“What’s the matter?”Roman comes in to find me lying on the couch with my eyes to the ceiling and every thought in my head simply blank.I already told myself I would tell him when he comes back home, yet truly saying it makes all the difference because I find out I can't.I say the first thing that occurs to me,“Sixteen-year-old Hunter might have had a thing for my male cousin, Oliver.”At Roman’s pin-drop silence, I sigh and continue.“They were friends, and Hunter’s mum saw a letter he had penned to some mysterious person he was supposed in love with.A few months later, Oliver was killed.”Roman comes to sit beside me and his weight dips the couch down. His scent invades my senses again and it’s as refreshing as it is calming, yet my heart is still in silent turmoil, and so is the look on Roman’s face.He looks confused as he speaks.“I knew Hunter when he was Sixteen... He never said anything about a male he fancied.”I huff in amusement, “Yeah, no kidding. Like he’d actually sa
“Should we really be attending to this before we go to the Nightshade pack?”I nod because we should.It isn’t anyone’s fault that dates are now coinciding. Today is the former Luna’s memorial.Roman’s mother died today, which means a lot of other wolves did too.Today is the day of the attack on the Ironclaw pack, and we aren’t the only ones in mourning in the pack. Today is the day the attack that shook a formidable pack happened, and I will be here for my pack first. That is my duty as a Luna.“Y’know you never told me about your time as a rogue hunter Alpha Roman? Shouldn’t there be some adventures I'd like to hear?”Roman chuckles and looks away and I can imagine how it must have been for him.A week to his appointment as Alpha. A week to the day his father would hand over to him, a great calamity strikes his pack.His mother is killed, pack members are slaughtered, and his mate is abducted. Or rather she ran away with a strange child in her arms while being chased by some men i
The world has faded out of view and now all I can see is her. She stares at me, and I stare back because I have no idea what to make of this.The person in front of me is ray of light thin. She’s almost see-through.“I am see-through.”My mouth is snap shut and I'm lost for words. I turn around and I can't see anyone.I can’t see Roman. I can’t see Alpha Kai. I can’t see Maya or Axios.Only the forest remains, and with the forest is her.I stare at the woman for a while and she stares back at me, amusement clear on her face.She asks me, “This isn’t your first time speaking to someone like me is it?”I shake my head slowly because it is. I’m still aware of every part of my body. I can feel myself and everything around me, so I don't know how this is happening. My voice is wary when I ask,“Are you a ghost? or am I having a hallucination?”The lady shakes her head, the action is undeniably perky as she responds, “I’m not a ghost per se, and no this isn’t a hallucination.I’ve been p
“How do these things even keep on happening to you?”Roman’s look is incredulous and I stare ahead, unsure of what the answer to that is. I ask instead,“Did your mum ever manifest strange abilities like me?”Roman is staring at me attentively as he places the warm cup of tea in my hands and takes a seat beside me.We’re literally in a clearing in the forest right now.Roman has called out people from the pack to bring a picnic table here, and now they’ve laid out a small ass feast.Maya and Axios sit with Alpha Kai listening to him as he regales them with tales of how he did so many awesome things when he was younger.Like killing a nine-foot-tall spider. Or slayed a boar in the outlands.I feel something strange happening to me and my mind.It’s almost like the experience I had just now has made me realize how limited my thinking has been. I feel the world is bigger now.It’s more than just the Ironclaw pack. It’s more than just me and Roman, and Maya and Axios, it’s much more than
“ALPHA! PERMISSION TO APPROACH AlPHA!”The presence of Roman’s head warrior sets nervousness rolling in my veins.My heart is cold and thumping in my chest as I think of what Maya just told me but Roman’s already standing and walking over to the man.I slip into that side of his consciousness he’s reserved just for me, and I listen to what the warrior says,“Locals on the far side of the borders have reported sightings of strange wolves.They’ve killed thirty men in the past two days. Half of them trained warriors and the other half locals.They’re the same… as before.”I see an image flash past Roman’s eyes and in it, a wolf appears to me.This wolf leaps out from Roman’s imagination into mine, and it makes itself solid to me. It isn’t the normal one. It looks feral, like something in it has rotted and coagulated into something nasty.“They’re the wolves that attacked the pack all those years ago.”A chill surges through my bones when Roman says that and his warrior nods.Roman pas
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
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
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