Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat and he finally sighed and looked us in the eye.“I have this guy who owes me money, there’s easy money in it for you two if you can get what he owes me,” Marcus said and I looked at Josh.“How much does he owe you and what’s his deal?” Josh asked him and I sighed. This felt like trouble, the kind of trouble we tried to steer clear of.“He owes me fifty grand, he has a safe in his house, I know he has the money, he’s just being pissy about paying me,” Marcus said to us.“Why doesn’t he want to pay you?” I asked him and Marcus sighed.“I shagged his wife okay, now he’s being a real girl over it,” he said and Josh started laughing.“You slept with another man’s wife?” I asked him.“Don’t look at me like you’re the Virgin Mary, K, I see how the girls look at you two. You can’t tell me you ain’t never dipped into that,” he said to me and I frowned.“What?” I asked him. I had no clue what he had just said.“He thinks you go home with another woman ev
Malachi sat at the table next to John Whitcombe with Bryan pacing up and down behind them. He was exhausted and Bryan’s pacing was grating on his nerves but he didn’t say anything, wouldn’t say anything either.“There’s still no word about Kiran’s whereabouts?” John asked him. Even John’s eyes portrayed his misery. Kiran’s disappearance had been hard on all of them. John cared about Malachi and he had high expectations of Kiran and accepting that he was dead was just unthinkable.“No, nothing. I’m starting to think that Jessica might be right,” Malachi said looking tired.“What does she think?” John asked him.“That he’s dead,” Malachi said, not looking at him. His voice was sad, almost broken and John couldn’t imagine what he must be going through.John looked over at Bryan and the irritation in his eyes was evident. “Would you stop that? You’re making me nervous.”Bryan stopped pacing and sat down at the table. He had also been trying to track Kiran’s magic over the past six months
The room was quiet as Bryan held his hand up. Nobody said a word and Malachi sifted through random thoughts. He would have preferred to do this with the Alpha and Beta alone in the room but the members needed to verify the truth for themselves.“Are you confirming that you never broke into more than a hundred homes, tied up the human residents and emptied the contents of their safes?” Malachi asked the Alpha.“That’s correct, Alpha,” Warren Brown said to Malachi.“And you don’t have a certain painting in your possession?” Malachi asked him and he looked around unsure of what to say.Warren Brown swallowed nervously, realization flickering in his eyes as he watched Malachi intently. The truth would come out, it always did.“The truth will set you free, Warren. The more honest and compliant you are now, the less severe your punishment will be,” John said to him as Malachi walked up to Warren.Quentin was unsure of what to do, protocol didn’t allow for Council members to enter that circl
Regret. It always comes too late, right? In my case, my regret was something I felt immensely guilty about, but I also felt shame. I’ve made so many mistakes over the years. The road I’ve walked hasn’t been an easy one. Some days I wondered if this was it. Was this how I would finally come to meet the gods?Choices. What would you choose if you were me? How do you choose between two children? The first, Kai, he’s taken over my whole world. I love him more than I love myself. The second, a daughter, one I knew nothing about. I love her though, because she’s a part of me, my child as well. How do you ultimately choose between life and death?Obligation. It’s the one thing that’s been instilled in me from birth. We all have our obligations to fulfill and as a wolf, you never shirk from your responsibilities. No matter what. As an Alpha, that responsibility was even worse for me. I had to be the example, the leader, the protector, the shoulder everyone leaned on. I had to be everything.F
“Kai…” I managed out a whisper. Death touched my soul and I blinked.Three women sat beside a well. I didn’t recognize this place, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. The women had no faces, yet I felt like I knew them. I had to prove myself for them to reveal their faces to me.“These are the Norns, they can either bless you or curse you. To change Kai’s fate, you have to honor each of them and perhaps they will reveal to you what you seek most.” Death’s voice was low.“Where are we?” I asked him, looking around.“We’re beneath Yggdrasil in Asgard. You have a choice to make, give them what they ask, and they will reveal the past, the present and the future to you. Refuse them and be cursed.”I walked up to the three women and I bowed before them. In this place, I had no standing, Alpha or not, and to offend them would have consequences. Urdr, Verdandi and Skuld each placed a hand on my head, and I was taken back to the past. I saw Karani, I could feel her, hear her and the pain tore
“Death visited me earlier. He took me to a place where I saw three old women, they’re known as the Norns. They see the past, the present and the future. If you’re worthy, they will show you and give you a chance to change your fate.”“Who’s fate? Yours?”“I have a daughter.” Her eyes were wide with anger, but she controlled her voice.“How old?” I knew this was the make-or-break moment.“She was born the day after Kai.”Adara slapped me harder than I thought she could and stood up. She grabbed the first thing she could find on my desk and threw it at my head. The solid steel wolf statuette connected and cut my cheek open. She wasn’t looking at me, she was crying as she grabbed whatever she could find, and I had to turn my back to her.“Adara! Enough!” I yelled at her as she slumped to the floor and sobbed. I bent down in front of her and just held her.“Let me just tell the story. This is as big a shock to me as it is to you. I never cheated.” She didn’t lift her head and I continued
I emptied half a bottle of Scotch in the time it took James to arrive at the house. I was exhausted and I was scared. I wouldn’t admit that to anyone, but I was. I had no idea what awaited me because I hadn’t even known witches existed.James and I finished the bottle as I told him my story. His eyes held disbelief and the expression on his face was one of utter shock. I left nothing out, I told him everything. He didn’t interrupt me once and for that I was glad. It was hard enough to tell the story twice in one day.I hadn’t slept yet and I knew my eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep. I had spent the night looking at Christian and Kai as they slept in our bed next to Adara. Christian saw it as having a sleepover and he loved it.“I don’t know what to say. Witches…shit”“Tell me about it.” I rubbed a hand over my face and sighed.“And Jessica and Malachi? I didn’t see that one coming.” I smiled at the way he said it, the slight frown making it more comical than it was. “What are y
I gave the pack a moment to settle down, to digest everything I’d told them and let them come to terms with what they’d seen from Jessica. It was a lot to take in and a lot to understand. Once I did that spell, there was no going back, I’d be a half breed.“Dezrael will be coming for Kai because he is my first-born.” I had yet to tell them that I was a half breed.“Why is she coming after Kai?” Frank asked.“Okay, guys, now I’m going to tell you another secret that I only recently found out and then if it’s your choice, I’ll step down as Alpha if that’s what you want.” They all looked at me and I could see the confusion in their eyes.“This sounds worse than a witch coming after your son.”“Karani was a half witch and that makes me a half witch too. She chose her wolf life over that of a witch. Dezrael’s fear is that Kai will draw on Karani’s power one day. She wants Karani’s power for herself and she will try to claim it through my daughter which she thinks is my first-born.”There w
The room was quiet as Bryan held his hand up. Nobody said a word and Malachi sifted through random thoughts. He would have preferred to do this with the Alpha and Beta alone in the room but the members needed to verify the truth for themselves.“Are you confirming that you never broke into more than a hundred homes, tied up the human residents and emptied the contents of their safes?” Malachi asked the Alpha.“That’s correct, Alpha,” Warren Brown said to Malachi.“And you don’t have a certain painting in your possession?” Malachi asked him and he looked around unsure of what to say.Warren Brown swallowed nervously, realization flickering in his eyes as he watched Malachi intently. The truth would come out, it always did.“The truth will set you free, Warren. The more honest and compliant you are now, the less severe your punishment will be,” John said to him as Malachi walked up to Warren.Quentin was unsure of what to do, protocol didn’t allow for Council members to enter that circl
Malachi sat at the table next to John Whitcombe with Bryan pacing up and down behind them. He was exhausted and Bryan’s pacing was grating on his nerves but he didn’t say anything, wouldn’t say anything either.“There’s still no word about Kiran’s whereabouts?” John asked him. Even John’s eyes portrayed his misery. Kiran’s disappearance had been hard on all of them. John cared about Malachi and he had high expectations of Kiran and accepting that he was dead was just unthinkable.“No, nothing. I’m starting to think that Jessica might be right,” Malachi said looking tired.“What does she think?” John asked him.“That he’s dead,” Malachi said, not looking at him. His voice was sad, almost broken and John couldn’t imagine what he must be going through.John looked over at Bryan and the irritation in his eyes was evident. “Would you stop that? You’re making me nervous.”Bryan stopped pacing and sat down at the table. He had also been trying to track Kiran’s magic over the past six months
Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat and he finally sighed and looked us in the eye.“I have this guy who owes me money, there’s easy money in it for you two if you can get what he owes me,” Marcus said and I looked at Josh.“How much does he owe you and what’s his deal?” Josh asked him and I sighed. This felt like trouble, the kind of trouble we tried to steer clear of.“He owes me fifty grand, he has a safe in his house, I know he has the money, he’s just being pissy about paying me,” Marcus said to us.“Why doesn’t he want to pay you?” I asked him and Marcus sighed.“I shagged his wife okay, now he’s being a real girl over it,” he said and Josh started laughing.“You slept with another man’s wife?” I asked him.“Don’t look at me like you’re the Virgin Mary, K, I see how the girls look at you two. You can’t tell me you ain’t never dipped into that,” he said to me and I frowned.“What?” I asked him. I had no clue what he had just said.“He thinks you go home with another woman ev
It was a week later and I hadn’t been dreaming. Josh had told me that I had to envision it in my mind, see the wolf and feel it, I had to want to be the wolf. It sounded like a load of bullshit to me but I had seen him change with my own eyes.The dumpster truck had arrived on Monday morning and emptied the dumpsters and had driven off. Josh and I had stood at the window looking down and I was relieved that it was over, or at least I hoped it was over.We had gone back to work and our lives were routine again. Every morning when we got home he would tell me something more about wolf life. There was an Alpha, like me, and every Alpha had a Beta, born to him, you couldn’t choose a Beta, you just knew that that person was your Beta, then there were Zeta wolves, he said that he had been a Zeta once, and I asked him where his pack was.“I’m what you call an outcast, K,” he had said to me as we jogged down the street.“What’s an outcast?” I asked him but I guessed it’s what it meant, an out
Things were surreal and things made even less sense than when I had just woken up in the hospital. Josh was talking about things that didn’t make sense at all but he was the only friend I had, I had to trust that he wasn’t bullshitting me.“We have to get rid of these first. I’ll tell you everything, I promise, maybe that’ll help trigger your memories. Man, put some clothes on,” he said to me as he opened the window in the living room. I wiped the blood from my stomach and back and put a clean t-shirt on.Josh was pulling the dead men closer to the window and I looked at him. “What exactly do you plan to do about this?” I asked him.I knew we couldn’t call the cops. I had no license, no social security card and Josh hated cops. We both steered clear of them and trouble. We never went out socially, we minded our business at work, came home, trained and when we felt like it, we watched movies at home.We saved most of our money in the loose floorboards of our bedrooms, he told me plenty
One month after waking up…“K!” Josh shouted as I walked around the corner and he saw me.“Josh,” I smiled at him.We had become good friends after my audition and I’d gotten the job to work for Marcus. We now also shared an apartment two blocks from the club. We trained together, we jogged together and most nights we worked together. It was my night off and he had grabbed an extra shift.“What are you doing here?” he asked me and I gave him that look.“Marcus called me to come in and help out,” I said to him as I put the black jacket on and inserted the earpiece into my ear as I took my position next to him at the door. I looked at the line that extended around the other corner.Marcus owned the hottest night club in Fresno. People stood in line for hours just to get inside, naturally we were at the door because like Marcus said, “Ain’t nobody gettin’ past the two of you.” I had laughed at him. We must have looked quite intimidating. We were both tall, muscular and had these blank st
Malcolm took me shopping and gave me money. I promised to pay him back but he would hear nothing of it. We had spent hours talking in my hospital room. He brought a chess board and looked surprised when it became evident that I’d win after ten moves.We’d established that I was intelligent, that I could read and write and that I knew random facts so I had gone to school, but that didn’t help me now. I was still a nobody and I still couldn’t remember anything about my life.Malcolm Schwartz became my savior in that moment and if it wasn’t for him I would have probably ended up on the streets. He introduced me to his relative, Marcus Brigham, who liked the look of me, said I was big and if I could handle myself in a tough situation, I’d be perfect for the job.Marcus asked me to meet him at a sports club for my audition. I wondered what this job entailed and how would I have to handle myself? I walked in and two guys were sparring in a boxing ring. Could I box? I had no clue but I guess
Four months earlier…“He’s opening his eyes, Dr Schwartz,” the nurse said as Malcolm Schwartz stood in front of the counter at the nurse’s station filling in paperwork. He’d been waiting for this day anxiously. They were all curious about the young man in that hospital bed.He looked up and walked into the hospital room where for the past two months ‘John Doe’ had been in a coma. He felt relief that his patient had finally woken up since there was no medical reason for him to be in a coma.“Good morning, I’m Dr Schwartz.” He kept his voice low and he was sure the relief showed in his eyes.Dr Schwarts looked at the man lying in the bed as the nurses checked the monitors showing his blood pressure and heart rate. Everything was normal as it had been for the past two months, ever since a taxi driver had brought him in.“Where am I?” I asked him, looking around.“You’re at the Fresno Community Hospital. Can you tell me your name?” Dr Schwartz asked me.“It’s… it’s… I don’t know,” I said
Adara hadn’t changed anything. She’d washed his clothes in the hamper and nothing had been touched in Kiran’s study. Malachi had made the notifications to The Council but Adara still kept everything the same. Some nights she still made Kiran’s favorites, like that would bring him home.His car keys remained in the bowl and she recorded everything the twins did, so that when he came back he could be part of everything he had missed. She even had his car serviced and started it every single morning to keep the battery charged.“You should just give her time, maybe give her what she wants and move to our own house. We’re close enough if anything happens and she’s not defenseless, she has Norah here,” Jessica said to Malachi.Adara sighed as she stood on the stairs and listened to them talk. She turned and went to her bedroom. Every day she scoured the internet for stories of acts of heroism. That was something Kiran could never stop doing, being the hero.She had phoned all the hospitals