Eighteen months past the time my first love broke my heart, I decided to put myself out there again, and give it another shot. Or rather help me get over Mace by getting under someone else. The father of my son had been my first everything. Well almost, because I had a crush on his brother Slade first, but that was puppy love, and nothing more. And well Slade stayed gone and never came back.The second wolf I went out with, Blaze Ironside, wasn’t on the same page as me, he wasn’t even in the same damn book. He was one of the worst mistakes I ever made. Blaze pretended he was only looking for casual sex and nothing more, like I was, but about a month in, I got some major red flags when he let his controlling, possessive asshole shine through. The mid-level beta thought himself superior to most in the pack, myself included. Sure, he has a big dick, and is hot as sin, but everything else about him sucks. He wasn’t looking for a partner to have a good time with and pass some lonely nights
I took too much wolfsbane to get my mate out of my head and now I’m paying the price. I’m healing at the rate of a human, which is not really at all, I’ve lost too much blood, and I feel dizzy by the time I make it back to my truck. The girl is nowhere to be found at least, but I get more than one stare from a drunk couple in the parking lot. I’m now shirtless, choosing to use the fabric to wrap around my arm to help staunch the wound, and bathed in blood. I ignore their asking if I’m alright, and talk of calling an ambulance, and tear out of the parking lot in a blaze of smoke and burnt rubber. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the rogue’s body is found. When the cops run his prints and DNA, they’ll get a hit connecting him to his string of rape victims across several states. There’s no camera in the lot of the bar, and only a couple witnesses see me exiting the desert, in bad lighting, so I’m not worried about being identified and pinned to the crime. As far as I’m concern
Chapter 24- Sloane As I dress, I don’t bother to wipe off the steam from the mirror because I already know how awful I look. Every time I cry, my face looks like the marshmallow man, and stays puffy for hours after. I sigh and pull out my make up kit though I infrequently wear it. I usually save it for our girls night out with Lark and Willow, and an occasional special occasion like a Birthday Party for an adult of the pack. I do it for myself to boost my sometimes fragile confidence. But most of the time, I just don’t care because what you see is what you get, and most of the mateless wolves here are after my uterus, not my face. Trying to date a human guy from my college campus is just too much of a logistical nightmare I don’t feel like dealing with. Not only are wolves territorial over their females, they are also naturally leery of outsiders. I would never be able to get a human dude onto pack lands undetected, and with wolves sniffing around, getting all up in our private busin
The answers come to me, and I complete my test fairly confident I didn’t bomb it. My microbiology class passes without a hitch, as we look at lifeforms under the microscopes, that grew in our petri dishes. Last week’s class, the professor made us take a swab sample of a commonly touched surface and see what grew from it. Just looking at the nasty bacteria that flourished in my dish from the handle of the school’s water fountain, made me thank the moon I threw out my birth control this morning after it’s dip in the porcelain throne.I’m excited when class lets out and I rush back to Shadow Ridge to see my baby. I talk to Iris for a few moments to see how his day went, she assures me he was a little angel, but I don’t think she would tell me even if he hadn’t behaved himself. Alder is out, not that I mind, because things feel a bit tense at times with my child’s grandfather. Maybe it’s because he’s not a very social wolf and tends to keep to himself. But sometimes I feel like the head be
Blaze is up to his old tricks again. He’s crossed a fucking line, outside of packlands watching me, in his wolf form, in a suburb of Portland, at my job. Further proof of my theory comes from the too-large wolf tracks I see out in the grass. I won’t stand for this. This has to stop, especially when his actions terrorize a frail old man and risk exposure of the pack. I’ll bring this matter up with Alpha Fennel, or my favorite Ironclaws to give the aggressive Beta, with serious boundary issues, another getting right with the moon talk.I can’t blame my client for being uneasy after what he saw. It doesn’t make my job tonight any easier and takes twice the time to get him settled. I have to prove to him all the windows in his room are locked, the curtains shut tight, several times. I have to give him tea and a dose of his melatonin and anxiety medications. I listen patiently to his ramblings of how the wolves stole his only daughter and she never came back. When I first started here las
I ran from my mate again like a coward with my tail tucked between my legs. But this time, I was not just trying to run away from her to avoid the fate the moon has made for me, but also because I do not want my mate to watch me die. Because I feel inside of me things are broken, and I do not feel I can be put back together again in more ways than one. I do not want her to break watching me pass from this life into the spirit world. I will not get the honor of joining the moon in the sky, because I will die a coward’s death, like I so deserve. I am truly broken now that I have finally been reunited with my mate and my time on this Earth is nearly over. My last thoughts are of her. And all the things I missed out on by rejecting our mating bond. I will never know the feel of her body against mine outside of our dreams, the press of her sweet lips atop mine, fall asleep making love to her, and awake with her in my arms the next morning, never see the way the sunlight shines in her blac
My bloody hands shake as I make my way back to my car. Leaving those woods without Slade, my mate, is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’m terrified he won’t ever come back out again. Of all the things left unsaid and undone between us. I can’t feel the bond, and I did not take any of the calming tonic, so that could mean he is already gone. I pray to the moon the link between us is only weak right now because he wears his fur and is hurt. The woods blur beneath me as more tears come uninhibited. I stumble through the trees and to the road, my heart hurts, it pounds inside my chest so hard. All the years I thought I was crazy, it was because he was inside my head. Slade has been my mate all along. I am scared for him. But now the anger also comes, because he had to have known for some time now, had to have felt the full effects of the mating bond long before I did. And he left me. I sob. I can make out the bent-up hood of my car in the moonlight. And I nearly drop to my kn
I rummage through my drawers and grab out the first pair of panties and bra I find. I grab a t-shirt and a pair of sweats and I dress in record time, only half-dried off, and with my hair still dripping wet. CeCe moves out of my doorway as she knows I’m a woman on a mission. I can’t leave this house without seeing my son. When my world feels like it’s going to hell, Gauge anchors me and makes things make sense, reminds me of my reasons to face another day and go on. And now, moon willing, I’ll also have my mate as another reason to keep standing when everything around me falls apart.I walk into my baby’s room as quietly as I can. His cherub face glows in the moon shaped nightlight, his lips adorably puckered against the crib mattress, his little tush up in the air, his chunky legs tucked under him. He has favored this peculiar way of sleeping for as long as I can remember. One of his arms is draped over his firetruck pillow. My heart instantly softens at the sight of my cub, sleepin
I lie awake that night, with my mate’s body molded into mine. I was careful not to show her my fear when she told me she was carrying my cub again. Last time, in the days leading up to our daughter’s birth, I was a fucking mess. My mate sent me calming thoughts through the bond, even throughout our daughter’s birth, though I should have been the one to comfort her. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed, as Sage was born beneath the grove of Alder trees. I cried tears of not only joy, but also great relief, that the moon was in our favor that night.But the moon is not without mercy. Tonight, the moon grants me a dream. Of the things to come. Parts of me and Sloane’s story still being written. I am holding my mate’s hand, on the night of the spring equinox, when she births our twin daughters Ava and Caralee, both squalling into this world. Jack and Everest follow a few years after. I watch flashes of our cubs growing, chasing rabbits and fireflies in the woods, then ta
I open my eyes bathed in the sunlight. I first look to the crib that sets near my bed, but finding it empty, I do not panic. Next, I look to the clock on my phone. It is nine in the morning. Which means my amazing mate has let me sleep in again. Our baby girl Sage has an internal alarm clock that defaults every morning at six a.m. and her big brother Gauge is hardwired to awaken by seven thirty. Slade has gotten up with our cubs this morning and let me catch up on some much-needed rest.Juggling a four-month-old, a toddler, a part time job, an apprenticeship, and the final semester of nursing school is tough. But Slade makes everything easier. We are very much in a partnership and he’s a very hands-on Father. My mate doesn’t mind breaking traditional pack roles and being a stay-at-home Dad. His wood working business is really taking off. He makes custom made furniture right from the shed we set up outside our cabin. And the orders keep rolling in. He has a passion for it. After I grad
I make it halfway to town, before I slam on my brakes and turn around. What the fuck am I doing? My mate has just told me she is carrying my cub, and I act like an ass, and I leave her. This is happy news. A good thing. A new life the moon has blessed us with. I don’t need alcohol or anything else to numb this bond. I want to feel it fucking all. I take a final few sips of the wolfsbane in my flask, just enough so my mate’s mark scars my body. Then I roll down the window and toss the last of my wolfsbane deep into the trees lining the road. I have no need for it anymore. I need to go to my mate, to shower her with kisses, and beg for her forgiveness, tell her I am excited even though I am just as scared shitless. I will not lose her. And she is carrying my cub inside her. I’m going to be a father. I laugh. Damn, my seed is strong. I am a fucking Alpha getting my mate pregnant on the first shot right out of the gate.And I should know better by now, than to take anything for granted.
I curl up next to my son and try to sleep. But I know I won’t be able to rest until my mate returns. I trust in Slade’s promises that he will never leave me again. I push down my fears and insecurities. He just needs to take to his wolfskin and have a run beneath the moon. I can’t fault him for that. He will love our cub just as he loves Gauge. And our child will only strengthen the bond between us. I have nothing to worry about. But still, I can’t sleep and my heart beats harder in my chest.I kiss my sleeping son upon the brow and slip out from beneath the covers. I decide a hot bath is just what I need. I still have bits of forest clinging to my skin in places, smudges of dirt, though I don’t regret the beautiful act that took place between me and my mate beneath the moon. I watch the tub fill up. I’m just about to step out of my gown when I hear the creak of the wood from the porch. Slade is back. I smile. Perhaps he would like to join me in the bath.He has the key, so I shed my
I never knew it could feel like this. That I could love someone so much. And not just because I made love to my mate, marked her as my own, then she sucked my cock and swallowed my seed, but because she made me hers, and told me she loved me. Because of this, as I hold Sloane in my arms beneath the moonlight, I have no more lingering doubts about this mating bond between us.I graze her bare back up and down, as she is nestled against my chest. My mate burrows herself closer against me and lets out a contented sigh. I smile to the moon and breathe her in. I can smell my scent allover her and my wolf likes that very much. My wolf is content and happy I have finally claimed my mate the way the moon intended. The human part of me agrees. “Slade?” comes her voice against my chest.“Yes, my mate?”I still like the sound of it. The way it rolls off my tongue. Especially, after I never thought I would have a mate, let alone a human one.Her fingers trace my chest, “There’s something I need
I can’t believe this is finally happening. That all the things I’ve longed for, and dreamed about, are coming true. I’m tempted to pinch myself to make sure this is all real. That my mate has marked me, claimed me as his forevermore. Waves of pleasure wash over me after his bite. I spasm on the ground before him. My mate has barely touched me yet, and already I cum for him. Because what is passing between us now is so much more than just physical. Slade and I have connected on an emotional level. Fully given ourselves to each other. And now I long for us to physically join as well, to feel him inside me. What we did in the woods a couple weeks ago was amazing and all, but that was more about fulfilling a physical need between us. Releasing years of pent-up sexual tension. But tonight, beneath these trees, christened in moonlight, while nothing else exists except for my mate and me, I want more. I want the joining. I want Slade to make love to me.There is something unexpectedly tende
The night my mate accepted our bond and begged me to fuck her in the moonlight, was the best damn night of my fucking life. She was as tight and perfect as I always dreamed her to be. She fit around my cock as if we were made for each other. The noises I caused from that pretty mouth of hers, will live in my dreams forever more, and I can still taste her sweet pussy on my tongue. My mate is my new favorite delicacy, the best thing I’ve ever eaten. And I want more. I want to do more than just fuck her.Don’t get me wrong, fucking my mate is one of my new favorite things. But there is so much more I wish to do to her, with her. I don’t just want to fuck my mate, I want to make love to her. I have never made love to anyone in my life, that much has become clear since I fully surrendered to the bond. I want to experience sweet and slow love making, and with the one I actually love, the one the moon picked just for me. If only my mate will give me that chance to show her, I can give her s
I should feel happy the moon has blessed me with another child. Sooner than I expected, but all life is precious and has value. I’m scared Slade may not feel the same way. That this might all be too much for him too quickly. I want to have his child. I love Slade. And I will love our cub. But the timing just isn’t right.I know the results are accurate, but I can’t keep myself from tearing open the wrapper on the second test and trying again. This time the results are the same as before. I toss the tests into the little bin on the stall wall. I have to tell Slade. I just don’t know how or when. But my mate needs to hear it from me first, before he discovers this secret I’m keeping from him on his own.I drive back to Shadow Ridge in a whirlwind of emotions. I’m glad I have taken the calming tonic today so Slade can’t feel what a mess I am. I need to swing by Iris and Alder’s house to pick up Gauge for some cuddle time before my shift at the Deveraux’s house tonight. Slade is going to
I can hardly believe two weeks have already passed since Slade proved to me his dreams were so much better than mine. My mate did not disappoint in the forest that night. He exceeded all my expectations to say the least. I can still feel the bite of his teeth upon my breasts, hear the pop when his hungry mouth released my nipple, and the pinch of his fingers against my engorged clit at that perfect place between pleasure and pain.He didn’t mark my skin in the way of the claiming, but he left other evidence of him ravishing my body behind alright. My wolf tasted all parts of me, leaving no skin untouched, and most of me with love bites. My back bore the scratches of the tree bark for a week after. I had to get creative to figure out a way to apply the salve to myself to speed up the healing.Now, when my life becomes monotonous especially, when a professor’s lecture drones on about muscle groups or disease processes, I daydream about that night beneath the moon with my mate. His powe