When we reach the bottom of the stairs it’s like a well oiled machine, everyone moves together smoothly and with purpose, keeping me safely secure in my little box. Azraels popularity is even worse out here because as soon as the hotel doors open there are people everywhere trying to snap pictures of him. He pays them no mind and leads us to one of the waiting SUV’s. The bright lights distract me but thankfully Serena grabs my arm and gently guides me to the car. I hear the reporters shouting at Azrael, asking him questions but they all seem to be shouting over each other. I can't seem to make a word of it out. Even the wind is buzzing around frantically, throwing random pieces of information my way, unsure of how to process it all. I’m grateful when the doors finally shut behind us, enveloping the car in silence. Azrael rides with us this time with Serena and Grey in front of us again. “Let’s get out of here babe,” Serena says. “I'm ready to go home.” For the first time this entire
I shake my head in disbelief before turning back to watch the scenery fly by as we pull up to the large castle doors. Azrael gets out of the car and holds his arm out for me to take. As I step on the ground, standing in front of me are a couple of different people. One is a middle aged couple. The man is a spitting image of Azrael, black hair and silver eyes, but the woman looks completely different. She has wavy honey blonde hair and eyes the color of a bright blue sky. They couldn’t be more different from each other. The wind whirls around me, brushing against my ears it says it’s his mother but not. I chew the inside of my cheek and suppress a frown. The wind was known for being cryptic but I usually could make out what it was trying to say. This time I couldn’t. Next to the couple was a young girl, she looked to be about 15 years old, she looked just like her mom but had silver eyes to match the rest of her siblings. Beside her was a young man, a little older than Grey but still y
We spent the next hour making small talk. They mostly ask about my family and my old pack. After a little I finally mustered up the courage to ask the question that has been nagging me in the back of my mind. I set my teacup down, “Alice?”“Yes my dear,” she replies, taking a small sip of her own tea.“I want to start out by saying I’m not trying to sound rude or out of line. But why is it that Azrael looks nothing like you?” I ask softly. I brace myself for her reaction, worried that I offended her but I just had to know.She smiles and places her teacup down, “You are a part of this family so I think honesty is very important. Especially because you have been so willing to share with us.” She puts her hands in her lap and takes a deep breath. “I’m not going to share everything because I do feel that it is his story to tell, but I will tell you what I can. I am not his mother. His birth mother was another woman. She was lovely, beautiful and very much in love with his father and he w
I nod, finally understanding the sadness from earlier now. She made the largest sacrifice for her love and he wasn’t even her mate. Walking along the stone path I make my way up to the tree. Stepping up in front of it I drop onto a curtsy, paying my respects to her. I reach out and touch the trunk, gasping in shock at the amount of life courses through the tree. My hand tingles with the burst of energy. Placing my forehead against the bark a voice softly cuts through my mind. “Hello dear,” it says softly, almost a whisper. Willow? Is that you? I thought you were dead. I ask in my mind.“Ah you know my name. But no as you can see I am very much alive. I don’t have much time as I must rest again soon. Tell my son I love him, take good care of him for me please.” Her voice gets softer as if it’s fading away.Willow?! Are you okay?! I call out to her, grasping for her voice.“Yes my dear. This form just takes almost all of my energy. But don’t be sad. I’m happy here. I get to watch my
He seems lost in thought so I leave him alone and close my eyes, letting the wind gently blow around me. “Firefly,” he whispers into my ear. I blink my sleepy eyes open, looking around confused as to where I am before memories flood back to me. Realizing I must have fallen asleep, “How long was I out for?” I ask him sleepily, pushing my hair from where it’s fallen into my eyes. “Only 30 minutes or so,” he replies, pressing his lips against my neck. His breath blows against my ear making me shiver. That unfamiliar hot feeling in my lower belly starts to grow and I quickly stand up and dart away from him, giving myself some distance to cool off. He laughs and I turn around to see him standing up. His hair is falling sexily over his eyes and the desire in them is making my legs wobbly. They way his suspenders slide off his shoulders and the lopsided grin he gives has me frozen in place as I watch him stalk over to me. I open my mouth to tell him to stay back before a familiar voice c
“Come dear,” she opens the door in front of us. My eyes go wide as I take in the space. The room itself is as large as three of my bedrooms put together. True to his nature the room is black and silver. A large king size bed sits against the far wall flanked by two side tables on either side. A small sitting area with a sofa, bar and a flat screen is in the corner close to the door. Large silver french doors lead to a massive balcony that overlooks one of the castle's many gardens. On the right side there is another set of double doors, these are different from the rest though. They are gold, with metal gold and white flowers on them. His mom guides me to them. Opening them both I let out an audible gasp. The room is a dressing room. A cream vanity with a light pink chair rests against one of the walls. An arch with a curtain next to it. One corner has three floor length mirrors with a small pedestal in the middle of them. What shocks me the most is that in one of the corners are thre
I giggle at her, stepping down. “I dunno that’s how I do it.” I say with a shrug. We exit my room to find Azrael lounging on the couch scrolling through his phone. He’s still wearing the same thing, but he’s added a black cape to it. I see his mother giving him a disapproving look which makes me smile. I’m sure she’d rather him wear a suit and tie but I think he looks much better like this. The suit just doesn’t fit him I’ve come to realize. Alice clears her throat and his eyes lazily move from his screen to us. A smile breaks out on his face as he takes me in. The way his eyes slowly scan my frame makes my cheeks heat up. Serena slides to stand in front of me obstructing his view and rolls her eyes at him. “If you could not eye fuck her in our presence that would be wonderful oh dear ALPHA,” she says putting emphasise on the his title. Alice claps her hands and says, “Alright people we are on a schedule, time to get a move on.”Azrael stands and I take his arm as he leads us out of t
She nods her head, “Yes. This pack has a mixture of Daemons and Wolves. This pack has a ritual when you join that allows all members a pack link, even if they don’t have a wolf. His father started the tradition of integrating them when he met former Luna Willow. He wanted her to feel more at home.” she shrugs, pulling me along to meet yet another group of people. It’s only been an hour but my feet are sore and I can feel my anxiety rising by the sheer number of people I’ve met just today. I haven’t seen Azrael this entire time which makes my heart feel heavy. We pass by a group of girls, around my age. All wearing far too short dresses or skirts and thick layers of makeup. If my head was a target I’d have a hole burned right between my eyes from looks of pure despise they are giving me. Out of the corner of my eye I see Azrael start walking towards us, I can’t help the smile that starts to spread out across my face. But as quickly as it started forming the flame is immediately stifled
Stepping out the massive front doors open and Dre comes strolling out, a wide smile on his face. Not a strand of his white blonde hair out of place, and his three piece suit has been pressed to perfection. Grabbing my hands, careful not to touch the silver cuffs along my wrists he kisses my hands making me cringe in disgust. “My dear it’s so good you’ve finally decided to join us.”I stiffen and glare at him, janking my hands away. “What the fuck are you doing Dre?” I sneer. His eyes flash and he pauses, smoothing his hair back, a tic I remembered him doing that last time when he’s nervous. “Alpha my dear I am an Alpha, but I'll let it slide this time as I’m sure the altitude has affected your judgment. And well claiming what is rightfully mine of course.”I roll my eyes and scoff, “I don’t belong to you dipshit. I’m marked and mated and last I checked I don’t bear your mark and your name isn’t Azrael Whitlock.”I watch him ground his teeth. His wolf surfacing in his eyes before he c
When I wake I notice a blanket has been placed over me and Gabriel is gone. The sky is lovely as colors splash the surface as it starts to wake up. My eyes snap towards movement as Gabriel walks in from a small doorway. “The captain says that we’ll be landing in 20 minutes. From there we’ll be headed to the Grey Lake pack. To meet your future mate,” he smirks. I scowl, “He is not now and will never be my mate. I’ll die before then.”He shrugs, not caring about my reaction and plops back in his chair. “I don’t give a shit what he does with you as long as I get paid.”I tilt my head and study him. There is something off about him. His soul is trying to tell his mind a truth that he’s desperately trying to deny. “I don’t think that’s quite true.” He narrows his eyes at me as I stare at him. “You’re at war with yourself. There is a truth you’ve locked away within yourself Gabriel. One that is desperately trying to come out that is leaking at the seams.” I see a flash of emotion cross
I walk silently beside him, his hand latched in an iron grip on my arm making it ache and I know by morning there will be a bruise. “You’re so slow,” he hisses. I tilt my head up, scowling at him, “well I am barefoot and walking in a skin tight dress, I wasn’t exactly expecting to get kidnapped was I?” I snap back. He shakes his head and glares down at me, “once we get out of the tunnels we’ll get you out of this dress.” We continue along the path and I notice that not once has Gabriel looked at the map that Karlile gave him. It remains tucked into the back pocket of his jeans. Yet he still seems to know exactly where he is going. It surprises me as I don’t even know all the secret passages and this is my home. We continue the silence and after a few more turns the night sky finally reappears above us. “Follow my steps exactly,” he whispers. He’s agile like a cat, slinking along the shadows and I do my best to keep up. Willow’s fate is riding on this and I know that Azrael won’t be a
Out of the shadows emerges a young man, he’s large, like the gyms is his only friend kind of large, and is probably about 16 or 17 years of age. His hands are stuffed into his leather jacket and he lazily walks over to stand by Karlile’s side. Goosebumps rise on my arms and the back of my neck as his crystal blue eyes look up to me. I’m surprised by the emptiness that I see inside them. Someone his age should still have the innocence of youth pooling through them but his eyes are like empty glass orbs. I don’t need the wind to tell me that the guy in front of me is a hunter. Willows taught me to be able to identify others by the magic that buzzes around him. Every living thing attracts certain types of magic. While I don’t see colors around them, I associate the types of magic with a color. Sirens have blue or calming magic, wolves have silver or physical magic and Daemons have purple or chaos magic.I’ve never met a hunter myself but from what I’ve learned is that magic avoids them li
I’m not sure if it’s the dancing or all the champagne but as Azrael spins me around again my head starts to feel fuzzy. He pulls me into his arms, cradling my face in his hands. I reach up and grab his wrists with my hands. “You know, you look absolutely ravishing my love,” he whispers to me. I giggle, my face breaking out in a wide smile. “So you’ve been telling me all night.” I rest my head against his chest as we sway to the music. In a few days time we were headed back to my home pack to celebrate the new year with my family. The Forest Moon pack always had lovely decorations for the holidays, just as nice as we have here. We invited them to come up for the holidays but mom is far too long in her pregnancy that it’s not safe for her to travel anymore. The song ends and I pull away, smiling up at my mate. “I’m going to go get some air. I'm feeling a little dizzy.” He frowns, “everything okay?” Shaking my head I wince but flash him a reassuring smile, “nothing some crisp cool air ca
The next couple of weeks pass by quickly and relatively smoothly. The snow from the mountains has made its way down and covered our castle, making it look like someone took a very large piping bag and painted it with white frosting. The town has been covered in decorations for the past month, really bringing in the Christmas spirit. We never really had snow in my old pack so while Azrael is already sick of it I’m relishing the time that I have with it. I’ve settled in a nice routine where I take care of any of my Luna duties in the morning, train with Willow in the early afternoon and spend the rest of the evening with Azrael and/or the other ranked pack members and family. I spend a lot of my time with Serena, but now that Sophie is feeling much better she’s been spending more and more time with us as well. It’s Christmas Eve and Alice has planned this elaborate ball to celebrate the occasion. I’m currently sitting on my vanity chair as Serena pins up my dark curls in ways that I wi
I sit on my couch, with my legs curled up to my chest, looking out the window with worry. Azrael said it was going to be fine but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. Rogues were common but I still didn’t like the idea of him going out into their territory. He didn’t let me go with him to send Margo off, saying it could be too dangerous. Serena offered to keep me company but I politely declined. As much as I love her this was something I wanted to do by myself. I needed to strengthen my resolve. It was gloomy outside and looked like it was about to start raining, what if that made it harder for them to see? What if they got ambushed? I know they were only dropping her off at the border but frustration bubbled up inside of me and I looked down at my hands. If only I could harness my power better than I could help them and this pack. Willow said I was close to mastering the wind. I just had to get a hold of my emotions. The door slammed open and shook me from my thoughts. The smell of
I roll my shoulders and straighten my back as I once again stand at the top of the stairs leading down to the dungeons. Azrael is standing at my side and behind us is Margo’s family. My heart aches for them but her actions are unforgivable and it would be a crime against the pack to allow her to continue staying here. As angry as she made me I really tried to come up with another way to punish her but nothing was good enough. Kane wanted vengeance for what happened to his mate and I completely understood where he was coming from. If the roles were reversed she would already be dead. Scar looks down at me and gives me a reassuring smile before placing his hand on the doorway, unlocking it. The entrance to the dungeon was enchanted. There were no handles on the entrance, making it impossible to open. Only those who were given access could place their hand on the stone wall and then it would open like a secret passage. Making our way down the dark stairwell I blink my eyes, quickly adju
Ilayda sits in my chair behind the desk. Even being dwarfed by my large chair she sits up, her back straight and eyes attentive looking every bit the powerful Luna she is. I lean my arms crossed in front of my desk, slightly off to the side so she can still see. Reggie and Tiana, Margo’s mother and father, sit in the two chairs in front of me, eyes tired as their oldest, twin boys Carmen and Cias stand behind them. Carmen is a succubus like their mother and Cias turned out to be a Marquis to the surprise and pride of his parents as Reggie is a wolf. The room is tense as they wait to hear the fate of their youngest. I roll my neck, cracking it before sighing, “I assume you know why I’ve called you all here. Margo’s fate has been decided.” I pause, taking in their facial expression. Not surprisingly no one seems hopeful. They are all very well aware of the likely consequences of her actions and are mostly here to get it over with. “She will not be sentenced to death by our hand, howeve