ALLISON KEELERI woke up the next morning without a thought in my head. Evelyn was by the window and Darlene was by Fihl's cot. The plush sheets were comfy tempting me to lay back in it with my gaze darting around to the two friends I had. "Finally," Evelyn said the second she met my eyes.She left the window to join me in bed lying close to me with her arms and legs caging me in."You have made me beyond proud." She grinned at me. What did I do now?"You don't remember a thing?" She raised her brows at me. "A Luna at heart," Darlene brought Fihl to me, joining us in bed."What happened?" I asked, stroking Fihl's head delicately, loving the smile on his cute face. "You shifted last night," Darlene grinned, "Matt says you were all-consuming.""I shifted?" Strange. It never happened that any wolf suddenly lost memory after they shifted. "You collapsed," Darlene leaned over my shoulder so she could see the dread on my face, "Matt thinks your wolf is too strong for you.""It doesn't
Allison KEELER I remained in the room most of the day mainly because there was heated tension between the girls and I. Fihl was by my side, suckling his tiny fingers. My eyes were on him with a blank mind unsure of how to convince myself I was doing the right thing by keeping him away from his father. First, Colton didn't want us. If at all he did he wouldn't have given me away to the Northerners the way he did. And even though it was a mistake, he would have realized his mistakes by now, he would have come to save me. He didn't. So why were they telling me to inform him of our son? The chances of Colton not knowing he had a son with me were slim. He was a strong Pack ruler with eyes and ears everywhere. His spies were scattered across the Lycan packs so if at all he had a little interest in me he would've asked how I was holding up then he would've learned about his son. He didn't care. As clear as that was. Sending me here was the only way he could clear the stump off hi
ALLISON KEELER Matt and Alan were solidly beside me as I walked into the arena that night. The lights on the battle ring where Stan stood were somewhat blinding. I could see the smirks on his face, I could see his bulging muscles as he flexed his arms.He drilled his hardened gaze my way with a sneer, his stance took on a dominating manner, and he just couldn't wait to hurt me. This scared me. "I can't," I mumbled but Matt caught my arm before I could turn away like the coward I was. "Yes, you can. And you will." Matt sounded confident. "You're a strong wolf," Alan whispered with his eyes firm on mine, "You drown we all do." He patted me lightly on my back and nodded me towards the battle ring. It was my destiny. I had to obey it. I had to live it. The cheers and chants of the pack members frenzied the second I stepped into the light, the second they noticed me take bold steps closer to the battle ring. Keegan, the old frail high priest sprinkled some sacred tepid water on bo
ALLISON KEELER Stan backed away with his hands brushing off the sand in his eyes but not for once forgetting I was before him in the battle ring. The smugness dropped from him the second he saw me back on my feet, my wounds healed. I watched him with vengeful eyes, his hands held the dagger he had taken from the weapon stand, the blade shiny before my eyes. I watched him, I heard him calculate his moves in his head, the smirks returning now he had his clear vision back. "Bitch!" He spat again to the ground, his eyes revealing the intensity of his annoyance. My gaze was fixed on his eyes, it was his greatest weakness, it was the one place Chase had urged me to go for. I remained still and calculating with my claws out and my heart thumping. He stalled as though waiting for me to make the first move but Alan's voice in my head kept me from making a mistake. I started backing away, a move to fool him into charging towards me. Stan didn't miss a beat, he harped on this and
ALLISON KEELER "So we move to the mansion?" Darlene beamed the next morning during breakfast. Sir Garfield's house was stacked up with flowers and gifts from the Pack members. "I'm Allison not Mildred!" I snorted, twitching a smile at the name on the cards and gifts. My face was flushed with joy as I went through the gifts. The pollen grains in the air choked Fihl up and he didn't stop his baby-sized sneezes. "We keep the flowers from the main building," I instructed since Fihl was showing signs of allergies. "We need a bigger place to stay," Darlene rolled her eyes, "I want to walk those floors I used to scrub." "We're not taking Flynn's mansion." I shook my head. Luca's eyes regarded me as though to see if I was telling a joke. I was well pleased with him, he had volunteered to guard my son together with Darlene and Evelyn. "I can't wait to lounge around the pool area sunbathing and lazing around all day." Darlene hummed. "You're not the Luna." Chase picked on her
ALPHA COLTON "The Northerners have resumed their raids on the Southern and part of the Western territories." Karl tossed an envelope on my home office desk. I sucked in a quick breath before I opened the envelope sent to us by our spies. The photo of gross bloodshed and vandalization was sickening. I felt sick to think Allison was in the hands of these bloody barbarians. "Grimsby responded to our mail," Ron announced, bringing the computer closer. My eyes left the nasty sight before me to settle on Ron waiting for him to read Grimsby's reply. My commanders and I had given him a six-day ultimatum to return Allison or strike his territory. "You bring this up again then I promise to return her," Ron read clearly then he looked up at me and added tactfully, "In a body bag." Grimsby was capable of this. But I was not afraid of his threats. "Gather our soldiers and scouts, we strike Hornsgate..." "We can't give heat for heat." Vinny warned, "We're in the fifth month, let'
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
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
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