ALLISON KEELER "Darlene?"I called out as though to make certain she really was the one. She turned around to meet me by the car. She pulled me into a sudden and unexpected hug. She held me a little longer in her arms. She felt warm and reassuring. "I'm glad you're alright. I heard about what happened. I'm glad you and Fihl are alright." She released me and went over to the backseat where Fihl was with a smile. "Let's get in, she'll be in the car with Fihl." Matt started towards the gate. I hesitated, unsure if to trust these people with my son. Phoebe had turned on me in ways I was yet to recover from making it hard to want to trust anyone ever again. Especially with my baby. I listened but couldn't hear their minds. I heightened my senses but couldn't hear anything alarming. But what if they worked for Faye? What if I returned and Darlene was gone with Fihl?"What are we doing here?" I asked, listening carefully to his mind. But I heard nothing. Did he shut me out or he simp
ALLISON KEELER Matt stopped by the Pack clinic and a doctor checked Fihl. I kept Fihl's heating-up experience to myself. With Matt's revelation, I didn't know if to trust anyone in this Pack. Darlene was with Fihl all the time we stopped for ice creams. It was one of the best experiences for me. It felt almost as nice as the first time I had an ice cream. "You're not going back there," Matt announced. "It's too risky." "You don't expect I'll live here on the streets with my son?" I quipped my interest and attention on the sundae cone in my hand. I forgot my entire being. Matt watched me lick my ice cream. "You're coming with us to our apartment." Darlene took my hand. "You're a part of our family." She kissed Fihl on the head, "He's now my son too." "Grimsby's going to strike out. I'm not prepared for such a war." I shook my head. "I don't want to get entangled in any war. It's why I'm returning to the mansion." "And what?" Matt snickered. "Pretend none of this happened.
ALLISON KEELER"What's going on?"I dragged Matt to a corner away from the eyes of everyone in the den. "Your step to freedom." A musing smile twitched on his lips. "No, I mean Fihl."He looked at the baby in my arms and touched him lightly, "Names coincide all the time."He was right but why did it feel so weird knowing the extremely attractive guy in the den had the same name as my son?I blinked, trying to ease the awkwardness. "And why does everyone wear that grimace on their faces?" I gurgled. "It doesn't matter. Just focus on what's important."She took both my shoulders and offered me a cheerful smile, "They're your team, they will save you from Stan and Grimsby if you open your heart to it.""I do." I responded too quickly, "I do open my heart to it. I want to feel safe. I want to be happy." I muttered the latter much to myself with my gaze fixed solely on Matt's face. "All hands on deck. You're the key player we must act fast if not all is lost." I nodded, "So what do I
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"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 test and what I can sense."It was strange. All my life, everyone sensed nothing other than the runt in me. Stan had senses 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. How did this happen? I knew just how. "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 of this. And