Isabel looked like she sitting on a caltrop when we found our way to her office. It was almost like she didn’t want to tell us the results from the test, or that she was afraid to tell one of us. I never made it a secret to her during my regular check-ups that I felt I was too young for kids. And Dmitri wasn’t pressuring me to give him an heir. But wolves didn’t look at building a family the same way humans did. It was almost expected that an Alpha would be eager to produce an heir as soon as he found his mate. This also wasn’t the best time for me to be pregnant, if it was even possible. “I’m sorry,” she thumbed nervously through the pages in her hands, “but Alpha Selene is not pregnant.” There was immediate disappointment in Dmitri’s eyes, “And you’re sure?” “Yes, I double checked the results myself,” she leaned over the desk to hand him the file. “It’s ok, it’s not like we were trying or
“We’ve given them a few days, but Sophie needs to start sleeping in her own rooms again before our first guest arrives,” Dmitri frowned at my reflection as we go ready for breakfast, “Can’t you talk to her?” I gave him a frown of my own, “How would you feel if someone told you that you couldn’t spend your nights with me? I’m not going to ask Sophie to give up the little time that she gets to spend with her mate just because you want to keep her close to you when we’re overrun with alphas.” “Then we need to figure out a better arrangement,” he huffed his frustration at me. “She can’t keep spending all of her free time down in the cells. Eventually someone is going to notice Selene.” “Well I’m all ears if you have a suggestion.” “When you bargained with the Goddess to give Sophie a mate, couldn’t you have specified one who wouldn’t be controversial?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, “Is she intentionally f
Kelly had lunch all set up for the four of us before we made it up to her place. “I suppose this is going to be the last day we all get to have our private luncheons,” Kelly pouted. “How have you been doing with your ventures outside of these rooms? I hate to be pushy, but it’s going to be difficult to bring you one luna at a time to figure out which ones are naturally suited for the Menae and which ones need a little boost,” I tried to keep my voice calm and even, but I was starting to worry about our time line. “Better,” she smiled, “It’s getting easier to block things out. I might even try to make it down to dinner tonight.” I let out a sigh of relief. At least she was making progress. “Do you think you could handle working with Jeanette to arrange some activities for the visiting Lunas? She really wants to do something helpful with all the free time on her hands right now.” Kelly’s head bobbed, “Just her and her de
I dreaded this part of the day all afternoon. We were just waiting on Sophie to join us for the end of the day meeting she’d missed for the last four nights. Luckily, my hormone levels had balanced out and being in the same room with Dmitri no longer turned him into a beast, well not any more than normal at least. “You look like you swallowed a fly,” Nathan was watching me with a concerned look on his face. “I’m just a little anxious, our first guests are arriving tomorrow,” I shrugged and tried to sit back and look more relaxed. “I can’t wait to get all of this over with so we can get things back to normal.” Nathan snorted, “What the fuck is normal for us anymore?” “Chaos and pandemonium,” Dmitri chuckled, “I think that is our new normal.” “I do not cause chaos or pandemonium,” Sophie huffed indignantly as she joined us. “So nice of you to finally join us,” Nathan grumbled at her, “Ha
My mood plummeted when the door opened and it wasn’t Sophia on the other side. Fortunately, I was well practiced in hiding my thoughts and feelings from those in power over me, “Good evening Alpha Selene.” Her face gave nothing away as she slowly blew out a deep breath, “Hello again, Alex.” I waited a moment longer to see if anyone else was going to join us, “Sophie’s not coming to me tonight, is she?” Selene shook her head, “No, she’s busy helping Nathan and Dmitri arrange a few last minute details before our guests start to arrive in the morning. It will be easier to do this without them anyway.” I felt my heart stop as pain rippled through my chest, “You’re sending me back to him, aren’t you?” An expression of horror twisted her beautifully serene features, “After everything you’ve seen since we helped you leave your tower prison, do you really think I’d do something so cruel to you? If
“You should try to get some sleep,” Dmitri’s hot breath tickled my ear as he tucked me against his chest; “There isn’t anything else we can do to prepare any more than we have already.” He was right. But even though I was thoroughly exhausted and my eyelids felt heavy, I couldn’t seem to close them and let sleep take me. I laced my fingers through the hand he had resting on my hip and tucked it under my chin, forcing his embrace to tighten around me. “You need to rest too,” I whispered over my shoulder. His soft, rumbling chuckle made his chest vibrate against my back as he held me. “That would be easier to accomplish if I couldn’t feel all the anxiety you seem to have been hiding from all of us all week.” I pinched off the emotional flow in our bond from him to me. “Don’t do that,” his deep gravelly voice sent a shiver down my spine. “I don’t want to be the reason you didn’
The incessant knocking kept either of us from asking each other how we managed to find ourselves out of the Aether, but in the same position we’d been in while we were there. I winced when Sophie’s voice interrupted my own thoughts, ‘I thought you wanted Alex safely tucked away in the vault first thing this morning?” ‘Give us a moment, we got a little distracted this morning,’ I had no desire to try and explain the truth to her when I couldn’t even explain it to myself. “Sophie’s here with Alex already, why don’t you go start a shower for us? I’ll help Sophie get her settled into the vault for the day and meet you in there in a bit.” “Selene,” his tone and expression told me that he wanted to make her wait. “We don’t have time to do this right now,” I argued. “We’ll make time later, for now, shower, please.” He let out a resigned sigh, “Fine, but we are going to have a discussion about this
I didn’t have time to chastise Dmitri for trying to purposefully upset Alexandria. We still had to show up to one last planning session with Caleb and breakfast with the rest of the pack house before the first guest was due to arrive. “We still have to arrange a time for the Thompsons’ request to say goodbye to their daughter; they’ve added a request for Alpha Selene to be there,” the fact that Caleb didn’t like any of that tickled me pink. “I’m not sure what use I’d be, other than to rile Candice up, but,” I gave our Betas a nod, “Sophie see where I can fit it into my schedule within the next week or so, please.”&nb