Ivory dragged herself from bed, with this Ran character standing nearby watching her. Someone left her a change of clothes and a few personal items. Why didn’t she pack something when she left the packhouse yesterday? Gods, this felt strange. Ran unnerved her with his eyes and silence. He wouldn’t answer any of her questions. Ran had the nerve to demand that she not pout. This was hard on her and that’s how she coped. Ivory pouted when she didn’t get her way. She complained, she wheedled, she expressed her anger. All to get her way. She came from the bathroom half expecting Ran to be gone, but he still stood there. “I can look after myself. You can go.” “Eat your breakfast. We have thirty minutes before we leave to get into place for the meeting.” “Fine, but it’s not very exciting watching me eat. Why are they making me go exactly? Is it just to prove to my father he has me?” “No, you’ll reject your pack at one point. Then we can d
Sapphire stood with Ivory on the second floor of a shop on the edge of the outdoor market. A cousin of Magnus was with them, along with Magnus. The two men were instructing them on what they were expecting from each girl. Sapphire worried about Ivory. She knew she’d say one thing and do another on a whim. She didn’t know which way Ivory would run with any of her stunts, and there was always a stunt somewhere. The problem was, who would then be the receiver of that stunt? Her father? Her mother? Magnus? Herself? Sapphire didn’t know, but she feared the explosion when it happened. “If I even suspect either of you are going to say something off script, I will pull you from that balcony immediately. We are ending this today by removing you from your birth pack. Once you both are gone, it will force your birth pack to renege on their treaty. That will break that treaty and it will force them to leave the region until this is all cleared up.” Ran wasn’t angry as he said t
Magnus paced. Everyone was in their places. They all knew their role to play. By now, everyone knew what they were dealing with and the gravity of the situation. Now they waited for Frank Kilburn to play his hand and walk into his demise. The old fool didn’t know who he was messing with and even if he did. The fool was so far out of date with his thinking and beliefs that he wouldn’t be able to compete. His witch mate was no competition against the witches the enforcers brought with them. It hadn’t been difficult to get permission for them to practice in the area with April’s help. If they couldn’t do it, then they’d let others do it if their allies trusted them. Magnus may be new to the area, but he brought considerable recourses. He’d have his mate and the blessed white wolf, the legend of the region as part of his pack. He’d make sure she was treated right and protected from being mistreated. Something, Sapphire should have expected from her uncle. Magnus
Sapphire watched in horror as Magnus’ enforcers opened the doors to several shops and wolves poured from the shops. She’d never seen so many wolves. She thought her father’s pack enforcers were a terrifying sight to behold. But here she watched these wolves move fast and with an intent so intense she felt it bordered on feral. Then she found herself and Ivory ushered through the building by several of Magnus’ enforcers. She wanted to go back and watch to ensure Magnus didn’t get hurt. No one listened to her, and she was pushed along out the back of the building. They could hear fierce fighting going on. Sapphire knew a fight could be loud, but this… This was a whole new type of loud. They bundled Sapphire and Ivory into a vehicle and were leaving the area within minutes. Returning to their territory where April waited. She felt the bond break once she finished saying her piece; it wasn’t painful, but it felt… Isolating. Like being in a room full of noise and
Magnus shifted, triggering the release of his enforcers from the buildings. He watched his enemies as they realized they didn’t have the upper hand as they thought. He gained pleasure and appreciated the fear that slipped over many of his enemies’ faces. Some people in the pack fled, and he enjoyed it. Half of the Vagas Moon Pack enforcers met with the Greater McConnell Pack. Magnus engaged Kilburn with a pouncing, clawing attack. Kilburn dodged and Magnus got fur. He cursed his overeagerness and concentrated on recovering his stance and protect his hide from Kilburn’s attack. He might not have hit a blow, but Kilburn hadn’t either.Other enforcers intercepted other wolves when they attempted to interfere in the battling alphas. Kilburn came close again. His anger fuelling his aggression and Magnus soon learned the old wolf was not in his right mind. Even in wolf form, he reeked of alcohol and herbs. Herbs Magnus couldn’t define, and he prayed this was not w
Magnus, among others, left people in charge of the cleanup, they charged others in rounding up the injured and dead. It was disgusting how Kilburn abandoned his people as soon as he’d been injured to any extent. He’d not called a retreat. They left his witch mate to announce their plans for continued hostilities. They wanted the girls back and now they wanted blood. Magnus needed to change up things. The pups and maternal pack members needed to be safe. He knew Kilburn didn’t have information on half the pack and he wasn’t a fool. Magnus recognized Ivory could be there to get information on the pack for her father, and that would not happen. “Hey, Ran, we’re cleaning up here. I’m heading back. Make sure you secure your charge. I don’t want her wandering unescorted anywhere. The less she sees and the less she knows, the happier I will be. I don’t want to find out that she’s lying to us and sending her daddy information.” Magnus couldn’t drive right now if he
Sapphire sat in what others were calling her office, thinking about what was happening. She’d struggled not to pace as she worried about Magnus and his friends. The healers were down the hall in what had been the sitting room. It was not set up as a treatment room for those injured badly. It was nothing like the old healer her father had. Gods, she didn’t know how the Vagas Moon Pack would heal their people with one old healer. This pack had six healers, and someone trained them in various medical types, along with their special skills. Sapphire felt woefully under qualified to help them, so she retreated to her office to struggle alone with her feelings. “You need to eat, dear, and I just got word. Your uncle retreated, and the Alpha was on his way back now. Everything is fine. Now you eat this and I’m going to take a tray up to your cousin right now.” Sarah Ann puttered in with a cloth covered tray and set it on her desk. “You need to figure out h
Hayden lay in the back of the SUV as best as he could. One enemy got in a pretty good bite, and he couldn’t shift now. He wouldn’t die, but this was a pain in the butt. He couldn’t shift, which meant he couldn’t talk. Not until the healers healed enough for him to shift again. April would not be happy with this twist of fate. It would slow down their ability to hunt for whatever was in that hidden place. So there he lay in what should be the vehicle’s trunk and it was a squeeze for him because of his size as a wolf. Every large bump in the road meant his head hit the ceiling of the vehicle. If they didn’t get there soon, he’d probably have to add a concussion to his list of injuries. “How are you holding up back there, Hayden?” He grumbled as best as he could. The vehicle hit yet another bump, and it jostled him, so he snapped at the healer that was questioning them. “Okay, I think he’s telling us we need either a better road or a bet