That night I stepped out of the pack house and into the pitch black, my father had just given me the rundown of which traps needed to go where and what I should look out for. But as he spoke, all I could think was how I had the easier job, I just had to stand there and make sure no one from The Dark Warrior Pack find us and if they did, alarm everyone so we can get out of there.
As I took a deep breath in, I couldn’t help but feel a slight sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, but it wasn’t one of dread or panic, but full of anticipation. It was as though deep down in my being, I knew something was going to happen tonight, something life changing. I shook the feeling off and put my game face on, my father was trusting me to get this done and I couldn’t let him down. “Alright, the Alpha wants this done as efficiently as possible, we need to be in and out of that place before any of them can blink, you got it?” I ask looking at all the fighters that would be executing this job with all of them also wearing their game faces but deep down, I saw a selected few looking a little nervous. With one last nod to my father who I could see watching us through the window, I climb down the steps of the pack house and towards the forest, let’s make my father proud. We were able to enter The Dark Warrior Pack’s border with ease, my father had men surveillance this place to see which border was weak or not guarded at all during certain hours of the night. Once in, our men quietly start to set each trap being careful not to set them off ourselves, this left me pacing up and down the woods keeping an eye on the time, so we didn’t miss our window to get out of here. “Okay, we have two more to set up than we can leave.” Raymond one of the fighters tells me getting to his feet, I send him a nod taking a look down to my watch liking how on time we were. “We have five more minutes until the border is guarded once again, work as fast as you can to set them up but please be careful.” I say wanting them to be quick, but I didn’t need anyone getting hurt when I was in charge, I needed to show my father that I could handle it. They all set to work again silently, but through all of the silence, I couldn’t help but hear little twigs on the forest floor cracking. I take a look at my men and see none of them were moving around to break any but also, the sound didn’t seem to be close by. I make sure everyone was okay before slowly starting to walk closer to the noise, it was my job to make sure everything goes smoothly and everyone, returns home. This meant it was up to me to ensure that no one finds us here, even if it’s terrifying to walk into the darkness alone. The further I would get from our men and the closer to the sound, the more that feeling I felt back home started to appear in my stomach once again but this time, much stronger. I soon reach a little hill where I’m hit with the most mouthwatering smell that engulfs my senses, my entire body wanting to rush straight over to wherever it was. “Follow it!” My wolf cheers in my head jumping around excitedly, but I knew I was in uncharted territory and had to be incredibly careful with my moves. Ensuring that I keep my eyes snapping from one side of the woods to the other, I reach the very edge of the hill where I could look down to the other woods below. At first, all I could see was darkness and even more trees. But in between two of those gigantic trees was a man, it was much too dark for me to make out any of his features apart from one, his bright blue eyes. As soon as my eyes landed on his, it was as though the entire world came to a screeching halt and all that was left was me and this man. His eyes held so many emotions as he looked back at me, but one in particular, desire. “Mate! That’s mate!” My wolf cheers in my head over and over again rather excited, whilst I still stood in that dark wood, my body feeling as though it had frozen. “Mine.” I spot the man say stepping forward from between the trees, but now that he had and the little glow from the moon was able to shine on his face, I knew this was a problem. I snap out of my trance and begin to take slow steps backwards, my eyes not leaving his as I did so. Now I had found who my mate was, this little mission that my father sent us on was in jeopardy. The longer that my eyes remained in his, the quicker my heart rate increased and my body shake, this cannot be happening. With one last look, I turn and ran as fast as my legs would take me back to the men which were setting up the traps not that far away. “Go! The Alpha is coming run!” I shout as I jump through the bushes to the little camp we had made, but as soon as those words left my lips, each man jumps into action and begins to shift. I take a look behind me as I ran making sure everyone had shifted and were getting home, where the Alpha and I once again lock eyes, but this time, anger and lust were the only emotions that I could see. With that, I shift into my own wolf and begin to sprint towards home, ensuring that my wolf stay in the shadows as like I was taught. I soon caught up with the men but now a new feeling spread throughout my body, we were being followed by the Alpha himself and I worried what he would do if he caught us but most importantly, me! I mind-link the men to run as fast as they could which they soon did just that but as I had Alpha blood pumping through me, I remained just ahead of them all. After what felt like hours but also seconds, we raced through our own border and into safety in a sense. The men ran ahead to meet at the pack house, but I stopped just by the border, turning around in wolf form to look out into the deep woods of the surrounding area. That was when I was hit with those same blue eyes which belonged to a huge black wolf, stood outside of the border watching my every move. “Fern, where are you?” Hadwin’s voice soon fills my head telling me he was waiting at the pack house but worried that I hadn’t returned with the rest, taking the last look at the wolf, I run off towards the pack house and away. Once I arrived back in front of the pack house, I find most of the fighters had shifted and were chatting amongst themselves, while my father and Hadwin were stood at the steps of the pack house waiting for me. Relief washes Hadwin’s face once he spots my wolf running over, holding up a black towel for me and turning away, I’m able to shift and wrap the towel over my now naked body. “I thought something had happened to you Fern, why were you the last to arrive?” Hadwin asks still very worried where I only send him a smile, I knew I couldn’t tell him the real reason as to why, but he needed an explanation. “I was told it was my job to ensure that everyone came home safe, I was making sure not one person was left behind.” I explain which was partly true, minus the Alpha who I now know is my mate chasing us. “I was told Alpha Archer caught and chased you, how did he look?” My father asks with a smirk to me, that same deadly look in his eyes when he thinks of anyone from The Dark Warrior Pack. “How do you think he looked, he was seething with anger, but we all managed to set the traps and get away. We even managed to burn off some energy being crashed; I see it at as success either way.” I smile standing up straight slightly as I looked to my father, who once again smiles nodding his head. “I couldn’t agree more, you being there has only shown that disgrace of a pack that we mean business and they should count their last days. I am very proud of you Fern.” He smiles stepping forward and placing a kiss on my head, just like he used to when I was younger. With another smile, he dismisses everyone and walks back into the pack house happy that his mission had gone to plan. In seconds, Hadwin and I were the only ones left outside, his face just staring at me as though he was trying to work out what I was thinking. “Don’t get used to it little Fern, you aren’t going on another one of those missions for a while.” He smiles wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we walk into the pack house, I put a smile on my face to show him I was happy also. But all that was filling my head were thoughts of that very Alpha stood outside of the border.After waving goodbye to Hadwin for the night, I returned to my bedroom to get some much-needed rest after the eventful day that I had endured. But no matter how long I lay in bed and forced sleep, it never came. All that was rushing through my head was the thought of my mate, his bright blue eyes were all I could see when I would close mine. I tossed and turned trying to force the image of his face out of my head, but each time I was met with resistance from my wolf. She was beyond angry that I had ran from my mate rather than run into his arms, but she was only thinking about the mate aspect, I had the problem of my father hating every single person in that pack more than anything on this earth. But that was not the only issue with us meeting, it was the circumstances that we met under which is bringing more issues to the surface. He caught me and the other men setting traps in his pack border which whole purpose was to inflicted harm on him and any of his pack members, that doesn’t s
As I entered the pack house through the back door, I find it was in total chaos. Many of the pack members were running around in a panicked state attempting to find a place to hide, most holding tiny children who looked as terrified as the ones holding them. My breathing was heavy as I looked around for my own hiding place, I can’t allow this Alpha to find me, what if he doesn’t want me as a mate and is just angry because I was one of the people who set the traps?! I stood in the middle of the lobby while many ran past me, it felt like a blur and time had sped up for everyone around me, but I was still stuck in the moment. Someone taking my arm and pulling me slightly is what snapped me from my trance, initially, I was worried that I had been too slow, and the angry Alpha had his chance to grab me. But when I saw Hadwin’s worried face looking down at me, I knew I had a little more time to panic. “Fern, why are you just standing there, you need to find a place to hide before the invader
I freeze in place, my breath hitching in my throat as the Alpha remained behind me, his whole aroma caused my wolf to purr in my head and attempt to force me to melt into him more. His muscular arms wrapped around my body, showing me the many beautiful pieces of artwork that he had tattooed onto his forearms. As I place my hand on his arm in attempts to free myself from his grasp, a million tiny sparks begin to dance up my skin and spread throughout my entire being. This action only causing my wolf to purr even louder and beg for me to fall right into his arms, but to her dismay, that was something I was not going to do. “Let me go!” I say beginning to fight against him, but this only caused the Alpha to grip me even harder than before, I guess he doesn’t only have those rippling muscles for show. “And why would I do that, you’re my mate, now that I have you tightly in my grasp, you will never escape me again.” He whispers in a chuckle like tone close to my ear again, this action
The walk back to The Dark Warrior Pack was long, I assumed when we were far away enough from my father's pack, Archer would have us stop to shift, it would kill the journey time immensely, but he didn’t, not that I would have been able to anyway. When I brought up this topic he simply sniggered, he explained he didn’t know if he trusted me not to run off once again after I shifted. In all honesty, that thought would have crossed my mind if I were to shift, but I also knew I had made a deal that I had to stand by and shifting would only cause even more trouble down the road. “Are you sure this is a wise idea, you didn’t see the fight she put up with some of our men, I don’t know if they’ll take too kindly to her acting as Luna.” One of the fighters who walked beside us asks, I smile not minding if Archer changed his mind so I could head home. “I mean if it’s going to be an issue, I will happily go back.” I say shrugging my shoulders whilst turning around, but due to me still being
The longer that I sat in the deserted bedroom pulling at the chains, the more the little hope which I still held in my heart that I was to get out of here alive drifted from my mind. My back now leaning against the wall with my legs pulled up to my chest, I truly felt as though I was the same little child who awoke from a nightmare and circled up in the corner waiting for Hadwin to come and make it all better. I would say my father was there but since my mother passed, he was never the loving father that he once was. He was physically there sometimes but you knew mentally, he was somewhere else completely. Now that my mother had appeared in my mind and everything that happened to her, I couldn’t help but be riddled with the deep feeling of guilt for where I was sitting. I couldn’t understand how any of this was fair, why am I mated to the Alpha of the pack who killed my mother all of those years ago? Was it all some kind of sick joke that was being played on me? A single tear escapi
After waiting in the bedroom for hours, the hunger deep inside began to manifest into my stomach deciding to take the reigns and make some whale-like noises screaming at me to eat the food that was right beside us. Even though I wanted to more than anything in this moment, I turned away and lay on the floor attempting to wait out the feeling. “If you do not go and eat that food mate has given us, I will have no other choice but to take control and eat it myself!” My wolf demands in my head after also starting to the feel the hunger of me depriving her and myself of the nutrients that we need. “I will only eat when I’m allowed home, if our mate cared as much as you keep reminding me, he would take me home to eat there.” I say laying my head back on the floor with a sigh, I wouldn’t deny that I was truly in pain laying here, the chain was pulling at my wrist so much I knew it had broken skin, but sitting up only allowed a dizzy like spell to take over my head. “Why are all you hum
After getting lost in the mystic dance that he and I were playing, his body laying on mine with his hand once again doing the rounds of my body, left me still lost in his scent and touch to protest any further. But when his hand began to make its way down to my lower section, realisation of what was happening and if I didn’t step in, what was inevitably going to happen, I snap out of my trance and realise what I was doing. I could have told him to get off and tell him how much I hated him, but my mind soon realised this situation could be the key to me getting out of here. He was much too occupied with his escapades of my body to really take notice that he’d moved his legs from pinning down mine, so with a smirk on my lips when he went to trail his mesmerising kisses down my neck, I lift my knee up and hit him right where it hurts. Instantly, he doubles down in pain clutching onto his injured package which I knew was getting ready for what he had planned to do. Now having the freed
My legs began to ache as I walked through a thick, dark and spooky forest, each turning looked to be headed into even more unforgivable darkness. I didn’t quite know where I was or where it was, I was heading, but my legs simply carried me the way they knew. The feeling of ominous eyes watching my each and every move were hard to ignore, I couldn’t see anyone or anything for that matter watching me, this only adding to how terrified I felt in this moment. “Hello!” I call out into the darkness hoping to either get a reply from someone I knew letting me know I’d be okay or even a chance to hear someone I didn’t and start my plan of escape before anything could happen. But my little call was met with even more deafening silence, not even one bird seemed to be sitting in its nest deep in the trees, as though all the creatures had seen something they didn’t like and made a run for it. But apparently, I didn’t get the message. Right on the horizon ahead of me, what seemed to be some
My breath hitched in my throat as the darkness of the 7th floor truly showcased itself to me, I am not only referring the little light which could be seen dangling from the ceiling, but the sick feeling which clung to each wall. The smell alone from me simply standing in the elevator made me want to vomit, the stories regarding the flooding of the cells I was seeing first hand may not have been stories after all, the portent smell of stagnant water mixed with the unmissable smell of death and faeces even had the King screw his face up a little placing his hand to his nose as though that would offer some kind of blockade. “This way.” The guard leading us through this hell hole said, now also grasping a flashlight in his hand and switching it on, this light seeming to ignite slight chaos down in the cells before us. Loud screams, shouts and clanking of metal from the cells echoed through the tunnel like system, one I was about to walk right in the centre of. Following behind the g
Once we arrived back at our pack, Hadwin, Emmett and Archer all stood waiting in his office, the same word of warning that we only had an hour and I was to give Archer many updates as to what was happening, was given to me before I left. Whilst the King and I set off for the dungeon, neither of us going to speak as I guided him out of the pack house and towards the dungeons. This was the first time he and I have been alone at all, even when I was a child my parents hid me away from him and ensured he never seen me even once. I mean he was the man who had sent men over to kill my mother, even though he relentlessly tells me how it’s something he wished he never did all of these years later. He was the one who put not only my family, but the entire pack into such a dark and sinister place, once my mother left, the pack we all used to know, and love was gone. While he could live it up in the palace, we were forced to live in nothing but sadness, grief and resentment. “Have you decide
As soon as I had stated who in which the King was planning to see, Archer’s eyes turned dark with hatred and anger at even the thought of his father. “Absolutely not, my father is being held under a zero-visitation order, no person is allowed to speak with him apart from myself.” Archer spoke in such a low growl telling the King he wasn’t getting what he wanted, which I could tell greatly angered the King. “I am the King, I can and will speak to whoever I please.” The King growled back switching right into the man I had always thought him to be, the one who when he doesn’t get what’s he wants, gets rather angry and with experience, deadly. “When this individual is being held within the borders of my pack, that is no longer the case. If we are talking statues in my pack, I am the King.” Archer growls in response, his Alpha tone sending shivers down my spine which in his anger filled rage, I could tell he enjoyed. “Not if I send my men over to your pack to take your father.” The
Now that I had woken up, my heart still raced as though I was running some kind of marathon, but with Archer beside me whispering to help me calm down, I felt it slow. But the King’s comment regarding the odd glass ball in my hand still wasn’t making sense, how can some ball of glass help me win the war against those terrifying beasts? “What do you mean, how is this going to help me?” I ask once I fully calmed down a little, sitting up on the sofa whilst Archer took his seat beside me, the King simply smiled watching me. “Not only that one but the countless I had made leading up to the war, even though I do not doubt the wonders of your powers for a moment, these will help you regain your strength.” The King explained walking over as I handed him back the ball, which he soon smiled studying more closely. “From the outside it seems as though it could be some inexpensive décor piece of some sort, but it is what I had put inside it which really makes it unique. With the progress yo
Archer sat with his hands together and his leg bouncing as he waited in anticipation for Fern to return, he didn’t want to leave her, but she assured him she wouldn’t be long and asked him to keep an eye on their special guest, which Archer ensured he watched every move that man made. Hadwin sat at his desk also staring at the King, he was like his father, didn’t like or trust this man at all for what he not only did to his mother but what he was planning to do with his sister. To him, Fern was much too trusting of people sometimes, they’ll sweet talk her a load of nonsense and make her believe they have the best of intentions. He knew that was exactly what the King would attempt to do. But for the King, he had dealt with the eyes of judgment or resentment for most of his reign, there will always be someone who simply does not like authority and his status represents that. So having the off stares from two Alpha’s didn’t faze him in the slightest as he walked around the office wit
Once arriving back to Hadwin’s new pack house and finding some of my old clothes from when I lived here, I make my way through the maze of hallways which I had worried I wouldn’t recognise due to the rebuilt but to my shock but also delight, the corridors seemed to match the house I had grown up in nearly to a T, even my bedroom was in the same place! As I reached the lobby, I had to stop dead in my tracks and stare at the portrait which sat right in the centre of the lobby. It was a photo I hadn’t seen before but one that brought a tear to my eye. It was of my mother and father back before neither me nor Hadwin were born, it was at their rehearsal dinner for their wedding, my mother wore a beautiful white dress whilst my father was decked out in one of his suits. Looking into their eyes and seeing how happy they were, it made everything that’s happened worth it in a sense. They were so happy when they were together and even though it cuts deeper than I would have expected, I know w
The service for my father went on without a hitch, Hadwin took the stage and gave a beautiful speech about our father and the incredible father he was and how he strived to be even half the Alpha he was. My hand remained in Archer’s the entire time, who would send me a little squeeze whenever he sensed that my sadness was starting to boil. Our unexpected guest also sat there quietly listening, Archer sure to send him a few looks every now and then to let him know even though this was my father's funeral, he wasn’t letting his guard down. Before long, we were all stood in my mother's memorial garden laying my father to rest right beside her, we know it’s what he would have wanted, and I was beyond honoured to have done it for him. As I stood to the side watching as everyone took their roses and threw them in where my fathers coffin sat, my eyes welled with tears as I gazed realising, I would never see my father again, a realisation which hadn’t hit until this moment. A hand slowly
I stood there more annoyed than anything whilst Hadwin, turned his head to see who had arrived before a deadly growl leaves his lips and I’m pulled to stand behind him. His action only making a chuckle leave the man’s lips. “You, Alpha Hadwin, are very much like your father.” The King chuckled walking closer to the steps where we were stood at the top, his hand on the buttons of his suit jacket seeming to not have a care in the world. “And you, Luna Fern, look every part your mother's daughter, it’s as though I’m looking her in the eyes and not yourself. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance after all of this time, that mate of yours did not appreciate me in your pack.” The King laughed now turning his attention to me stood behind my rather angry brother, but now he had brought up Archer, he was the only person I wanted to ask for help. “Before you mind-link that mate of yours, how about you and I have a chat?” The King asked as though he knew what I was about to do, which onl
In just under a week later, the day of my father’s funeral had rolled around, a day I hoped would bring me more peace to heal, it had been one of the hardest weeks of my life and I prayed it would start to get better. Archer and I had been around my now brother’s pack everyday since my fathers passing, not only holding him when he wanted to break down in private but also helping the shift between the soon to Alpha to the proper Alpha go smoothly. As like Hadwin, Archer’s title was dumped on him unexpectedly, so he knew what things had to be in order for Hadwin to fully understand the ropes. On our visits, we were also able to arrange the grand funeral which would be starting in any moment. The main ceremony would now be held inside of the fully rebuild pack house, it still hurts that my father never got to see it before he died but I knew he’d say it wasn’t supposed to be done when he was Alpha, but when my brother took the title. Planning his funeral helped a little, I couldn’t