EMMA It took a few minutes, more like twenty minutes, to reign in my utter shock over the inheritance amount. One plus side was that I could now make very wise investments. I knew that Kurtis was Blood Moon’s resident expert on the stock market, so perhaps I could have him give me a few pointers and teach me how to manage large sums of money because I was determined that this money would benefit our pack as well as others in need. We had split up, and I shooed Xander off to get Ezra’s clothing and a few other things he might like. Xander seemed suspicious, but he placated me anyways. I knew he had a thing for first-edition books, and thankfully the order finally came in. It was a ten-book collection from his favorite authors. Kai helped me since I could not ensure Ethan would keep his trap shut and asking Xander would have been pointless in keeping it a surprise. I certainly owed Kai something big for this. I felt my cheeks heating, and Ethan’s laughter pulled me from my thoughts.
EMMA “Would you believe it’s only been about a week? It feels like a lifetime though. I guess that’s how the mate-bond works,” Sylvie said, her eyes dancing with devotion. Instead of the same devotion, Devon’s gaze was on me. He was obviously here to gather intel. What he was unaware of was that I had some forewarning and knew what was going on. “I’m glad that you also found your mate, Emma. When did you turn eighteen?” Devon asked. I looked up at Xander adoringly gave his hand a squeeze. I, however, did not have to fake the adoration. Xander and Kai were my world. Xander looked at me with unfiltered love in his copper orbs. “Actually, I’m seventeen,” I said, turning my attention back to Devon. Devon raised an eyebrow at my admission. If he was sent by Ezekiel, then he obviously knew my age. I really did not like this guy on principle alone, but he was dangerous, and it was taking all of my willpower to not jump over the table and end him right here and now. “Then how do you kno
EMMA I idly fiddled with an app on my phone until deep bass notes thumped softly throughout the truck. The steady beat washed through me, filling me with a steadiness of my own. Music always helped give me something to focus on so that my mind could filter the rest through the background. It split my attention so that I could compartmentalize without losing my shit. This tactic had been useful so far in life. My mind was often a mess and more so right now. It was filled with a million unanswered questions, so I needed all the help that I could get. Hearing my wolf’s voice and guidance filled me with excitement that not even the Devon situation could extinguish. I spent so many years thinking they had killed her, that I would never be whole. For shifters, the wolf was just as much part of us as we were – two halves that fit together to make one whole. After our first shift, they became part of us forever. They shared a mind with us and provided a special type of companionship. I rea
EMMA The night sky was darker than anything I had ever seen before. I looked up, expecting to see the moon or stars, but there was nothing. There was only pure darkness everywhere as I turned around in a full circle. Something about it made my blood feel like ice in my veins just like how I felt when the shadow and Devon touched me. It was the same type of blanketed darkness that was void of any light. Where was I? Everything felt so surreal. Brilliant hues of red, orange, and blue danced together in the distances, blending together like a flame atop a candle’s wick. The flame grew in size and blended perfectly as the hues swirled and danced around one another. It was beautiful. It was mesmerizing. I had never seen anything like it before. My eyes were transfixed on it. The flame had to be at least four feet tall. Its beauty entranced me, and I was unable to look away. It flew towards me at a blinding speed, but I felt no fear as it approached. Instead, a tranquil peace enveloped
EMMA Xander leaned up against the wall and held me in his lap. His fingers ran through my hair, comforting and soothing me. I felt gross from all the sweat on me, but his touch brought both physical and emotional relief. My head was leaning against his shoulder, and I looked up at him with a smile. I finally shifted, and he helped me through it. I was glad to have shared the experience with Xander and Kai despite how painful and weird it was. I should not be surprised whenever weird things happened to me because the odd and unexplained always seemed to follow me around. “My wolf’s name is Phoenix. Well, she’s the wolf spirit. She said that I was different because I’m both the human and the wolf,” I tried to explain, my brows furrowing. Was it possible for your wolf to be crazy? That would explain quite a bit. ‘Far from crazy,’ she snorted in my head. “Obviously, you must be crazy, Phoenix,” I muttered. I saw Xander’s amused smirk and realized I spoke out loud. That would take som
EMMA Somehow, I woke up before Xander. The clock said it was only 7:10 A.M. I got about four hours of sleep, but I felt very refreshed regardless. I looked down at my mate and smiled. His usual sexiness was there as always but the peacefulness on his face while he slept made him incredibly irresistible. He stood beside me despite every crazy thing that happened. It did not matter how out there everything was because he took it in stride and reminded me that we were in it together. Hopefully, we could get past this whole destiny thing soon so that we could just focus on being us. It took a few minutes to carefully untangle myself from Xander so that I did not wake him up. I pushed my pillow closer to him, so that he had my scent still and got dressed before heading down to make breakfast. Well, I supposed it was our scent since they merged together. I noticed that his had more of a sandalwood undertone while mine has more of a vanilla undertone though. We had fallen into a fairly go
EMMA The three of us spent time together throughout the day. We just talked and hung out. We even spent a couple of hours in the gym to allow me to work out some of my nerves and stress. They took turns training me, and I started sweating in no time. Xander had great pointers for hand-to-hand. He gave me a few new pointers on the best pressure points in human form. I nearly had him pinned before Kai shifted and threw me off-balance. Kai had me pinned underneath him when Xander shifted and began tickling the hell out of my sides. Then they were both asses who took turns tickling me by switching control. I called a truce before we tried to catch our breath between laughs. It was exactly what we needed. My mates were amazing. Despite this being hard on them too, they did what they could to make me more comfortable. I truly did not deserve them. “Food!” Ethan hollered from the hallway. Food sounded great. It was an early supper today because doing this rescue mission on a full stomach
EMMA ‘Do we need to link Ezra with the sigil as well to protect his mind?’ I asked Phoenix. ‘No. Ezra’s mind is already protected with his Witch heritage. He is from a very powerful lineage.’ Well, that bit of news was a reassurance. One thing at a time. We all met up in the living room to go over the plan one last time. I laid out the map once more. My eyes scanned it even though I knew every detail on it by heart. I just needed to reassure myself that I laid out every bit of information so I could think through contingency plans. Many things could go wrong, so I needed to be prepared for each one. I was an Alpha after all. As such, it was my duty to consider all possible outcomes. Was this worth the risk? Yes, it absolutely was. However, I had to ensure that I had enough back up plans so that I could improvise with a moment’s notice. “The entrance to the tunnel is right here. The code to enter is 16815514924.” I had them write the code on their forearms just in case they neede
EMMA I went into labor during the middle of the night, and it scared the living shit out of my mates. It was adorable while also being a little comical. Most soon-to-be fathers were like that. We had everything ready because we knew it was possible to go into labor a little earlier than expected because of having twins. Oddly enough, this pregnancy had no true complications. Most shifters who had multiples typically had complications. However, I was thankful that everything had gone as smoothly as possible. The sigils truly helped with the pain of the delivery because it would have been torture otherwise. I felt horrible that I did not already have these on hand for when Bellamy was born. “You have this, Emma. One more push and your baby boy will be here,” Tilly said. It had been ten very long hours of labor, but it would be worth it in the end. Kai was sitting behind me, lending me strength during this time. He had a hold of one leg while Xander had a hold of the other. The thre
EMMA It was still very surreal to think that I had been in Tylaphina’s realm for six entire months. However, I was able to bring back messages to Papa and Leonidas from our family. They were amazed as I told them about spending time with everyone. Their parents wanted me to tell them how incredibly proud they were of them both. They were proud of Papa for being the King that our people needed. They watched as he transitioned to the ruler of Aedrul and were thankful for how he protected everyone that he could from Selene until she could be taken care of permanently. They were proud of Leonidas for everything he did to help Papa rune Aedrul. His strength and perseverance made the entire Venscothi line puff out their chests in appreciation and admiration. My mates and I wasted no time in completing our bond in wolf form as well as completing the Goddess of Fate ceremony. It was very intimate and quite pleasurable. It was interesting to say the least because we watched as our souls mom
EMMA The pain from Asry’s shards slicing through me disappeared. Had I died? Nae did not say that was a possibility, but even she could not see every outcome. “No, you are not dead,” a melodic voice said. I opened my eyes and was in a beautiful field that was adorned with flowers of every color. My body was bathed in incredible warmth from the sun overhead. It was so peaceful, and my heart felt whole. It was a nice change from it feeling ripped apart, so there was that at least. There were wolves of all sizes sitting around, curiously watching me. It was a little creepy, but they looked happy. A beautiful woman stood between two of the larger wolves who looked as big as Krosthani. She was easily seven feet tall and had an ethereal glow around her. Her light brown hair cascaded in waves all the way to her waist, and her eyes were the most vibrant honey color which complemented her light bronze skin tone. “My name is Tylaphina, and it is because of you that I am free now. I was the
KAI “Why would you do that?” I screamed at her. There was only one explanation of how I was unharmed when she was not. She used Nata’s magic on me when I did not even realize it. She saved me instead of herself. I had never been more furious with her than I was in this moment. Macario and Tilly needed me to move away from her, but I could not do it. I could not let her go. “We have to let them take care of her. She needs them. Come on,” Xander said. I could hear the same anguish in his voice that I felt. I placed a kiss to her lips before setting her back on the ground and standing up. He pulled me a little further away to where Zane was. We watched as they assessed her. They spoke lowly to one another, but none of us could hear it. ‘She used Nata’s magic to protect me,’ I told Xander. I collapsed to the ground under the weight of it all. It was me that should be there and not her. She always took every fucking risk, putting everyone else before herself, when she should have pro
EMMA The success of tonight depended on my ability to play my part perfectly. Thankfully, that was one thing I excelled at no matter in which life or situation it was necessary. I steeled my shoulders and turned around slowly to see Asry’s smug face smirking at me as if he was the one in charge right now. As if he was the one who fooled me. Oh, how the mighty would fall. “Can’t say that I’m surprised that you’re here with mother bitch,” I said dismissively. “Ungrateful brat. Who do you think you are?” she hissed at me. I looked at Asry imploringly who just laughed and waved me on. He did not care about Lenora one damn bit. He probably was not wanting me to kill her, but I still would. This was something that I thought about extensively since we put this plan together. I needed to make him believe that I would consider being on his side. Then I would kill her so that she was out of our hair while also ensuring that his vessel was no more. This would solve one of the issues tonigh
EMMA Couples danced around the room, twirling, and dipping their partners. There was a string quartet playing on the balcony that oversaw the room. Acoustics amplified the music throughout the room as if it was right beside each of us. Despite the mission of the night, it was great to be in my Handsome’s arms once again. I loved sharing moments like this with my amazing mates. They were near and dear to my heart. No matter how much time we spent together in life, it would never be enough. Kai’s copper and silver eyes peered into mine while a handsome smirk pulled at his lip because he was thinking the same thing. We learned how to read one another better than any mindlink ever could. ‘Anything?’ I linked out. One of the sigils ensured that there was no evidence of a mindlink between any of us. That was the only way that we could pull this off. It also kept an open line of communication among everyone while in this room. It was a bit awkward right about now because there were many
EMMA The stress about tonight faded away the moment that my eyes locked onto my mates. I was never able to comprehend what I did right in life to have them willing to stand next to me no matter how crazy or bizarre the situation was. They were beside me every step of the way from that night at Olly’s until this moment as they pulled me between them. “You are absolutely stunning, love,” Xander said. He and Kai stalked around me to get the full view of my look. The matching low rumbles from their chests showed me that they certainly approved. “Doll…” He could not even finish his thought because his eyes flashed with an intense desire. “You get even more gorgeous every time my eyes look at you,” he said, caressing my cheek with his thumb. My body instantly flushed in response to his words. It was not certain that I would ever get used to everything they made me feel. I felt cherished, complete, immensely happy, and I felt loved most of all. All of those emotions flooded through my bo
EMMA We all ate a late breakfast together. It was not a joyous occasion, but we tried to make it as lighthearted as possible. The mission tonight was weighing heavily on everyone’s mind. It was not something that we discussed or alluded to, but it was the gigantic elephant in the room. I was really trying to keep my emotions under control because my mates would feel them and worry. We could not change what would happen tonight because we all knew the truth. Asry was too dangerous to let live. He would never stop coming for me or my family. We had to take him out of the equation to ensure our safety. I had a feeling in my gut that Nae’s vision of me being in a coma-like state was going to happen. This was the one thing I had to keep from my mates because they would call all of this off right here and now. They already felt guilty enough about me being in harms way, but there was nothing that we could do about it. I would just bury that thought as deeply as possible so that it did not
EMMA I woke up between my sleeping mates and smiled at them. They gave me the best ending to our night yesterday. That bath was perfect and incredibly relaxing. Today was going to be difficult on all of us but more so on them because they would be fighting against their instincts to protect me at all costs. Was I terrified to face Asry today? Absolutely. I would be a damned fool to feel giddy about facing an ultimate evil that wanted to enslave me as his Queen. However, that terror would solve absolutely nothing. For the time being, I would just shove that terror down as far as I could. Everyone needed to remain focused for today because our futures could finally begin once he was gone. A mischievous grin tipped my lips up as I looked between the two of them. Eenie…meenie… My gaze landed on Xander, so I carefully maneuvered myself until I was eyelevel with his glorious cock. I remembered the first time I saw it and how excited it made me. It still did to this day. I would never get