Mia’s life had been horrible from the moment she was born. Her mother was a sex worker, and Mia had never known who her father was.Her mother’s main focus was her job–she did everything she could to keep her customers.When Mia came, she was an unwelcome distraction who could destroy her business, so she kept her hidden. That’s how Mia ended up spending most of her childhood hidden in a small basement.She never got to play with other kids or go to school. Her mother kept the door to the basement locked to keep her from escaping. Rarely, her mother let her spend some time in the upper rooms when she wasn’t expecting anyone.It wasn’t until Mia was sixteen when a man who was stalking her mother discovered that she was living in the house.The stalker happened to be one of her mother’s customers, and when he saw Mia, he attempted to molest her.Fortunately, her mother showed up just then and accosted the man. When the man started beating her mother, Mia took the opportunity and ran out
Leaving the Shallowend pack was bittersweet for Mia. She felt both lost and free.Lost because she had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Free because for the first time in her life, there was nobody controlling her life.She did not want to leave her son, but there was nothing for him in her new life. Being with her would only make his life worse. He was better off remaining in Shallowend. As Dante’s son, he’d be treated a lot nicer than they’d treated her.After leaving Shallowend, she knew that if she relied on other people, she’d forever be stuck in the kind of life she had just left at Shallowend. Her mother, who should have protected and loved her, had kept her hidden, depriving her of all joys of childhood.Dante, who she had thought could protect her from his father and brother, turned out to be helpless against them.If she didn’t do something to change her life, people would always take advantage of her. She wanted a life where nobody dared look down on her or treat her badly
Walter pointed at the baby in Solomon’s arms as he approached Mia. “Unless you want your new hosts to find out about your child, you’ll give me more than a million dollars. I have photos of you and the kid, and if I think even for a second you are going to break your part of the deal, I’ll send them to Thomas. Do you understand?”Mia’s fingernails dug into the table behind her. After everything she had done to get away from her old life, it had still caught up to her.Now, she wished she had never attended the Alpha party. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have run into Walter and he never would have found out where she was.“How did you even manage to get into such a powerful pack?” Solomon asked. “Did you sleep with the Alpha or something?”“He is my mate,” Mia replied through clenched teeth.“Oh,” Solomon muttered. “Makes sense. I wonder if he’ll still want to keep you around if he finds out you are the daughter of a prostitute.”“Fine, I’ll send you more money,” she said. “Just wait.”“
The next morning, Eleanor was having breakfast in her room, contemplating how to have more time with Henry during his visit.This was the best time to go over everything and discuss their plan in length. When he went back to his pack, they might not get an opportunity to meet face to face soon.Her main concern was not raising Thomas’s suspicions.While she sat there thinking about how to arrange a meeting with Henry, the sound of commotion from downstairs reached her. It was early in the morning and she wasn’t expecting any guests.Curious, she left her room and walked to the stairs. Voices reached her as she made her way downstairs, and when the living room came into view, she saw several people gathered around the table.“What’s going on here?” she asked, beckoning to a nearby servant.“Mia is holding a tea party for some of the Omegas in the pack,” the servant replied.“Oh?” Eleanor mumbled. Mia had not mentioned anything like that to her. How bold of her, to hold a tea party in t
Henry stood on the other side of the table from Mia, his commanding presence towering over everybody.“Since you know so much about me, what else would you like to bring to everybody’s attention concerning me?” he asked, narrowing his eyes and resting his hands on the table.Mia shrunk in her chair, her prior confidence gone.“It appears to me that you have so much to learn, seeing as you think it’s appropriate to run your mouth about your Luna and her guests. Who do you think you are?”The room had gone silent, nobody moving as they watched the scene unfold in front of their eyes.Eleanor was surprised by Henry’s sudden appearance and his straightforward admonishing of Mia’s comments.She was glad Henry defend for her unreservedly. He did what her husband hadn’t done and wouldn’t do.However, no matter how untrue Mia’s sentiments would have been, even if Eleanor denied them, word would have still spread. It didn’t matter that they were baseless assumptions on Mia’s part.In the end,
Henry stepped closer to Eleanor. The hairs at the back of her neck stood and goosebumps broke out all over her arms. She could feel the intensity of his eyes on her even without looking at him.“Why is your wolf missing?” he asked, his voice so close to her ear.Her heart sped, both at his closeness and his question. She swallowed and took a step back. Looking up at him, she asked, “What do you mean?”There was no way he could know her wolf was missing. She still smelled like a werewolf, so what had given it away?If anyone else had made such a discovery despite the lack of symptoms that something was wrong with her wolf, she would have been wary.But somehow, she wasn’t afraid of revealing the truth to Henry. She was sure he wouldn’t harm her despite knowing her weakness.It was crazy–she had only known him for a short time, and there was a lot about him that was still a mystery to her. And yet, she felt safe with him.“I know your wolf is missing,” he told her. “You can tell me the
Eleanor was shocked to see how Miller looked as he approached the two of them, his angry gaze fixed on Henry.She couldn’t for the life of her fathom the reason behind his anger. Unless he thought Henry was harming her? But Henry hadn’t done anything to suggest that, so what the hell was going on with Miller?Henry watched in irritation as Blackstorm’s Beta approached, looking ready to get into a fight. Where on earth had he come from, and what did he want?“Who do you think you are to touch her like that?” Miller growled when he stopped right in front of Henry.Touch her?Miller was confronting Henry with so much anger because Henry had touched Eleanor?Behind Henry, Eleanor frowned. Why would Miller be so triggered by Henry touching her?“How is it any of your business?” Henry asked, cocking his head to the side. “Are you her personal watchdog or something?”“Henry,” Eleanor called in a warning tone, not wanting him to worsen the situation, “I think it’s a misunderstanding.”The two
A shiver ran down Eleanor’s body the moment Henry’s lips caressed her skin. She had prepared herself, knowing such close contact was necessary for the healing.After all, it was his saliva that had the healing capability. But as her body reacted to his touch, she knew she was anything but prepared.When he ran his tongue over her inflamed mark, she felt a responding tightening between her legs. Her body’s reactions mortified her.He was healing her! Why was she having such reactions? What if he could tell? She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.Henry swiped his tongue over her mark again, and she had to bite down on her lip to stop a moan from slipping free.There was a part of her that realised the smart thing to do was push him away. Stop the healing. There had to be other ways to treat the inflammation.But as the pleasurable sensations arising in her body got stronger, her resolve got weaker. Instead of pulling away, she found herself giving herself over to the sensations, let
Eleanor woke up in the morning after the coronation ceremony to the sensation of Henry’s fingers stroking down her arm. Electricity skittered across her skin from the simple contact, waking her completely.“Are you awake?” Henry asked, as if he could tell without even looking at her face, which was buried in his shoulder.“Yes,” she mumbled.He hooked his fingers under her chin and lifted her face. He smiled at her softly before kissing her on the lips. It was a soft kiss at first, but before long, it intensified into their tongues tangling together and her hand rising to sink into his hair.His hand on the other hand went lower, slipping between her legs and seeking her warm centre. She moved her legs apart, granting him easy entry. His fingers teased her nub, rubbing her until she was panting against his mouth and humping into his hand.“Please,” she pleaded, wanting to feel him inside.He pulled his hand away and before she knew it she was lying on her back and he was positioning h
was the culmination of Henry’s efforts in the past few months, which had seen him rise to the position of the Alpha King of the South.While Blackstorm started rebuilding and putting things back in order, Henry had gotten busy strengthening Darkfall’s territory.The alliance with Jonathan had left most of the rogue packs around Darkfall weak. They had sacrificed most of their warriors and funds in plotting against Darkfall and Blackstorm and helping Jonathan wage his war.They had been promised territories and titles, but with the hybrid’s defeat, all they had gotten were losses. This made it easier for Henry to conquer and absorb them without extending a lot of effort. He also took over Alpha Elroy’s pack, making it part of Darkfall.In the months that followed, he had not faced any serious threat, and Darkfall thrived and became the most powerful pack in the southern region. Soon, all the packs in the region selected him as the Alpha King of the South, asserting his dominance and Da
The next day, members from the two packs–Eleanor’s and Thomas’s–gathered in the square, awaiting Mia’s trial. Word about her involvement with the hybrid attackers had spread, and everybody was looking forward to her sentence.Her execution would close a chapter everybody wanted to forget and move on from. After that, it would be time to rebuild the pack, as one, to what it was before all the chaos.Mia was tied to a post, with wood arranged beneath her feet. She struggled against the rope around her hands and feet as she cried out, claiming innocence. “She is only doing this because of jealousy!” she screamed so that the people gathered could hear her. “She killed Alpha Thomas because he chose me instead of her, and now she wants to kill me and his only heir.”“Witch!” someone in the crowd yelled and pelted a stone at her. “Shut your filthy lying mouth!”“There were many witnesses present when you killed Alpha Thomas,” one of the warriors who were with Thomas that day said, “and even
It was then that it occurred to Eleanor that she had not heard from Miller since she came back. She had been communicating with Sophia all along. If something bad had happened to him, Sophia would have told her, right?“Hey, have you seen Miller?” she decided to ask Henry. He had been at the pack before the attacks so she thought he might have an idea about her Gamma’s whereabouts. “I haven’t heard from him or seen him anywhere.”Henry sighed, his chest shifting beneath her. “Did you ever find it funny how he agreed to become your Gamma?”Eleanor frowned and shook her head. “What? Why? No, I…he had promised to support me no matter what, and he wanted the best for the pack. He knew Sophia would be my Beta all along and was okay with the position he got.”“So you think he was just being selfless, giving up his position as the Beta of Blackstorm to be your Gamma?” Henry asked her.Well, there was that, but there was also the fact that Miller had confessed to having feelings for her.Even
Henry deepened the kiss, his lips moving against hers with strong strokes. Their bodies, pressed against each other with nothing in between, lit on fire as a burning passion passed between and through them.Eleanor pushed him back into a tree, trapping him there while her hands roamed his muscular body. “Will anyone miss you if I lock you up in a room with me for the next one year?” she asked when they pulled back to catch their breaths.“They’ll just have to do without me,” he replied as she pressed her lips to his face. She trailed kisses from his temple and down to his lips, where she only teased him before moving on down to his jaw. He tipped his head back into the tree as she continued on to his throat.He groaned in pleasure when she wrapped her lips around his Adam’s apple and sucked. While she tormented him with her lips, he ran his hands down her back until they reached her ass.He squeezed her cheeks and pressed her forward, letting her feel his hot erection against her bell
Elroy cracked his neck as he smiled arrogantly. “Once you lose, your territory will become mine.”Good luck, Eleanor thought, wishing he would shut up already. Her wolf growled and hit her paw on the ground, letting him know that he was wasting time blabbering. He seemed to get the message because he shifted back to his wolf form and faced her.Henry got out of the way and the two rushed at each other, growling. They met mid-air and crashed into one another before falling to the ground. Elroy’s wolf lunged for her throat but Harper was quick on her feet and got away.She went straight for his hind leg and snapped it between her fangs. Elroy’s wolf howled and violently pulled himself away, the scent of his blood filling the air.Eleanor wished she could taunt him then, ask him whether he was sure he wanted to go ahead with this. Taunting him like that would make him see red and attack out of spite without caution. It would be a quick way to end this battle.She settled for regarding hi
Nessa fell to her knees beside her brother, tears streaming from her eyes. “Thomas! Thomas!” she called, holding onto his arm and shaking him. “Don’t do this. Don’t leave me!”A sombre mood engulfed the warriors who had accompanied Thomas and they watched helplessly as his sister cried over his body. It was such a sudden death, and none of them could have imagined that it would be the end for him.They had left Blackstorm determined to aid their former fellow pack members and fix the strained relationship between the two packs. Nobody could have foreseen such a tragedy.Eleanor wrapped an arm around Nessa’s shoulders and pulled her into a hug. The girl turned to her and accepted her embrace, crying into her shoulder.Eleanor wished she had been able to notice Mia earlier and stop her from hurting anyone. Nessa’s pain awakened the despair from losing Liam.She wished that the thought of bringing Mia to justice could do anything to erase the pain she had caused. It would not bring back
Thomas’s warriors rushed towards him where he lay on the ground unable to move. Eleanor looked up from his body and to Mia, who had shot the arrow.Mia’s eyes were filled with rage as she faced Eleanor. There were about a dozen werewolf warriors baying for her blood, but she did not even seem to be bothered.After being sprung from the interrogation room, it had taken her a while to find her way to the east gate without discovery. Before she could make it there, the building she had taken cover in had blown up. She was lucky to get out alive!She was running on fumes from the anger she felt towards Jonathan. How dare he set off the bombs without first ensuring she was out of harm’s way? She was the one who had introduced the idea to him.She had delivered Henry to him on a silver platter, but he had botched that up to. How could everything go so wrong after everything she had done?She could not believe that he had allowed Eleanor to escape. Was this the she-wolf he regarded far above
By the time Henry got to Eleanor’s pack, there were buildings up in flames.“What happened?” he asked Sophia when she came to meet him.“There was an explosion,” she told him, and then continued to give him a rundown of the situation. “Fortunately, we were able to evacuate most of the pack members successfully.” Worry took over her features. “However, there are a few Omegas trapped in the kitchen and basement. We are working on getting them out. Some of my warriors are holding off the attackers away from the compound.”“Where is Miller?” Henry asked.“He is keeping an eye on Mia,” she replied.“Coordinate the rescue for the Omegas trapped in the basement and I’ll go check,” he said. “That woman led me and my warriors into a trap, I don’t trust her.”He was already suspecting that she had a hand in the explosions. Jonathan had not had a chance to send a signal before he killed him–at least not one Henry was aware of. So if the explosions had gone off, it had to be one of Jonathan’s spi