I hug my grandparents and they wish me well. My grandfather hands me my favorite book of his, an old original of all the classic grimm's fairy tales. He’s a reader like me and used to read it to me growing up against my parents' better judgment as they are after all grim. But I loved them. He also hands me his favorite book, Treasure Island. It’s so old and worn in, I hug them both to my chest before placing them into my backpack. My grandmother gives me a jar of her special tea blend that she knows I love very well. I set that next to the books carefully. They pull me in for one final before letting me go. My dad grabs me in a tight hug and I breathe in his scent of earl gray tea for what I know will be the last time in a while. “I love you baby girl,” his voice cracks. “We will always be here, don't ever forget.” I nod into his shoulder. My mom is next, she has in her hands a small box. Opening it I found the most beautiful hairpiece. It’s white gold and made of pink diamond, the co
“Yes of course Henry right away,” He motions for us to follow him. He points to a hospital bed for me to rest her on. Looking at me pointedly he says, “I need you to leave mate, your anger is of no good to her now.” At the word mate her father looks up at me in shock. I growl a warning before Kalen and Cece grab me. “Time to go Alpha,” Cece whispers. “He can’t help her with your aura out of control”. I let them drag me out of the operation room and into the lobby where the rest of my pack is waiting along with the old and new alphas and lunas and her mother. Her father walks over to wrap his arms around his mate while she cries softly. Henry looks at me with a hint of fear and uncertainty, “Mate?” he whispers. Everyone’s heads snap up looking at me in shock and all I can do is nod. “Now is not the time for questions,” Kalen states. “Our alpha is not in the best head space. Oh and do keep your opinions to yourselves,” he says pointedly pulling out his phone and walking out the ward.
Rolling my window up I sigh, the car has an uneasy silence about it. No one seems to know what to say. I watch the scenery go by for a while before Azrael finally speaks up. “Ilayda,” he says. I turn to look at him. His eyes were purely silver meaning his wolf wasn’t present. “Yes?” I scan his face but that hardened mask stays put. The gentle looks he had from earlier are long gone. “I do want to apologize for taking you away from your home. I know it wasn’t an easy task but I need you,” he says simply. I stiffen at that and look down, I can read between the lines, he doesn’t want me.“You need your mate by your side so you stay strong, I understand. But I do hope you don’t take on a lover for you know how much pain that would cause me. I cannot, however, control you” I say softly. “What I don’t understand is why you don’t reject me and wait for your second chance, I’m obviously not the one for you.” I look back up to see his eyes have taken on a look of pure horror before hardeni
I must have fallen asleep at some point cause as soon as I open my eyes again I see that we are stopped at a gas station. Frowning I look around and notice that I am alone, panic strikes me for a moment before I look out the window to see Grey, Serena and Alpha Azrael in a heated debate. Serena is shouting in Azrael’s face while Grey stands protectively behind her. A few of the other pack members are lingering around the parking lot keeping watch but trying not to get involved. I notice Kalen standing near Azrael but not partaking in the verbal lashing that is currently happening. As I’m wondering what the hell they could be so mad about I hear a loud smack and look to see Serena slapping Azrael clean across the face. He doesn’t even flinch but there is a visible red mark on his cheek. I see Grey pull his mate back and I’m thinking he is going to apologize to his brother before he swings back and clocks him in the eye. I wasn’t expecting the ever so cheerful Grey to do that and I don’t
The night feels like seconds as I am awoken by a soft knocking on my door. Groaning, I roll over and put my pillow over my head. “Lala it’s me,” Serena calls out softly. “Let me in please.”Sitting up I stretch and walk over to the door, unlocking it I turn around to flop face first back onto the bed. Her tinkling laughter fills the room as she shuts the door behind her. “What did you do to your hair Lala?” “I was too tired to deal with it last night, this is the consequences of my actions.” I mumble into the sheets. She’s dressed to perfection, up in down designer she looks like she should be on a runway about now. “Well we need to fix that,” she grabs my arms and drags me to the bathroom. Pushing me into the chair in front of the vanity she gets to work detangling my curls from the nest they have set themselves into. We fall into a comfortable silence as I can tell she knows I don’t really want to speak. Before I know it she’s already done, my hair is in two thick french braids t
I must have fallen asleep at some point cause when I wake it’s nearly dawn. My hair sticks to my face from where it’s fallen out of the tightly wound braids and I’m still wearing my dress from yesterday. Stretching, I sit up and walk over to the bathroom and immediately frown at my reflection. Bloodshot sunken in eyes and pale skin. I look ill. My normally vibrant eyes take on a dull lifeless color. “Soni? Are you there?” I gently prod for my wolf. Again I’m met with silence which makes my already hollow heart feel even that much more empty. With my heart heavy, I turn on the facets and splash some cool water on my face, trying to add some color back into my face. The water seems to help because when I look back up I don’t look nearly as gaunt, but my eyes are still rimmed with red. Sighing I walk back into my room and sit on the bed to start taking the braids out. It takes some time but after about 30 minutes I’m done and am left with a curtain of curls surrounding my face. Reachin
The day moves on slowly like the past few. I spent the morning texting my family, telling them of the progress and that we should make it to the pack by tomorrow. I don’t tell them how miserable I am because I don’t want them to worry, I’m sure they are all already pulling their hair out over my sudden departure. We stop at a small cafe for lunch, but I’m still not hungry so I get a small bowl of tortilla soup with some bread and take a few bites. I can feel Serena frowning at me at the lack of sustenance I’m putting into my body but she, thankfully, stays silent. After an uneventful afternoon, I’m jostled awake as we drive into the largest city I’ve ever seen in my life. I blink my sleepy eyes into focus and gasp at the sights around me. I can hear Serena chuckle as I press my face up against the window to get a better look. Buildings, which Serena says are skyscrapers, soar up until the sky like they are trying to touch the stars. Everything is bright and full of life. And there are
Stepping out of the tub I realize I don’t have anything to change into. Still angry at my stupid mate I yank a towel around myself and storm out of the room. Ignoring the sharp pains that stab through my heels as I march into the bedroom. He’s sitting, his long legs stretched out in front of him drinking a dark liquid from a glass. All of his weapons have been removed and are sitting on the table in a neat row. OCD much? I wonder. His eyebrow raises slightly at my appearance, clouding slightly with the presence of his wolf.“I didn’t have anything to wear,” I tell him tightly, stomping over to my bag. I’m not paying attention and I kick the edge of the bed with my already swollen toes. “Fuck,” I hiss grabbing my foot and sitting on the bed. Azrael is on me in seconds, crouched in front of me examining my feet. “Watch where the fuck you are going.” he snaps at me. Ripping my feet from him I glare, “why the hell does it matter to you. You don’t care about us!” my eyes start burning fro
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