[Valerie]*Just a little over a year ago*“Did you check your phone? Garrett called a meeting for tonight.” Sophia dumped her weight on my bed, her eyes glued to some video she was watching on her phone.“Great.” I huffed, lowering my glasses to my nose and trying to catch a glimpse of what she was watching.“You don’t sound too excited.” she pointed out, directing her screen to me so I could get a better view.“You don’t say.” I rolled my eyes, also because she was watching cat videos again.“Come on Val! I thought you liked the guy.”“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”I turned my face back to my laptop and went about typing out my literature review, praying she didn’t see how red my cheeks became. Of course, luck was not on my side, and Sophia poked my cheek with her finger.“This right here is enough to say it all. Can’t blame you though - Garrett is a snack.”“An unavailable snack.” I corrected her. “He’s dating Isabella, remember?”Sophia clicked her tongue in disgust, “It’
[Alexander]*One Year Ago*“There’s a lunch meeting at one with the health and safety inspector, and another meeting at three with a potential investor.”“Who is it?”Melissa, my secretary, read from her journal, “Mr. Gasser. He’s from a Swiss jewellery company called Majestic Jewels. They’ve opened up a store here and want in on the mining side of things.”“Can you get me some stats on Majestic, just so I know what I’m dealing with?”Melissa beamed, pulling out a file from under her journal, “Already did.”“I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I took the file while staring at Melissa in awe.“You’d be just fine, Mr. Young.” Melissa winked before leaving my office.I watched her as she took her seat behind her desk in reception, and wondered how I’d juggle work and wolf matters if it wasn’t for her. Melissa would make an excellent mate, I thought, if only she was a wolf. It wasn’t unusual for an Alpha to take a human as a mate, but I heard that childbirt
[Valerie]*One Year Ago*Everyone left me behind, charging towards their prey. I had just survived another painful transformation, but as much as it hurt, I welcomed the pain this time. I didn’t bother to keep up with my pack as I watched some of them seize their targets. My wolf was hungry, but my soul was exhausted.Still, I trudged through the mud, my feet feeling heavy. It was almost as if the clouds opened up to welcome me, raining down and covering the earth with the misery I was feeling. In some ways, it made me feel less lonely, in others, more so as I watched the pair share a deer, the Alpha snarling at anyone who dared to come near and steal a piece of their sacred flesh.The sacred flesh was not limited to the animal laying on the ground. Sophia wore the mark on her neck proudly, like a precious gem only Garrett could afford to give her, and she was the only one worthy enough to wear. My feet were as reluctant as my soul to go anywhere near them,
[Alexander]Adam called me back as soon as he got my text. I was just about to enter my car, when I answered the phone.“What problem are you talking about?”“I’m on my way to you right now. Tell Amelia she needs to hear this too.”“She’s feeding the baby right now, but I’ll tell her you’re coming.”I cut the call and drove through town, all the while thinking about Valerie’s betrayal. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. When I stopped, I clutched the steering wheel, feeling the rubber break off under my palms, and screamed into the void.Once I seemingly got it off my chest, I took a few deep breaths and stared at the broken rubber in my hands. I’d have to get that fixed in the week.Adam was already waiting outside when I walked up the pathway that led to their house.“Please keep it down. She just got Ava to sleep now.”“Do you mind if w
[Valerie]The young witch with delicate hands who guided me into the witches’ home was ordered to take care of me. According to their leader, Elena, I was to be treated like royalty. It was only because I had chosen to give up the Alpha of my pack, the Shadow Hunters. It was barely a choice when my life depended on it, but the promise of revenge and respect - two things I wanted the most - intrigued me.The young witch took my hand and led me into a bathroom where more candles burned on the ledges of the windows. She squatted down next to the bathtub and turned the tap on. “Elena seems to like you.”I shook my shoulders, “Like me?”“The last time a wolf came to her, she threw them in the dungeon without food.”“Maybe they didn’t have anything to offer.”“Maybe.” the witch waved her hand through the water, feeling the temperature. Satisfied, she stood and faced me. “You’r
[Alexander]Dad always told me how important my mother’s role was in our family. I think it goes without saying that a mother plays a key part in her family’s health and happiness, but my mother was more than just a wife and mom. She was the Luna of Mystic Moon, and the love of the Alpha’s life. She was also the bearer of an Alpha child and a healer to the pack.My childhood was fairly easy. I grew up being the apple of both my parents’ eyes, and when Amelia was born, I was trusted with the responsibility of protector of my little sister. I didn’t mind - I always felt the need to protect something or someone in order to feel accomplished. And I knew, whenever my mother looked at her family with love in her hazel eyes, she saw her own accomplishments, and that’s what gave her real joy.I never imagined that my life would become what it is now. I always looked at my parents and saw the life I wanted to have, with a woman who was as gr
[Valerie]Layla left me alone in the room - to rest, she said. But it’d been almost three hours, by my calculation, and sleep never came.It was sometime around three a.m, when the wind that blew outside assisted the spirits in getting to their respective destinations. My mind and body felt exhausted, but the urge to throw up was nagging my insides again, so I tiptoed to the bathroom and waited. Nothing came up, except my own saliva and a fiery feeling in my throat. I washed my face with cold water, and dabbed it dry with a hand towel.The woman who stared back at me looked different somehow. Her brown eyes were lighter, her jaw more prominent, and hair fell in waves instead of curling. I’d always remembered my face being rounder, lips smaller, and eyes blank and forgettable. This woman was different.While I stared at myself in the mirror, I looked down at my belly, my hand moving on its own accord as I tried to feel what Layla had felt. I was always
[Alexander]I had no idea what I was doing, picking out wall paint in the hardware store during my lunch break. A friendly young man - probably working here only part-time - came to me with a thick leather book, apparently to make the decision easier.Skimming through the pages, I realized there were more shades of the color blue than the ones I ever knew. Baby blue, turquoise, cyan, azure, neon. Lord have mercy!“Do you have anything less bright?”The man took the book back and jumped to the back of the book. “Here. I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for somewhere between those pages.”Except, I had no idea what I was looking for. In each shade of blue, I saw Valerie. In each shade of pink, I saw her lips. And in those earthy tones, I saw her eyes. This was a bad idea.Grey. I decided on what was called ‘porpoise grey’ - dark and gloomy, just the way I was feeling.I packed the paint tin
[Alexander]** Epilogue **** One Year Later **I didn’t mind that we had had to postpone our wedding. The twins were growing beautifully, and rather normal for babies who had both wolf and witch blood coursing through them. It was Camilla who had explained their rapid growth before birth - Elizabeth, who was afraid of the dark, had closed her little eyes inside her mother’s womb, and had somehow managed to speed up the process of her mother’s pregnancy. Leo, on the other hand, seemed to fear nothing. I could tell by the way he climbed to the very top of the apple tree in the garden to pick some fruit for his sister and him.All those around us, our friends, family, acquaintances, all fell in love with the twins the moment they interacted with them. Leo, with his gift of insight, and Beth with her gift of healing. The girl had a tremendous power to win over hearts, while Leo awed them with his strength and ability to show them what he wanted wit
[Valerie]If I thought I was full of nerves before, I really had no idea what I was in for the afternoon before my wedding.Everything around me was moving fast, and the women who’d seemingly taken up residence in our small, two-bedroom house were moving faster.“Where are the dresses?!”“Where are Valerie’s shoes?!”“Did anyone call the makeup artist?!”Questions like these were flying around, the air thick with the agitation I was sure everyone was feeling. But all the preparations seemed to overshadow me, and in some ways, I was thankful for that. I didn’t quite like being the center of attention, and with only a few hours left before that became inevitable, I sneaked into my room, quietly locked my door, and laid down on my bed.My belly was huge by now, and if I looked up while laying down, it was as if I was staring at a mountain. Watching my babies grow day by day made me miss my mate eve
[Alexander]I had promised Adam one last hunt before the wedding. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but after all, it was only a few more days until I’d get to wake up next to Valerie every morning for the rest of my life.Over the past couple of days, I’d been packing away some of the clothes I had in my closet, making space for Valerie’s things. The small, abandoned town in Walnut Creek wasn’t exactly ready to be lived in, and I had contracted some builders to redo the dilapidated walls and tile the floors. I’d told them to leave the walls unpainted because it sounded like a good idea to do it myself.I’d been spending most of the day organizing some work files that I was planning to give to Adam while he stood in my place at Young Industries. It was only temporary, while Valerie and I would spend our honeymoon in Greece.Valerie didn’t know about our trip. I’d managed to keep it a secret, and thought
[Valerie]With less than two weeks to go before the big day, I didn’t have much time left. I’d been putting off going to see Camilla in Oakridge for far too long, and decided that if I didn’t do it today, it would never get done.I wasn’t planning on visiting her alone. I was expecting Layla to accompany me, but she was taking longer than expected to come out of her dorm room. It was only when she finally emerged that I realized what was holding her up.Selena’s cheeks reddened the moment she saw me standing outside. I hadn’t seen her in a while, since I wasn’t allowed to hunt, and was too busy with wedding preparations to meet with her. I was guessing that Layla finally found the courage to speak to her, and it didn’t bother me at all. However, Selena looked like a bear caught in a trap.“Hi, Selena.” I waved from the corridor. “How’s everyone doing?”Selena seemed taken aback by
[Alexander]I couldn’t wait to get back from work and visit Valerie that evening. It was as if the moment we were given the green light to go ahead and get married; it had become increasingly difficult to stay away from each other.I was just about to pack my things away and leave the office when I saw Adam making his way towards the door. Putting my phone in my pocket, I stood up and picked up my suit jacket from behind my chair.“Hey man!” Adam grinned as he entered the office.The rest of the building had cleared out, with Melissa giving me a curt nod before she left. News about my marriage had spread through the town, and once Melissa heard about it, she’d given in her resignation. For the most part, I was glad. That one very awkward and meaningless kiss we shared on impulse wasn’t exactly a fond memory, and even while I suspected she was leaving because any hope she ever had before had been stripped by the news that I was gettin
[Valerie]** Two Weeks Later **The day we planned on saying our vows to each other and sealing our souls together into forever was near. I highly doubted that it was nerves for the big day that had me throwing up that morning, or the fact that we were going out shopping for dresses.We’d picked the date - fourth November, the birth of a new moon, as well as the birth of our unification. With just a little less than three weeks to go, planning for the big day was well underway. Everyone seemed to accept that we wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but the only trouble seemed to come from Alexander’s mom, who refused to settle on some private affair. I supposed she had big dreams for her son’s big day - after all, he was the eldest of her children.All the planning didn’t matter much to me. The color of the drapes, the length of the aisle, the style of the dress - seemed insignificant when I was doing the most important thing of all; I
[Alexander]I didn’t want to leave Valerie alone with my father, but she seemed much braver than I was. In fact, I didn’t know why I felt as afraid as I did when I knew that there was no way he could harm her. Besides, he didn’t know the truth yet, and even if he did, he wouldn’t hurt her here, anyway.I couldn’t hear them speaking behind the thick oak door sealing my father’s office, as much as I strained my ears and tried to listen. I wondered why dad needed to speak to her alone, and I could only hope that they weren’t fighting, or dad wasn’t saying anything to upset her.From the kitchen, mom called out to me and reluctantly, I stopped pacing the hall and went to the kitchen. Amelia was helping mom, while Layla played with my niece in her arms. If you asked me, it was possible for our kind to live in harmony with witches. But as the days passed, Layla was becoming less like a witch, and more like a human. But her tho
[Valerie]I couldn’t control myself. I ran towards my father and fell at his feet with tears rolling down my cheeks uncontrollably. I had never realized, until this very moment, how much he truly cared for and loved me.I felt like I had failed as a child. I had often looked at them with anger, hurt, thinking that I wasn’t loved the way others were loved by their parents, and when I found out that I wasn’t actually theirs, I was consumed with a disappointment that now held no weight at all.I had been stupid all along. Suddenly, I was being surrounded by the type of love I had always dreamed of, and even then I had shoved those dreams far into the back of my mind, believing that I was never destined for a grand love. But now things were seemingly coming in full-circle, but one problem still remained.Arthur Young.My nemesis - the man who was responsible for stealing my parents away too soon. And the cherry on top? He was my fated mate&rsqu
[Alexander]I hadn’t slept a wink last night. I have been doing well over this past week in terms of sleep, work and life in general. But tonight, I was just a nervous wreck.Valerie and I had agreed that I would do things the way any normal couple wanting to get married would; by asking permission from her parents. But that wasn’t exactly something I was looking forward to. And it wasn’t because I wasn’t determined to make her mine forever, with our loved ones as witnesses, but because if I closed my eyes, I was still able to feel my cheek stinging from the punch I’d received from her father.I had to admit, it warmed my heart knowing they cared so much for her. But it worried me that they cared enough that they wouldn’t see me as a fit husband for her. It was as if the fact that I was the father of her kids didn’t matter to them. They knew who I was, who my father was and what he had done to her family, and that made