ANNA DIDN’T FEEL ENTIRELY AT home in Collin’s home yet. Even though she was going to stay in her room where she stayed before, now that she had her memory back, it all felt strange. She wondered if she had met Collin before she lost her memory and if it would have changed anything, and then she sighed. It wouldn’t have. This wasn’t her home.She spent some time with Collin’s mom to get her pack’s living arrangements sorted, but it was never an easy thing when you had to move an entire pack. Anna realized that that was probably the reason not many alpha females were ever born. It was just too much trouble to move the packs! She could see that this arrangement wasn’t going to work for long, and she would have to make her decision about Collin soon. She really wanted to be with her mate, but … Yeah, she would have to make a decision soon.Her pack deserved their own home, especially after what they had just been through under the rule of their previous beta. They were defensive even thou
Anna was stumped that Collin and his family were so understanding of her position. It made her feel really guilty. She was starting to feel as if she was being a total brat, yet all of them kept on telling her that she wasn’t. Life was indeed very strange at the moment, so she concentrated on the things she could do something about. As soon as she found where exactly the money went, she could figure out a way to get it back.She was in luck and quickly figured out that the beta was so stupid he saved all of his passwords on the computer. She could get into the accounts where he had stashed the money and she breathed easier when some of it was transferred back into the pack accounts. That meant she could give some money to Collin’s pack for her pack’s necessities, which would make her and her pack feel a lot easier being there.Collin joined her later in the day and he read through some reports while she figured out what else was urgent that might need her attention. There were a lot o
VICTOR SIPPED ON THE AMBER liquid in his class and nearly spat it out again. It had become clear that this backwater town wasn’t up to his high standards and he sent one of his men in search of a proper bottle of whiskey. Without it, he was going to have a hard time curbing his appetite. It truly boggled his mind that his brother Nathaniel lived here for so long without complaining!Then again, Nathaniel had his science and Victor never really understood how Nathaniel always seemed to be happy with that, but he was. Being in this human town, Victor and his men had to be careful who they spoke to and who knew they were there. By now, he knew that Nicolas would have sent out people to look for them since he didn’t ask for permission to come here, and they never arrived at the destination they faked.His scouts would be returning at any moment, and if he still had a beating heart, he knew that it would be racing right about now. It took longer than he anticipated to sort out their living
ANNA’S MATE … NO, his entire damn family were hybrids. Anna couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Her heart was racing as she rushed into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Collin at least had the decency to knock and he didn’t come in as she tried to think. She didn’t answer him. He knew she was in there because he followed her as soon as she rushed out of his office.She was grateful that he didn’t force her to face him when, after a couple of minutes, she heard his footsteps walking away from her door. What the hell had she done?! Her pack! She put her pack in danger! Her mind was all over the place as she tried to figure out her next steps. Could she trust the hybrids? How many of their pack members were hybrids? How did she not realize this sooner? She looked at one of the cupboards and wondered how quickly she could get her pack packed up.Sitting down on the edge of her bed as tears started to pour down her cheeks, Anna prayed for the moon goddess to return her parents
COLLIN WAS SHATTERED. His wolf howled in pain as Anna left and he wondered if he would ever see her again. She hadn’t rejected him, which at least was a good thing, but as she walked out, she also didn’t even say goodbye. Was the fact that he was a hybrid such a big thing? Could she really just leave like that?“I’m sorry son.” His father patted his shoulder and Elana made a snotty comment that Anna didn’t deserve her brother. Collin’s mother was silent on the subject as they all gathered in Collin’s office. It was an incredibly sad day for the pack, but there wasn’t much they could do about it now. Anna had made her choice. She might change her mind after she had some time to think about it, or so Collin hoped.The life he had imagined for the two of them lay in shards and Collin suddenly didn’t know what to do with himself. His wolf disappeared after giving Collin a loud and clear piece of his mind. It left Collin feeling lonelier than he had ever felt before in his life. If he susp
THE MOMENT VICTOR SAW his name on the phone, he knew that Nicolas knew they weren’t where they were meant to be. He also realized that he should have trusted his instincts and left the human city the moment he wondered about it, but it was too late now. Knowing Nicolas, he probably already knew where they were.“Nicolas! What a nice surprise.” He answered knowing he was in deep trouble, but who cared? What was Nicolas going to do? Order him back home? Victor imagined himself shaking in his boots and he had to stifle the laughter that wanted to bubble out of his mouth.“Victor, what the fuck are you up to?!” Nicolas sounded furious. Victor was about to make up some idiotic excuse when Nicolas shouted down the line that he couldn’t believe he was after a werewolf. “After everything, those packs went through with Nathaniel! You dare to defy my orders!” Victor suddenly realized that, somehow, someone had told Nicolas exactly what he was doing there! Fury brewed deep inside as he quickly r
BY THE TIME ANNA ARRIVED she was shocked at the state Collin was in. Sebastian explained that he deteriorated more quicker than normal because of his hybrid status. Not only was his wolf head over heels in love with her, but his vampire side also seemed to be as well. Anna felt entirely overwhelmed, but she couldn’t be weak now.She left not only because of the shock of finding out that Collin was a hybrid but also to prove that she could lead her pack as their alpha. She had to prove it not just to her pack, but to herself. Her entire life was turned upside down thanks to that damn beta and now she could be facing a life without Collin.“What do I do?” She looked from his mother to his father.“We can’t tell you what to do, Anna.” His mother looked sad, but she was right. They couldn’t tell her what to do. It was clear that Collin was too weak to handle a rejection which left her with one choice.“I, Anna, Alpha of the Half crest pack, hereby accept you, Collin, alpha of the Nightsha
Looking deep into Collin’s eyes, Anna felt the intense pull of the mate bond and before she could help herself, her lips were touching his. They were as soft as she imagined they would be. She was enveloped in such a feeling of love that it was slightly overwhelming, but she didn’t move away. She wasn’t sure exactly what to do next and she was scared that Collin might not be strong enough to do anything yet, but he pulled her up.Their breathing fastened as his hands slipped down her body and pulled her hips closer to his arousal. That was all Anna’s body needed to respond the way Collin needed and before her brain could think straight they were both undressed. His hands were warm and soft against her skin as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her. She could feel how much he needed her. All of her and she freely gave in to him as he thrust deep inside.She cried out once and he stopped, but she quickly told him that she was okay. They moved together in perfect unison, fitting as if
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