“I wonder what this is about,” Sophia commented, walking onto the back porch with an envelope in hand.It was early evening and the two friends were hanging out at the back of the house. The doorbell had rang a few moments ago and Sophia had offered to see who it was.“Why do you have a letter from the university?” Sophia asked, handing Eleanor the envelope and taking a seat. “Do you want to go back to school or something?” she teased.Eleanor looked at the emblem on the envelope. It was indeed a letter from the werewolf university.Tearing the paper, she found a thick card inside. After reading the message, she looked at her best friend. She could barely contain her smile as she said, “They want me to deliver a speech at the graduation ceremony.”Sophia’s eyes widened as she reached for the card. “Are you serious?” Her surprise turned to elation as she read it too. “Wow. This is amazing, Eleanor. I can’t believe this. When was the last time they invited a Luna to make a speech at the
Mia sat in her seat beside Thomas, jealousy swirling through her as she looked at Eleanor on the podium.When she had first found out that Eleanor would be giving the speech, she had hoped Eleanor would make a fool of herself. Instead, the reception to her speech was quite positive, and everyone seemed to be pleased with her.But that wasn’t even the worst part.It was that Thomas didn’t even seem to realise what was going on.That woman was trying to outshine him, and yet he was looking at her with the same captivated expression everyone else around them was.Mia couldn’t stand it. It would be harder to get rid of her if everyone thought Eleanor was the model Luna.“Is she trying to replace you or something?” she muttered to Thomas. “She looks like she wants more to be recognised as Alpha rather than Luna, does she?”Thomas looked at Mia, a small furrow between his eyes. “What? Why would you say that?”“Look at her, talking about herself and everything she has done for the pack. Now,
Eleanor was surprised to find the man who had sneaked up on her was none other than Henry Hudsen.Her fight-response disappeared, replaced by embarrassment. She pushed him away and stepped back, hoping he didn’t notice how she blushed.Damn, what was it with him and making her so flustered? A second ago, she was ready to crush his groin in full defensive mode. But the sight of his face alone and the thought of how close they’d been–even if it had only been for a moment–was enough to send her heart racing.She moved behind her desk and took a seat–the farther away she was from him, the better. “I didn’t figure you for someone who enters people’s houses through windows.”He arched his brow as he perched on the corner of her desk. He was so relaxed, as if he had been inside her office before. “I’m here to discuss your divorce and replacing your husband, and we can’t do that publicly, can we?”No, they couldn’t. She swallowed as she looked up at him. He was wearing a white shirt and a pai
“What are you doing? Where are you going?” Ethan’s wolf, Kyle, demanded as Ethan hurried away from the restaurant’s entrance, headed for the parking lot.Ethan shook his head and kept going.This couldn’t be happening.It had all happened so fast, and his first instinct had been to get the hell out of there. He didn’t even know her, but he knew she wasn’t the one he wanted.“She is our mate!” His wolf was excited. While Ethan wanted to run away, Kyle wanted to go back and claim her. “She is ours.”Ethan heard footsteps behind him then, and he turned to find the woman following him. His entire body went alive again, the way it did a few moments ago inside the restaurant.He felt an invisible, strange force drawing him to her. A force he couldn’t fight, and he hated it.He had never given much thought about finding his mate. At least not after he met Eleanor. The idea of being with another woman, mate or not, never occurred to him. And now, when there was a chance he could get closer to
Henry had expected the night to be eventful from the moment Thomas had said he wanted Mia to join them at dinner.But he hadn’t expected that it would be the night Ethan found his mate. It wasn’t obvious to everyone else around the table, but he found out through the mind link between them.He was happy for Ethan. Not every werewolf got to meet their mate. He could tell from Ethan’s reaction that he was more shocked than elated.Which made sense, since Ethan had feelings for Eleanor. The fact that his crush’s best friend was his mate was almost like fate playing a sick joke on him.Eleanor’s friend seemed like a nice person. He didn’t know anything about her, but he didn’t think Eleanor would keep anyone who wasn’t decent around her. If Ethan gave her a chance, they’d make a good couple.Henry stood from his chair and pulled out the one next to him when Eleanor got to the table. She looked at him and then at Thomas.Henry lifted a brow. Her husband was sitting at the table with anothe
Throughout dinner, Sophia could see that Eleanor was dying to find out what had happened between her and Ethan.So she was not surprised that the moment they got back to the Alpha’s villa, her best friend dragged her to her bedroom and immediately asked about it.If finding her mate had gone differently, she would have been over the moon and excited to share the news with Eleanor. But given how it had gone, she decided now was not the right time to break the news to her best friend.There was already so much going on. She didn’t want to make Eleanor worried about her. It was enough that one of them was already going through love troubles.“Nothing,” she said, walking to the window and peering outside. “He mistook me for someone he knew.”“Really?” Eleanor asked. She sounded unconvinced.Sophia dared not look at her. It would be so much harder to lie if she did. “Yeah. I know, it’s ridiculous. I saw how he looked at me when he ran out of the restaurant, and that’s why I followed him. W
When Eleanor saw the man waiting outside the conference room, she was surprised. She recognised him right away as the man who had been involved with Mia at the party.Alpha Walter. He was the last person she had expected to see at Blackstorm. But she was happy to see him.She was convinced he knew something about Mia’s background. Thomas joined them in the conference room soon after.Alpha Walter introduced himself again as the Alpha of Shallowend. It was a distant pack and small in size.“What brought you to our pack?” Thomas asked. He sounded defensive, as if he was anticipating that the man would cause trouble for Mia.Eleanor wondered whether Thomas was no longer interested in finding out the truth about Mia’s background. He had caused quite the scene that night after the party. Had he fallen for Mia’s fake tears?She wouldn’t be surprised if he had decided to trust his mate blindly.“I would like to apologise for what happened at the party,” Walter said, looking contrite. “I didn
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
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