There was a time, at the beginning of my relationship with Axel where we'd stay in bed, cuddling naked after sex and just talk. He would ask me how I see myself or how I see us one year from them, two years, five, twenty and so on. Sometimes I would joke, telling him crazy stories about how I'll become an astronaut or go explore Antarctica. It was fun and lighthearted. It made me look forward to those endless amazing opportunities the future would get us. One of those answers, exactly a year ago from today, was that no matter what my future will look like as long as you are in it.What a fool I was.Or maybe not.Because the present really has Axel in it. But instead of a loving mate, I have this version of him that I can not recognize. With crazy eyes and a terrifying smile."Sorry, Mr. Alpha. I came to like her, so I'm gonna keep her." Diana answers. I see her muscles contracting, ready to shift. But Axel acts like he can't see or hear her. His eyes are fixed on me."I know you prob
"The Beta has been compromised. The Luna is Beta's daughter so we can't trust that she won't act with her father. Our only option would be to convince the Alpha." Kat puts in words what we've circling around for hours. The Beta's family holds most of the important positions in the pack and now, with the Alpha in that state, the pack trusts them blindly. We are stuck."Even if we do, he lost his authority, didn't he?" Diana asks everyone, but looks directly at me. I can't help but question if I did truly ruin Axel exactly like everyone feared I’d do."Two months won't erase the years he spent as the pack's golden boy. The pack adored him. If he pulls himself together, Beta won't stand a chance in their eyes." I tell the rest, but more than that I tell myself. I need to believe the mate bond didn't destroy him."With the situation that we have, he won't listen to us. He's gone mad." Damon leans against the wall with his arms crossed."There might be someone he would listen to..." Robert
When we regroup, half an hour later, I relate what my mom told me to the rest. And they seem equally confused."So he went mad." Diana lets out a discouraged laugh. "That pack is doomed. Just like the rest of them. Just like the entire war. We should just leave the country and chill on a beach in Thailand!""Goddess, Diana! You do this every time!" Robert rolls his eyes."And I am right every time. We didn't stop the war, we just bought some time.""We didn't. Before we got involved, there was a pack falling every year. Now, It's been only four since they couldn't manage to pass the Moonwalk pack." Damon ends their bickering. "Knowing my father, the problem now is that he became impatient. That also means he is prone to making mistakes.""I won't wait for him to make one. They may have wronged me, but that pack is my father's pack. He died to protect it and I will not let it fall." I intervene, all eyes turning on me. "Robert is right. Crazy or not Axel is my mate and he won't hurt me
"He stays here?" I ask, hand in hand with Damon as we approach the shady-looking building in the not-so good part of the city."As you said, he apparently really cared about his pack. I think he's the only Alpha that I know that didn't have a hefty private account stashed somewhere. He left the pack with nothing. He invested everything he had back in his people only to be stabbed in the back." Damon explains while looking around to make sure Kat did a good job at distracting the guards that Beta sent to supervise his former friend. I never liked the Alpha, but even I can admit he didn't deserve this."Then how does he pay for this place?""I assume someone sends him money. Axel maybe?" Damon asks and I shrug. I doubt it's him, but that would be better than the Beta playing on both sides.I take a deep breath before we knock on the door. I am so damn nervous that I feel my heartbeat in the tip of my fingers, adrenaline pumping my veins, ready to act if it doesn't go as planned. But bef
"Yeah, but how do I ask him to come without sounding like a trap? Last time, Damon almost killed him before threatening him." Diana smiles at the memory and I hit her arm. "Stop it. It's not a trap! We need to trust each other...""Well, you don't trust each other. That's the problem. We think Axel is insane, Damon would kill him just because, he would kill Damon for..." She looks at me up and down a few times. "... you know. And you and him are in a complicated situation. Have you decided if you are also going to ask him to break the bond?""Depends on how the conversation will go. I think it would be better for both of us, but I don't want to add that into the mix if the situation gets unstable. The priority is saving the pack.""Ha! If! You are so optimistic, Rose."I was optimistic to think this conversation would help me take my mind off things. That's what I was. Damon went to get Brad as we decided communing with Axel would be a bit too dangerous as I don’t know yet how to do i
"You should get some sleep. We don't know how long the discussion is going to be." Damon says for the fifth time as I roll around the sheets. I sneaked into his bed earlier because I couldn't sleep alone, and I just ended up keeping him awake too."There are a million things that could go wrong." I complain."If something goes wrong, it will be one of the million. That means you wasted your energy thinking about the rest.""Did you commune with the Moon Goddess? Diana said you kept trying today too." I ask and he gets a bit tense. She ghosted us two weeks ago and no matter how much any of us try, she seems to want to stay away. For Damon, that's the longest he has been without her guidance in the last few years and I know it stresses him out."I can feel her. So she didn't just vanish. But... There's something weird. There's a feeling of guilt that lingers every time I commune and I can't tell if it's mine or hers." He explains and a cold shiver runs down my spine. I cuddle closer to
"You told Caroline about this meeting..." I whisper more to myself than anything. The one thing I pleaded with him not to do. The one thing he knows would have hurted me, but he did it. He did it because he trusts her more than he ever cared about me. And I...I feel ok with that. It hurt for a second. The idea of it, but when I reached to that pain to grasp it, it was no longer there. Now it’s just the fear that I feel."For fuck's sake, Axel? Would you stop the theatrical half information and just say what you have to say?" the Alpha snaps, but Axel continues to look at me like it's just us in the world."Please... What happened since the ceremony?" I ask, forcing myself to sound like I used to when I cared about him. And that seems to be enough, because Axel starts explaining."After my father attacked you, I really wanted to kill him. If I didn't check the mate bond to make sure you're fine before jumping at him, I would have turned him to pieces. I was also pissed at Caroline bec
Tonight, the pack will fall...The words ring in my ears as we all stare at Axel. I don't even realize when Damon goes behind a tree and changes back to his human form just to grab the phone from my hand and desperately call Diana."You're a fucking coward!" He shouts at Axel, veins popping on his arms from the restraint he has to put on in order not to kill him."How are you to talk? Who the fuck are you in general? You aren't an Alpha and you don't know what is like to have a mate!" Axel answers, rolling his eyes like Damon is some kind of passing annoyance."I know what is like to have both. And I know what is like to hide behind what would be better for others when in fact I'm just taking the easier way out." Damon answers, sounding like he explains to a child why the sky is blue. Because that is what Axel is in front of him... a spoiled brat. And by the look on my mate's face, he realized it too. But I can't focus on that as I look at Damon trying to make sense of what he just sa