This was the most comfortable room she’d ever been in. Mercy was sure of it--even though she couldn’t remember a single place she’d been before the healing center. Still, sitting on the end of the bed in the room that August had taken her to, she was certain she’d never been in a room like this before.Mercy wasn’t sure what to do. Part of her wanted to climb into the comfy bed and go to sleep. But she wasn’t really tired. It just seemed so inviting. She ran her hand along the soft blue comforter and sighed. What must it be like to live in a house like this? To have so many nice things?A shower also sounded pleasant. She’d taken a few while she was at the healing center, but she had the feeling that the bathroom attached to this luxurious room had to be unlike any accommodations she’d ever seen in her life.Mercy kicked off her shoes and took off her socks before letting her bare feet sink into the soft carpet of the floor. A flash of a memory came across her. Cold, concrete. Damp, u
A beautiful woman had just moved into his house.August was sitting at his desk, doing his best to focus on his work, but his mind kept going back to Mercy. What was she doing right now? Was she okay? Was she sleeping? Was she hungry?He was trying to focus on the reports he needed to finish looking over, but it was rough with such a huge distraction just down the road. He wanted to go see how she was doing, to see if he could get her anything, but he also knew he had a way of making her feel like her head was going to explode.August picked up the last report he’d been given and had just started going over it when his phone rang. Part of him was glad for the distraction, but then he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Rider, the Alpha from Black Hole Moon.“What do you want, Rider>” August said as he picked up the phone. The last person in the world he wanted to talk to was the Alpha that had been in the picture where Mercy was being abused.“Oh, come on, August, don’t be lik
“How do we even know that Rider is telling us the truth?” August’s mom asked him from her seat across from his desk. “He could just be messing with us, trying to scare us.”“I’m not scared of her name, Mom. Hell, I’m not even scared of her. Maybe I should be, but I don’t think she’d do anything to hurt us.”He could’ve been putting his entire pack at risk by having a woman he didn’t know who clearly had some sort of magical powers in their midst, but it was difficult for him to think that Mercy could be dangerous to him or to anyone else. He was usually a pretty good judge of character, and he felt that Mercy was a good person, that anything that she’d been through in her past wasn’t due to her bad character but due to the horrible people she’d been with.And Rider was a pretty horrible person.For years, he’d waged war on surrounding packs, attempting to convescate more territory. He’d killed indiscriminately and even raided some villages where women and children became his victims.
It was cold.Darkness surrounded her, and the smell of dampness filled her lungs. Close to her head, she heard the ping of water falling from above her, landing in a puddle on the concrete, over and over and over again. Dripping, constantly, cutting into her thoughts, eating through her mind. It needed to stop.But there was no way to make it stop, and as long as she was down here in the damp, dark, cold, she wouldn’t be able to do anything to help herself.How long had she been down here? It seemed like forever. Her stomach felt like it was eating itself, but then, she didn’t really have stomach pains anymore because she was so used to being hungry.She tried to stretch her back, but she couldn’t because of the restraints. Why they thought binding her hands around her ankles and tying her ankles together would stop her from using her abilities, she didn’t know, but she could still use them.She could still pick them up and throw them across the room.She could still blow out the glas
Making breakfast was not something August was particularly good at. Cooking in general was not his forte, but since he couldn’t go back to sleep after he woke up at 5:00 in the morning, he decided to get up around 6:00 and go to the kitchen to make breakfast for Mercy.He’d laid awake for much of the night, thinking about what Rider had told him and the discussion he’d had with his mom. He knew that she was right, that he shouldn’t tell Mercy what he’d found out. But at the same time, he hated keeping information from her, too. If he was in her position, wouldn’t he want to know what his real name was?He wanted to say yes to that, but then, he’d never been in a situation where he’d been abused by an entire pack of people, possibly two packs, and then had to run for his life. So maybe if he’d been in a similar circumstance to the one she was fleeing, he wouldn’t be so quick to think it would be better if she knew.He sat down at the island to sip some coffee while the breakfast casser
It was the dreams that got her. Pulling herself out of a sound sleep filled with awful images, memories coming to life, winding their way around her mind and convincing her that she was there again, in those moments, that’s what sucked her down and kept her from moving forward, kept her trapped in a box where she couldn’t seem to escape.Even with her eyes open, staring up at a ceiling lit by the early morning light, wisps of those dreams continued to linger, foggy fingers that crept between her present thoughts and those memories that simply wouldn’t come.She’d been lying awake looking up at the ceiling for about fifteen minutes when there was a light knock on the door. The sky outside told her it was early dawn, the pinks, yellows, and oranges giving her a good idea of the time before she even looked at the clock on the nightstand. She was a little surprised that anyone was knocking this early, but then, she had woken early the last few days when she’d begun to feel better, and sh
The village was a lot different than Mercy had envisioned it, though she had no idea why. Walking down the main street next to August, she was surprised at all of the people, all of the bustle, all of the flurry. It started to feel a little overwhelming from time to time, so she had to remind herself to focus on the Alpha beside her and not on the noise and potential chaos all around her.She’d chosen a comfortable pair of jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, and a brown jacket, along with some brown boots that fit perfectly and a bright scarf. She loved how the colors in the scarf matched the leaves falling from the trees. She had a feeling she didn’t usually have clothes like this. When she’d been found, she’d been wearing a tattered dress; it was her impression that she often wore the same dress, day after day, without a shower or a bath.“This is the coffeehouse,” August said, pointing to a place that smelled wonderful. “And over there is the pizza parlor. We don’t have a lot of res
“Dangerous?”August couldn’t help but repeat the last word Mercy had said. The look on her face at the moment was more of a vacant stare than anything threatening, but the fact that she thought her old job was something other than a regular role any woman might play in a pack would’ve set anyone on edge.He wasn’t shocked, though. He’d seen the pictures. Likewise, he’d seen what she could do.“I’m not sure why I think that.” Mercy’s eyes began to focus again, and she turned to look at him, a hint of a smile on her face, her cheeks pinking just slightly, as if she were embarrassed by what she’d just said. “It’s just… something that comes to mind. Maybe it’s because of what happened with the tell vision.”“Television.” He corrected her with an encouraging smile so that she would know he wasn’t making fun of her, just trying to help. “Do you think that you were dangerous to other people, though, Mercy? Or is it possible it was you that was in danger?”Her forehead crinkled. “I don’t know
“Mercy, hurry up!” August shouted up the stairs. “We’re going to be late!”“We can’t be late,” Mercy shouted back to him. “They can’t start without us. You’re the Alpha.”“Well, we’re supposed to be there in fifteen minutes, and it’ll take at least ten to get to the chapel.”“I’m coming,” Mercy said, sliding an earring into her ear and looking at herself one more time in the mirror. What her husband failed to realize was that she not only had to get herself ready, she also had to get the baby ready, and that took some time.She looked good in a nice red dress and silver dangly earrings. She wore a pendant around her neck that had a picture of August in one half and her daughter in the other. Her hair was up in a clip, and her knee length red dress was tight at the top but flowy at the bottom. Her red heels were not so high that she couldn’t walk in them easily.She hurried down the stairs to see August standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding their daughter, Abigail, in his arms.
“Put him down, Leeta,” Mercy demanded. “Unless you want your husband to explode all over the place. Put that wolf down.”“That wolf?” Leeta repeated. “Isn’t this your husband? The Alpha?”“No,” Mercy lied, hoping she’d buy it. “You’ve got the wrong one. That’s just an Omega.” August didn’t even look like a random Omega, but her sister wasn’t the brightest, perhaps she’d fall for it.“Don’t listen to her, honey,” Rider shouted. “That’s Alpha August.“Says the man who left you and ran away only a few minutes ago. I could’ve just killed him in the forest, but I didn’t,” Mercy reminded her sister.“Why didn’t you?” Leeta asked. “Why didn’t you just kill him while you could?”“Because they call me Mercy now,” she explained. “I want to live up to my new name. I wanted to give my husband the opportunity to spare yours.”Leeta pressed the knife so that a drop of blood appeared on August’s neck.“Don’t!” Mercy yelled. “If you kill him, you know I’ll kill Rider.”“Then let him go, and I’ll let
Mercy had a choice to make. She could either chase Rider down and destroy him, or she could stay there with her sister who had collapsed on the ground but could get up at any moment and begin to wreak havoc on the sleeping wolves that Mercy had immobilized earlier.She couldn’t leave the wolves unprotected, but she also couldn’t let Rider get away.With no other choice, Mercy hit her sister with a jarring bolt of energy, one that was sure to keep her from getting up for quite some time. She hated to hurt her own flesh and blood, especially since she was quite certain that her sister was misdirected in the decision she had made, but she had little choice because she couldn’t take the risk of Leeta getting up and hurting someone.Then, Mercy took off after Rider.She wasn’t going to catch him by running after him, though. He was a male, for one thing, so he was naturally faster than her. Also, he was an Alpha, so he was stronger, more muscular, bigger than she could ever hope to be. No,
It didn’t take long for Rider to come into view. He was about a quarter of a mile ahead of her, in between some trees, just stepping out of a clearing.Of course, he would be hiding from the battle, Mercy thought.He stepped out into the field. The fog curled around him, just as it had in her dreams. He was in his human form, just as she was, and for once, Mercy wished she hadn’t forced herself to wake up before the dreams had ended.At least then maybe she’d have some idea what was about to happen.Rider wasn’t alone.It took Mercy a few seconds to realize that there was another person following him, but when her eyes locked on the blonde woman behind him, a rush of memories came back to her, and she suddenly realized she knew exactly who she was.She looked so much like Mercy, even from a distance, she could tell that they resembled one another. It was almost like she was looking in a mirror. Except she was shorter and a couple of years younger.She was wearing a flowing gown, the s
August had made her promise to stay in the house, and Mercy had pretended to comply. It was better that way. Well, it was easier that way, anyhow.When she stepped outside, about an hour after the battle had begun, she knew exactly what to expect.She wasn’t wearing a long, flowing gown like she had been in her dreams, though. She was wearing a much more practical outfit. She had on pants and they were tucked into her boots. She was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt. It was a bit chilly in the predawn hours. A light fog hung over the village. It was fog–not smoke.Why would it be smoke? It wasn’t as if wolves fought with weapons that fired gunpowder like humans did. Still, she did smell smoke in the distance. As she began to walk toward the sound of fighting, the smell became stronger, more acrid, and she realized that there were some buildings on fire on the perimeter of the village.That bastard Rider had set some of the villagers’ homes on fire.Mercy shook her head and knew that t
It was no wonder that Rider had been quiet for so long.He’d been training his warriors.He’d been collecting more.As August made his way across the battlefield, it was clear that his enemy had been working hard to prepare himself for this night. Everywhere the Alpha looked, he saw his Omegas fighting with Rider’s ferocious wolves. Blood, sweat, tufts of fur, claws, and fangs…. It was a vicious battle, one of the worst he’d ever seen, and August was afraid to see the aftermath.If he survived the night.Before August could even think about what he needed to do next, a large male wolf stepped before him, and he found himself engaged again. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to fight instead of simply directing his warriors that night. He’d already dispatched four other wolves, and if he wanted to get back to overseeing the battle, he’d have to do the same to this large black wolf as well.Saliva hung from the wolf’s teeth as he stared at August, his eyes glaring with menace. August was
She was dreaming about Rider again.Mercy was walking through the battlefield, the smoke blowing around her, bodies lying randomly around her feet. Her eyes were fixed at a distant point where she knew he would appear.Only this time, unlike all of the other dreams she’d had, Alpha Rider wasn’t showing up, and she didn’t understand why.As she continued to search for him, her mind wandering, trying to sort out where he might be, where Alpha August might be, she began to hear a banging noise to her right. It was a rhythmic noise, but the longer she walked, the more persistent she became until she finally realized it wasn’t part of her dream.“I’m dreaming,” she reminded herself.Mercy sat straight up in bed. August was up, too, and he was pulling on some clothes over his boxers. Someone was banging on the door downstairs, hard. “Who is it?” she asked him.“I’m not sure, but something’s going on,” he said. “Stay here.”“Why would I do that?” she asked, getting up and rushing to the clos
The view out of Mercy’s window was beautiful. August had given her an office that looked out on a meadow, and sometimes, she would stare out the window and daydream about how beautiful their wedding had been and how lovely it had been to take a week off and just spend time with her new husband. Mercy hadn’t wanted an elaborate wedding, but everyone in the pack was invited since August was the Alpha, and Mercy was becoming the pack Luna. Still, they were able to keep the ceremony itself relatively short. After that, they’d gone straight into a ceremony to name her as the Luna. The reception had been long, but the happy couple had not stayed for the entire time. They’d danced a bit, ate some food, thanked all of their guests, and then gotten straight to their honeymoon. Now a few weeks later, here Mercy sat, staring out at a beautiful spring day, wondering how she got to be so lucky. Being the Luna was exactly how Mercy thought it would be. It was challenging, but it was so very rewar
That night, once dinner was over, August took Mercy back home to their room and the bed they’d been sharing for months. It all seemed different now, though, now that he had asked her to become his wife, to be his Luna. His kisses were somehow even sweeter, and every touch of his hands on her flesh was even warmer, alighting her flesh on fire.August stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her, his lips playing with the sensitive flesh between her neck and shoulder as he slowly tugged down the zipper on the back of her dress. Mercy had kicked her shoes off already, and when the top of the dress came loose, she worked her arms out of the short sleeves. August’s lips worked their way down her neck and across her shoulder. She leaned back against his muscular chest, her eyes closed so she could concentrate on every touch of his hands on her skin.The dress came off and puddled on the floor at her feet. He slid his hands inside of her bra, causing her peaks to harden instantly at his tou