JACKSON
I don't even know why the hell I thought trying to calm Blake down was a good idea but it needed to be done. He needed to stop before he did some serious damage - and I'm not talking about simply throwing a sofa through the window or putting his fist into a wall.
I put my hands on his shoulders and I could feel him physically shaking as he eyed Nicole up and down. Jayson seemed to have done enough damage for now if the smell of blood was anything to go by.
"Blake," I pushed him backwards as he made another attempt at Nicole and Jayson. I may not have trusted Jayson but he was still my friend and I knew he would never let anything happen to Ellie.
He was the one who saved her and allowed me to speak with her. He was the one who lost his temper with her when she admitted that she didn't want Blake because he didn't like the idea of his best friend hurting. He was the one who came back here and asked for Ellie's help
ELLIE "-But I don't really remember all that much about my mother. She wasn't my father's real mate and he banished her from the pack once she had done her job of raising me," Bradley sighed. He had successfully managed to get out us out of the cellar I was being held in and had spent the last forty-five minutes telling me about his family. He had tried to assure me that his father and sister hadn't always been ruthless and he remembers a time when they both actually loved him. I knew he was kidding himself and that he wanted to remember that side for his own benefit but I wasn't going to tell him that, instead settling for smiling and nodding whenever he spoke. "What about you? Do you remember anything about your family?" Bradley asked curiously. "Not really. I didn't even know I had a twin until she turned up but my brother does make an appearance in my dreams every so often," I smiled as I remembered the
ELLIE "I don't want to cause you problems in your pack Ellie. I would rather run the risk it going alone than put a rift between you and the people who care about you," Bradley finally said. We had been sitting in my office in total silence for twenty minutes now because I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't think there was anything to be said. I knew my pack were going to hate him and they were never going to accept him as a member of the pack but that didn't give them the right to make attempts on his life every thirty seconds. If he really did want to kill me, if he was the one who thought of the entire plan he was carrying out, I would have been dead the moment we were out of the cellar. He would have taken the opportunity to do it while we were alone and there was no one to prove he was the one who had murdered me. "No. I'm not giving them what they want. It's happened for too long now and it's time they remembe
"The same pain you feel?" Jackson enquired. "My mate. She's dead. She killed herself after she lost our pup for the seventh time," Bradley whispered the words as he sat back down in his chair and sunk backwards with tears in his eyes. Daniel, being the kind and caring little boy he was, moved himself from Luca's lap and walked over to Bradley before Luca could stop his son. He climbed onto Bradley's lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. "Elliot makes some awesome cookies. They always make me happy when I'm sad. Do you want some?" "She does make some badass cookies. You really have to try them," Michael grinned from beside his father. Luca's look was undefined and I didn't know what was going to do when Michael moved from the side of his father to stand beside Bradley. He took hold of Bradley's hand and pulled him from his seat. "I don't think that's a good idea," Bradley muttered without moving his eyes from the boys in front of him. "No.
ELLIE I looked at the three of them and they all looked at me in shock. I folded my hands on my desk and continued to glare at them as I thought of how I was going to put into words what I wanted to tell them. I didn't want them to hate me but I also didn't need them acting like they were better than me. I could treat them like my equals, I was more than happy to do that, but I was tired of being treated like I didn't matter and with people hating me for things I didn't even know had happened. It was honestly tiring and I had had enough of it all. "I don't know. Where do you want to begin?" Luca asked sharply. "Firstly, there is the issue with the way you keep talking to me, you act like you're better than me and you constantly treat me like you know so much better. And I am tired of it, Luca, I am tired of you treating me like I'm stupid and you telling me everything I do is wrong. You're my best friend and I don't want
The introduction of the twins to the pack was for myself but it was also for the pack itself. I wanted to show them that I was thinking of their future and, everything I did, I did to keep them safe not because I wanted to change them into something they're not. My family would always come first but my pack would always be right below that with every decision I made. "Baby. How about you go and see what those boys are up to? I bet they've eaten all those cookies and are waiting for some more," Jackson smiled at his mate with a kiss on her cheek. "I should never have told them it was me who baked them cookies. Now they're never going to leave me alone," Elliot joked. "You love it. And you love those boys. You'll do anything as long as they say please and give you a huge, cheesy grin," Jackson chuckled. Elliot stood up from his lap and put her own kiss on her cheek as she walked out of the room with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn't speak another word when s
BLAKE I looked down at the twins who were sleeping in their cots and I couldn't help but feel a sting of pain right through my heart. I thought I had lost Ellie. I thought that she was dead and that I was going to have to do this all on my own. I haven't got a bloody clue what I'm doing and I certainly proved that when I ended up hitting Michael; now neither of the boys want to speak to me and Jayson is still in the hospital. I am a terrible friend and I would have been an even worse father if I was left to do this alone. I need Ellie by my side but she keeps doing things which are going to get her killed one day and, when that day comes, I don't know what the hell I am going to do with my life - she was only gone nine days this time around and I could barely cope without her. I loved both the twins. I really did love them and being a father is a dream come true.
ELLIE I walked into the cells where I had been told Nicole was being kept and I didn't miss the way in which she looked at me as I grabbed a chair from against the wall and sat directly in front of her. This was the last place I wanted to be and this was the last thing I wanted to be doing but it needed to be done. I needed to understand what had made her hate me so much that she wanted me dead. I needed her to tell me for herself why she wanted to take me away from my whole family and why she so desperately wanted to break my mate; a man who had never done anything to her and had always been there for her son. "You will be pleased to know that I have been informed Jayson is going to make a full recovery," I told her as I remembered the mind link I had received from the pack doctor on my way down here. Jayson was going to have a couple of scars which would never heal and he was going to have to remain in hospital for a co
I was there for Nicole as she was there for me when I was a child. I did everything she asked of me when she wanted to find her son and I was the one she spoke to when we discovered Sean's body in the forests around our territory line. I was her Alpha and I was her friend at the same time but apparently that means nothing because Blake and the twins have been dragged through hell. "Because you have everything I don't anymore. Once you accepted Blake, it felt like you had taken him away from me, and then when Jayson disappeared, all I wanted to do was blame you for what had happened. And then Sean died so I had no one. I was all alone while your family seemed to continue growing," Nicole was holding back her tears as she spoke and I almost felt sorry for her. But then I remembered what she had done to me and I didn't feel as sorry for her anymore. "I named my daughter after you. Now, when she asks where her name came from, I can't tell her that it came from the woman
MAXWELL I didn't even realize the room had fallen silent, until I looked across at the stage to see my mother was now standing up there with Uncle Luca one side of her and Jackson the other. Michael was at the back with Shantel standing in front on him, his arms wrapped around her waist, with Aurora on his left and his twin sisters, Kailyn and Trinity who were fourteen and looked exactly like their mother to the point that it would have been difficult to tell who the twins were and who Aurora was if she had aged at the same rate as a werewolf, standing on his left — it's a shame that Daniel wasn't here. I did actually miss him and hope that he would make an appearance, but I guess he was either happy with his mate or he was still searching for her. Uncle Link was off to the side of the stage with his arm wrapped around Aunt Jamie, who actually was in her thirties but still had the face of a teenager, while Uncle Link must have been in his late fifties by now but looked just as good
MAXWELL "Ah, Maxwell, my man, you ready for what's about to happen?" Michael grinned as he threw his arm around my shoulder. I am pretty sure he was more excited about tonight then I was, then again, he was about to become Beta in place of my mum's best friend, so I guess he had good reason to be in the mood that he was. "Don't call me my man, I've told you about that before," I chuckled. Despite there being an eight year age gap between Michael and myself, I actually got on better with him than I did with Daniel, because of the amount of time he had spent looking after me when I was younger; I became quite attached to him when I was six and he started looking after us every Saturday night so my parents could have some time alone. Nicole was close to Abby, but that wasn't surprising given that they were practically the same age, but it got to the point where the two of them were inseparable. You would never find one without the o
"This is Blake, my mate, and these are Maxwell and Nicole. I guess I should formally welcome you to Darkness." I pointed between Blake and the twins in turn, still watching her face in an effort to gage her reaction, but there was nothing and I didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing; I would like to think that it's a good thing and that she knows she's got nothing to worry about. I wasn't going to be a problem for her, not when I had Blake, and I didn't think that she was going to be a problem for me either, not when she had Luca and was going to have fun with three kids by the looks of things. "Hi. I'm Daniel and I like Lego. I am daddy's favourite and he loves me more than he loves Michael, that's Michael by the way, and I'm going to be four next month. Daddy told me that I'm going to be a big boy and-" "Daniel. Calm down." Luca chuckled as he picked his son up and held him on his hip. Daniel wrapped his arms around his father's neck, kissing him on the cheek, wh
ELLIE "How do you think they're going to turn out?" I rocked Maxwell in my arms, Blake had a sleeping Nicole in his own and the boys were having a competition to see who could colour without going outside of the lines; it had been a rather peaceful afternoon and I think that had something to do with the fact Luca wasn't around. As much as I loved him, he was bringing the whole mood down with his constant snapping and unnecessary arguments with either myself or one of the boys, and I knew that's because he was such a stubborn pig who didn't want to get what was rightfully his; he wanted to do the right thing and let her go. But, what was the right thing for her, wasn't the right thing for him and it was beginning to show. I didn't mean to interfere, and I sure as hell didn't expect him to shout at me, but someone needed to point the idiot in the right direction otherwise he never would have done anything about his mate. He would h
LUCA I didn't even need to think about where I was going because my feet seemed to take me there on their own, they knew where we were going and they wanted to get their quicker than I was anticipating; it was almost like they were more excited than I was to get what belonged to us. My wolf hadn't stopped dancing around my head and he continued to let out both howls and yips of happiness in the back of my head. It always made things so much easier knowing that you had the support of your wolf, not that I ever doubted his reappearance once we got to finally meet our mate properly, but he had been unnervingly quiet since I decided that I wasn't going to go after the girl who was made for me.I wasn't even going to lie, I was still shocked that I had been given a second chance, I was even more shocked that it had happened as quickly as this; it had barely been a week since I rejected Charlotte and I was already being given another ch
LUCA "So, let me get this straight, you want to break my mate up with her boyfriend by pretending that you've been sleeping with him?" I asked Ellie. I know that she was only trying to help me but I didn't want her to ruin someone else's relationship just for the sake of my own happiness. She was my best friend and I know that she just wanted the best for me but I refused to let her do something she would live to regret in the end, especially when she came to live in the pack with me and Ellie had to face her every single day knowing what she had done. "You got it," Ellie grinned proudly. "Yeah. That's not going to happen," I told her without breaking eye contact and I noticed Blake nodding in agreement with me from the corner of my eye. I knew that he wasn't happy with the plan from the expression which he had been wearing and the look of murder which was in his eye as she spoke about anothe
I was luckier than same people. I may have lost both sets of my parents but I had a mate who loved me unconditionally and would do absolutely anything for me even if he was a jealous pig at times and overreacted whenever someone got a little too close to me. I had a brother who had always been my rock and had helped me through more things as a child than anyone had done. And I had three others who were practically like brothers anyway, I loved them like they were and I didn't want to lose any of them again because of something as stupid as me not wanting to ask for help. I had my children. I finally understood what it was to love something so much that you would kill anyone who dared to hurt them and I really understood what a mother's love was, I understand how a child could become the centre of someone's universe and how everyone could seem insignificant in comparison to your own child. I would die before I let anyone touch the twins again and I would fight
ELLIE I watched out the corner of my eye as Luca left the room. I don't know why Jamie opened her mouth and thought it was acceptable to comment on his skills as a father but she was in the wrong and she didn't have the right to make a comment. Luca did his best for those boys. He tried to put them before himself and, when Charlotte didn't want anything to do with either of them, he was there to make sure they had the love and the care they deserved. He wasn't the perfect father, I don't think there was a thing such as the perfect father, but he wasn't terrible and he didn't deserve the comments which Jamie made. She didn't know what he had been through. She didn't know the fights he had to endure just to make sure those boys never felt like they weren't wanted. She didn't even understand the pain he was in after finding out that they weren't really his children because his mate got he
LUCA I turned to see Michael staring at me with something in his eyes. He wasn't an idiot so he knew there was more to the story than he was being told, I knew I would have to tell him the truth at some point but it could wait a little longer before I did that. I would have to do it with a clear head and when I could explain it to Michael properly. "Are you sure you're alright dad?" Michael asked. "I'll be fine. And I'm sorry if you think I'm dumping you on people all the time. I don't mean to, I just, I don't know how to deal with all of this," I sighed as I ran my hands through my hair. "You're trying your best and I know that. You've always done the best for both me and Daniel, even when mum gave up with the both of us, you were still there and you have always been there. I love you dad and, when I am older, I want to be the same sort of man you are because you're nothing but selfless," Michael shocked me by wrapping h