Braxton- I didn’t know why I was laughing, but I didn’t know what else to do. I found this entire situation hysterical. Not in the sense that I was finding any of this funny, it was more that I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I finally found someone I could see myself claiming as a mate and after trying so hard, I finally found out that she is in love with me. For once in my life, couldn’t I be happy? That was asking too much though. Since arriving at school, I had intended on just keeping my distance. My plan had been to watch her from a distance to make sure she was all right. The moment I pulled into the parking lot though, I sensed my mother. I hadn’t expected her to make an appearance so soon. I thought I could have had enough time to figure out a way to get Iza to move on without being so harsh. Now I knew my mother was watching and if I had any hope of getting her to leave Izariah alone, I needed to be as ruthless as I could. This was the hardest thing I have ev
Braxton- “If you don’t move, I will make you move. I am not in the mood right now.” I spoke calmly, but I made sure they understood I was not above violence. “You think you have the ability to take us all on?” Jace stepped forward, his eyes flickering between his and his wolf. I knew why they were all made, it was because of what they saw between Izariah and me. I should be happy that my friends are willing to stand up for Izariah, which I was. That wasn’t what came out of my mouth though. “You are supposed to be my friends. Why are you getting pissed off at me? Shouldn’t it be up to me whom I like and don’t like as well as when I like them? I wish you all would just back off.” I growled as I tried to shove past them, but it was like they were a brick wall. They shoved me back and then they moved closer to one another. “Haven’t you put her through enough? We didn’t say much when it started because that was just your normal behavior. When things started changing, it was different.
Izariah- “Thank you again, for accepting my leave of absence on such short notice. I promise I will make up for it when I return.” I yelled over my shoulder at my boss as I picked up my bag to leave. “No problem! I hope things get better for you soon. Give me a call when you are ready to return to work. No rush. Take all the time you need.” My boss hollered from behind the register as he finished closing his drawer for the night. Hanging one strap over my left shoulder, I waved back at him with a forced smile as I made my way to the front door. As much as I would miss this place, I knew I needed to take a little time to collect myself. I called my mom on the way to work, and she heard in my voice that something was wrong. I didn’t tell her what happened, since I didn’t want her to worry. When she requested that I come home for a bit, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. It has been a long time since I have been home, and I knew that it was where I needed to be. After what Bra
Izariah- It felt great to be back home. In only a few hours, I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. Had I known that it would only take a couple of hours to feel better about life, I would have come home sooner. I was seriously considering not going back and just doing my schoolwork from home. The benefit of attending an elite college, they had a lot of flexibility. Of course, the reason they did was that most students were prodigies. Either they were next in line as Alpha, or Beta, or training to become warriors. Although I wasn’t next in line for anything, I could still utilize the flexibility. It wasn’t like they took attendance regularly. At most, they just randomly checked attendance to make sure no one moved seats. If I did decide to stay and work on my school stuff from home though, I wouldn’t be able to get good recommendations from my professors. Unlike the others, I needed every advantage I could get. I wasn’t the daughter of a high-ranking member of a prest
Braxton- “Have you arrived yet?” Sebastian’s voice filled my car as I connected my phone to my car Bluetooth. “Not yet. My GPS is telling me that I am still an hour away, but I think I can make it in twenty. How fucking far is this place anyway? If I keep going much further, I am going to be in a different state.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but my hands were gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn my knuckles white. It was starting to become a regular occurrence that every time I needed to react, I was too slow to do what I needed to do. When Izariah ran off, I should have followed her. If I had known she was planning to leave to return home, I wouldn’t have let her go. I already knew I had screwed up in the first place, so I thought she just needed time to cool off. It wasn’t until I realized that she wasn’t coming back to talk to me, that I went to the school to find her. When I went to the dorm she stayed in, no one answered. I spent hours banging on her door befo
Izariah-Why did he have to come here of all places? I haven’t even had a chance to process anything. Now he was alone with my mother. I could have cleaned things up and run after them, but I didn’t want to deal with any of it right now.After cleaning the trash from our lunch, I walked around town for a bit. There wasn’t much to see, and nothing had changed since the last time I was home. When I was close to my house, I decided that it was time to stop avoiding the inevitable.At most I can convince him to leave. By now he should have already annoyed my mother. If there was one thing I could count on, it was that my mother was blunt. She wouldn’t put up with his egotistical attitude.He grew up with money and having others do things for him with only a snap of his fingers. If he so much as tried that with my mother, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tossed him out of the house.Before I opened the door though, I heard my mother laughing. Okay, not what I expected. I figured he would hav
Braxton- I hoped that she would have let me speak to her, but now that I was alone with her mother, I figured this was my chance to get answers. Carly must have realized it as well because she let out a long sigh and then sat down on the bench that was near her garden. She patted the spot next to her and motioned for me to sit as well. “I suspect you have a lot of questions. I wish I could answer all of them, but I can’t. The one you need to speak to about how she arrived here is Alpha Michael. He is the one who knows more than we do, although I don’t think even he knows much. What I can tell you is that my mate, Richard and I, couldn’t conceive on our own.” Izariah’s mother began to explain without me asking. “One night, Alpha Michael comes to us with an infant in his arms. He tells us that if we wish to raise her as our own, we could. At the time, I didn’t want to know the details. I was just overjoyed with the idea of being a mother. Richard didn’t ask either because I begged him
Izariah-“If you pressure me on talking to you about things, I will jump out of this truck, regardless of how fast you are driving.” I groaned, with my arms folded over my chest.It wasn’t that Braxton managed to convince my mother to help him, it was that my mother agreed. When she woke me up this morning, she didn’t give me much of a warning. I know I returned home late with my dad, but she could have said something about what she was making me do this morning.“Then I won’t mention that we can talk about other things if you would like.” Braxton seemed far too relaxed driving my dad’s old beater of a pick-up truck.I had to admit he looked good today. He was borrowing a pair of my father’s old blue jeans that had a small tear in the knee. He was also wearing a plain white T-shirt that looked a size too small. It wasn’t extremely tight on him, but every time I glanced over as he turned the steering wheel, I could see the bulge of his muscles under the shirt.Then there was the old ba
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