IT WAS COLD AND WET, but Anna had to keep running. Her paws were bleeding, but she couldn't think about the pain. She had to make it to civilization. She had to find someone that could help her. She had just lived through the worst possible thing any werewolf could live through, and she couldn't stop. If the rogues caught her scent and came after her, she would have nobody to protect her.Anna saw the city lights in the distance and she almost cried with relief as she made her way into the first alley she could find. The rain beat down on top of her head, but she was so cold by now that it no longer mattered that she was soaked. In the distance, she heard a wolf howl and she ducked behind one of the large rubbish bins hoping it would hide her scent.The howl grew softer and Anna started crying with relief. They were turning back! She had made it to safety! Her parents had just been murdered right in front of her. Her entire pack had just been killed by rogues thanks to her father’s be
COLLIN WAS JUST ABOUT TO rush into the doctor’s exam room for a third time when his parents and sister came rushing down the passage. For a couple of minutes, there was total chaos while he tried to explain what happened, how he found her, and, finally, that she was his mate. All he really wanted to do was be by her side but they kept asking him questions!“Do you know anything about her? Did she say anything?” Leah frowned as she tried to figure out where the girl could have come from, but Collin looked at her with such horror in his eyes that her heart broke and she didn’t question him any further about it. To find your mate only to find out they were dying was possibly worse than having someone reject you!The door opened and the doctor looked grim as he stepped out. Collin didn’t want to hear what he had to say if he was going to tell him that she hadn’t made it! He shouted with relief as soon as the doctor told him that the young woman was going to be okay. She wasn’t completely
ANNA FELT INCREDIBLY OVERWHELMED, but these people seemed so nice that she couldn’t bring herself to tell them that. The most unsettling thing, however, was the need she felt to run. She couldn’t place it entirely and since nobody knew what happened to her before Collin found her, it made sense that she would feel that way.At least … That was what the doctor told her. The doctor also told her that Collin was her mate, which was a very weird thing to say, wasn’t it? He found her half-dying in an alley. How could he have fallen in love with her without knowing who she was or where she came from? She, however, bit her tongue so she didn’t offend him. His voice was soothing. Almost as if she knew him before she was injured, and when he told her that he had spent every waking moment at her bedside the past two months, it made sense.She must have actually heard him while she was in her coma. He told her about the people who lived in the commune with them and for a moment she wondered if s
ANNA COULDN’T SHAKE the feeling that she had to run, but it made sense after the injuries she sustained. It was clear that she didn’t injure herself, according to the doctor, but what happened to her? Who would have injured her so badly and then left her for dead? She could feel that there was more that Collin and his family weren’t telling her, but since she was a guest in their house, she didn’t want to push her luck. As they were walking down one of the garden paths, she noticed someone disappearing behind a tree and she was once again reminded of her previous thoughts about this being some kind of cult.“What religion are you?” The question was out before she could help herself and her eyes grew wide as she looked at Collin. “I’m sorry!” She gasped. She had no idea if she was someone who didn’t beat around the bush or not, but that was really way overboard!“It’s okay,” Collin laughed, putting her at ease. He looked ahead and pointed at a bench under a tree. “Shall we sit down?” H
HAVING DINNER WITH ANN by his side felt really great. Collin had to keep reminding himself not to stare, but she was just so damn gorgeous! His mom, of course, was incredible, and she had made sure that everyone knew the situation and behaved around Ann. He could see she was looking around a little frazzled in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for her to relax.Since everyone had heard that their Luna was going to eat with them, the dining room was pack to the brim for once. He had to admit that it did look really weird to have so many people together like this and for Ann to think they were some kind of cult was natural. He could just hope that it wouldn’t scare her off if she saw all of them together like this, but she seemed okay.“So how has your stay been so far?” His father smiled and Ann burst out laughing.“From what I’ve been told, it’s been good.” She laughed, making everyone around her laugh. “But since I’ve been awake everyone has been so good to me. I don’t know if I
ANNA WAS SO HAPPY that for a little while, she forgot what brought her there. Her family had been wiped out by the one man she thought she could trust. A man her father trusted so much that he made him the second most important person in the pack. Little did they know that he hated their entire family so much that he was planning to kill all of them.The memories of the day her parents were killed wouldn’t go away no matter how hard Anna tried to focus on Collin. She didn’t want him and his family fighting this fight on her behalf, but deep down, she knew they would. It was just the way things were in their world. She burst out laughing as she realized that she was part of this cult of being a werewolf!She decided to trust Collin and told him how she felt all the way through to being part of a werewolf cult. She knew that it was the mate bond that was pulling them together, but she also knew from what he had shown her these first couple of days that she could possibly fall in love wi
ANNA GROWLED AT THE BETA as her canines snapped and in the corner of her eye, she could see Collin smiling with pride. It distracted her just long enough for the Beta to charge and she felt his teeth piercing the skin of her upper leg. Howling out in pain, she couldn’t hear the gasps in the crowd around them. She had never been bitten before! Then again, she had never faced a fight to the death before and she shook her head to focus.“Well, well, well, the pup has a little mate.” The Beta grinned through the pack link as his eyes snapped from Collin to Anna. “Why didn’t you let him fight on your behalf? You know he is just going to take over control of the pack if you win.” Anna knew he was just trying to get under her skin and she charged. They clashed with a loud thud as their teeth snapped at each other, but this time nobody got in that one bite that was needed to end it all.“Poor little rich girl is going to find out what it means to submit to a man. I might just submit so I can
IT DIDN’T TAKE THEM LONG to find her father’s small safe behind some books. Anna tried her birthday and rolled her eyes when the safe opened. How stupid was her father using something so simple as his code?! No, how stupid was the damn beta that he didn’t change the damn code?! When she opened the safe, she saw the laptop right on top of everything else.She took the laptop out first and Collin pulled out all the files underneath it. While she tried to figure out what the beta’s password could be, Collin paged through the documents. There were a lot of emails printed that were from the same email address as the one they found on the desk, but none of them gave any indication of who the person could be. Anna couldn’t get into the encrypted laptop and she was on the verge of smashing the damn thing when Collin grabbed her hands.“I might have someone that can fix that for us.” He still looked calm, but a storm was raging inside him. There were a couple of emails in the files that confir
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