ELLAThe dressing room smelled of expensive women’s perfume.Soft music filled the air, and I could hear the low voices of women as they did their shopping.The air was peaceful and calm, perfect for an afternoon of slow shoppingI wore the gown I had chosen and stepped out of the dressing room. "How's this?"Sara sat on the couch in the private room, scrolling away on her phone. When she heard my voice, she turned to me and instantly raised a brow."Really?" She asked.I nodded. "Yes. How’s it? I like this one.""That makes you look like a carrot," Sara said, her nose wrinkled in disgust.My jaw dropped in shock. "What?! I really like this one! And carrot? How can one look like a carrot?” I swerved to the dressing mirror and looked at my reflection. "Sara, you have no damned fashion taste! This is gorgeous!"Sara laughed to herself. "No, Ella. It's not gorgeous. You're the one with the fashion sense of a five-year-old playing pretend in her grandma's closet."I gasped and spun around
ELLAAfter the incident with Grace at the mall, the days passed quickly.My life fell into a steady routine. My training continued, and I also tried to shift multiple times.Most of them were unsuccessful, leaving me with fur on my body that faded before the day ran out.Each time, however, the fur was more than the last time. That led me and the twins to speculate that I was so close to shifting to a complete white wolf.Baby stages, Nathan had said.Wendy, however, had a different idea."Are you sure you should be doing this?" I asked Wendy.My eyes followed her as she moved about her father's home lab. She had gotten the keys from him, and after school, she promised to run some tests on me.School had resumed, and although I didn't resume immediately, Wendy had.The twins had half-resumed, which explained why they would spend some days at home with me and go to school on the other days.Back to Wendy and her shenanigans.She opened up a drawer and pulled out a syringe, a tourniquet
ELLAAfter Alpha Blackwood told Grace to kneel, I thought he would go ahead and mete out her punishment, but he turned and faced me instead.His dark eyes were unreadable, but was he mad at me? I couldn’t tell.“Tell me the truth, Ella.” He cleared his throat, “If you're lying to me, the consequences will be dire.""I'm not lying, Alpha Blackwood." I cleared my throat, too, and said firmly.He turned to Grace. And I saw her tremble.She couldn't meet his eyes, her head bowed low. I blinked, and then I realized that the words I had spoken weren't my own.It was an Alpha’s command and impossible to resist."Grace," Alpha Blackwood started. "Did you...""My Alpha, what was I supposed to do?!" Grace cried out and clasped her hands in front of her in a desperate plea. "Tristan and I were to be married! Then this...this human comes in and ruins everything!"I blinked, shocked at her response."Grace?" Her father called, worry evident in his tone.She turned to him, tears streaming down his
ELLA"Worked up?" Nathan chuckled.His head dipped down to my chest. He took my nipple into his mouth and sucked harshly.I lowered my hips and ground against him; I could feel him becoming hard. Heat pooled in my abdomen.Behind me, Tristan grabbed my hips and pushed his erection into the crack of my ass.I looked down at Nathan. His eyes were dark, and he was watching me like a predator who had sighted his prey."Take your shirt off." I gasped, fumbling with the buttons of his pajamas."You're so demanding now, are you?” Tristan chuckled. His lips pressed open-mouthed kisses to my neck, darting out and licking my skin. “Tonight will be a little different, Ella, love." He said."How…ahhhh…” I moaned as Nathan switched up, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin of my nipples. His eyes didn't shift from mine.My cheeks burned bright red with the intense eye contact. I turned my head to the side, butterflies in my stomach.Tristan moved away from my back.Nathan thrust his hips into mine,
ELLACampus life has never been so normal before in all my years of living.Grace had left. I heard from the twins that she and her father left town.Maybe they left the pack, too, but I wasn't sure. And I also didn't care, so that was it.It meant that I could come to school and go about my business with no one barging in my face and being a bitch.The rest of the students quickly minded their business, and my days were sweet like honey.I continued my training even though I still had school.I hadn't yet shifted into a wolf, which was my main priority.The twins were glad to continue training me, but Wendy had other plans."I have nothing more to teach you," she said after one late night of us doing tests on all the herbs she had told me about. I had aced the test and all the others she had set. “You know everything I do.""So I've graduated?" I asked with tears in my eyes.Wendy scowled at me. "So I've graduated?" She mimicked in a baby voice. "Don't talk to me!"I pulled her into
ELLA"Sara," I tugged on her sleeve. "Sara, hey,""Yeah?" She inclined her head to me without turning around.The game of Ouija board had ended.Sara didn't want to go to bed yet, so she persuaded me to follow her to the forest's edge.Most of my classmates had gone inside the cabin, so now it was just us outside.The fire was still going strong, the air scented with burnt sugar from the marshmallows we had roasted.I looked around the forest.The half-moon shone through the dense canopy of leaves in a weak, silvery light. The chilly wind picked up, and I hugged myself tighter. My hair whipped up in my face."This is a bad idea," I said."Why?" Sara chuckled. "Most of them are asleep anyway.""Still," I looked around. "I felt like someone was watching me."Sara turned to me. "Ella, it's fine. I just want to spend a night in the forest.""Sara...""I'm just going to go for a run. Nothing too serious. And I'll patrol the area while I'm at it, too."I wasn't too sure about that. The feel
ELLA"Dead?" I asked with a bitter laugh.I couldn’t deny the harsh thump of my heart racing in my chest. I held my ground and met the witch’s eyes. "The only one who will be dead right now is you."The witch threw her head back and laughed. It sounded like someone was dragging a fork on porcelain. She pulled her head back and gave me a wicked grin. "Let's see you try.""Ella, run!" Sara screamed, her voice shrill with fear and panic.I stared at the witch, my face a cold mask of anger."What will it be?" She asked, both arms raised in front of me.She began to murmur an incantation, her hands glowing with a dark light. The air around us tinged with electricity, and I felt the hairs on my neck stand up.Magic.Without waiting to see what kind of spell she was spinning, I turned to Sara and began to claw at the bonds that held Sara to the tree.I felt it, a subtle vibration that spread throughout my body.I felt it when the spell hit me.My body lurched forward, and I gritted my teeth
ELLA‘I told you. You'd be the one to die.’I stared at the witch's lifeless body at my paws. I felt no pity for her. She deserved it.Blood pooled out of her body and gathered around my paws. It felt warm and sticky — vile.I stepped out of the way, a growl rippling through my throat.I felt euphoric.A power I never had before surged through my veins. It was like the purest wine, intoxicating, red, alive.The voices praised me.‘Well done, Ella.’‘Embrace what you truly are.’"that was impressive!" A loud shout drew my attention away from the witch's corpse.Through the eyes of my wolf, everything looked diminished. The twins looked smaller.I was so used to them being bigger than me that this was a pleasing change."You're amazing!" Tristan yelled. He pumped his fists in the air and whooped loudly."I always knew you had it in you," Nathan sa
ELLATEN YEARS LATER“Welcome, Luna.” The small, bespectacled woman bowed with a smile. “The kids have been waiting. They can hardly sit still at the moment.”I favored her a warm smile. “That is to be expected of kids. You know how they are, young and full of so much energy.”Today, I was to spend some time with kindergarteners at the pack’s new daycare center.Little ones who had no idea at the moment that they weren’t humans, babies, in the sense of the word.She adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses and laughed softly. “Ah, yes. Right this way, please. Would you like anything to drink? Tea or coffee, perhaps?” She gestured to the hallway ahead, where the walls were painted a soft baby pink with motifs of flowers, rainbows, and stick figures playing in green fields.We walked down the hall side by side.“Water is good.”“I shall arrange for that.”We paused in front of a door.From the glass screen, I could see the kindergartens running about, smiling brightly as they chased one another
ELLA“At this point, I think you have a laughing disease or something.""She's just high, we all are.""I'm not fucking high.""Yes. Like you didn't drink an entire winery barely thirty minutes ago.""Can you two quit your incessant rambling and take this gown off me? Hello? I'm trying to get dicked down right now!”Nathan and Tristan turned to me, eyes shiny with mirth.It had been a long day.The wedding after-party stretched into the night, long and packed with fun.And right now, I have a beautiful wedding ring on my finger, which matches my mates' rings, too.We had a joint shower and settled down to drain the Blackwood family cellar."You want to get dicked down?" Nathan asked, his brows wiggling suggestively as he approached me. He pulled me into his arms, and I shuddered just at that touch alone. "Mrs. Blackwood,""Oh, shut up," I laughed to myself. It started small and soon blew out into a wild laugh. "I think Wendy spiked our drinks,""With what?" Tristan hugged me from behi
ELLAA WEEK LATER."We look amazing, don't you think?" Sara said, her head tilted back and forth. "These gowns are the best, don't you think?""Um...yeah. I..." I tried to say something, but my nerves wouldn't let me form a coherent sentence.My hands balked into fists at my sides.My cheeks were tinged rogue, and it wasn't from blushing. I felt a million butterflies released in my belly.I was so fucking nervous! And I wanted to pee too."Hey, hey," Sara said softly. She grabbed both sides of my face and turned me to face her. "What's the matter?""I’m nervous?" I said with an uneasy laugh, and Sara laughed, too."Tell me about it; I am terrified." She put her hands over my shoulders and gently steered me to meet our reflection in the giant mirror in front of us. "But think about it this way: We are about to get married to the loves of our lives. Don't you think that's amazing?"We looked stunning.I had always imagined myself in a wedding gown, but none of my imagination topped the
ELLADr Celia was dead.We found her body and that of the witch who was controlling her outside of the altar, badly burned up.The altar itself was on fire, but the fire was going down as if being suppressed by an invisible hand.Magic was probably at play, we guessed so.Some of the saved werewolves offered to bury the dead.Even as I stared at the dead body of the witch who controlled and killed my mentor, I didn't feel any feeling of satisfaction that she was dead.I would have felt a million times better if I were the one to tear her apart bit by bit and leave her body parts for the vultures and crows to pick her bones clean."There's someone inside there," Tristan said as I watched the wolves dig a grave for Dr Celia.I turned to him. He and Tristan had gone to check the altar, but they didn't get as far as the door."There's a witch inside." Nathan said. "Just how many of them are they?""It's a coven." I said and turned to the altar. "There's a lot of them. And we're going to k
THIRD PERSON POVBeing under a witch's control was like being trapped in your head.Dr Celia didn't know exactly when she fell under the witch's control.All she remembered was waking up one morning and finding that her body wasn't in her control.She had woken up in the lab with no memories of getting there.She still had her consciousness, and the witch would sometimes let her take control for a few minutes or hours at a time, depending on what was needed.Celia did try to break free, or run, or alert someone of what was going on.But before she opened her mouth to speak, she would find herself slipped back to the darkest corner of her mind, and a strange presence would take control of her body.She hated it. Absolutely hated it.It went on for long months. An unspoken rule. "Keep your mouth shut at all times."The witch searched her brain, all her memories, the treasure robe of medieval knowledge and experience that she had. And the witch used them all to her advantage.Not only di
ELLA“What the fuck is that thing?" Tristan asked, his voice carrying the awe and surprise we all felt.The large circle was the size of a small football field. The land strips around it looked like they had been lynched of all life. The circle glowed a pulsing red, dark and ominous, like something from a horror movie."A circle," Wendy said, her voice shaky.I couldn't even speak."I can see that it's a fucking circle, Carter. But what exactly is it?!""We don't know," Nathan replied. "We don't fucking know."We had been able to save most of the werewolves who had been mind-controlled and injured.I couldn't shake off the feeling of something being wrong.Then we noticed a light in the distance, not far from the altar, and traced it to this weird circle."You've got to be fucking with me," Tristan said, his voice cold and angry."Oh my goodness." I gasped, my eyes going wide.Out of the circle werewolves, many of them coming out in their numbers. Their eyes glowed red, signifying tha
WENDY’S POVMy entire body screamed out in protest.The ache had settled deep in my bones, and each step I took worsened the pain.I felt lightheaded and on the verge of passing out.Vomit rose in my throat, and everything felt too bright and too loud.I was bleeding. Those idiot vines had thorns that cut into my skin. The cuts hissed in pain as my contaminated blood flowed out of it.My heart hurt like a banger.I was literally about to pass out on the cold forest floor.But seeing Ella's face above mine, her brows tight with concern, her lower lip between her teeth in a way she did when she was stressed, the smoke and burns all over her body when she had pulled me out of that fire — how could I pass out when my friend needed my help?"Wendy?” She tapped my chin. "Hey! Can you see me? Wendy!""I can," I groaned. “Thank you; I feel better now."I felt like shit.But at least I didn’t feel the burning of that disgusting wolfsbane in my body."Here," Ella extended her hand and helped me
ELLAI burst into the altar first.Inside, the weirdly circular place was dark, even with the numerous candles lit everywhere.I looked around frantically, my heart beating so loud in my ears.My eyes were drawn to an inverted cross in the center of the room, raised on a flat stone altar.There was a girl bound to the cross with tight, thorny vines that slithered and moved across her skin.My eyes widened as I saw the girl, her face bloody and dirty but familiar."Wendy!" I screamed out, my voice laced with horror. I rushed to her side.Wendy's head rolled to the side, and she looked at me.Her eyes were blood red, similar to the wolves who had been under the witch's mind control. She bared her fangs at me, growling in anger."I'll get you out of here!" I cried out. I grabbed the vines and pulled them. "Argh!" I stumbled back, my hand cradled in my lap.The vines cut into my palm, and blood dripped steadily down the cuts onto the floor. Those vines looked alive, moved, and sounded lik
ELLAMy flashlight shot through the dark forest, a flurry of bats scurrying to safety overhead.The twins and I walked through the thick forest, and with each step, the feeling of foreboding over me grew.The forest was too silent.It was too dark.And I could swear I saw things moving at the corner of my vision.Every sense I possessed tingled, and all my instincts warned me to run away—to turn and run.I pressed forward, my grip on the flashlight tight, even though I was trembling.Tristan walked in front of me, Nathan behind me. I felt safe between them, but I was still worried.Perhaps we should have waited till morning.But I didn't want to see what would happen if we waited.Each time I blinked, I saw the map with the red-marked location glaring at me."There's someone here," Tristan said and paused.I looked around, but the shadows in the forest moved and slithered. The beam of his flashlight moved from left to right, too."I feel it, too," Nathan said.A low growling sound rea