Braxton- “How is she doing?” Lex asked when I opened the door for them a few hours later. “Still sick, but I think she will be fine. She is asleep right now. Did you find anything out?” I directed my question at Sebastian, who had brought Izariah’s phone and laptop with him. He didn’t answer until we were sitting in the room I used as a study. I didn’t want everyone to know what was going on, which is why I chose one of the few rooms that were one hundred percent soundproof. “I did contact the guy in the photo, and he will arrive any minute. As far as everything on the laptop and phone goes, I managed to get everything back the way it was. The pictures were taken with her phone and the article was uploaded onto her laptop. When I traced the IP address on the article to see when and where it was uploaded, it was early Sunday morning.” Sebastian explained and then opened the laptop to show me what he was talking about. “In other words, we are at a dead end?” I asked, feeling frustr
Izariah-I wasn’t sure what he was trying to ask at the moment, because my head was a little foggy. It took me a second to realize that he was practically naked in the same bed as me. At the time it hadn’t bothered me because I had been sick, and I was happy that he wasn’t turning away from me any longer.A blush crept up my neck, to my cheeks, causing them to feel warm. Looking at him now, I saw him in a new light. It was kind of like the way I used to look at Jace, but this was different. When had I started looking at Braxton as if he were someone, I could see a future with?It must be from being sick, why else would I be interested in someone who has done nothing but caused me problems? Okay, so perhaps it wasn’t all bad. We have had times when we got along great. After I got out of the hospital and at the amusement park.Was it possible that I was the one who was causing issues where there weren’t any? Perhaps I was thinking too much. I already knew that I had the wrong impression
Izariah-If it weren’t for the urge to use the restroom, I would have laid in bed and watched Braxton sleep. Careful not to wake him, I slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. One look at my reflection and I cringed.Lifting my left arm, I turned my head a little so I could sniff my armpit. I regretted it immediately. Even though I didn’t want to wake Braxton up, I also didn’t want to get near him smelling the way I did. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.Before using the bathroom, I turned on the water to warm it up. I decided to take a bath instead of a shower, that way I could limit the noise I was making. Once I had the tub set up to fill it up, I used the toilet.I didn’t flush it when I was done, since I didn’t want to mess with the temperature of the water that was filling the tub. While I waited, I looked around the bathroom to see if there was anything I could use to get clean, instead of smelling like a guy. I didn’t find anything, so I took the soap out of t
Izariah-I moved forward to stop Braxton from punching Jace again, but Jace held up his hand to stop me. When Braxton landed another blow to Jace’s face, I winced. Looking at Jace, I could see the blood running down his face, from his nose.“Is that all you got?” Jace mocked as if he was enjoying this.He was smiling and I saw blood covering his teeth. What the heck was wrong with these guys? I wanted to stop Braxton or say something to get him to stop, but every time I opened my mouth to say something Jace just glanced at me and shook his head.“You know damn well I like her, and you just have to come in and ruin everything. You have everything that you could want, so why must you have her too? Isn’t Rachel enough for you?” Braxton sounded extremely pissed by the way he was screaming at Jace. I could even see the veins in his neck protruding.“If you think she is easily swayed by me, then you never had her and you never will.” Jace chuckled as he lifted his chin to prepare for anothe
Izariah-Over the next week and a half, Braxton and I spent a lot of time together. Well, not a lot but more than we used to. He would walk me to and from class, eat lunch with me and he would drive me to and from work.At first, we had a difficult time getting over the awkwardness between us, but by the third day, we were talking like we were really friends. I learned a lot about him during that time. I tried getting him to talk to me about his past and his family, but he would clam up every time I brought it up.I found out he had twenty-seven cars, which I mentioned was too many for a single person to have. That didn’t include the five motorcycles, three boats, and one helicopter. Then there were the ones his family owned that he had access to.The more I got to know him, the less I felt as if I could ever fit in his world. I did realize that I really did like him, possibly even love him, but I felt like it was more infatuation than anything. Since I admitted to liking him, he has
Izariah-Looking at the keys still in my hand, I felt weird about accepting such a big gift, but I also felt weird about not accepting it. It was clear that it meant a lot to him if I did accept it, I could see the hope in his eyes. But how could I accept it? I didn’t know the first thing about driving it.“I am not asking for anything in return. Think of this as a gift to a new beginning for us. I would like to put the past conflicts, in the past.” Braxton spoke.When he put it that way, I couldn’t refuse, even if I knew that it would be better if I did. Moving my gaze from the keys, I looked up at him and I was torn by the look he was giving me. It looked as if he were worried that I would reject him.“I don’t know how to drive a standard.” I sighed as I wrapped my fingers around the keys, accepting his gift.“That is easy.” His smile alone made me realize that I made the right choice.Before I could ask what he meant, he reached over to grab my hand. He took the keys from me but co
Izariah-I regretted my decision the next morning when I was woken up by the sound of pounding on my door. It wasn’t that Braxton woke me up like that, no it was the group of strangers that barged into my dorm room behind him. A tall older woman and a group of both men and women herded me to my computer chair and then forced me to sit down.“What is going on?” I asked, looking past the people around me, at Braxton who was standing idle next to my bed.“I thought I mentioned that my party is tonight?”“Uh, no. No, you did not.” I blanched at him, and my jaw went slack as I stared at him.He expected me to change, or whatever he wanted me to do, in less than a day. I couldn’t even mentally prepare myself. I started to panic as if the walls were closing in on me. In a way, they kind of were as everyone that was surrounding me was gathering around me, not giving me any space.They stood shoulder to shoulder, leaning forward as they examined me and touched my face, hair, hands, and feet. I
Izariah-Right off the bat and I could hear the condescension in his mother’s voice. My nervousness vanished at seeing and hearing his mother. I was reminded of the dream I saw, and I was filled with resentment for how she treated a child.“I am not even five minutes late mother, just let it go.” Braxton stated as he continued forward, in her direction.“You were supposed to be here before all the guests arrived. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have others wanting to wish you a happy birthday, but I had to explain that you weren’t here? The looks they gave me were full of pity.”“Relax, I doubt they were pitying you. Now, I would like you to meet…” Braxton’s words were cut off when his mother spoke again.“Don’t tell me what they were or weren’t doing. You wouldn’t know since you weren’t here. Just be glad the Alpha King hasn’t arrived yet or his daughter or I would have made sure you regretted this day. Now get inside and stop making me look like a fool.” His mother said just b
Three Years Later Izariah- “Will you hurry up already? You don’t want to be late to your own graduation!” Rachel, my new best friend and Jace’s mate yelled from the front door of the house that I lived in with Braxton. After we officially moved to the pack, we stayed in the packhouse with his father for a bit. On the day of Braxton’s graduation, which had been two years ago, he surprised me with the keys to our own house. He explained that he hadn’t wanted to live with his father or in a house that had too many bad memories. “I am coming!” I yelled from the bathroom, where I was putting the finishing touches on my hair. As I inspected my reflection, I was reminded of the first day that I met Braxton. That morning I had been running late to class and my old friend and roommate had yelled at me to hurry. I had just barely made it in time to take my finals that day. I guess no matter how many things have changed from then until now, there were still some things that were never goin
Braxton- When we arrived at the lake, where her childhood best friend died, I wasn’t sure what I could do for her. I could sense she was hurting inside, as she experienced being back here. We were all standing in a group, near the lake, no one saying a word. When she started walking forward, I decided that this was something she was going to need to face on her own. Putting my arms out, I stopped the others from following her. If she looked back then I would join her, but her gaze remained on the center of the lake. “Just wait. If she needs us then we will be there for her, but I think the best thing for her is to support her from back here.” I explained. “Do you think that it will work? What if she is never able to shift?” Jace asked. “Then I will make sure I am always by her side to protect her.” I said with certainty. “Even without a wolf, I believe she is stronger than any of us realize.” Sebastian spoke in a faraway tone that made me glance at him. His eyes were focused on
Izariah- Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage as I opened the car door. I barely had time to close the door before I rushed by Gwenna. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly. “I knew the moment I met you that we had a connection. I never would have suspected it is because you are my sister!” She exclaimed, speaking a little too loud in my ear for my liking. I was a little confused about how she already knew that I was her sister when I hadn’t spoken a word yet. Since I had been looking forward to this moment as well, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her just as tight. Between her and the Alpha King, she was the one that I had been the most nervous about seeing. Meeting my biological father was scary, but it wasn’t like I needed a new father, as I already had one that I absolutely adored. Having a sister, on the other hand, was something I have always dreamed of. Seeing that she was just as thrilled with the idea, I relaxed. Not wanting to break the mom
Izariah- “Chill out, I am Millie’s boyfriend.” The man spoke in a tone that indicated that he didn’t care who I was or why I was here. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me who you are, now!” I demanded. With everything that was going on, he was the least of my problems. I have already dealt with enough, so I didn’t have time to deal with a little punk too. He was probably a few years older than me, and I could sense he was an Alpha, which didn’t explain why he was in my room. “I am not lying. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her yourself. She just left to get some ice cream, but she should be back any minute.” He said with a yawn as he leaned back and went back to playing a game on his phone like he had been doing when I entered. Not sure what to do at this moment, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. He seemed harmless, but I still didn’t believe him. I knew Millie had a crush on Sebastian, so why was this dude claiming to be her boyfriend? Just then Sebastian barged into t
Izariah- The moment we drove through the gate that surrounded the territory; I was completely speechless. Eric, who had been driving the car, had to slow down to a crawl, as members of the pack surrounded us. It took me a moment to understand that they were all celebrating. “What is going on?” I asked, not sure what the reason was for all of this. “Two things. They are welcoming their future Luna and celebrating that their old Luna is no longer here.” Braxton answered. “Do they know it is me?” I asked. I didn’t need to ask why they were celebrating Tabitha being gone, as I am sure many hadn’t liked her. There were only a select few that knew what I was though. As far as everyone else was concerned, I was still a wolfless Omega that worked with the pack doctor. Granted, no one at the pack had cared or treated me terribly over it. There had been one group of teenage girls that had made a comment about it, but it hadn’t escalated. Braxton had been with me when I heard it and he had
Izariah- “I will grant you something, but it won’t be to find another mate. If I have learned anything, is that I don’t make mistakes twice. You have shown me that you are undeserving of love, for you don’t know the meaning of love.” As my mother speaks, she walks closer to Tabitha. “I did love them!” Tabitha yells, but my mother is unfazed by her outburst. “The fact that you think that is love, shows me that I can’t allow you to love another soul. It would be wrong of me to torment anyone with the kind of love that you have to offer. No. Instead of that, I will give you something else.” My mother places her fingers against her chin and taps them a few times, appearing to be deep in thought. “What are you going to do? I promise I won’t cause anyone any more trouble if you just let me go.” By now Tabitha looked truly scared. “And what? Allow you to roam free and give you the chance to not repent for your actions? Even if I allow you to go free, you still won’t learn anything.” She
Braxton- Seeing my father enter the room, I was a little confused about why he was here. My eyes moved to Izariah, who didn’t seem surprised at all. Moving my attention back to him, I hoped that he was here to help and not to make things worse. “My love, what are you doing here?” My mother asked innocently. “Save it. I heard everything just now.” My father growled as he stomped toward her. “You don’t understand, it isn’t like that.” The panic in my mother’s voice revealed that if there was one person in this world, she both loved and feared, it was my father. My earlier assumption that she was in control of their relationship was wrong. Now that I thought about it, it had simply been my father giving in to my mother because of his love for her. I completely understood because I would do the same for Iza. Not that I would have to worry about that, because I doubted there was a single bad cell in her body. It was also apparent that my father hadn’t known about the things my mother
Izariah- “I was wrong, I won’t do it again. Please give me another chance. If I had known she was the daughter of the Moon Goddess, I wouldn’t have tried to break them up.” Braxton’s mother pleaded with my mother. “Do you honestly believe that I care? It shouldn’t matter who someone is. All that matters is that they love each other. I chose your son for my daughter, not because of who his family is or how much money he came from. I did it because I knew they would be good for each other. If we only based someone’s standing on if they were good enough, then do you think I would allow my daughter to be with someone when his mother is so awful? Despite your beliefs, I don’t think someone’s past will define who they are.” “Then you can understand that I was only doing what I thought was best for my son. I love him and I want him to succeed in life.” Luna Tabitha seemed to have given up pleading with the Moon Goddess, as she met her gaze with unwavering certainty. “Best for him?” My bi
Izariah- Unfiltered strength flowed through me, not only mine but Braxton’s as well. Had I known that having Braxton mark me would awaken my wolf, I would have let him do it sooner. Not only had I unlocked my Goddess abilities, but I have a wolf. I still had a bit to go before I could fully be who I was meant to be, but right now none of that mattered. I would figure it out in time and once I could let go of my fear of water, I knew I would be able to shift into my wolf. My birth mother had been right, but now I knew it. Full of confidence and brimming with untapped power, I held Braxton’s hand in mine as I stepped around him. The look of shock and then anger that passed over his mother’s face was everything I had hoped for and more. When she came in and assumed that he had marked Gwenna, I couldn’t wait to prove her wrong. No longer did I fear her. Compared to me, she was nothing more than a power-hungry werewolf that couldn’t hurt me or Braxton any longer. Her threats were meani