Rose Liam was in no talking mood the entire time he held me. I was kept to his chest in such a vise grip I couldn’t even look up at him. Every time I tried to move, he growled. If I asked what happened or what was wrong, he growled. If I asked him what was going on with him, he clutched me tighter and growled. I had a sneaking suspicion this was Alo’s doing. I was certain he wasn’t happy about the fact that Liam was inevitably going to reject me soon, and whatever he had seen while out having his temper tantrum must have riled his wolf, causing the overreaction. Lya was arriving today. I couldn’t see the time so for all I knew, she was already here. No amount of coercing would convince the overprotective male to let go of his unmarked mate. “A-Alo?” I finally stuttered, thinking maybe I could convince the sane side of my mate. “No,” Liam growled. I tried to whip my head around to look at him, but his hand clamped down in my hair to keep my head still. I squirmed frantically,
Liam Oliver met me in the hall, presumably back from a run. I nodded briefly to him. He was a good alpha, but still far from my favorite person. He fell in step beside me. “Lya has a dog,” he said abruptly. “She doesn’t know it’s a familiar.” I looked over at him quizzically, curious as to why he would do something like that. “I can’t be with her all the time,” he sighed. “It helps her when she gets panicky alone.” I grunted in approval, at least appreciating that he was trying to do something to help her. “Why didn’t you tell me my sister was still struggling?” He glared over at me. “No offense, man, but she doesn’t even know you. Right now, you’re just the jerk who's screwing over her best friend.” I ignored the comment, hearing the familiar announce our presence to its possessor. When Lya opened the door, a little black mutt puppy immediately went for my arm, dragging at the sleeve of my jacket right where Rose’s mark was. “Hello, Henry,” I grumbled. Familiars made me unc
Rose Lya had hung around long enough to help move my things. I had grown relatively settled in my temporary apartment, and I’d be sad to see it go. “I’m not going to forgive you for this,” I grumbled. Lya laughed. “Oh, how the tables have turned. Was it really only a couple months ago you were convincing me to give Oliver a chance?” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, but at least you had a friend around to constantly talk you off a ledge.” “Maybe just talk to Liam about it instead?” she suggested. “I mean, you’re both kind of on the same page, and from the sound of it, you guys flip flop who wants to reject who so you’re never both ready for rejection at the same time.” “No,” I quickly refused. “If - and that’s a huge if - this works out, I want it to be because we both came to that decision independently.” Lya was quiet for a bit, retrieving socks from Henry’s mouth and putting them in a suitcase. “Where do you stand now?” she tentatively asked. “I… I don’t know,” I confessed. “He’s
Liam I watched in agony for hours as Rose shopped. What I thought would be a simple grocery run and picking up a few chairs was turning into an all day endeavor. I had initially thought there was no way we would need Cody up here for a few days before we took over at the training grounds, but it seemed setting up the house would take every spare second we would have. “Watch this be a short assignment,” she sighed. “We could just spend all this money, and get sent home tomorrow.” I didn’t voice the idea that just maybe we’d like playing house and decide to make it permanent. I wasn’t even sure if I would like it. I didn’t think she believed me when I said I’d choose her. Maybe it was the mark working some sort of mate bond magic, but the more I thought of no longer having her as my mate, the more I was willing to completely excommunicate myself from the Wulvers, not just accept a different position. So I let her spend too much time and money selecting a couch, pretended to care
Rose Cody was going to be up here for a week. We had been instructed to spend three days taking a little bit of time off, getting our new house set up, and most importantly, figuring out how we were going to present ourselves as mates. Freyja was absolutely convinced that playing the part would help us actually come to terms with our fates. I wasn’t so sure. Liam was dutifully acting accordingly, but I couldn’t quite muster it, especially behind closed doors. I wanted my mate, first and foremost, to like me for me. I wanted them to want to stick around, even if the mate bond wasn’t there. I didn’t feel like that’s where Liam and I stood. Every time we went out, I inadvertently fell into the role of the meek and quiet mate who needed protection from the world. I didn’t mean to. Going out and having a loving, affectionate mate doting on me threw me off so much it left me lost. He tried to be at least a little affectionate and attentive with me behind closed doors as well, but I t
Liam Everyone filtered out slowly, Brandon being the last to leave. He was curious about the Wulver Pack, and I could tell he had questions about Rose and I as mates. Questions I carefully skirted around, however. When he finally left, I got up as well and headed to the kitchen. Rose started to make her way to the bedroom, but I stopped her. “Rose, wait,” I requested. She stopped and turned. “Sit.” I made my way to the living room, setting a new beer and a refilled glass of wine down on the coffee table. She followed suit, stiffly sitting on the couch across from the chair I was in. We just stared at each other for a moment. I knew what I wanted to say, but had no idea how to say it. “What do you want from me?” I finally blurted. She had been so distant when we were out of public view. I understood why, but I had no idea how to fix it. I knew full well it was my fault things were this way, and what I was doing to try and get back in her good graces was clearly not working. “W
Rose Liam and I woke up to the sound of the alarm going off on his phone. We begrudgingly untangled ourselves from each other and rolled out of bed and set to work preparing for our first day leading training. It was too normal. All too different from what we had been like before Freyja marked him. Was it possible that a half mark could unconsciously change us that much? I knew there was no hope in hiding the blush that rose to my cheeks every time I thought about the past few days with him. Every time I shot a wary glance over to him, his eyes were on me. “How’s your neck?” Liam asked as he started up the truck. I reached up to touch the bruise that had formed where he had failed to mark me. I blushed. It looked like a hickey, and I hadn’t been able to find a shirt to cover it. “Just an eyesore.” Liam scoffed. “I was referring to the whiplash.” “Huh?” “You know,” he chided. “You hate me one minute, about to let me mark you the next.” I rolled my eyes, settling for watchi
LiamI stared at the door Rose had walked out of for a good fifteen minutes, enough time to ensure she wouldn’t be turning around and coming back. She had enough time to come back after training to rant, eat, and shower before heading out for patrols. Our patrol shifts were overlapping the usual shift changes in the evening and morning, making longer nights. That upset me because Rose had worked all day, was going to be out all night, then would work all day again tomorrow. I had offered to take this shift for her, but she quickly refused. I tried to convince her, on the premise that it sounded like she needed a drink after her first day, but that didn’t convince her, either. I was cautiously optimistic about Rose completely taking over the scout training up here. It was maintenance training, not true training, but she was still only a year out of her actual training. She was so quiet and reserved this could only go one of two ways - they would walk all over her, or she would bloo
I think I've figured it out. The thing that makes me enjoy a werewolf story so much is when I can easily make a connection to the characters. As I don't turn into a wolf (although I think I have a true mate bond with my fiance), their human skin bears the weight of making these characters 'real.' Their actions, reactions, internal monologue - you know, the things that make you want to hang out for a sunny afternoon and smoke meats with Liam, or sneak away for a glass of wine to gossip with Rose. It's for that reason I tackled a very toxic relationship in this story. I see them written all the time, but so often, there's just this magical moment where everything changes. It makes me roll my eyes and put the book down. My characters have very real reactions to what it is like to live in that kind of situation. There were heavy, heavy topics here, and I applaud you all for sitting through and reading them. I seriously did consider putting additional trigger/content warnings a couple tim
Liam I wanted to be angry with Jade. Furious, really. Rose’s injuries had been much more significant than she thought, and worse than the bond indicated to me. After her second surgery, it was my bunny that reined me in, encouraging me to think about what her friend - my cousin - was going through. Rose was convinced Jade was taking a slow walk to a shallow grave. But, I knew better. The death of a mate, especially an unmarked mate, affects everyone differently. Thom had been mostly fine, I was dying at the same rate as Rose, and Jade was somewhere in the middle. I didn’t quite know how to tell Rose their bond was much more pathetic than ours had ever been. They would have committed to each other without ever imprinting on each other’s souls. They were dead wolves walking, so it was a strange sort of blessing that neither had to live like that anymore. If I was a good man, I would have reached out to my cousin, ensured she was holding up okay, but Cody had been there for her, a
Rose I didn’t want to tell LIam the way he was carrying me hurt, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take it. Everything probably would have hurt right now, though. I settled for distraction. “Is it over?” I mumbled. I could feel him tense against me. “Today it is, but the war is far from won.” I pursed my lips. “Seems anticlimactic. Lya made it sound like she got a better battle scene.” “You’re a scout,” he reminded me. “Your contribution will always be in the way of information and perception.” He was right. I was hopeful that over the next few days it would come to light that perception had changed, and this was all worth it. At the very least, I hoped we got important information out of the deal. Maybe they caught the traitors, or the wolf that had attacked me. “Did anyone die?” I asked quietly. It was silent. I didn’t even know if Liam would know the answer to that question. It was the voice of a person I hadn’t even realized was there that answered. “Onl
Liam I looked down at my hands, unsure if the blood covering them was my own. I was no longer in the chains I had been imprisoned by for the last day. Hell, I wasn’t even in my house, and I had no idea how I got to the middle of the forest surrounding Lake Solitude. The last thing I recalled was sensing my mate’s distress. SIlver burned her wrists the same as it had been doing to mine, and I felt the wolf of mine fight through the toxic bonds. He must have taken over. For a fleeting moment, I thought about the unfortunate fuck who had been put in charge of watching me. Oliver and Gregory left to supervise the Cold Moon transfers who were running “patrols” while Lya, Cody, and Brandon were assisting Jade in preparing the barely functional hospital for the influx of emergencies they expected to receive tonight. That had been an oversight. That left only poor Daniel as the last of the folks present who was fully aware of what was going on. He had been a pack warrior, but had trans
Rose Silver burned my wrists as my wolf tried to burst through, oblivious to the pain it was causing me. Nothing mattered to her other than getting to her mate. Vivian had stopped forcing the tea down my throat last night. I had thought my heat had to be over, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, shackled to the bed, I discovered I was wrong. So painfully wrong. They were actual silver chains this time, not just a rope laced with silver. Vivian had explained that it was because at this point in my heat, we needed to keep my wolf at bay as well, but I had hardly listened. The only thing I cared about was that I was here, and my mate was not. As soon as I was free, everyone would pay for this. It was a dumb plan, and they had been cruel to put me through this torture. I’d make Liam kill them all for me. I tried desperately to reach out to him, beg him to come rescue me, but the silver prevented even a taste of the bond. All I needed was a taste, though. Just the smalle
Liam I was getting twitchy. Rose had been gone for a grant total of three days, and I was well on my way to insanity. I was absolutely certain if I had to sleep a third night in a row without her, I wouldn’t want up. So I wasn’t sleeping. An illogical plan, but the only one that I foresaw as having any hope of working if the members of this pack wanted to stay alive when they asked stupid questions. I was teetering on the edge, trying to keep myself drunk enough that I legitimately could’t go find Rose and ruin the plan that had been orchestrated. I had called in sick today, and knew I would do the same thing tomorrow. Brandon would tell Oliver soon, and then one of the Alphas would start asking questions, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. Lya had done a good job of deflecting her mate’s curiosity, but it wouldn’t last forever. He was overprotective of both her and his pack, and as it stood, I was surprised he hadn’t noticed that Rose was now a rogue. That, or my sister
Rose The distance from my mate was getting to me. At the suggestion of everyone who knew my whereabouts, I didn’t reach out to Liam that night. I couldn’t sleep, the constant overstretching of the bond trying to pull us back together keeping me awake. “How do you do it?” I asked Vivian, bleary eyed and exhausted, over another cup of the anti-heat juice she kept forcing down my throat. “Hmm?” she hummed, not even turning from what she was cooking. “How do you maintain distance from your mate?” This question did cause her to turn, coming to sit at the table with me. She set a plate of food in front of me - some kind of meat she had hunted for a couple nights ago. I didn’t much care what it was, though. “You know how a rubber band or hair tie loses tension the more often it’s stretched to its limit without breaking?” I nodded. “It’s kinda like that. You get used to it, the distance it’s stretched has to be further to be noticeable. But, it takes a lot of overstretching to do th
Folks!!I missed an updating day! I'm so sorry to do this to you guys, but there will be NO updates the next few days for 'Chase.' I sat down yesterday and looked at the chapters to post, and I just... wasn't happy. In an effort to give you guys the best story possible, I'd like to give it a couple days and rework the ending that is in the pipeline. I don't want to be "that" author that takes a random hiatus, but it is more important to me that I give Rose and Liam the ending they deserve than just post a lackluster ending. Trust me, with the stuff I drafted yesterday, I think you guys will agree. I promise, this isn't going to be a long hiatus like I took from 'Run.' after my mom's death. Just give me until 1.23.23, and I'll have more chapters out for you. Maybe I'll even post in bulk instead of just a single chapter a day. ;) In the interim, maybe you'd like to go check out 'Run.' and see where this whole adventure started? If Snow Moon is burning you out, go visit 'Curse of a Ly
Liam I went out to every site my warriors were claiming to pick up rogue scents. I quickly noticed they were laced with Wulver, though. I clearly hadn’t been the only one thinking we needed to loop a rogue in on our cause. “Chandler’s mate,” Gregory confirmed, coming up next to me. “She came down with him.” I cocked an eyebrow. “I’m surprised he found his way out of his hiding spot.” Gregory smirked. “You know as well as anyone that not everyone needs to be combative to be useful. How many times has information he passed on saved the day?” “More than I’d like to mention,” I grumbled. Chandler was a good guy, but a rogue in every sense of the word - other than his bond to the Wulver Pack. “He really brought his mate with him?” His mate, however, was every bit a Wulver, but a true rogue. I always wondered why Vivian never joined the Wulvers, but right now, it was proving useful. He nodded in confirmation. “How are your scouts holding up without their fearless leader?” I chuck