Sapphire found herself in the dank basement of the packhouse. Someone locked her in again and they’d taken the lightbulbs to make her suffer. They all knew she hated the dark. She could hear the movement of something or someone moving around. Now she anticipated where the person or creature was. The closer they came, the sooner it would hurt her. Sapphire jumped every time she heard the tiniest scuffle. Desperate not to give herself away, she bit her lip to prevent herself from making a noise. Tears streamed down her cheeks, stopping them was beyond her control. Now she crouched there as still as a deer in headlights. Listening in the dark, trying to track whatever prowled around down there with her. She could feel the cold cracked concrete under her bare feet and work-worn hands. Sapphire could taste her own blood from where one of her teeth bit a little too deeply into her lip. She desperately tried not
Sarah Ann quietly closed the door to Sapphire’s apartment behind her and she looked sternly at her Alpha. “Sarah, what was that? What happened in there?” Magnus couldn’t reconcile what he saw. “Alpha, you, yourself, said she’d experienced such poor treatment for so long. But I can’t understand what she saw in her dreams until I talk to her. Your pacing out here is scaring her more. So, you need to go do something productive and get your mind off her. All you’re doing is scaring her out of her wits.” “She lied to me about her dreams. Why would she do that? Who does that?” Magnus couldn’t keep the disbelief
Sarah Ann returned to Sapphire’s room in time to see Sapphire scramble self-consciously from the bed. “Dear, you’ve just had a terrible shock. Relax, don’t overdo it if you don’t have to.” “Oh, I’m good. Um… What’s going on?” “That’s the point. Everything’s quiet. Tonight, another convoy of pack members will be here and lots of getting reacquainted will happen, and it’ll be good times.” “What am I supposed to do?” “Dear, you just need to be your sweet self and get to know everyone. Let them know you.” Sarah Ann’s heart almost broke at the lost
Hayden watched for a bit as Magnus prepped to work on one cycle that just came into the shop. It was just the groundwork to prepare for the more artistic work. It was a full restore and customization detail. “We need to make sure everyone is on board, with Sapphire being my mate and Luna. I don’t want any decent in my pack. I don’t want that pack’s reputation damaging hers. She’s been through enough without needing to deal with anymore shade or backstabbing.” “I’ll try to stop it if I see any of it go down. But unless it happens, I don’t see us being able to avoid these problems. Sarah Ann’s always got an answer for things like this.”
Magnus got the pulmonary work done well before dinner. He wanted to do more, but the day got away from him. Hayden stayed in town so he could meet the next round of pack coming in. Their businesses were at different stages of being moved and they didn’t want to overwhelm the town with their numbers all at once. So this was the second stage coming in. The first came in to start building up the territory to their needs. Updating utilities and the like. Tonight, after dinner, Magnus needed to tour the area and see how things were going. Sarah Ann was right. If Sapphire was his mate and their Luna, she needed to be with him and just as interested. But before that, he needed to shower and get cleaned up. Have dinner with her and get to know her more. What Sarah Ann didn’t tell him was how to get to know her. It’s not li
Sapphire didn’t know which way was up with this man. Was he an Alpha or not? What he was saying didn’t fit with anything she’d ever experienced. If she was supposed to treat him with respect, then how was she supposed to treat him? Nothing made sense to her now. She could see him struggling to find the words he wanted to say. “I don’t treat my lowest pack member any less than I do my highest. We’re all sentient beings. Doing a specific job does not mean you are less than or better than anyone else. All jobs need some form of skill, education, and talent. Experience comes when you get enough of the other three. We need all things done so our pack runs smoothly and can have the time to prosper. That means no matter what you it helps free someone else up to make a stride toward that prosperity. That
Hayden stopped in at the bus station’s diner at the other end of town. Here it was far more crowded with people. This, after all, was the hub of the human section of town. He figured why risk going back to the Black Hole Café after what happened only a few hours ago?He sat at the counter and ordered some food. But he wasn’t the only one there at the counter. The most delicious blond human sat beside him reading a book while she ate her own food. He couldn’t see the title of the book until he looked into the reflection of the napkin holder. Okay, that was a surprise. The book cover looked nothing like the woman that sat beside him. It clearly was something steamy and if he wasn’t mistaken but there was a wolf in the background with the moon.Either werewolves or monsters fascinated her in relation to romance. Or she knew they existed and thought, those books are how-to get your own pet werewolf manuals.She sighed when she noticed
Hayden and the pack with him made their way through the evening light to the shop and packed the supplies onto the bikes and trailers. Then they got back onto the road to head for home. However, they didn’t make it before several police cars stopped them. Eric and Hayden were at the front of the pack. Before Hayden could take off his helmet, Eric was engaged with the officer. The officer was in his face, not allowing Eric to get off his bike before he was in his face. Hayden couldn’t believe the nerve of the officer. They had pups with them and there was no reason to stop any of them as far as he knew. However, the officer insisted Eric knew who injured an off-duty officer.&n
Magnus heard the vehicles drive up and stop at the front of the packhouse. He withdrew reluctantly from their kiss. Now wasn’t the time for people to find them in an intimate situation. There’d be pups hopping out of vehicles very soon, and he didn’t want to explain to their parents. “Looks like you get to meet more pack. The next caravan of pack just pulled up out front. Why don’t we go meet them? Sarah Ann will have them settled into the packhouse in no time. They’ll be tired so we won’t take a lot of their time. I just want them to know your face for now.” “I guess.” Like it hadn’t been a long day for her. So much for her birthday and getting away from this town. Leaving all this mess behind.
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