THE OFFICIAL PACK VEHICLES pulled up in front of the castle and everybody climbed out. They were ready for anything that the council might say about the fact that the pack joined Nicolas and Beverly. Since it seemed as if the council didn’t have any spies in Collin’s pack, they had some space to manoeuvre.The tension within the group was pretty high since all of them felt the weight of what happened at the villa. Even though Nicolas had given the order for the rest of his people to be killed, the wolves were involved. They were prepared for anything the council might decide to ask and they were trying to show the council that they were a united front no matter who gave which orders.Nicolas felt incredibly uneasy as they walked into the building and he fought the urge to physically shiver when they were taken into the library. He couldn’t understand why they always had to wait for the council. They mostly arrived right on time, but the council always made you wait for at least ten mi
THE COUNCIL’S INQUISITION had everybody on edge. Collin didn’t want them to figure out that Anna was connected to the rest of them in some way. He found it strange that the council hadn’t asked anything about the hybrid’s powers, but maybe that was a small blessing in disguise that they hadn’t.It gave them time to figure out some kind of unlinking spell. Unfortunately, they suspected that Vlad would have spies watching the pack territory now, which meant if they brought in a witch to try and figure out the spell, Vlad would know something was going on. They were in a really tight spot thanks to Vlad’s greed, or what they suspected to be his greed.They had no real evidence that he was behind everything, so they couldn’t very well lay a charge to the council. It was going to become a wait-and-see game and the one who could patiently wait the longest was going to win. In the meantime, Collin felt as if he should cling to his mate every second of every day and he couldn’t help himself.
“You have no right to speak here!” The witch was furious and Nicolas wanted to get her back on track fast before she did something to Beverly.“I take it you can’t unlink the spell.” Nicolas sighed, trying his best not to show his fear for Beverly’s safety. He knew full well the witch would exploit it when she demanded her price. He was about to take the grimoire from her when she whipped it out of his grasp.“I know what you are trying to do, Nicolas.” The witch smiled. “I can do the unlinking spell, but it will come at a price.” He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as she smiled at him. “The price will be a debt.” She sighed as she put the book down on her little round table and started to collect herbs one by one.“A debt?” Beverly whispered, frowning, but before Nicolas could answer, the witch answered.“Yes, you probably know it as a future favour.” The witch sounded impatient as Beverly’s lips formed an “O” but no sound came out of her mouth. The witch turned her at
“Not again!” Anna sighed, fighting to sit up as everybody rushed to the side of the bed.“How are you feeling?” Collin stroked a stray piece of hair out of her face and Anna rolled her eyes. This was happening way too much and she was truly beginning to loathe being her!“Totally embarrassed that it happened again!” Anna growled, surprising all of them a little. “Besides the fact that I fainted again, what happened?” Her head was pounding and she felt as if she’d been run over by a freight train. Every muscle in her body was tight and aching.“Well, you drank the potion and passed out. The doctors didn’t find anything wrong, so, we all had to wait. I have to agree with you that I’m beginning to loathe this happening to you, Anna, but it’s not your fault. It’s never been your fault.” Collin pulled her into his arms and he wished she could just see herself through his eyes. He thought she was the strongest woman he had ever known. Stronger even than his mother and everything she went th
All Nicolas needed was one or two stray vampires that had nobody else. He could use them until he built his new nest and then get rid of them, or if they proved themselves worthy, he might just keep them around in lower positions.He needed all his top ranks to be filled with people he specifically turned. They needed to be part of his bloodline so he could ensure they would remain loyal. There was no way he was going to go through what happened at the villa ever again. He thought he had created a sanctuary for all vampires who were seeking a peaceful life.As they walked into the club, he could feel the energy and it was good to be back. He had completely forgotten how incredible it felt to hunt. Not that they would be hunting in the club. The humans in this club were part of a select group of people who knew about the supernatural world. They either wanted to be fed on or they were hoping to be turned so they could become part of the supernatural world.There were, of course, strict
ANNA BREATHED IN DEEPLY on the doctor’s command and he smiled. She had healed completely from whatever the potion did to her. She felt weird though, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong and she almost breathed a sigh of relief when he told her she definitely wasn’t pregnant.The only thing that could explain her sudden weirdness was the potion and the fact that she was no longer linked to the hybrids. Was it loss? Could it be that, because she was no longer linked, she felt some sense of loss? Collin indulged her this far, but it was time they got back to their lives, and although she still felt as if something was wrong, she had no other choice but to agree.With the situation with the council looming over their heads even though it didn’t look as though anything was happening, they had to be more alert than they normally were. Her entire family believed that this Vlad guy was coming for them. The border patrols were strengthened and although Nicolas insisted he didn’t want an
As they walked into the abandoned building for the third time, Nicolas felt his heartache. He still couldn’t believe that Joshua and Amber were living there. They had no other family, which was at least a good thing for Nicolas, but it was sad for them since they had to do this all on their own. Nicolas picked up Joshua’s last box and carried it outside while Joshua checked if there was anything else they might have forgotten.Nicolas also couldn’t believe that two young people who clearly didn’t have much, had three loads full of stuff to move. It was mostly Amber’s which made sense. Joshua wanted all her stuff to be in her room when she moved in with him. Nicolas was stunned at how much the young man cared for his sister, so he wanted to make sure Joshua had everything he needed to make Amber happy.This way he could ensure that Joshua was happy and that they wouldn’t have a newborn running around the city. That would give Vlad exactly what he needed and the council would fall in li
Things soon fell into a nice routine at home with Amber as she grew used to not killing her brother. Joshua was doing really well at school to finish his high school degree and he was talking about possibly going into accounting with the odd comment that he would like to become a lawyer.It didn’t really matter to Nicolas what Joshua chose, since he had lawyers and accountants and every kind of consultant you could think of. He needed vampires, which brought up the subject with Joshua. Nicolas had resigned himself to speaking to Joshua about it once and then to leave the boy be. If he really didn’t want to turn, Nicolas wasn’t going to force him, but they would have to do it when Joshua finished his high school degree.Joshua would have to be on holiday so that he could go through the same training process that Amber was going through. They couldn’t allow the young man to run around college chomping on young girls for food. If Joshua chose not to be turned into a vampire, it would cre
ANNA LOOKED AT HERSELF IN THE MIRROR while her team moved around her to get her ready for the day. Collin cleared his throat and they all moved out of the room discreetly. He stood behind Anna and breathed in deeply.“It’s time, babe.” He sounded so proud that it gave her the last push she needed to get through this day. She stood up and he pulled her into his arms. “I know you say that I don’t need to say this, but I want to say it.” Anna was about to open her mouth and then closed it. “You are a warrior. You are strong and beautiful, and an inspiration to us all. You are breathtaking and amazing. You are the queen and the Alpha of all Alphas, and I’m so damn proud of you that I could just spontaneously combust!” He grinned and she breathed in his scent before kissing him.“Thank you.” She took another deep breath before they left the room. They arrived in front of the huge wooden doors that led to the throne room. Her family gave her a last hug and then left her alone for a moment.
THE MEETING WITH THE purists was thick with tension right from the start. Anna has announced that her little friend had been executed for treason against the crown to show her power. It put the purists right onto their back feet and she could probably have handled things differently, but she wasn’t going to back down. Either they fell in line or she would take care of them as well.She wanted peace for her people. All of her people. If the purists didn’t see themselves as part of that group, they were her enemies. It saddened her to see that most of them were vampires, but it did make sense. They had always been a bit much in her mind. Nicolas sat on the opposite side of the table for once as the vampire representative, but Anna and Nicolas had their discussion before the meeting and she knew where he stood.He had to speak up for his people, but he didn’t necessarily have to agree with their views. Nicolas was merely there to make sure the vampires' rights were protected according to
THINGS AT THE CASTLE were running so smoothly that Anna felt uneasy. Things were running too smoothly. She knew she was being paranoid, but things in the supernatural world were never that easy. There was always someone in the background plotting and when things were running this smoothly, it was because someone had forced it.When things were running this smoothly, it was because someone was trying to hide what they were doing by making you think everything was going so well. Anna asked her assistant to keep her ear to the ground for any gossip, but they both knew that nobody was going to talk openly in front of the girl. Unless … Unless they thought that the girl could be convinced to spy on the queen …“Are you insane?” Collin threw his hands in the air and Anna shushed him. She had just explained her plan to him and he was pacing back and forth in their bedroom. She had been thinking about it all day. “Okay, so are you feeling this way because of your powers or just because you th
AS NEWS OF THE NEW royal councillors spread, Anna was flooded with nominations. She wasn’t just grateful that most of her kingdom seemed to be happy about the new developments, but she was relieved that people seemed to accept her as the new ruler. She was expecting much more resistance.In the back of her mind, however, she kept wondering if she was missing something. Were people just being nice while they were planning something in the background or were they honestly relieved that someone had sorted out the damned council for once? Thankfully, she didn’t have too much time to ponder it all. Life as a queen wasn’t exactly what she thought it could be.Her images of parties and leisurely hanging around a pool were definitely not going to happen. There were going to be parties all right, but they would mostly be stuffy, uptight, official events. As Anna and her assistant walked into Anna’s new office, her assistant started to go through the diary for the week. They had already covered
“CORONATION DAY!” The voice rang through their room and Anna rolled her eyes. Her assistant was far too chipper in the mornings when she woke her up. Anna plastered her smile on her face before sitting up so she could receive her breakfast and, as usual, her hands went straight for the coffee first.Today was coronation day for Collin and their son and it was going to be an amazing day. As her assistant drew the curtains, Anna felt her smile becoming real. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and she breathed in the scent of the flowers when her assistant opened the window. Seconds later, Collin’s personal valet walked in with his breakfast and Collin pretended to groan beside Anna.Deep down he was excited. Anna could feel it, but he was pretending to give his valet a hard time. He mentioned something the night before when they went to bed that he just loved seeing the man try and hide his eye roll. Anna was happy that Collin had found someone that basically replaced h
NOW THAT THEY WERE GOING TO OFFICIALLY BECOME the royal family, Anna had a lot to take care of. She had to arrange for their coronation ceremonies, which, although they were going to be a lot smaller, still had things to be taken care of.Anna wasn’t very happy that her family decided it would be best for all of them to move to the castle, but she had no other choice but to agree. It would cut down a lot on her travelling time for meetings. She just didn’t like living in that place. Thankfully, she had Collin to take care of the necessary things to make their wing of the castle a home for them. He made sure it was private enough and that nobody would intrude on their family time. The council wasn’t very happy about the changes to the old castle building, but they were at least satisfied that the royal family was now living where they believed the royal family belonged.A couple of days before the final move, they had the alpha ceremony at the pack house and Elana and the pack started
ANNA ASKED HER FAMILY to meet her in the boardroom. She had just gotten off the phone with the head of the council, who for once seemed elated about her decision. She tried her best to keep a straight face as she walked in with her two assistants behind her and she quickly took a seat, clearing her throat.“I’ve called you for this meeting because things aren’t working out.” Smiling on the inside, she took a deep breath and didn’t look at any of them for a moment. “The council and I have decided that I need more help to run the kingdom.” He hesitated and she could feel Collin growing angry. “We want to make you, Collin, king consort so that you can take over some of the responsibilities.” An array of emotions flashed over his face and a huge grin broke out all over Anna’s.“Our son will become the crown prince and my heir to the throne, and Sebastian and Leah, I want to know if you would be interested in being our first official lady and lord. There will, of course, be some responsibi
ANNA WAS FEELING so much better now that she and Collin were more intimate. The council also came back with a couple of changes to her protocol, but she refused to make them and she felt good about it. They were still trying to push all the responsibility on her, and she wasn’t going to allow that.They finally came back with a date on which they wanted to vote. The council decided since they were going to be a government of the supernatural world, they wanted to do things right and vote for who should be in charge of what. Anna was very happy to hear this and she spent the time at the castle that was needed to arrange the entire thing.She wanted it to be fair, which meant someone had to be in charge that wasn’t involved in the process. Some of the positions were filled before the vote since only one person was nominated for that position. Only two positions were up on the day of the final vote and she wasn’t surprised. The head of the council and the head of the judicial department.
ANNA STOOD AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE and took a deep breath. Leah had had a brilliant idea while they were working on this presentation and Anna was ready for anything the council might throw at her because of it.“In every part of life, there was a system … An order of sorts. The packs have their ranks that help everyone know their position in the pack. In the vampire world, they don’t have ranks, but there are the leader, the day walkers, and the night walkers. I’m sure that it’s the same for every species, including humans.” Anna had to explain properly or they wouldn’t go for it, but she also couldn’t dwindle on one point for too long or she might lose their interest.“You’ve accepted and crowned me as the queen of everyone, and with that position comes certain protocol. We just have to look at the way I am treated now by the council compared to the way I was treated before all this happened.” Anna gave them a moment to process what she was saying.“When we found out that I had thi