Allie POVI made sure to miss breakfast the next morning to avoid Father and Ellis and instead made my way to the pack hospital. I was enraged when the nurse had to call ‘the Alpha’ to get permission for me to see my own damn mother, but Ellis allowed it.The nurse led me down a bland, depressing looking corridor and opened a door, motioning for me to enter. The room was just as bad–everything was white and unstimulating. I wondered if Mum went crazy, then they put her in here, or if they put her in here and then she went crazy… this space was not Mum at all.She was sitting in an armchair near the window, just gazing out blankly. Her blonde hair hung limp, and there was a vacant expression on her pale face. She didn’t appear to register our presence in the room.“She’s been like that since the night of the attack, I’m afraid,” whispered the nurse. “Take as long as you want. There’s a buzzer over here if she needs anything.”I grabbed the spare chair and carried it over to sit opposi
Allie POVStella woke me, howling, the next morning. My head was throbbing with a migraine and she wouldn’t let up. She was trying to do everything in her power to get me to acknowledge the mate-bond ripping my chest in half, and go back to Josh.I convinced her to settle down long enough to go for a walk. She was desperate to shift for the first time. I could feel her need vibrating through me, but I knew I didn’t want to shift on my own.My father had never let me roam the pack freely before. Ellis was at least giving me more freedom, although I felt like I was being watched and had no doubt he had guards following me.I guess there was no reason for me not to mingle with the pack anymore. All the secrets they’d been keeping from me were out in the open now.The pack was so different from what I’d briefly seen in Teal Valley. There was no buzz or excitement, no pups running and playing outside. Walking past the shop fronts, there were no colourful signs in the windows advertising pa
Josh POV‘Josh, are you awake?’ came the mind-link from Dad, waking me from another shitty night’s sleep.‘Am now, what’s up?’ I replied, stretching.‘Come see me in Nate’s office before breakfast.’‘Sure, I’ll be down in ten.’I closed the mind-link, then showered, shaved and dressed quickly. It was longer than ten minutes, but no one came to hurry me up. As I stepped out into the hallway, Aster stirred in my mind and started going crazy.‘Mate!’ he shouted.I inhaled deeply. Allie. She was here.I followed her scent, racing down the stairs so fast I almost stumbled a few times, but I didn’t even care if I broke my neck, I just needed to get to her as quickly as possible. I reached the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor, where Dad and Nate were waiting on either side.“She came back!” I shouted, as her scent got stronger and my excitement grew. My heart felt like it was going to burst with happiness. She came back for me.“We need to talk to you first. My office,” said Nate.“N
Allie POV“Can I ask you a question?” asked Cole, walking alongside me.“Is it about Josh? Because if it is, I’d rather not.”The three of them snorted and grinned. They were taking me to another training field down the road so I could try to shift for the first time. When Aster had come to me, I could feel Stella trying to break through and force me to shift. She wanted him so badly.“Isn’t it hard to deny him, though?” asked the super huge blonde guy, who’d been introduced to me as Deacon, Josh’s best friend.“Yes, it’s hard. I fell in love with him before I even found out he was my mate.”“So wh
Allie POV My eyes opened to see that we were running. Fast. My wolf was breathing heavily as it ran, and its head was darting left and right as we bounded through the forest in wolf form. I could hear shouts behind me, but my wolf paid them no attention, focusing only on forward momentum. All of a sudden, she yelped and then howled as she hit the dirt, sliding along on her stomach until she came to a stop. I shifted back to human form and looked down at my right shoulder where the handle of a long spear was protruding, the cold metal blade lodged deep in my flesh. Only, it wasn’t my shoulder. It was masculine. I could see the veins bulging in the perfect biceps. A large, calloused hand reached behind my–or rather, his–shoulder and ripped out the spear, grunting through the pain. In an instant, we were up again, spear in hand, continuing to run like the wind. I could hear his footfalls, along with his laboured breathing. I heard a whizzing sound and felt a vibration through the ai
Allie POV “Your eyes look like the forest clouds,” said Cole, his eyes not leaving my wolf’s once. “You’re the Jade Wolf,” Nate said, echoing my mother’s words in awe. “What the fuck is that?” asked Cole. ‘Stella?’ I asked, my voice high-pitched and sounding weird. ‘It’s true,’ she replied, still sounding awestruck, but I could feel her deep excitement and pride come to the surface. ‘A Jade Wolf only manifests after you shift for the first time and you view your imprint.’ ‘What the heck is a Jade Wolf?’ I asked. ‘It’s us, Allie!’ She was so excited, but I was nothing but a ball of confusion. Being in wolf form, I couldn’t communicate with any of the guys. I wasn’t sure if I should shift back or stay as I was. Nate and Cole were still gawking instead of giving me some kind–any kind–of direction. ‘Let’s run!’ laughed Stella. Before I could argue against it, she leapt, sprinting across the field and into the forest line. I heard the pounding of paws behind us as she ran and wa
Allie POV After showering and dressing, I answered a knock on my door. I’d expected it to be Josh, but as I got closer, I scented Leo from under the door and immediately felt guilty about the way my shoulders had drooped. “Hi sweetheart, Nate filled me in on your first shift, and it looks like we’ve got some things to talk about. Shall we go downstairs?” Leo was always such a… a dad. He had such a reassuring vibe about him; the way he smiled, the way he held himself, the way he spoke. And from what Josh had told me about him previously, he was everything a person could want in a father. I followed him downstairs and back into Nate’s office. Nate was behind his desk with what looked like a textbook in front of him, his brows knitted together in concentration. He glanced up as I sat across from him with Leo. “You ready for a mini history lesson?” he asked. “Always,” I replied, a little too excitedly. One side of his mouth curled up as though he were trying to stifle a smirk. “Yeah
Allie POV For the next couple of days, my routine remained the same. Eating, training, studying and sleeping were the only things I had time for–as well as fielding texts and phone calls from Ellis. I was making progress with my training, but a few days would never be enough. At one point during training this morning, Max had spoken to me without venom or disdain in his tone, so I figured I was making progress, even if it was small. Josh and I would chat each morning over breakfast, but for the most part, we’d been avoiding one another. He was giving me the space I’d asked for, but I could also see the physical pain the incomplete mate-bond was causing him whenever we were together. Seeing it etched on his face was making my own pain increase tenfold, so the distance helped both of us cope. The knowledge that I could end that pain for him, and the conflicting desire to save him from any further pain if I died, was causing a war inside me. Gianna and Zoe were sitting eating lunch