It’d been several hours now since Magnus left Sapphire with Sarah Ann and her plethora of helpers. She showed Sapphire the inner workings of their pack. It wasn’t new to Sapphire. What was new, however, was the fact that people weren’t fighting with each other, and things were running smoothly, even if there were problems. Sapphire was used to running into disgruntled people and people who just had it out for her. But here, people stopped to introduce themselves, tell her what they were doing, ask for her opinion, and tell her about their family. The craziest thing of all, many told her they were happy she was here, and welcomed her with open arms. Now Sapphire was wondering if all her plans to leave were for not. Was this where she should stay? Could she stay here? Or would her uncle and his family cause nothing but trouble? Magnus did was really nice to her, and so far, he appeared to be well liked by everyone she met. There wasn’t anyone resigned to his d
Magnus watched Sapphire as she moved from books to the computer and back again. She was interested in what Sarah Ann gave her. Of course, she was interested. Sapphire was his Luna, his mate. She was born for this role. The gods wouldn’t create a person and place them in a position they were skilled at, but hated performing. “I’ve been thinking.” “If it’s more interesting than planning a yearly celebration or the next food order, then interrupt me.” Oh, she had a sense of human, and he was correct she was getting into the job. He couldn’t be happier, and had to resist the urge to scoop her up and kiss her. Only the gods knew how complicated that would get if they got carried away and mated. “I’m still not sure we understand why these people signed these treaties. I don’t believe it was just for access to the white wolf. There must be other reasons, because no one signs a magic imbued treaty of any kind so they can talk once in a while to the moon goddess.”
Hayden settled April into the guest apartments across from him. “So this is the best we can do on such short notice. With the rest of the pack rushing here, we’ll be tight for space soon enough. It may get to where you’ll have to take a sofa in my apartment.” “Really? How many more are coming?” April couldn’t believe the size of this house and Hayden was talking about putting her up on a sofa. She could understand the small rooms, there were a number of families living within the packhouse currently. “The pack that will live here is only about half are present. Right now, the gods are the only ones that know how many enforcers will add to those ranks. I think the council wants to send a message of strength to any competition.” Hayden didn’t look pleased at the thought of housing the enforcers. April couldn’t be sure that it was the pending war that upset him, or the extra people.“So, there’ll be a war coming here because of these treaties?” She needed to ha
Magnus struggled, wanted to spend all his time with Sapphire. He found he enjoyed just watching her move and exist. He hated seeing her flinch or pull away from confrontations and people. She loved things that grew, and she gravitated to the still unfinished garden behind the packhouse. She didn’t like to see or hear anything negative about an innocent, and she loved children. How many other things would he learn about her, by studying her? So much told him she was the right one for him. He didn’t need his instincts barking at him to take action and make it permanent. The sight of her, the scent, her voice were all things egging his needs on. Magnus knew and had to remind himself that he had to get this treaty thing fixed first, before she could be his. All he could do right now was support her in whatever it was she wanted to do. The problem was, she couldn’t seem to express her wants or needs to anyone. Sapphire stayed silent instead. It was only when you
Sapphire left Magnus at the custom bike shop and made her way to the pharmacy where she bought a few things the cover her story and spend the time before she was to meet with Ivory. Now she sat in the diner at the bus station and waited for Ivory to sail in here like she owned the place. Which she didn’t, but that didn’t mean a thing to Ivory. Ivory just believed everyone owed her whatever she wanted. She didn’t pay around town. Instead, Sapphire would have to pay the tabs she ran up in various places every month. Sapphire sat there drinking her iced tea and worrying about what Magnus would say if he knew she was doing this. She was in a public place, and Ivory may have a mouth on her, but if she brought someone else with her, Sapphire would scream for help, and she was sure someone would help. She had a strange feeling when she thought of Magnus. She’d experienced only his generous side, and that’s more than she got from anyone else. Sapphire fe
Hayden returned to his apartment to find April exactly where he’d left her. Pouring over the documents and maps. She was obsessed with narrowing down the search. He loved the way she wiggled her nose to adjust her glasses as she read. Her hands never missed a beat as she flipped from one page to another. “How’s it going?” “Well, I found something back in the eighteen ten referring to this Roger Helbourne. I don’t believe that’s his birth name.” “You mean he assumed someone else’s name? Or he made it up as he went along?” “I mean, it would have meaning to him. If he reinvented himself, or he was reborn as something new.” “Reborn? Reborn as what?” “Vampires call the process of creating a new vampire rebirth. Helbourne, sounds a lot like born in Hel. If he were Scandinavian, their mythology has a Hel. A person and a place, in fact. So it could be born of Hel too. Then there’s the Helbournes of England. Either way, we could lo
Ivory couldn’t figure out why Sapphire was headed to the Black Hole. That’s the last place Ivory wanted to do this. She’d missed her last three shifts and had no interest in dealing with that. Was Sapphire trying to get her in trouble? She wouldn’t put it past Sapphire to seek some petty revenge Ivory would. That didn’t make it better. Nor did the five guys follow her. Who did she think she was? She wasn’t any kind of Luna or a queen. She was a pathetic mouse. But here she was with one guy hovering over her every word. Ivory stay behind them but close enough to hear the guy practically clinging to her insist she was going to playthings safe, and she should have spoken up about it. He was treating her like a cherished child. Sapphire is the one who earned no respect. She couldn’t speak up for herself and she couldn’t defend herself to save her life. Sapphire was only good. Serving everyone else and they needed her back so that life would go back to being sane and norm
Cliff couldn’t believe anything Ivory said anymore. She’d betrayed him. Promised to help him get back in with her father and then ditched him as soon as she could. Now she was chatting it up with a bunch of strange wolves with Sapphire and his archenemy. He needed to do something. Lenny and Xavier were playing games behind the Black Hole while he watched everything going on the street. He wasn’t sure if he should notify the two fools and their flunkies that their target wasn’t falling for their lure. Because if he did, then he’d have to admit Ivory betrayed him and their righteous cause. They could follow them and attack when the time was right. Between himself and the group hiding out back, there was enough. Or close enough to make the fight interesting. If Cliff could get Sapphire away from that big one, it would really throw their plans into chaos. There’d be a reckoning for sure. Cliff wanted to fix that reckoning, not be the one to start it. He
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