(Brady POV) I took the shot in one fast gulp and then turned back to Charlotte. “You know that you are supposed to shoot shots, not sip them, right?” I asked her. She rolled her eyes. Even in my drunken stupor, I could not help but notice how pretty her eyes were. “I don’t normally drink whiskey,” she explained. “Ah. Then why now?” “I just rejected my…. I just broke up with my boyfriend.” I gave her a knowing smile. “Your mate. You just rejected your mate.” Charlotte looked at me like she had just gotten caught with her hand in a cookie jar. I smiled. “I am a wolf too.” She looked relieved. “Oh. Really?” “Yeah. You probably cannot smell my wolf that well right now because he is buried under a couple bottles of wolfsbane whiskey. I needed a break from all things Moon Goddess.” Charlotte nodded. “Don’t I get that.” “Wait… if you just rejected your mate, shouldn’t you be passed out in a hospital bed somewhere?” Charlotte shook her head. “No. My wolf is buried fo
“Deal.” **** I do not know how Charlotte and I managed to hold ourselves together in the hotel gift store, but either the hotel worker just wanted our money or we did an okay job of seeming not completely drunk, because the gift shop sold us three bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne, and three bottles of tequila. Charlotte and I then headed up to my room. Once there, I asked Charlotte what she wanted to start with. She picked the champagne. “Good choice.” I popped the champagne bottle, but my drunk self did not think about where the cork might go, and so it ended up flying into one of the mirrors, shattering it. Charlotte started giggling, which made me laugh too. I poured the champagne into a plastic cup and handed it to her. “You know, it is nice to meet someone who appreciates champagne. That she-wolf I told you about earlier? She actually told me that she prefers her mate to me because he likes beer, baseball, and pizza.” “WHAT?” I nodded. “Right? You show a g
(Brady POV) I woke up the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned as I struggled to open my eyes, not wanting to wake up. “She smells amazing,” Kalen linked me. “What? Who?” “The she-wolf laying next to you. She smells amazing,” Kalen repeated. Uh-oh. I quickly sat up in the bed and looked around me. Not only was there a she-wolf laying next to me, but also both of us were completely naked. "She is beautiful," Kalen gushed. "She will make beautiful pups." I silently studied the she-wolf. Kalen was right; she was gorgeous. But why was Kalen talking about pups and not yelling at me for blocking him last night? He never took any interest in any of my one-night stands in the past. More importantly, who the f&&k was this she-wolf? I rubbed my hands down my face, struggling to remember. Then, suddenly, almost like an answer to my question, the memories of last night came flooding back to me. Charlotte. The she-wolf’s name was Charlotte. She rejected her
(Brady POV) My heart pounding, I called Evelyn. She answered the phone on the first ring. She was crying hysterically, which made it hard to understand her. However, from what I could gather from between her sobs, Sammy had been kidnapped from his room at some point between Evelyn’s fourth and fifth text messages to me this morning. Worse, the kidnappers left a note, which Evelyn agreed to text to me. The note said: “You have 48 hours to bring us the she-wolf. We no longer care if she comes dead or alive. If we do not get the she-wolf, you will never see your son alive again. We will be in touch about the transfer details.” Holy Goddess. The guilt for leaving Black Moon while my pup was still there hit me hard and fast. Had I been there, he would have been with me. And if he had been with me, he would not have been kidnapped. I let pride, emotions, and jealousy cloud my thinking. And even though it was none of Evelyn’s business, I really had been f&&ing another she
Now those wolves want Lily dead, but of course killing her has now gotten tremendously harder. In the hopes of getting leverage, they kidnapped Sammy this morning while he was playing in his room and they left that note. However, we intercepted the kidnappers before they left the pack with Sammy. Evelyn still believes that Sammy has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers’ bosses still believe that Sammy has been kidnapped, but he is fine. We have the kidnappers safely kept in the dungeons in Red River, unable to mind-link. We will keep them there until you return and the werewolf council is functional again.” I ran my hands through my hair as I tried to process what my father had just told me. What the f&&k. Evelyn was behind all of this? Or at least some of it? How? Why? “How did… how did you figure it out?” “It was all right there in front of you, Son, but you were too blinded to see it. Evelyn knew that the wolves who attacked the pack were after Lily. She either knew tha
(Lily POV) James and I were standing next to each other in this foreign-to-us hall, feeling confused, when we heard a female voice behind us. “It took you long enough. Come, we do not have much time.” We turned around and saw a beautiful woman —no, Goddess— standing before us. She was wearing a
(Lily POV) "Let me explain more," the Moon Goddess said. Before she could, I interrupted with my own question. I could not help it. The Moon Goddess’ words were re-opening old wounds and making me remember all my old insecurities about living under Stephanie’s shadow. “Are you… are you saying that I was your second choice? And that Stephanie was your first?” Feeling my distress, James quickly pulled me off of my chair. He then adjusted our positions so that I was sitting in his lap while he held onto me protectively. The Moon Goddess smiled at his gesture before she leaned forward, grabbed both of my hands, and looked at me with almost-scary seriousness. “I was worried that you might think of it that way, Lily. But, no, I am not saying that you were my second choice. I am saying that you were not who I originally expected to put into this position. That even I sometimes make mistakes.” “That sounds like the same thing.” “It is not. I love all of my children, and you ha
(Lily POV) “Now, if you are ready, let us talk about that destiny of yours. Your earned destiny.” I hesitated. I desperately wanted to know what all the secrets were about, but I still had so many questions about everything that the Moon Goddess just told me. There were pieces that still did not seem to fit. At least I knew that James was always supposed to be mine. Somehow, I found that incredibly comforting. “May I ask you a few more questions first?” I asked. The Moon Goddess shook her head. “I am really sorry, my love. I had hoped that we would have longer to talk, but the longer this conversation goes on, the bigger of a wrinkle it creates. And thanks to the two of you and your little lovefest this week, I have already had to intervene and wrinkle things a bit too much already….” The Moon Goddess paused and gave us both a mischievous smile. When I realized what the Moon Goddess was referring to, I began blushing. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that James