Ash
Leo joined them with a satisfied smirk on his face while they waited in front of the pack house to meet their guests. The king’s car had already passed through the border and would be the first of their guests to arrive. Ember’s guardian was now at the border being admitted.
“Where’s Ember?” He asked in a low voice.
“She should be here any moment. I heard her come out of the bathroom just before I came down.” Leo grinned at him.
“I just know you did something to annoy her again.” He answered, while staring at Leo with narrowed eyes.
Oliver chuckled.
“That’s nothing new; I’ve forgotten how many times you’ve all gotten into trouble because of him.” His father muttered with a hint of amusement in his tone.
“I am the picture of innocence, Alpha.” Leo answered with a tone of dignity.
EmberShe felt overwhelmed with everyone looking at her the way they were. Beta Tom grinned and winked at her like he always did when they met, but she still clung to Ash’s hand like it was her lifeline.His touch soothed her and her wolf and she desperately needed some calm or she would be running and hiding in her temporary room where she could feel alone and safe. She was not in control of the situation and everyone’s attention on her was so uncomfortable it felt like her skin was prickling.Before Calum and Ilene could approach her, Luna Cindy suggested they head to the dining room where everyone could be comfortable; obviously she had sensed the tension in the air. It was perfect timing since Ember was about to run away with the king, the queen, Alpha Anson and Beta Tom staring at her like she was some kind of math problem to solve.Ember was grateful when the three guys stayed at her side and Ash didn’t seem to mi
Ember“Do you know why her father was murdered?” The king asked with interest.“We haven’t been able to find out much aside from that he was…” Alpha Anson hesitated and glanced at her with concern. “…Questioned extensively, before his death.” The inflection in his voice and the huskiness of his tone pointed at something that caused him some pain and Ember frowned in concentration.Did he mean tortured? Another echo in her memories, this one a little more tangible; painful screams. She remembered those in her nightmares; they were always in her nightmares.Alpha Anson cleared his throat and took a sip of his ice water before he continued. “We have reason to suspect that whoever killed him was looking for something, since the place was in shambles. Ember was dehydrated and weak when I came to hear of his death and insisted that they look for her.&nb
Alpha AnsonOnce the teenagers filed out of the formal dining room to give them some privacy, the atmosphere turned decidedly more serious. The younger generation might be next in line, but they were still too young to deal with all that had happened in their generation.“Alpha Anson, do you have any details on the murder of your brother?” The king asked with a frown of worry marring his brow. He was by far the oldest of them, but he carried his age well.“The authorities had deemed it a revenge killing and all but given up, Your Highness. But I’ve been doing my own investigations behind the scenes. Unfortunately with the state of my pack recently, I have been unable to continue with the investigation.”He nodded sagely. “I heard about your troubles with your ex-Luna. It is an embarrassment to any alpha or father to raise such a woman when he knew she would have a high status.&n
King RichardHonestly, he was still reeling from the fact that he had a niece, but both he and his wolf knew it the moment they saw the girl. Not only did she have her mother’s blue-gray eyes, but she also looked so much like her, except for her lighter hair color. Not to mention that she was busy trying to torture the future Gamma in a muddy puddle; that was exactly like his little sister.He would’ve been amused if he hadn’t been so thrown by the discovery that he had a niece and she was already pretty much grown. He had already missed so much of her life. Thankfully his Cordelia was helping him to stay calm and focused on everything that needed to be seen to, especially with all the information they were gleaning from her other uncle.He had to stay focused, even though he and his wolf just wanted to get to know the girl to see how much of her mother she had in her. But it was clear that she was nervous and untr
EmberThe adults had decided during the meeting she was not involved in that they would all head to the palace. Alpha Anson, Calum and Tom had to return to River Ash and thankfully, so did Ilene who had spent the whole morning trying to be friends with her again. Why couldn’t she understand that she couldn’t trust her again?Alpha Denzel would also stay at the Bane pack for the time being. Everyone would come to the palace the day before her eighteenth birthday, the following week, which also happened to be the day of the introduction ball.Ash, Oliver and Leo would be coming with her to the palace that day, where she would be fitted for a new wardrobe and other arrangements would apparently be made for her new life as the princess.She wasn’t happy about being moved to another room yet again. That was four different rooms in less than two months. It was exhausting and irritating, because once again she was
CalumHe’d only left for a few months since their last break and he came back to his whole world in chaos. His parents were divorced; his mother had apparently been trying to bankrupt the pack and banished Ember for something silly she didn’t even do. Then his previously human little sister had become a wolf overnight and turned out to be his cousin and a princess.It was hard to keep up with everything that had happened. And to make things worse, he found himself stuck between Ember and his mate. He could understand Ember’s feeling of betrayal after everything, but he couldn’t give up his mate, either. Of course, he hadn’t missed the look of betrayal on her face before she completely shut him out. But what was he supposed to do?Ilene had been quietly crying in the car he drove home, since his father and Tom had taken the other car with the warrior that had driven dad to Bane pack. He also
AshAfter they had had a tour of the palace and grounds, they were shown to their rooms, since they would change for dinner before they would turn in for the night. He had thoroughly enjoyed the tour, mostly because he had known most of what was expected and he’d been here before, but also because he could see Ember’s thoughts displayed clearly on her face.He was both amused and grateful when the queen showed them their room, as in his and Ember’s room. Ember was just shocked and flustered. It was adorable how she had absolutely no poker face. Her jaw had dropped and she’d blushed a deep pink all over her face, unable to look at him when the queen pointed out that it would be cruel to keep them apart when their wolves had already accepted each other.The king had not seemed too happy either, but at least his poker face was better than Ember’s. But the king also knew that the queen was right; it did hur
King RichardHe had been holding his tongue, despite Cordelia putting Ember and young Ash in the same room. She had told him that she would explain later. He had nothing against the Bane youngster, but was he good enough for his niece? He promised to be a fine alpha, but would he be a good mate and husband?He had grown up with his father and he knew he had instilled the best morals in the young wolf, but sometimes your best intentions are still lost before the choices of a young wolf. Yes, Ash was protective of her and she seemed to have a little more trust in the three youngsters than she seemed to have in anyone else.It hurt him that Ember was keeping him at arms’ length, when all he wanted was to catch up on lost time. She was so much like his sister that it hurt deep in his chest. He missed Adela and he wished she hadn’t fled from him, but her lack of trust was so clear now that he saw that exact expression o
AshWalking hand in hand into the school the first morning back at the academy, he was amused to see the clear change in the students around them. Ember was still her happy self, chatting away on ideas with Nova and Charlotte. Apparently the three of them had decided to have their own corner in the lab and computer rooms.They had grand plans and he was sure no one was ready for it. Ember had picked up doing her repair videos, since her fan base had requested it. But now Nova and Charlotte would have their own videos on things as well. They took it in shifts now and it seemed like it had become their own side business.It hadn’t taken them long to start doing their videos after they had done an introduction of Charlotte and Nova. The living room in their pack suite now had a recording corner with a green screen behind it, but they kept it to everyday things like toasters, tricks to clean things faster and more effectively and even making your own products.It seemed very popular
LeoHis life was awesome! First he found his baby sis that he always wanted and she was so adorable he could just pinch her cheeks all the time. Alright, there was the horrible part in the middle where she got kidnapped and beaten – he still thought that bastard Balor came off much too easy for everything he’d done – but then when they found her, she had his mate with her!He’s beautiful, amazing, strong and smart mate that was officially his moon and stars! But then his baby sis and best friend go off to complete their mating by getting laid and his baby sis actually bounced him to the ground! Like Tigger!She was all giddy and giggling and happy and…man, his friend had to have some good dick! Saying that to his friend earned him a slap behind the head. But only a half-hearted one, because who could be annoyed when Ember was home and so happy that her smile lit up the room and everyone fell that
AshHe would have never guessed the complete change in his mate during the weekend they spent at the cabin. If he hadn’t experienced it himself, he might not have believed it was possible. But then it could be the heat. Where before she had always been reserved and unsure about her role in his life, she now would just crawl into his lap when she needed affection.And she needed it a lot. He wasn’t complaining at all. It soothed him to know that she now felt safe enough with him that she would at random moments just crawl into his lap, where before she had always tried to keep some distance.He wasn’t sure if it was because of her heat or because she could now sense his emotions. Maybe it was because she was sure of his feelings for the first time. But she wasn’t as reserved as she had been and she was much less prone to shut herself down and focus on something she could do alone.Even the s
Ember*TW: Fun Times ahead, if you’re not interested, you can skip it without missing out on the story line*Everything seemed to happen at once and before she knew it, they were in his car speeding along a road with the airconditioning at full blast on her face. “We’re nearly there, Ember. I know your first heat is the worst, but I’m here with you and you just have to tell me what you want.” He soothed her, while he rested his hand on her thigh.Her skin seemed to sizzle and cool at the same time where he touched her and she craved more of his touch. It felt so good! “He’s ours, girl. Claim him!” Lume insisted when the car suddenly came to a stop.His hand left her thigh and she whined in complaint, but it seemed a moment and a lifetime later, he was reaching for her from the passenger side door. Ember leaned into his arms
AshWhen she’d opened her eyes that morning and just stared into space, he’d thought for sure that she still couldn’t see, because her eyes had a purple tinge to the gray irises he had adored, turning her eyes almost violet.But then she met his gaze and his excitement had caused their room to be crowded with those who loved her. It was during all that celebration that his adorable mate finally understood that she did have a family; she wasn’t an orphan.The day would only get better, since they had a celebratory breakfast and the doctor finally cleared her for light training as long as she continued eating healthily. Thankfully they decided to do pamper treatments without taking her away from him again. In fact, Ember had insisted that she would not be separated from him that day.So she got a fresh manicure and pedicure while they were watching movies; in fact all the females spent the day with them and he would
EmberThe day she is meant to do the marking ceremony with Ash, she wakes to find him leaning over her expectantly like he did every morning since her return, waiting to see if she could see him properly.This morning she could see him clearly; his deep expressive hazel eyes, his unruly hair toppling over onto his brow and that handsome face that she had drooled over the first time her eyes had fallen on him. She was so relieved that she could finally see and so happy to have him back that she started sobbing.“Em-Baby, I’ve got you; it’ll get better…” He soothed, clutching her to his chest like he’d done every morning. She was sure with all her mixed emotions it was difficult for him to sense which one had brought her to tears.Honestly, she was nervous and scared about the marking ceremony, since her last one was still so fresh in her mind. Happy that she was blessed with such a supportive mat
AshDespite the fact that she couldn’t see well yet, she mentioned being able to make out shadows of people in the purple mist by the second day safe and sound in the palace, his amazing mate was helping to search for any information they could use in the trials for the males that currently filled all the cells in the palace dungeons.Ember had written a short program with his assistance of reading the information for her. What he found fascinating was that she knew exactly where the keys were on the keyboard. She pointed out that the F and the J both had a small mark on that one could feel with their fingertips, but it didn’t make it any less amazing that she knew all the keys by heart simply by finding those two keys.Calum and Ilene had also joined the others scouring through paperwork and arranging them according to the information that could be gleaned from them. Cassie was also impressed with the small program she had written that searched for certain key phrases that made the
CharlotteShe was still a little star struck being around so many important wolves. She was from a small pack that worked hard all the time to be seen; not that she was trying half as hard as her father was. Her brother would be taking over from their father when the time came, so she had been informed by her stepmother that they would try to find a good match for her, never once considering that she would want to be with her mate. Her stepmother was working so hard with her father to accomplish his dream to make the pack be seen that they didn’t care about her dreams. And that was why her father hadn’t even known about her creations and personal pass-times. She was amazed to meet the princess who was entirely down to earth if somewhat shy. The way her stepmother had read her demands when she had forced her to get dressed in that horrid pink gown, she would have thought that the royals would be condescending and aloof, but they were acting like normal wolves with normal lives.He
Alpha AnsonWatching his little girl grieving for yet another thing that was taken from her, broke his heart and he wished he could shield her from the pain she was currently feeling. It broke him, knowing that he had been unable to protect her from it all.Calum laid his hand on his shoulder with a look of understanding. “You can’t protect us against everything, Dad.”“I should’ve protected her from this.”“None of us knew who to protect her from, but she’s safe now.” Calum insisted and he nodded, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he should’ve been able to protect her. And what about the future; did they have any guarantees that someone else would not try to take her for her rank in the wolf kingdom and the Bane pack?After a short silence during which no one seemed willing to talk, the king finally cleared his throat. &l