobody and yet I found myself chasing down a girl who until two minutes ago insisted she hated me. /Won’t she need to get clean for classes/ Alba suggested, giving me pos
###ONE YEAR LATER###KATESo I’m Luna Kate now. We had a big, outdoor ceremony that everyone appeared to see. Dex wore all black, looking absolutely unreal. I wore a long fitted red gown, in keeping with the ruby in his eyes and the colours of Fyrestone. Almost everybody was there, of course Roxie was not.Dex and I have taken the bike to Verna a few times since that first outing. I think it’s his favourite thing to do when life gets a bit much. We also haven’t made it back once without having stopped mid-way home. Something about the adrenalin of the tattoo gun I guess.I did get a tattoo added for Roxie in the end. It took me a while to think about what I wanted but in the end I had a twisting, mixed up lightning bolt. Not a cheesy, pointy outline, but the crackling, thin shards that splinter across a dark sky. It is on the side of my ribs, surrounded by the constellations of the Fyrestone compound.It stood for all the lightning and thunderstorms we sheltered in together as children
Just for a while we switched off. There was a whole world of shit to deal with back at the packhouse. Dex hadn’t yet mentioned the gigantic black opal ring of his fathers that was now on his hand either. The drunken bonfire blowout tonight sounded absolutely perfect to be honest, it wasn’t even something I usually enjoyed doing. So much had happened it sounded amazing to just relax for a few hours.I knew he was stressed about Rhett being so weakened, the fact there was no way Glenn and Ariel would be able to live happily under the scorching sun of Fyrestone. However right now, tearing along the red dust ground at a dangerously fast speed it didn’t matter for a while.He took the bends with rough, sharp leans that made me hold my breath and cling onto his chest for dear life as we raced across the desert plains. His leather jacket smelt so delicious, the bonfire scent that first captured my heart fast becoming a permanent part of me. I wondered if he found himself smelling of grass e
Finally, after what feels like weeks we are back in Fyrestone. The whole campus turns out to greet our return. Matt and Felix are treated like living gods, one blonde girl with red lipstick, Cherry I think, particularly clinging onto Matt as the student feted two of their own winning a war.The cars that arrived to fetch us from Foxton were gratefully received. The men were tired and ready to recuperate. Of course, it was only what was expected of them. To be classed as a Warrior meant to risk your lives and battle for the pack. Fyrestone had lost several men as well. A lot of them nearer my fathers generation, men he was reluctant to let out to pasture. My selection of younger, sleeker warrior students and recent graduates had all survived. My father and Rose were waiting at the Packhouse for us, alongside a scarily-slimmed down Rhett. His ashy blonde hair tied in a topknot and a smile brimming on his ridiculously bushy beard. If he had looked almost feral before, he certainly did
With a heavy heart we had to leave. Cliffrill, Foxton and other packs needed Dex’s presence. When I told Roxie she was almost enthusiastic at the prospect of being left. “Go, go be the Luna, it’s fine. I don’t want everyone here watching me scab over anyway.” she had insisted.I did wonder how much of it was getting rid of me, or knowing that the sooner we left the sooner Felix would be gone. He tried again to talk to her but Mina had to show him out when Roxie refused to see him.Now Mina and Olaf are mated, very happily so by the sounds ringing out day and night she is coming with us. So we have had to entrust Roxie’s final healing to Etherly. Still a petite, sour faced little thing I sat her down for a talk as we prepared to leave.“Are you happy Austin has gone?”“Not particularly,” she said with a scowl, her petite features against twenty years every time she creased up so sourly. “I had a good life here.”“There is nothing to stop you having a good life elsewhere. This place was
Fuck me I owe Olaf a drink. Maybe ten. He can have every jewel in this shithole.The sight of Kate standing there in the gardens, not that she was really eyeing up the silent giant was enough to make Alba go wild. The green silk slip she wore was fluttering softly in the breeze, her eyes so brown and soulful combined with that honey hair. I was rock hard before I even stood behind her.Now I’m watching as my mate keeps her eyes on me, unzipping my pants on her knees. I know it’s maybe immature, enjoying the risk of being outside but it’s something Alba and I have in common. Fuck, it’s clearly something Kate likes too, she’s been bent over a balcony howling before now so this is junior league in comparison.When she started teasing me, suggesting things I could do to her she had no idea how wild it drives me. Or maybe she does know exactly what she’s doing, in which case she deserves my cock in her mouth even more.Her plump perfectly pink lips kissing and wrapping around the head of m
The tender-hearted bear of a man who waited outside the door was soon replaced by a different beast entirely. On waking up he flexed his Alpha authority with ease. Ordering his collection of men into different brigades, plus reserves arrived with supplies and information. Almost twenty hours after the battle was won and the dust was starting to settle.A constant flurry of decisions had to be made. Dex, now sat in the library answered dozens of questions. Dispensing supplies, where everything needed to go and handling every kind of diplomatic crisis. We received an update on Rhett, he had been successfully taken by the Fyrestone and was under care.Glenn would still be heading back to Foxton to inform Luna Madeline but a scout had returned from his group to confirm Eduardo was being held captive. His pack were apparently only too happy to place him under arrest. It was peculiar how no local rebellion occurred. Fyrestone’s warriors were allowed across the territory without difficulty.
Hours of chanting, each of us holding Roxie’s charred hand or foot as Olaf mixed herbs and guided our voiced was exhausting. My head dropped, fighting waves of tiredness after days of running from Foxton. Olaf and Felix had battled too, their red wounds matching Roxie’s battered form. It was peculiar to feel the ebb and flow of her body. I would feel warmth and a pulse only for it to simmer away. Her breathing was barely there, her chest flickering instead of rising. Her wolf was pushing itself to the limits and there was no way of knowing what would happen.On the sofas, rapidly staining with blood as her wounds seeped, we surrounded her with our love. As dawn broke over a new day Mina looked around and clanged the cymbals.Olaf began to shake his head in failure, the herbs, hair and peculiar rocks he had procured moved to one side. He was accepting defeat. I couldn't. I gave my last bit of energy, chanting louder, closer to her ear praying with everything I had that she would choos
After swimming in the blackness, for what could have been years or seconds I was calm. Unable to form a thought, feel any pain I simply existed in a pool of darkness. That almost-tumbling feeling of falling asleep, when you’re just on the brink of accepting tiredness, was the only sensation. Then the pungent, unmistakable scent of burning hair entered the darkness.The first emotion and clear thought that dripped into my awareness was the fear that the smell was sulphur. That Berlarot even in death remained tied to me.As my senses slowly strengthened, like a slow turning up of volume I found my inner voice. Another thought occurred when I realised it was not Berlarot, was the assumption that the burning smell was my own hair. Perhaps the tower was burning, maybe Kate had done something marvellous and saved everyone.Kate. My sister.I’d left her. I’d jumped and left her to the mercy of Austin. A coward till the end. Death is the correct path for me.Thoughts swam around in the black
What the hell has happened here. We’ve saved the fucking day and I’m getting shit for it.As she vanished around the corner the blonde girl with blue eyes approached. “I’m Mina, I did not want to get Kate’s hopes up but I think…Roxie needs a healer. She might not be completely gone yet.”I groaned, rubbing my face. We’re just a collection of fighters, “Azus, do you?” knowing the answer would be a no before he walked off to check on his injured men. Then, as quiet as a tiger through the trees Olaf came into view. He was completely naked, his grey hair shorn, eyes shimmering gold and yellow.He walked down the grassy path, all of us staring at his intimidating presence. Was he some kind of fucking sun god? Blessed with serious muscles and abs behind all that weird grey hair it felt as though we were all meeting him for the first time.Ignoring everyone’s stares he fixed his eyes on the tall, blonde Mina. We all saw her breath catch, her eyes widen as she fell under some kind of spell. F