MidnightNOAHI was in the middle of a battle when it happened. When I felt it.When I felt my mate being ripped away from me.My knees buckled and my body forced me to shift back to human form as a shooting pain shot through my body starting from my heart. I lay on my side, and I could feel myself shaking in agony.“Noah!” I heard someone calling, but they seemed far away. “Noah, fuck!”A face appeared leaning over me. Alex.“Noah, can you stand?” He was checking my body for signs of injuries that would explain my collapse, but didn’t find any.I shook my head, my breathing heavy.Alex’s arm wound around my waist, helping pull me up to stand. He motioned for someone to help, one of the warriors.The pain eased off and I was able to take some of my own weight, but that didn’t last long. Another sharp pain shot through my body, bringing me back to my knees. When I woke up, I was in the hospital.OSCARI knew he was going to bite her, but nothing at all could have prepared me for the a
ALEXA battle still raged throughout the pack territory.We weren’t entirely sure what was happening out in the big, bad world, we just knew that it wasn’t good. After he collapsed, we’d taken Noah to the pack hospital. He had been screaming, truly screaming in pain, crying about Ava, but not able to tell us what happened.The awful thing is… how he was reacting reminded me of something horrible.Fifteen years ago, I lost my wife. My fated mate. The mother of my boys.The only reason I got through it was my boys.There’s a reason a lot of wolves lose themselves, their minds and often their lives after their mate dies. Our mates are the other half of us. If you lose them, well. It’s like you are being torn apart from the inside out and your soul is being ripped out. It’s like your very being is being destroyed.You had to find something to live for to be able to carry on living.If Noah was in this much pain… something happened to Ava. Which meant my boys would also be in this much pa
I was in unbelievable amounts of pain.My body felt like it was being pulled apart.My veins were burning.My soul felt like it was being ripped out.Dionysus was screaming.And somehow, I needed to get both my mate and brother out of this alive.“Well, Oscar?” Elijah’s drawl carried across the clearing. “What’s it going to be?”Elijah must have known that something like this would happen, and that’s why he perfectly placed Ava and Callum so I wouldn’t be able to get to both of them before he could kill whoever I didn’t go for first.I still didn’t believe for a minute that he’d let Ava go, regardless of what I did. If I went for her, it would just get me close enough for Elijah to kill me. If I went for Callum, he’d do whatever to Ava, probably rip her throat out some more, before killing me and then Callum.“What do you think you’re going to achieve by doing this, Elijah? I know you won’t let Ava go, you want her too much.”I ignored the pleading look on Callum’s face. Knowing my br
AVAI suddenly jolted back to consciousness when I hit the floor. Earlier, I’d just had pain in my neck. Now… my body, mind and soul hurt so much I just wanted to die.Then I saw Oscar on the ground, I felt Oscar slipping away from me.I screamed; I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I was screaming his name, screaming his wolf’s name, begging him to stand, to say something, just do something, and he just didn’t. Callum stumbled towards me, falling down by my side, helping me sit up. “Carry me to him, Callum.” I was in so much pain I could hardly talk, but I had to see him. I needed to see him. “I need to see him, please.”When he realised I wasn’t going to back down, Callum scooped me up in his arms, running towards the fallen shape of his brother. He set me down on Oscar’s left side, before dropping to his knees opposite me. Oscar’s eyes were closed and his heart rate was so slow I could hardly hear or feel it. I couldn’t even feel Dionysus. I had no idea what the witch did to him,
UNKNOWNThe Meadow is a beautiful place. It’s full of fresh green grass, blossom trees, and freesias in more colours than you can imagine. Deer run through the trees, birds sing on the branches and fish dance in the streams.It’s a peaceful place, one full of ethereal wonder. The sky seems to shimmer and everything around you just feels magical. It feels right somehow.A woman sat on the bank of one of the streams, her bare feet in the rushing water. Her blonde hair flowed behind her as if constantly caught in a light breeze, as did her delicate gown.Butterflies fluttered around her head, and a kingfisher perched on her knee.Absolutely everything about her was beautiful.The woman stood, walking towards the middle of the meadow, so light on her feet that she seemed to be dancing on air.In the middle of the meadow, lay five bodies, with wolves running around them. The five bodies were dressed in white gossamer that matched the woman’s dress, all of their clothing delicately flutteri
CALLUM“Callum!” I heard someone shouting, but they sounded so far away. I couldn’t open my eyes, and my body felt numb, like I wasn’t connected to it.“Callum, wake up, please,” another voice begged.Oscar. That was Oscar and my dad.I jolted upright, nearly headbutting my dad in the face.He caught me before I could fall back when my head swum, my entire body still feeling weak.“Ava…” I growled. “Where’s Ava?”Dad and Oscar glanced at each other, faces nervous.“Callum… She... She hasn’t woken up yet.”“I need to see her,” I tried to scramble out of bed, but was tangled up in wires and cables.“Callum, let me get a doctor to check on you, okay?”I let my head fall back against my pillows. Didn’t really have a choice.Dad ran out of the room, calling after a doctor as he went.“How… how are you?” I asked Oscar.“I woke up a couple hours ago, so did Theo.”“Theo’s awake?”He nodded. “He’s going to be here for a few days for observations, but he’s awake.”“Noah?”“He… he went into v-f
AVAIt was another five days before I was discharged. Callum and Oscar were the same day they woke up, Noah two days later, and Theo was the day after.It was a good thing I was discharged when I was or I could not guarantee that I would have been able to keep my shit together.It was amazing to wake up in my own bed, surrounded by my four mates again. We hadn’t had that privilege since before Theo was kidnapped. Oscar behind me, Callum in front and Theo and Noah laying across my legs and stomach was my happy place.“Good morning, beautiful,” Callum pressed his lips against my forehead. “Hey, you,” I replied, my voice still sleepy.“How are you feeling?”“I’m good, I think, glad to be back,” I smiled. “I’m a little bit weak, but I’m okay.”“Ava… you were discharged from hospital yesterday evening after being forcibly marked multiple times, losing Artemis, losing a lot of blood and nearly dying multiple times. And after saving all of us. I think you’re allowed to feel weak.”“You’re d
OSCARWe could all feel how stressed and upset Ava was, and that’s before you even get to the pain where she felt three marked mate bonds snap. And, of course, she nearly had one forced upon her by someone that wasn’t her fated mate.She wanted to mark us all again so badly, but she was terrified. She was terrified that Elijah’s mark was still going to stick and that we’d have difficulty removing it, unless he marked someone else.From what we could tell, if we were interpreting all the legends correctly, is that he only managed to remove hers just because her bond wouldn’t be complete until she had all four. Until that point… the bond just hadn’t cemented yet.We’d have to try to talk to Alpha Michael to see if his scholars found anything, or, hopefully one of us could still reach Selene to find out how we could safely do this… but right now, we are in the dark with broken mate bonds and an Alpha Queen who wants to give up.“I wish we could get answers for her,” Theo’s voice was low,