Aiden’s POV Walking back towards the packhouse took longer than I wanted it to. Ayla was unconscious, and her breathing was shallow. She needed help quickly; the patches of her skin that weren’t bruised and covered in blood were so pale. Finally, the lights from the house could be seen between the branches of the surrounding trees. At first, no one noticed me carrying a semi-naked, unconscious girl in my arms across the lawn. I had sent a message to my brothers as soon as I could see the house. It was them that came running towards us first. “What the fuck happened” Axel shouted as he ran towards us. “We need to get her inside, find a doctor, hurry,” I say through gritted teeth. More of the guests had noticed something was going on now. Loads of people were gasping and muttering as I drew closer. Luna Laura came running out quickly; the news must have reached her ears. “Oh my goddess, Ayla”, she cov
Archers POV Aiden was raging when he came back from Michael’s office. We had waited for him by the stairs. He hadn’t been gone long, but the emotions I could feel coming through our bond put me on edge. “What the hell is going on,” I ask as soon as he reaches us “That asshole Mason, he’s accusing me of hurting Ayla!” Aiden spat. He was seething with anger. He didn’t know what to do with himself. “WHAT THE FUCK” Axel shouted; everyone stared at us. “Keep your voice down”, Aiden growled. “I know; I’m going to fucking kill him when I get my hands on him. Michael wants us all to stay in the house until Ayla wakes up and either denies or confirms it’s me!” he told us. He was beside himself, sinking onto the step of the stairs; he hung his head, still sat in his wet jeans. He hadn’t changed since he had gotten back. He was a mess, and I didn’t blame him; I felt it too. “I told him I wouldn’t hurt her; I told him I’m in love with her!” he all but wh
Ayla’s POV “What is it you want to talk about, Ayla?” Laura asked; she sat on the edge of the sofa next to me. I didn’t know what to ask her; I had only said I wanted Laura to stay because I didn’t wish to stay with Mason. “Umm,” I wrack my battered brain for an idea. All the while, she stared at me, patiently waiting. “Well, you see, I just wanted to know how things go now I have had my first shift, does my body go through changes differently now or?” the question came to me, so I said it before I forgot it. She smiled and looked pleased to be able to help. There wasn’t anything I wanted to know, but I had to ask something! Otherwise, she would know something was up. “Well,” she smiled “, your body will automatically know what to do, so you do not need to worry, my dear” she patted Ayla’s knee. “You will feel heightened emotions. Especially around your time of the month, you will get used to it and learn to control your
Aiden’s POV Having Michael in the room was intense! He saw Ayla as his daughter; he took her in and raised her as his own. So naturally, he would be wary of whoever was destined to be her mate. Even more so, because there were three of us, she seemed to be handling the situation with him, though at least one of us appeared to have some control. I, for one, was this close to a mental explosion. How can any of this be happening? It’s unheard of. My train of thought was broken as one of my brothers cleared their throat, grabbing our attention. I reached over and laced my fingers with my mate; it felt amazing being able to say that finally. Ayla was everything and more than I had ever hoped for; she was beautiful, clever, funny and strong. “So, what do we do now?” Axel asked the one question we were all thinking. “Don’t look at me! I don’t have a clue; I’m still in shock,” Ayla replies. She still looked so tired and weak; it tore at my heart. “We need to work out what the heck is goi
Tristan’s POV It’s my mother? Why was I so nervous to ring her then? Sitting on the edge of the large double bed in my temporary room, I stare at my phone. I knew I needed to make the call. I had called my mother thousands of times about important things, so it was foreign to me why this time was bothering me more than the others. Stephanie Bryden was the sister to the Alpha of the Sun Valley pack; she was an imposing person. I even feared her, and I was her son. She was the kind of person you did not want to upset or get on the wrong side of. And if you did find yourself on the wrong side, you better do everything you can to get back on the right side of her quickly. “Just hurry up and get this done; you’re making it worse on yourself”, I try to coach myself. My hands shook as I slid my finger across the screen, unlocking my phone; it took me a few tries as my hands were sweaty. Once I found my mother’s number, I pressed the call bu
Stacy’s POV A girl! All these hot guys, and we get stuck with a girl. I wasn’t happy. I will be talking to Mason about this. He will have to fix this for me. Otherwise, he will have to deal with me and trust me; he will not like it if I’m not happy. Plus, I saw him flirting with all the new girls. He’s lucky we aren’t mated yet. Otherwise, I would have a thing or two to say about it. “Stace, where are you” my brother called me. I knew it was just to rub it in my face that I had to move out of my room for a while. We had thought it would be a guy, so mum had already told Jaxon he was going to be uprooted from his room, but now it’s a girl; mum thought it wouldn’t be as nice for her to stay in my brother’s room and I agree! But why does it have to be my room? “What do you want, Jaxon? I am busy, you know,” I say. I had been staying in the dining room as the guest room was being decorated. It hadn’t been finished in time for Miranda to stay in, so l
Ayla’s POV Finally, I could relax; I hadn’t even realised I was tense until I had all three Chase brothers surrounding me. I couldn’t stop staring at them. They were all equally gorgeous yet similar to anyone just meeting them, but the differences were huge to me. Aiden’s emerald eyes were so striking that it was hard to look away from him. His jet-black hair makes them even brighter. Then there was Archer; he was on the other end of the scale to Aiden with his silvery grey hair and sapphire eyes; it sent chills through my body. Finally, Axel was the perfect mix of his two brothers, with his black hair streaked with silver. His eyes were a stunning shade of amethyst and could captivate you in mere seconds. I couldn’t believe they were mine. It still blew my mind. Michael had been talking, but I had missed the whole thing, thanks to my inability to focus when the Chase brothers were around. “So yeah, we have a lot more research to do, but we have m
Jacob’s POV Watching Ayla being carried out of the woods by one of those Triplets really bothered me. Since they had been here, they had stuck close to her; I don’t think I have seen her once without them, not since she was last at school anyway. Goddess, I don’t even know why it bothered me so much anyway. It’s not like I even like her. We haven’t been friends for years now if you could even call us friends, to begin with. Sure, we spent some time together once, but I quickly learned it wasn’t a good idea. Lucas, my older brother, is best friends with Mason. They made my life a living hell for hanging out with Ayla, Mason hates her, so naturally, Lucas would too. I took way too many beats for it and didn’t intend on ever receiving any more, not for her anyway. She smelled amazing, though; that’s what has been worrying me. She shouldn’t smell that good to me unless we are mated. “I can’t be mated to Ayla; my life would be a living hell if I were!
Laura’s POVIn an already clean house, one can only do so much cleaning. My world was all over the place. My mother might have been pleased with me for once, but I couldn’t find my husband. I hadn’t seen him since that morning. I had only just been able to wangle him back under my control this time; there was no guarantee I’ll be able to do it again. He is so strong-willed; it was kind of scary. If he found out I lied, that I had spelled him into loving me, being with me and protecting me, I don’t even want to think what he would consider doing.No one had approached me all day, not since Mason earlier this morning. He had left in such a mood, but that was nothing new. I had to focus on gaining control of Michael and Mason. When he struck me, it only proved I was slipping majorly. If I didn’t gather my family back in and get back to the level of control I had before, I would surely lose it all.Frantically pacing the kitchen, trying to keep my mind busy, was when my phone rang, and it
Stacy’s POV“Mason keeps ringing; what do I do,” I asked wide-eyed, cross-legged on Jacob’s bed; I hadn’t left yet; I had been with him all day and all last night. He was the same Jacob I knew but, at the same time, different. He was strong, confident and possessive; I loved it.“Next time, let me answer; I’ll sort this out”, He answered. Storm stared at me from behind his eyes.“It will only infuriate him, Jake; you know it will, he will go nuts; I don’t want you to get hurt”, I admitted, but Jacob just laughed, a full belly laugh.“Babe, please, have you seen me?” he laughed again “Do you honestly think he could hurt me.”“He is the Alpha’s son though” I was quiet as I didn’t know what to do.“Pfft, who cares? No one hurts my girl and gets away with it,” he declared, reaching over and kissing my jawline, sending tingles all over my body.“Look, don’t worry about Mason; I’ll handle him. It would be best if you worked out what to say to your crazy mother and her friends,” he said poin
Archer’s POVAxel spoke with Ayla; I sat silently, doing nothing. I didn’t begrudge him that; it’s just that I missed her too, and it’s my fault she is in the state she is in. I lost my wolf and my mate both at the same time. I felt less than useless right now. I couldn’t shift or mind link, I couldn’t shadow walk, and I had lost part of my strength; I was no longer a werewolf until Titan was found.“Arch, stop it; you’re not useless; I can hear you, you know”, Axel grumbled from across the room.“Great, at least you can hear me; it makes me feel so much better”, I moaned back.“I didn’t mean it like that; you know I didn’t. We will sort this; it just won’t happen overnight” he tried his best to reassure me, but he failed miserably.Ignoring my brother as I didn’t have anything to say in response, I decided to flick through my phone, looking at crap on social media from my old life. I felt so disconnected from the person I used to be. It was like looking through someone else’s memorie
Aleena’s POVThe wind howled outside as I waited for Aiden to return. He said he would track Michael down, just in case my presence still hurt him. I was a bag of nerves. I was actually going to do this; I was going to claim the man destined for me. That and saving everyone else in such a small space of time, but who’s counting?Dressed in my Michael hoody, I waited. Minutes felt like hours, which led to the discovery of me not being a patient person. I needed to distract myself so I didn’t go crazy, so braiding my floor-length hair seemed like a good idea until it wasn’t. I was so anxious that I couldn’t make my fingers do the work I needed them to do. I swear I looked like a child who had never braided before.“You need to calm the heck down, don’t be so stupid,”, I told myself sternly; I had never imagined I would find love, seeing as I no longer lived with my people. But I guess the goddess has other plans for me after all.Taking a few deep, calming breaths, I started again. I ha
Aleena’s POVThe morning had arrived by the time I found the Chase brothers. All three were in Aiden’s room, and he looked like shit. I wasn’t surprised after all he had been through. But I didn’t have time to stand here feeling sorry for him. I had to see if I could siphon the Shadows out of his body, so he could function when we needed him. Being unpredictable was not what we needed right now.“There you are, Aiden. You look like hell, but I think I can help if you let me,” I spoke quickly, hoping to get in there before they all tried speaking at once.“Oh, hey Aleena, yeah, thanks for that. I feel like hell, too,” he smiled at me, which I was shocked at. I thought he would be a massive pile of brooding mess by now.“Well, I can help get some of the darkness, if not all, out of your system, which will help in the long run if you want” I shrugged like it was nothing but knew how massive it was. I was doing everything I could to keep my mind on task and not on Michael.“Sure, let’s do
Stacy’s POVI was having the best dream, something I hadn’t been able to do lately. I was with Jacob; it was safe and warm, and I missed him. I wouldn’t admit that out loud, however. I could smell him around me and feel the comfiness of his bed. If I could stay asleep forever, I think I would.I felt something next to me, an arm snaking around my waist and warmth on my back. I froze, had I stayed at Mason’s last night? I couldn’t remember, and then it came rushing back; my eyes flew open, yet I stayed dead still.I was in Jacob’s room, in his bed. I remember coming over now and snuggling into his hoodie like an idiot. I must have fallen asleep before he had gotten out of the shower, but how did I end up in his bed?“Dear goddess, please say we didn’t do anything; Mason would kill me”, I frantically thought.I had only come here to talk; I planned to make Mason want me more, but also, partly because I missed Jacob, and he was so sweet to me. But now I’m in his bed, and I don’t know wha
Aleena’s POVWaiting to hear anything from Michael or the chase brothers was killing me. When did I suddenly become a man-obsessed person? Never before had I been this way about anyone, and not about the Alpha. I knew the Werewolf rules; I knew that once they found their mate, they were done, they wouldn’t even look in the direction of another woman, and Michael had his mate. So why was he constantly looking at me like he felt the same way I did?“What do I feel for him” I questioned myself; I wasn’t ready to face that mountain yet, but deep down, I knew; I didn’t want to say it out loud. But, of course, it’s not unheard of for different races to end up together. But a mated one, now that was unheard of.I had walked in circles around my room. I returned here once I had set Aiden on his task. There was no way I would risk being around Laura; she hated me near her man, and I don’t blame her. Even though Michael would deny that she hates me, I could feel it, and we elves had a knack for
Aiden’s POVI was sure I was dead. I had no energy to force myself up off the floor where I had landed, running from the Luna and her unsavoury friend. My body hurt, my legs felt like they were made of led, and I had been thrown into the sea and sinking fast. I was sure I’d never wake up again if I just gave in.Shadows constantly sang to me, trying to drag me back under, calling me back to their dark embrace.“No, I’m needed here; she needs me”, I mumbled in my sleepy haze. Then, finally, I had to force myself up. I don’t know how long I had lain here in the dark, my back pressed against the cold wooden door. But I didn’t care.“Aiden, where are you” Ayla’s voice tickles my mind. But could it really be her, now that Alune had control of her body? Could she still reach me if she wanted to?“Ayla, babe, is that you” I call out desperately to her, needing to know if she was there, if she was okay and how I could help.“Aiden, she’s sleeping; it’s the only time I can reach you,” she told
Stacy’s POVWalking out of Mason’s room and leaving the pack house like I did, felt fantastic, liberating in a way. My car was parked around the corner, and I couldn’t get to it fast enough.“Get the fuck off of me”, a rough voice roared across the grounds. Turning my head, I saw the three overly sexy Chase brothers in some scrap. Usually, I would stop to watch, what with all the sex appeal they have going on, and right now, they were practically bursting out of their clothes. Goddess knows why Ayla; the attention-grabbing whore was able to bag all three of them. They were the kind of guys you would get wet over just looking at them for too long, and she was nothing.“Maybe I will make them mine once I rule this place”, I muttered as I turned towards my car. Jacob was waiting for me; frankly, I couldn’t wait to get over there.Nerves were kicking in as I rounded the corner to Jacob’s street. I had been here so many times before, but this time felt like the first time all over again.