Neaera-Ugh, my head was killing me. Opening my eyes, I looked around at my surroundings. I didn’t recognize anything. Where was I? I tried to remember the last thing that happened before going to sleep, but nothing came to mind.The room I was in was large and extravagant, like something straight out of an elegant home design magazine. I was lying on a large bed with bedposts on each corner and some sort of off-white fabric covering each side of the bed.Slowly sitting up, I placed my hand on my head as my head felt as if it were spinning. After a moment, the dizziness went away. Allowing my gaze to wander around the room, I realized that there was something familiar about this place.If I remember correctly, I had been in a room like this before, but I hadn’t paid too much attention to it. Thinking back, I tried to remember exactly when I had been in a room like this. Only bits and pieces of my memory returned, but not enough to put the pieces together.Shoving the covers back, I lo
Neaera-I woke to the sound of yelling and screaming coming from outside. Once again as I woke up, my head was pounding, but it was from the hit I got from Alpha Benson. This time, as I looked around, I realized that I was in the cellar that was under the packhouse.I was lying on a cot in a dank cell, with only a bucket at the far end that smelled as if it were used as a toilet. Groaning, I rolled off the cot and stood up. I nearly forgot about my hip, but quickly remembered when my leg gave out from under me.Steadying myself, I went to the cell door, which was nothing more than iron bars from floor to ceiling. Turning my body to the side, I tried to see if I could squeeze out, but no luck. Peering through the bars, I didn’t see anyone around.“Hello?” I yelled but was only met with the sound of my own echoing voice.Hitting the bar with my hand, I let out a curse. I didn’t know what was going on outside, but I needed to use this as a chance to get out of here. Looking around the ce
Neaera-I was about to say something, but before I could, a deep voice spoke instead. “I don’t think you have the right to decide that.”Spinning around, I saw a tall man walking toward us. I recognized him, he was the Alpha King. I wasn’t sure why he was here, but I instantly became cautious. This wasn’t the first time I have interacted with him, but that was when he hired me for a job.Now it was different because I didn’t know why he was here. Stepping back, I moved closer to Stryker. My eyes moved to where the other hybrids were, and I could see that they were also a little wary about the Alpha King is here.“Alpha, what brings you here?” Alpha Benson bowed his head, completely disregarding what had been said and acting as if all was well in the world.“Cut the crap.” The Alpha King’s voice roared as he came to tower over Alpha Benson.A whimper escaped Alpha Benson and he dropped to his knees, with his head tilted to the side. It was an obvious submissive move, but it seemed as i
Neaera-A slow smile spread across the Alpha King’s face as he nodded his head. “Now I can understand why Zach believes you are the one to lead the hybrids. Honestly, I was hoping you would agree with my suggestion, but that was for my own benefit. The council and I have already discussed another option.”“What is that?” I turned my body slightly, raising one knee on the bench and folding it into me.“For now, we would like to offer you complete transparency and you lead the hybrids as you see fit. Just like other were-animals, you will become a branch of the werewolves. When you have something established and know which direction you wish to go, then we can discuss things more in-depth. In the meantime, you will have the protection of the werewolves at your back.”I narrowed my gaze at him as I tried to decipher his words. It was pretty much what he was telling me before, but different. He also told me just moments before that hybrids couldn’t have our own system, but now he was tell
Neaera-At two o’clock in the morning, two days later, I was sitting on a plane with Stryker and the pack, along with fifteen vampires. I still didn’t know where we were headed. When I learned that the pack owned a plane that was big enough to hold over two hundred passengers, I was shocked.It would have been less shocking if it had been something new that Stryker did. The shocking part was that I grew up in this pack and I had known nothing about the plane. What else did I not know about this pack?“Are you okay?” Stryker asked in the seat beside me.“Will everyone be safe where we are going?” I asked, deciding to keep my real thoughts to myself.“We will be arriving at a private hangar. There is an underground path that the vampires will be able to access to get to our destination. I promise I made sure everything would be safe for everyone.”Being that he was thoughtful, I let go of the fact that I had been left in the dark about the pack. It really shouldn’t be too surprising, co
Stryker-Having Nea on my back as we ran across the open fields and through the woods, had been something I had dreamed of. When we arrived at a small village, we didn’t have to hide as we shifted back into our human forms. Most people around here were either part of the supernatural world or knew about it.Taking the clothes that I had discarded from another member that had picked them up for me, I quickly dressed. Nea wandered off on her own, but I wasn’t worried. I found her sometime later as she was having a snowball fight with some kids.Instead of joining in, I stood back and watched. This was the first time I have seen her laugh so freely as if she didn’t have a worry in the world. Even when she was younger, there had always been something keeping the light from fully reaching her eyes.“She really is something, isn’t she?” Zach said as he stepped beside me and watched Nea playing around. The hybrids also joined in on the fun, as did some of the werewolves.“That she is. By the
Neaera-This was just my luck. Instead of watching where I was going, I nearly ran into a wolf that jumped out in front of me. Now I didn’t know where I was. One minute I was having fun and snowboarding down the mountain, the next I was taking a hard left turn to avoid hitting the wolf.I ended up getting off track of the course and going down the wrong side of the mountain. My board was broken, and I think my ankle was sprained. Other than that, I felt fine, but when I attempted to let someone know what happened, I couldn’t get through.It was weird because it reminded me of when I was around Alpha Benson. I doubted there was any connection between now and then, but it made me feel uneasy. Sitting in a heap of snow that I crashed into, I stood up and winced when I applied pressure to my sprained ankle.Careful not to put too much pressure on my ankle, I turned around a few times to try to figure out where I was. Looking up at the area that I fell from, I saw that it was a large drop-
Neaera-Watching Stryker basically mutilate Benson, I sat back in shock. I have seen a lot of gruesome things in my life but watching someone I knew going to this extreme was on a whole new level. When Stryker stood up, he was naked and covered in blood.Looking into his face, I barely recognized the man that he was. His face was distorted, with wolf features mixed with his human features. It was hard to distinguish between beast and man.“Are you okay?” Stryker’s voice sounded more human than it did, but I couldn’t move or speak.I wasn’t scared or anything, but I was in shock. It wasn’t until he was standing in front of me, crouching in the snow, with the same hand that he used to rip apart Benson, that my senses returned. Blinking a few times, I focused on him and saw the same man I fell in love with, his eyes filled with concern and very much human.The animalistic features he presented moments ago were gone. I didn’t mind that he was covered in blood, but I was glad to see he was
Neaera-Once everyone left, it was just Stryker and me, alone. I could feel his eyes on me, but he didn’t utter a word. Avoiding eye contact, I moved past him to go upstairs. It felt good to be back home and what I really wanted to do was take a long hot shower.Entering the bedroom I shared with Stryker, I went directly into the bathroom. I was about to close the door, but Stryker flattened his hand against the door, stopping it from closing. I guess I had been so focused on avoiding him, that I failed to notice he was following me.“Don’t think you are getting off the hook that easy. Things have settled down with everyone and everything else, but you and I still have something to discuss.” His deep voice sounded far too serious for my liking, almost causing me to cower in fear.“I know what you are going to say, and I am sorry. I won’t ever do what I did again.”“Do you know though? I don’t think you do. If you did, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”“I do.” I whispered,
Neaera-Slowly I lowered Stryker to the ground, away from Dimitri’s corpse. Cradling him on my lap, I pressed my hand against the gaping hole in his chest. He was alive, but barely. With all the blood that was seeping out of his wound, I wasn’t sure for how long.I could hear his heartbeat getting slower with each beat. His werewolf healing wouldn’t be fast enough, and we were too far away from anyone to help. Tears welled up in my eyes. I was at a loss for what to do.“You can’t leave me.” I sobbed, not caring that I was full fledge crying right now. “I should have been faster.” I added with another sob.A smile spread over his face, and it looked serene. I wanted to yell at him for smiling, but I was only glad to be able to see his smile, even if it was going to be the last time. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.Leaning forward, I wondered if he had said something, but I hadn’t heard him. I swear if he says some snarky comment, I was going to yell at him. I felt
Neaera-Dimitri went back and forth, each one gaining the upper hand and then losing it. If this kept up, I wasn’t sure how I would manage to keep going. I was throwing everything I had into trying to take him down.There needed to be a change and it needed to happen soon. With no other choice, I focused on blocking and dodging his attacks, so I could reach out to Leo. He hasn’t mentioned any weakness Dimitri has yet, so I doubt I would be able to get any new information.“Leo, please tell me you have something that will help me win against Dimitri.” I connected with him.It was still weird that I could connect with him, even though we were no longer in the same pack. When I decided to the Luna ceremony in Alaska, there had been so much going on that I spaced about losing my connection to Leo. To my surprise, I was still able to connect with him.The Alpha King mentioned that it was possible that even if he hadn’t been a part of the ceremony, our bond was strong enough to carry over.
Neaera-“Why did you want me to meet you here?” I asked Dimitri, after a few seconds.I had no reason to respond to his last statement. I would much rather get down to the bottom of what had changed his mind about meeting with me to talk. I felt like he had alternative motives though, although, I did as well.“What? You don’t like this place? I thought it would add a bit of charm to our meeting.” He looked around with a look of nostalgia on his face.Narrowing my eyes at him, I tried to get a sense of what he was planning. He seemed far too calm and chill for someone who had made it clear that they wanted me to die. I wondered if Leo had gotten into his head at all.That was the only thing I could think of. Of all the hybrids Dimitri had in his possession, Leo was the best at mind games. I talked to Leo this morning, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about him. He hadn’t mentioned anything out of the ordinary.I was tempted to open my link to him, but to do that, I would need to let
Stryker-Now that everyone was gathered near the front entrance, the only one left was Neaera. Glancing at my watch, I frowned at the time. I thought she would have been the first one at the entrance, due to it taking a bit longer than normal to get everyone off.I attempted to link with her, but I felt her mental block in place. The only reason for her to do that is if she was trying to keep me or anyone from connecting with her. I knew instantly that she was either in danger or about to be.“Stubborn woman.” I growled, not realizing until it was too late that I had spoken out loud.“What is it?” Zach asked, who was standing next to me.“Nothing.” I said in a rush.Until I knew what was going on, I didn’t want to alarm anyone. If something was going on, it was probably better to keep it lowkey for now. Knowing her the way I did; she was probably doing this to protect everyone.That in itself was reason enough to not involve anyone. I just wish I knew where to start looking for her. S
Neaera-“What do you want?” I bit off with venom in my voice.“That is no way to talk to your father.” Dimitri laughed and the way he said father seemed as if he had a challenging time choking that word out.“You have never been that to me and you never will. I will ask again, what do you want?”“I just figured we could have a little chat.” Dimitri sighed.“What do we have to talk about? I have heard everything I needed to hear from you.” I tried to keep my voice low just in case someone was walking by. I didn’t want anyone to overhear who I was talking to.“I haven’t told you about your mother or how you were conceived.”That got my attention and as much as I wished I didn’t want to know, I did. Since knowing I was adopted and finding out I was a hybrid, as well as who my father was, I have wanted to know. I still hadn’t heard from Zach whether his test results returned, but I suspected I was his niece.With everything going on, I haven’t had a chance to learn anything about my mothe
Neaera-We spent another couple of days at the resort, enjoying our time while we could. Everything remained relatively calm. The Alpha King stayed just an extra day, but then he had to return to his duties. We didn’t have any more surprise attacks, which was a good thing.Things were starting to fall into place, which was great for everyone. Zach was becoming eager by the minute though. He mentioned how when everything was over, he planned to take a long vacation and spend some quality time with his mate.I didn’t blame him because he was overdue for it. I didn’t understand how he managed to stay away from his mate for so long. Since becoming Stryker’s mate, I couldn’t imagine spending so much time away from him.“Hey.” Speaking of Stryker, he popped his head around the corner, from the bathroom, where he was packing up our stuff while I packed our clothes.“You about done?” I asked, giving him a teasing smile.“I am, but I was going to see if you wanted to take a quick shower with m
Neaera-“What brings you here?” I asked the Alpha King the moment we were seated in the living area of the room that Stryker and I shared.“I had hoped to get here in time before anything happened, but I am sorry I hadn’t been fast enough. I am glad that you are okay though. When I found out that Benson escaped, I decided to follow him to Alaska and deal with him personally.” He was looking at me as he spoke until his attention moved to Stryker.“I am not surprised that you were able to take him out on your own. It just goes to show that some were born to be true Alpha.” The Alpha King added.“I can’t really take the credit. Nea had the situation handled before I got there, I just finished the job.” Stryker turned to smile at me as he reached over and grabbed my hand. “She is the true leader in all of this.”Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes at the pride in his voice. I could give a poor man food and he would think I solved world hunger. I did like how he admired me, but I was embarra
Neaera-It took two days to get everything ready for the ceremony. I was nervous, but I wasn’t at the same time. It was helpful that I had a large support system around me. To think that before everything changed five years ago, I only had my brother to depend on and a few others.Now, I have them and so much more. A part of me wished that Stryker’s parents could be here because I would have loved to show them the woman I have become. I knew they had loved me like their own daughter and for the first time since learning of their death, it hurt knowing that they weren’t here anymore.“Are you ready?” The Alpha King asked through the door.I was in the room I shared with Stryker, but he was already downstairs, making sure everything was ready. The Alpha King was stepping in to make the Luna Ceremony official since we were uniquely going about this. It made me think of a wedding ceremony, that I have seen in movies.I was wearing a white dress, minus the veil, with a tiara covered in dia