Sapphire sat in the tiny space she called her room. Really, it was a closet. But it was the only space where she could call her own after all these years. It wasn’t from lack of space. After all, she lived in the Vagas Moon Packhouse. Today she was an adult, and she felt mixed feelings about this.Today would be her last day at work in the Black Hole Café and Diner. It was pack-owned and themed around a trip into outer space. With this being her birthday and the last day, she’d work there, Sapphire would leave this place behind tomorrow. No one wanted to work in that rundown money pit, so it was a perfect place for her to work and avoid most of the pack. But now, she didn’t have to work for her place in the pack anymore. She’d saved enough money to get out of there, and being old enough, she could leave with no punishment. It wasn’t like anyone would miss her. They&rs
The speed of how fast everyone occurred made Sapphire’s head spin. She wasn’t sure what was happening or who these two men were. If anyone asked her, she couldn’t tell you who started that fight. But it terrified her to see Cliff lying in the pool of his own blood. Ivory kneeling beside him, threatening Sapphire with a fate far worse than death. Her mind swam with that, the paycheck she still didn’t have, and the mess she’d need to clean up. Why didn’t Hank come out and stop this? Sapphire was sure that Ivory would spin this to be her fault completely. This was far worse than she thought because she found a motorcycle helmet slapped on her head, and they bundled her onto the back of a motorcycle. Then the engines of the two motorcycles revved to life, and they were out of there before Hank could e
Sapphire couldn’t believe what Magnus said. His? If she wasn’t stuck sitting on the motorcycle, with his hand awkwardly trapped in her hair, under the helmet she wore. She would have fled from him by now. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing increased. She could smell his moods and there were many. His moods kept shifting and she couldn’t understand how they related to her. Sapphire’s mind screamed that she needed to escape. He’s a wolf and running from a wolf never ended well. Someone who ran became prey, and that never ended well for them. “I know we have a brief window before that twit wolf runs to her daddy and complicates things. So, this is what we are going to do. You will say nothing, even if the guards ask you something directly. I will do all the talking. You will then go with Hayden and pack a small bag of things you feel y
Magnus watched his new mate and Beta disappear around the side of the building before he entered the packhouse of a rival pack. Something was off when no guards greeted him or stopped him. In fact, there appeared to be very few people around at the time. This was the height of the day and the hub of the pack. Where was everyone? He would have thought that a show of force would be on the table, but there was nothing. “Ahh, Magnus, come in. I’ve been expecting you.” This wasn’t what Magnus expected. The man looked hard, which he expected, but nothing out of the ordinary. “Have a seat. I just need to take a call before we get down to business. My beta is out taking care of some business for me while we are here, and he wants my okay on something first.” Now, this is more like what he expected to hear
Sapphire hesitantly entered the Black Hole Café and Diner through the back door. Her things were in her lock, as she expected. They were the only things she was interested in. Taking them from the locker, she filled up the bag she used as a purse. It was an old backpack she’d found, so it fits everything nicely. She changed into her street clothes and tossed her waitress uniform into the locker. She wouldn’t need it again. There was blood on it she didn’t realize was there. Gods. What people must think of her, running around with blood-stained bikers and wearing the same blood. It made her a little sick to her stomach. Sapphire looked at her paycheck to make sure it was correct. Thank heavens it was. As she stepped from the back room into the hallway that led to the dining area and the back door, she noticed
Sapphire was in a panic. He wasn’t letting her leave. “Why are you doing this? What are your plans for me? My uncle won’t pay to get me back. He’ll be glad to get rid of me.” “That’s fine. I don’t need his money and I don’t want to give you back.” Sapphire couldn’t understand what he meant. Did he mean he was keeping her? For what if not leverage? What other use did he have for her? That’s when her mind went to places, she didn’t want to explore. No, no, she wouldn’t be anyone else’s slave again. She must get out of here. The bikes pulled up to their packhouse, and they took the bags and such strapped to them off before someone took them to the storage garage.
Sapphire couldn’t believe they’d locked her in. She was their prisoner, and no one would care or notice. She wanted to cry. From bad to worse, why couldn’t she catch a break? Why did Magnus bring her here in the first place? What did they want from her? She couldn’t tell. Now she finally got around to looking at the surrounding space. She’d expected a small room that she probably would need to share with others and fight for space. But as she explored, there was no sign of anyone else living in this room or have lived ever lived in this room. The closet was empty except for the bag she placed on the dresser. In the bathroom, every bottle and tube she found was brand new. They even wrapped the toothbrush and hairbrush in plastic. The garbage cans were empty too. Sapphire got the impression that not only
Sapphire jumped when a polite knock sounded at her door. “Come in…?” She didn’t remember anyone ever politely knocking at her door in all her life. It was as foreign as the room. She didn’t know what to do with all the space. She’d just thrown her bags into the bottom of the closet and left them there. In case she needed to run fast. Sarah Ann came in with an arm full of things. “I’m back. I have clean sheets and a change of clothes. I hope I have the sizing correct. They came from the stockpile out by the kitchen door. You know how the young are. Go out for an impromptu run and forget to bring their clothes with them. Anyway, once we have your sizing down, we’ll see what we can order for you.”
Sapphire and Ivory met the rest of their family over time. It took a long time to become comfortable with every one of them. So many differences from how she grew up to her life as she knew it now. She needed to find a new normal as mate, sister, and Luna. But it happened. Ivory and Ran took over the Vagas Moon Pack, and they renamed it, the New Moon Rising. Ran was still not sure he wanted to be their Alpha, but his family and his in-laws made it clear he could and would be the Alpha of this pack. The girls’ father took some time to warm up to Magnus and Ran. He claimed he needed to know his daughters first, to know what was best for them. Until then, he would reserve his opinion on if he approved of their mates. Ivory and Sapphire found their mother was a force all her own to be reckoned with. Margaret insisted there be ceremonies to recognise their mating. She was the mover and shaker when it came to teaching her daughters how to be e
“We’re still trying to unravel the truth here. So when we figure it out, we’ll happily tell you the entire gory and horrific parts. Just understand Ivory and I are learning to get along, but we only found out we were sisters. That we still need to work through.” “Betty made us adversaries. Sapphire was all but a slave. She had me believing I was their daughter and better than everyone. Sapphire was trying to replace me. I know better now and I’m trying to make amends. This is new for us. We just learned they planned to force Sapphire to commune with the Moon Goddess, and I was a sacrifice. We believed I was her daughter then.” Both parents were horrified. “We’d have tried harder if we knew she would try that. Gods, we’re sorry.” Howard came closer to their sister’s back. “It’s complicated.” “Let’s move on to happier things. If we’re talking, we can enter. So, let’s get the introductions done. You know me. I work as a teacher and r
Sapphire was too confused and overwhelmed. She let Ivory lead her to the bathroom, where they straightened themselves. Both looked at the results in the mirror. With the same ponytail and makeup. Thank. They looked similar. “I’m not wearing the same outfit, so don’t suggest it. Gods, Ivory, I don’t look like me.” “Yes, you do. If that monster hadn’t this, we’d be sisters, and this Sapphire is what you would be. No wonder I was jealous of you.” Sapphire’s head shot to Ivory’s face for clarification she’d heard correctly. “Jealous? I thought you hated me. I would never have said you were jealous.” “Do you think our mom can reverse the suppression spell on you? Or me? If there is one on me.” Sapphire pretended she didn’t hear it. They had enough to deal. “Why not? We’re part of a magical litter of wolf shifter pups. Does that sound like a fairy tale comedy movie opening line said by a narrator?” Sapphire wondered what would have happened if she’d gone to t
“Let’s see if we can figure this out.” April leaned over the page. “Okay, this is an edited version of what we see here. Well, that’s interesting, though it shouldn’t be a surprise.” April pored over the papers, looking closely at the words and symbols. Ivory tried her best, but she wasn’t sure what was important and what wasn’t. So, she tried to get everything she could. “What is it? I don’t get half the marks on the page. I just copied them the best I could.” She felt like a fool. What good was she? “The mark here leading to Betty. That’s new, or old. Different, at the very least. However, you want to describe it. It’s the mark used to denote an adoption. Betty isn’t blood related to your mother. She’s an aunt by adoption, not by blood. Her blood would have been useless, and she wasn’t the girls, so she’d have seen nothing. Now here are the names we’re interested in. Jane and Howard Percival. That next part here says there are three pups all born over two days. L
April couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Normally, anything to do with blood magic was off limits. Well, usually that’s because the magic would cause get harm to the person or persons involved. In this case, she’d risk the disapproval and any punishment. Which would be laughable when she showed the council of elders what they would have to do to break the curse. From what little she could understand of the magic used in the treaties, and resulting events. No one before her cared about the limits that were placed long ago on how magic could be used. When someone called North America a Wild and Lawless Land. It wasn’t just the humans that were wild and lawless. Those that practiced magic were too. Doing things in the middle of nowhere that they couldn’t anywhere else. Even now, they uncovered places like this occasionally. Places that the locals would call, better left alone and untouched. In this case, if April was correct. The page with their b
Magnus watched his mate carefully as she and Ivory went through the journals and other documents they recovered. April was still completing what they needed to do for the witches to be released by the nature spirit. Or if anything needed to be done since this Roger Helbourne was gone. As far as anyone could tell, Roger made the deals. Without him, they weren’t sure if the deals survived. That’s why he’d been kept like he was. As long as he was here and functioning, the treaties were active. But they wanted to be sure they were gone for good before inviting the other packs back. Ran was in talks with those of the Vagas Moon Pack who ran and survived. They’d have the grisly job of cleaning up the land and making amends to it. The Vagas Moon would then fall under the McConnell Pack umbrella after that, and the isolation would have to end as well. Magnus’ pack was settled here now and the previous pack happy where they were now, with no interest in returning here. Each
Ivory couldn’t find out what happened to Cliff or Xavier. Those two and their buddies were missing in action. They’d been at the fight, but they weren’t among the dead there or on the Vagas Moon Pack territory. Ran assumed they went rogue after the battle and were in the wind. Ivory wasn’t so sure. Cliff was a jerk, but he wasn’t a very bright one. It took days to find any trace of them. Sadly, that trace was a campsite out in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, whoever they joined up with at the end was more than evil and stronger than them. They’d survived only to end up being hunted by a human with more money than brains. If they read correctly, the evidence. She was scared now. What if they were wrong and Cliff came back for revenge? Ivory couldn’t tell Ran what she’d done. Snubbing Cliff after her father turned rescinded his favour. Cliff came to her for help, and she deliberately messed up his plans to get back into her father’s favour. It hadn’t
Ran watched the two women leave out of the corner of his eye. “Gods, I thought they’d never leave.” The two men stopped training and mopped themselves of the sweat they’d built up as they spoke. “Here’s hoping they can be sensible and learn to get along with each other.” Magnus said as they tapped water bottles. “Have you told Ivory she’s taking over as your Luna?” “No, not yet. I’m not sure how she will take the news, and I’m still coming to terms with it.” “I get it. Sapphire took some easing into it, too. I couldn’t just hand her the keys after I bit her. Sarah Ann says there are things Sapphire just doesn’t have a clue about, so it will take a while before she’s got things mastered.” “Oh, I suspect she does not understand about what the position truly entails. My problem is not having her bulk in fear. Her training is still months away from completion.” “So, you really are training her to obey you without question?” “I
Sapphire and Ivory sat in her office drinking coffee for a little bit before Ivory gathered up enough courage to speak to Sapphire. “If my mother was the reason we hate each other, does that mean in another life we might have been friends?” Ivory wasn’t sure if she was ready to apologize to Sapphire for the years of emotional and physical torture, she put her through.” “I don’t know. If you weren’t so self absorbed and demanding, maybe. It’s hard to tell, really. Your mother tried with all her might to make you into a shifter version of herself. Now I don’t mean this as a slight against you, but she was pretty successful. She pulled so many tricks with us, I’m not sure either of us knows who we truly are.” “You really think that?” “We’ll see, won’t we, now that we know she’s gone and can no longer influence us directly? I know that her influence made someone lock my abilities away so I couldn’t use them. Whoever did that seemed to know a wa