I see Alpha Gomez and his wife out of the Ironclaw packhouse and into their car before I go find Maya.She’s sitting at one corner of the wide noisy room, by the only window, and staring out of it.She doesn’t feel me coming and it scares me.The fear in my heart wraps its tendrils around my mind and squeezes my lungs. I assume the worst but I reject those thoughts immediately.No.I won’t let that happen.Maya is… special. That’s all. She’ll be fine.The other kids look at me as I pass and the three attendants at one corner of the room track my movement as I make my way to her but Maya still doesn’t move an inch. My hand touches her on the shoulder and only then does she move.Maya’s head snaps to me and her eyes gleam. The purple flecks in her green eyes have become more pronounced now and she smiles the moment she sees me. My fears retreat the moment that happens and I feel my breathing stabilize.“Save some for me?”Maya’s head drops to the half-eaten plate of food in her lap and
For the rest of the week, I settle into a routine.Maya is top priority.Roman insists that I take care of her since she has a new development, and that means I don't spend much time in my office. I’m not pissed about that. I’m not angry that I worked in a professional environment for one day before suddenly being relegated to the packhouse for the rest of the week.I work from my room, and it’s fine because he’s right. Maya is top priority.For the rest of the week, I watch my emotions around her.Gifted werewolves are few and in between. If Maya is developing a gift at such an early age, it means it’ll grow over time, and it scares me so much I want to cry.The fear I feel brings tears to my eyes and I find myself staring out windows when it’s uncalled for.I stop and I stare and my mind runs wild with fear. My heart slams in my chest, and my pulse races. There’s a reason gifted werewolves aren’t so common. That Maya is developing a gift is something I am happy about, hell the who
Roman's povI growl when I see Danis.The sound comes out from a place of instinct, deep and strong and it only stops when I notice Scarlett’s gaze on me. Her gaze is inquisitive and surprised, but at the sight of his mate’s reaction, Fenrir calms down and lets me regain full control of myself.I glare at Danis.Letting him stay this long in the packhouse seemed like a good idea when I thought of it but now I'm having second thoughts.“Of course not.”Scarlett to the rescue.“Do you need Alpha Roman… or is this something else?”My heart soars at the shakiness in her tone. She tries to rein in her reaction but she can’t do it fast enough. Her words quake and she sounds out of breath, standing is all I can do not to walk over to Danis, slam the door in his face, and kiss my mate until she can barely breathe.“We’re here to see both of you actually.”Danis isn’t the one who speaks, it’s Priam. The current Alpha of the Lykos pack.Annoyance flares in me momentarily and I resist the urge
Scarlett's pov My eyes barely catch the gleam of yellow flames before Roman pushes me so violently all my breath is knocked out of me when I hit the wall.It takes a scorching hot waft of air for me to realize his hand is around my waist and my body is flush against his.How Roman moves, I have no idea, but it’s an action that lasts a swift second, the only indication we moved is the gentle waft of air that caressed my face for a split second.Fire gushes out of the door to Roman’s office like a blowtorch and hits the spot we were just on.Fear pools in my belly but above that is panic.“Danis. Danis is in there.”Roman’s hold around my waist tightens and his words are a growl that sends shivers down my spine.“Don’t even think of it.”He lets go of me but he might as well have pinned me to the spot with his stare.My eyes flicker to the door again and at the yellow glow of flames in the albeit shadowy hall, panic rises in me again.What is happening in there?Danis’s voice is my rep
“Are you sure you found them this way?”I keep my eyes on the tea I'm brewing and try not to make eye contact with Roman’s beta.I nod.A lie, but one that I can always own up to later.Right now Roman and Danis are lying on couches. Roman’s form almost totally envelopes the couch he’s laying on, yet his legs still dangle off the edge. He’s still unconscious.I can’t say he’s asleep because I know he isn’t. By the time I dropped Danis on the rug in his office and went back out to check on him, he could barely stand.I’ve never seen a man try to hide the pain he’s feeling that much but Roman did. He tried to hide the pain he was feeling so much, that he must have passed out from the stress it took on his brain.I certainly didn’t try to hit his head on the wall to make him pass out or anything like that.I want to chuckle but I can't. Some would argue that seeing him in so much pain but trying his best to hide it was too much for me to bear. Though why that would be true is something
Roman's povI wake up to the feeling of small fingers linked with mine.I know it’s Scarlett’s without having to look.My head feels foggy and my eyes are bleary with the haze of a just-ended slumber, but I feel her. I know it’s her.My body aches, but it’s a dull ache. There’s no sharp pain when I breathe and my heart beats, fierce and strong as it always has.I turn my head to the side and a strange feeling lashes through me.It’s Scarlett, asleep, fingers linked with mine as they rest on the floor. The same floor she rests on.“Good to see you’re awake.”My ears twitch and my breath hitches. My eyes travel to the seat at the far end of my office beside the entrance and icy blue eyes lock onto mine.My voice is croaky when it comes out but I speak all the same.“Father?”My father nods and gets up from his seat. He’s grown more rested in the few weeks he’s spent away. The strain underneath his eyebrows doesn’t quite stand out the way it used to. My father is in a beach shirt and s
Scarlett's povRoman is staring at me when I wake up.His eyes infuse a chill into my bones, but for the first time in a while that chill… isn’t uncomfortable.It’s a strange chill, like that odd waft of icy cold air on a hot summer day, yet right now I feel I need this waft of icy air. Roman’s eyes hold a strange comfort to them, and they soften the more we look at each other.I move from my sleeping position and try to sit up on the couch. It takes some time for my bones to react accordingly, but it happens and I do.I sit up and I look around.It’s the morning of the next day. The clock tells me as much, and it also tells me I've missed taking care of my daughter yet again.A sorrowful feeling grabs such deep hold of me that I can barely breathe for a minute.Who took care of Maya then? Fen?Chills race down my spine just thinking of it and a hot emotion flows into my bones. I refuse to think of it. Call me paranoid or crazy, but I will rip him to shreds if I find out he did anyt
“I can hear him breathing Danis.” Somehow that one sentence from Roman has me feeling like he’s just ruined everything. Something strange is happening here and for some reason, that thing has Danis thinking his friend is dead.I look at the body on the floor and see his chest rise and fall. So he’s breathing. Danis readily meets my gaze when I look at him but there’s an awareness in his eyes, there’s a glimmer in his green eyes that has them turning red for the barest second and just like that, I know he knows. Danis knows about the strange serpent. “Is there anything you’re not telling us, Danis?” Roman gets up from his seat now and as he walks over, his aura flares and fills the space all around us. The pressure on my chest comes back again. It’s almost the same way it did when Fen used his on me but this time it’s different. If the Beta of the Ironclaw pack’s aura felt like a weight on my chest, the Alpha’s feels the same, but instead of the weight being equivalent to that