Rose Liam and I had had exactly one conversation since our big fight. That conversation included zero eye contact, extreme physical distance, and only stipulated our schedule of shifts. We wanted eyes on patrols as often as possible thankfully, which meant we wouldn’t even have time to spend with each other, anyway. Not if there was actually going to be boots on the ground at all times, at least. Liam had made a comment about us needing more manpower up here, but I quickly refuted, reminding him that too much of a presence, it’d be obvious what we were doing. Keeping it secretly at a distance was probably good for us right now. I wasn’t proud of my outburst, and I needed some time to live it down. The logical solution was to have a conversation and apologize, but I wasn’t about to initiate it. I had to admit, a week in and these shifts were getting hard. Seven days of twelve hours in wolf form every day and still not being able to sleep was wearing on me. I felt like it was the sa
Liam I didn’t want to wake up. By this point, I had weeks of sleep to catch up on. But, my wolf urged me out of that peaceful place. I buried my head into the pillow, breathing in the spiced raspberries scent that clung to it, and resisted. Subconsciously, I reached over, searching out the embers I had fallen asleep wrapped up in. When I didn’t find them, I sat up, looking around. I half expected her to have left, but was pleasantly surprised when my eyes fell on my mate sitting cross legged at the far corner of the bed. “We need to talk,” she whispered, refusing to look at me. I fell back against the pillow and scrubbed sleep out of my eyes. Oh, blissful sleep. I just wanted to be cocooned in its sweet embrace again. “Yeah, probably.” I had finally admitted to myself that my mate was what I wanted. I didn’t know if I was ready to admit that to her, though. “You never wanted a mate.” I shook my head, confirming her statement. I waited for her to speak, thinking she would have m
Rose Liam’s hands fell away from me as he backed away slowly. The words had stung to even say. He looked away from me, but I kept my eyes on his face, trying to see what he was thinking. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that the emotion I saw was hurt, but I was fairly certain he didn’t know how to be genuinely hurt. He knew anger. He knew revenge. But he seemed to always bypass succumbing to the pain. “What do you mean, Rose?” he asked, voice dark and gravelly. I took a deep breath, trying to steel myself for what I was about to do. “Liam, I reject you as my fated mate.” I felt the familiar sensation of my chest tightening as the bond began to fray, preparing for the permanent severing and the pain that would undoubtedly come along with it. Liam’s eyes came up to meet mine, staring at me blankly. The hint of possible pain I saw on his face was gone, and when his eyes flashed, there it was. The anger was back, accompanied by a sardonic smirk. “No!” he scoffed. “I
Liam The knock at the door couldn’t even distract us from our staring contest. Nor the second, and not even the third. When the person knocked again, I finally broke the tense silence. “You gonna get that?” Rose begrudgingly stood up. I couldn’t help but laugh as I followed her to the door. She let Thom in while I returned to the kitchen in an attempt to finish Rose’s meal prep. Rose led him in, sitting down at the bar with him. “Hey!” she chirped with a tone completely different from the one she used to speak to me. “Lya said you were here.” “Did I interrupt something?” Thom asked. “I wasn’t expecting to find both of you in the same place.” “Hashing out details,” I said absently. He didn’t need to know the details of what, though. “These apartments really are the exact same as the ones back home, aren’t they?” he asked, glancing around the little studio that Rose had quickly made look like a second home. “Yeah,” Rose said, brushing off the comment. “It made it easy to just
Rose The argument of whether or not I actually got to participate in the assignment my alpha and luna put me on continued all the way to the restaurant. The only upside of the walk there was that it was a beautiful evening. We somehow lucked out with a booth, even though the restaurant was crowded, and I discovered I no longer liked booths. Liam slid in next to me, sitting way too close, and there was nothing I could do about it without making a scene. Even the waitress coming by did not cause him to create a socially acceptable amount of space. She brought our drinks by, and we all leaned in, trying to keep our voices low so we couldn’t be overheard. “Thom, how long are you staying here?” Liam asked. “Only two people is stretching us too thin to keep an eye on what patrols are doing as well as try and be involved with the pack up here.” I shot a glance over to Liam. “I think it’s reasonable to say we don’t need to do day patrols as stringently. It’d be better if we actually had
Liam Against my better judgment, I left Rose within the territory. My senses were in overdrive, and Alo was doing his best to maintain some sort of connection with her wolf. It was hard for him, seeing as we had had minimal opportunities to let the bond grow. I had been surprised when Alo confirmed that she could feel our guilt at my sister’s current state. I was desperately hoping that us deciding we would at least give the bond a chance would help return me to my normal function. I couldn’t afford to fuck this up. She needed to stay away, though, because I knew my focus would solely be on her safety. ‘I don’t like this,’ Alo growled. ‘She’s within the territory,’ I tried to console him. ‘She’ll be fine.’ The wolf still paced in my mind, begging me to return to her side. Thom and I had shifted to cross the border. Thom had the advantage of being a member of Snow Moon again, so at the very least he was instantly recognized. As soon as we were over the border, though, we shift
Rose Liam had stayed in my room that night. The longer he was around, the less annoyed I was. My leg throbbed painfully, and I resented the fact that physical contact with my mate made the discomfort more bearable. I know I had agreed to at least give this whole mate thing a go with Liam, but I wasn’t on board with it. For all I cared, he had made his bed and now he could lay in it. ‘You would be lying right beside him,’ Freyja reminded me. ‘I know,’ I sighed. ‘It’s just not fair that he could screw up so much and then I still pretty much have to forgive him.’ Freyja shifted around. She was restless with the proximity to Liam’s wolf. ‘You made mistakes, too.’ I bit back my response, knowing it wasn’t worth getting into a points keeping contest. Two wrongs don’t make a right, anyhow. Just maybe, though, two wrongs could bring us to a fresh start. The morning came, and I was still curled up in Liam’s lap. We hadn’t slept, but not for lack of trying. My leg just hurt that ba
I walked slowly out to where we had left Thom last night. To my knowledge, he hadn’t made it back to the barracks, but I also assumed nothing of note happened. He must have been tired, because I was able to sneak up on him. “Your wolf broken or something?” I joked.“Just tired,” he sighed. “Takes my wolf longer to recover since losing my mate.”I looked at him curiously. “How did you manage so long doing work for the Wulvers without anyone noticing that?”Thom smirked. “Good training beats natural skill any day. So where’s Rose?”“Leg’s still bummed up so she’s watching the pulled pork,” I said. Thom scrubbed his hand across his face. “We coulda really used her today.” I cocked my eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “According to Oliver and Cody, she truly is the best scout we’ve produced. We’ll need her.”“Better than me?” I laughed.“That’s what happens when you care about scouting training, not scouting tail.”I rolled my eyes, falling in step beside him as we made our way past
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