ALPHA COLTON"What the hell is this?" My eyes left the petition on my office desk to Jace's passive gaze. "It's a crime to sell out a member of the Pack. The council wants you to terminate that deal or they take drastic actions." Jace muttered with the fury in his eyes suggesting the degree of anger he was repressing just so he could speak discreetly. I glanced at the document on my desk only to discover the council had yet to sign it. They dared not sign it. Not without hearing from me."Why the hell are you so fuckin' bitter?" It was all I thought of, "Do you think you can fuckin' run this shit any better than I do?"Jace bit his tongue, but his knotted muscles screamed just what I needed to hear. He was not concerned about Allison, I knew that for a fact. He wasn't about saving Allison from Grimsby but all Jace was all about was toppling me down. "I am going to make sure the council takes the right action this time." He boomed, snatching the document from my desk. "Good luck
ALLISON KEELER "You're the miracle we've prayed all our lives for." Phoebe's broad smile illuminated her face and lit up the hall. She stood beside me with her face flushed and her hair neatly swept into a nice bun. "A miracle?" I asked my eyes on the rest of the girls coming into the hall. I waved back at a few girls who were nice enough to wave my way. After a while, Mr. Smith's staff reverberated to the hall making the babbles ebb. Liv sauntered in beside Mr. Smith with smugness plastered on her face. She found a spot in the array of girls and fixed herself. "Allison Keeler!" Was the first thing Mr. Smith said as he stood before us. I raised my hand but remained right where I stood amongst the girls. "Alpha Grimsby seeks to speak with you." He spoke deeply with a hint of scorn in his tone, "Maybe this will teach you to stop running your mouth!" I didn't wait for his next words, I headed towards the door. "Hold you right there," he barked behind me, "What gave y
ALLISON KEELER"Stay calm, put your hands up!" Matt boomed the second I stepped out of the car. My confused gaze regarded him only to see that he had his hands above his head and his eyes wandering the dense forest before us. I warily raised my hands unsure of what this was about."The Luna sends us," he announced to no one exactly. "We're not here for any trouble."I remained beside him by the car with my hands above my head following his gaze to trail the figure that just stepped out of the thicket. A strange brown wolf on all fours. His eyes were dark and piercing. He growled as he scanned us momentarily before he disappeared back into the forest. For some reason, this experience was frightening to Matt because beads of perspiration dampened his forehead and his fingers seemed to be quivering. "Who is he?" I whispered only when the wolf had gone back to the forest. "Go in." Matt blurted. "What?"He let his hands drop as he cocked his chin to the forest. "He'll lead you to
ALLISON KEELER "Where is it?" Faye's head snapped at us the second Matt led me through the door. We were on the outskirts of town in an enormous building that smelt of some foul herbs intermingled with the sweet scent of rosemary oil from the colored candles burning with a bright glow. "Here!" Matt skipped to Faye, stretching out the Ziploc bag her way. It wasn't until I noticed Karla behind Faye did I realize what this was about. My gaze shifted from Karla back to Faye. They swapped grimaces and broke forth into condescending laughs. "Let the lowly runt bring it to the sacred altar," Faye instructed, moving away with Karla whispering something to her. "It's filth, I can't touch it," I spoke quietly, unsure if they heard me. "Don't," Matt mouthed my way. "Did she say something?" Karla asked, turning back at me. "She was only talking to me, Luna" Matt smiled nicely at Karla before he shot me a shut-the-hell-up glare "I'll wait in the car." My legs started towards th
ALLISON KEELER"No," I sprang to my feet, "I'm not pregnant."I wasn't. There was no way I could be pregnant. Thoughts raced through my mind as maternal instincts brought my hands to my belly. My gaze remained on Glomé. What exactly was she? A pregnancy detector? "You're wrong. I am not pregnant." I reiterated hoping Glomé would harp on it and give me reasons she suggested I was pregnant. But the witch lady was all consumed in Faye's rage to spare any attention my way. Faye was the Luna here. "You have to be kidding me!" Faye threw the foul-smelling Ziploc bag on the floor, "You're telling me that I need to replicate the grace of an Omega? Have you suddenly gone mad?"Faye's beautiful face became flushed from rage and her burning eyes speared mine. "Who is the father of your baby?" Her voice was void of the fury it bore some seconds ago. Her face became instantly inscrutable as her eye wandered my belly. My eyes dropped to my belly, flat from having little to eat in the past d
ALLISON KEELER"Have you been crying?" Phoebe asked when I joined the table for lunch. The day went suddenly gloomy for me, not even the smiles on the faces of the girls who looked overjoyed and pleased to be fed lunch for the first time could lighten my heart. "Mr. Smith lied about always feeding us from his pocket," Evelyn, the girl beside me murmured, "Truth is, he's been pocketing our feeding allowances."All the babbles didn't help with my headache. I wanted to go away to where I would have some serenity, to where I could think, really think on what was of importance at the moment. But I couldn't leave. I felt so lightheaded that I feared I would pass out if I didn't force something down my throat. My hands flew back to my tummy. If I was pregnant. Colton was the father of my baby. Fear rose and died in the hollow of my soul. He was never going to want us. I caught myself, it wasn't going to serve me. These hurtful thoughts were never going to serve me. Phoebe helped me pou
ALLISON KEELER Phoebe was a support system for me. She had no idea just how much I appreciated her being here. Her confident eyes and the smiles she blessed me with were the only reassurance I needed that things were going to be alright. That I was going to be alright. "How long is this going to take?" I yawned and looked away from where she stood by the bathroom door to the test strip in her hand. "I dunno but it feels like forever already," she giggled amusedly. I couldn't help but join her despite the tears in my eyes. I sniffled and remained quiet on the closed toilet seat watching her peer at the test strip in her hand before her eyes widened slightly. The second her eyes snagged mine, my nightmare was confirmed. The glint in her eyes was bright enough to tell me I was pregnant. Glomé wasn't kidding. This was real. "I'm pregnant right?" Fresh tears welled up in my eyes. "It's not so bad." She tried to sound cheerful. I reached out to see the results for myself. My shaky f
ALLISON KEELER Grimsby's dark eyes roved my body and settled on my bare legs before they wandered up to my chest and neck. I remained glued to the spot with her eyes on my discarded uniform. There was no way I was ever going to make it to my uniform, there was no way I could prance around in just towels before Grimsby's lustful gaze."Take it off!" He muttered, casually folding his arms across his chest and leaning slightly against the window with amusement on his lips. "Tease me. I might be nice enough to let you off these tasks."I mentally scanned for ways to reply to this, I searched for the right words to deal with the smirks tugging at his lips but there was none, my mind was blank. "You're not supposed to be in here." I made my tone as hard as I could. "This is my mansion and you're mine to do as I wish for the next few months." He took in his lower lips and bit it. "Let's make this quick.""You are in the wrong room, Faye's room is down the hall, oh wait, should I say, Kar
ALLISON KEELER"What's going on?"I asked Alan after it took Dane forever to spill whatever he had in his guts. "We just received an email from the Western territories of the kingdom." Dane went ahead with a tone that sounded more husky than businesslike. "There's bound to be a war."A war? My face conveyed my shock. War was never a good thing especially when my territory was starting to thrive and recoup from bad governance."Our territory is safe." Alan must've caught the dismay on my face so he chipped in. "We're sealed by magic, it would be hard for the Outlanders to strike.""So why then is everyone acting this way?""The westerners solicit our amalgamation." Dane dragged out the words as though it was supposed to affect me. It did.The Western territories revolved mainly around Colton's territories. His territories were the majority. If we amalgamated our territories that meant going for those meetings, running into Colton, and risking the big discovery of the child we had to
ALLISON KEELER "There's a notice from the border," Alan dropped the folders in his hands on my desk, "It's a good thing we were on guard last night.""We would have been swept last night if we didn't take security measures?" I asked to be certain I understood him. "Here's your speech for this noon." Luca dropped a file on my desk. Smiling, Luca took a photo of me on my executive desk and smiled broadly into his phone. "Hmm, look how good you you look!""Delete that!" I growled at him stretching out to snatch the phone from his hand."You will need some executive photos," he held the phone out so I could see the photo. A smile curled on my lips. I looked so good. "Delete that," I said regardless. "We will have more patrol teams on the borders and send spies and trackers to see what they can gather." Alan went back to business. "You will address the entire Pack today by noon."I already knew that. Thoughts of standing before the entire Pack kicked in my anxiety. "Your executive a
ALLISON KEELER"Congratulations!"Evelyn gushed as I descended the stairs the night of the full moon. The silver dress I wore was perfect as the glow of the moon shone on it, and my hair and makeup looked extremely perfect. This was one of the things that kept me smiling all through. "So we get to leave this hole?" Darlene snorted. "I love this place." I did. The size didn't matter to me, all that did was have everyone together. Sir Garfield, although placed in a facility to help him recover quickly, was now an integral part of my life. A bigger mansion was no doubt going to fit everyone but it wasn't what I fancied at that time of my life. The ritual that night was a rare lucid moment. Without a trace of doubt in my heart, I picked Alan as my Beta. He knew so much about the pack and I was unsure why I picked Dane as my Gamma. This caused a stir in my circle but none of them seemed to own up to their thoughts. Was it because of the crown on my head now?"I don't know what's goi
Alpha Colton"Bullshit," I spat with vengeful eyes on Grimsby. All he said to me made no sense at all. "Where the hell is she?""You're not here for war now are you?" Grimsby sounded nervous but he kept a feigned composure. "You give me the girl and we're all good." I tried not to let my fury consume me. "She's not here." Grimsby huffed.My face dissolved into a confused frown. What did he mean she wasn't here?He met my inquisitive eyes and chose to explain things."Allison is safe. Trust me but I'm not the only northern ruler bonded to this deal, we don't want to turn this into some bloodbath." His tone was gravely low, "Let's talk at my office."Vinny released a breath glancing my way. I completely understood the dangers of striking out at the moment. The risk to these innocent pack members' lives was great and even worse, the weaker Western territories were going to feel the heat. The northerners were only going to strike brutally as revenge. This didn't feel right. "It's jus
ALPHA COLTON "I can't sense her," I informed Vinny the second we made it through Hornsgate borders. "You don't expect her scent to waft up your nostrils if she's a million miles away from here." He replied, his gaze on the map on his phone. "Hornsgate isn't that big a place." I inwardly scorned it. I had been to bigger territories, this was absolutely not one of them. "Grimsby will realize we're in his territory in no time." Vinny glanced from his phone. "I want him to as soon as possible. I just can't wait to end this." I hissed and drummed the steering wheel as the car zoomed through the highway. The thoughts of the northerners pooling in on us were now so overwhelming that I gestured to Vinny to get the anti-wolfsbane and anti-silver spray that Haedon had given me. If anything, this barbaric Pac was only going to try to use these two lethal forces on us. I knew just that. From a distance, three trucks zoomed up behind us. There was every possibility they were Gri
ALLISON KEELER"Would you abandon your territory to become Colton's Luna if he wanted you?"Dane typed a few things on his computer making a few edits to the speech Luca had just sent him. My coronation speech."My people are now my priority. So, no." I was unsure why he brought this up. Dane rarely talked to me and lately, he was all bent on asking about Colton. Did he fancy the ruthless ruler as well?He stretched and glanced at his wristwatch before he put his computer away. "I want to grab dinner," he slammed the computer and got to his feet grabbing his keys, "Coming?"Me?I thought he didn't like having me around but what did it hurt? I nodded and got to my feet. I left Sir Garfield's home office to first check on Fihl before I followed Dane out towards his Rover. "I want to see the pack, I want to meet with and get to know my people," I said in the front seat of his car. "You will, in a few more days." He glanced at me and reached out to grab the little fancy gift bag stre
ALLISON KEELER Matt was eerily silent all through the meeting with the pack elders. Alan and Chase did most of the talking. The elders swore their fealty and were more than willing to back me up on my rulership as the Luna of the pack. The day for the official crowning was the next full moon which was in just six days. I was happy. My joy was radiant but Matt's silence caught me even as we were all gathered for dinner he didn't say a word. All he did was cast me weird gazes and toy with his salmon. Something was bothering him and he denied it each time I asked. I offered to help Evelyn clear the table and stack the dishwasher. She was teasing me all over again about Grimsby's felicitations. I rolled my eyes and remained silent. "A diamond ring?" She gasped, "That's an awfully expensive one." She was talking about the ring Grimsby had sent my way amongst other gifts and items which were now in Darlene's possession. I didn't want anything from Grimsby. But what if it was
ALPHA COLTON "This is extremely impulsive," Vinny breathed, "We don't act on impulse." "If Grimsby wants to make this into a war then so be it." "This can cause a lot of damage, this can lead to regret." "I'm already wallowing in both." I hissed, "There's nothing left to lose." "Your territories?" I flail my hand in the air in an attempt to ease the fury inside of me. "I've already made up my mind. Do what needs to be done around here, I'll be back in a few days." "I'd be doomed if I let you off on your own." He met the fury in my eyes and quickly added, "You're a strong Alpha no doubt but the Northerners..." "I want the Pack matters that need my attention to be instantly sorted out, I want you to..." "Fuck it, Colton, I'm coming with you." "You're not leaving my territory unguarded, you're the Gamma of this pack..." "Karl will take care of what needs to be taken care of. We'll find a wolf to track her scent and I..." I hoisted the backpack from the coffee table and hea
ALPHA COLTON "Not that frown again," Shirley clucked her tongue with a broadening smile on her face. "What do you want?" I asked my face, suggesting I was not pleased to have her meddle in my part of the property. I had been unnecessarily liberal when I chose to offer Jace a part of my mansion to live in. Now I had to deal with it. "I miss you." She pursed her lips reaching out to touch my face. I acted instantly to prevent her from touching me. Whatever we had ended a while ago. She was now with my stepbrother. There had to be some boundaries. A lot was going on with me and having to pick a fight over a girl with Jace became a luxury I couldn't afford. "From now on you will speak discreetly. There's nothing between us anymore so I expect a more discreet relationship." The smile on her face faded, and a snort appeared on her face. "There's no gain being with you." She hissed, "Jace had a lot more to offer. I'm happy and content with my small family." "I'm glad to hear t