Up next will be Day One. Who's ready for that? Do we need some popcorn?
ELLE Last night was a blast after I put the piece of shit on the ground. It was great for everyone to really let loose and relax. Even I was coaxed into it because there was no way I could deny the joy of our pack surrounding us. Kade challenged my competitive side to see who could be the quietest while we christened the room twice. Then it was my turn to see if I could break his resolve by waking him up this morning. I needed my dessert before we started today, but he insisted that he got his too. It was a win-win for the both of us. “Alpha, Luna, will you sit with us?” Molly, one of the pups, asked us. “Absolutely!” Kade said as he set our breakfast down. “How are you feeling about today?” he asked her. Molly was five, and she was on her way to being a fierce warrior. Denny helped train the little ones with us. During tryouts, Molly took down two pups twice her size. She had only gotten better since then. “Nervous. What if they’re all stronger than me? I’m still small. What if
ELLE Kade and I both fought three more times, but they were no match for either of us. I earned additional points for a single hit takedown with a Luna. I knocked her unconscious without exerting any real effort. Did I feel bad? Hell no. Did I feel like I was flying on an adrenaline high? Hell yes. I did take a couple of hits, but nothing serious. Kade got a bruised rib, but it healed quickly. Apparently Tyre’s aura sped up his healing rate. Show off. We made it in time to watch Dante fight. He was up against Alpha Averson’s Beta. The Beta was trained just like any Beta should be, but Dante was a beast even by Alpha heir standards. His aura and strength would only increase once he took his title. ‘Byron said that they know who this prick is, and they intend to make him feel serious pain,’ Faye explained. I did not envy my brother’s gift. It was always turned on. I just hoped that once he found his mate that she would help to balance that out. Not certain if it would work out tha
KADE The games this year were nothing like before. It was largely in part by the rigorous training that Tanya, Gabriel, and my mate did with our team. Our pack always had an advantage in strength and training. However, it was nothing compared to what we all learned. I had never been the type of Alpha who refused to accept that I could benefit from somebody else teaching me something. Alphas were only as strong as their pack. Well, our pack significantly grew in strength with those two helping this year. There was no doubt that we would walk away with another victory because nearly every match of ours won. This was history in the making, and I could not be any prouder of our pack than I was right now. They fought as if their lives depended on it because they were fighting for their pack’s victory. Hell, even the itty-bitty pups kicked ass. Everyone had been shocked when two five-year-olds stood as victors against older contenders. The current rankings were: Nightshade – 559 points
KADE “So, essentially we have no leads, no idea where she is, or who the fuck took her?” My voice was dripping with the anger and pain that was tearing through me. Apollo scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. I saw how this was weighing on him, and I really was not trying to be a dick, but I could not lose her again like this. The last time she was taken still haunted me. The things they did to her. The blood. Her naked and torn body chained to the wall. I felt hands on my shoulders, but I was just stuck in an endless loop of what was happening to her right now. My chest constricted as my breathing became erratic. Second by second, the panic lessened, and I could finally breathe. I looked up and saw Dante, realizing that he must have pulled that from me like how he pulled the pain from Elle’s dream that time on the jet. “Thanks,” I mumbled. “Anytime. We’ll find her, and whomever is responsible will wish they never even looked at her,” Dante promised. I looked around at t
KADE My father once told me a story of a magical village in the Scottish Highlands named Brigadoon. It remained unchanged and invisible to the outside world except for one special day every hundred years. Only on that day could the village be seen by outsiders. I never realized that was how my life was before I met Elle. I was a good Alpha, but the core of my being – the true inner-workings of Kade the man – was hidden away and invisible to everyone, which included myself. I never realized how incomplete and frozen I was. I never realized what I was missing. Then I met my mate, and it was like she could truly see what was invisible. She helped me to see and accept myself as well. She thawed me and made me whole. Then she was taken from me again, and I realized that I could not see who I was without her next to me. Waking up and realizing that she had been taken again made me fear that myself, much like Brigadoon, would disappear behind an impenetrable veil. We all kicked our asses
ELLE “We need to let you in on something before it’s announced later,” Kade said. Our people had all gathered together for a private breakfast. It was provided by the Board because they obviously felt guilty for what happened. Their delicious food would not buy us off, but we would definitely enjoy it. Not even monsters could turn down homemade cinnamon rolls. “Last night, Luna was kidnapped by some of the Alphas, Lunas, and one Beta from packs competing in the games. They had the help of security personnel to sneak in aerosolized wolfsbane and helped sneak her out of the territory. Luckily, we got there before anything serious happened. Luna proposed that their packs should still be allowed to participate after we determined that others from their packs were not at fault. However, those at fault were detained and will be answering to the Coverstone Council with Luna as the master interrogator. For those who didn’t know, she’s highly skilled in the art of interrogation.” All eyes t
KADE The Alpha category ended with Faye and Tyre as the winners. The four of us were extremely smug about that. Nobody stood a chance, and that was not us bragging about it. It was just how brutal our wolves were and how well they fought together. This was the final stretch of the fights. The Awards Banquet would be tomorrow which would also have a dance at the end of it. We sat down with seven new packs to discuss potential relations between us. All of them offered to host us if we ever considered them for alliances or trade negotiations. It was not them expecting us to give them something either. That was actually quite refreshing. “Where to, darling?” “Denny’s match is about to start, and I promised him we’d be there to cheer him on,” she said as she pulled me along. I chuckled at her enthusiasm, but mine was just as high. That little man deserved the gold because he was an excellent fighter. Paula and Jesse waved us over to the front where they were at. Denny smiled widely w
ELLE Everyone was eager for the Award Ceremony. We all worked our asses off this week. There were some minor injuries on our team, but nothing too serious. Kade and I were so incredibly proud of our pack. It was a safe bet that we would take first for a ninth year in a row. We had quite a few people who were the last contenders in their categories. “I love it,” I told Brianna as I took in bouncing curls she put in my hair. I donned a dark and light gray ombre beaded halter dress that ended a couple of inches above my knees. It was a gorgeous dress that cinched in all the right places. Tinsley did my makeup for me which included a double wingtip eyeliner with a mixed-tone gray and purple smokey eye. A light pink gloss over my lips finished it off. It was minimally classy. “Good to know. I think Alpha will too,” she said, winking. Everyone else agreed with her. “How about we go find out then if everyone’s ready.” Even my voice had a hint of the butterflies that were currently takin
SNEAK PEEK FROM FATED SOUL – FATED LIGHT – DANTE “How did you do it?” I asked Kade as I ran my fingers through my hair for the hundredth time today. He pushed a glass of Bourbon to me. It was gone in one swallow. I was a little on fucking edge. Sue me. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s fucking difficult. I have no idea how I did it because I wanted nothing more than to rip the last breath from each person that hurt my mate. I wanted to watch as their lifeforce left their bodies. Fucking hell. I wished that I could murder every single bastard that even thought something negative about her. However, I realized that destroying them was also about me. It wasn’t just about what happened to Elle. It was about me feeling like a failure for not protecting my mate even though I didn’t know who she was yet.” Kade placed his hands on my shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze. I came to Kade because he had been in a similar position to what I was in right now. His mate, my sister, ha
ELLE “You can sit the presents over there,” I said, pointing to the table. Today was the twins’ first birthday. Everyone decided to throw a huge party in celebration. Nightshade, Shadow Falls, Dark Moon, our vamps, our Fae friends, and our fiery dragons all came to spend this special day together. Our boys were little heartbreakers already. They were Alpha pups on steroids when it came to their strength and size. They looked more like they were two instead of one. Then they had the intelligence of years beyond themselves. They were their own species so to speak. It was exciting and scary at the same time. We just wanted them to be carefree pups, but they were destined to be so much more. “Oi,” Denny grunted as Gabriel Reece plowed into him. Our boys began walking at about six months. They were little hellions with how fast they were. Not to mention that they were already befriending the shadows. Oddly, the boys never did anything harmful. It was like they were self-aware. Caiathus
KADE Time had passed by quickly, and life moved on with it. Those bastards involved in Ada’s murder and Anya’s attempted murder, had been tortured until every single detail was spilled. There really had not been much left in them, but we enjoyed exacting justice for what they did. Apparently, Ada had no idea who the bastard was when he got her pregnant. He essentially had roofied her at the library one day when she was studying. It made sense why she had dropped out of school and moved back to the pack after that. She had been drugged, raped, and gotten pregnant from it. It was not until they were torturing her that she learned the truth all along. The bastard took great pleasure in detailing exactly what happened, including using illegal herbs to force becoming pregnant. Elle made sure that I sliced his dick off for that bit. Only my mate could sit in the corner of a torture chamber and eat mint chocolate chip ice cream while giving us suggestions here and there without being aff
ELLE Kade insisted that we get a checkup when we got back to the pack. I could not deny him the reassurance that the twins and I were okay because I knew how terrified he had been about me being on that battlefield in the first place. I had asked Dante if he wanted to come as well since he had not really been present since he was at Dark Moon during everything. It was where he needed to be, but he was back here now. “We’ll be doing your scan. Is there anything new that you’ve experienced, Luna?” Dr. Silva asked as she prepared the machine. I bit my lip, trying to think of how to explain the odd occurrence on the battlefield. I had not even mentioned it to anyone, so I hoped that Kade remembered how much he loved me. “There was an unavoidable situation –” I was cut off by my mate. “She means a battle,” Kade interrupted, giving me a pointed look. Dr. Silva looked at me with widened eyes as if that was the last thing she had expected to hear. I understood how this looked from an ou
ELLE The battle with Bandore really had not been a battle at all. The closest thing that I had experienced were feeding rooms. However, even that did not compare to this right here and now. Adrenaline pulsed throughout my body, reminding me to stay alert at all times. There was no room for our failure here because that would mean the death of all involved as well as the pack behind us. There was no greater honor than to be given the opportunity to save those who needed us. Brynn had an important destiny, one that I was not privy to know the details of other than she was a prophesized and chosen Vessel. My cryptic ass wolf just loved annoying the shit out of me like that. ‘You know me so well,’ she cooed. ‘I couldn’t ask for a better wolfy than you.’ ‘And I couldn’t ask for a better human than you. I’m blessed that Selene chose me to be your wolfy.’ I smiled despite the carnage everywhere. Faye just proved that there was beauty that could be found even in the midst of damaging ch
ELLE Kade and I grabbed a few hours of sleep before making our way down to the Command Center as Apollo so conveniently named it. We had all of our leadership, a conglomeration of our vamp friends, Caiathus’ brothers, the Council, Mystra, Fyst, and Celeste as well. Gabriel and Ansley pushed in coffee carts, and my entire day finally felt right. I eagerly grabbed my specialty drink that was always perfectly made. I sighed as the first sip hit my taste buds. “You still really suck, sis. It’s not fair that you can drink caffeine,” Ansley huffed. “You could always take it up with Selene,” I said coyly, taking another sip. Gabriel vehemently shook his head back and forth behind her. He apparently did not like that idea whatsoever. “Why would you be against your amazing mate asking for such a simple thing? Do you not want her to have caffeine? Perhaps you shouldn’t be having caffeine either then if you’re going to be unfair to my amazing sister,” I told him with mock shame. Her head
KADE I was waiting for our people to finish putting the trash in the cells and join me in the office. Honestly, I needed a bit of time to cool down before I dealt with them unless we wanted to just snap their necks and be done with it all. That seemed too lenient a punishment for them though. The memory of finding Ada’s body would forever haunt me until I drew my last breath. Nobody deserved that type of treatment or death. I sighed, rubbing my eyes, and scrubbing a hand over my face. It was seriously throwing me for a loop that we had traitors in our pack and in our ranks yet again. Would there ever come a day when traitors would no longer exist within Nightshade? It was like an endless cycle that we could never break from. Ada and Anya deserved justice. What would that be though? How much would be enough? Honestly, nothing would ever be enough because they suffered far too much. I grabbed the framed scan of our pups from my desk and smiled at it. They were such a blessing alrea
ELLE His daughter. Anya was his daughter. I tried, and failed, to understand what that claim meant because he willingly murdered his own pup. He did not know she was alive, and he never would. He was a threat that we would eliminate before he could even think about sending any harm her way. “You knew who Ada was to you,” Kade said, coming to the same conclusion that I did. “Of course, I did,” he said nonchalantly. “Ada was a full-blooded witch. I was only half-blooded. However, I knew that a child between the two of us would yield even stronger magic than if I sought someone else out. It was for the greater good.” Kade did not like that at all, so a shadow slid across the bastard’s throat, strangling him. My mate held it for a count of five before the shadow relaxed but did not move from his throat. “You mean it was for your greater good,” I spat coldly. He smirked at me and looked very pleased with himself. I returned the smirk with one of my own because he was about to see a s
KADE I woke up with a start, heart pounding, and not understanding what was going on. It felt like my emotions were drowning me. Elle’s side of the bed was cold, causing me to jump out of bed and find her. We still had no idea who the hell killed Ada, so we had no idea who we could trust outside of our own leadership. We had been down the road of traitors before, but I did not expect us to be back there once again. Was this a cycle we would always face? I threw on some shorts and went to find my mate. It was not hard to find her, but my heart broke when I did. She was in the living room, rocking back and forth on the floor, sobbing her heart out. “I’m here, darling. I’ve got you,” I murmured as sat down and pulled her onto my lap. She buried her face in my chest and continued to cry for Ada and Anya. I was right there with her as tears welled up in my eyes as well for them and for her as well. My mate was the strongest person that I knew. She survived years of being tortured in e