CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE:~Avery: “Okay, I’ve never seen anything like that. What is she?” someone asked from behind me. “That was incredible,” another voice chimed in. “Shh!” another voice ordered. It was silent then. I’d been struggling with my magic from the treeline. I could feel exhilaration that wasn’t my own, that had to be Drake’s, as he fought out there. The feeling was so similar to drinking in darkness that it felt like it was busting open the separation between me and it. That’s when I saw her, her aura. I knew I had to try. There was more light in there than darkness and I knew I could talk to her, get her to see, help her. When Dane’s form walled me off there was so much twisting in her, darkness threatening to intertwine into her light, and I tried, I really tried. It’s so hard to find the right words when you only have seconds to change fate. But it wasn’t enough. They weren’t the right words. They weren’t fast enough. I don’t know. All I do know is that one second
CHAPTER SIXTY: ~Drake: When she left me standing there I couldn’t believe it. I was frozen in time. Dane whined and whimpered. He howled. I just stood there, dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe how profoundly I’d ruined everything. It had taken so much time and trust and I went and- ‘You idiot,’ Dane grumbled, hurt. ‘We. We are idiots,’ I corrected him. He didn’t say anything back. He knew I was right. We’d gone into full instinct and hurt our mate majorly twice in less than twenty-four hours. “Sorry,” I heard Archer’s voice from farther away but within my earshot. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but Alec is itching to get back to his brood.” “Yeah,” I said, the words barely finding their way out. “Just give her time. She just needs some time,” Arch added. I just nodded. Everyone left the area and I just stood there until it started to get dark. I was probably pushing it. There was no way to know if this facility had any more people coming. I looked back towards the directi
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE:~Avery: I’m not sure what I expected to happen when I finally faced him but it wasn’t this. But my heart broke when he explained what he’d seen and I realized what an idiot I was being. I felt like a child. I hadn’t given him any time to explain why he’d left, why he’d done what he’d done. But I understood now, better than ever. It was like something clicked in me, in us. Somehow I felt everything through this kiss, like I understood the universe.I thought running from this was noble. I thought being together was risky. And it probably was risky. But I was making it worse by running away. I knew in my heart we belonged together. Something shifted in me then. I finally understood. It was like finally understanding a complex math problem, or like finally finding that tiny typo in your coding.I moaned into Drake’s mouth as the electricity from our touch built in me. He held me tight to him before laying me gently in the grass. He seemed to be gentle and demanding al
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO: ~Drake: If this is just a fraction of what it feels like completing a bond, I can’t even fathom what it would feel like to mate as a marked couple. I could barely hold myself back the whole time, I wanted to please Avery, to take care of her, but at the same time I had a desire to be buried deep inside her and never have more space than that. Ever again. I never intended to mate my Avery outside in the trees, but somehow it seemed right that way. It satisfied some primal part of me. I looked at her now, watching her gentle breathing in my arms.
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
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-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-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 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