ELLE This was a turn that I never imagined my life taking. Selene promised me that I would love the changes that would happen, and I most certainly did so far. Kade was a sinfully sexy gentleman who showed me what a true mate should act like. His scent was reminiscent of cinnamon espresso which definitely called out to the java lover in me. It was the most incredible scent in the entire world. I would never tire of being around it. When I first smelled it on Gabriel’s shirt, I was incredibly confused. It smelled a thousand times better than Eric’s scent ever did. Kade was every bit the dominant Alpha type with his broad shoulders and muscles that even his shirt and slacks could not hide. They fit him like a glove which allowed me to see that he had a chiseled body underneath them. It clearly showed his power. His auburn hair had some waves at the top, and I had the urge to run my fingers through it. Those grey eyes of his were a shade I had never seen before. He commanded respect wh
KADE I had never been more furious in my entire life than I was today. To see my mate treated so poorly threatened my tenuous control because everything would become much more difficult and dangerous if I lost that control. Walking to the Omega quarters was damn near impossible because all of the Blue Crest warriors lined up outside the packhouse. You could tell that Alpha Andrew was pissed off at having no control in this situation. He was used to being the one to give the command instead of being the one forced to take it. I was not someone to mess with, but he did, so he would suffer the consequences. I almost lost my mind with the hateful looks thrown at my mate. Then she laced her fingers with my own, and it helped calm the raging storm inside of me. The sparks reminded me that the best possible thing came out of today. I got to meet the gorgeous and courageous Elle. It was clear that the Omegas in this pack were treated like trash, so I was not certain what it would be like m
KADE Elle said that Paula was part of the family that joined and had not been expecting how Omegas were treated here. I could only imagine what these people were used to given the confessions earlier. Nobody should be subjected to those horrors. “No. We were held up while the Council was called out here to deal with Alpha. Where’s Denny?” Elle asked calmly, trying to push that calm onto her. It was helping some. “He’s at home. Franny came to look after him while I came to find you,” she said. Elle nodded and led Paula back to her bedroom. She asked her to take a seat and went to get Gabriel. While Elle did that, I grabbed a water bottle from my duffle bag and held it out to her. She took it and thanked me. Her hand shook as she took a drink. She was downright terrified right now. I could see it in her eyes that she knew something was wrong. Gabriel ran his hand through his hair as he leaned against the wall. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. His strength was downrigh
KADE Elle’s eyes looked around at her people, and it looked like she was overwhelmed with their choice to come out and search for Jesse. However, I also saw the hesitancy in her eyes. “I appreciate the fact that you guys want to help, but I refuse risk you out there. Dulaney’s the one who’s responsible. Please just stay here,” she begged them. There were fifteen of them, and each of them shook their head to her request. Their decision was absolute and would not change. There was determination in their eyes that said she would not win this fight. “Elle, we all love you and would do anything for you. That’s why we’re going. You saved us from him time and again, taking all of those punishments onto yourself even when we begged you not to. We’re not letting you go without us,” one of the guys said adamantly. My eyes shot to Gabriel in question. I was starting to understand why Elle, him, and Paula had their reactions to this Dulaney guy. I was not entirely certain if I wanted to find
ELLE I really had intended to tell him everything by now, but it was like the universe was keeping this conversation at a standstill. It was annoying, but there was nothing that I could do about it. We would discuss it once we got Jesse to safety. He was understanding despite the lack of an explanation. ‘I had to wait until the proper time to showcase the truth of our power,’ Faye said. I always knew that Faye was a very special wolf. I did not realize just how special she was. We kept her away from everyone. Gabriel had been the only other person that had seen Faye because Selene advised me to keep her identity a secret from the pack. I was very surprised when the Council’s warriors bowed towards Faye. She was not surprised at all though. Like I often said – she was privy to a lot that I was not. ‘Why did they bow?’ I asked her. ‘We’re descendants of Selene. Wolves are drawn to her aura, wishing to be in her presence. Their wolves could feel our power and recognized the same type
KADE Vince linked Tyre about all of this because it was dangerous knowledge for anyone else to know about her. ‘She was visited by Selene the first time when she was ten and told that she’d face great adversity, but it would make her stronger and would need that strength in the future. Elle was told that her destiny would be painful but would be worth it. The night that she was rejected, Selene brought Elle to her realm and told her the truth that she was Selene’s descendant. There’s great power inside of her that’ll make her pack prosper, become unstoppable, and become the most powerful pack in history. The pack will do many great things for our kind according to Selene. Her power will be blocked for now until the right time comes and is where she needs to be in your pack. This is the destiny that you both share.’ I was absolutely stunned as I listened to what he was telling me. That was the truth that she wanted to share with me. The one that she felt I could be trusted with. I re
KADE “Thompson we have a problem. Someone used a missing and attacked Omega to lure all of us out to the woods, knowing that Elle wouldn’t leave him there. They utilized many rogues as a distraction to get to her. They knocked her out with wolfsbane and disappeared with her before we realized what even happened. They used scent blockers to cover their scent as well as hers. We tried to find her trail but couldn’t,” I explained. I heard him let out a few profanities and heard a door slam shut in the background. It was silent on his end until the other Alphas were also brought into the call. How much did I tell them about who she was, her destiny, and her lack of memories? ‘All of it,’ the Goddess responded to my thoughts. So, I told them everything from start to finish what Gabriel shared with me tonight. They listed carefully and did not interrupt. Then I also added in everything else this pack was allowed to do. I aired out the Alpha’s dirty laundry, and Gabriel added in many thi
KADE ‘Have them take the collar and shackles off Eric for a minute. I will give his wolf complete control. Since Elle is not here to give him some final words, I want you to do it. Give him solace and tell him that I will bring Elle to visit him before I give him to another human. I have selected his counterpart, and he is from an allied pack of yours. The wolf will remember everything when he is reborn. It will allow them both to help their future mate,’ the Goddess told me. “The Goddess wishes for you to unshackle and uncollar Eric. She’ll be giving full control to his wolf and wants some specific things said to him before it’s time,” I told Thompson. He knew that I meant before he died. He nodded his head and removed them before helping him to sit in a chair. Green shimmers showed that his wolf was in control, so I sat in a chair in front of him and waved Gabriel over too. “I’m Kade. What’s your name?” I asked him. “Grant,” he said quietly. He lowered his eyes away from mine.
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