(Danny POV)My father has wanted to take over the territory held by the Blue Moon pack for years. He had been eying Alpha Aaron’s takeover of the pack as the ideal time to strike and make that desire a reality.I personally don’t know what my father thinks is so special about Blue Moon’s territory. I’ve always been partial to what we have here at White Howlers. But, my father usually gets what he wants, and as long as he’s happy, I don’t really care.Thanks to my indifference about my father’s plans, I haven’t paid much attention to what he has been doing or the strategies that he has been employing. Until now. It turns out that one of his strategies included getting several Blue Moon guards on our payroll, and those guards proved immensely valuable in terms of figuring out what has been going on with Cassie lately.From what the guards reported, Blue Moon’s future beta is Cassie’s (first) mate. However, their mateship had a very rocky start. Jason, the future beta, slept with
(Cassie POV)I spent eight hours at the mall with my mother. EIGHT. HOURS. I felt like a walking dress-up doll, whose opinions and style did not matter even a little bit. My mother happily went from store to store, talking to the clerks, pulling clothes, pushing me into dressing rooms to try one hideous thing on after another.On the bright side, my mother did not make as many snide comments as she usually does. I think that’s because I held back my own tongue and just let her have her way all day. She also seemed sincere in the outfits she picked out; nothing she selected seemed to be selected as joke (like the wedding dress I ultimately bought).By the end of the day, we had our arms filled with bags of dresses, skirts, heels, and everything else a “proper” lady should have. No leather, no denim, nothing too short, nothing too loud. At one point, my mother had to use the ladies’ room, and I used the opportunity to sneak into a store that appeared to have eclectic leather and
(Cassie POV)My heart stopped as I listened to the conversation between Danny and his father.“Be careful with Cassie, Son. There is a reason that her father has always had trouble with her.”“Dad, Cassie is going to be my Luna soon. There is nothing wrong with her. She just needs someone who knows how to tame her.”I recoiled a bit at that description. What am I? A wild animal? I don’t need taming.“The point remains, Son. You have been so focused on Cassie lately that you have taken your eyes off the prize. My men are running around getting information for you when they should be focusing on how we are going to take over Blue Moon.”Take over Blue Moon? What???? I thought the two packs were in an alliance.“Father, your men have done nothing but give me information they already had access too. Besides, with Alpha Blake’s wedding getting pushed back, you aren’t in any hurry. Continue to send the rogues to attack periodically, and things will be fine.”Oh, Goddess. Oh, God
(Cassie POV)It is now Wednesday evening. I do not now how I survived the past 24 hours, nor do I know how or if I will survive the next several days.I figured out very quickly last night that I am not a spy, nor do I have any hope of ever becoming one. I only made it out in one piece because: 1) Danny is an egotistical buffoon who could never begin to imagine that a woman would fake her affection for him; 2) Danny appears to be sincerely obsessed with me; and 3) in addition to being an egotistical buffoon, Danny is a SEXIST egotistical buffoon who underestimates the intellect of women generally.I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, I think I got most of what I needed to get. There were a few moments where I wondered why the movies made this sort of thing sound so easy, like when I realized that I needed a way to save the important computer files but I didn’t have anything to save it on (surprise, surprise; I don’t routinely carry zip drives in my purse). Another
(Aaron POV)Wednesday afternoon, I was in my father’s office going through reports of recent rogue attacks and sightings. Rogues were always a problem, but there was too much consistency lately. I thought back to my meeting Alpha Ryan; could White Howlers really be behind some of the attacks? If so, how would we prove it before it was too late?As I thought about the White Howlers’ pack, I started to think about Cassie. And how Cassie had been mated to Jason. And about my irritation when I saw future Alpha Danny giving her a lap dance.Urgh. Why was one woman taking up so much space in my head? I had not thought this much about a woman in years, if ever. Had I thought this much about Allison? Maybe? That relationship was so short-lived… and traumatic… that it’s hard to remember those kinds of details clearly.I had promised myself that I would stay out of Jason’s mate drama, and then I ended up telling him about Danny’s interest in Cassie anyway. As if Karma was telling me
(Aaron POV)Once we were safely inside the war room with the door closed, the human pointed to my father. “Who is he?” she asked, nervously.“My father.”“Ok.”“Before we get started, would you be upset if I react like a human for a moment? I don’t understand werewolf culture or hierarchy, and I suspect you will be upset by my reaction, but I don’t think I will be able to concentrate if I don’t do something first.”I looked at her puzzled. “Sure, go ahead.”The human slapped me hard across the face. “I am not a d—n hooker, and how dare you talk to me as if I was one.”My dad chuckled. “She did ask first, Son.”I sighed. “I know you aren’t a hooker, and I’m sorry. I had to come up with something quickly, and it fit the conversation we had in the car.”I gestured for her to take a seat, which she did.“Now tell me why you are here. You’ve been awfully cryptic so far. All I know so far is that you somehow know Cassie.”“My name is Maggie. I don’t know much, but I know Cassie a
(Aaron POV) I looked through the files on the phone, and found one labeled, “Play me.” I placed the phone on speaker, and did as instructed. There were parts of the audio that were easier to hear than others, but thanks to our werewolf hearing, we were able to make out almost all of it. My father and I took turns growling until we reached the part where Danny confronted Cassie, and then the growling was 100% me. When the recording was over, my father and I sat in silence for about ten minutes, with both of us processing our thoughts. My father was the first one to break the silence. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. That girl was specifically chosen to be part of our pack. Thank goddess she was in the right place at the right time, and that she was smart enough to find a way to get the information to us.” “Do you think she was sincere about being interested in Danny?” I couldn’t believe that was the first thing I said after listening to the audio, but it was almost as
(Cassie POV)On Wednesday night, just when I thought all hope was lost, my parents lit into me for an hour in front of my sister, Alpha Fred, and Danny. I had never been so grateful.Specifically, my parents were upset that I had slept in Danny’s room on Tuesday night. They told me that they did not care who he was; until he was my husband, I wasn’t going to be his “whore of the night.” They told me that, if I wanted to play that role, I could move back to the human town. Until then, while I lived under their roof, I was going to be respectful and follow their rules.To my surprise, Danny didn’t try to fight them about it. He simply kissed me on the forehead, promised me that we would be married soon enough, and told me and Alpha Fred had a lot of things to do anyway.After that crisis was diverted, Megan dragged me upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door. “What is going on between you and Danny?” she demanded.I desperately wanted to tell her the truth, but given Mike’s rol
And that is a wrap! I hope you all have enjoyed the journey. I will definitely miss these characters. They definitely took on personalities of their own as we went along. I cannot tell you how many times I sat down planning to write one thing, only to find the characters demanding we go a different direction. Thankfully, we will still get glimpses of the key characters in Book 2, which will focus on the Moon Goddess's decision to pair Maggie and Alpha Paul. That book will also pick up where this book left off, in terms of Bobby and the Moonlight Six. I plan to start Book 2 in a few weeks, after I take some time off for a couple of family vacations. Thank you all for reading!!! If you have enjoyed the journey, please leave a gem and/or positive review!
(2 ½ months later)(Jason POV)The last few months have been an absolute whirlwind, but I can honestly say that I have never been happier.After our big fight the night of Duncan and Moira’s cake-tasting, Paige and I stayed up for hours talking… and fighting… and making up again. We realized that we both like to be challenged, and once we both agreed to take rejection completely off the table, we found that we are really good at being one another’s “safe place” to have heated or difficult conversations.Instead of Theo flying out to Texas, Paige decided that we should go back to Blue Moon together. She arranged for other wedding planners to handle all of her Texas weddings except for Moira and Duncan’s. She understandably wanted to keep their wedding, but everything left to do could be done remotely until the weekend of the wedding itself. Once we are a bit more settled, she plans to open a part-time wedding planning business just outside Blue Moon territory.... at which she wil
(Paige POV) Neither Jason nor I said anything to each other on the way home from the bakery. It was just as well. Thankfully, Moira did not seem angry about Duncan and Jason leaving… and we were able to successfully pick flavors for their wedding cake… but the whole thing was still embarrassing and unprofessional. The moment we walked into my apartment, Jason headed to the kitchen. He peeked inside the refrigerator and calmly asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. “Really? That is the first thing that you are going to say to me? Not ‘I’m sorry for embarrassing you,’ or ‘I’m sorry for having my head up my a— since you got back’ or ‘How did the rest of your tasting go? I hope I didn’t cost you a couple of clients.’ Hell, at this point, I’d even take ‘Hey, Baby, I’m craving tacos, does that sound good to you?’” “Why do I feel like you are itching for a fight, Paige?” “Maybe because I am, Jason! I cannot live this way anymore!!!” Jason turned around and glared at me. “Liv
(Paige POV)So it turns out that Jason not only upgraded my flight to first-class… he booked himself a ticket as well. Jason explained that he had decided that he was going to go where I went for the rest of my life… or until I rejected him for the third and final time. He also told me that his plan was for Theo to stay with Jason’s parents for the first couple of weeks, and then —if I had not kicked him out yet— Theo would come and join us.But for everything else, I probably would have found Jason’s decision to come to Texas with me to be a really sweet gesture.However, over the next week, Jason’s behavior continued to be bizarre. Worse, his constant presence began to feel suffocating and overwhelming. Even Carly, who loved having her mate nearby, was becoming concerned.Among other weird things, Jason:—continued to insist on making me breakfast in bed every. single. day. I could not even grab a piece of toast or a granola bar without Jason freaking out. —refused to disagree
(Paige POV) As I get on the airplane, my heart feels heavy. I know that I need to get back to Texas, but even after spending the morning talking to Jason and most of the afternoon de-briefing with everyone else, things still just feel… unsettled. I had hoped that talking to Jason would give me some better insight on our relationship… but more than anything, this morning felt…. awkward. In addition to bizarrely shaving his head and insisting on serving me breakfast in bed, Jason spent almost the entirety of our conversation either apologizing or agreeing with everything that I said. It sort-of felt like I was talking to a wall; the normal, opinionated Jason was not there. As much as the normal, opinionated Jason irritates me at times, I could not help but wonder where he was. I definitely like the normal Jason better than the shell of a wolf that he was this morning. Oh, well. At least if I am going to have a heavy heart on my flight back, I will be comfortable. (Somehow, my
(Cassie POV) I wake up to Josephine’s voice in my head. “Cassie, Sweetheart?” I moan. “I am sleeping. What is up, Josephine?” “It is one o’clock the afternoon.” “One in the morning?” I respond back groggily. “No, Sweetheart. It’s the middle of the afternoon.” “That’s not possible,” I groan. “We did not get home until five o’clock.” “Five o’clock yesterday, Baby.” Realization hits me. I must have been more tired than I realized. The last thing I remember was having a hot shower with Aaron, eating more food than I want to admit to eating, having a second round with Aaron in our bed, and then asking Aaron if we could talk after a took a quick nap. Apparently that nap was the longest nap ever. I try to stretch my arms, but one arm hits something hard. I blink open my eyes and see Aaron laying on his side, with one arm supporting his head as he stares at me. He smiles as soon as our eyes meet. “Good morning, Sweetheart,” he says. “Good morning, Aaron,” I smile back at
(Paige POV) When we finally made it back to Blue Moon, my emotions were a muddled mess: —I was relieved to be back. —I was happy to be alive and unharmed. —I felt both sad and betrayed about everything involving my sister. —I was horrified about having watched my sister be murdered in front of me. —I was scared and nervous to see Jason again, after having rejected him for the second time less than a week ago. —I was still upset with Jason for having knocked up my best friend. —I was still in shock that Granny Apple played a role in Sarah getting pregnant. Complicating my mess of emotions even more was the reality that I was hungry, dehydrated, and exhausted. When I saw Aaron race from the packhouse to greet Cassie, my heart felt happy for the two of them… and a little jealous too. I could not help but wonder if Jason and I would ever get to that point, or if my happiness —like that of Aaron and Cassie— would be found in the arms of a second chance mate. Carly growled in
(Aaron POV) As soon as I heard that Cassie was at the border, I took off running. I shifted into my wolf in order to run faster, not caring that I was shredding my clothes in the process. I did not bother to mind-link anyone; I knew my father would do so. All I cared about was getting to Cassie. I reached Cassie within just a few minutes. I was vaguely aware that Paige, a baby, and a few of our border guards were standing nearby, but no one else mattered to me in that moment. I quickly shifted back to my human form and wrapped Cassie up in my arms. I am not ashamed to admit that —as I clung to her as though my life depended on it— I buried my head in her neck and cried. They were happy tears, but tears all the same. For her part, Cassie clung to me just as much if not more than I clung to her. I could feel her tears on my bare shoulder, so I knew she was crying just like I was. After a couple of minutes, I finally —although reluctantly— pulled away from her just a little bi
(24 hours earlier)(Cassie POV)“I… I have so many questions,” I tell Bobby after listening to his story.“I do, too,” Paige whispers. I glance at her and can tell that she is in shock. So much of what she has thought and believed for the past several years has been turned upside down in the matter of a single 10-minute conversation. “I’ll answer what I can until Shelly gets here.”“After all Shelly and the Moonlight Six did to you… why are you dating Shelly?”“Keep your friends close; your enemies closer,” Bobby responds as though it is nothing.“Don’t you feel like you are… cheating on your mate?” Paige asks.If my handcuffs would allow it, I would reach over and slap Paige upside the head. Seriously, that was the first question she asked Bobby? I remind myself that she is in shock and going through a lot, but I also chuckle a little bit as I realize Jason would likely have asked the same question.Instead of answering Paige, Bobby growls angrily. Paige seems to realize her