Daisy’s POVI’d never thought the Moon Goddess would make it up to me in such a way. The wood of the doorframe bit into my palm as I leant against it, watching Jane drive away. My heart pinched slightly at the sight of her departure. I thought I would be sad when she left, but no, I was happy she was leaving.Now I had everything I’d always wanted.I lowered my head and pressed a gentle kiss to the little girl’s forehead. She cooed; I tightened my arms around her. I would keep her safe.“From now on, you are my daughter,” I murmured. “I think I’ll call you Ava. Ava White,” I breathed. “Hi, sweetheart. My little Ava. I’m your mommy, Daisy White.” I grasped her tiny hand in mine, and I knew what love was as her minute hand curled around my index finger.” So nice to finally meet you.”“I’ll tell everyone that someone left you on my porch,” I whispered, peppering her little face with more and more soft kisses. She had huge blue eyes, but I didn’t think anyone would associate her with Jane
Jane’s POV6 years laterMy hands brushed tentatively over our belongings. Even though I had made the choice to move to Moonrise City with my two boys, I couldn’t help but hesitate yet again while packing my things.And it was his fault. Hunter Burns, the father of my children, was often there. It was one of his main bases. Though I had not seen him, my mate, for six years, he had not become a stranger to me. I still heard about him.He ran his two packs well. His R pack was doing exceptionally, and he was using his substantial wealth and influence to help others. He, his Luna, Amy, and their daughter Ava frequently attended charity dinners to raise money for children with Aphasia. He’d even set up foundations for them. It seemed as though Hunter had settled into his life with his pretend mate – and, though I’d tried to leave him firmly in my past, my ears always perked up when someone mentioned Hunter Burns.I’d even caught a glimpse of their little daughter, Ava. She was about the s
Jane’s POVI tried to run, but my body was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t move.My mate, Hunter Burns, looked straight at me. My heart thundered in my chest; my mouth went dry. Then he started walking in my direction.I tried to wet my dry lips as he neared me. He was as handsome as I remembered – no, even more so. He was perfect. Still rigid with fear and excitement and terror and shame, all balled up into one, my heart leapt up into my throat.Then I heard my two boys’ voices.“Mommy! Mommy!” They grabbed my hands and shook them.No. I couldn’t let him know about my darling snow angels. My sweet baby boys. They looked exactly as Hunter had when he was younger, with their dark hair and wide blue eyes. I couldn’t let him see them. I had to stop him.Squatting down, I took them both into my arms. “You have to run,” I whispered. “Run, boys, run! Do you remember what I told you? There are bad people here, bad people that want to take you away from Mommy. You have Aunty Rose’s phone numbe
Jane’s POVI leapt out of the car. The little girl was huddled on the ground, clutching the rabbit doll she held with a white-knuckled grip, her face dusty and her huge, blue eyes brimming with tears. She wailed silently into the bunny, biting her lip to hold back her cries.I didn’t know why I recognised her as Hunter’s daughter at first sight. It was like instinct. Maybe it was because she had a tiny mole under her left eye, just like mine. Every time I saw that on the television my heart panged, aching for the little girl I had lost six years ago.As always, thinking of her made my heart tear a bit more.I lifted my chin. No matter what had happened between her father and I, the child was innocent. I checked over her body as best a I could, murmuring soothing nonsense to her as she sobbed. My two boys hopped out of the car and gathered around her, their big blue eyes wide with curiosity. They were both unusually quiet as they watched me run my hands down her arms.“Are you all righ
Jane’s POVHis cold hand rubbed my neck. He held his hand there, tightening it slowly. “Your boys,” he murmured firmly, his brown eyes locked on mine. Those eyes spoke a thousand words – and a thousand threats.I swallowed hard. What choice did I have? After a pause, I nodded slightly at him. Instantly he released the pressure on the back of my neck. It hadn’t been hard enough to hurt, but its meaning had been unmistakable.“Carl?” Hunter’s cold voice cut through the tension crackling in the air. I glanced over at him. His eyes were boring into us both, fierce enough that I could’ve sworn I saw the flickering of flames burning there. A muscle ticked in his jaw.“Hi, Alpha.” Carl grinned at him easily. His lips left mine, but his arm tightened around my waist possessively. Helpless to resist him, I let him touch me as he wished. “I found Ava. She’s right here.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the children.All three of their little mouths dropped open. Staring up at us in surpri
Jane’s POVMy sweet boy blinked up at the giant in front of him. Tears swelled in Owen’s wide blue eyes; he looked as if he were caught in a dream, one that was rapidly becoming a nightmare. In a daze, he lifted his small hand in an attempt to grasp Hunter’s sleeve.Ares raced over and grabbed his brother’s hand before he could touch his dad.Hunter ignored them both. He reached behind Owen and lifted up Ava instead. She cowered against him, tucking herself up as small as she could and hiding her face in his chest. He squeezed her gently and murmured, “Are you going to hide from Daddy forever? Daddy will be very, very sad if you do.” He coaxed the little girl in his arms until she looked up at him, her eyes so like Owen’s that a jolt shot through me.Goddess! I realised then that the gentle patience Hunter showed Amy was just a drop in the ocean compared to that which he gave his daughter. I had never seen such a soft side to Hunter. This child was the apple of his eye.I knew that fe
Carl and I ran frantically to my children, I have never hated Nina so much, why didn't she ever show up again?Even though I was carrying all kinds bottles of poisons, I still couldn't protect my children.This was the street of a human city, werewolves were not allowed to shift in such places. But Carl was also a lot faster than me.Then when I reached the location of their accident, only Rose fell aside to ice cream stall, three children had disappeared, and there were a few drops of blood on the ground.My heart had stopped."Rose!" I ran to Rose's side and quickly checked and found that she was just knocked out.I pulled out my cell phone to call "911" and Carl grabbed it out of my hand, "Don't, the human police won't help us."I was freaking out, "WHY?""Don't worry, Gamma will bring someone to take Rose to the hospital. ""But what about my babies? We need the Cops." I tried to take my phone back."Last year Hunter did not go through the law process, directly killed those who ki
Carl’s POVNothing had ever hurt as much as being rejected by my mate.Although the Moon Goddess had chosen me to be her mate, everyone knew I wasn’t worthy of her. Whenever I looked into her green eyes, so full of power and desire, even I knew I could never measure up to Amy.I’d loved her long before I’d met Hunter. She’d saved me back when I was a rogue with nothing. I was her only real friend; before I met Hunter, she was mine, too.I could still remember every word she’d said to me that fateful day.“Amy! You’re my mate!” I started to rush towards her, my heart pounding. But, as I met her calm gaze, I stopped dead in my tracks. My heart sank.“You know,” she said, eyeing me with some emotion I couldn’t read lurking in the depths of her gaze, “you’re always smiling. Always. Well – except for the first time I met you. But you were being beaten to death, so.” She smiled and shook her head. “I envy you sometimes. It’s not often that I’m happy, Carl, especially not happy enough to gr
Jane’s POV “Hunter?” I frowned at his back as he marched me up the stairs to our bedroom. “What’s going on?” He shot me a reassuring smile over his shoulder, but didn’t slow his pace. “I just need to talk to you.” We’d moved out of the pack house. It held too many memories for us both. Now, we lived in what was basically a small mansion on the edge of the forest, not far from Rose and S’s house. It was light and airy, all warm wood and draping ivy paired with gleaming, modern appliances and crisp, cream-painted walls. The kids had a room each: Owen’s filled with state-of-the-art tech gadgets, Ares’s with workout equipment, and Ava’s with easels and canvases and a drawing tablet. They had everything they needed, and more space than Owen and Ares had ever had, but most nights they dragged their mattresses into each other’s rooms and slept huddled together. We were safe now, but we’d all been through so much. Too much. I hoped my kids were young enough that they’d recover from the t
Hunter’s POVKim ran towards me, his jaw wide, his canines glinting in the weak sunlight. Owen and Ava clung haphazardly to his back. Fear flashed through me. I started towards them–But they were safe, and Jane was safe, and I was safe, and we were home. I sucked in a long, slow breath, and a forced a smile as they neared me. The smile took hold, tucking itself into the corners of my mouth, and by the time my children had reached me I was grinning at them. I opened my arms wide, and the three of them ran straight at me. We tumbled to the ground, rolling in the grass, laughing; Kim licked my face, and Ava and Owen scrambled into my arms.“Hey, kids.” I pulled back and ruffled their hair. Kim rolled onto his back, his paws sticking up in the air. Ava rubbed his belly.‘Wow,’ I said to Reg dryly, ‘he really is your son.’‘I saw Ares eat a salad the other day – and enjoy it.’ Reg shuddered. ‘I love him, but that really threw me.’I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘Don’t remind me. Then
Jane’s POVTime passed strangely after that.There were noises out in the hall. Noises I probably should’ve listened to, made something of, but…What was the point? Hunter was gone. My heart, my soul – my life – was dead.My throat closed up around the words I’d spoken. I’d bared every important moment of my life to the Moon Goddess, bound my prayer in my story, and she hadn’t listened.She hadn’t listened.I knew Ava was still with me, still clinging half to me and half to her daddy, and that was the last straw for me. Her pain became glass shards, which scraped at the raw edges of my own wound.For a while, my hurt was so immense that I felt nothing at all. If Nina or Ava spoke to me, I didn’t hear them. I was numb, frozen to the spot, Hunter’s lifeblood going cold and sticky on my palms.Beneath the frost of my numbness, though, a fire roared. I was terrified to start feeling again, to start moving. The second I moved my aching legs and stood up, time would start again.And the sec
Jane’s POVI shifted out. “No!” I wailed. I fell to my knees, then crawled over to him. My fists pounded the cold, metallic floor with every weak, shuffling movement I made.“You can’t be gone,” I whimpered, tears streaming down my cheeks, a lump forcing my throat to close around the words. “You can’t be.”But I knew that he was. The mate bond writhed and shrieked within me, screeching out for the severed other half of its soul.“Hunter?” I choked, grabbing him gently. His head lolled back as I moved him. His eyes were open; their blue irises were cold, so cold, and his pupils were unseeing. Cuts nicked his face.I pried him away from his father. Hunter’s body was merged with Reg’s: his hands were furry and clawed, but the rest of him was human. I wished he had human hands I could hold.It was that thought that shattered me entirely. I would never be able to hold his hand again. It was silly, and childish, and pathetic, but it was that notion that broke me. Not that I had lost my ma
Jane’s POV I was torn between my sons. Owen was safe – for now – so I turned my attention to Ares. His wolf, Kim, hit the ground. I bit back a cry– Kim rolled over, tussling with his attacker. He snarled, revealing huge canine teeth, then dove his muzzle at the other wolf’s neck, again and again and again. Blood spurted, slicking his fur coat. Then they were rolling again, slamming sideways into the thinning crowd of battling werewolves. The wolf on top of Kim was grey, and as big as him, but its size looked abnormal – the result of performance enhancing drugs, not nature, as Kim’s stature was. They fell back, circling each other. Kim’s upper lip pulled back from his teeth, revealing shining white canines with blood dripping from them. My stomach turned over. Beneath that fur coat was my sweet son, who wasn’t quite seven years old yet. He and his brother had seen so much – too much – already. Kim pounced. The grey wolf was a half-second behind, but lunged forward with a snarl the
Jane’s POVAlpha Dylan – or what was left of him – pounced at Hunter. A scream built in my throat, but I was helpless to do anything. He’d given me a chance to get our kids out safely, and I wasn’t going to waste it.I wasn’t even sure how I was alive right now. One moment, I’d been lost to the foggy darkness of unconsciousness, and glad of it, too, after all the pain I’d been forced to endure. Even in the depths of nothingness, I’d known that agony beckoned in the light.But there were other things there besides the pain. Love, in all its many forms, waited for me here. My children. My mate. My friends.So I clung to wakefulness with everything I had and prayed that whatever was keeping me awake would keep working for another second, another minute, another hour. I needed every moment I could steal to get my kids to safety.Amy kicked the door open. My view of Hunter disappeared as Carl pushed me through it. The last I saw of him was his own father grinning at him, sick, twisted, sad
Hunter’s POVEverything moved in a blur. My eyes were fixed on my father, his mutated wolf filling my field of vision as he moved swiftly towards me. But, from the corner of my eye, a sudden burst of movement snagged my gaze.Jane sat bolt upright. She looked like a zombie, her wounds unhealed, her eyes blank – but she was moving, scrambling to grab the kids, crying out my name as my attention was forced back onto my dad.His jagged claws caught the edge of my shoulder. I shifted out before he could claim the upper hand, letting Reg’s powerful body burst out of mine.My father sneered down at me. The knobbed ridge of his spine seemed to snap as he bent low, his sickly orange eyes meeting mine. I could smell his stale breath. “You always were weak,” he said, his voice a hollow growl. It didn’t sound like it had; it was all wolf, vicious and as broken as he was.Suddenly, I wasn’t a grown man, a strong Alpha, a mate, standing before a weak and unwell old man who had clearly gone to desp
Hunter’s POVIt was too late. My hand was on the doorknob and it was already swinging open.There was no turning back now. Reg wailed. ‘I can smell her blood! Jane’s hurt! Jane’s dying! Jane’s dead!’The buzzing in my ears drowned out his mournful howls. Everything was moving in slow motion as I finished easing open the door. I took it all in whilst observing nothing other than the most heart-breaking thing I’d seen since… since...The present was so horrifying it eclipsed even my darkest memories.Jane was lashed securely to a metal table. My heart broke and, somewhere through the haze of my heartache, all I could think was: she must be so cold.Her limbs stuck out at odd angles. Blood covered her. But worst of all was her face. It was empty. It was like someone had made a perfect physical copy of her but had left out the most important part: her soul. The waxy figurine atop the metal table looked like Jane, broken and bruised but still my Jane, only without the bright spark of de
Hunter’s POVI expected for my world to spin off its axis at those words – but it didn’t. In fact, I felt very little. Nothing at all.I’d never clicked with Obie. I’d always been drawn to Ava but never to him. In my mind, she’d been my daughter and Obie had been Amy’s son. Huh. Now I knew why.That was why I fixed Carl with a cold stare and said flatly, “I know.”Compared to the other revelations I’d been through lately – hell, even in just the last few hours – this barely made me bat an eye. Maybe it was because I cared about Jane and Ava and her sons, but maybe it was because, deep down, I really didn’t care about Amy or Obie. ‘Hunter!’ gasped Reg. ‘How can you think that about a poor, innocent baby?’‘That’s the thing. I don’t think anything about him. Anyway, he’s nothing to do with me. Not really. That takes the matter out of my hands, don’t you think?’Reg muttered under his breath that I was horrible and unfeeling, and that was probably also true, but I still couldn’t make my