“ILA!” Serena’s song-like voice rings out. “I’ve come to rescue you from your kidnapper,” she giggles. “Welcome Lady Serena,” Mrs. Wetherbee bows to her. I stand up, heading to the sink to place our plates in to wash. She meets me halfway and grabs them from me. “No no Luna we will take care of this.” She shoos me away, “Go on now my dear.” I smile at her and turn to head over to Serena. I feel a warm arm wrap around my waist pulling me back. Azrael places a kiss on my head, “I’ll see you soon firefly.” My face grows warm and I wiggle out of his arms, darting over to Serena eliciting a warm laugh from him. “Thank you again for lunch Mrs. Wetherbee. It was delicious!” Serena links our arms and drags me out of the room. “You will spill everything to me later,” she says with a bright smile. I roll my eyes at her. “So where are you dragging me off to today?” Her smile softens and a misty look crosses her eyes, “I’m taking you to meet someone very special.” I frown but remain silent and
“Okay okay,” I breathe out. “Don’t freak out because I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think Sophie is sick. I think she’s being poisoned.” Her eyes narrow and rage fills her eyes. “I’m not positive because my father is better at this than me, but if i’ve identified these leaves correctly, the combination of them makes a deadly poison that slowly, over time makes the recipient sicker and sicker. Depending how often it’s administers it can be used as a type of torture and take years to actually kill the person.” she jumps up and I grab her arm, forcing her to stop. “Serena we can’t do anything until I verify from my father that this is the case. Imagine the hysteria that would start if a false poisoning were to spread to the castle.” The rage slowly dissipates and she collapses back in her chair. “We must not tell anyone about this. I need to get these to my father as quickly as possible and without raising any suspicion. If Sophie has been sick since Kylar was born they have to be hyper
My eyes widen and I don’t even have time to react as Karlile punches Azrael square in the nose and Grey sweeps his legs out from under him. I attempt to rush over to help him but Serena grabs my arms in an iron grip. I look up at her in shock. She just looks down at me, apology written all over her face. Now I understood why she was here. I cry out to him as his brothers beat him senseless. “Come on little sister, if you don’t do anything sooner or later there will be no more Alpha to beat,” Grey smirks, taunting me. Anger starts to build up inside me and after a few minutes a huge gust of wind knocks Serena back and both his brother off, sending them all flying at least a dozen feet backwards. I take off towards Azraels, unmoving form on the ground. Falling to my knees I put my hands on his cheeks. I can barely recognize him. His face is bruised and eyes have been swollen shut. Something in my chest grows warm and faint vine-like designs appear on my hands and start glowing. Within
“Thank you,” I murmured. Checking the book to make sure there were no damages to it. Once I’m done thoroughly examining it I place my book to the side and stair down at my hands. “Hey Scar?”He nuzzles his head into my hair, inhaling my scent and distracting me from my thoughts. “Yes Love?” “Stop that,” I giggle. “I have something important to tell you.” He stills and looks down at me. I take a deep breath, looking down at my hands. “So earlier after I flung everyone back I ran up to you. You were in a horrible state. They got you good. I freaked out and put my hands on your face. When I did that, these white vine-like designs appeared on my hands and started glowing. After that you healed instantly.” I look up, waiting for a reaction from him. He frowns and rubs his jaw thinking. “So that’s why I recovered so quickly. I know I’m a fast healer but I didn’t think I was that fast.” He pulls a dagger out of a strap attached to his thigh and unsheathes it. Bringing it to his palm my ey
Stifling a yawn I excuse myself from the table. Serena grabs my arm, “Do you need help getting back?” she whispers. I shake my head, reassuring her I felt comfortable enough making it back to my room on my own. Plus I had a feeling a pack warrior would be just a few steps behind me keeping tabs on my location. I didn’t have a pack link yet so I wouldn’t be able to signal anyone if I needed help. I walk along the hallways, trying to remember the steps I took to get down here. I know when I make a wrong turn when the warrior following me clears his throat, indicating that I’m no longer heading in the right direction. Flashing him a grateful smile and turn around. Finally after 30 minutes of wandering I make it to the large doors indicating the entrance to our wing of the house. Signing in relief trudge along to our room until I notice that the guard is still following me as I reach the end of the hallway. Flashing a smile at him, “You don’t have to follow me anymore?” His face remains
The next few days go by quickly. I work to memorize the castle as Azrael stays busy with pack work. Alice and Emma joined me for tea a few times and Lily spent an afternoon teaching me to sew. We haven’t gone farther than we did a few nights ago and I’m nervous. As the idea of mating with him becomes more and more appealing the looming concept of me being the official Luna does as well. As soon as we mate I will have no other choice but to become the Luna. I’m on my way to find Serena to talk to her about it when I make a turn too quickly and run straight into someone. Stumbling back I manage, “I’m so sor…” before I look up and see that the person I’ve run into is Margo. She rolls her brown eyes and places her hands on her hips looking down at me with contempt. “Oh I’ve run into the little fairy.” My blood boils at the derogatory calling of the fae. I take a deep breath, doing my best to cool the fire in my blood before smiling. “Hello Margo. I would love to stay and chat but I’m on m
I put my head down on the table and sigh. Tilting my head I narrow my eyes at Drago who’s minding his own business, deep into his book, not a care in the world. Clearing my throat, “Mmhm”. He doesn’t budge. I tear off a piece off the notepad and wad it up into a ball, chucking it at his head. His hand snaps up grabbing the ball before it hits its target. I wait as he finishes up his page and looks up. Raising one of his eyebrows, “Yes Luna?” “If you don’t mind waiting outside the library. The things I want to talk to Serena about aren’t something I feel comfortable doing with you around.” He frowns, confliction flashing in his eyes. “Please,” I beg him, “just right outside the door.” After a few moments he nods. “But right outside the door okay?” I smile at him, watching his frame retreat until the door closes behind him. I spin around and grab Serena’s hands. “I need your help. I want to fully accept Azrael.” Her eyes widen and a wide smile crosses her face. “That’s wonderful news!
I’m awoken by kisses along my neck from Azrael. A moan escapes me before I’m able to contain it. Rolling away from him I overshoot and I fall off the bed with a loud thunk. “Firefly!” Azrael shouts running around the bed to pick me up off the floor, “Are you okay?”“Yeah I’m fine,” rubbing my back from the pain, seeing that the sun was barely risen, I frown, “Why did you wake me up so early.”Azrael chuckles, placing a kiss on my head, “remember last night at dinner. I mentioned wanting you to get acquainted with everyone’s wolves today. And you got so excited and wanted to do it right away. But I suggested we do it early in the morning and away from too many eyes because I remember you telling me Soni is a little special.” The events from last night come racing back and I remember. “Oh yeah I did do that.” He gives me a light nudge towards my dressing room, “go put on something comfortable but warm, it’s getting cooler out now so I want you to stay warm when you aren’t in wolf form
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