The chopper is already landing in the field outside the village. Josh is behind me, helping me back to my feet. I stare at the kitchen without seeing it. Then I’m running. Sprinting up the stairs, I grab my bag and everything within seconds and with my phone stuffed into my pocket, I’m running out the door. It slams behind me. I can hear Josh’s boots thudding into the ground behind me and I look back, nodding as I notice he’s carrying my medical kit. I didn’t even need to hear the messages on my phone to know that the chopper was coming for me. Time slipped away in a heartbeat, I’m focused and I’m getting on that chopper. It barely has time to land. The blades starting to slow before I’m across the grass, ducking as I go. Josh is beside me, throwing in my heavier duffel as I climb up. It’s Kyle who is pulling me into the seat. Waving to Josh as he helps me buckle up.It feels like everything is happening in double time and the ground is falling away. My hearing is numbed by the angr
Kylar holds me tight but the embrace is still brief. He turns and I’m following him, half running to keep up with his longer strides. Elder Marie approaches us both, holding out her hands to me. I blink before tearing off my bag from my shoulder and passing it over with a nod. ‘This will be quicker on four feet,’ Kylar agrees. He hesitates, looking around at the trees that surround us. We’re not quite in the middle of the village yet, but it’s not exactly private either. I don’t care. I shrug him away and start stripping off my shirt. I turn around, keeping my back to Marie as I pull away my clothes, kicking off my boots and shoving my pants down my legs. I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath as I stand naked. I can hear Kylar shedding his clothes behind me and block him out. I concentrate on the feel of dirt beneath my feet. My toes are buried in the spongy moss. I inhale the scent of the forest surrounding me, and I’m hit with the overwhelming pheromones of the future Alpha a
My mother was a powerful magic user in the Pack. When I’m feeling cynical, I wonder if my Dad really loved her, or if he loved the power of having her as his Luna. I don’t really remember her, except that she had dark hair like me and Bella, but blue eyes. Blue as a delicate cornflower on a summer’s day. She smelt like strawberries and ice cream and had a hug that could wrap up both her twins tightly. I don’t really remember the years either side of her death, it’s like my memories have captured her from when I was younger. When I was younger than my boys are now. I remember her, as a toddler remembers their Mumma, always soft and loving. She was always ready with a smile. Yet even now I can see the depth in her gaze, the far off look that was often focused on something beyond what I understood. It was magic that killed her. Or rather, Rogue’s who were employed by my Father’s rival pack the Bloodied Horizon. They don’t exist any longer. Rogue’s took up a bounty to take out the So
I wake and Kylar is gone. There’s a dry feeling on my tongue, I’m dehydrated. Even my eyes are itchy. I stay still, reluctant to face the day. To accept that I’m lying on an inflatable mattress in a tent, because my sons were stolen. I feel broken from the inside out. But lying here won’t find them either. I roll off the bedding and ease out of the tent. It’s still early morning and I stare at the grey light that surrounds me. The campsite feels as though it’s asleep. It’s quiet except for a soft call of birds. I can see half a dozen tents along with trailers and more quads and atvs that I can count.Everything is neatly organised, as though Midnight Forest has mobilised an entire army into the Forest. I feel a lump in my chest, they really have. They’ve called everyone in for my boys. I’m so incredibly grateful and frustrated at the same time. I can feel the connection between myself and the rest of the Pack. Fainter than it was yesterday. There is some relief in that. Yet I know
Kylar The last few days have been a nightmare that I can’t seem to wake up from. Every time I thought I was connecting with Ava and getting closer to her, she managed to pull further away. We were sat on the sofa in her childhood home, and I don’t know if she couldn’t sense it, but the whole house smelled like her. Even if the smell was faint, like the smell of old books in a library. The house was so familiar, even though I’d never been there before the trip. It was part of her. Part of what made her, just like Silver Stream and its current Alpha. There’s a connection there, a shared history that I know I can’t fight. She’s a grown woman, making her own choices. Even if it took everything I had not to jump across the coffee table and rip out Alpha Josh’s throat. How dare he ask her to be his Luna?! Couldn’t he sense that she belongs to me?Sabre was growling at him, and I felt his own Alpha rise against my own. Because no, I’ve not marked Ava. She hasn’t consented to that. But we
AvaEverything hurts. My mouth is dry, tongue scratching against the roof. My lungs are tight, every breath a struggle. I fight to open my eyes, but my head is pounding and I’m reluctant. I just want to curl up, burying beneath the covers and sleep. Am I in a bed?I frown as my eyes adjust. I peer out at the world. It’s grey, darker than I expected. But what did I expect? Where am I? I try to stretch out and realise that I can’t. Maybe that’s why my chest and lungs hurt so much. My arms are bound behind me, locked at the wrists and elbows. I struggle, trying to fight against the rising sense of panic. What has happened. Where am I? I feel sick, as though I’ve drunk too much tequila before falling into bed. I’ve never been so thirsty and my head feels as though someone is hitting it with drumsticks. I close my eyes again. I need to focus.Sore head, dehydration, memory loss, confusion....I go through my symptoms and feel the bile rise in my stomach again. I really am going to be si
Don’t panic, don’t panic. I’m stern with myself. Fighting against my own rapid breath. I can breathe, I remind myself and I close my eyes once more. Blocking out the world. I wish this was just a bad dream. But it’s not. I’ve felt like this before, when I was Banished from my pack. I breathe a little easier. That was worse. That felt so much worse, physically. As though my soul was pulled out of my chest. As though I was bleeding from a hundred different stab wounds. This doesn’t feel like that. I feel panic, I’m in pain. I’m under the affect of whatever drug they gave me and the dehydration. But I don’t feel as though the very essence of my soul has been splintered. Breathe, I remind myself. Separating someone from their Wolf. I’ve heard of it happening but pain usually kills both parties. I’m not in that kind of pain, and for the first time in my life, I feel grateful for the pain of Banishment. It gives me something to compare my current agony with. It’s not that. So Seren isn
I feel under pressure from the time that’s been slipping away. I know that I need to do something, but tactics aren’t my strong point. I’m a Doctor, not a battlefield officer. I know I could stand here all night, trying to decide what to do. There isn’t time for that, so I take the risk. I move forward, slipping down the rocks that border the edge of the pool beside the cave.I try to keep to the shadows, sticking close to the ground. I still can’t feel Seren and I can’t hear anyone else approaching. So I take my chance and sink down, I dive forward into the water. Wading carefully, trying not to splash until I’m deep enough so that I can sink under the surface, holding my breath.I straighten up, pushing my hair back from my face. My hands and wrists are stinging, but at least the open wounds are clean, or something like it. The water, from what I can see is clear. It’s fresh and it’s running so I cup my hands, taking a deep drink. Anything to take the edge of my dehydration.Then
It was a rare moon that tied with the Winter Equinox and the Human celebration of Christmas. A tradition that I have always embraced for my children. Afterall, they spent their first years immersed in human culture. Yet Christmas Eve, with snow falling thick and fast through leafless trees, was when Kylar and I married. My residency was completed and felt as though it was part of a life I’d nearly forgotten. Between our children and the medical practice, I’ve been busy enough and can’t imagine fitting in any additional responsibilities. The sky was white with snow clouds but the trees were covered in fairy lights that twinkled in a gentle golden glow. I’m excited, butterflies filling my insides, as though I didn’t see him yesterday.I’m stood at the back of the pack house, in a beautiful satin dress that clings to all of my slender curves. I’ve styled my hair down in loose curls, just how he likes it. I should be nervous, but I’m not. The dress has a mermaid train that kicks out
The second morning of the trial turned out to be the last. Much to the relief of everyone within Midnight Forest, and I imagine Silver Stream as well. The sky was clear, but cloudy. A storm brewing on the horizon, black clouds swirling around the distant forest. A storm we sat within the centre of. The air heated and uneasy as we waited in a calm filled with fraught anticipation.I sat beside Kylar, trying not to pay too much attention to just how incredible he looked in a slate grey tailored suit and black shirt. I still can’t believe that he is mine, that he is my Mate. But despite how awful events have been, I am so incredibly happy to be beside him. With Kylar, I feel at home. With my children, I feel complete.We waited, sitting back among the rows of hundreds of Wolves. Kylar was sitting upright, scanning the tree line for any more trouble. Every now and then I would catch a glimpse or a sense of a Midnight Forest patrol. I knew that there were a lot of Pack members, because I
AvaI’m grateful, and very relieved when about an hour after he passes out, Kylar stirs. He sits up, blinking at me. Frowning, the top of his chest dotted with beads of sweat as his body fought off the nasty infection from the fangs of a werewolf. He stretches out and I sink onto the sofa beside him passing him a glass of fresh water to sip.‘How are you doing?’ I look him over, but it’s clear that the effect of the silver in his bloodstream has worn off. It really does affect us badly. I can understand why he tried so desperately to free Elsbeth from the magically imbued cage, but it wasn’t worth the toll on his body. But that’s my Mate, as wonderful and intelligent as he is. He often thinks with his heart instead of his head. I smooth his hair back as he drinks as though he’s dying of thirst. Technically he is, his body will be working on overdrive to restore the blood that was lost.‘Thirsty,’ he replies, voice gruff. ‘The Queen was here?’ He peers at me, heavy brows drawn toge
Without any more time to think, I’m thrown clear of the Star Bitten Brother. I skid over the dirt and I’m on my paws again. I let Sabre take control. The Brother might be huge and even a decent fighter, but he hasn’t made it his career to be a hunter and a killer.I’m on him again, aware that the second has been brought down by a pair of black wolves with silver streaks. I can hear the human, shrieking voice of Elsbeth, an irritation in the back of my mind as I snap at my foe. He twists, sinking his teeth into my leg but I’m on him. He’s hurt me more than anyone has managed in years, but I won’t make the same mistake twice. I lunge, catching hold of his neck again and snap. He drops, soundless beneath me. Dead to the ground and I land on top of him. I kick away at his body, putting distance between us before I morph back.Luca’ is wrestling with Elsbeth at the edge of the nearest Prison block set with silver. She’s in human form again and he’s changed back, trying to catch her ha
The King opens proceedings with a short speech before he and his wife take their seats on one side of the platform. My Father remains in the middle, waiting for hush to fall again before he asks for the first of the Rogue’s to be brought forward. There are nine elected elders from different Packs, representing different areas of the North America’s what will conduct the interviews of the Rogues, for everyone gathered to witness. Part of me hopes that this will be over in a day, but I know it’s more likely to take at least a week.Werewolf justice is often swift and brutal, but calling together a full conclave with royalty in attendance, always slows proceedings down. In reality, I find it hard to concentrate. I can see Ava watching my Father intently, and then as the gathered Elders take up their own seats on either side of our rulers. What she is either trying to ignore, or hasn’t noticed. Is that the Queen and the Goddess's representative among us, has not looked away from her,
Kylar There are more Wolves and Alpha’s in the Midnight Forest than I ever thought was possible. Our Village has always served as the main hub for the region and it has a decent number of guest houses in case of an event. Yet they’re all full, and so are the guest accommodations in each of the subsidiary villages. I haven’t had as much time as I, or Sabre would like to spend with our Mate over the past few days, or the twins. I feel like I’ve spent all my days driving or running through the territory to meet the Sub’s that head up the different villages. They’re Wolves that might be considered Beta’s. I know most of them as friends, something I’m grateful for.If something ever happened to Luca, I’d still have backup. Even better, is the organisation of our military strength. It’s why I always have such a good pick of skills to fill out my missions. I try to bring along someone from each Sub once a year. To make sure we’re all staying in contact.What it means, is that our command
I knew that the Village was going to get busy with the imminent trials of the Rogue’s. So, although I had a month of shifts to fit in at the Western Hospital, I rearranged my shifts to drag them out. It’s going to take me the better part of Autumn to finish my residency, but it’s worth it.This way, I’m also never away from my boys for more than one night at a time, something I’ve struggled with. Even knowing that Kylar is staying in our little house. I’m still caught with a thread of fear whenever I step out the door and leave them behind, with their Father. I introduced them to Kylar, properly as my boyfriend. They were over dramatic, playful, grossed out and found the idea that I had a special friend hilarious. Then Rowan wrapped his arms around me, possessive and wouldn’t let go. Until his brother started picking up his toys and he didn't want to share his latest tyrannosaurus rex.Yet once I had explained that Kylar really was their Father, the boys stared at him. I shared a
I feel complete in a way I find hard to explain. I stretch out on the bed, marvelling at the man before me. As though I could luxuriate in the view of him all night. I smile to myself, rueful. That really isn’t an option. Not with the twins due home after their movie night. I bit my bottom lip as he moves over me.I reach up, wrapping my arms around his neck. I can hear his thoughts in my mind. They’re down right dirty enough to make me blush again. I’m giggling, because I’m happy. Strangely, deliriously happy to have been claimed by Kylar.You don’t think we have time to make love again? He teases me with his thoughts as he bends to kiss me again. Grazing his lips over mine in a gentle caress. Maybe my body temperature is still spiking from the hot water, but he makes me feel so effortlessly dizzy. I reach out with my own thoughts, closing my eyes. Enjoying the touch of his kiss against the side of my neck. Hyper aware of the sensitive patch of skin on my neck, where his mark will c
Kylar’s movements are deft and confident as he unfastens the buckle of his belt, letting it fall away. His pants are down the strong muscles in his legs, pooling on the floor as he steps out of them. Someday, I have to tell him how much I love seeing him barefoot. I didn’t think I had a weird obsession with it, but I love how he’s already lost his socks. He hasn’t taken his eyes off me and my heart gives rapid little pumps of excitement. I stand beneath the waterfall, body hot, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. My mouth is dry, but my hair is slicked back from my face. I can see myself in the mirror behind his shoulder and I gulp.My eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen him as he advances, his erection jutting out from his body. He’s hard and ready as he steps behind the shower screen. He hasn’t said a word and I look up at him, breathless, tongue tied. He advances and I backway, pushed by the force of his Alpha presence. Like the weight of a waterfall bearing down on me