ALPHA COLE POV
We had left the big city a little later than I had intended and my Beta, Danny, started whining about his stomach. He had skipped breakfast to run a bit of security for the meeting between me and three other Alphas I was checking out and he was making sure I was well aware of his sacrifice. We stopped at the little diner right outside of Joshton and popped in to grab a quick lunch before driving into our territory. The pack house was still a ninety-minute drive, even though Joshton was only thirty minutes from the border. My territory is huge and the terrain is treacherous so driving is slow. It’s faster to shift and run to the packhouse than it is to drive there.
We popped in and took a seat in the corner booth. It’s a habit. Always pick a good vantage point with your back against a wall and exits accessible. This booth was good for that.
Danny looked over the menu and decided to get the Cuban sandwich. It was nothing like what you could get in Miami but it was good and it was hot and Danny liked to pretend he was cultured. I was planning on a hamburger.
The waitress was a gorgeous thing that I had never seen before. She was tall, probably close to six foot, and her hair was the color of molten gold. I knew it wasn’t a dye job because it was shiny and almost shimmery. I would love to touch it. Her eyes were a beautiful sapphire blue and she was lean. Most of our female warriors are built like her but they had more bulk in their muscles. This girl was all sinew. She looked strong but incredibly feminine. She was probably one hell of a fighter. Too bad I was mated and my mate was a vindictive bitch. I would love to get to know this one intimately, even though she was quite a bit younger than me. I waited until she got closer and looked at her name tag. Addie.
To my surprise, I could smell her wolf. My wolf was perked up and paying attention but wasn’t overtly excited. We decided she wasn’t a threat.
Addie told us about the special and I changed my mind about the hamburger. I really wanted the pork chop special. When Danny ordered it, also, I raised my eyebrow at him. “What?” he asked.
“You don’t like pork chops,” I stated. He shrugged.
“Dunno. Just sounded good.”
The pork chops were served up fast and we ate them quickly. Danny kept an eye on the people coming in and out and I kept my eye on Addie. She sure was serving up a lot of pork chops. We finished up and lingered a little. Something was off. I knew it and it was nagging on me.
We left and Danny tried talking to me a little bit about my plans to take over the two nearest packs to me. We had gone to the meeting so that I could feel out the Alphas of those packs and, hopefully, lull them into a false sense of security thinking we would be allies. I don’t have allies. I was twenty when I took over the pack. In fifteen years I have doubled the size and increased the power tenfold. We are the pack that everyone fears.
When we got back to the packhouse, my mate came out of the door to meet me. I kissed her on the head and made an excuse, heading to my office. I was bothered by the girl in the diner and I needed to do some research. Something was nagging at me, something I had read a long time ago in a book or learned at school. I pulled some books off my shelf, mind linked an elder to come to my office, and then started reading.
The knock at my door startled me. I barked a gruff “come in” and Elder Todd slid into the room. I didn’t much like him, nor him, me, but we had an agreement. He didn’t piss me off and I didn’t kill him.
“How can I help you, Alpha Cole?”
I told him a little bit about the girl at the diner. “She would tell people what to order and they would order it. They did it completely normally, as if they made the decision, but it was the decision she wanted them to make.” I omitted that both Beta and I also ate the damn pork chops.
Elder Todd steepled his fingers and looked over the top of them at me. He wasn’t that much older than me but he had habits that made me feel like a stupid pup again.
“Sounds like Shawishi.” He stated this like I would know what that was. I didn’t say anything, just let him sit in his smugness. When I didn’t immediately question him he sighed and then explained. “It’s one of the five original gifts from Selene, the moon Goddess. It’s the gift of persuasion. Someone with this gift can persuade someone else to do something. The person being persuaded has no idea that they are and they think it’s their idea. Some people may question why they have done something later but rarely do they realize that they had this gift used on them. However, I am not sure that this is what it is. There is only one wolf alive that would have this gift and when the bloodline dies out, the gift dies. It is believed that all of the gifts are gone.”
“Bloodline?” I wasn’t sure how something like this could die out.
Todd nodded. “Not just the bloodline. The direct bloodline. If you have the gift but have no offspring, it would go to one of your siblings that was birthed from the last person that had the gift. I you had no siblings and died, the gift would have no one to pass on to. It dies too.”
Interesting. I was silent again, thinking. If Addie truly had Shawishi, it would be an asset to me and my pack. Her gift could take years off from my plans. “How could I tell if this woman actually has this gift?” This was something I needed to know before I got too excited.
Todd looked bored. “You should know by looking at her wolf. Legend says that the wolves of those blessed by the gift are precious metal wolves.”
Back to work the next day, Addie was surprised to see the old creepy dude and his friend walking through the door. They were in time for the breakfast rush so Addie quickly served them their eggs and tried to ignore the men watching her closely. Rushing around and filling coffee mugs, running food and taking a minute or two to talk to the regulars filled up Addie’s morning and she was surprised when she later realized that they had left, leaving enough money on the table to cover their bill with a sizeable tip. 3:00 pm finally came and the diner was officially closed. Noel came out and glared at the last three customers who were lingering over their coffee causing them to gulp the last dregs. They paid quickly and left. The two girls quickly finished the remaining dishes and mopped the floors, chatting about Noel’s upcoming visit from her boyfriend before turning out the lights and locking the doors. Noel gave a cheery wave and drove off in her ancient VW Bug. Addie headed towa
The pounding on her door awakened Addie at 4am. It was ridiculously early, too early for anyone to be pounding on her door. Bleery eyed, she stumbled to the door and jerked it open, realizing too late that she had no idea who was on the other side. Fortunately for her it was just Eve. “The diner is on fire!” Eve blurted out, eyes and hair frantic. “What?!” Addie stepped back in shock. “What happened? Why?” “The volunteer fire department is there right now. Maybe wiring. Maybe the grease trap. They don’t know yet.” No wonder Eve seemed frantic. Her son was on the volunteer fire department team. It was a dangerous job, especially in rural areas where the equipment was older and not as adequate. Addie threw on jeans and a hoodie and started walking into town. She could see the red glow from the fire reaching into the sky. A small crowd had gathered and she looked around for Noel, not seeing her. She did see Beta Danny, watching the fire. She stood on the edge of the
Addie woke up in a hospital bed, chained by her wrists to the rail. She could tell she still had the silver collar around her neck by the steady burning sensation she could feel. Avoiding turning her head to keep the silver from moving, she roved her eyes around the room trying to figure out where she was and how she got there. She could feel her wolf, very weak, pushed back in the furthest recesses of her brain. The silver was weakening her, too. The door opened and Alpha Cole walked in, followed by two other men in lab coats. One held a tray of syringes and empty vials. Without speaking to her, he came over by the side of the bed and wrapped a rubber tourniquet around her arm, patting for a vein. “Stop.” Addie tried to use her gift but the silver prevented it. She grew angry. “Listen, asshat. Don’t f^cking touch me.” The tech ignored her and stuck her vein, procuring three large vials of her blood. Alpha Cole and the doctor watched him, saying nothing. When he was
Cole POV I took the collar off from her and she stretched. I was on edge. Moment of truth. If she wasn’t a Shawishi I was going to have to kill her. If she was, I was going to use her. I was pretty impressed with her shift. There was minimal noise and it didn’t look like there was much effort with the shift. Even I sound terrifying when I shift. I’m used to my bones rebreaking but it was almost like she shimmered into her shift. I’ve seen a few shifts like that, usually hybrids. Pretty cool. When she shifted, my emotions were all over the place. I had heard the term Precious Metal Wolf before but had never seen one. They were not supposed to exist. None of these gifts were supposed to exist. Addie’s wolf was beautiful. She was large, quite possibly larger than my wolf. She was gold. Not golden, but gold. Her hair shimmered and shone in the sunlight and actually hurt my eyes to look at. I reached out a tentative hand to touch her fur. She looked at me haughtily and
“Put your feet up.” She didn’t move until he made a motion to get the remote. Then she quickly drew her knees up and put her feet on the bed. Cole settled in the chair at the bottom of the bed and looked at her.“You need to stay like that for ten minutes. I’m going to make sure so you’ve got me for another nine and a half minutes.” He smirked. “I’ll play a game with you. You can ask me a question and then I get to ask you a question. We’ll do it for nine minutes. You go first.”Addie groaned. She hurt all over. She was scared, but mostly pissed. She asked the question first and foremost in her mind. “Why?”Cole settled back. “Why what? Why am I trying to get you pregnant? Or why are you here?” Addie looked at him with defiance. “Yeah. All of the above.”Cole chuckled. “A two-fer. I’ll allow it.”“You gift follows your bloodline and it bestowed on the oldest living person in that bloodline. I know who you are and I know your entire family was wiped out. I know t
Addie stood up and followed Cole out of the clinic, back into the car. She looked out the window, taking in details and memorizing locations and distances, storing them for later. She tried to look bored in case Cole got suspicious but he was too busy mindlinking while driving. There should be a law against that, Addie thought, when Cole slammed on the brakes, yet again, to miss someone he almost hit while not paying attention. Cole pulled into the circle in front of the packhouse. There was a warrior standing, waiting for the car to park. He opened Addie’s door and reached inside, easily pulling the girl out. Too late, Addie realized what was going to happen and started to fight. She managed to break free and she turned to run when the pain hit her, knocking her down to her knees. She screamed, grabbing at the collar. She had forgotten Cole was there with his remote. The warrior grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet, half carrying and half dragging her behind the pac
JESS POV I slipped back into the room, horrified over what I just heard. Addie was a strong, stubborn woman and she had been screaming like she was being ripped apart. She didn’t even scream when she was being whipped so I was scared to go in there and see what had been done to make her scream like that. It was horrible. She was laying half on and half off the bed, blood everywhere. The comforter was covered in it. Her eyes were swollen shut and there were long scratches all over her body, probably from Bane. I knew her wolf wouldn’t be able to heal her because of the silver. I sighed and mindlinked Angus, asking him to come over and bring some things to help. I approached her and tugged on her legs, trying to get them up on the bed like my Alpha commanded. She groaned and kicked out at me. “Shhh, it’s me, Jess. I’m gonna get you cleaned up, okay?” She didn’t respond but she also quit kicking at me so I took it as an affirmative. There was a light knock at the door and
ADDIE’S POVI’m pregnant. I don’t have to fake my numbness. Dr. Angus gave Cole the results and he stood up and howled and then mind linked his Luna. This baby is my death sentence. I am going to carry this baby until its birth, then I will be killed and my child will be given my gift, to be manipulated and exploited by Alpha Cole and his pack. There will be no one to protect my child and no one to protect me. Dr. Angus tried talking to Cole about my silver collar, telling him that my pregnancy would be easier if I wasn’t wearing it. Cole told him that I could wear the collar or loose my tongue. Dr. Angus shut up and I was glad. I was kind of partial to my tongue.Five months. That’s how long I have left to live.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ALPHA COLE’S POVI watched the Omega remove an untouched plate of food from Addie’s room. I marched over and grabbed it from the shaking girl’s hand. “She ate none of it?” I roared.The girl shook like a leaf. “No, Alpha.” She b
ADDIETwo months later, on the day of the full moon and summer solstice, I was dressed in a sapphire blue gown that was fitted on the top and billowed to the ground in shimmery waves. A laughing Emily was trying to help me with my makeup. Her growing belly was in the way, and Gracie was crawling around getting underfoot. Undeterred, Emily tried to add another swipe of mascara to my already heavy lashes. “Come on, Addie! It will make your eyes pop!”I laughed back at her. “My eyes will look like spiders if you put another coat on my lashes!” Tonight was the night of my Luna ceremony. Wolves from many of our cooperating packs were in attendance as well as all of the pack members from our pack. We had invited the Council members and were surprised when most of them accepted. Matthew and Jessie were also going to be there bringing their newborn pup with them. I knew that James had already spent time snuggling their baby boy and getting his fill of the newborn smells. I had bee
ADDIEAfter the excitement of everything, the next few months felt almost boring by comparison. We were busy, that was for sure. My Luna Ceremony had been postponed and we were beginning the planning again. We were also actively involved in helping Matt and Jessie build a new Packhouse before their pup arrived. The old packhouse was being turned into a youth center and dormitory for the continuing education prospects that Jessie wanted to bring to her Pack. In the days of Alpha Cole, it was decreed by the Alpha what the profession of the wolves coming of age would be. Jessie wanted to give them choices and equal opportunities. I was excited to be a part of that.Three weeks after we returned from our latest mishap in the city, Emily asked if we could have lunch in the village. I agreed, knowing something was up.“Do you want me to bring James?” I asked. “No,” she said, a sly look on her face. I agreed, letting her keep her secret for now. I would know soon enough.I met Jam
ADDIE I got into the car and looked James over, satisfied that he only had a few bumps and bruises but nothing was seriously hurt. I could smell the wolfsbane on his breath and knew he had been dosed but I could tell that it was slowly leaving his body. How is he? I asked Talia. Scout is weak but recovering. He will be fine, she answered. I gave a sigh of relief. Toby got into the driver’s seat and turned the SUV over, backing out of the drive. “Where to, Luna?” he asked. “Aren’t we waiting for the other warriors?” I asked, turning back to look at the house. He shook his head. “No, they need to do some cleanup. They are going to need to call the council for help. Vanessa went rogue and there is a lot that will have to be done to minimize exposure to the human world.” He had a look of disgust on his face. "First and foremost, they will have to figure out what to do about two human bodies. Old man and woman. They didn't even have a chance against her." I nodded, suddenl
ADDIE POVI walked out of the conference room with Roman and the other guard chasing after me, pulling along a reluctant Brad. Toby came, too, lips pressed together. I recognized the look. He hated the idea and wanted to set up a counterattack at the park at midnight, but he also recognized that my plan might work. It was fueled by pure rage on my part, but I was positive I would get James back.Alice had called ahead and worked her magic so by the time I made it to the front doors, a valet was there with a set of keys and an SUV was sitting in the drive up. I caught the keys as they were tossed to me and the warriors dove into the back seat, shoving Brad between them. Toby jumped into the passenger seat, buckling up as I started driving away.“What’s the plan, Luna?” Roman asked tentatively from the back seat. Toby glanced back at him but said nothing. “I know the area. It’s estates. I’ll find a spot to pull over and drop you and Brad off. We’ll meet up at the house, but I
ADDIE POV I was pissed. I’ve absolutely had it with Vanessa and Zoe and everyone else who felt like they had a right to mess with James and my happiness. I was going to end this and I was going to end this today. I commandeered an empty conference room and started organizing and planning. The first person to arrive was Alice who came through the door at a dead run. “How can I help?” she panted. I slid a computer over to her. “Figure out where Vanessa is. And, if you can, figure out how I can contact her.” Alice took the laptop from me and started tapping away, accessing the company files to find a current address. "She's moved around a few times. I don't think she's still at the address we have on file, but I'll have one of our security drive by and check." She picked up her cell phone and dialed. I started pacing, wanting things to move faster. Matthew came in to give me an update on Bryon. I listened and said all the appropriate things, but I honestly didn’t care.
JAMES POVWhen Bryon and I stepped into the elevator he remained stoic until the doors shut, then he punched me on the arm. “Your mate is one of a kind, you know,” he said, wistfully, with a smile.I grinned at him. “I know. You’ll get your mate, hopefully soon. And she’ll be pretty amazing, too.”He punched me again. “But not as amazing as Addie?” I laughed out loud. “As you said, she’s one of a kind.”He turned to face the door of the elevator again and he had his serious Gamma face on by the time the doors opened. One of the amazing things about Bryon is that he knew when to cut up and he knew when to be serious.I waved to the security guard at the gate. “Until next time, Alpha,” he shouted at me. “Hopefully never again,” I shouted back. “No offense, Jeff.”“None taken, Alpha,” he said, laughing. The double doors to the outside opened, and I heard a loud pop. Byron fell over beside me.It took me a second for my brain to register what was happening. When Bryon fell,
ADDIEThe trial was over for the witnesses. We were dismissed by the Council and the prisoners were taken back to their cells. The Council still had to work out some details, but they were taking a quick break.“I want to talk to Matthew for a second,” I whispered to James. He smiled at me. “Bryon and I will go get the car,” he said. “It takes a little bit of time to get it back from the valet so you have a few minutes.”I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and watched him step into the elevator with Bryon. I had to wait a few minutes; many were congratulating Matthew on the acquisition of the Hellroaring River Pack. He finally was able to break away and he came to me.“Addie!” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “I don’t know what to say. What a gift!”I grinned back at him. “Are you sure? I wanted to make sure you aren’t mad at me.”He shrugged. “I will probably step down from the council, much to the delight of some of our Junior members,” he smiled over my shoulder w
ADDIE POVI don’t much remember my hearing when I was being tried for killing Alpha Cole. I think I was pretty much in shock and willing to play the victim. It was one of the few times in my life that I left the fight to others and didn’t much care about my future.I felt no empathy for Zoe or Jackson as they sat in their chairs, glaring balefully at the others. The other Councilmembers were really good with their poker faces; however, most would have a flicker of disgust when their gaze would fall upon Jackson. Exploiting another Pack for their wealth was not unheard of, but it wasn’t something that a prim, proper, upstanding Councilmember would do under any circumstances. Jackson broke that law, and they would be forced to deal with him harshly.I wasn’t surprised, nor was I dismayed when I found that Jackson’s punishment was death. For the werewolf population to trust their leadership, it had to be above reproach. They had to show a unified front and discipline harshly.Matt
ADDIEI looked over at James. I didn’t know Dr. Joanna as well as he did, and I wasn’t as trusting as he was. It scared me that she knew about my gift, and it scared me that she had a gift of her own.“How does that work for you and for us?” I asked. Both of them looked at me with confusion.“James is unaffected by my gift unless he wants to be,” I explained. “He has to literally want to be controlled by my gift. Same in reverse. I have to want him to read my mind. You figured out my gift because you somehow recognized what I was trying to do during the battle. Can you use your gift against me?”Dr. Joanna grinned. “Don’t know. I haven’t ever tried. As you know, there’s not many of us out there.” I nodded, acknowledging that point. “I’ll try. Be prepared to duck.”She pointed to a paperweight on her bookcase and it came flying at me. I ducked but I didn’t have to. The paperweight struck an invisible barrier and dropped to the ground. I sucked in my breath. “That is s