-RAINA'S POV- “Hurry and go back before he gets here.” The high priestess pleaded, her flitting eyes running all directions of the manor. Creaking noises quaked everywhere in the house. The cypress hardwood floor trembled, and French windows began shattering. His aura was spiraling out of control. “Go now!” She yelled at me, freaking out. I nodded. Slowly she backed away from me, staring at the ceiling as the boards cracked. Fido shifted into a white owl to land on her right shoulder. A protective white circle enclosed her. Hastily, I shoved the angelite eggball in my pocket and retrieved Devin’s ring. Holding the teleportation ring in my hand, I held it up. It was hard to think properly with all the awful commotion around me. Frantically, I rubbed the square-shaped onyx stone on the white gold ring. I closed my eyes, advocating, “Take me home.” Nothing happened, and the ring was snatched from my fingers. I froze as a frost-biting shiver traveled down my spine. “Grrrr!” It wa
-RAINA’S POV- “I'm done,” I admitted, eyes getting misty. “If there's no Hera. The Worgens won't have a reason to come after me. They will remain at a disadvantage that might save thousands of lives.” I lowered my heel. “I did what was best for everyone. If giving her up means that you and I are over, then so be it.” “Raina, we could have done it differently,” Devin interjected on a sad note. He leaned his left forearm on the wall to support his bracing posture. I ignored him. “So you stole Devin's ring to do this wicked act!” Valen blasted. “You are heartless.” “It's not like that. You betrayed me first.” Although I knew he wouldn’t understand, I tried to explain. “Besides, Snow told me that I died. That's how you ended up with her. Your family is with her.” “It’s always Snow this and Snow that. Snow is not the fucking problem, Raina. She never was.” He bellowed, adding a palm to his forehead for a second and dropping it to his side. My heart throbbed as we stared at each other
-RAINA’S POV- The noxious wind howled like a horror movie interlude at midday. Its gothic gale rushed in and out, eddying and swirling into the scallywag atmosphere. Despite that eeriness, we got in Venus’ white McLaren and headed to Noveast, downtown. “This is like old times!” Azara sing-song cheerfully from the back seat of the car. “Oh goddess, we haven't hung out in months.” I hummed, mindlessly gazing out the window from the passenger seat. Venus chuckled around the steering wheel as we cruised the highway. “Don't dwell on that stuff. We're going to the skateboard park to cheer Raina up.” “I'm fine.” I drawled. I've been telling everyone for the past few days, but they insisted on dragging me into activities that will make me feel better after losing my wolf. They were right. How could I be fine? Snow stole Hera. Artemis abducted my child. Valen was angry at me. It hurt in a whipping way when he retorted that Hera was his mate, not me. I haven't seen him since then. Merc
-RAINA’S POV- Venus slammed the brakes. Tires screeched to a sudden halt because the cab driver in front had stopped unexpectedly on the one-way road. Venus rolled down her window, sticking her head slightly out, and yelled, “Asshole!” Her long black hair whipped in the gusty wind. She flicked the strands back as she pulled her head inside. The cab driver stuck out his middle finger. Venus growled and slapped the steering wheel. She tilted her head back and released a long sigh that took her anger away. Her tense shoulders slumped down. Vetting the scene of the town, long lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic were before us. Engines purred, angry horns beeped, brake lights were on, and green lights were up ahead of the blacktop road of stagnant hot wheels. Everything else seemed normal since the people on the street side pavement were going about their business. They were either loitering in deep conversation or going in and out of establishments as we impatiently sat in our vehicl
-RAINA’S POV- “Shit! This is a real problem.” Venus hissed after opening the trunk of her car to find that her weapons bag wasn’t there. It surely would have been helpful. Had it not been for Pennelope’s witch powers, we would be dead. With its girthy dive-bomb howls, the whirling clouds kept cannonading rogues like a sulfur-gray spit-straw on the town. My mind began to spiral, even as fear paralyzed my limbs. The sanguinary rogue dropped the decapitated head from his jaws. He jumped to the top of a dark blue truck and just stared at me with an ugly sneer plaguing his face. "Raina!" Zack shouted my name, pulling me from my deteriorating thoughts. He held the base of my chin, looking down into my eyes. "Stay with me." Nodding, I blinked away the numbness. I struggled to conquer my trepidation, but I knew I had to snap out of it. I was their weakest link and I couldn’t let them die because of my incapabilities. “This will keep us safe, but we cannot stay here.” Pennelope had disc
-RAINA'S POV- Rough hands from the murky shadow clamped on my tender shoulders. “Eeek!” I shrieked, freaking out and wrestling against the unidentified man who tugged me into a wall of compact muscles. Shock ran through me when my mouth was smothered. My body went rigid with terror. My heart flipped and screamed. Fear squeezed the air from my lungs until…...suddenly…….sparks? Robbing me of a moment to breathe, Valen's lips moved on mine. His strong arms wrapped around my waist. Everything went quiet and I slumped against him. His kiss was so desperate and wanting. Fast and passionate. It made me melt. Waves of current shot into me. One of his hands moved from my waist to the back of my neck to hold me close. My lips tingle with a slight pull in my abdomen. He hooked onto my soul. He became my world and the war was forgotten until he tore his lips away. Our eyes locked, and his thumb brushed under my lash. Two of my fingers touched my lips as they sizzled. My mind was a bit hazy
-RAINA’S POV- In a blink, whatever I thought I had seen had disappeared. Was I mistaken? Was my paranoia making me see things? A sudden jab in my rib from Venus’ elbow snapped me out of my haunting thoughts. Drawing her brows together, she asked, “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “Yeah.” My voice cracked slightly. I forced a half smile. I was good for now. Venus rested a hand on my shoulder, and we turned our attention back to the rogue that Valen had brought in. “Cut the shit out, rogue.” Both of Valen’s hands grasped the rabid rogue’s face, turning it directly to apply an Alpha’s eye-lock. The rogue thrashed and growled in resistance until human legs formed and a trembling orange-haired woman took shape. Judging by her looks, she couldn’t be older than twenty years old. The black swirl left her sclera and shaky, amber irises emerged. She was disoriented and panicking. I hoped that she would soon come to her rightful mind. I glanced over at a black-haired war
-RAINA’S POV- Jakub’s chestnut wolf appeared out of nowhere. Valiantly, he attacked one of the rogues and I was impressed by his skills. However, the two of them crashed into Benji’s side, toppling us over with a bludgeoning thud. The air quickly knocked out of me. “Augh!” The side of my head hit the ground hard on something sharp. It burned and ached wickedly. Dancing purple spots overwhelmed my vision for a blurry moment. Pain riddled me faster than a lightning bolt. Benji’s toffee wolf's large body had collapsed on my left leg. I could feel my bones breaking too. I screamed more loudly than I had ever screamed in my life. I winced repeatedly, gritting my teeth and slapping his back to get off me. Burdened by his unbearable weight, I reeled against the ramped-up agony of his body shifting on my broken leg. It was hard for Benji to get up when two aggressive rogues were nipping canines at his ears and neck, but thank goddess for Jakub, who charged at them with full force. Benji q
RAINA'S POV-“When your Grandma said she would keep my snow globe safe, she really wasn't kidding,” I muttered with sarcasm as I walked down the dark passageway. Our feet thudded on baked black mud with its walls decorated with brown-black, twining, trunky vines.Leading with a torch in her hand, Pennelope chuckled and then uttered with dramatic emphasis, “Grams never—and I mean never joke around.”“Your home is creepy as hell,” I swear the big vines moved sometimes.Witches' houses were truly a haunted horror for intruders. You could get in, but only the goddess could help you to get out. A modicum of dread weaved through me, but with Penn here, I thought I would be alright.Get it together Raina.It's amazing how the home could transition from a lovely spacious cottage on the upper floors and then descend from the basement into a whole murky forest with thin, white smoky ghosts popping up here and there, whooing around. Ancestors, Pennelope called them.Marlena told me the snow glob
VALEN'S POV-Zeus' volcanic rage was swarming me. It was hard to control him like this. I never expected Devin's revelation to propel my wolf into a hissy fit. Vaheed's attack on my best friend left a bitter taste of betrayal.Not to mention, his actions with Raina were incomprehensible because he was marked by his own mate. Once again, my brother was after my mate. Why? I thought we passed this stage, but no. He’s a damn dickhead who has gone off the rails.“Alpha, did you get the new location?” Jason’s voice came through the communication earpiece.“Yeah,” I replied in a not-so-nice tone. “We’ll move in five.”Nuuk, Bahia Blanca, and Isiro were fruitless. This was the last sanctuary that was on our agenda to investigate. However, Heidi had found that this one in Waipu had a branch in the United States. Pennelope also confirmed high amounts of camouflaging magic that were widespread across the town. All of its energy waves pulsed from that synagogue.I stood to the side with my rifle
VALEN’S POV-I caught Jason standing from his chair with his head down. He was scratching his forehead with his palm blocking most of his eyes, but I saw them sneaking upwards to watch out for my reaction.Guilty as sin. He had to be the culprit who provided the girls with everything they needed, including war gear, despite that he knew how we felt about our women on the battlefield.I growled at him.“We're coming on the mission.” Venus was always the boldest to speak first.With hands on my waist, I rebuffed, “No, that's a negative. You've been up all night, and it’s two a.m., plus the Howl De Lune cannot be planned by itself. The team and I will be gone for days.”“Cleo and Mom are here,” Raina argued, failing to see my point. She shrugged and emphasized, “I’m safest when I am with you.”“Mom left you in charge.” As I spoke, my feet crossed the space to draw closer to her. “Everyone else has to be here to assist you. Besides, the Bolivian and Ugandan wolves rely on your presence. Y
VALEN POV-“This coffee is shit,” Theo’s deep grumpy voice complained, almost spitting the liquid from his mouth after taking his first sip from the cup.“Too bad, I thought it was the perfect flavor for you,” Jason sassed with a cocky grin from around his grand U-shaped desk with the multiscreen computer system up and running.“You are the greatest hacker I know, and you can build the most advanced techno shit. That you can do, but you can’t make a damn good coffee?” Theo exaggerated, gesturing to the hot cup in his hand.Jason huffed and turned his head back to the computer screens, typing away on the keyboard. “Screw you.”“I would, but not today. You’ve got to buy me a beer first,” The Gamma twin jested back and stepped over to Azara with the coffee in his hand, giving it to her.We were at the IT Hub, which was Jason's domain. It was a fawn-colored, single-story federal house located across from the Training Center. He worked hand in hand with the Gammas, being our eyes from the
VALEN’S POV-I side-eyed Gamma Blayne furiously. He immediately bowed his head and averted his gaze.The stench of blood got stronger, permeating my senses, causing my legs to speed up. I can't stand the thought of any more of our members getting hurt or killed."What the hell..." I trailed off as I inched closer, crouching down and examining the line of dead bodies. It was just downright sick and twisted to use them for a ransom note effect.A chill entered the air that made everyone shiver. Raina’s eyes widened at the gruesome sight.Venus gasped, going pale with a hand flying over her mouth. “This is barbaric.”All their necks were slashed by claws and two of the deceased were used for the punctuation marks. Reading from left to right, it stated: ‘We have not forgotten, and we are coming for her.’Gamma Blayne crouched at the lifeless body next to me. He touched the wound on the man’s chest, inspecting it. “The gashes aren’t as deep as you’d expect, but this one got a double tap en
VALEN’S POV-Together, Theo, Thaines, Jason, and I pushed forward in our wolf form. Leaves and twigs crunched under our pounding paws. The sight of the full moon took its turn in the sky and the faint wind skimmed my fur.The grim sound of battle reached my ears long before we reached the outskirts of the station. We arrived united, skidding to a halt as we met the bloody scene with hard eyes and fangs bared. The air was thickened with the stench of sweat, blood, and death. Gruel residues of combat.Looking around the field for a target, the sounds of gnashing teeth, angry snarls, and painful shouts that had previously filled the air vanished with the rogues that swiftly fled through the tree line, leaving an eerie silence.“Cowards!” I roared internally, anger filling my veins.“Go now! Don’t let them get away!” Gamma Blayne shouted orders to a specialized team of elite wolves to pursue the escapees. He stood naked, heaving and curling his hands into fists, and his head whipped to spo
VALEN’S POV-“What’s my Alpha doing in a place like this?” Albert the old bartender had the nerve to joke as he wiped down the triple-fronted bar counter with a chuckle.“It’s a bar. What crime have I committed?” Although he was jesting, I was in a foul mood.Arbitration Day with those bumptious Alphas has finally ended. Things at Alpha Camp were going well with Valiant. Devin’s still in his coma and Raina seems to be in a bad mood. She was madder than a fucking hornet and shanghaiing my mental space.Yesterday, everything went downhill. Devin’s condition showed no change and I did not find the damn Worgen. I came here to clear my mind from the weight of failure that settled over me.All I wanted to do was head to Raina’s room and hug her. But knowing that she’d probably bring up Mercedes again, I detoured here. The thought of her name made the beer in my hand so damn distasteful. Out of panicked desperation, I’ve been spinning my wheels all day to come up with a way to get through to
RAINA’S POV-Theo bent and picked up the folder. He placed it on the desk and fell back into position.The file contained four candidates. Me being one of them. It depicted the Alpha cabal, who represented seventy percent of the werewolf kingdom, voting on whom they advocated to be Queen. Mercedes gained the highest votes, while I had a meager one percent. I saw Tallulah Rumer’s photo, an Alpha-Female from the Rym Greyback Pack in New Zealand. Next was Kristen, the Alpha-Female Valen pitted me against in the sparring competition for the world to see.Then there were pages of signatures and pack seals to officiate the petition in demonstrating which candidate held their favor. This was the beginning of an uprising. It could plunge the kingdom into chaos if Valen’s choice upset them.My heart chipped away at the daunting situation. Mercedes bowed her head to hide the gloating smile that curled on her lips.Okay, I see you Mercedes.“Your Royal Elders marshaled me for the task. Their old
RAINA’S POV-"Oh, goddess!" Venus squealed at us, after entering the loft with Mercedes, dragging her by the ear. She dramatically threw one hand over her harlequin eyes while maintaining her hold on the girl."Damnit Venus! Can't you knock?" Valen snapped, clearly still riled up from the hormones stirring between us. He quickly yanked up his sweatpants, though the bulge was quite prominent."How was I to know that this would be going on in here!" Venus yelled back, keeping her hand over her eyes. “Who would ever bang in their kitchen?”“People with mates, little sis,” Valen replied low and gruff, and I sensed the shift in him.My face blushed bright red in embarrassment. I reached over and grabbed my shorts, clumsily slipping them on while sitting on the counter. Once I was mostly covered, I was ready to jump down. Valen's large hands gently grasped my waist and quickly helped me down to my feet."Of all the people in the world, why would you bring Mercedes here, Vee?" Valen asked, t