“You look busy.” I smile at Melinda as she looks up at me. She zips up the yellow suitcase she was packing when I walked through the bedroom door.Melinda drags the suitcase off the bed and sets it with the others beneath the window.“Just thought I’d finish the packing while you were with Drew. I know you said we could finish the last little bit in the morning. But after my shower, I couldn’t settle. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without it being done, so I did it.”I shake my head and chuckle.I pull her into my arms and kiss her softly. “I would have finished the packing; you didn’t need to bother.”Melinda laughs. “Yeah, right. You said that every day for a week.”She’s right; I did. I wouldn’t say I’m lazy, but I do tend to put things like packing off until the last minute. I hate packing, hence why I put it off as much as I do. However, I didn’t mean for Melinda to think she should do it all alone.“So I did. Thank you, beautiful.”“You’re welcome, handsome. Is everyt
'Melinda,'Someone whispering my name rouses me from my sleep. I look around the darkened room, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. I don't see anyone other than Jai asleep next to me.I smile because I can't help myself. My mate loves me; regardless of where I came from and who my father is, Jai loves me. The Goddess above knows that I love him too.'Melinda.'There's that voice again.Am I going crazy?'You're not crazy, and I mean you no harm.''Who are you? What do you want?' I speak through my mind because that's how whoever this woman is is talking to me.How can this woman speak with me and hear me as if we have a mind link?'Who I am will become clear soon enough. Meet me at the edge of the forest.''Why on Earth would I do that?''Because I have the answer to all your problems, including your father. Meet me, and all will be well.'Perhaps I'm asleep?Yeah, that's what this is; I'm asleep and dreaming.But what would it hurt to meet this woman if that's the case?I gent
Sally smiles slightly in my direction. I feel the hurt falling from my grandmother in the bucket load. She doesn't want to do this, but she knows there is no other choice.I don't know what I'm going to do with all the information she's handing out. It's a lot, yet not enough at the same time.“I spent a long time healing myself, and it took me many years to locate Miko. It seemed Miko had cast his own concealment spell, but he couldn't hide from me forever. I found him at Silver Paw and found out he'd changed his name and had a family. I hadn't heard anything terrible, and I kept myself hidden so he wouldn't know I was spying on him. I hoped his mate had changed him, all the time wondering why the Moon Goddess would saddle anyone with my son as a mate.”I don't pull away when she cups my cheek with a smile. I don't because I feel safe with my grandmother, and I know she doesn't want to harm me. I don't know how I know this, but I feel it deep within me.“My sweet child, the last of my
“Jai, wake up!”“What?” I groan while opening my eyes to Drew shaking me.“Get dressed. You need to come with me now.”I sit up and rub my eyes. Goddess damn, I was in a deep sleep for the first time in days.Why did he have to wake me up?I look at the clock beside me and groan. “Drew, it's three in the morning.”“Yes, and your mate has been standing at the edge of the forest for the past twenty minutes, staring into space.”“What the hell?” I look beside myself for clarification. Melinda isn't beside me, and her side of the bed is stone cold.I scramble out of bed and pull on jogging bottoms, a t-shirt, and trainers faster than I ever have.“How do you know she's out there?”“Couldn't sleep. I was looking out of my window when I spotted her there. I mind-linked the guards and was told Melinda had been there a while.”“And they didn't approach her and ask what she was doing?”Drew shrugs. “I guess not. Come on,”I follow Drew as he leads me to Melinda.Why did the guards not stop her
“Mum,” I groan as she grabs my face in her hands and kisses my cheek repeatedly.Dad playfully rolls his eyes while smirking, something he always does when Mum gets like this. Hell, we leave for one night to stay with Anja and Orrin, and Mum acts like she won’t be seeing us for months. Goddess, we’ve already been through all of this with Drew – Mum crying and kissing his cheek over and over.It was the same with Grandma Faye, hugging, kissing, and telling me how much she’ll miss me. Grandpa Jethro did what Dad is doing now and rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. Moreso when Faye demanded that I call as soon as I got to Crimson Shadow. If Drew and I didn’t call, she’d think something was wrong and come running immediately.I love my grandmother; she makes me smile every day. I’ll miss her more than I realised. But she doesn’t seem to want to let me grow up any time soon. Drew and Damien, she’s fine allowing them to grow up and have a life. She seems to want to baby me, which prov
“Wow. It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” I exclaim while staring up at the packhouse. I wasn’t expecting it to be this big.Okay, it’s smaller than the packhouse at Silver Paw; that place is enormous. Greenrock’s packhouse is bigger too. But this place looks fantastic, like a Victorian Manor house, but not massive like a mansion. Goddess, it’s beautiful, brick and painted a pale yellow around the doors and white around the window frames – that kind of thing. I can’t wait to see what the inside looks like.I smile as Jai slips his arm around my waist. “It’s not bad at all. What do you think, Drew?”Drew huffs but doesn’t reply verbally to Jai. He’s not happy to be here at all. It’s not going to be easy for him, but I do hope he settles. Crimson Shadow need their Alpha to care.I shake off the thought and look at my surroundings. The garden is beautiful, with perfectly manicured flowers and freshly mown grass. It’s incredible, and I think I might like it here.I know from what Jai
There's a recreation room where pack members, warriors, etc., can hang out during breaks. Not that Drew wants a bunch of wolves here at the same time.The dining room is humongous, with a long solid oak dining table with fifty chairs surrounding it! Shit, this place is something else. The light fixtures alone look as though they cost a fortune, let alone the medieval-looking wall lights. Goddess, it's all so magnificent!The French doors at the back of the room lead to a private garden. It's beyond anything I ever imagined. There's a barbeque section, an archway that leads to a pool, and even an outdoor bar. But the flowers are immense!I don't know what the packhouse looked like before Drew had it renovated, but I doubt it was anything like this. Every room smells of fresh paint, and they're so clean. The decorators really did an excellent job.Finally, Drew leads us to the upper level of the house. He doesn't show us every room but explains each bedroom imitates the next. They all h
I lead Melinda over to the sofa on the other side of the room. We sit side by side, hand in hand.“What's wrong, Jai?”“I need to speak to you about last night.” Melinda stares at me, unblinking. “Last night, while I slept, you teleported out of the room and ended up at the forest's edge.”“Oh,” Melinda sighs. “How did you find out?”“Drew woke me up and told me where you were.” I stroke my thumb over her knuckles. “I spoke to you, but you didn't answer. You seemed to be asleep; your eyes were glazed over. Why didn't you tell me you were having problems enough to sleepwalk?”“I wasn't sleepwalking, Jai.” She sighs again, lets go of my hand and gets out of her seat. She bites the pad of her thumb while pacing.I stand and take her hand in mine. “What is it, Melinda? What aren't you telling me?”“I was going to tell you, Jai, I promise.”“Tell me what?” I take her face in my hands. “Baby, what's going on?”“Last night, I heard a woman whisper my name,” Melinda explains the events of las