“You were worried a while ago. What is it?”The thought of leaving Roman in the dark about Maya’s custody issue doesn’t appeal to me so much anymore. I was planning on keeping it a secret from him, but now I know he’ll do anything he can for her.He’ll do anything he can for the both of us and denying him the knowledge of those things would hurt him as much as it would hurt all of us.“Another problem has reared its head.”Roman looks up from the file he’s perusing to cock an eyebrow up at me.I take a deep breath and say it.“Maya’s custody. Fen brought it to my notice today and it turns out..”“Shit!”Roman sits up immediately and open shock and bewilderment lines the planes of his face. It’s the first time I've seen those expressions on him in this form and oddly, it calms me because it’s from him.Roman looks at me and I nod.“That was the same thing I said when I realized what would happen.”“That can’t happen.”Warmth blooms in my heart gradually as I hear Roman’s remark and I f
Roman hashes out the details for the first party the Ironclaw pack has thrown in years with me and working with him comes easily.I don’t know what overcomes me. I just know I want to get it settled right away if I'm indeed going to do it and I think it’s already settled.I put forward decor plans, a list of packs to invite, strategic rooms to guard to throw Hunter off if he comes here and starts snooping around.With barely a week to the Alpha conference, we settle on throwing the party in the next four days which means I have four days to get my shit together and stop thinking I will fail miserably at this.I go to find Danis first. The list in my hands is clenched firmly and one or two Ironclaw guards nod to me as I make my way up the stairs. Roman’s mansion is huge and walking through it lately has made me extra aware of that.It’s also enabled me to find the ballroom they hid in here, yet even that fills me with inner conflict because do I make this an indoor event or an outdoor
“What?”Danis walks to the open window and proceeds to shut it as she speaks.“I said decide for yourself after you’ve met them. We’re going to meet them now.”I frown, a tad bit confused.“We’re going to meet your parents?”Danis nods and moves to the next window “Only my father and my siblings. That’s why I'm dressed. I have been summoned.”He says those words like they leave a sharp sting in his mouth and I frown more because I'm still a tad bit confused.“You want me to go with you…….. why exactly?”He turns and sighs, stuffing his hands into his pockets and standing in that wholly Danis macho-like way.“Let’s say they summoned me, yeah? And now I have to go, but a summons from my father is him asking me to come back, and he’s bringing my siblings as mandatory muscle.”“So you’re taking me as…. Your line of defense against trained werewolf sorcerers? Possible battle mages?”All the stories I read on battle mages and sorcerers come floating back and I shiver. I shiver and I laugh.
Roman's pov.I stagger from the amount of emotions flowing in through the mate bond.Scarlett.Something’s wrong with Scarlett.I reach the door to my office and push it open. It goes flying from its hinges and clattering onto the floor.My mind is hazy with pain as I reach for my phone. I call Fen’s line on speed dial and curse under my breath as another wave of queasy sickness overtakes me.Fenrir whimpers in panic for his mate and potent pain shoots through me.The pack must have been attacked. Something…. Something very bad is happening to my mate.“Fenwick of the Ironclaw pack here. State your business.”“Scarlett!”Fen’s worry leaks in through the mindlink and as it opens up I get a bit of relief from the pain surging through me.Fen’s footfalls echo through the line as he runs and the sound of the wind whipping past flows in from his end of the phone.I try to rouse my strength but I can't. Weakness flows like medicine through my bones and it disables me.For the first time eve
We vanish and feeling returns to my body. My arms tingle as blood courses through them and i stumble on my feet as Danis’s magic spits us out.Danis reaches for me immediately and i don’t know why i do what i do but my brain reacts without thinking and that fire flares again.This time it burns hotter than the sun and i unleash it.Danis doesn’t have time to react. He screams.The smell of burned skin and flesh wafts into my nose and Danis crumples to the floor, holding the side of his face.Yellow flame licks it’s path up the ridge of my arm and i want to send out another one. I want to send it out so bad.How dare he!How dare he abduct me! In the middle of these hard times! He abducts me and lets his father torture me.Danis curses under his breath and he doesn’t look up.Anger has me walking over to him and…. I don’t even know what to say.“Why Danis?”My voice cracks as i speak and breathing is all i can do not to cry. The amout of panic i felt.The helplessness!He just endange
Roman's pov.“Alpha Roman.”I rise from my seat immediately and the apprehension in my heart flares.“Yes.”Fen stands at the door with Maya behind him and beside them is my father. Alpha Kai Collins, former Alpha of the Ironclawpack sets his gazeon me and i feel a number of emotions course through my bones.The most prominent one is regret.I don’t know what i’m doing here. I don’t know what to do.“Have you eaten anything today Alpha Roman?”My heart sends a pang of pain to my head and i accept it gladly. The headaches, the hunger pangs, the despair that sits heavy on my heart. I deserve all of that.I couldn’t keep my mate safeI lost her yet again.“He hasn’t eaten anything since my mum left.”My eyes drift to the little girl and seeing her just reminds me of my failure once more. Scarlett has been gone for three days now.The Shadowbane pack is on lockdown. According to the warriors i killed, the pack is undergoing a spiritual purge. Every gifted member of the Shadowbane pack h
Scarlett's pov.I feel the warriors before they approach.The silver threads of the Ironclaw pack glint in their eyes and the door to the packhouse comes open.Wolves step out in broad daylight.They’re massive wolves of different colors. Their furs glisten and their eyes gleam as noses twitch in anticipation. A frown lines my face as i wonder if this is a wolfhunt? Did something else happen while i was gone?Roman’s wolf steps out and my breath catches. His wolf looms taller than the others.With dark silver fur and pitch black eyes, it looks deadlier than any of the others and joy soars in my heart.All i need to do is open the mate bond between us.All i need to do is open it and have him see me, yet hands grab me from behind and pull me back. Fabric muffles the scream that comes out of my mouth.“Got you.”I kick and struggle but a strong arm wraps around my waist and flips me around.The shadow of the buldings in the alley casts a darkness around us and my eyes meet purple ones
Hunter looms over me and we wait until Roman and his warrior wolves leave.I have to endure standing here with him, being in his presence, looking at what my life has become right now, and knowing i might lose it all in the next three days.Hunter is right.He’s the one who’s going to be seen as the victim. He’s the one the world will say was wronged.They’ll say i should never have left him. I should have never left the life i had with him.They’ll say so and i will have to agree because what is a Luna if not wrong against the word of her Alpha?The Alphas decide who lives and who dies. They decide what justice is and how justice is doled out.I feel Roman’s presence, just a step would connect us back.A step would link us once more, one to the other, yet i have to feel him go by me.I feel his presence fade, just when i could have grabbed at it.Hunter nods and he walks over to the semi circle of marks he’s drawn. He squirs the wolfsbane in the syringe over it and he turns back to l
Hi wonderful readers.First of all, I’d like to say thank you for reading so much and so far. Thank you for the time invested into this book.Without you, nothing would have been possible, so thank you for that.We have come to the end, and while it is a bit abrupt, I’d like to clarify some things.The book is already at 290 thousand plus words, I was really worried about its readability because anything longer would probably scare readers off. I don’t know how everything usually operates because I am a mildly new author on the platform and this is my first completed book, but it felt like Luna Scarlett was getting long, and if I was to go further into settling some other points in the story….. It’d have been way longer.Now to pick up some of the points I left unfilled in the story (Without giving any spoilers of course.) (Okay, maybe one spoiler, or two :)The fact that Hunter’s mother killed Oliver: I’d say this would have led into a whole other story, and it will, it’s basically
Roman carries me in his arms.Diane is helped along by the mage.We’re laid on beds and the pain from the contractions almost makes me pass out.“Your body’s burning, Scarlett.”I feel water enveloping me and I hear Diane’s low low grunt as she’s laid into the pool too.The contractions make everything feel hard and painful. My mind slips in and out of a haze and the water is red, so red, but through it all Roman stays with me.His red eyes are as clear and pure as two scarlet moons.The indoor swimming pool is converted into a labor room the moment the doctors arrive. I open my eyes weakly to see a whole team of them, strange faces in blue overalls, and the smell of the hospital lingering in the air.The contractions hit again, and this time Roman helps me onto a table as I grunt and cry my way through them.This is stronger than anything I've ever felt.I hear one of them tell Roman firmly, “If you want to be here, wear one of these.”Roman is back at my side in less than a minute,
Scarlett’s pov.Each blast of energy I let out makes me grit my teeth in pain.The doctor and Myrtle watch me with calm eyes and though it rips my heart to see them standing there like that, I don't stop.The shield over me shimmers with each blast of energy I release and I can see the impatience filling them because they can’t touch me while this is still going on.There’s an impatience to the way Myrtle grits her teeth but I can't bring myself to be happy at that…. because I'm killing him.Hot heavy tears flow down my cheeks and I burst into a sob because I can hear the sound of his pain each time I release my power.His shield is directly linked to his power, to him.I’m like a bomb in a can. He is the can.He can’t contain me.He can’t keep me in.I will go off as many times as I need to. I am a woman. My energy is endless, but while I do it… he suffers.It’s either I stop and get my stomach ripped open, my baby… my child will be killed.I would never forgive myself because it wou
The scarlet glow in his eyes grows in strength and all the dots come together in my head.Elara was never abducted. She orchestrated the attack.The strangeness of the wolves that attacked us was because she had infused them with the gene mutation she stole from me, and Ironclaw warriors weren’t able to do anything but die at their hands, because they had never met anything like that.They couldn’t take over the pack totally, because, like everything that’s stolen, it’s never stable. The look in Elara’s eyes makes me chuckle as another truth hits me and I let her get himself to full strength. I let the shift take him over, and in a moment of nostalgia, the scent of jasmine comes carried on a gentle breeze as little lines appear in the wind.They blaze to life with bright but silent lights, each one swaying as if blown by a light breeze. I see the lines extending through the wall behind me, the room where all those in the packhouse are being held currently. I see them in my mind, from
Roman’s pov.The bond between me and Scarlett stretches taut due to the distance and it’s the first time I've felt something like this between us.Feeling her and barely feeling her at the same time.The cars pull up to the gates of the mansion and I can tell my packhouse has been taken over by foreign forces. No one makes themselves visible when the gates come open, everyone is hidden but the moment we drive in, the gates slam shut faster than they ever have.The feeling of arrows already poised at us sends a light tingle down the side of my neck and I send a message to my father through the mate bond, ~Take the children to the safe house. Drive there like it’s what you always meant to do….Stay safe Father, and keep the children safe.~My father sends a feeling that echoes low on the mindlink, one that tells me he will obey my words to the letter because he is a wolf under my command, and I am his Alpha.But as a father and someone who’s watched me grow into who I am today, he’s
“Scarlett.”A brief silence punctuated by mumbled words and then the word comes again.“Scarlett.”The tone is more insistent this time and my eyes flutter open as a headache burrows it’s way through my head. I groan as i open my eyes fully because my head hurts a lot.Surprise steadily flow s through me when i realise i have been bound. I can barely move my hands or my feet.I try to struggle against the ropes but i can’t, and the voice comes again.“Psst, Scarlett.”I raise my head just the slightest bit, unable to see through the large mound of flesh that’s my belly.I feel my baby moving andd kiclkin, the discomfort stinging me like pins.“No, no need to raise your head.It’s me… the mage.”My fuzzy head clears up enough to remember where i am and what happened to me before i blanked out. I feel my body go rigid as shock courses through mel, a healthy dose of shock and fear.No.I struggle against the ropes.NO. NO. NO.Hunter wouldn’t dare.Hunter would never!“Hunter!”My heart
Walking through the halls of the Nightshade pack has me feeling… not nostalgic.I can remember wallking through here when i came here with Danis once. We delivered wolfsbane to Hunter.Then simply being in the compound had shaken me. It had made images of me back here float around in my mind, and then i knew Hunter would have done something horrible to me and Maya if he had gotten his hands on us.I don’t know what must have caused the sudden self proclaimed change in him, but i wouldn’t risk myself and anyone i know depending on that.I’m only here because Hunter knows who i am now. He knows i cannot be hit or hurt by him, without him suffering consequences.“About the conversation we had the other day.”I turn to look at Hunter and i see the way he maintains eye contact with me for a second before looking away to stare at something else. His voice comes out more sulky than i imagined he wants it to be.“I only knew Oliver.I didn’t have any relationship that was out of the normal w
Scarlett’s pov.It’s a bloodbath.I feel the tang of blood on my tongue, the smell of death in the air, I smell the power leaking off Roman, and as it leaks off him, it goes into me.“Roman…”My voice is hoarse and croaky. I can barely hear it. It’s a rasp that leaves my throat feeling sandy and hollowed out yet Roman hears it.His head snaps to me the moment I whisper his name and I realise now why everywhere seems so silent. There’s not a sound emanating from the forest, not from the archers in the trees, not from the warriors Roman brought along, not even from the birds - probably already scared away by the violence, or the attendants - scared into silence by Roman, currently dotted in large splatters of blood. Roman’s presence jolts when he comes to me.I feel his aura wrap around me faster than anything i have ever felt before, and when he cradles me in his arms, i feel the shift take over him and his claws retract, the red glow from his eyes fade, the heat radiating from him d
Roman’s pov.The world pauses as I feel Scarlett’s anxiety spike through the mate bond.It’s a thick and heavy feeling in my gut.My head snaps to her, searching for any traces of what might be happening and for a minute all I can feel is Maya telling her there’s something wrong with the boy.There’s something wrong with Axios.Before anyone can pull another breath, I feel my wife fill herself with power so pure it leaks into me and sets my nerve endings on fire.“Everybody down, Now!”The blast of wind Scarlett releases makes a boom when it rips out. Screams come from the attendants now on the floor, the shrill whistles of arrows are almost masked by the boom of air but not quite. I see the arrows fly back with the force of a snapped twig and they find targets.Scarlett fills herself with that power again, needing not even a second to fill herself up, already primed for an attack while I'm still trying to make sense of it all.The orders come from my lips not a moment later, “EVERYO