It’s easy to drive away in a truck when nobody is begging you to stay. If Cal had shouted one word, made one move to chase after me, I know my resolve would have shattered. It’s amazing that I even made it through the mountains, seeing as most of the way was blinded by tears. I sold some of the guns to a random hut-dwelling villager for supplies. I studied the map. Recognising some of the steeper, stranger passes I had slowly worked through, it appeared I had gone a completely insane way through. The route most people mark with a large cross for “absolutely no fucking way. Shattered limbs ahoy.” Declan had used our brief time together to describe what to look out as he walked me back to the truck. My mind was elsewhere, torn between what I needed and wanted to do. He didn’t say anything about Cal. I didn’t ask either. Just looking at Declan stung, seeing as he shares the same perfectly dark, intoxicating eyes as his son. Instead, I numbly listened to him, trying to keep up to his
Howen frustrated me endlessly throughout our reacquaintance. It seemed almost fitting that he should completely piss me off one last time. Stood outside Hope’s door. I wonder why she’s already gone up to bed this early and not working the inn. But I shake out my nerves and brace to knock on the pale blue wooden. It’s all built up to this moment. Since the second she drove away, the path towards finding her again was under construction. Three months ago, I was less certain of myself. While Mireille and Cyrus prepared to merrily venture towards danger, maybe even death, I stayed behind. The envelope Howen left in my room is clearly some kind of farewell letter. It needs to be given to her. There’s a reason he didn’t leave it in his own room for someone like Mireille or Elvie to find. Another letter to add to my own floating about somewhere in the world. I wanted to open it. Just in case he had put the one I wrote for Hope in as some kind of twisted joke. No letter of his own, just
My Darling Hope, You’re too clever to think this is anything other than my final words. My confession. Asking me to stand guard whilst you rejected Ryan, you have no idea how much that meant to me. I’d have killed him for you if you had said one word. Zero hesitation. Because that's all I ever was - a rogue, a man unable to escape my past.But because you are so much stronger, braver, wiser than me already, you didn’t do that. You handled it yourself, your way. Proud doesn’t cover how I feel when you enter a room. That pride started from the day you were born. Yet I have been cursed never to speak to you, only watch. So I watched everything. Believe me, Hope. Every step, every achievement I was there, right beside your perfect mother. Her spirit lives in you. The fire that made her such a magnetic presence, you can’t escape it. You’re just born to stand out. Unfortunately, I was too. You don’t have huge red hair and height without being noticed. Believe it or not, I was once good
I’ve led our group to my sister. Now she’s safe, I’m adrift. All that time sitting on the porch of the shepherds hut with Mireille, but I never truly considered the steps after. Probably because I was so braced to find her dead. Any instance in which we found her alive was joyous. A cause for celebration. Until I actually saw her. Until her hazel eyes flashed at me with pure pain. In the heat of the moment, Mireille had defended me powerfully, making my wolf purr with pride. Unfortunately It didn’t shake the fact that Skylar was right. Five years, looking at the state of her skinny frame, five days was too long to have left her. All her childlike softness has been shredded away. Her skinny frame is iron. It's unbreakable because she is part Lycan like me. Just how much healing her inner spirit must have endured, only for Chase to hurt her all over again. Declan and I unceremoniously dumped Chase in the well. Staring down into the pitch black darkness, we lifted a lantern over, try
Time stood still. No matter how many times I read that letter, my brain remained stunningly blank. My father is dead. A thought I'd tried to keep at bay has roared into reality. I guess I'm an orphan now. An adult woman with no idea what I'm really doing. The man I love somewhere just outside, the child I'm caring for upstairs. a child that has irreversibly snuck her way into my heart. My heart is torn in too many directions to function. What hurt the most was that Papa still saw himself right to the very end as not being worthy to sit beside my mother. Died believing that even in death, he still has to earn his place at her side. I'm reeling. Panting with my hand propped against the door. Papas' letter describes me as having my shit together. A wise head capable of making good decisions. Right now, I'm lost. Grief is hitting me in waves so powerful my head hits the door and my legs give way. My father. I left my father and fled across the snow without a second thought for him.
Another full moon is beckoning. Summer is on the wane but Skylar won’t leave the forest. Late in the morning, Dee and Quinn call in on us. They are on their way back from getting supplies. But something is off. My wolf is restless.Their energy, always so united since their relationship was unveiled, is wavering. Dee excitedly hugged me, rubbing my ever-expanding, incredibly uncomfortable bump with abandon. Quinn stood back quietly, fussing with her blue face scarf.“You wouldn’t believe what it’s like! Skylar is just an absolute queen. Chase is begging, literally begging to die and it’s only been a month!”Dee then explored the inside of the shepherd's hut at length, exclaiming over the growing pile of baby clothes and piles of food that Cyrus had stockpiled. Last month, Cyrus had been the one sat in the chair staring blankly at the view. Now he pottered, busily trying to create a safe haven for us, whilst I sat in the creaking wooden chair silently contemplating the immediate futur
Little Button was very happy playing with a few lavender and blush pink flowerheads, tapping them with her chubby fingers to make petals rain down whilst I pulled myself together. I kept my hopes up that perhaps this was some kind of scheme to get my guard down. Maybe if I was lucky, Cal would just be asleep on the stone floor of the inn, not wanting to intrude on us. I hadn't done anything with the old place. It was untouched from the years my parents helped run it. All cold stone floors, big fire and wooden furniture. Little metal framed sash windows that gradually let in long shafts of light.Perhaps if I was very, very lucky and crossed my fingers, Cal might be undressed and asleep Not that it was hard to conjure up the memory of his body. Every ridge of his torso, the feel of his solid back underneath my fingertips immediately jumped into my mind. I thought of my mother and father, wondering just what they would make of his crazy flower-filled escape. Knowing my parents are b
Crammed into the back of the truck, it is a good job Dee is too ashamed to meet my eye. I might still throw her down that fucking well. My knuckles whiten on the steering wheel, staring hard into the darkness at the bumpy road ahead. Mireille sits next to me. One hand on her bump, the other on my seat, just near my thigh. Quiet and thoughtful. Still clad in that stunning green cotton dress that I almost ripped from her body earlier. Her mark has left a constantly tingling burn from how deep she plunged her canines. I fucking love it. /You look angry/ she mindlinks me and I attempt to unclench my jaw. Quinn and Dee have been quiet, presuming I am just my usual silent self but the instant my angel’s mark cut through deep buried scar tissue and clamped our wolves together we have been talking. /Weighing up throwing Dee down the well/ I confessed. /Then we match/ she replied softly, her serious little voice in my head still a complete thrill to hear. Not every couple chooses to use t
Standing in the courtyard, I can feel my heart racing. It’s a strange feeling to know you’re going to die in a few minutes. I made my vow to Mireille all those years ago. I’ve been an Alpha of the North, overseen peace, and brought up our beautiful children, but this is the vow that matters. Because this promise was the one that eased my angel’s mind. Knowing we would have this final offering to the Moon Goddess and pray it is enough to free our children. /I love you/ I whisper to her, noticing her hands shake. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. /You don’t have to do this/ she links back, her voice still as soft and light as the day I met her. Age has barely touched her. I am most definitely grizzled and rough around the edges. She is ethereal. Her pale green eyes shimmering with love and sadness, her white hair plaited tightly. She’s wearing a simple white dress. I insisted on wearing my huge winter fur. It seemed the right thing for me. /Wait, I want something/ I urge. I h
The last twenty years have been a rollercoaster, to say the least. That night in the hail, when Cyrus pulled me back from the brink and I spilt every single woe from the bottom of my soul to him, was the turning point. Since the triplets' birth, I had walked around with lead weights in my shoulders, dragging me down. Guilt chipped away at my self-confidence. To the point when I didn’t even feel I could be a Luna. Standing at the top of that tower, thinking the isolation helped clear y mind when it only bogged me further down in the doubt. Cyrus changed all of that. He took my guilt and made a solemn vow. Twenty years. If we can’t fix it together in twenty years, we will offer ourselves to the Moon Goddess. After that night in the hail, I cried for two days in a row. Once whipped away from the beam, the full horror of what I’d almost done was crushing. I couldn’t look at the children without damning myself all over again. Cyrus though, he became the Alpha. With everyone’s bl
If it wasn’t for the three women I lived with and little Opal I’d have lost my mind. Delilah hadn't changed from our blessed childhood friendship. Morgan’s mate Nell was full of bizarre ideas for preserving food and practising emergency drills. Lyra remained stoic and calm. Our lighthouse of sense and hope. Opal cried for her Daddy, and I had to try not to join in with her. I had to promise her he would come back, based on nothing but pure, desperate hope. It turned into full-scale war out there. The various Rogue armies were enormous, but they never quite made it to Filney. We were prepared, though. Thanks to Nell, we each had a gun safely stored by the bed. Escape routes planned. Little Opal still slept with me, keeping her close to my heart. Finally, one day, they returned. Trucks pulling in to Lyras white walled villa woke us up. One by one, we all screamed with excitement. Cal didn’t even try to trick or provoke me. He just pulled up the truck and sprinted towards us.
**FOUR YEARS LATER** I don’t know how time flew by so quickly. Everything Cal promised me has come true. We have bickered, disagreed, and walked down the beach in a huff. Mainly me each time, knowing he would be sat on the porch waiting for me with an amused smile. That lopsided grin that makes my stomach flip. We never stopped fighting for each other. Not for a second. It's been everything and more. That first morning, dozing in the hammock together, I woke up with a start. Realising the time, how late I was for retrieving poor Button made me scramble and swing so violently he crashed to the floor all over again. “You know I might ban you from my lovely hammock,” he groaned. I just laughed and pulled him up, pretending to rub his muscular shoulders, back, chest better until he growled and finally bent me over that porch. It was perfect. Of course, Button was absolutely fine with Declan and Lyra. They were already playing on the beach with her, Declan, having his toes burie
“Shit, the weather look,” she whispers, lifting her head up from my bare chest. From our cosy tower room, we can see wind is starting to howl, hail pelting the glass. The first savage winter snowstorms have begun.“It’s time to start prepping,” I grunt with disappointment, sitting up to get a better look. My beautifully naked angel sits in between my legs, allowing me to start nuzzling my chin against her neck. Her hand absentmindedly trails up and runs through my dark hair, keeping me close to her. “We’ll be underground for the first moon,” I add, which is the only thought that makes the idea of humping all those supplies down below bearable.“Hmm, you might be right. Let’s see how it goes,” she whispers back in a soft little voice before turning to plant a loving kiss on my grizzled cheek. “Better get dressed,” she groaned before pushing me down back onto the mattress and climbing on top of me. My fingertips brushed against her still red, warm asscheek and she jumped at the sensat
** TWO YEARS LATER **The first snows have landed. The next full moon is a fortnight away, but we will probably be underground before then. No pilgrims have arrived this month either. Things are a lot quieter at the Fortress these days. The grand days of my parents' first few years have definitely waned. A trickle of pilgrims instead of floods now make the dangerous journey over the mountain tops.I still stand at the top of the fortress and watch the sun descend. Every night, I stare at the black ridges of the mountains. I did it as a child. I did it the night before the rogues arrived and turned my life upside down. Now I stand every night we are above ground and observe its fiery descent and try to be thankful for what I have. Three wonderful children. A mate who worships me. Loyal, wonderful friends and family who made the last two freezes more than bearable. At first, I struggled with my survival. When Cyrus held me in his arms and told me dozens of times how he doesn’t need
“Hey there,” wasn’t the smoothest opener, but there was nothing else I could say. In the same way he knew my heart would melt for the flowers he put in the inn, he must have known that I would make some kind of entrance. My coppery hair is down, catching the breeze. For once I felt like a queen in my black dress after leaving Button with her kind-of adoptive grandparents. It’s tight, strapless, hugging my curves and showing off my long legs just as I intended. I don’t want my reunion with Cal to be about Button, as much as I love my little wonder. We'll get there, after tonight. After all, this moment has been a few days in the making. Cal’s not the only one capable of making plans. In fact, the first people I saw were Lyra and Declan. When I produced Button from out of the passenger seat, I felt a surge of panic. “She’s not Cal’s,” I said too quickly to sound polite. Then, allowing her to scamper off merrily towards the sand, I added softly, “She’s technically not mine either. I’
It’s a good job Hope was still asleep when I left. Otherwise, she might have caught up to me parked on the side of the road, still completely torn in two as to whether my gesture was romantic or insane. I ran my hands through my shaggy brown curls so many times it’s a wonder I wasn’t bald when I finally pulled up to the shoreline. Nine months after setting off I’m finally home. I raced home in dangerously quick time, panic-stops excluded. Because I have a home to build. A life to prepare. Howen and Pearl’s old villa at Finley is still magnificent, but it hasn’t been lived in for over five years. When I knocked on the door, there was only my mother there. Half a second of shock was followed by fifteen minutes of being almost throttled by her cuddles and kisses. Her long black hair was wavy from her morning swim, her gentle face full of worry. She quickly explained that my father had left to help Mireille and Cyrus after being summoned.. “So…what happened with Hope? I’m guessing tha
Only after she fell unconscious did the room check who was actually capable of performing such surgery. Sven and Quinn immediately pointed to me and my heart sank to its lowest, darkest depths.Slicing open her soft, perfect skin was terrifying. The tautness of her bump meant every cut felt far too deep yet not enough. Plus, if I didn’t hurry, the medication would wear off and leave her enduring more pain at full volume.With my poor angels whimpering cries finally silenced, you could hear nothing but the tearing, slicing sound of raw flesh as I cut ever deeper. With everyone's eyes burning into me, the blade shook in my hand.. “Hurry, this is no time for hesitation,” Arlen insisted. Stifling a growl, I steeled myself and made a sweeping horizontal incision. Then it was a mad rush to gather the babies. Cords were snipped, Arlen telling what to remove and what to stitch. I blindly followed, vaguely aware of tiny cries in the background but unable to do anything but care for my pale,