"What do you want to say?" Myrtle sits on the couch across from me and takes a good minute to stare at her nails. For an old lady, she's conscious of her looks, and it's one of the things I like about her. A dangerous woman takes care that she looks dangerous, which is why when she looks up at me, I wait for her to assess her current situation before speaking. "I'm going to say something that will anger you, Alpha Roman. Can I go on?" She's a wise old lady, but also my mother's best friend. "I wouldn't hurt a member of my pack, more so a member of my council. You can speak freely." "You're being fooled." The words stop me from taking my next breath and I cock an eyebrow up all at once. "What?" "You're being deceived, Alpha Roman. We all are. Something bigger is going on in the background and there's nothing you or I can do about it for now." Myrtle looks away and I see the way she clenches her jaw. Myrtle is an old lady, a wise lady. Werewolves don't age as much as humans
"She still has to take an aptitude test after you made her climb a wall?" The anger in my tone is more than evident and it's not meant to be. I should be agreeable and complacent, but all this annoys me. Putting my daughter in danger does that to me sometimes. Maya seems to have become braver now that she scaled the wall. I think she's wanted to since the moment she saw it, but at the same time, I can't let them make her do that. My heart can't take it. My daughter is all I have, if she gets hurt then I don't know what I'd do with myself. "There's no need to cry, mummy." Maya squeezes my hand and I clean the tears falling from my eyes. I was scared shitless when she climbed that wall. I couldn't get on it, could barely get my fingers into the small holes, and neither could my feet. When she disappeared over to the other side..... "I think you're overreacting just a bit, Miss Vivienne. The girl says she's fine, and I know you aren't angry she's taking an aptitude test. You're ju
I square my shoulders and take a deep breath before settling into my seat."The power plant will help both our communities flourish, Mr. Bruce. There's no reason not to invest and this way, I can ensure the safety of any other enterprise you might decide to establish near us later. The Ironclaw pack has always been professional in its dealing with others, we are loyal and we won't go back on our word."The human male in front of me nods and gives one of his good-natured smiles."I don't doubt it, Alpha Roman. I'm only hesitant because another one of my associates has reached out to me on this project. A power plant will provide a basic day-to-day commodity for the inhabitants of the town and secure standing for us there, I'm all in for that. I just don't believe these associates of mine would be too happy with me pulling back all of a sudden."The other members of the board of investors all murmur, trading opinions back and forth with each other.Guion is present, one of my council me
What is it with the Alpha of the Ironclaw pack snarling all the time?The phone is still at my ears and I feel today might be the longest day of my life, but this is necessary. This is all necessary.I've thought of multiple ways to get the money for Maya's fees but none of them have a one-day feasibility option. I need to make the payment today, and I have to because Maya likes it so much here and she's finally coming out of her shell.I clean the stray tear that drops from my eyes and swallow the lump in my throat. I can't let him hear me cry."Okay."The word sounds unreal to me so I blink and say the one thing that comes to my mind."What?""I said okay. I will lend you the cash you need, and I'll foot the bills of Maya's schooling for as long as she stays with us, but you'll have to keep to your promise. Okay?"Something warm and potent bubbles up in my chest at the warm tone in which I'm being spoken to."Scarlett?""Yes, Alpha Roman?"He pauses and when he speaks this time it's
Scarlett's pov “About the Alpha Conference….”I look at the mirror and let Roman carry on with the task of brushing my hair. The dye is sitting on the table waiting to be applied and I know it’s something he might also offer to help me do.I let my eyes wander and soon they’re traveling up on the length of the mirror.He’s quiet. His brushes are soft, and for such a huge man he’s gentle. My hair is tangly, but he takes his time working the brush through it.He’s lost in thought, which must mean this is something hard for him to do.I let my eyes roam the perfect planes of his face. Alpha Roman of the Ironclaw pack is tall. His arms are well-built and his shoulders are broad. His black button-down stretches across the plain of his chest, and lord have mercy.“Scarlett?”Oh my god.“Yes, Alpha Roman?”“I asked if you’re sure you want to go on with this?”My shame at the possibility of having been caught dissipates and I look directly at him through the mirror.“What wouldn’t I?”Roman
Roman's pov She’s ready to do anything. That isn’t a good sign. “Alpha Roman?”My head snaps towards the door and her daughter is standing there. “Is my mummy in the room?”I think Scarlett’s heart stops because I can’t sense any movement coming from behind the wardrobe door. This is something she’ll have to discuss with her daughter later. “Yeah, she is. She’s changing her dress.”“And you’re also in here?”A wry grin climbs my face despite myself because she’s a very smart girl. “I helped her dye her hair, plus it’s not like I'm going close to her or anything. Your mum has short hands, I might need to help her with the zippers.”I catch the shirt that has been thrown at me and fling it to the side. “Maya, honey? I’ll be out in a minute, do you think you can go wait somewhere else? I and Alpha Roman are discussing something important.”Maya Tyson turns her gaze to me and I can see traces of her father in her. That stubbornness, the slightly cleft chin, the purple flecks in her
I wait until it’s midnight before heading into the woods. My door is firmly locked when I leave the room and I let Fenrir confirm the presence of every wolf in the packhouse. All the wolves in my pack are linked to me in one way or the other. The proximity between us makes it easier to sense them, and since I am the Alpha, accounting for their presence is also my job. The small ripple of power flows out from me and in one brief moment, I see the bonds that link us all together. They stretch out from my heart like strange tentacles, little threads packed at one compact point in my chest and going out into the distance. Each thread has an iron like sheen to it. That is what makes me the Alpha of the Ironclaw pack and them wolves of the Ironclaw pack. This connection that we have, the way I am linked to them, and they are linked to me. Each wolf is accounted for before I slip out through a window in the art room. Scarlett’s scent invades my nostrils and the fact that she’s in here
Adelaide’s pov“Maya?”I shake my daughter.It’s morning now and she’s supposed to be up by now. The sun is streaming in through the windows and it occurs to me that if we don’t get out of bed now then we’re probably going to be late for breakfast.“Maya?”No response again but as I lean over her, something stops me from touching her once more. “Maya?”“Scarlett!”Roman’s voice comes from the door but I can't look at him. I don’t look at him, My hands fly to Maya’s head and my heart races at the temperature I feel.She’s as hot as an oven.“Maya?”No movement.“Maya, wake up, Mummy’s here, we need to go have breakfast.”She doesn’t stir and my heart shatters. I don’t know how I get off the bed but I know I do.My breaths are not calm but I force them to be. Okay, Maya’s not waking up, but she’s burning up.She needs water.“Scarlett?”I turn back to look at Roman and he steps into the room fully. I don’t know why he walks to Maya but he does and even though I want to scream at him to
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