Rudi placed her hands on her mate’s arm. “That battle is done. We need to focus on the new one. Don’t hold her guilty for her father’s transgressions.” Kaleb gnashed his teeth. “How can you say that?” He turned his glare to Isaac. “Did you forget your first years as King? Why would you welcome that back in?” Before Isaac could react, I jumped in. As the only mortal, I was in the dark, and I was anxious to know how old wounds impacted how we chose to proceed with the eight million interweaving problems we were juggling. But hey, what was adding one more to the mix? “So does someone want to fill me in?” I asked. “Because I feel like I’m pretty behind on… everything.” Rudi cast me a sympathetic glance. “It really doesn’t matter anymore. It’s in the past.” “It still matters,” Kaleb scoffed. “It matters a lot.” It was interesting to watch Kaleb’s happy go lucky demeanor fall away into one of fresh anger and determination. I had no doubt whatever it was did matter a lot, even if it w
The next morning, Rudi must have been waiting for me at the front door. I could smell her as soon as I made my way down the stairs. I had just rolled out of bed and was half a sip through my first cup of coffee when she knocked. I looked up to Isaac, silently imploring him to send her away, but he only shrugged and made his way over to let her in. “Hi!” I heard her chirp. “Is Maise ready to go?” I glared back at Isaac over my mug of coffee when he glanced back at me over his shoulder. “No,” he said confidently. “How about I just walk her over?” At least he was learning I was not a morning person. I heard Rudi laugh lightly. “That’s okay, I can wait. I’m a little early, anyway.” Early, she was. The clock on the microwave claimed she was a good half hour early. Which was forty five minutes early in Maise time. “Your funeral,” Isaac mumbled under his breath, but Rudi must have missed it, because she waltzed right in. “Good morning,” she sang, but I just shook my head. “You’r
I was abundantly thankful Natasha chose a different place to finish out yoga. It gave Charli and I the chance to actually talk and get to know each other. She was nice - a career warrior, but came to these sessions every day because she felt it helped keep her up to snuff to actually hold her own with the male wolves. “I guess I’m your new daily yoga buddy,” I grumbled as I stood up to leave. “Oh, trust me,” Charli laughed. “It isn’t always yoga. When Bram gets back, it gets more interesting.” I cocked up an eyebrow. “But where can we go from here?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Ever done tai chi?” I groaned in frustration. “Moving balls of energy around? Kill me now.” “Oh, you’ll love it!” she insisted. “Who ever thought doing so little, so slowly, could be so exhausting?” It sounded miserable. “So what time were you thinking for tonight?” “Oh.” Charli stopped to gather her things. “Actually, I didn’t have anything planned. I was just trying to help you out of that conversa
Isaac POV I stood in front of the door to the conference room, anxiously flexing the fingers of my free hand. My mind was racing, trying to decide what information was actually imperative to share immediately. All of it was important and would come out eventually, but I was walking a fine line with my mate - if it all came to light too soon or at the wrong time, I’d lose her. She bore my mark, but I didn’t doubt her determination to run if she decided I was one of the bad guys she fought so hard against. She was goodness and light, and I? I was arguably anything but. I didn’t deserve her. Maise reached forward and opened the door, revealing our only truly sound proof room in this building. It was another one of the reasons I had moved out of here the second Kaleb offered up his house when he moved into pack lands with Rudi. The anxiety rolled off Maise in waves as she looked on at the people present. I dropped her hand, moving mine to the small of her back, and pushed her in. I
Isaac sat in silence while I quietly seethed. Distribute my magic, sure. It made sense if we were using it to correct issues and mend relationships. But, Leah having a dose of it was pointless. It gave her a jump start on being a hedge witch, but it was an unreasonable risk. Realistically, I was barely okay with people who needed to atone for something gambling on whether or not my magic would be truly helpful in the long run. Innocents shouldn’t touch it. Isaac had told me my magic was incredibly pure, as it was untainted, virginal magic. I had a theory that maybe it cleansed whoever held it, too. I could only imagine that was how it had maintained its purity over the past eight years that I had been its sole host, given the amount of blood on my hands. A devilish idea snuck into my head, so while Isaac was preoccupied with dissecting the meaning behind a coven with no magic, I slipped off his lap. To save face, I kissed him on the cheek, making Leah swoon, and told him I was g
'Dearest M, The days have been long without you, but I know you will come back. You always do. It’s silly to think simply lacking a mark is enough to dull our need for each other. The news you most recently shared was… riveting. You claim it changes everything, but I promise you, nothing has to change. It has always been us, my dear, and always will be. Minds do not change that radically overnight. You know the stipulations I set. I gave you plenty of options. The only answer I will not accept is the one you are choosing. I will not allow us to fracture the way B and A have, or let you abandon our cause the way the rest of our friends have.We have spent decades apart on more than one occasion by this point in our lives, but that will not be the case anymore. I will see you soon. I truly hope it is because you chose us. Your Mate,T' Once upon a time, I read this as a love letter. Someone coming back for their mate with the intention of never letting them go again. Maybe my lack
Isaac and I had relocated our cuddling session to the couch in anticipation of Rudi and Charli’s arrival. He had spent a long while confirming that I did still trust him, and explaining to me exactly why he hadn’t told me my mother was still alive. His only justification was that my mother had asked him to keep it a secret, claiming I would be safer that way. He came up with several different ways of saying it, though. Given the attacks I had already experienced throughout my short life, I understood. My mother seemed to have more enemies than friends, and I could see how having an affiliation with her when I no longer had the protection of the pack was a risk. It didn’t make me any happier, though. “So what’s the entertainment for tonight?” Isaac chided, pulling my attention back to the impending social event. I smirked up at him. “Your reaction when Natasha comes by for your Friday night rendezvous.” Isaac’s face fell. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?” “Nope,” I
Isaac was quick to lock the door as soon as all the guests had left. His eyes had been flickering between hazel and golden all night, but now there was no doubt which side of him was running the show. The way I overheard him bragging to his friends about how I spoke to Natasha, it seemed like he truly was turned on by my little power display. I smirked up at my mate and turned away, heading for the stairs. “I think I’m heading to bed. It’s been a long night.” I didn’t make it far. A long, thickly muscled arm wrapped around my waist and tugged me back into a wall of solid muscle. I could feel Isaac’s breath in my hair and the thrum of his heart against my spine. “Not so fast,” he purred. “I’ve hardly gotten a chance to touch you recently.” “Yes, well, there is no magic involved,” I huffed, squirming in his grip. “I wasn’t aware you had any desire to do that when magic isn’t forcing your hand.” Isaac stilled against me, and his hands’ preliminary exploration of my body came to a ha