I rush over to my dressing room with Serena hot on my tail. Rummaging through my backpack I grab the small pouch filled with the different types of seeds and put it in my pocket. I stand up and look at Serena “Let’s go to Willow’s garden. I can plant these there.” She nods and takes my hand. We walk as casually as we can but anxiety courses through us at the thought of saving Sophie. Poor Drago, my ever dutiful guard, is following behind, not sure what the hell is going on. We make it to the garden and I rush over to Willow, pressing my head against her trunk, ‘Good afternoon Willow, please grant us your support today.’ I feel a warmth surround us, sending a feeling of calm through my body. “Thank you for your support Willow.” Serena bows in front of the tree. I told her about Willow being the tree and while she doesn’t feel her like Az and I do, she believes us and greets her everytime we come in here. She smiles at me, “I felt her that time!” A small bubble of pride fills my heart
Carefully I measure everything out. Placing the desired amount in little piles and triple checking my work before grinding them down into a fine powder. My father always applauded my ability to create all sorts of different elixirs and remedies and my aunt used to always joke that I had a little witch in me. I pour the powders into a glass measuring cup and place it over my small bunsen burner, letting the powders melt together and mix to create a light blue color. After letting it cool I fill water to the 1 cup line, a spoonful of honey for a little sweetness and to change the color to a deep green instead of light blue and a sprinkle of pixie dust for good luck. I was worried the light blue would give it away the flower used to make the cure and I didn’t want anyone knowing that we were on to them. I’m just finishing pouring the tonic into separate vials when I hear a soft knock on my door. Knowing it’s Serena I wave my hand for the wind to open the door. The lock clicks and she wal
Serena stretches her arms over her head, her eyes looking tired. “While I’m glad Sophie’s getting better, this day has worn me out. I’m going to go take a nap and fill Grey in about all this. He’s been nagging me all morning about what the hell I've been doing. Don’t worry he won’t say a word.” She gives me hugs and wanders off to her rooms, a little further down the hall. Azrael intertwines his fingers with mine and we walk towards our rooms. “You dismissed Drago for the rest of the day. Are you done working?” I look up at him and ask. He tilts his head down, “Yeah. I took care of what I needed to get done. Today has been a lot and I need a break.” I nod and let him guide us back. Closing the door behind him he collapses on the couch. I run over and climb into his lap, running my hands through his hair, “Scar, what’s wrong?”He looks haggard. Now that we are behind closed doors he is finally letting his true emotions show. “Someone got away with poisoning a vital member of my pack
I blink my eyes open, and I'm curled up in Azrael’s arms. He’s wrapped me in a blanket and is carrying me, my mind finally clears and I remember everything that happened. My limbs are achy in a good way but embarrassment floods me at the fact that I passed out after just one round of sex. “How long was I out for?”He looks down at me and smiles, kissing my cheek, “Just a few minutes.” Walking into the bathroom I see he’s started a bath. Carefully he steps inside and sits, placing me between his legs. He grabs the soap and gently starts washing my body, massaging my sore limbs. I find my eyes growing heavy until I feel him tense and his hands freeze near my mark. “That’s curious,” he murmurs. “Firefly, can you look at my mark?” I turn around in the bath and brush the bubbles away from his neck. My eyes widen and I gasp. Instead of the usual bite mark, there is an image of my horns, but instead of being white they look to be made of shadow. I trace my fingers over it, looking up to meet
“SAY THAT AGAIN!” I scream at the omega standing in front of me. He quivers in fear falling to his knees, my aura weighing down him. “Alpha,” he stutters, “It seems that hiring Miss. Whitlock as the new pack doctor was all a ruse.” He swallows thickly, “her and Azrael are said to be fated mates and her Luna ceremony is next week.” Shakily he places an envelope on my desk. “Our spies intercepted this invitation meant for another pack.”I snatch the envelope and tear it open. In bold letters it reads, Luna Ceremony of Ilayda Whitlock, I don’t even read the rest before crumpling up the letter and throwing it in the fire. My father strolls in, moving without a care in the world, “Son I feel your presence from the other side of the pack house what could possibly be the matter?”“GET OUT!” I shout at the omega and he scampers away, the door slamming loudly behind him. “They lied to us,” I seethe. “Ilayda is Azrael's fated mate, not some stupid pack doctor sent to create bonds.” My father’s
I’m sitting with my back pressed up against the trunk of Willow, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders enjoying the crisp morning air. Sophie is getting much better and in just a few days she’ll be good as new. She’s already started leaving her room so go on small walks. Today, Cyn and my family show up to help with my Luna ceremony that will be happening in two days time. The entire castle has been buzzing with activity as people run around trying to get everything in order. Alice has been barking orders like a madwoman, clipboard in hand delegating tasks to various pack members. Thankfully she’s been true to her word and has taken care of most if not all of the preparations for the day. The only thing she’s really asked me is what colors I would like and apparently they’re baking a cake so I needed to pick out a flavor. I wanted to incorporate the colors of my old pack which are forest green and gold and combine them with my new pack whose colors are black and silver so I chose fore
“Oh Ila I’ve missed you so much!” She nearly cuts off my airway with how tight she’s holding me. I pat her back and wheeze out, “Cyn I can’t breathe.” She lets me go and giggles, “Oops.” Cupping my face she smiles, “You look great Ila.” Kane comes up behind her and picks me up, spinning me around. “Good to see you short stuff.” My family is next and I fall to my knees as my brothers come running into my arms. “My Lala!” Theo shouts, throwing his arms around my neck and burying his face into my shoulder. Leo wraps his little arms around my waist, “Lala Lala,” he babbles. I feel Azrael’s presence behind me, and Theo wiggles out of my arms and stomps over to him, putting his little hands on his hips. I place Leo on my hips and turn around to watch him.“Hey Mister!” Theo shouts at him, staring up at him. I hear my parents come rush up to stop him but I hold my hand out, stopping them in their tracks. They are still under the impression that Azrael is this big scary man and I want to pro
I grin, excitement coursing through me, “So you know how I’ve been able to hear the wind right?” He nods, “Well apparently she’s an entire entity. I spoke to her. Like had an entire conversation. It was amazing. She doesn’t have a name, or at least doesn’t remember it, so I named her Isla.” His eyes fill with wonder. “You amaze me everyday.” He grabs my face and kisses me sweetly. It was cute of him, but I wasn’t in the mood for sweet. I aggressively kiss him back and tangle my finger into his hair, yanking on the silky strands making him groan. Pressing down I rocked against him, feeling him harden beneath me. Getting up I stripped down slowly. Taking my time removing each article of clothing watching his eyes darken as each piece fell to the floor. Once I was fully naked I crooked my finger, silently asking him to get him. He stands and takes his shirt off and I kneel down and unbuckle his pants, slowly pulling them down to see his dick pop out, pulsing and hard. Remembering what S
Everything inside me is threatening to come undone and I stuff my hands into my jacket pocket so the wolves around me won’t see my hands shaking. I walk forward, not even checking if the two mutts that are my new shadows are following behind. Even though I know exactly where it is I am going I don’t want them to know that. While they know I know how to give an attitude, I can still pretend to be a dumb bitch with an attitude. I turn confidently down the completely wrong corridor and hear snickers behind me. Turning around I frown and tilt my head, “Is something funny?” They remain silent and continue to look at me amused. I bite my lip and look back down the hallway. “I’m going the wrong way aren’t I?” Sighing I hang my head, “I was always told I have no sense for direction.” Nodding to the two henchmen, “well lead the way. Or don’t. But if I get lost and end up dead in a ditch somewhere, your Alpha isn’t going to be very happy with you.” Fear flashes in their eyes and they hurry down
Taking one more deep breath I school my emotions and level my face. As annoyed as I was with Nikolai, he was right. He was just as trapped as I was and exposing myself now would do us no good. Opening the door I scowl at the two wolves in front of me. I try not to giggle at their lack of weapons. Just a three piece suit pressed to perfection. They obviously think that I am no threat to them whatsoever. “I literally just saw him. Your Alpha can’t even give a girl some time to mourn her impending doom?” Rolling my eyes I shove past them and head out the door. “Lead the way, mutts.” My remark earns me a growl from each of them as one of them stalks past me, nearly knocking me in the shoulder, to lead the way. The pack house is cold and uninviting, expensive pieces of artwork placed around to make the home seem fancier than it truly is. I’m so busy examining my surroundings that I don’t even notice when he comes to a halt and I run straight into his back. “Watch where you’re going,” he gr
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, yanking 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 cl
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