I finish my last bite of bagel and pick up my napkin, wiping both of my hands and my mouth. “That was delicious. Thank you for the meal,” I tell Tyler. He smiles happily. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Do you want to go home now or will you stay here?” I pause to think. I can’t trust him. He hasn't mistreated me yet, but I just can’t forget all those days I sat in the dungeon, waiting for him to come speak with me. I contemplate rejecting Tyler, but remember what my parents had told me when I was younger. “What is a mate?” I had asked my mom. “Your mate is the person you are meant to be with forever, your other half, your soulmate,” she told me. “You have the choice of accepting or rejecting your mate. However, be cautious about rejecting your mate because a rejection is permanent.” I nodded, not entirely understanding what she meant. “Your mother is right,” my dad joined in. “You should never reject your mate for their first couple of mistakes. Wait three time
The door shuts after me with a thud. I turn around and slide the deadbolt into place. I set my purse down and take my shoes off. As much as I want to think over the recent events, I need to catch up on the work that I missed. I walk through my house and see that everything is where I left it. Entering my office, I hear my stomach growl. That was fast. I was expecting to be able to wait until lunch to eat again, but I guess not. I glance towards the mini fridge in my office and contemplate what I want to do. With a sigh, I open the door and check what is left in there. Not much. A couple of drinks and a container of applesauce. I release another loud sigh, frustrated that I need to restock the mini fridge. I shut the door and head to the kitchen. My kitchen is rather large. I have cabinets along two walls and a large center island. My oven and fridge are tucked into the cabinets, as is my dishwasher. The cabinets are brown with white countertops. All of my appliances a
Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The sound of my heels echoes down the hall as I approach my office. I pause at Jane’s desk and she glances up. “Good morning, Ms. Lozerno. We are all very happy that you have returned,” she greets me. “Thank you, Jane. Is there any news that I haven’t already been informed of?” I ask. “I do not have any updates, Ma’am. However, you did receive a delivery this morning,” Jane says. She turns to the side and bends down. When she straightens up, I see a bouquet of roses in her arms. The bouquet is rather large, but not too big. There look to be about two dozen roses. The rose petals are pink at the tip and fade into a lovely buttercup yellow at the center. I gently grasp the bouquet and admire it. “Do you know who sent it? Was there a note with it?” I ask Jane. “There is a card tucked along the side. I did not open it. The delivery person said it was for you,” she tells me. “Thank you. Could you bring me a vase to put these
“I was thinking we could eat at a small local pub. They make excellent food and the atmosphere is quite pleasant. Is that okay with you?” Tyler asks me. I pause and think for a moment. “That sounds nice,” I agree. Tyler grins happily as the car slows to a stop at a red light. He glances at me and reaches over to gently squeeze my hand before turning his attention back to the road. “I’m so thankful you agreed to go on a date with me. I know that I have been a jerk and a bad mate, but I promise I will make it up to you. I will show you that you can trust me,” he promises. I believe him. Although I don’t know him very well, I know that Tyler isn’t the type of person to make empty promises. I watch out the window as the streets change and shops pass by. Several minutes later, Tyler points out a small building to the right of us. It sits between two other restaurants. The restaurant to the left has a modern look to it with its black and white color scheme. The other re
“I see you took my advice,” Tyler comments with a smile. “Yeah. The shepherd’s pie sounds good and I can’t pass up potato skins.” Tyler chuckles, but then turns serious. “I know that our relationship did not start off well, so we never properly introduced ourselves to each other. I thought that we could get to know more about each other over dinner.” “That’s a good idea.” “Alright. I will start. My name is Tyler Renost and I have been the Alpha of the Moonfang pack for three years. I am also in charge of all of the major businesses run by the pack. My sister, Sofia, helps manage two of them. What about you?” Tyler asks. “My name is Arielle Lozerno. I am currently a rogue and the CEO of Techex. My favorite color is green and I like to read,” I reply. At this moment Alicia returns. “Here are your drinks. A Guinness for you, Sir, and a Coke for you, Ma’am,” she says as she hands us our drinks. “The food is being prepared right now and should be out in a
After our first date, Tyler and I had several more. During this time we got to know each other better and grew closer. Not too long after we started dating we ran into problem. Our wolves were unhappy with our distance and were fighting for control. Tyler and I discussed this and agreed to share items of clothing. The scent from my clothing would comfort his wolf and the scent from his clothing would comfort my wolf. After a couple of months I have finally decided to trust Tyler. He has proved himself to be a kind and caring mate thus far. Despite our terrible start, I feel ready to commit myself to him. I am excited that I have finally opened up to someone and want to share the good news with him. I walk out of my office with a grin on my face. I hurry down to my car. I climb in and buckle my seat belt before pulling out of the parking garage. I’m off to Moonfang pack to see Tyler. The guards wave me in at the gate and I drive to the central pack house. My car jerks t
Several days pass while I complete the same routine. Wake up, eat, work, eat again, and sleep. My heart feels heavy and empty. I feel so betrayed. I trusted Tyler and he betrayed that trust as soon as he earned it. Rather than dwell on this, I push the feelings down and ignore them. Instead, I throw myself into my work. I spend long hours at the office and only return home to go to sleep. Tyler has not stopped trying to contact me during this time. The day after I found him kissing another she-wolf, I was handed a bouquet of hyacinths that he had sent to my office. Tyler has texted me several times each day and left me a couple of voicemails. I have not read any of the messages. I cannot bring myself to confirm that he doesn’t want me. I am typing up an email when I hear a knock on my office door. “Come in,” I call. The door swings open to reveal Claire. I glance up at her with a sad smile. “It’s nice to see you, Claire.” Claire returns my sad smile. “Oh, Dear. Why did
Tick. Tick. Tick. The only thing to mark the passage of time is the ticking of the clock. I continue to sit and watch Tyler’s chest rise and fall. Seconds pass. Then minutes, followed by hours. Nurses periodically enter the room to check on Tyler before leaving again. Eventually, I hear a knock on the door. Cole lets himself in and sets a large tray of food down next to me. “The nurses told me that you haven’t left the room since you arrived,” he says. “I figured you might be hungry.” “Thank you for thinking of that, but I’m not hungry,” I reply. “You need to eat,” Cole states. “I have already watched Tyler fall apart once. I don’t want to watch him fall apart again.” “What do you mean ‘again’?” I ask, confused. “When you first arrived you looked terrible. Now, you look like a ghost. When Tyler wakes up and sees you, he’s going to blame himself for hurting you even more,” Cole explains. “I look fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well,” I admit.
“Be careful, Kyle!” I call to my eldest as he runs out the back door of the packhouse and into the yard full of people. His younger brothers, Tate and Noah, chase after him. The three boys run through the large tent set up in the backyard as I chuckle at their antics. After defeating the Grim Ire pack and Emira, Tyler and I were finally able to settle down. A year later, Kyle was born. We waited a couple of years to let Kyle grow up before having Tate and Noah. Today, the whole pack is celebrating Kyle’s ninth birthday. “Grandma Claire is here!” Claire announces as she enters the backyard. I chuckle as the boys run over to greet her. Claire was ecstatic when Tyler and I asked her to be a grandmother to our children. She knows that she will never replace my mother, but she still treats me like a daughter. “Alright boys! Let Grandma talk to Mom for a bit. There will be plenty of time to play with her later,” I tell them as they cling to Claire’s hands, trying to pull her
I become aware of many voices around me as my consciousness slowly returns. My fingers twitch to the side and bump against something. The thing moves and then a hand grasps mine. The pleasant tingles that shoot up my arm are all the information that I need to know that the hand holding mine is Tyler’s. “She’s awake,” I hear him cry and several other voices respond. Memories of being locked up in the lab flash through my head and I quickly cast a protective barrier around myself and Tyler. Shouting erupts on the outside of the barrier and I reach up with my free hand to rub my eyes. “Arielle?” Tyler asks. I squint my eyes at the bright overhead lights. All I can make out is a dark figure standing over me. Reflexingly, my fist flies up to remove the threat. It misses the figure and is caught by a warm hand that causes tingles to fly up my arm. “Arielle, look at me,” Tyler commands. I blink several more times, trying to adjust to the lights. My eyes slide around unt
The green lights shoot around the room like little glowing rockets. They crash into my shields and fizzle out. I manage to see a green projectile heading towards the scientists despite the light show happening around me. I quickly throw up a shield around them. They will need to explain any information they have learned and then be judged for their involvement in this at a later time. “Nooo!” Emira shrieks as the green orb collides with the shield and harmlessly fizzles out. “This can’t be possible! I’ve always been stronger than the others!” “Others? What others?!” I question her. “The other lycans!” she wails. I glance at Tyler and notice that he is watching me. We share a look and he nods. “What do you mean ‘the other lycans’?” I shout back. “Did you think you were the first?” Emira lets out a vicious laugh as another round of green bullets collide with my shields. “There have been several before you. My father has been studying your kind for years. E
“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna. “Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me. “How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book. “Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp
The top half of the page is covered by an intricate design. The center of the design is a small square with a circle surrounding it. Around the circle are letters. Then several concentric rings surround the letters, each one larger than the last. Some are made up of circles connected together. Others are made of octagons and other shapes. The circles end and triangles form yet another circle around the design. In each triangle is a number and each number is different. Finally, there is one last circle that surrounds the entire design and connects the point of each triangle together. I am surprised to find that I can read the letters and numbers even though they are not written in any language that I can recognize. The numbers are in the same order as a clock and the letters at the bottom spell out ‘sleep’ over and over again. Below the design is a short explanation about the spell and how to cast it. “This is a sleep spell,” Aunt Shanna says, interrupting my thoughts.
My nightmare repeats itself over and over again and each time I am younger than before. My helplessness is driving me crazy as I am forced to watch my parents die, unable to help. I wake up for the seventh time and my room is different from how I remember it. The walls are painted purple, but I only remember them being light green. My bed is also smaller. It suits my small, five year old body better than my normal twin size bed. I decide to lie in bed and think about my options. I have tried practically all of them without success. During the third round, I pretended to be sick the whole day, forcing my parents to stay home with me in hopes of avoiding the wolves. This ultimately failed when the rogue wolves broke into our house and killed them. Then I tried going into the city, going to another country, and even visiting the top floor of a skyscraper. Nothing worked. Each time the wolves came without fail. “Good morning, Sleepyhead,” a voice says. I roll my head to t
My eyes open slowly, and I realize that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I sit up, ready to clean up my dishes from dinner, but freeze when I see the room around me. It is smaller than the bedroom in my house, but just as familiar. "Arielle, it's time for breakfast!" voice calls up the stairs to me. "Oh, no. Not this," I whisper as I slowly slide out of bed. The hardwood floor is cold against my feet as I plod down the hallway and into the bathroom. My head barely reaches halfway up the mirror, and my hunch is confirmed. I am the same height as when I was twelve, and I bet today is also my birthday. "Arielle!" The feminine voice calls again. "I'm getting done!" I yell out the open bathroom door. Clanging noises echo upstairs from the kitchen as I shut the door. I get done quickly and rush downstairs. It is hard to believe my eyes when I enter the kitchen. My mom stands in front of the stove, stirring something in a pan while my dad sits at the table reading t
Beep. Beep. Beep. A loud noise awakens me, but disappears as soon as I open my eyes. My vision remains blurry and I swear that I can see a lab room with doctors bustling about surrounding me. My limbs feel heavy and weak. Then I blink and am back in the same bed I woke up in yesterday. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Nothing has changed when I open them again. I am still sitting in bed covered by my navy blue comforter. My desk stands opposite my bed in the right corner of the room. Both my closet door and bathroom door hang open the way that I usually leave them. I slide off my bed and wait until my feet are buried in the soft, plush carpet before standing up. Then I spot it. My keys are on my desk along with my wallet. I know for sure that I left them hanging up in the hallway as I always do before going to bed yesterday. Perhaps, the day is repeating itself the same as yesterday. If that is true, then I may be in a nightmare. Upon realizing this, my mood immediately improves.
I open my eyes, slowly becoming conscious. The soft fabric surrounding me and lack of pain have me confused. Where am I? Wasn’t I trapped in the lab? How did I get here? Looking around, the room seems familiar. I sit up on the bed and it dawns on me. I’m back home. Not the packhouse, but my old home. Why am I here though? I moved into the packhouse a while ago. I need to go talk to Tyler. He should know. I launch myself out of bed and get dressed as fast as possible. Grabbing my wallet and keys from where they lay on my desk, I practically sprint to my car. I definitely break several driving laws on my way to the packhouse. At one point, I took a turn so hard I nearly flipped my car. My tires squeal as I skid to a stop in front of the large mansion. I don’t even take the time to shut my car door before running into the building and up the stairs to Tyler’s office. The door flies open as I enter the room, accidentally using too much force. A loud gasp echoes in my ears a