LyraI can feel Silas’s fury and I instantly know who is causing it. Getting out of bed, I feel some pain, but not much. I tuck my son closely to my chest and make my way in the direction that my body leads me. Dressed in only a gown.All eyes turn to me the moment I come closer, and I can see Silas panic, but I keep going. I come to a standstill beside Silas, and he pulls me under his arm. The warriors want to circle around us and I stop them.“What do you want, Eli?” I growl. I know I probably shouldn’t have done this, but I want him gone. I want him out of our lives for good. My instincts told me he wants to see the baby for himself. His eyes scan the boy and then Silas and his face becomes bright red.There is nothing more to say. It’s not his son. There is nothing for him to claim. He already knew about my one-night with Silas. Eli whips around and storms off, shifting halfway, and I smile at Silas.“I have never met a female that can silence a male like that before.” Silas laugh
LyraAfter breakfast, Silas has an important meeting, and I show Helena and her grandfather around the pack house. We find an empty storeroom and I wonder if we would be able to convert it into a library. I don’t like going to the graveyard to get books.At least, for now. It’s not safe for any of us to be out in the world while there is a threat we don’t know anything about. Then there is also Eli to consider. I can’t leave Hunter with the pack and go off to do some research.“Hi, beautiful. What are you up to?” Silas joins us a little later in my office and I sigh deeply.“We’re trying to figure out where we can go with all of this.” I point at the piles of books on my desk. Silas laughs and stands beside me.“You have a library. I’m sure we can make it work.” His smile turns to a frown when he sees my face. Helena and I take turns to explain and by the time we are done, he is nodding. “Okay, so the way I see it, the graveyard is your territory, right?” He frowns at Helena and she n
LyraHelena and I spend three days sorting out the boxes filled with books and as we stand there proud of our handy work, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Not that we’ve accomplished something huge, but we did turn an old storeroom into a small library.We each grab a book and find a seat and I immediately get to work. Sadly, life intervenes and I have to rush off to sort out a problem between two omegas. I have just returned and started reading when Hunter starts to cry, and I have to take care of him.I try my best to stay calm, but life as a mother and luna is more demanding than I realized it would be. I remind myself that I just have to adapt and that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Taking a deep breath, I focus on my baby while he feeds.Once he is settled back in bed, I make my way downstairs and I run into Silas, who isn’t looking happy.“What’s wrong?” I stroke the side of his cheek, and he leans into my touch. Taking a deep breath, before he kisses my palm, and it sends shivers
Lyra“So? Now I’m good enough?” I glare at the group, and I can see the shame in their eyes, but I don’t give a damn.“No Luna!” Someone from the back shouts.“I’m NOT your Luna!” My growl echoes and I note some of them cringing slightly. Silas touches my shoulder and I glare at him. I take a deep breath to calm my fury. I can feel my body shifting of its own free will and I don’t want to.“You are our Luna. You might have left the pack, but there are things you need to know.” Their spokesperson takes a step forward. “It’s not safe to talk here. Border patrols will find us. If our plan is going to work, it needs to remain secret.”I note for the first time how nervous they all look, and I look at Silas. He shrugs and then I nod. As I turn to make my way home, I shift, and I feel the power kick in. My muscles feel stronger as my paws dig into the dirt.I hear voices in my mind and for a moment I’m convinced shifting is driving me nuts. Then I arrive home, and I rush to our room to put
Lyra“Mistress Fiona will be with you shortly.” I only notice the young man’s pointy ears when we sit down at the table that he shows us. Silas nods and a young woman puts two drinks on our table.“What is this place?” I whisper as soon as we seem to be alone and Silas laughs.“It’s the sanctuary. It’s a gathering place for supernatural creatures to discuss important things as well as a place to hide from humans. Here they can just be in their natural state without having to use spells to hide who they are, and I suspect this is where Eli got his information.” Silas sits back and looks far too relaxed for my liking.“How long has this been here?” I frown, trying not to gawk, but it’s nearly impossible. Every creature I believed didn’t exist is walking around clear as damn day!“Centuries. Lyra, you have to understand that we’ve been here all this time. You grew up in the human world where they tell you that monsters aren’t real, and that is what we want humans to believe for our safet
Lyra“What the hell was that?” I turn to Silas as soon as we are back in the car. “Why did I feel as if I was being drained each time, she touched me and why wasn’t it like that when we were working in her store?” My voice goes up an octave. “And I thought we couldn’t kill humans.”I’m hyperventilating by the time we pull into the road and Silas takes both my hands in his. I can see in his eyes that he knows I’m completely overwhelmed, but I feel my heart rate slowly calming. I breathe in his scent, closing my eyes for a moment to just to find my center.“Look, there’s a lot that won’t make sense right now, and I probably won’t be able to answer all of your questions, but I should be able to answer some by telling you a couple of stories.” He pulls me closer as we slowly make our way home.According to Silas, Fiona changes her appearance every couple of years, and she has the ability to completely hide what she is from literally everyone. When she touched me, she was draining my energ
Lyra“What are you saying?” Silas looks worried.“I’m saying it’s time we draw our enemies out into the open.” I turn to look at him. “If I have to wait for them to attack for one more second, I’m going to go out of my mind. If we draw them out, we can set the terms. We set the stage.” He starts to shake his head.“No. I’m not going to put you in that kind of danger. There are just too many risks. Too many things that could go wrong.” He shakes his head and closes the gap between us. His hands on the sides of my arms normally calm me, but not this time.“Fine. If you won’t do it, I will do it on my own.” I growl softly, and I can see the pain in his eyes. We go to bed with things still unsettled between us. I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but I know I’ve had enough.I’ve been hiding since the day I was born. I might have known that I was at one point, but now I do, and I’m done. In the morning, I start working on a plan. Silas is out all morning and I have enough time to figure
LyraI can’t think about the werewolves around us. All I see is the blood spilling from the man I love. Helena comes running toward us as Silas crumbles to the ground.“Hunter! Where is Hunter?” His eyes are filled with panic as a smile starts to form on my face.“At home. Safe. It was cabbage. I brough cabbage with me.” I press down hard on his wound while Helena runs back to the library for the first aid kit. Our warriors are rounding up Eli’s wolves that survived the fight.Minutes later, our doctor appears, and I sit back, but I stay close. Silas has lost consciousness a couple of times and, from the look of things, he’s lost a lot of blood. I want to go with him when they load him into the ambulance, but our beta stops me.“Luna, he is in good hands. You have responsibilities here.” He looks at the wolves gathered just a few meters away. I nod and tell Helena to go with Silas and to keep me updated. She nods, and I watch as the love of my life is driven off before I turn my atten
EsmeOver the coming weeks, the gossip about Jason and Camile eventually die down as life at the pack house becomes very busy. It’s Gabriel’s birthday soon, and I want to have a huge party and invite everyone. Literally everyone.My hope is that a celebration will pull everyone out of the slump we’ve all seemed to be in. It’s very rarely that a one pack member kills another, which has kind of forced a dark cloud of depression over our entire county.Gabriel’s birthday finally arrives and everyone seems to be having a good time. I can literally feel the doom and gloom lift as the evening continues and even Gabriel, who very rarely smiles when others are around, is laughing.His birthday party is exactly what we all need, and I can feel it in the air. Once his birthday is over, however, I feel a little lost. There was total chaos while I was trying to arrange everything and now that I spend my time on what are my normal duties as Luna, I find myself wandering around the house aimlessly
EsmeOver the coming days, there is a lot of back and forth of information, and it’s clear that Jason killed Camile. The only question that nobody seems to be able to answer is why. They didn’t have the perfect friendship, but I just couldn’t see why Jason thought killing Camile would solve anything.The day the trial starts, the square at my old pack house is packed with people wanting to find out what happened. I hear people whispering, and it seems everyone believes that Jason is guilty. It still astounds me that nobody is asking why.I listen to the court case, which is pretty straightforward, and I watch as the video footage they got from us is played. The entire time, Jason keeps his head low and I have to admit, although not out loud, that I’m surprised.He was never the kind of guy to just keep quiet when he was accused of anything. After two days, the trial is over and my cousin announces that he will have his final decision about Jason’s fate in a couple of days.People disp
EsmeMom and I are in my office discussing my ideas when Gabriel and my dad walk in looking very grim. I frown, tilting my head to one side and wondering what on earth could have gone wrong so early.“Esme, we have some bad news.” Gabriel sighs and then looks at my dad before they sit down in my little lounge area in my office.“Camile is dead, honey.” My dad sounds hesitant, and I just stand there gaping at them like a fish out of water for a moment. “Jason has been arrested.” Shock runs through my body, but deep down, I kind of expected that last part.I sit down beside my mom feeling dizziness suddenly hit. I might not have been that close to them in recent months, but for a long time, they were the only friends I had. I just process what I have been told while my dad gives me the gory details they just heard from my uncle.“We don’t have to go to the funeral if you don’t want to go.” Gabriel sighs when my dad is done, and I just sit there in shock. Mom hands me a drink and I reali
EsmeWe do the rounds and spend just enough time with each group so that nobody will feel left out. The only group I have a problem with is my old friends. The first thing I notice is that Camile isn’t there. I’m not sure if she decided not to come to the ceremony, or if she just isn’t there right now.“We can’t avoid them, my love, but I can make an excuse for you if you like.” Gabriel pulls me closer and kisses my cheek.“No, I want all of them to see how happy I am.” I look into his eyes and smile before we make our way over to the group of people my age. At first, everything is incredibly uncomfortable, but Gabriel has this way of just making people feel comfortable.The only one that doesn’t seem to relax is Jason. He keeps glaring at Gabriel, and I just know that is never going to change. Jason will just have to accept that his mate is a lower-ranked wolf. We don’t stay as long as we did with the other groups and I breathe a sigh of relief as soon as we are away from all of them
EsmeThe day of the ceremony isn’t any better! I’m woken in the early hours of the morning and the omegas quickly start to move my things to my new bedroom. I’m a little disappointed when I walk into our room and I can smell that Gabriel had been there just moments ago.It smells of soap and I know he has taken a shower. I really want to see him before the ceremony. I need to see him, but my mom keeps telling me that it’s bad luck. My anxiety slowly builds as the day is spent on waxing and whatever is needed to make me look pretty.Right before I put on my dress, I’m completely freaking out, and I lock myself in the bathroom. My mind is all over the place. I know I want to be with Gabriel. I don’t understand the anxiety all of a sudden. I am sitting on the floor when I hear his footsteps coming closer.“Esme, it’s me.” He softly knocks on the door and I can feel it. The floor was cold, and I hoped that sitting on it would just calm my anxiety a little. I lean against the door and try
Esme“But this house is too big for two people? Where does everyone else stay?” I feel incredibly confused as he climbs the stairs with me in his arms. He stops before the door and looks into my eyes.“It’s big enough for our family. Now, will you give me a moment to welcome you to your new home before the pack arrives.” He grins and I nod. I have a lot of questions, but they can wait for now. He steps over the threshold and I burst out laughing.“Welcome home, my love.” He kisses my forehead and I slowly turn around. I gasp at the sight of it. The house is filled with what looks like only the best. The enormous grand staircase is clearly the centerpiece in the foyer.I note as Gabriel takes me on a tour that the materials used to make the furniture wasn’t cheap. The chairs look like they have been handcrafted out of wood. The cushions are covered in thick lush velvets and the curtains draped in front of the windows look heavy.The bottom floor consists out of the kitchen, a dining ro
Esme“Mom, are you okay with all of this?” I put some of the living room things down on the coffee table while she wraps them and puts them into the box.“All what, honey?” She stops wrapping and frowns at me. I sit down beside her trying to find just the right words. That is really difficult to do when you haven’t gotten along with your mother for most of your life.“Moving to a new pack. Me being mated.” I shrug, hearing the hesitation in my own voice and knowing that she is going to hear it.“Well, honey …” She sits back and studies me for only a moment. “Are you okay with all of this? That is really the big question. None of this makes sense if you aren’t okay with it.” She frowns.“Yeah, I’m okay with it.” A shy smile starts to form, and my cheeks turn bright red.“Then we are all okay with it. The time has come for your brother to take over, which means we won’t have much to do around here.” Mom shrugs and carries on wrapping. “Hey, did you get your robes for graduation yet?” Th
Esme“I … Uhm …” I look from mom to dad to Gabriel, and I’m at a complete loss for words for the first time in my life. Honestly, it’s been nice to have Gabriel there, but I’ve been so focused on just trying to get through the exams that I kind of didn’t think about leaving with Gabriel.“I think we should get through graduation first before any of us make any plans to move.” Gabriel saves the day and I literally breathe a loud sigh of relief, making them all laugh at me. Later in the evening, after dinner, Gabriel and I walk out to the lake.As we get into the cool water, I think how this could be the last time I ever see this lake. I will come to the pack territory to visit my brother, but I can’t imagine us coming here to swim. My next week is going to be filled with finding a dress for graduation and all that, so I can’t see us coming out here.We swim out in silence, each trapped in our thoughts. When Gabriel closes the gap between us, I don’t even notice until he pulls me into h
EsmeBefore long, the horrible written exams are over. I’ve fallen into a new routine and have even grown used to having Gabriel in my space literally all the time. He left to check on his pack a couple of times, but he has never been gone for more than two days at a time.Jason and Camile have clearly become closer, and I’ve even heard rumours that they could very well be mates. Camile’s birthday is right in the middle of our physicals, which means my uncle has limited the celebration a little.Gabriel pulls me into his embrace while we wait for Camile to make her entrance. She tried her best to outshine me, but thanks to my uncle, her party isn’t nearly as big as mine was. Camile finally makes her entrance and I shove my face into Gabriel’s chest to cover the laughter as soon as I see her.Camile is dressed in the biggest dress I’ve ever seen. She is wearing an enormous crown, and all I can think is that she doesn’t even realize how ridiculous she looks. Her dad has the hardest time