I make my way upstairs and head for Sierra’s wing, hearing the voices ahead of me before I get there and let myself into the open breakfast room where they are. Sierra, Leyanne, and Meadow are sat around the table while Sierra talks in an animated fashion, obviously excited and relief over our return. She’s clasping Leyanne’s hands and gushing her way like some weird fan girl. The adoration and respect oozing form every pore at seeing this witch.
“I can’t believe you came, that you’re here. We can’t thank you enough. You have no idea how much this means to have a witch like you, grace us with your presence and help.” Sierra is laying it on thick but not in a dishonest way and I really have no clue why she seems to idolize her so much. The witch has a lukewarm personality that is grating most of the time.
Leyanne looks moderately amused and slides her hands out of her overbearing grip confidently, making it clear she isn&r
It’s been four days since Leyanne got here and I still cannot get any kind of read on her. She’s annoyingly distant, still likes to play vague and although she gives us zero indication that we can’t trust her, it’s always there swirling around like an underlying coldness. I don’t know if it’s like Carmen, with her wall of explainable hostile to keep people at bay. Or if her magic somehow gives her this aura of power and distance, but I get severe lonely and empty vibes from her that I can’t quite decipher.Not much has happened while we go through the motions of current daily life and plod along. Carmen isn’t really showing face often, only in brief passing, and seems to stick to her room which is understandable. Given how much she now has to process while we have downtime. She asked for time, to grieve, to absorb, to be alone with the pangs of missing her newfound mate and the loss of her family and I let her alone. She needs t
“Has Leyanne said how much longer she needs?” I pull us back to our topic in hand, walking to her and kneeling down to meet her face and Meadow deflates completely.“She’s ready to go whenever we are. She’s as ready as she can be, and they’re just going over the same things until we say it’s happening.” That downward shuffle of her eyes tells me this is a confession of sorts. I eye her up and know with that admission that Meadow is the one who has delayed things. Knowing she didn’t want me to be a part of this, she’s made sure I thought there was still time to change the plan. Maybe she was holding out for the vampires to pull back and for the high lord to intervene… either way, I can tell she’s kept this close to her chest, so I won’t push us to just do it.This girl! Protecting me even by delaying reunion with her own mate. I can’t be mad at her for that.“So…. by
“Are you sure you want to do this” Meadow sidetracks me as I make my way to the podium of our new town hall that was only finished in recent weeks and is three times bigger than the hall of the house. Flanked by two temporary sentinels.“Yes. They need to know that by this time tomorrow they may not have a Luna, or Alpha, coming back. I need them to be prepared and to know what comes after. I owe them honesty to what’s happening after the patience for the last days.” I thought this through all night, tossing and turning once we set the plan in motion and decided tomorrow at dawn we are to move on the mountain. This will be our last night with the pack and with that fog surrounding us. Last night I watched my mate slide away in the darkness from me for the last time and said my goodbyes, just in case.Leyanne is certain she can protect us one by one from the effects of the green smog, with the casting of a spell on every wolf that we’
The cold wind from the mountain moves in across my skin and bites down at me, causing me to shiver despite wolves never really feeling the cold. My heart pounding, my nerves taut and my head in chaos as I stand on the boundary and stare into the darkness awaiting the sun to start to show hints of rising. The eerie silence despite rows and rows of assembled wolves unnerves me and Leyanne and Meadow to my right, Carmen and Sierra to my left, stand solidly still, waiting, we’re all just waiting.Tension high, the stillness is painful and the quiet is deafening. I’ve never been more scared in my life and it’s not just because we are on the dawn of the first war battle of my life. Asif that wasn’t bad enough. It’s that our enemy are our loved ones and death blows will be dealt today to forever change everything in our world. No matter what side wins, we all lose the ones we care about most.The plan is set…. We all know our place, our ro
I crawl backwards, trembling in instant fear, because I know this is a matter of fight or die and I need to be stronger than I was ten minutes ago. He almost ended me so easily with one swipe that it’s pathetic. Call myself Luna? I’m a complete failure.I need to get my head together and outsmart him while my body tries to heal, give myself time to power up. I steady my breathing, willing all the energy I can muster up to save me from him, and homing in on the part of me I rarely have to use. It just means he has to get really close for me to absorb what he has when I’m this low, to draw from his strength instead of my own and it may be more useful than energy balls which seem to be failing me.Colton’s fast, even by Lychan standards, and I get up in a dash, to backwards run an in attempt to coax him to me and almost get decapitated in the process as a new clawed paw tries to take my head off.I don’t think so, bitch!!
Colton comes at me, lifting his claws in the air for a final blow and as the sun glints on the red stained mess of his sharp talons I look at his face one last time. His human form, the face of the boy who devastates my soul with just a look and even now, it melts all my defenses away. I've missed this face, even if his mind is not behind it.That tanned perfection of a handsome male, the straight dark slash of eyebrows over unfamiliar soulless eyes. His squared jawline, his subtle etch of dimples, even though he's not smiling but scowling instead. Even like this, about to deliver a last blow, I can't hate him. My heart belongs to him and fills with the fresh ache of finally seeing him as his own face once again, after so many days, and I start to softly cry. Resigned to a goodbye and glad that it will be this sight I leave the world with.Colton makes his move, no hesitation in his purpose, and I squeeze my eyes shit tight as I tense and prepare for the piercing pain
I zoom past trees, skim over fallen logs and under overhanging debris, aware I’m slower once more and I tire faster, but I fight on anyway. I need to see this through and be there to lead my people home when victory is ours. I owe them so much and from what I can see as all remaining wolves head hard towards the mountain in one wave, our numbers vast. We didn’t seem to lose many to fighting our brothers. In fact, as I skim the faces around me, I can’t feel the sense of loss that I did earlier, and I wonder if it was merely their pain and not death.Not one single wolf death. We did what we set out to do. Break the spell without any losses. Carmen mind links me, seemingly understanding why I’m looking around as we run and I blanche, my heart rising in delirious happiness because I truly thought there would be an aftermath of grief and despair when the turned found out they killed some of our own. That our victory wou
Lorey, what in the hell is going on?Colton walks to me in the open hall space and closes the gap between us, pulling me to him and focusing full back on me. Finally looking for answers now he’s done what was needed and I catch sight of Meadow and Cesar turning human and embracing several feet behind him. My heart happy with the sight of her, okay, and reunited with her mate. My heart swells to bursting and I can finally feel at peace, feeling that my pack are all intact and safe. My gut confirming it.Colton pulls me to him as he stays in wolf, linking me mentally and cradles my face in his hand, careful not to hurt me with his claws. Being so gentle it just breaks down my last defenses and despite his filthiness, I curl against him and hold on tight. Embracing one another for a moment, feeling the high rate of his wolf heart and the excessive heat coming from this mountain of a body. He pulls me backwards to look at him and I just gaze adoringly, drink
“You did it, baby. Look at our girls!” Colton’s excited tone pulls me out of my fatigue as he mops my brow and tries to dry up the sweat that’s cascading like a waterfall. The cries of newborns ringing in my ears after what seems like the longest and most hellish night of my life. I can barely stay awake. A new day is peeking at us from outside the curtains which he drew at some point when the light got too intense. Everything feels surreal and it’s hard now to imagine I just spent so many hours going through the trauma of childbirth while the world is still. The memory of the pain is already subsiding.My emotions are fried and the eagerness to lay eyes on them is the only thing keeping me conscious while my limbs cry to give out. My body is tender and heavy like a deadweight, but I am so glad it’s finally over. I should turn to self heal but I can’t muster the energy and would rather sleep after holding my babies.“Here
I wake up to the gnawing and strange aching sensation travelling across my belly and try to turn over to relieve whatever it is. Struggling now my bump is fully formed and weighing me down while Colton’s arm across me isn’t helping any. The room is completely dark and silent, so it must still be the middle of the night and his even, peaceful breathing signals he’s out cold.I maneuver his forearm up over my boobs and manage to roll sideways away from him, so my butt is jutted against his groin to stop my stomach hanging over the edge of the mattress and get frustrated at my inability to move around like a normal human anymore.I have reached that stage where I’m just begging them to come out quickly because I can’t take much more of this endless beached whale sensation. It has limited any kind of movement and being independent. I feel like my days consist of peeing multiple times, being eternally hungry, cranky and uncomfortable and burst
already my sister.”“My kids want cousins… I’m an only child. Alora has only one brother. That’s an order from your alpha.” Colton smirks at her, not really being helpful in this situation and then stretches his legs out and stifles a yawn with his fist. It’s obvious he isn’t invested in this scene at all. I could kick him for his obvious disinterest.“Look at how happy Sierra and Radar are, huh? They’re planning pups already, and have a cozy little love nest picked out in the grounds. You’re just delaying the inevitable.” I try appealing in a different way and am rewarded with a scowl from my girl.“Radar isn’t an asshole. That’s why they’re happy!” Carmen throws her hair over her shoulder, sarcasm fluent this morning, and once again pointedly glares at Jasper, who runs a palm down his face and looks like he might scream. I can almost sympathize and feel his v
“Baby, we should get up.” Colton rolls over in bed and drapes his arm across my abdomen lightly. Snuggling up close after one of the best night’s sleep I have had in a long time. I’m so relaxed it feels like I’m floating in a happy cloud.It felt like it had been forever since we had real intimacy like this, time alone to relax and curl up without any need to get up. Now that early morning patrols for vampires are a thing of the past, Colton has been trying to get used to sleeping late with me and adopting lazy morning routines while I’m pregnant. We know they won’t last after these babies arrive. A future of broken sleep and tiny demands, so we are making the most of the time we have left.“Hmmmm” I murmur sleepily and bury my face under his chin, pressing bodily to that chiseled torso as he wraps his arms around me. “Five more minutes” , I revel in his warmth and close my eyes in a bid to d
His words catch me off guard as we make our way towards the tree line at a leisurely pace. Tugging at my heart and yet further putting me at ease in his presence. He’s a complex person and as I walk in time, almost perfectly matched, I wonder how many layers there are to these creatures I used to only think of as murderous blood suckers.“My memories of her are slowly fading away and I can barely recall her face anymore. I forget what her voice sounds like. It feels like it’s been longer than ten years since she was last by my side, and I miss her still.”I’m close. If you need me then I’m here.Colton’s mind link distracts me momentarily, and I automatically glance behind me to see the lurking figure of my mate keeping his distance but not losing sight of us. Further back are the two Luna’s guard and Meadow. I smile without thought at how much he still loves and protects me fiercely and catch Varro focusi
“If you are satisfied with the terms of the treaty then there’s no need to delay in signing it. I came here with the support of my coven, and this will put an end to two decades of unrest.” My father sits back in his chair across the table and smiles somewhat eerily. I think it’s meant to translate to warm and kind but with his eternally stiff and frosty aura, it’s not.“Finally, we get to know what peace is. Something I barely remember in my lifetime.” Colton lays the pen on top of it and slides the document to me. I don’t need to read it if he has and approved, so I quickly scrawl my name on the bottom and slide it towards Varro. It seems such a minor act for such a huge outcome. My feelings seem somewhat understated considering this is such a huge thing and I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet.“Now all the formalities are out of the way. I was hoping on some time to get to know my daughter.” Varro shi
“I still loathe her.” Carmen snorts and crosses her arms across her chest sulkily. I laugh at both of them, knowing that’s the furthest from the truth it could be. They have a love-hate relationship, that’s warm underneath, and I know either one would sacrifice themselves to save the other. Neither can admit they are sisters now, and friends. Denial is what I expect for the rest of their lives.“So, noon? Are you nervous?” Carmen turns the conversation back to what we are preparing for, and I let her go. Shrugging in a non-committal way as I go back to prepping the room and focusing on imaginary dust particles I need to remove. My gut has been like washing machine all morning and I have been trying to ignore the chaos of internal feelings for a week.“Hmmm.” I answer in a bland tone and move the flowers for the fifth time today. Using Carmen’s method of nonchalance.“Signing a treaty is enough of a pres
“Is everything ready?” I wander into the new dining room space we cleared and created this past week in readiness for my father’s first official visit. The room which used to be the medbay, although now our outhouse for the clinic is complete, we are freeing up space indoors. The village has come on a lot these past months and even though we know a move back to the valley is in the books, we still want this place to have a use. Some of our pack might want to live out here despite the Alpha and Luna returning to the main homestead. Sierra has already expressed desire to continue here with Radar now that she feels her position as Rema no longer requires her to oversee the reunited Santos. I think in all honesty she wants to relish in her new love and honeymoon period without grossing out her son.I’ll be sad to leave our home behind but I know this is the start of a new chapter for all of us.“So clean it’s sparkling. The grounds
I watch my brother across the room, listless, and lost about how to approach him. Colton is pacing around, hands gesturing in an angry manner as he thrashes out whatever dialogue the two of them are having and Jasper keeps glaring his way. Arms folded across his chest, face tight, expression grim in an ‘I’m not interested’ kind of pose and watching as my mate talks about what happens from here on in. Whether my brother like sit or not, he’s stuck with us and a life in this pack. I should be over there, contributing, coaxing, but I couldn’t stand it any longer.Sensing Jasper’s pain and reluctance to start to let go of a decade of ingrained hatred and hurt was overwhelming me to the point of sheer exhaustion. His head full of vengeance and blind belief that the only cure to his emptiness is to somehow make the entire Santo pack suffer. To never return to being Lychan among a pack who would embrace him as family again. He sees only a name and