Nathan POVMoonglow Pack - Modesty CabinI woke up confused. A scent stung my nose, making me sneeze in reaction while I tried to figure out what the sharp odor was only to realize it was blood. Rachel's blood. Rachel was injured!Sitting straight up in the bed, I groaned as the whole cabin seemed to spin around me. I had never been so dizzy in my entire life. Every movement felt as if I were forcing my body to move through some kind of thick liquid. Even breathing was hard as I struggled to bring my body back under my own control."Rachel?" I called, my voice coming out harsh, rough as the words were dragged from my throat, raked over my sore vocal cords, "Rachel? Are you here?""Nathan?" Rachel called, her voice quiet and tentative in a way I hadn't heard before, almost as if she were scared.Why would she be scared of me though? I couldn't smell another wolf around. Whoever had attacked her---my thoughts derailed as I looked at my arms with dawning horror.Deep scrapes raked down m
Tyler POVMoonglow Pack Territory"How am I supposed to explain walking up to their guardhouse?"The witch, Justice, rolled her eyes at me with a level of insolence I'd never had to tolerate in my life. I wanted to slap some respect into her, but knew there was a line I shouldn't cross with a magic user.Besides. She was here to help me get to my mate. I would tolerate her for the benefits her presence offered me. I had learned from my father even detestable people could be used if necessary."I'm going to use a portal to get your Beta. He'll drive through in your car. I imagine you can talk your way into keeping a Beta with you on Moonglow Pack territory?"House Wright wouldn't need protection, but courtesy and respect together insisted I be allowed a second at my side while on foreign lands. Alpha Campbell would have to allow Adam to stay with me unless he could come up with a reason to refuse me at the gate.I wasn't sure we were even going to get through the gate. I hadn't been in
Rachel POVMoonglow Pack - Visitor CabinDragging my brush through my hair, I tried to focus on how much better I felt after a quick shower. The bath house had been stalls of showers with flimsy curtains as the only boundary between bathers. I was alone by luck or the hour of my visit more than anything else, but I was glad.I didn't want to talk about the blood being rinsed off my skin down into the drain at my feet. Even thinking about the conversations which might have come up was enough to have me tossing my brush away in frustration in favor of going to pace in front of the window.Art hadn't waited long before he came on into the women's washroom to call for me. I finished showering in under ten minutes which was a personal record for me. There was no telling what would happen if I was caught with marks all over me courtesy of Nathan's Lycan form.We raced back to the Modesty Cabin only for Art to gently shove me toward his visitor cabin instead."You go in there. Lewis doesn't
Rachel POVMoonglow Pack TerritoryLoud bangs on the door woke me.Tyler groaned before easing off the bed, doing his best to straighten his pants which were hopelessly wrinkled after he slept in them all night."Open the door, Wright! I've got you a change of clothes and we have to get to the Alpha House.""Do you ever have the urge to strangle him? No? Must just be me."I giggled as Tyler went to the door to let Art inside. Art offered a duffle bag to Tyler which must have been familiar because he took it without comment. Knowing Tyler as I did, it was probably a go-bag he had stashed in the sedan as a just-in-case measure.Art threw my hairbrush at me, saying, "Do something about that rat's nest on your head. We want you to look somewhat put together. I'll take a lot put together, but I know that's pushing it right now. Do you have a black dress with you? Something expensive looking?"Money talked."Yes. I did pack a little black dress, Art."I got out of bed to go over to the Mode
Art POVMoonglow Pack Alpha House - Morning Room"You're my mate!" Lindy Campbell cried, clearly over the moon with her discovery while Nathan Lewis looked as if he wanted to tear her heart out with his teeth.I could feel his heartbeat racing beneath my palm; I hoped he wouldn't lose it completely and shift into a raging Lycan right in the middle of the fucking tea service. What kind of insanity was I involved in now? Why did I always get the weird ones?"This is some kind of trick. Is it a scent spell? Some kind of magic? What's going on here, Art? She can't be my mate. I refuse to believe that girl is my mate."Spells existed to fake mating bonds. I could have listed a few options for Lewis, but I knew his insanity was building up to a boiling point and I had zero desire to deal with another explosion from him.Doing my best to sound firm, I stated, "No spell is at work here. If you believe Linda Campbell is your fated mate, it's because she's your fated mate.""She can't be my fat
Rachel POV"The baby is coming!" I criedHow was my baby coming?I'd had pain in my back, but I was used to that by now. I spent all day in the bed. My stomach was so swollen I couldn't see my feet and the extra weight put pressure on my spine.I had not had the first cramp! Where were my contractions? Where was the agonizing pain women all talked about?"Relax," a nurse said as she bustled into the room behind my mother who'd bolted for the hall as soon as I'd first called out.The nurse looked gloriously professional and capable. I wanted her help more than I wanted my next breath of air. I sighed audibly in relief."It's not really my water breaking? Was it just some kind of---accident?" I asked, blushing as I looked at the tablet where the Alpha Council was still hanging on the line on their side.All the male Councilmen looked terribly uncomfortable while the two females both looked amused. I was mortified this had happene
Rachel POVDays turned into weeks in Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center.Mama had taken over a week to detox from the drugs flooding her system. She'd managed to regain her ability to speak after only a few days. She was, however, still taking physical therapy to assist her with strengthening her muscles and bones again after all those years of living a dormant life in the asylum.My body was still fighting against itself. Some part of me -some animal part deep inside- wanted to reclaim the ability to shift, to fight, to run.I knew Rayne wanted to stretch her legs, but I didn't think my wolf was the one calling all the shots. I believed most of the restlessness in my body was from a part of me even more primal than Rayne herself."Have you seen Ethan today?" I asked my mother.Mama looked up from where she had been studying her hands. I knew it would take her a few moments to respond. She'd gotten her voice back, but speech was still not ea
Rachel POV"How is my brother?" I asked again, feeling like a crazed parrot as I clutched my mother to me yet every muscle in my body had gone tense in her arms.Ethan was going to have to be okay, too. I couldn't gain my mother only to lose my brother. Ethan was too young, too vital, and he had too much life left to live.Mama sat at my side on the edge of the bed tangling her fingers with mine while being careful not to pull on my IV lines or interfere with her own. We were a pair of invalids it seemed.I couldn't quite comprehend the situation we were in. Everything felt too surreal. Nothing was going the way I had ever imagined it in my head though I had certainly dreamed of my mother being returned to me more than once."Ethan is still unresponsive," Tyler answered, taking a seat beside me and reaching for my other hand, "He's not getting worse, but he isn't improving at all either. Your mother has agreed to donate blood. The hospital is tryin
Rachel POV"Your mother is doing well considering," Art said."Considering what?" I asked.My body was hot yet numb at the same time. I had a baby monitoring band wrapped around my waist to monitor my daughter, a pulse oximeter to monitor my oxygen and pulse, a blood pressure cuff for exactly that, and two IVs to make sure the hospital had access to my bloodstream as fast as possible "just in case."Saying I felt out of sorts was putting it mildly."Considering the quack caring for her had kept her overmedicated for the last two decades," Art said, shrugging a shoulder, "I think they did all they could to keep her barely conscious to avoid her fighting for her freedom. According to Justice, she can't even speak."I frowned, the muscles in my face moving as sluggishly as the rest of me, "According to Justice? You haven't seen her?"Art shook his head, "No. I distracted the facility attendants while Justice got your mother from her room
Elena POVTime passed based on the light coming in from the only window in my room. I knew the rays of dawn, the brightness of noon, the fires of dusk, and the silver of moonlight at night.Everything else was a guessing game.I've never been allowed a clock or a calendar. I tried to count days by marking them on the wall beside my bed, but they just painted over my marks on one of the days they took me for their tests.'Tests' were supposed to determine how safe I would be in normal society, but they consisted of a series of random questions I couldn't follow with all the drugs in my system.Every time they asked me something I knew there was a right answer and a wrong answer. I just couldn't make my mind identify which was which so I played the part of a mute after a while.If I didn't speak at all, they didn't give me more drugs. I was given a little more autonomy. I was left with books to read and, for a time, paper to write on.I
Art POVEvery breath felt harder and harder to draw in. I couldn't get my head on straight. For some unknown reason, I was more involved with this case of this missing female than any other case I had ever investigated in my career as an Alpha Inspector.I'd rescued children -babies even- and plenty of women before. What made this woman special? What made Rachel's baby so important to me?I couldn't think of anything hurting her child or her without the Alpha instinct rising up in me. I could feel my wolf, Merlyn, bristling all over and I couldn't afford a moment's lapse with the vampire demon sharing my body with my wolf.Merlyn had to keep the vampire in check. We would go on a rampage, drink dry anything with a pulse. I'd lost control once before and it'd been worse than any nightmare I had ever had.Coming back to myself with my belly full of the blood of others, I remembered wanting to erase every memory I had to take away the taste.No
Tyler POVRachel had finally drifted off into a fitful sleep. They'd had to pump her full of icy IV fluids to drop her temperature enough to allow her any peace. Every drop of sweat from her forehead felt as if it were being wrung from the marrow of my bones.I literally ached with the need to protect her, care for her, heal her.But there was nothing I could do."You'll drive yourself insane if you keep pacing out here worrying over what you can't change. We need to get to Elena," Windsor said.I could hear the finality in his tone; I knew he wanted to push me to do something for him. I just didn't know what more I could do for the Alpha Council. What help could I be in tracking this 'Peter' down?I'd never crossed paths with the man to the best of my knowledge."How can I help?" I asked, knowing Art Windsor well enough to realize he would tell me what he needed if I only asked.Art placed his hands into his pockets, walking o
Rachel POV"Why aren't we going to get my mother, now?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow with a towel growing steadily warmer with every touch to my skin.Art had brought Richard Campbell's computer along with the files from behind the picture frame. We had an exact location on the asylum my mother was being held at, but we had no access to her. I was still trying to understand why.I prompted, "What is the plan, Art? We can't just let them keep my mother in that hellhole."I knew the place Mom was in had to be terrible. They couldn't be a reputable institution and keep a woman with no illness hostage for two decades. I didn't even want to visit the place much less imagine how my mother could have survived there for twenty years."Are you okay?" Art asked, his expression concerned as he studied me hard enough to make me wipe myself with my cold towel again, "You don't look okay.""I feel hot," I said, "I don't know? It seems to be gett
Rachel POV"What do you mean you don't want to meet them?" I asked, feeling ridiculous even repeating the words aloud, "Lindy, we're talking about your family. Your real, blood family."Lindy shook her head 'no' over and over. Her wet hair slapped against her cheeks and I noticed she was crying now, too. Her gaze was slightly vacant, as if she couldn't understand what she was saying or what was being said to her or both."You---"Art cut me off, saying, "Lindy, do you need something to drink? Some water? We don't have to talk about those people right now. Can I get you anything?""Water," Lindy mumbled.Adam offered, "I'll go get it. Plenty of ice. I've been---well, I haven't been where she's at right now, but I understand enough."The big Beta left the room while the rest of us simply stared at Lindy as if we expected her to do a trick of some kind.I couldn't say I had ever seen anyone look so lost before. Lindy looked the wa