Raven was rummaging in the kitchens, pulling out leftovers. She didn’t hide how upset she was. Raven felt the need to walk or run to release her nervous energy. The urge to scream remained constant within her. “So, I’m only here because I’m trouble anywhere else. This Pack won’t recognize me as their Luna even though I’m mated to their Alpha and do everything a Luna is supposed to do. Right got it.” Raven knew this enforcer didn’t know about the anger she kept bottled up that he now poked at. He attempted to dislodge the cork of the champagne bottle by stomping on it with the heel of his boot. “Well, that may have come out wrong.” The enforcer watched Raven; he shifted where he stood, displaying his nervousness as she placed food on the counter with a little too much force. He’d never seen this she-wolf in anything other than a withdrawn state. The few times he’d seen Hilary or Kelsey confront her; she’d never raised her voice. He’d never seen her s
“Let’s all consider stepping back. I don’t think much of this will get resolved unless we take a less combative approach.” He pulled out a chair and offered it to Raven. “Luna please. I think this might help us all if we discuss this. It’s something we can correct others on if we understand what is going on. It’s one thing if it comes from Alpha Jones, but it’s something else if it comes from others.” Raven couldn’t avoid seeming unreasonable in this situation. “I’m not sure what you are getting at.” “Your hurt and negative feelings are now being felt by the more sensitive among us. Add in the facts the Alpha and Beta have disclosed. The events that have taken place. Luna views are changing, and questions are being asked. You aren’t dismissed and disliked on sight by everyone. I’ve had to deal with many heated discussions over past events and recent discoveries. Some punishments were contested as well until the facts were thrown in everyone’s faces.
Raven didn’t know what to think when she looked at the wolves about her. Every one of them agreed with Dominic and not her. They thought her idea of leaving foolish and not an option. If it wasn’t an option what were her options, then? How did she find her options? If she lived Raven didn’t want to live with guilt over any deaths. If she died, she didn’t want to be the cause of other peoples’ deaths. Nor did she want to be blamed for those deaths. She couldn’t get over the visceral reaction they had to the thought of her leaving. It seemed odd to her. Why were they so against it now? If this were a month ago Raven was sure they’d have shrugged and gone on their way. How did this change happen? When? What triggered it? It wasn’t loyalty to her. No one liked her any better. She knew that for sure. Dominic hadn’t allowed her much access to the Pack without him. So, she’d not had much interaction like this. Unfiltered and raw. Now, she sat h
“Of course, you dare me. No one else would dare me to do anything. Lady Fate herself wouldn’t have given me a mate any less daring than me as a match. My mate must be willing to meet me head-to-head, she must have a strong will, be just as responsible, she must have the courage to take the chances I do and be as dedicated to being the person they present to the world through her honesty.” “Dominic, do you hear yourself? What are you talking about? That’s not me. I hate gambling, games of chance, and I don’t like taking risks. We’re opposites. The reason I worked at the bar was that it was close to the Pack’s territory, and it didn’t care about Pack affiliations. Honesty? What could I lie about? I had no rank. What airs could I put on? Who could I pretend to know? There’s no influence I could pretend to have either.” Dominic didn’t respond right away. She could see him struggling with his emotions. When he did respond he didn’t change his attitude
“Raven, wake up. Wake up. I got the call. We must go we’ve a meeting to now.” Dominic said. He shook Raven awake with this urgent explanation. “Okay. Okay. I’m awake. What’s going on? What meeting?” Raven sat up in bed and clutched the sheets to herself. Paul stood there looking away from the bed. She realized he must have come in with the message for Dominic. “The Oracle is demanding to see you now and it seems you’re being called by name.” Dominic said. He explained the meeting and the twist no one expected. “What do you mean I’m being called by name? I thought you didn’t use my name.” Raven wasn’t all the way awake yet and couldn’t figure out how the Oracle had her name. The Oracle shouldn’t know her name or anything about her. “I didn’t tell Gregory that you were the Dreamer. But the Oracle’s did not name you as the Dreamer. But she is demanding to see you by name. So, we’re heading there now to see her.” Dominic sat besi
“Okay, I guess if I must. Lead the way.” Raven still sounded like she was beaten down. As if she believed she didn’t have a choice. Dominic stopped in the doorway and looked at her back as Raven approached the stairs. Paul stood two stairs down taking note of Dominic’s hesitation. “Raven, I’m not forcing you to go. If you don’t want to go. Or if you don’t feel you’re safe then we won’t go. I want to know what’s going on that’s all.” He could see her as she shifted on her feet. “It’s not about whether I want to. It’s about whether I’m the right wolf for the job.” “Do you know why you’re being summoned?” “No, but it won’t be for something minor. I don’t think my aunt understood the concept of what my mom and me can do. I think she used us as spies, but we’re much more than that. At least, that’s what I feel when I think about what she said. I wish she’d contacted me already. So, the only thing we can do is see how this plays out
Dominic thought hearing these two females say this to Raven was the most terrifying thing he’d ever heard. Because of whom said it and the connotations that reverberated from it and the spontaneity of the response. Luna Wolversen was known to be a little different about guessing things or having feelings about someone. She’s known for building plans around those feelings for good reason. Then there’s the Oracle. But the cherry on top for Dom was Gregory’s mutter beside him. “By all that’s sacred Goddess what did you mate me to? I love her, but she scares the living crap out of me. What are we getting ourselves into this time?” “I think what you just said will become my new motto.” Dominic had never heard a more accurate statement in his life, and he doubted he’d ever forget it. “It’s something I’ve been saying in one version or another since the day I’ve met her. I should have known I wasn’t walking into a simple human’s dream. But n
“Not what I had planned or by choice if I’m honest with you.” Raven said to Lily. But Luna Wolversen caught their attention by busting out laughing.“You joined the ranks then in a long line. I had wolves running for cover because this one got frisky in his study on the sofa. Did warn me about what he might do? The poor human widow he’d kidnapped along with her son. No, he didn’t. So, there I am yelling at one of the most feared wolf shifters on the continent afraid he might kill me because my dead husband warned me his brother was the type to kill people who got in the way of his family. Yes, it’s overrated Raven. Just whack him over the head with a rolled-up newspaper and tell him he’s been bad and get on with living.” “Rolled-up newspaper?”“Okay, I didn’t do the newspaper thing. That was his mother to his father. Believe me when I say the ones everyone fears are a mess. You should ask his mother about the state his father was in when she first met him. He’d fallen out of a
FOUR YEARS LATER “Dominic, where is Romini?” Raven demanded as she stormed into the Great Room of the Pack House of the Silver Lycan Pack. They’d renamed the Pack when they discovered their wolves fur all took on a silver sheen in place of the colors they had. Brigid couldn’t explain why and when nothing disturbing or negative occurred they let it stay a mystery for the time being. “Where is your son?” “Last time I saw. He made his escape up to the Lady’s fortress to see Lothe and his latest creation. Has he done something?” Dominic said to Raven with an indulgent smile. He knew exactly what was coming his way as soon as he’d seen his pup run past the Great Room doors heading for the main entrance. Romini had been clutched in his jaws as his tiny claws skittered across the hardwood floors. He shouldn’t be able to shift, but it turned out that any shifter born within the Dream Realm could shift at a much younger age. “No, and that’s the p
Raven and Dominic learned they led a more import group than they had expected. Their enforcers soon became indispensable to the army units because their wolves heightened senses, speed, and stealth made them helpful with information gathering and following scent trails. Their speed had helped save several people from sudden attacks because they were so much faster. “I’m proud to say Raven that as of today your territory is stable. There will be no more time slips there. It’s time for you to take over and learn what is on your territory.” Brigid said in an announcement to the court of Dreamers and army heads. “Stage one complete and onto stage two then. We’ll enter the territory and record what’s left in the area. Then we can clear what we can.” Raven said as she looked from Brigid out through a window that showed a few of the territory they were speaking about. “Do be mindful of the shadows. There are larger ones out there than the ones
“I can’t believe that we’ve had so many wolves who’ve changed their minds and attitudes. There’s more wolves and things that are ready to go through the portals. It’ll take weeks to take everything and everyone through even with the help of other Dreamers. Are you sure this won’t be too much for your people Raven?” Dominic asked. His concern was real and obvious over his face. He’d been worried about this point for the entire time, but he'd held it back. “Het’ Tur has promised to open a portal for us, and he’s arranged it with the mages. So, we’re hoping there’ll be no conflict between the two portal systems.” Raven told him. Het’ Tur’s portals were far older and broke through between realms rather than ran between realms like the mage portals. With the mages communicating with Brigid now, it meant they now spoke with Het’ Tur too. They were working out how their systems could work together for everyone. The problem they had were vehicles wouldn’t w
“Well, that went a better than I thought it would.” Raven settled back into the limousine and looked at Dominic. She felt exhausted from the meeting with the military and scientific specialists. Several political faces were from human and supernatural groups. Everyone was there to discuss the surprise that humans were waking up to the magic from the Dream Realm. The supernatural world had to introduce them to what was for everyone’s safety. They planned to teach those who awoke to the Dream Realm for their own safety. They needed to know the warning signs. How to avoid and protect themselves. Raven wanted to say good luck. “Really, I thought the humans were going to call bullshit every time you said anything. I wanted to snap at that general and I suspect the scientists were about to have a fit when you told them that Fae was about as strong as the creation as the universe. They looked like they were going to have a heart attack.” Dominic said as he
“So, you are aware of other realms.” Raven sat across a large table from several humans. “Yes, madam we have many who swear they see things in their sleep. But when the numbers increased, and the dynamic changed to include a group who strove to prove what they saw in their dreams. Especially after supernatural beings came forward and it became clear that there was an unknown travel network. Then the Fae were revealed and other dimensions. It’s opened sciences we have kept as theory until now.” “I’ll tell you the truth right now that most realms or dimensions are too dangerous to interact with and it’s not worth interacting with them. The reason the Dream Realm and Fae Realm work with ours is because the Fae twisted our dimension to work for them. That includes twisting humans to work for them. Humans were a generic template that they could use to alter for any need. As in creating a shifter species. Now, we are sorry you had to remove them the first
Raven stood beside Dominic as they waited for the Pack to arrive and find their places within the great room. She’d been pacing behind him for the last twenty minutes as they prepared for this meeting. They’d not told anyone what this meeting was about but had told them that this was a mandatory meeting. Raven wouldn’t tell anyone when they called her and tried to pry the information from her as if she would betray her mate.It was too hard to believe that she was so loyal to Alpha Dominic which had several wolves scratching their heads. But they were struggling even more because he seemed more devoted than even before. The Pack in general were left scratching their heads as Raven had earned the loyalty of the other Pack leadership as well.“I am glad to see you at least are smart enough to attend this meeting.” Dominic hadn’t liked hearing confirmation of the odd opinions and complaints. The wolves shouldn’t have been concerned. “I’ve had several mixed feelings these last few we
Raven had gone to the meeting with Dominic and they’d discussed the situation along with as many of the complications as they could predict. Gregory had expressed his appreciation that they’d brought this idea to him before they had put anything into play. It meant he and the Council of Alphas could make plans to counteract any negative fallout.She had to admit she wasn’t sure if they’d be welcome to bring their Pack into the Dream Realm. Or if they would leave this realm entirely. It’s too early to know how they would proceed with this plan.The Dreamers had spread out and had begun to use their training. Stabilizing the timelines, dealing with the more aggressive shadow creatures, and learning about the abandoned things within their area. They had to record everything and the state it was in. With their contact with the mages it wasn’t difficult to reach out to other species who possessed magic. Much of the lost magical items were responding to one kind of magic or another.
“Brigid says she’ll be in touch soon with scheduling so we can have a rotation of sorts. That way we can have a consistent rebuilding going on inside the Dream Realm. So, how are we going to run this place around all that? I don’t even know what anyone thinks about all of this because no one’s dared to speak to me. It’s like they think I’ll unmake them or something.” Raven said to Dominic as she returned from the Dream Realm where she’d had a meeting with Brigid and the other Dreamers. Dominic had seen the changes in her and the Pack. He’d said nothing to anyone about his idea of taking the Pack into the Dream Realm and becoming part of the enforcement powers there. He could see their Pack as a foundation of a future power.He wanted to support Raven the best way possible and he didn’t think he could do it from here.“Raven, love. Everyone is in shock because nothing is how they thought it was. They’re trying to figure out where they and you now rest in the world. People have
“Dominic, don’t worry about it. I know you don’t have to explain to me. When you disconnect your call with me I received a message from someone that explained what was happening.” Lily said as soon as they returned and she made them sit down to eat a meal.“Then can you explain it to us?” Dominic practically begged Lily to explain what they had witnessed even though she hadn’t been there to witness So, he wouldn’t stop the stow for anything and allow her to explain what she’d pieced together through some of her very odd channels, not that any of this was straight forward.“Please tell me she isn’t doing the biggest mistake of all time.” Raven stepped in now and she was practically begging to know that they weren’t letting her do something foolish. It was something they’d all been questioning since Brigid first said she was going to investigate the situation and she didn’t want anyone else going with her, because she didn’t like the idea of the risk. She had Het’ Tur and she didn’