LeanderI knew the moment I woke up and Hycinth was gone, we were right back to square one. Maybe it was unrealistic, but I'd hoped the progress we made the night before would continue. I'd hoped when she saw how good we were together, how good the bond was for both of us, she'd want to choose me.I should have known better.Fantasizing about our future together was not a good idea, not if I wanted to survive after our four weeks was over. The pain in my chest nearly suffocated me. Hope was a bitch when it was torn away, and the only thing left behind was cold empty despair.But I had her in my arms now.And I would do everything in my power to keep her there.I kissed her on the forehead. She looked up, lake blue eyes finding mine. Stepping back, I took her hand. "I want to show you inside." She nodded and walked with me through the wide opening.Every aspect of the interior of the cottage had been carefully thought-out and crafted. I gestured to the floor, walls and exposed beam cei
HycinthLeander's eyes blazed as he walked to stand right in front of me.I didn't care. I wasn't going to be intimidated. Hands on my hips, I hissed, "How many times are we going to have to go through this? I've already told you nothing happened between us. I thought you believed me!"Leander ignored my question. Suddenly, his eyes unfocused, his stare utterly blank.My mouth went slack, confused by his abrupt change. It was like he was staring at me but through me at the same time. What the hell was he doing?I studied him, trying to interpret his unusual body language.And then I understood. Oh shit.He was inside my head!I gasped, "Are you looking at my memories?"He didn't deny it, his expression unapologetic.I couldn't believe his audacity. "Thank you for having no fucking trust in me! I do not speak lies. And you are a hypocrite!"His darkened gaze turned hard. A muscle in his jaw ticked.My hands ached to strangle him, but I settled with pointing my finger at him, my anger g
LeanderHycinth couldn't hide her response to my provocative words.ExcitementDesireAnticipationAll filtered through the bond.I lifted her chin with my fingers, forcing her to look at me. Liquid blue irises revealed the truth. No matter what her mind claimed, her body and soul hungered for something else entirely-she craved me.And I desperately wanted to give her everything she yearned for.Hycinth worried her bottom lip between her teeth, tongue flickering out to wet her lips. So fucking sexy.I suppressed a groan.The moment lingered, singularly focused on each other, nothing else existed.From behind Hycinth, Luca grumbled, "So, yeah, I'ma have to interrupt this heartwarming eye-fucking moment before I toss my lunch."I glanced at him. Mouth twisted in distaste, he did look kind of green. I chuckled and loosened my hold. Hycinth blushed and worked to disentangle herself from my embrace. I didn't let her go far, twining my fingers into hers to keep her by my side."Thank you,"
She hesitated a moment, pulling her thoughts together. "I'm just surprised Sydney's here."I pulled her to a stop. She hadn't seemed bothered before, but maybe I'd read her acceptance of Sydney's presence wrong. We were far enough from the competitors not to be heard. "Do you not want her here?"She shook her head. "No. I don't care that she's here. Her presence was just unexpected. They hadn't gone easy on her.""True," I acknowledged, unsure where she was going with this. But she spoke the truth. Sydney's punishment had been significant.A little shudder ran down Hycinth's spine as she admitted, "It was bad enough when you spanked me with your hand over my clothing. I can't imagine how Sydney handled Cyril's strikes with a paddle over and over on her naked butt, only to find three more wolves wanted retribution for her behavior as well. She heals faster as a werewolf, but not that fast. Her punishment was less than a day ago."Oh, I understood now. "Sydney has her faults, as you've
HycinthEven as I chatted with Gwen, my attention was never far from Leander. He and Ever stood off to the side, silently watching the activity around us.However, about ten minutes later, he walked away, without even a word to me.My heart twisted.I'd rejected him again. I shouldn't expect anything than his rebuff, but still, it hurt. I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to hold myself together. Abruptly, Gwen squeezed my knee. I looked up to find her brown eyes soft, silently trying to give me strength, but there was pain in her expression as well.For the first time, I wondered if it wouldn't just be Leander I hurt when I left. Gwen and I had become close over the short time I've been there. I'd forgotten how wonderful it was to have shewolves as close friends. Even though I knew it was the right path for me to take, I didn't relish becoming a lone Wolf again. No one to understand me and no pack to call family.My Wolf howled mournfully in my head.But it didn't have to be t
LeanderThree weeks had gone by.For the most part, Hycinth and I ignored the elephant in the room, the upcoming ceremony, preferring instead to stick to less emotionally-charged subjects. But if anything, three weeks of lighthearted banter and fun just further cemented the truth of what I was going to lose.Because no matter how much closer we became, I could still feel Hycinth's resistance. She wouldn't let go of the wall between us. Over the course of her time here, I'd shown her everything I was and everything we could be together.It just wasn't enough.Ever lifted his beer, eyeing me speculatively over the bottle. "What's going on?"I stiffened. Hycinth, Gwen, and Willow were having a girl's night, so Ever and I had made our way to a local bar. I needed the release. I needed to take the edge off and planned to get completely wasted. Ever's too-intuitive gaze remained locked on me, but talking about my problems was not on the agenda for this evening. Maybe if I acted like I had n
HycinthI stared down at Leander's large frame on the bed, out cold, snoring softly, his clothes from the night before wrinkled and disheveled.The competition was beginning today and I couldn't believe he'd decided last night was the opportune moment to get drunk off his ass. What was he thinking?I let out a little cough, struggling to breathe with the suffocating scent of alcohol in the air. How the hell much did he drink?Moving to the window, I pulled open the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room. Leander let out an irritated growl in his sleep and burrowed his face in the pillow. I shook my head.Unlocking the window, I slid it open. I took a moment to poke my nose outside and inhale deeply, refilling my lungs with fresh air.Turning to face him again, I placed my hands on my hips.And just how the hell was I going to get him out of the bed?As a matter of fact, given his alcohol drenched body, how did he even make it to bed on his own? Ever had to have helped. And probably Asher
LeanderHot water rained down on me in the shower as I pressed my forehead against the cold tile wall. I let out a low groan. Why the hell had I thought drinking until I was arse over tit had been such a good idea? It, sure as fuck, didn't feel that way now.Just breath, I coached myself, letting the air fill my lungs and release slowly. Deep breaths.I could do this...I could stand long enough to take care of a rudimentary task such as cleaning myself.Finally, I pulled myself together enough to stop nuzzling the wall.Squeezing some shampoo into my hands, I began the mundane task of washing my hair and let my thoughts drift. The competition began today. I hadn't looked at the time before stumbling into the shower, but more than likely, I'd already missed the morning session. That was okay. Sydney and Luca had managed to work together without killing each other, just barely. Both were still alive and kicking, and I was confident they had everything under control.I look forward to s
The house was quiet until Leander arrived an hour later after I woke up. I killed the time in the library, going through books and learning about the history of werewolves until he came. The conversation with Gwen lasted for only a few minutes. I didn't question her any longer once she had told me that he hadn't hurt her, not once in the past year.He wasn't lying. He had it under control-at least for himself."How are the injured wolves?" I asked him as he came inside the library and greeted me."They are better. The wounds heal up quick.""And the ones that died?""I paid respects to their families." He answered, lowering his gaze and curling his arms behind his back.There were a couple of deaths from last night. I wasn't sure how many but a few warriors were ripped by the monster and killed before Leander could kill him. He only acted when the monster had attacked me and if he hadn't, he wouldn't have killed him.I closed the book I had been reading and set it aside on the table.
A shiver ran down my spine and suddenly the hunger left my stomach. "What do you mean?" I clicked my eyes to Leander. "Have you seen her?""No." He shook his head."Then?""I'm assuming she's the one that might have poisoned the man and that man belonged to the pack, which means that Sydney is somewhere here." Не continued, speaking slowly and cautiously.I wanted to hunt Sydney down, find her, question her and force her guilty for all the terrible things she had done. I wanted her to be punished, not just for today but for everything she had done. Over the year, I had grown to resent her, hate her more than I could possibly hate anyone.I pursued my lips and gripped the knife on the side of the table while taking in heavy breaths.What did she want now?"Why do you think she is here? D-do you think you can find her?" I asked him while stammering on my words as the thought of my mother made me quite nervous."I think she's going to find you. Her appearance here after poisoning me only
Tears after tears spilled from my eyes uncontrollably. I placed my hand over my mouth to hold in my sobs but the sounds still made it through. The pain was terrible and the fear was greater than every. I had barely ever been afraid of anything but tonight I was.The clock was striking to midnight and an hour had passed by since the horrific events yet I couldn't get any sleep.I wasn't going to.Whatever had attacked me tonight and killed people- Leander was that. He was the same monster as that man was and that monster was most terrific thing I had ever seen in all my twenty years of living.I wanted to blame someone for this, I wanted to be furious over Leander and pin my finger over him for everything but I couldn't. This wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's except for Sydney. My hatred for her was so much. After another hour of sobbing and bruising my eyes, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the washroom. Warm water flooded down from the tap and I used to wash away the dr
After Leander parted from me, I placed my hand over my mouth, holding in the urge to scream and snap at him. He just had to do one thing and he couldn't do that.All he had to do was kill the monster.The warriors were still running around the camp, trying to find their way out. After a minute of walking around, I figured the way out from the forest and back into the town. There were wet tire marks from the car that had left earlier with the injured boy. The tire marks were going to lead everyone back home.I told as many people as I could and guided them out from the camps while a few of them remained on the ground, injured. Some of the injured ones were getting carried away by the other warriors while the rest were still there.It was a monster that had tore through this forest, nothing more."You should come with us," One of the warriors whispered to me. "It's not safe for you here either." He continued.I looked over my shoulders, finding the rest of the tents getting on fire. The
I lined my lips straight, "Take him to the hospital before I rip your head off."The man quickly grabbed the boy off my shoulders and turned around to command the warriors in training. A few of them got into the vehicle nearby and they began driving out of the forest while the rest of them remained surrounded around me.Whispers began to rise between them.The ones that had gotten a sight of the boy and the wound on his neck were gossiping among themselves. I could hear it all."Did you see that? It looked like a bite. I think she bit a boy." One of them whispered to another and I rolled my eyes before turning around and walking back into the same path I came from.I needed to find Leander. The silence was eating me up alive. There was no sound of him or the monster we both had encountered. The night was getting darker and I was getting uncomfortable.I parted myself away from the camp and none of the warriors followed me. They remained there even though I had warned them to leave the
The skies began turning dark just when the sun began disappearing completely. The golden hues were gone in just a couple of minutes but we did get lucky to see the sun setting from the hills. My heart thudded loud and hard in my chest, I felt enthralled and wild and so did Leander. We took lead over one and another after every minute, we fought hard and bruised each other's wolf's slightly. We raced and tracked each other's scents across the forest.Until...The air became stiff and the atmosphere changed. We stopped on our tracks in the middle of nowhere, both of us sensing something unusual. There were wolves around, tons of pack wolves running around and some training but this was different.'Do you smell it?' I asked Leander while my nose wrinkled. It was strong-the stench of death and blood. If I could sense it, so could he and if we both did, it was somewhere near us.'Yes. It's a lot worse. It's coming from somewhere around. We need to shift back. 'He quickly said before turnin
The lunch meeting lasted for another long hour. I didn't keep track of the time as I engulfed in hearing the chatters between strong, powerful Alpha's. It was the first time I had been in a place packed with Alpha's. It was different this time.The meeting was concluded soon and the Alpha's began leaving. They began dividing, and parting ways, entering their own vehicles and soon taking the highway out of the town.So many thoughts swirled around in my head. What were they doing here? I knew for certain one of them was helping Leander with the poison but the others. What were they here for?"Did you find out if any of them has the poison?" I asked, hands inside my pocket while I stood outside, under the cold, chilling air and watched the skies change colors and the Alpha's leave the town.The gates of the house were widely opened, showing the paved roads outside. The sun, nearly setting, shone it's golden light onto the road and the several trees surrounding the house.If Leander had
Leander gawked at me with his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. He blinked slowly, waiting for my response. The word blurted itself out of my mouth. I didn't think about it correctly. The damage couldn't be reversed now but I had to try."I don't mean it like that-" I began and he got dangerously close to me. Every step he took toward me, I took one step back. "I meant, I just want to find her and she's the one who did. She must've something going on in her head and I'm the only one who can find her." I tried to come up with something quick, before he grew any more furious.I had an idea to where I could find Sydney. She probably must be laying low in someone's pack. I now wanted to search for her again.She couldn't have ran to far. She was probably around waiting to see how the posion will affect leander."You're not leaving this place and if you do so, I'll drag you back myself and the next time, I won't be so gentle." He threatened, once more. It was the first time he had said t
Sydney had reached a new low and it was way too low for her. Why would she have given the poison to anyone? Why did she give the poison to Leander?What did Leander do to her when she came back to him?! Leander didn't tell me everything that happened when she came back in his life but I think Leander didn't treat her right. At this point I wasn't even jealousy that Leander allowed Sydney in his life even after her killing our pup. I was worried about him."But I overheard you speaking to this other man- l suppose the Alpha of the Silvertail pack about the new strain of the poison and something about his healers." I quirked my brow at him, remaining confused."He's not the enemy. I asked him a favor to figure out a way to reverse the affects of the poison and in return, I would offer some of my army to him whenever he's in need of it." Leander explained to me. "Though, his healers haven't come up with anything yet.""What about the healers in your pack?""Nothing. No one knows about i