CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:~Drake: I don’t know what I did last night, but one minute we were talking and bantering, and the next she was excusing herself to her room. It was early evening. And she hadn’t come out again that whole night.I heard her tossing and turning in the bed there, and I did the same thing on the couch and the floor. A few times I got up and marched right to her door, thinking out some sort of phrase I could quickly say that would get her to finally open up to me, but I could never gather the nerve to knock.She’s guarded, Dane noted. She’s starting to need us and that scares her.Well, for Goddess’ sake, I’m scared too!, I snapped back.But he didn’t bother saying anything else.I know he was just telling me what I was already sensing anyway. She’s been on her own, with no one from our world to guide her in her abilities. I’ve been raised by close parents who loved each other - who loved me.My parents. Goddess I missed them.It was so much easier to put them out of m
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:~Avery This was all too much. My body count was out of control. Drake was out of control. I needed to let something out, anything, and preferably not another light show. I marched outside and began to lift my shirt up as I moved toward the dock, when I felt dark auras around. How had I not noticed before? I’d been distracted! I was distracted and this is what happens when I’m distracted! I turned to face where I sensed the closest ones. Four dark auras. Not much light in there. I was still buzzing from the darkness I’d taken from the werewolves earlier today. “Drake…” I whispered ever so slightly, hoping he could hear me. The wolves approached right as he burst through the door in his wolf form. He leapt quickly and stood between them and where I stood. Brave. Dumb. Both? They growled lowly, an unsettling sound coming from wolves that weren’t Drake. He snarled back loudly. My heart thundered in my chest as I picked up more auras than before, and they were
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:~Drake:Our mate was on the move, heading for some cover - most likely around and uphill behind the cabin. I leapt and knocked the third to the ground, digging my teeth in and ripping his throat, a large gash spewed blood. Pushing against the earth again I went for the fourth when Dane pushed us to the left. We moved just as a bullet hit the ground next to us. We went to strike again and shoved the fourth wolf to the ground, using the car to block the angle of the sharpshooters. We tore into his neck and left him there, spinning to look for Freckles.She was nowhere to be seen.Where had she gone?!I spent the next long while tearing through wolf after wolf. It was tiring, yes. We were putting in quite a workout. But it was way more invigorating. It felt like nothing else to let Dane completely loose.We were leaping and tearing into flesh. We were snapping bones and throwing bodies into charging wolves. Blood was everywhere. Soaked into the earth around the cab
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: ~Avery: It was a few hours later when I woke up. I had taken a long, sorrowful, angry shower and fallen asleep in my towel on the bed. It was dark out and I was totally disoriented. The earlier events suddenly came to mind in a jumbled order. Killing wolves, fighting with Drake, making out on the couch then freaking out, the fight at dinner, all of it. I look over at the nightstand and scrunch my face at the time. Almost 4am the next day. I can’t believe I slept this long. I sat straight up. The bodies out there! I just left them all! I quickly dressed in an easy pair of loose workout pants and shirt, tying my knotted hair up in a messy low bun, snatched a jacket and opened the bedroom door - and stopped. Drake was there, asleep at the dining table, covered in even more dirt and blood than when I’d left him in the living room. He snored lightly and I moved quietly, trying not to wake him - I wasn’t ready to deal with what had almost happened. My whole b
CHAPTER THIRTY~Drake: Something feels off. There’s a kink in my neck and rotating my head to rest on my other cheek isn’t quite it. The stiffness in my shoulders and neck hit me as I lifted off the table. I blinked for a moment, remembering where I was, what had happened, the gnarly and the nearly perfect. I’d spent hours cleaning up the bodies from the disaster that was yesterday so she wouldn’t have to see it anymore, so we could talk through everything without that hanging over us. I breathed in and it hit me. No fresh scent. My mate wasn’t here. I bolted upright and started barreling for the door. A swim again? I ran to the lake but there was no sign of her, and no fresh scents either. My eyes caught it then. Her car was gone. “Mate!” I growled out in frustration. She ran from us, Dane said his voice laced with anger and hurt. How could she just take off like that? Did she not take my words seriously? I ran back to the bedroom in the cabin and confirmed her things were gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ~Avery: I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I heard the knock at my door. Lost room service? The bad guys who attacked before? No - professional killers wouldn’t knock, would they? But when his voice came through the door my heart soared with hope I didn’t want. My knees quaked as I stood there, overwhelmed by it all. Questions raided my mind, my ears filled with the sound of my heart pumping blood, my breathing hitched. When he spoke again I seemed to wake up from the panic, the relief, the joy - everything - enough to move again. My mind raced for something to hold on to. For something to carry me out of this. A flash of what we had done together came to mind, and it gave me my resolve. I needed to be strong, to be in control. I needed to push him away once and for all. For everyone’s safety. When he looked at me through the crack in the door it took everything I had not to just rush him, pull him close. But I would not let go of what I knew to be righ
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:~Drake: I may die of frustration before the Lycaon kill me. Trying to understand all the thoughts in anyone’s mind is hard enough - but in my elusive mate? Almost impossible. I hold on to the hope that my guesses are correct - that she likes me but is holding back because of something in her past, that she wants to trust but needs me to keep pushing until her worries are resolved. But there’s nothing telling me I’m not totally wrong. So I keep pushing - right? When she said the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ I almost opened my mouth in shock. But I didn’t want to scare her off or send her on a tirade. I needed to watch myself to not change the atmosphere at all until she elaborated. She rambled and I listened to it all, trying to take in everything I could from her perspective. It was amazing progress, but Dane reminded me of the threat looming closely, and I knew we would have to prioritize leaving and getting her somewhere safe before I went back and hunted every one of
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: ~Avery: After pulling away from Drake, I made my way down the back staircase that led around the other side of the building. It’s hard to move quickly but quietly and I’m not sure at the moment what matters more. Can those wolves hear the creaks in these steps? At the bottom of the stairs I turn cautiously and start walking along the backside of the building, searching for any auras out there. Because of the hour, there’s not much activity anywhere outside of the random rooms I passed with lights coming through the windows. With every step I fight my magic and the instinct to just destroy everything and everyone out there. To remove this threat from the face of the earth. I clench my fists, fighting my magic, keeping it down in my abdomen. My mind flickers to Drake. There’s a flash of worry for him, I can’t hear anything going on out there, but was it right to leave him? Will he get hurt? My heart clenches at the thought of it. A second of heat takes over
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE:~Avery: It really was another thing entirely to physically be here, to hear these things, and then to see them. After Drake destroyed this particular guard we wasted no time moving forward. I jumped off Dane’s back to free him up to get the bunker door down. It took three big hits from him but then it was cracked open. I went in first, the opening not quite big enough for him, and I heard him whine as I ran past. My shoes echoed on the cold hard floor as I walked forward. The hallway jutted to the right and revealed a staircase that went down a few floors. Just how many people did they have down here? With another loud boom I knew Dane had gotten the bunker door totally down, and I heard him chasing me as I went down the first few flights of stairs. There were no hallway offshoots until the third floor, and in my rage, with my light fired up and my hair completely lifted, I nearly slipped on the last step before finally seeing a doorway. I moved quickly with
CHAPTER SEVENTY:~Drake:‘I’m not staying here forever, they need to find or pick someone else,’ I grumbled to Dane - again. ‘We were born to lead,’ Dane fires back. It’s been our constant argument for the past week. Pretty much the only time we aren’t arguing is when Avery has our attention. We’re both one hundred percent focused on her when she’s around. Just then, like I’d been summoning her, a knock came to the door. I knew it was her before she opened it, and the instant her eyes met mine, everything else faded to gray. “I can feel you getting… upset?” she asked, closing the door behind her and walking over to the desk I’d been sitting in for too long. I stood up, needing contact with her right away. Without another word she was in my arms and everything seemed lighter, easier. “I’m perfect now, Freckles,” I said, a long breath leaving me. The encouraging tingles from everywhere we touched, accompanied by her intoxicating scent settled me down. Goddess, she’s amazing. The
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE: ~Avery: It’s been a week since we stormed into Black Mountain. And while I wish things were relaxed, they’ve been just way too chaotic for much anything at all outside of putting this pack back together. We spent the first three nights at Alec’s with Drake needing to come back here for one thing or another, and since he didn’t want me out of his sight, I would tag along too. Not that I was just being pulled around all over to stand around and no nothing. No, it seemed I was stepping into Luna duties right alongside Drake. I spent my time meeting with this group and that, and have now started restructuring the school here. It seems like girls and boys were treated very differently in school and on the training fields, and while Drake has implemented changes for training, the school was overlooked. Not everyone is happy about these changes. There are a group of older pack members who grumble and fuss, and it’s hard not to just snap at them but I’m trying to em
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT:~Drake: Something about the unknown intruder had Dane on edge. I asked him about it but all I got was a noncommittal grunt in return. Helpful. It was hard to leave Avery like that there but I shouldn’t be long and I didn’t know what exactly was out there waiting for me. I wish we were fully marked though, with Beatrix able to link with Archer, I really think that Avery and I would be able to link. I’d feel so much better if I were able to talk to her, knowing she’s okay. It took a couple of minutes but soon I saw two border guards up ahead. I recognized the three of them and they nodded at my approach. The vi
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN:~Avery: God were we ready for this to be over. I saw that in Drake too when he assessed his previous Alpha. There was this huge weight, this expectation I think the group around us had, but no one said a word as Drake went straight for the kill and I had no problem sucking in this tyrant’s darkness. Unsurprisingly he was all dark. Just like Justin. That had been crazy too. I didn’t even know where to start with that, I wasn’t sure I could ever really process everything he ended up being. I just held onto Drake’s hand. It was the only thing I could think to do. We started our walk back while Beatrix, Emery and
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX: ~Drake: I spent some time talking with Avery about what we’d seen. I knew I was adopted, and suspected I had Alpha blood, but to see all that… My parents sacrificed themselves for me and Rafael, Rafael was all behind it. He had killed my parents, my entire pack. And then he killed my adoptive parents, the sweetest, bravest people. I was going to slaughter him like a pig before he took anything else of mine. I didn’t understand what kind of deal he had made with the demons for that insane attack to have happened, but I didn’t care. And Eric, who had he been to my birth parents? Had I been stupid not to look for him earlier? Was it too late now? It was too late to keep in my head though, we were gathering for our strike. I would have to think all this through later. Now, I needed to put it aside. “Teams 1 - 4 are our frontline led by me,” Archer ordered out to the troops. There had been some arguing about this but we were going with what was planned. Ave
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE:~Avery: We were supposed to sleep in to help prep our bodies for what could be a long battle, and I really did not have a problem with that. I woke up once around early morning, feeling anxious, but Drake pulled me tighter into the hold he had me in and I found myself relaxing again. The second time I woke up it happened slowly. I rubbed sleep from my eyes and realized I was the little spoon to Drake’s big spoon. It made me smile. Something so simple like this, something I honestly thought I would never have. But here he was. His hold, his heat, his scent - it all gave him away so I didn’t even need to look. But how I wanted to.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR: ~Drake: It felt good to be heading home. Well. That and other things. It felt natural to be heading back towards where my pack was, but with everything there waiting for me, and the knowledge of my parents’ slaughter… well it was a lot. Avery insisted on taking a turn driving. She was currently scanning the radio for something, I wasn’t sure what. She’d passed by a couple songs that weren’t half bad. She listened for a few seconds before scrunching her nose in distaste and changing the station again. The windows on this old beater we bought from a junkyard couldn’t close up all the way on the driver’s side but instead of letting me cover the gap somehow she had insisted that the fresh air was good for us. So now her hair flowed a bit like she was using a little of her magic. Her hair had grown out a lot since before she’d been taken. As much as she looked beautiful when I met her, and each time she’d changed her look, I much preferred her natural strawberry-b
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: ~Avery: I thought for a moment before nodding, a silent ask for him to continue. I had to know everything. No more running from this life, from what we might have to face. I felt my whole body tense like I was preparing for some kind of assault. I tried to relax but knew I wouldn’t be able to until I finally heard this. No more secrets, no more ignoring what very well could be reality. “Okay - again - I don’t put too much stock into this,” he glanced at me again. I just nodded once more, still stiff. “Beatrix calls you Queen Mothe