Zeke paced the basement with Shadow in control. Trusting Shadow to be the one to keep things under control would have been something he would have laughed at not too long ago.But here they were. After a few more hours of this, Ava wouldn’t feel all of that anger. They would be free. “Are you sure she’s not in trouble? I can go and check her dorm,” Derek said. “She’s fine.”Just angry. And horny.She was like a siren, calling him to do his mately duties through their bond. He hadn’t been able to concentrate all day. Ironing out the details of their escape became more difficult as he sensed his mate’s needs. The door to the basement opened, so he stopped pacing to watch Myles walk down the stairs.“I’ve got it,” Myles said, holding a small case towards him. “Two vials. They said you’ll get two days at the most, but aim to be as far away as possible in a day and a half.”“Are we sure we can trust those witches?” Derek asked. “If you’re caught, we will all go down for it. They’re wil
The sun streaming through the window woke Zeke up. It was blinding, but he didn’t have the strength to move.It had been sucked from his body. No, wrenched from his body. He felt about as useless as a newborn pup. He had not known it could be like this.He’d known mated couples to hole down for a couple of days when the woman went into heat, but they always came back out okay. But he felt like somebody would have to peel them off the floor and carry them out of there. He was completely spent. It had to be because they were true mates. Everything was stronger. More extreme. He had been loved within an inch of his life, and it was fucking amazing. A small smile played on his lips as he closed his eyes against the sun.The moan that came from beside him had his body reacting. Okay, maybe he wasn’t completely spent. He turned his head to face Ava because she was the only one who could command his body to move when he had nothing left in the tank. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was
“Where did they take Ava?”He could sense she was in the building, but something was blocking him from pinpointing her exact location. That was very worrying because their bond should have allowed him to find her no matter where she was. Would they have taken her straight to Isolation? They wouldn’t survive it in this state. “You’re in no position to ask me that, Mr Michelson,” Dean Russell said. “I spent weeks organising everything, and you and that human just went and desecrated the President of the Academy’s accommodation.”He should have ‘desecrated’ every room. His eyes narrowed on the dean.“You keep calling her that. You’re a stupid fuck, Alpha Russell, but I’m sure even you’ve figured this one out. Where is my mate?”He didn’t miss how the dean’s fist clenched on the table. Shadow had been alert since they had met the Head of Council’s cold gaze head-on, so he wasn’t taking any of this shit from the dean. He pushed forward and growled in warning. Though the dean lowered hi
When she followed Zeke out of the administration block, there was a chill in the air. Her head was a little fuzzy, but the frigid air outside cleared it.She stopped next to Zeke and looked where the restricted area was. Where the evil was. The cold darkness had settled there and was prickling at her skin. It felt like the evil in the forest was now over the academy like a wet blanket. She didn’t need anyone to tell her who was responsible for the purple-eyed creatures in the forest; she had looked the root of that evil in the eyes.“You’re coming with me,” Zeke said, breaking into her thoughts. “We need to stick together.”She looked back at the guards standing beside the doors. Just because the dean hadn’t punished them yet didn’t mean they were off the hook. That man had fantasies about the number of ways he could punish her, and he had already warned her about contact with Zeke. What she had done with Zeke was more than just touching him or holding his hand.However, despite the s
Ava slept like a log.Something shaking her shoulder jolted her out of her deep sleep, making her jump out of bed and straight into a fighting stance to face whoever had done that. Her first thought was the Council had come into the house, the purple-eyed man had caught her father, and it was time to fight.But it was Samantha and Julie. The Omegas jumped back from her and lowered their gazes. “Sorry,” Samantha said. “We made you some breakfast. Beta Derek said you slept through the weekend, so we made you something special to eat before lessons.”“And I made you a drink that my mother told me is perfect for recovery when a wolf goes into heat,” Julie said. “Old family secret recipe.”They had openly called her a wolf. Did they realise that?“Um...Thanks,” she said as she relaxed her stance.She hadn’t even processed the fact that she had gone into heat. It had never been something she had prepared for because she hadn’t believed it applied to her. She knew it took a lot out of the w
Ava sank back into her seat, hiding away from the purple gaze she saw in her nightmares every night. It felt like he could look into her soul. She couldn’t see the stage, but somehow, she knew their attention was still on her.From the tension she felt around her, she realised the Omegas could sense they were in the presence of evil even though their gazes lowered. Her heart was pounding, but she knew that for the first time, hers was not the only one.She felt some pressure in her head, and then the icy fingers probed at her, the same icy fingers she felt in Isolation and the forest. She could almost feel the thick molasses feeling all over her body as the dark magic tried to work its way in. She sat still, afraid to even breathe. “Good morning, students.”The dean’s voice rang loudly in the silent room, startling her. And with that, she realised her head had become a little foggy, as if she had been on the verge of being trapped in a spell.She had to think about something else. Fo
Zeke followed Ava out of the assembly hall and caught up with her outside the building. She was walking quickly towards the first-year block, but he could see how the Omegas were flanking her. Almost like they were protecting their Alpha. Could she see that?She looked too lost in her head to notice. He sensed her confusion through their bond, and she wasn’t scared. It was the Omegas' fear in the air, not hers. “Ava.”It was too risky to speak when they were close to the councillors, but he had to know what the hell had just happened.Ava carried on walking as if she didn’t hear him, so he increased his pace, squeezing past the Omegas until he was next to her.“Ava,” he tried again. She finally looked at him but didn't stop walking. "What was that?" he asked."I don't know. I think it was a spell; they were messing with our heads," Ava said quietly. "And it was so hard to shield my thoughts from them. I don't know what they saw."Shit. If the Council got to her, they could get to
Ava walked into Mr Patrick’s lecture room straight after her last class. It had been a surreal morning. They hadn’t learned much because whatever Mr Hansson had done to the student Omegas, he had also done to the teachers and instructors. If a spell had been cast on them because of her, the least the Council could have done was release them. But instead, she’d seen wolves jump at shadows and any sudden movement of noise. All the Omegas were a mess. It wasn’t right. She closed the door and looked at the man who could appear and disappear at will, the man who had insisted from the beginning that he could help. He’d said he had seen the Head of the Council before, so he had to know what they were dealing with. How could he be so sure that this was a battle they could win?“Winning? I don’t know,” he said as he walked over to the door and then touched it. “The Council is spread all over the world; we would never win against their full force. But we have the chance to cut off their head
The Silver Daggers. A bunch of fucking neanderthals who’d dwindled their numbers down before the Council had formed to take them down. Probably the only good thing the Council had done.Psychopaths on the same level as Hansson, with their well-documented kills and torture methods. And they had somehow dug up enough information on his mate to have a recent photo of her and also know which orphanage she’d been at before being adopted. In which world was that the kind of information someone kept to themselves?Shadow growled in his head, pissed off with Ava’s family for the first time since meeting Roland. ‘Let’s go hunt them down,’ he ordered. Oh, that was a given. The only question was how to make Ava go back home. Dealing with Hansson together was one thing. They had been trapped at the academy and had no other option. But he would not willingly let Ava face another asshole like Hansson. He would not risk her life. “Answer me,” Ava said, stepping closer to Nate.“No, I don’t thin
Ava glared at her brothers after she pulled a T-shirt over her head. The boys had accepted shorts and were already eating bowls of meat and vegetable stew that they had been offered. How could they even eat at a time like this? She took her place beside Zeke, and the older woman who’d given her the clothes gave her a bowl, too. She recognised her as the Luna immediately. Audrey had come forward before Nate could tell her anything about the secret they were keeping.When her father first brought her to visit the Moonvalley Pack, she was impressed that the pack's protection fell on all their shoulders equally despite being so traditional in other roles. Her father said Luna Audrey could kick ass as hard as Alpha Barrett.“I’m sorry, Luna. I don’t think I can eat right now,” she said, smiling at the woman.“Your wolf needs to eat,” Luna Audrey said, pushing the bowl towards her. “It’s true, isn’t it? You shifted?”Her reputation as the only human in the Mystic River territory had spread
The air was sharper, and his eyes picked up the smallest grain of soil—as impossible as that seemed. He could hear the smallest critters scurrying under the decomposing matter on the forest floor. His hind legs launched him easily over shrubs and fallen trees while the wind rushed past his face with an almost overwhelming force.His heart pumped with the surge of adrenaline, and below that, the strange, unfamiliar energy. What the hell was this? Nyx hadn’t stopped running since they shifted when they reached the forest. Keeping close behind her, Shadow followed the almost non-existent trail. Even with his stronger senses, Alpha Morgan’s scent wasn’t there at all. And the warriors he’d taken with him must have been some of his best men because they’d hardly left a trail.He’d expected Nyx to flounder a few times because she was still new, but the other half of him hadn’t lost the trail even once. Not that he expected anything different. Even without the strange boost they seemed to
No. No, no, no.Her fault. Why the hell hadn’t she trusted herself?Ava was out of the door before anyone could stop her. The guards had already gathered in the front yard, discussing what was happening. “...they’ve brought the bodies to the morgue. Can’t recognise them...”“...might be the same rogues that attacked the Moonvalley pack...”“...they didn’t make it there, so we still don’t know what’s going on over there...”Her fault.It was Emily and Dexter all over again.She shouldn’t have stayed in the background when she knew she was strong enough to help.“Ava,” Caleb called out as he followed her down the front steps. “I’ve already organised the search party. The trackers are already out there, and I’m going to join them. Stay here and—”“Even now, you’re trying to stop me?” she asked, facing her brothers.“It’s not safe—”“Then tell me why the hell you’ve kept me inside when you know I can help?” she growled.Caleb didn’t look away from her, but Nate, Alex, and Nick glanced a
Ava opened the back door again and glared at the wolf leaning against a tree at the edge of the forest. It was long past noon, and there hadn’t been any word from her father or the people he’d left with. Nyx growled, growing restless. She should have listened to her wolf from the start.Nyx was not very vocal, but she understood her wolf’s emotions perfectly. And it wasn’t helping that something else was simmering just under her skin, ready to burst. It had worried her when she woke, but there were bigger things to worry about now. Anxiety made the wait unbearable.Her father had always taught her to stand up for herself, so whatever rumours were going around about Zeke shouldn’t have made him go to such extremes. It was easy to prove that he was innocent. Why did it feel like she was missing something?That was the only thing stopping her from going after him. The fact that she didn’t know what was really going on. Her brothers were protective but always let her make her own choices.
It was strange to see all four mini Morgans looking at him directly without an ounce of fear. He and Ava sat on one couch while the brothers sat on the massive leather one that ran along two walls of the lounge. They had the same ash-blond hair in different styles and the same piercing blue eyes. Alpha Roland’s genes were clearly superior because he couldn’t see a trace of their mother. Even the judgy expressions were the same as their father’s.“Is this what they teach you in your pack? To disrespect a girl in her own home?” Caleb growled.They’d remained quiet until they herded him and Ava into the house. The rest of the pack had remained at the school, but he could sense some of them coming closer.“I meant no disrespect—”“She’s my little sister,” Caleb interrupted. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”As the oldest and the one who would take charge after his father, Caleb would have been given the same lessons as he had. At least the basics. Did he not understand what a true mate was?
Okay, now that was messed up. Nyx went on alert when all the attention focussed on Zeke, and Ava’s blood started to simmer. “Why are you looking at him?” she asked, finally lifting her head to look around the room.She’d anticipated some backlash once everyone heard the whole story about Hansson but assumed it would die as quickly as it usually did when she caused her father some trouble. It was why she’d not wanted to cause any waves for minor things. But for them to call Zeke a demon and blatantly suspect him of such a heinous crime?“He’s walking around with you, so something is obviously wrong with him,” Riley muttered from somewhere behind her.“As opposed to a wolf who can barely shift and can’t be admitted to an academy where a mere human was accepted?” she growled, not ashamed to hit below the belt.Several gasps brought her back to her senses, and she breathed deeply to calm the storm brewing inside her.The last time anyone had been a threat to Zeke, she’d levelled him in
Zeke glanced back at the women who reminded him so much of Amber and her cronies before allowing Ava to pull him toward several single-storey buildings nestled under the forest canopy.‘Are you sure you don’t want me to take care of them?’ he asked again.Time had already proven that they had to get rid of their enemies before they took things too far. As the future Alpha of his pack, he’d learned that lesson well before his peers. Ava would have to start thinking like a Luna—Alpha?—so the burden of leadership on her shoulders wouldn’t become too heavy to bear. ‘I’m more worried about this damn meeting. Let’s just find out what’s going on.’He could relate to that. After living in fight-or-flight mode for so long, it was tempting to let all the other shit go. As they approached, he sensed that many people had gathered in one of the buildings, and the hum of their conversations drifted to his ears. “Is this where you learned to fight?” he asked aloud. The buildings looked like they
There was something weird in her body. Or could Ava call it that when her whole bond with Zeke was strange? But as the wind blew her red, curly hair and the morning sun warmed her face, she knew something within her had changed. Again.Was it Nyx? She hadn’t been acquainted with her wolf long enough to know if something was wrong, but surely she wasn’t supposed to keep getting stronger. When she marked Zeke and they defeated Hansson, it felt like they were already at the top of their game. But now, something coursed through her blood, a fire that hadn’t been there before, almost fighting with the constant darkness inside her. It was as if, without the threat of death, Nyx was free to be herself and lean into her bond with Zeke and Shadow. Nothing was holding her back now.But there was something else to consider. Something that could have been the cause. Her parents.Alpha Diego was stronger than any wolf she knew, and he’d said his parents had both been like him. The true mate bond ma