I wanted to show the different perspectives this chapter. Don't worry about missing out on the interrogations, because they will happen after the games come to a close. Let me know what you thought and vote/comment/like. Thank you all for your continued support!
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
KADE “I was surprised that you didn’t place,” I said to Dante. We were waiting for everyone to gather up before we went home. Nightshade set many records this year for the Alpha Games, and we could not wait to share the experiences and honors with our pack. “It sucked. I won the match against Gamma Jeremy, but I lost the next one because my gift decided to be an absolute fucker when it threw my opponent’s personal crisis at me. My split-second distraction was all it took for him to gain the upper hand. We always have next year.” Dante’s gift seemed more like a curse at times because he was always inundated with stimuli from everyone around him. It sucked. “Definitely always have next year. You did really great this year. It sucks that happened, but it doesn’t take away from how well you did,” I said. “Thanks, man. It means a lot to hear that from you. I picked up a little tidbit from the Board. Are you curious?” That question could be a double-edged sword. There was no telling w
ELLE Pylorna was more than happy to spend the night undercover. She said that she needed some ‘me time’ so that she could get a break from her extensive band of brothers. I could not imagine having all of them. Sixteen brothers sounded like an aneurysm waiting to happen. She actually captured someone who was in that area last night and brought him back to the cells. This was why I knew she was the right one for the job. “Do you want to take the lead on this?” Kade asked as we stepped into the elevator. We were on our way down to interrogate the prisoner. I bounced on the balls of my feet with that question. I never realized that I would be good at interrogations, but apparently I was. It was always very entertaining for me to see even the strongest-willed idiots melt into a puddle of helplessness. “Are you sure you don’t want to play too?” I asked him. Caiathus, Dante, and Kade all cracked up laughing with my question. Theirs were those deep laughs conveyed their amusement loud a
KADE The rage pouring down the bond as we waited for Elle to join us was making me fidget. I was not a fidgeter, but right now I apparently was. Said fidgeting was amusing everyone else even if it was not amusing me. “Keep smirking because when she gets in here, with that level of rage, I want her to see you,” I warned them all. Their smirks immediately disappeared for two reasons. One was because they did not want to be on the receiving end of Elle’s rage. Two was because something serious had to have happened for that rage to be there when it previously was not. The door opened to reveal a severely pissed off Luna. I would be honest and say that it was downright terrifying because her aura was emitting some serious negativity. I had never known an aura to act like that, but then again, she did not have a typical aura. “I’m going to cut off their dicks, shove their dead dicks down their throats until they choke to death, and then I’ll decapitate them,” she said with so much venom
KADE I had always thought Faye’s name was ironic once we started working with Caiathus. Never realized until last night that it was more reality than anything. Tyre and I were both thrilled with the idea that we would be able to help protect not only our mates but our pack better now too. The idea that we could control shadows was honestly a bit daunting. However, Faye promised to safely teach us just as Elle was taught. The first lesson came when I woke up to a blanket of shadows moving over the top of us. It freaked me out, but Faye helped me focus and understand what was going on. Shadows were not just a trick of the light because they had an energy to them as well. Shadow Wielders, which was what we were now, could manipulate and control that energy. The only reason that the shadows converged this morning was because we needed to establish a bond to the shadows. That was how I came to be standing in a room with a damn audience because Elle thought it would be really cool for t
ELLE Portals really were a nifty thing to have at your disposal. There was a time when I wanted to talk to Selene about making teleportation a gift, but it seemed that she thought of everything. Kade’s hand is placed firmly on my lower back as we meet up with the Council. He was not thrilled to have me anywhere near these assholes, but we needed to get through it so that we could move on. Our leadership was with us, which also included Dante and Caiathus. The Lamias were really falling into their roles well. They were young, but that did not hold them back at all. They made us proud each and every day. “Thanks for showing up on short notice. We’ve tried to get information out of them, but they’re all choosing a vow of silence,” Thompson said while rolling his shoulders. I looked around at all five of them, and each had the same crinkles around their eyes because they were pissed that nothing they did worked. “What interrogation methods have you tried?” I asked. “Talking, intimid
KADE I held my mate while guilt drowned her. She felt responsible for these packs targeting Nightshade, but it was not her fault. I wished that she could see that, but all she saw was the connection. I hated that she felt guilty, but all I could do was hold her and comfort her. The Council were on their way over here since we went over there last time. They did, however, ask if it would be possible to use a portal to save time, so that was why Lindsey was pulled into the conference room at this goddess-forsaken hour. Her sister had done it yesterday, but she refused Dante’s early morning call. Elle set our coffees down, so I pulled her onto my lap. It was exactly where I loved for her to sit, and I knew she loved it too even if she always acted like she did not. Her lust always sold her out. “Thanks, darling. It’ll be almost as sweet as you,” I whispered into the shell of her ear, kissing behind it. “I will literally fucking puke if you keep that mushy shit up,” Dante said until E
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