LiaI was mad at my brother. He knew it, I knew it, and the entire world knew it. Since he left a few days ago, I have been ignoring his text messages but finally, the guilt started to get me. One morning, about a week after he left, I decided to respond to one of his text messages. My brother just wanted to know how I was doing so I should do that for him.But god I was tempted to leave him on read or something. It was easier to ignore him than have any type of serious conversation. My brother was just doing what he thought he needed to do. However, I missed him. Why couldn’t he just stay here?My phone vibrated again, reminding me that I had to answer the text or at least swipe it off my screen sooner rather than later.Hey, how’s it going? Settling in with the guys okay? -MDo you mean the four people you invited to move in with me? -LOh, come on, Lia. They’re your mates. -MFuture mates. Not mates yet. Significant difference. -LSemantics. -MIt’s not semantics when they’re all t
MattLia went off to spend time with Simone. She drove off, leaving me with Rain. But the two of us were supposed to head to the college to practice.I kept thinking about my conversation and moment with Lia. My hand still tingled, something I was embarrassed to admit. Rain waved his hand in front of my face suddenly, making me jerk back.“Rain, what the hell?”“You dazed out,” Rain said, grinning sheepishly. “And we’re just sitting here in the driveway with the car running so I figured you’d want to hurry up and be on our way.”I sighed. “Yeah, I’m going.”The rain kept snickering in the seat beside me. I was tempted to slam hard on the breaks but that would make me pout and no one wanted a pouting Rain.“So how are you and Lia doing?”“I think you already know how the two of us are doing.”Rain blinked. “Well, I have an idea but I want to hear about it from you.”“We talked,” I told him, but then I realized this wasn’t going to have any effect other than making him want to keep pest
LiaSimone had warned me and she was right. I wished that I had heeded her warnings that day because now I was finding myself between a rock and a hard place. What was I going to do now that these guys, who were best friends all their lives, were fighting with one another?This was so stressful. The first person I reached out to was Simone. A part of me was tempted to reach out to my brother Michael. I knew he would set those guys straight but I also didn’t want to intrude on his happiness right now. He and his mate were trying to adjust to living together as well as being mates for good now.I couldn’t imagine when the four became my official mates. Flushing, it was going to be quite the experience but I had to put that out of my mind because it wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.With a tired sigh, I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Simone. She didn’t take very long to respond much to my relief. Leave it to Simone to respond to me within seconds. I never had to wait long t
RainWhen I received a message from my family about pack dynamics, I knew I had to get serious. The first few months of being with your future mate are spent trying to figure out how to live together. Then came the coordination, aka finding a pack to join.Usually, the mates chose between one of the packs that they belonged to, but in rare cases such as ours, we could make our pack. It needed a minimum of five wolves, which we had. Or we could join whatever pack our families belonged to.I hadn’t spent much time thinking about it. My mind was mostly on trying to adjust to living with Lia and my boys. Then my hormones started taking over and I thought of the official mating ceremony where we would all exchange bite marks and blood with Lia.It was one of the most important nights of a wolf's life. Besides the coming-of-age ceremony and first hunt. Some traditions have changed as we move into modern times. For example, we didn’t have to live in dens and caves. Houses were preferred.Pack
Colby“As a member of the Iron Fang Pack, you need to make us proud. You must convince your future mate and the rest of the men to join the Iron Fangs.”I forced a smile on my face as the elders of the pack gazed upon me through the Zoom call. They were the type of pack that enjoyed traditions but also took advantage of technological advances. Sometimes, it felt a bit hypocritical about what things they chose to hold upon and the things they decided weren’t worth continuing.When I realized my friends and I were going to be Lia’s future mates, I tried not to think too much about our future pack dynamics. It was going to need to happen within six months so I wanted to just focus on bonding with Lia.But the Iron Fangs had a different idea. They had been reaching out to me to have a video call with them for weeks now. I tried to put it off for as long as I could, but I couldn’t ignore it any longer.“I’ll do my best.”One of the elders snarled. Her lip curled upwards, baring her fangs.
JesseI sat across from the Alphas of the Fangstorm Brotherhood. They had requested I meet with them and I decided to get it finished. We all stared at one another for a while, the silence stretching on.The Fangstorms were an odd pack. They heeded the old traditions like they were gospel. For them, it was of the utmost importance to stick to these traditions. But, if someone in the pack didn’t want to then they simply let them choose that path.If their path led them away from the pack then so be it. There would be no shunning or hatred towards them. It was simply how the ancestors wished it to me.“Jesse, you know why we have brought you here, correct?”I nodded. “You wish to know what pack we will be aligning ourselves with.”“Precisely,” one of the elders told me. “Have you made your decision yet or are the five of you still considering your options?”“We are still considering our options and to be honest, I don’t care what pack we end up with,” I said truthfully. “I am completely
Matt I was in a bad fucking mood. The Ashen Howl tribe was full of a bunch of assholes, which was why I hated them to my very core. It didn’t matter if they were the pack I was born into or not. The only thing I ever thought about was getting as far away from them as possible.This is something I always wanted! I knew my chance would come once I found a mate. I would hope that we’d choose her pack, but now I had the chance to make my own. It was honestly a fucking relief. To be able to start from nothing and make a pack with just me, Lia, and my friends was more than I could ever want.My sister had been kicked out of this pack for refusing to mate with her chosen mate right away. It was common now for people to go ahead and get an education or start a career first. No reason to rush into it before you are financially secure.But the Ashen Howl tribe was set in the old ways. They didn’t want to change with the times, frustrating everyone. At least they were frustrating the younger ge
LiaMy future mates seemed to be preoccupied with what we were going to do about our future pack decisions. I didn’t know what to do as I was packless, something that came with its issues.Our parents were part of a small pack, to begin with. They claimed they didn’t want to leave and wanted to stay because this was where their loyalty lay. Yes, it was small, but they were family. After my parents died, the rest of the back decided to go their separate ways.It was my parents that were the glue that held it together. Without them, the others didn’t see the point. Michael and I were still young, having not gone through our coming-of-age ceremony yet so we had no legal rights to vote on the fate of the pack.Soon we found ourselves packless, a fate that wasn’t as uncommon as people thought in modern-day wolf society. Wolves just didn’t want to talk about it often, treating it like it was some type of taboo subject.I never shied away from the fact that I didn’t have a pack. Some classma
JesseOut of all the mates in our group, I was most aware. It wasn’t like I wanted to mock the others, but the fact of the matter was, I was the type of person to be aware of what was going on with everyone.If something was off, I was going to notice it.Now, with Rain, this didn’t count because he wore his heart on his sleeve. He always made it so obvious when something was wrong, and couldn’t hide his emotions even if he tried. If he did try, then he ended up being more obvious than usual!The others depended. Colby and Matt could hide their emotions, but not from me. Lia also depended, while Michael did a pretty good job of hiding it unless it had to do with Gabi and the kids. If it had to do with one of them, then he showed how upset he was because they were his family.Not that we weren’t, but they were his mate as well as children. It was a little different.Today I was out with Lia. The two of us were going for a walk, trying to enjoy some of the fresh air. I did offer the oth
MattThe past few days have been pretty crazy. I have been trying to deal with healing and then working as a coach while also spending time with my mate and pack. Everything was much better than it had been, especially with my former pack behind bars.I couldn’t stand them. Anytime I thought of them, I got upset, but right now, they were the last thing I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to focus on was the fact that Lia and I had made our way to her room, kissing passionately after going out to see a movie together.Honestly, I couldn’t even remember what the movie was. I remember the people being all romantic on screen and acting like idiots. This meant it had to be a romantic comedy. Was it obvious I wasn’t a big fan of romantic comedies? Because I wasn’t. They were stupid and a waste of time b but Lia seemed to like them.My favorite type of movie to see with Lia was a horror movie because then she got scared and cuddled up close to me. Who wouldn’t want to cuddle up with Lia wh
LiaI’m in the backyard, ready to start practicing. I have to always be ready. This is why I try to carve time for myself to practice magic. Everyone around here is always practicing their skills because you never know when something is going to happen.After the crazy time we had, I wanted to be ready for anything. How was I to know when a coven seeking revenge or some dragon shifters who had been sleeping“Okay… let’s not get rusty,” I murmured, staring down at the candle placed in the center of a circle I’d drawn with chalk. “Just a little warm-up. Easy.”“Talking to yourself again?” Rain’s voice floated over from the porch, teasing as ever.I didn’t look up. “It’s called focus. You should try it sometime.”“I’m very focused,” he said, strolling over with that infuriating grin. “I’m focusing on how intensely you’re trying to intimidate a candle.”“It’s not intimidation. It’s discipline.” I took a slow breath, letting the magic rise like a tide inside me. “Now hush.”“Shutting up,”
LiaNow that I’ve spent all this time with my mates, I wanted to spend time as a whole with everyone in the pack. This was why I let myself into the house my brother now lived in. See I had a key and he had a key to the place I had with my own mates. We were part of a pack so if we didn’t want to let the other in we would say something ahead of time.I found Michael in the kitchen, his head buried in the fridge like he was on a mission. “Hey,” I said, leaning against the doorframe.He grunted in acknowledgment, pulling out a container of leftover pasta and giving it a suspicious sniff. “Who made this? You?”“Gabi,” I said.He immediately popped the lid and started digging in cold with a fork. “Then I trust it.”I made a face. “Cold pasta?”“Don’t judge me. I’m a man of simple pleasures.” He took another bite, then finally looked at me properly. “What’s up?”“I was wondering…” I hesitated, then sighed. Why was this suddenly awkward?Michael raised an eyebrow. “You okay? You look like y
MattI found her on the porch, curled under a blanket like a cozy little woodland creature, mug in hand, book in lap. Honestly? Not fair how good she looked doing absolutely nothing.“Hey,” I said, leaning on the railing and trying to sound casual. Which meant I sounded like I was overthinking breathing.She glanced up, smiling. “Hey. Why do you look like you’re about to give a presentation in front of the school board?”“Because I’m brave,” I muttered. “And because I came to ask if you wanted to go for a walk. In the forest.”Her smile widened. “A walk?”“Yeah. Just us. Trees. Quiet. No one is trying to set the microwave on fire.”She sat up, already pulling off the blanket. “Of course I’ll go. I love when you get all woodsy and mysterious.”“I am always woodsy and mysterious.”“You spilled coffee on your shirt this morning and said, ‘The mug betrayed me.’”“It did.”She stood, and I thought that was that—until we heard it.Crunch.A very loud, very obvious crunch from behind the scr
ColbyEveryone was doing their own thing to bond with Lia. I decided that I was just going to cook dinner for the whole group, and then I would sneak her some dessert. Great for us to have a private dessert. Something chocolatey, maybe. She always smiled more with chocolate.“I’m making dinner tonight,” I announced, tossing my keys into the dish by the door and heading straight for the kitchen.Rain popped his head around the corner, eyes lighting up. “Ooh! Need a sous chef?”I didn’t even hesitate. “Not.”“What?!”Rain gasped like I’d just insulted his entire bloodline. “Banned?! That’s so harsh!”I had to stifle a chuckle even though he was just being his usual self. That was Rain for you. But he would be fine after a while. He just had to get over his little pouting session.Lia appeared behind him, crossing her arms. “Rain, last time you helped, the smoke alarm had to be reset twice.”“That was an accident!” Rain argued. “The stove was faulty!”“No,” Matt said from the couch witho
JesseAfter learning that Rain had a successful date, I decided that it was my turn to take Lia out. I had something in mind. It was a bit of an odd date—the two of us were going to play chess. Or I was going to invite her out to play chess.Chess was an awesome game that I loved. I tried to teach some of my friends the game, but only Michael was interested and now he had kids. Colby just didn’t want to waste time on it, Matt had no patience and Rain was well… Rain.If Rain ever came to me and said that he wanted to learn chess, I think I might die from shock.“I’m taking you out,” I said.She blinked. “Okay… where?”“The park,” I replied, dropping my hands into my pockets.Her head tilted slightly. “Just the park?”I nodded. “Yeah. We’re going to learn how to play chess.”Lia stared at me. “Chess?”“Chess.”“Like… with the little horses and castles and tiny guys in helmets?”“They’re knights and rooks and pawns,” I corrected, lips twitching at the corners. “But yes. That chess.”Ther
RainI had a plan and the plan was to do something romantic with Lia. It didn’t matter if it led to something more, but I wanted the two of us to spend some quality time together. The two of us hadn’t spent any time together with it just being us.None of the guys had been able to spend any quality time with her either because of all the shit going on in our lives.This wasn’t going to happen any longer.I had racked my brain, trying to think of something to do, and then I realized that I was going to surprise Lia with a private picnic in a meadow that was nearby.So I decided to go to her door to talk with her, letting her know that I was taking her out on a date.Well, if she wanted to go out on a date. She was perfectly capable of saying no. and could say no. I didn’t care if she did or not.No, that was a lie. I wanted her to say yes, but if she didn’t want to go, then this was fine too. Lia was her person and could decide what she wanted to do.“I’m taking you out tomorrow,” I sa
LiaAfter everything we dealt with regarding Matt’s old pack and Colby fighting them, we needed a break. I was planning something with my pack, or more specifically, my mates. We were just going to have a quiet evening at home and enjoy our time together.Simone was helping me plan. She was a great friend, doing what she could to help me plan this thing.Now the sun was starting to set. We had managed to get the guys out of the house so they wouldn’t bother either of us while we planned. Rain would blurt everything to the entire household if he caught wind of anything.Rain was incapable of keeping a secret. This was why everyone kept secrets from him and also kept him out of the kitchen, but that was a completely different story.But then they did come home, and I was forced to tell everyone what was going on. They started to do some things to help me prepare for the night, wanting to do their part.The sun was just beginning to dip behind the trees, painting the sky in streaks of or