CHAPTER 126: Kyle~ “Are you ready?” Ally asks me. Am I? The last time I did a deep dive like this successfully we were a few steps away from the subject. And we nearly got caught. So, not really no. But I need to be. “Let’s just do it,” I say forcefully. For all I know it won’t even work. “Okay, I’ll start and lead us into some meditative state, then Rach will push some magic into Kyle - slowly - and see if he can take the lead on the rate…” Ally says one more time, recapping what we decided. “Alright let’s do this,” I say steadily. “Third time’s the charm.” The other two attempts seemed to get stuck somewhere. “Breathe in. One, two, three, four, five… And breathe out. One, two, three, four, five… Picture the ocean. Breathe in. One, two, three, four, five…And breathe out. One, two, three, four, five… We’re sinking further down, wrapped in a warm current. It gets darker and cozier as we go deeper down…” Ally leads. I start to zone out. I’m vaguely aware of a few things. My
CHAPTER 127: Rachel~ I could feel how worried Ally was in my bones. Having been friends for so long, and with her talent for wearing her heart on her face, it was clear to see that while she was playing down her worries out loud, she wasn’t believing the words she was saying. “We have the location, Nick knew something was off, so he sent the location. He’s going to be okay. He’s smart. He’s got this,” she chanted in the car. I noticed Kyle looking at her with worry, and Jake must have felt something from me from the look on his face. I reached over and squeezed his hand firmly. To let him know I’m with him, that I feel how he’s feeling. His actions took over and he appeared calm outside, but I knew him. Nick and Evan are his brothers - they always stick together. I can guess what he’s feeling while we rush past cars on the freeway - worry for Nick’s safety, guilt that he isn’t with him, anger that Nick did this without telling anyone, and probably a million other things. We rush
CHAPTER 128: Kyle~ My gut tells me we won’t find him this way, but I don’t dare say that to Ally. She needs this. She needs me to try. So I do. I pull Ally along with me as I go searching further than my initial length of feeling can go. But he’s not here. There’s got to be something around him, with him, that’s blocking me. Even if he were wide awake I should be able to feel an inkling of him, like a faint scent of pizza when it comes through the door. But there’s nothing here. I keep pulling Ally along anyway, just to be thorough, but while I am physically doing one thing, my mind is spinning with any other way to find him. I hit dead end after dead end in here, and with my ideas. I don’t even notice that I’ve opened my eyes until I feel Rachel put her hand on my shoulder. I can’t explain the look she’s giving me. But it’s something like - searching. She’s looking to me for an answer I don’t want to give. Finally I swallow and look away. “He could be-,” I start to tell her, b
CHAPTER 129: Jake~ I should have been staying out of it. I was trying to. But it was so hard to watch the redhead who clearly had feelings for Rachel get so close to her. Yeah, I’m a jealous wolf. What can I say? At least I could hold back. Giving them their privacy as much as I could I stood over as a protector. I nearly ran over when Ally fell over. But somehow it had been Rachel that had pushed her into sleeping. I stood there with questions swimming in my head when the Fae and Rachel got even closer and then touched knees. MINE, Aamon roared in my mind, prompting my legs to start walking on their own towards them to stop this. But I held back. They spoke for a minute and he gestured to Ally before they connected their hands and the next second their heads were slumped to the sides. Asleep already. Looking for something. Likely to find Nick somehow. If his own mate was unsuccessful, I had some doubts about them being able to find him without her… But then again this was Rahce
CHAPTER 130: Rachel~ I glanced over to where Jake was standing with Evan’s dad right as he glanced at me. His eyes narrowed and I gestured to Ally trying to silently tell him something was up over here. He seemed to get the hint. “What is it?” Jake asked Ally as he walked back towards us. “Are we going in?” Ally asked back, one hand gripping tightly to the railing of a fence next to her. Jake waited a beat before he said. “Yeah. Plan is to create a distraction out that way,” he gestured to the street along the side of the building. “Then send in two teams through the back and front entrance. With two extra guards along the perimeter in case someone gets by. My guys estimate at least three vampires and if their guests are still here,” he looked at me as I had explained earlier how Nick saw both Callum and Maxine, “then two to four witches or warlocks. We have another two cars full of warriors on their way from the packhouse but I don’t want to wait until they get here… I assu
CHAPTER 131: Evan~ “Amber,” I say with shaky breath. “What’s going on?” she asks me without looking over, fiddling with something on the floor next to her. “They found him. They have Nick. He’s okay,” I exhale and sink down to the floor. One hand on the bar in between us. Amber turns to look at me for a moment. “That’s good, I’m glad,” she says, a small crack in her voice. I can smell the tears swelling in her eyes. She turns away from me again. Why did I come here? You know why, Xavier pushes again. “They, uh, ended up taking a vampire back. They’re going to be putting him down here,” I go on, not knowing what else to say. She nods without looking over. I wait a few more breaths but she doesn't move. She doesn’t turn to face me. She doesn’t move closer to my side. She stays in her corner on the cot on the floor. My body slumps in response. I feel like I’m disappointed, but I can’t give a reason why. Why would I expect more? What do I want from her? Why won’t she face me? I
CHAPTER 132: Ally~Nick’s mom’s hands gripped the armrests on her chair.“It is. I was there when they realized they were mates, months ago. Evan also witnessed this. This is very true,” he responds patiently.“What-” her voice breaks. “Months ago?”Nick inhales deeply, taking a strong inhale of my scent while my hand involuntarily clutches his shirt.“Yes mom, months ago,” he affirms. “One of the best moments of my life.”I can’t watch any of this. I can feel Jake’s empathy, Nick’s love for me and his anxiety over what will happen next, his mom’s pain and shock laced with anger. It’s a lot. And while I have practiced blocking out auras and emotions, several werewolves and their super intense feelings wasn’t something I had much experience with. They feel so big, so much.Nick holds me steady and bends slightly to kiss the top of my head. He can likely feel some of this and is trying to calm me through the bond. It helps, but I still feel like someone at the bottom of a well feeling
CHAPTER 133: Kyle~ Two weeks go by. They are excruciatingly the same. I almost ask the Fae Goddess to let The Collective attack again just to break up the monotony. “Dude, can we watch anything else?” Nick whines from the other couch, his arm around Ally. I throw the remote at him with force. He catches it without even looking.Yeah. It could also be because I’m really over having Nick live here with us. Well not ‘live here’ but yeah. He lives here. Ally’s mom thinks he goes home but no, he wolfs out and sleeps in the garage downstairs. And I pretend not to notice him creeping into Ally’s room every night and staying there until just before dawn. He’s quiet, sure. But I’m not stupid. Every day now goes like this. School, home to practice, Jake comes by and takes Rachel home, Nick stays with Ally until nightfall, then Nick pretends to go home. All of our training is really starting to go nowhere, which doesn’t help the frustration I’m feeling about just about everything. Mates, w
CHAPTER 147 - Rachel~ I dreamed about the moon. Like I have a hundred times now. But this time it was full, and lit up everything around the forest. I recognized the area, it was our packlands. But parts were slightly different. We didn’t have a lake. I ran over in wolf form to see a lovely lady by the lake. I recognized her right away. Selene. “Rachel! Angeline!” She greeted us. “It’s been a while!” We padded over and sat next to her. “We’re all so proud of you and the pack. And I’m especially excited for your little one, she’s going to be a strong, strong wolf,” she said gleefully. I let out a surprised sound. “Yes! Sorry to spoil the surprise, I know it’s very early. But yes, it’s a girl. And you both are going to raise her to be tough and caring like her mom,” she said with pride. I rested my head on her arm. She got quiet for a while and I looked up at her after a few minutes, seeing an odd look on her face. “I’m sorry - I wish I was just meeting you with som
CHAPTER 146: Rachel~ My skin was itching to get back to Jake. Knowing they were likely out of their cells and making adjustments to our plan gave me some hope, but every touch from this disgusting being made me want to scream. Alright, on my mark, I heard Jake say. Wait. What? I looked around and confirmed Jake wasn’t around. And his voice sounded like it was coming from… in my head? Paul drags me along further and starts unlocking a door. We’ve got to be getting closer to wherever they’re keeping Meg and my mom. Could I- could I be getting some connection to him? Like how the others link? Jake?, I ask the ethos. There’s nothing for a minute. Rachel?, Jake asks back. Woah. How are you doing that?, he asks. I don’t know, I just heard you, I explained. Paul hauled the heavy door open and I gasped. My mom and sister were on the ground in a heap like forgotten laundry. I fell forward and reached into the cell they were in, trying to grab my mom’s hand. “Dove, g
CHAPTER 145: Jake~ As much as I think this could work, Aamon is absolutely livid that Rachel is about to be out of sight. Things have been working as she planned so far. Simon screaming down here brought Rosalind down as thought. I have to give it to the guy - he played ‘seizure guy’ very well. Then in the middle of things there was some shouting up top. Likely from the fire Elise set. Which meant that Kyle was pretending to surrender himself and if Rachel was right, Paul wouldn’t be able to fight the urge to have groveling at his feet. Which left Sophie. She was right outside my cell, watching Rosalind move Paul around in this cell, trying spells to stop him from freaking out, not realizing Ally had thrown him something he now had in his cheek like a squirrel that would ward off unwanted magic. “They’re kind of a mess, aren’t they?” I say beside her. “I would have expected more from a Luna in training…” She turned to face me with a look of defiance. “Desperate times…” I t
CHAPTER 144: Rachel~ “Sophie,” I say the name with charged disgust I can’t hide. “You couldn’t just leave and go find something else to do, huh? You had to stick around and try to take what’s mine.” “Yours?!” She screeches. “You mean what you stole from me! I’m supposed to be Luna. Me! I lost my mom and then my dad, and what? You just waltz along and get what’s mine? NEVER.” “So what? Trying to hurt me before by hiring Max wasn’t enough? Now you have to get some more help to do what you can’t handle? Typical Sophie. Can’t do a da*n thing by yourself. You have to wave daddy’s money around to get anything done. Pathetic,” I sneer. She sputters unintelligible words. I’m getting under her skin. “Enough,” Vance’s mom says, her voice cutting through everything. “You can play around when we’re done with our deal.” Sophie bares her teeth at me then turns. At the same time the door down to the dungeon opens again. Who could possibly be joining in on this nonsense? There’s two sets of s
CHAPTER 143: Jake~ It’s the Luna ceremony today. Rachel started getting into the spirit yesterday. She glows around here. And the pack members love her. Even those who were vocally against cross-species interactions. They know what she did out there that day and what she gave up without expecting anything in return. While a few left, including Tiffany’s family - which was expected anyway since Evan’s rejection - things were very different than I had thought they’d ever be. After she came back we all had made plans to leave and start our own little pack, but everyone surprised me. Now here we were. A pack pioneering acceptance of all kinds of love. We even had two newly mated couples join us from up north. A witch and a wolf, and a wolf and a vampire. The last one was nuts to me, but Jeanette had a totally clean background and a highly trusted wolf for a mate. If we ever grow to the point of needing a Delta, I have my eye on her mate, Juniper. A knock comes to the door and
CHAPTER 142: Rachel~ One Month Later It’s moving day. The thought hits me right when I open my eyes. It makes me smile right away in the early morning light. I guess I was too excited to wait for my alarm to go off. I look over and see Meg asleep in her bed, her head to the side, mouth open, and a soft snore coming out when she exhales. It’s all going to be different now. My phone lights up to my side and I don’t even need to read it before I know it’s from Jake. He likely feels that I’m awake. We’ve been getting more in tune lately. I think the bond is on hyperdrive for us. I’m not even a werewolf but I seem to know things too. I know when something’s upsetting him even if I am outside with the pack pups and he’s in his office, and I know when he’s anxiously pacing in his room even if I’m in the kitchen entertaining a visiting pack. We’re still learning about our bond. And he hasn’t even marked me yet, so who knows how much could change. When I came back to life after Th
CHAPTER 141: Rachel~ It felt like nothing. No. Warmth. Dark but warm. Cozy like being wrapped up in my favorite fuzzy blanket at home. Like I’m huddled in warmth on a stormy cold day. “Rachel,” I hear a lovely voice saying my name slowly, like the lyrics of a song I know. I stir. It’s just so cozy here. Can’t I rest just a little longer? “Rachel,” the voice says again. This time there’s a hand on my arm. The feeling has me trying to wake before I can make the decision to do it. “Rachel,” it says once more. It’s dark but warm. But I have to go. I start to stir, to look for the source of the voice. Who is it? Light surrounds me and it feels just as cozy and warm as before but its so bright. My eyes try to open but it’s just too bright. Then a shadow appears, making it darker. I open my eyes and they adjust to see- Oh, it’s not a shadow. It’s a person. I know this person. My mind is groggy like I’ve woken up from a deep stage of sleep. I’m slow. My synapses
CHAPTER 140: Evan~ I kept expecting her to wake up in Jake’s arms. That somehow, his tears would bring her back. But she just lay there, like a ragdoll, in his arms. If it weren’t for how strikingly pale she looked, I would have told anyone she was sleeping. But she didn’t wake up. It’s hours later and Nick was barely able to get Jake inside. We cleared the field as best we could, bringing in the injured and putting the dead together. Amber had removed all traces of The Collective while we had sat there with Jake. I don’t like how shell shocked she was. She didn’t seem to be actually experiencing all of this and I worry for when those feelings will surface. I know she didn’t like those people. But they still raised her. She told me about jokes and kindnesses that she received in little bursts along the years. She’s basically just lost her family. But she doesn’t want to talk about it. She hasn’t even cried about it. And I can’t say I don’t understand that. I can’t even im
CHAPTER 139: Kyle~ I woke up next to the red wolf. Everyone was screaming or howling. It was chaotic and loud, which made everything that much more disorienting. What I saw next killed me. Rachel out on the field alone, with all the shadow Dementor things charging at her. “Rachel!” I’m screaming but no one can hear me. I look to see Jake crawling towards her from too far away. He won’t get there in time. How did it get this bad? How long was I out for? I flail about, my arms and legs pushing to move but I’m not coordinated or strong enough to get anywhere. “Why is no one helping her?!” I scream again, my voice cracking, my throat raw. The red wolf just tugs on my shirt again, trying to bring me inside the packhouse. I have barely any magic left but I send it to the wolf trying to drag me away. “Let go!” I scream. “We have to help her!” I look around frantically for anyone I recognize. Where is Ally? Evan? Nick? There’s so many wolves and people rushing back, I can’t