ALLISON KEELER "I think I look okay here!" I chuckled with flushed cheeks at the last shoot Alan just did. My eyes were on his phone watching myself try to be someone I wasn't. I wasn't a Luna. I didn't even know if I could be. "We don't think we need ‘okay’," Alan bounced the video. It was the sixth out of the six videos we made. He kept bouncing them. "What are we looking for?" I rolled my eyes. "Strength, certainty, boldness we want you to appear, sound, and act the role of a Lynth princess." He glinted at the video and shook his head, "You look so unsure of yourself." Because I was. I was afraid all this was only going to blow off in my face leaving me in regret. "You're setting high bars." I clicked my tongue. "I was thinking I'm not high enough," he moved to adjust the backdrop and lighting. Matt watched us without a word. I handed the video to him and he had the same opinion as Matt. But to me, I looked beautiful. I looked better than I had ever looked with thi
ALLISON KEELERIf I had imagined sitting still and depicting different emotions was a task, then the next morning was a whole new world of surprise for me. Chase had me do some marrow drilling workouts which he casually called prep steps. I couldn't do anything when I got back to the apartment. "Chase trains like I'm a beast." I joined the table when I had showered and fitted into the dress Darlene offered me. "You've been a klutz for too long," Alan said through bites of his toast.A part of me was grateful he didn't say a runt. I watched the handsome faces of the occupants of the table. My heart swelled just to think I had gotten their acceptance. "We've just enclosed the video in the email." Matt announced, watching my face, "We make the Flynns return to a baffling surprise." "You take control and change things. They return to a new territory, a new ruler, and new rules." Luca took a glass of water to his lips. "What if they make trouble?" I asked. "We make double the troub
ALLISON KEELER"Quit overreacting. Chill out!"Matt caught my arm before I could make it out the door with my son securely held in my arms. I snapped from him and shot him a glare. "This is all a joke. I've been made fun of all my life and I'm not settling for more." I retorted with my face grim and lips puckered. "No one's making fun of anyone." His tone was super soft, and his eyes were pleading. "He sounded like I'm a runt. I don't want to be a runt anymore." My tone faltered. Dane's attitude got to more than I even realized. "I just don't want to feel this way.""So you're backing away just because Dane made some remark?" He sounded pissed, "Allison this has gone beyond you. This is about the Pack and the needs of the members. You chose to walk away then we're left without a choice but to succumb to the tyranny of the Flynns.""What does it matter anyway? I don't belong here. I'm out. You all can find another way around this." I sniffled and headed out into the sunlight unsure
ALLISON KEELER "Shifting is pretty easy," Chase stated, "But shifting for the first time isn't but you gotta do it sometime. And now's the time." "What if there's no wolf? Or, the wolf's too weak to shift?" I asked from where I sat in the field exhausted from another round of drills. "Except in such cases. But that isn't your case." He popped my bubbles. "You have a wolf and your wolf isn't weak according to the tests carried out and what I can sense." It was strange. All my life, everyone sensed nothing other than the runt in me. Stan had sensed that energy so what changed? I felt it in me too. I felt the strength of my wolf, I had the abilities I never did in the past. I knew just how it happened. "Perhaps the Eclisir isn't such a terrible moon?" I drawled before I looked up to meet his gaze. He dropped beside me on the hill and regarded my face. "I heard you were trapped in that energy?" His tone was soft, his eyes sympathetic, "Your son is too young to go through all o
ALLISON KEELER"You're glistening."Darlene noted when I returned from the sacred temple to take a bath and retire after long a long night. My entire frame was trembling even as I soaked in a soothing jacuzzi. It was worth it all. Laying in the jacuzzi with my eyes softly closed I reflected on those days I strived with nothing but pain and anguish. I remembered just how hard Colton was on me. I thought of his harsh words and the spite in his eyes, the resentment in his tone whenever he talked to me. The hate was there, I'd never expected him to take me the way he did. He took me swiftly in his arms, kissed me like I meant something to him and he made love to me like he was going to love me as his mate forever. The moment of horror came right after I had woken up. I was far away from the hate now. I was surrounded by people who loved me and had my best interests. The tear tonight was mostly physical and spiritual tests. My fear was ever present, but I had scaled through in a way
GRIMSBY EVANS"This had nothing to do with you so stay the hell out of it," Karla dropped on my home office sofa. I left my desk to join her on the sofa. She wrapped her arms around me and held me close, nuzzling into me. "Let Faye's family fight their battle." She cooed. "I can't." I hissed. Flynn and I had established a relationship. It was going to be hard to turn my back on them during the chaos. "What are you? The goddess?" Karla scorned, "Have you ever thought of how this could affect your territories?""All they want is for me to take Allison from CaeHills. She's my property until this deal is over.""Do you think the people will let you just walk in and snatch their Luna?" She scoffed, "She's a Luna now. Focus on your life and how to raise you heir.""Raise?" My gaze fell on hers. "You've been too distracted to notice." She pouted. My heart constricted. There was no way I heard her right. There was no way. "You're pregnant?" My incredulous gaze was on her face. "What
FAYE FLYNN I dragged myself off the floor. The pain was unbearable. My wolf would take a while before she could completely heal of this pain since it was inflicted by my mate. Grimsby was mad but why? I went out of my way to get us the fertility package. I had faith it was going to work so why did he give up hopes now? Was there another woman? I shook my head. Grimsby loved me. He was only frustrated. If I could sit him down and explain things to him then his faith would come alive. But I needed to recover from this pain. I settled on the bed and closed my eyes softly. I could have been in CaeHills backing Stan up to secure his position as the Alpha of the pack. just because the runt possessed similar features with Lucretia that didn't mean she had what it took to rule a pack. Stan had been through prior training, he had prepared for this just to have Allison pop out of nowhere to ruin his chances. Our chances. I hissed. I was going to put that pathetic creature in her p
KARLA I disentangled from the thick and warm bed covering, sitting upright in the big bed I stifled a yawn. Although Grimsby was gone from the hotel room that morning I felt happy. There were no worries inside of me anymore. My fears of Grimsby deserting me after making love to me were gone now. I was pregnant. The only reason to be crowned a Luna. I smiled merrily to myself. My dreams were coming true. It was going to be exhilarating being the one to receive all of those love and felicitations from the pack members instead of Faye, having the people bow before me and treat me with sheer respect was going to be my life now. I stood naked before the full-length mirror admiring myself. In no time my baby bump would show. Grimsby had better hurry up and clear out the stump from our pasture. I poured myself some fruity wine as I soaked in the jacuzzi my mind on the things I was going to say and do as the Luna of Hornsgate. First, I was going to get Faye back to her peop
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