“Are you okay, my dear?” The doctors voice waves at me from what seems like a very distant distance away and I realize how in my own head I’ve drifted in my state of numb. We’re still rumbling along this dark makeshift path, carved through the dense forest, and I was so zoned out in my own mind I completely faded to dark. My cheeks are damp with the tears that sprung out of me and I’m staring blankly ahead, in a state of disconnect, ahead, like everyone I know suddenly died a horrible death, again, and I had to watch.
“I can’t be one of those…. those…. creatures. They killed everyone in the orphanage.” It’s a soft, pitiful whispering tone, and I can’t bring myself to look at him. My head so full of confusion, pain, and questions, and I keep picturing Colton’s face, his dimpled smile, and those deep dark sexy eyes, and what he’s going to think when he finds out… Meadow, the sub pack. How“Then maybe you should, you know….?” Again, with the rotating finger at his temple and I huff loudly in exasperation, willing him to stop pushing and give me an ever-loving, god damn, breathing space, of a minute. This is hard for me. I erupt, breaking under the pressure. Spectacularly.“YES! I KNOW!! I’m going to do it! … Excuse me for having a little bit of a mental breakdown with everything I’ve learned in the last six hours and a reminder my fated mate is a cheating asshole. It’s a lot…. A LOT!!! And I’m an eighteen-year-old girl who hasn’t linked her cheating, asshole ex, so called mate, in weeks, since she ran from him. Give me a fucking break already.” I push my fingers and nails through my scalp, pushing my wild hair off my face and gripping it with force at my temples, trying so hard not to self-combust under the extra weight of everything hitting me at once.“I do say.” The doc
Please be there. God, I sound so pathetic and weak. I don’t get time to regret the break of silence, or to feel any kind of anything about doing it. A paused breath and then….Lorey? Is that really you? Baby… oh shit, baby, god. I can’t believe it’s you. It’s really you… you’re really, ughhh shit. There’s a second of pause and before I butt in with a response, he’s off again, quietening me with his torrent of verbal diarrhea Where are you? You have no idea how hard I’ve been trying to link you for weeks and couldn’t get through… not that I blame you, and I know I hurt you, and you’re mad. I’m mad too… at me, not you. I’m not in any way mad at you for leaving, so don’t think I am okay, because I’m not… Please, tell me where you are… I’m an asshole, I know this… Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you coming back? Please say tha
I add in afterthought, a sudden fear he might come alone, eating me.What the hell did you do? Who are they? Not that it matters right now, because I’ll rip them a new one and yes, the sub pack and then some…. You’ve missed so much, Lorey. I have so much to fill you in on.Likewise.I sigh internally and mouth it to myself. I dread it even more knowing that I also have to add my lineage to the list of things Colton should know about. That nausea chokes me again and I try to push it down and concentrate on the act of breathing in and out.I can’t get into it right now, honestly, it’s better I show you when we meet, so you can see for yourself and you can tell me then. For now, I need to unlink Colton…this is …hard…. and we have a tough road to navigate out of this damn forest. I’ll link you when we hit route ten, please, understand…. It’s just easier to not try and explain anything until I see
“Alora, I believe that may be our escort. This is route ten.” The doctor nudges me lightly, snapping me out of my long, weird daydream in which I bludgeoned Carmen to death with Colton’s running shoes, before handing them back to him and walking off into the sunset with a flip of my finger, and I sit upright startled to reality. Heart missing a beat and full-on nerves smacking me in the stomach.There’s a convoy of headlights heading our way in the now pitch-dark, long road, stretching ahead, dazzling us slightly as they approach, along what seems to be a long empty highway, lined with dense trees on either side of us. I hadn’t even noticed the change in terrain when we got off the dirt track and got onto an actual road. My insides tighten, tense, and painfully pray it is who it is.I lift the veil and link him, in case we’re not at where they are yet, and this is someone I should be worried about. I don’t see any other vehicles on
I shove him back, with a little more power than I’m used to, a gush or surge of that misty energy conjuring from the intense anger that comes shooting out at speed and hit him right in the abdomen with enough force I send him reeling back. His arms impulsively splaying out to stop himself and he manages to stay upright, even though it’s obvious I managed to throw him off. That look of utter shock that I just overpowered him, and about landed him on his ass, and my surge of aggression, when he thought snuggling was on the cards.I don’t quickly forget that betraying asshole has a mate out there who wouldn’t be too pleased to see how he’s behaving with another femme. Even if I was his fated mate once upon a time.“Don’t touch me! Who the hell do you think you are, huh? That you can just yell at me, make demands, and then come walking on over here to grab me like that? Like you don’t have a shit load of apologizing to do.”
“She’s sedated; the doc needs to wake her, but she doesn’t know what’s going on. Colton, you need to know…. there’s nothing wrong with her mind.” I point out, coming level with him, and resting my hand on his arm as he stares at her, eyes fixed on her face. His breathing is shallow, and the confusion and pain is evident under that furrowed brow, and glowing amber eyes. He can’t contain his emotion, so his wolf is showing. He swallows hard, reaches out lifting a strand of her hair and brushes it back gently, so carefully like she’s fine china, so fixated on her, like this is some kind of dream he doesn’t want to wake from.“How…… where?” his voice breaks, a harsh croak, and the doc seems to keep his distance to let me be the one to explain. It’s not an easy thing to tell a guy that the father he loved all this time is the reason his mother was imprisoned and put to sleep. I don’t e
“The pack is divided. Half are here with me, the other at the mountain. There was a fight, when I challenged my father for leadership, and it got real messy. The people were turning and with more attacks in the west, he was becoming a dictator, forcing the people under his command, and treating them like they were all his prisoners. I had to do something, and he didn’t like it. He lost! …. I’m the rightful alpha of the Santo pack now, but instead of stepping down gracefully as the laws dictate, he ordered those loyal to him to take out me and mine.” It’s an exasperated tone, explaining something he clearly doesn’t want to, and it revs up that aura of closed off hostile around him. I gawp at him in wide eyed shock, heart thundering crazily, trying to really pull those words together. It hits me that while I was having my own existential crisis, so was he.“I don’t know what to say.” I stammer, side swept with that reve
“The twins are hybrids. Angelics, actually. Then meadow, her mother was a shifter, not Lycan, still a wolf, but different. She’s fierce because she’s multi gifted, like you are, and my father made sure no one knew his son pack-bonded with impure breeds. He couldn’t do anything about them, as they are all Santo by blood and he’ll never shame his own bloodline or admit that most of the pack come from interbred unions. There are hundreds of supernatural species, wolves are highly sexed horn dogs, they will fuck anything.” delivered with a callous smirk and a hint of pride at his own species being hoes. Only a man would actually be proud of that.“Eww, Colton!” I slap his arm, stinging my own fingers in the process, grossed out and a little offended with that last sentence. It’s hardly admirable in a species who also like to mate for life when they pick the right one.“It’s true and the biggest secret of all. Th
Book 2 is on this app now and named Awakening Following FateBefore you carry on with the next book, join us on the new Awakening Instagram where we will post ways to get involved with future giveaways to win Paperbacks and merchhttps://www.instagram.com/awakeningseriesThank you for supporting me xxChapter 1 preview of book 2The branches and low hanging boughs skim my face, clawing my fur as I race through the forest, ducking low to avoid overhanging sticks that pull harshly as I follow Colton into the darkness. My heart's racing, blood rushing through my head and I can barely keep up with the swift pace of my mate before me. Focused intensely on the darting black slice of shadow that moves so sleekly to lead the way. The zipping noise of foliage passing my ears at speed and yet I don't slow my
“Such threats should be punished, Mr. Santo. I might just go to sleep.” I smile as wickedly as I can at him and cast him a raised eyebrow smirk. Warm and cozy in the security that this is real, and he’s mine.“Go ahead, I’m kinda beat. I could use the sleep.” He folds his arms behind his head casually, as though he really doesn’t care at all, and closes his eyes. It riles me enough to slap him on the peck with impulsive anger. Sudden fury that he might not be joking, and it ignites an internal minor temper tantrum.“Hey!!” It’s real outrage, and that chuckle he expels is an instant dampening tool. Colton opens his eyes and grins at me, chasing away any doubt that he was not playing, and he strokes his thumbs over my thighs. Cooling my fire and bringing me back to heel with a taming touch.“Stop messing and make me your bitch already. You know I love you, and this…… it’s holding up ev
Colton laughs at me, but my insane need must be waving at him and overwhelming him too, as he only stops to put on his condom and gets on top of me right away, no hesitation. Abandoning this slow and steady, for instant gratification.“So maybe next time foreplay will be lengthier. You’re wet enough already that it shouldn’t hurt much, so maybe we should just get this done, and then the second time we can go slower… enjoy it without the tension.” He braces himself over the top of me, leaning in to nuzzle his nose against mine and I open my eyes to be faced with glowing amber eyes. The most gorgeous male I have ever known, nestling his body back onto mine. He doesn’t say anything, just a kiss on the end of my nose as he catches me unawares with a little smooth slide of his pelvis and completely enters me. It doesn’t give me time to tense up or expect it, just boom, he’s inside of me and I’m thankful it’s how he did it.
“I want to hear that multiple times a day, for the rest of my life. I’m crazy in love with you. I’ll never let you down again, ever, I swear. You’re my priority. The Luna the people need, the Luna I need. I’ll never doubt us or put you second again. I needed to lose you to realize how stupid that was, how fucked up my priorities were, because your mate should always come first. You will always come first.” Colton kisses me on the forehead, a grazing light tenderness that makes me feel delicate, and special, igniting the butterflies inside of me, and the softer side that is not consumed by lust.“Unless you turn into a power crazed psychopath!” I point out in quiet humor and get a white flash of gorgeous smile for my efforts, even if it was a tongue in cheek remark that might upset him. A lightness of the intense heavy moment.“In that case I give you permission to taser my ass and keep me shackled to the bed, for your p
I break free, dropping my legs down again, and push his face sideways with my hand on his jaw, to lean down to kiss his neck, licking over the pulse in his jugular, tracing from jawline to Adam’s apple as he slowly puts me back on my feet. His skin is slightly salty, yet delicious, with that unique smell and taste that is only his, and it pushes the need higher inside of me. Blood hitting boiling point, and all I want is to experience his mouth on every inch of my skin. Body heating from inside, and my core is almost pulsating with a strong need to feel him within me. I want to be joined to him, in intimate ways, that are only meant for us. I want to taste his blood and mark my mate.As soon as my feet hit the floor, I shove him hard backwards with a newfound strength, away from me with a giggle. Biting on my bottom lip to curb this insane horniness that’s threatening to overtake me, so he hits the bed and topples over with a manly chuckle. Colton smiles, rights him
“Fine…. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that, but what I felt was real. You obviously just screwed her then. Either way… this will never happen; the bond is marred, and damaged, and you did this to us.” I cross my arms across my chest, my fight dying because I was so sure, and yet I’m wrong. My heart pounding like a war drum within and my body, is beginning to tremble with the excessive amount of pain, and energy, coursing through me. Colton looks like he might explode, standing menacingly close, a new rage ignited in that angular face as he tenses his jaw and grits his teeth.“I DID NOT fuck her!! What is wrong with you? All this cryptic bullshit since I came for you…. The refusal to let me touch you, all this. You think I cheated on you? That’s what all of this was about? Because…. You felt it? No, Lorey, what you felt around four days after the mess hall conversation was me finding you gone. Was me coming back from fou
I gasp, inhaling a deep almost vicious breath as reality crashes back in on me, shuddering my brain around my head and I’m startled awake, back where I began, in the infirmary, gripping onto Colton’s leg for dear life, and so disoriented as my vision returns to normal. I can hardly breathe for a moment and have to drag air into my lungs while I get my bearings and shake my head to clear my blurry vision.“What the hell?” It’s an automatic response, tartly said, as I try to catch my breath and Colton’s arm around my waist loosen as he lets me go a little. He was holding me up, I guess, and I flop as I’m released, using my hands on my knees to bend forward, and finally pull myself together. It all starts to fade, and the noises, and smells of reality fully bring me back to clarity.“That was a memory… I saw it too.” Colton’s voice is gravelly, as though he’s just as shaken as me and I untangle myself fr
I sigh heavily, letting out a tiny noise, but Sierra is making sure I keep my eyes closed and I picture such a pretty girl with white hair, saddened with little pangs in my heart, that she was ended in such a cruel way. In wonder that a wolf can be both like me, and one of those creatures out there, mommy is fighting. I wonder if this story could be a little bit true and wouldn’t it be sad that all these wars were because a bad man killed a little girl, because he was afraid she would take his crown away. What a silly man.“Stories told are a funny thing, as they change and grow, and details are forgotten, or exaggerated, and soon that story of years gone by are lost among the wolves, visionaries too afraid to correct the tellers. We witches became enemies, because we held truth and sight, as alphas removed traces from our history and beheaded witches who spoke out. The wars raged on, decade after decade, for hundreds of years, until no wolf or vampire knew anymore
I lie still, watching her, frozen, breath raspy to match my elevated heart rate, but my fears begin to calm and fade as she slides down her hood with a slow even movement, and illuminates the room with a magical blue glow of both her hands. Like a mesmerizing smoky orb around each, that follows and traces with every movement. Hypnotic in nature.Sierra Santo is a very beautiful woman, with almost milky skin, despite looking exotic. Her dark hair frames a delicate bone structure, and her eyes, although electrifying blue right now, are almond shaped under straight thick dark brows, so perfectly symmetrical. She has pouty lips, and an ever-present youthful charm that completely warms her to you. A face that says, ‘I can be trusted’ to match the surrounding atmosphere of serene she always carries.I sit up, gasping in wonderment at the light show, and reaching out to touch what I can see as she moves in and sits on the side of my bed with grace. She allows my hand