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Sabbatical/hiatus
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I will be taking a short break from posting new chapters. I know as a devourer of books myself, it’s incredibly frustrating to have to wait to see what happens next, more so when when the regular release schedule is interrupted. Unfortunately an issue has arisen that I need to sort out before I can post any new content. I hope to have it resolved and resume regularly scheduled updates as quickly as humanly possible. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for this inconvenience and interruption to the flow of the story.
Related chapters
Rite of Power 61: Last Request
One day was too short. Even though didn’t spend much time sleeping, the time passed too quickly. All too soon, we were zipping through the trees towards the responsibilities and problems we’d left behind the day before. Sophie and Nathan looked anxious, standing beside Caleb down in the underground garage as we pulled in. My good mood plummeted instantly and I considered telling Dmitri to turn around and take us back out to the woods. Dmitri growled under his breath, as the rumble of the engine died, “We haven’t even been back a minute.” I ignored him and forced a smile at the trio as I hopped off the back of the bike, “Don’t just stand there and stare at us like the world is ending. Tell us whatever it is so we can deal with it.” Sophie and Nathan exchanged an unsure glance while Caleb stepped forward, oblivious to their trepidation. “The Thompsons have requested a meeting with you before the challenge, and your uncle has sent word th
Rite of Power 62: Chains of the Past
Tea with the Thompsons didn’t last much longer. Once their fears of becoming rogues were alleviated and a chance to see their daughter one last time was promised, there wasn’t much else to talk about. It was fine with me, since I still had several other people to meet with before the day was over. Leaving the couple behind to enjoy the food that Sophie had arranged for the informal meeting, I moved on to the next set of people on the list. It felt weird to walk through the pack house and tunnels towards the hospital and underground holding cells without anyone beside me. This was the first time I’d moved around on my own since my uncle’s appearance at our Alpha/Mate introduction ball. I sent a quick thought out to Isabel to let her know that I was on my way over and that I would meet with my aunt first while she finished up seeing her current patients. Dmitri probably would’ve preferred that I stay on the safe side of the glass wall, but I didn’t think
Rite of Power 63: Legends
Dealing with Dr Martinez was surprisingly, the easiest part of my day. On paper everyone in our secret little science experiment group was perfectly healthy. Nathan and Mark both only had a drop or two of my blood in their system, and she called them abnormally strong and healthy, but neither showed any signs for concern. I still didn’t share with her that Mark had had dreams about me that correlated to the green flame incident. Sophie and Blake had an indeterminate amount of my blood, but Isabel concluded it was less than she’d injected into Kelly, judging by how fast I healed and how little blood flowed from a shallow cut on my palm. Sophie had already showed all the markers you’d expect to see in an Alpha’s genetics, but even so, she exhibited more strength, speed and heightened senses than she had before. Isabel wasn’t sure how much of that was attributed to my blood or Sophie’s wolf. Blake on the other hand showed a marked increase, bordering somewhere between Alp
Rite of Power 64: Rumors
“The Thompson girl is set to face off with the Opalescent Moon’s female Alpha on the new moon,” the messenger knelt and bowed his head low. I waved him off, “She deserves whatever fate befalls her for reaching beyond her station. What of the other Alphas? Have they started to move yet?” “It would appear that the Alpha of the Jade Forest Pack will be staying in residence to mediate the challenge, and they just sent out messengers to the other Alphas today. I doubt that many of them will be willing to leave the safety of their own packs while the Vὅlsung is near though.” He kept his head down, “Do you want me to intercept one of the messengers?” “No,” I snapped my eyes away from the view of the foreign city sprawling below me to where he knelt, “I haven’t decided on a course of action just yet, and we don’t have enough information about her to know where she’ll land after it’s all said and done.” “Without a more direct s
Rite of Power 65: Ambitious Alphas
I found Dmitri and Caleb exactly where I expected too, based on Dmitri’s mood. It was the only place that Caleb could irritate him so much that it set my teeth on edge. I didn’t bother knocking; sauntering into the main office, interrupting whatever argument they were having. “I do hope that you boys are playing nice together in here.” “We’re just trying to iron out some of the finer details of persuading the other Alphas to see past Ulf’s lies,” he tried to sound like he was completely calm, but Dmitri’s tone was too clipped. “We’ve already received messengers from several packs that their Alphas would like to serve as witnesses to the trial by challenge,” Caleb’s sleazy, used car salesman smile made me feel uneasy, “and most of them would like to bring their Lunas as well to join in with Kelly’s baby shower celebration.” There it was. I sighed, not bothering to try to hide my irritation the way Dmitri did, “And why would they be so e
Rite of Power 67: Shoot the Messenger
A sense of dread settled in my bones as we rode out into the woods once again. The smell hit me before we pulled to a stop beside a derelict looking cement block of a building. The scent of old blood, mixed with dirt, filth and the stench of decay and death was enough to turn the stomach of the most hardened warrior. “What the fuck is this place?” “Not all interrogations can be done with words alone,” Dmitri frowned at the moss covered grey wall. “The fact that Nathan thought this was the best place to meet worries me.” “So it’s a torture shed?” I was happy that words were the only thing I managed to vomit at the moment.&n
Rite of Power 67: Bait in the Trap
Selene chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully, “I don’t know what I think of this yet.” “You don’t have to do anything,” Sophie tried to reason with her; “we don’t know anything about who sent this, or what their intentions are. Like Dimi said, it could just be a poorly executed attempt to lure you out into the open.” It’d been so long since my sister had sided with me against her that I wasn’t sure that I heard her correctly. “We have no way of knowing how much of this is fact and we’re already stretched thin with your impending fight against Candice. Not to mention how all eyes are going to be scrutinizing your every move be
Rite of Power 68: Smart Moves
I couldn’t breathe. Caleb had been living in our house for almost two weeks. For two weeks I’d endured his irritating disregard for female shifters and his lofty ambitions to cede from the current regime. Two weeks, and not one word about my cousin being a few hours car ride away. Afraid I’d pass out if I stayed there any longer; I turned on my heel and stalked out into the crisp evening air outside. Dmitri followed a step behind me, steadying me with his hands as the world spun around me. “I don’t know if I want to kill him or confront him,” I choked back a sob as his fingers ran in calming spirals over my back. “Why wouldn’t he tell us about her after everything?” “I don’t know,” he sounded deadly calm, “but we’ll figure out his true intentions and make him pay for his deception accordingly when the time is right.” “What you mean is you want me to act like nothing is wrong and let him continue to handle everything we
Latest chapter
Rite of Power Rite of War
If you've made it all the way to end of this chapter in Selene's journey, then I hope that you've enjoyed the ride thus far. The next and final chapter of her life "Rite of War" should start posting around December of 2023. If you feel like being encouraging, and you have a minute or two to spare, please add a book review/comment. I don't know if it helps boost the story, but I do know that they boost my mood
Rite of Power 120: The Alpha of Alphas
I didn’t know how long I stood there, just staring at the lump in my hand as the thumping slowed to a stop. But I could still feel its pulse in my fingertips. Not fingers exactly, something more akin to monster hands. I found myself wondering if they’d be as pristinely white as the short velvety fur coving my arm if they weren’t coated in blood. “Selene…” Someone said my name, but they sounded too far away for me to recognize the voice. The dead lump rolled off my fingertips, falling to the ground with a wet thud. I didn’t feel anything now that it wasn’t pulping in my hand. I was numb and hollowed out, just like the lifeless husk at my feet.&nb
Rite of Power 119: A Final Breath
The sky was completely free of even the barest wisp of a cloud. It was as if the gods were watching, and had declared that nothing obstruct their view of the fight they’d been promised. There weren’t even any birds singing in the forest around our little meadow in the middle of the woods. Someone was going to die here today. Sophie had done well. A ten foot circle was clearly marked in the center of the grass with a larger circle marked around it another ten feet out. Beyond that, two white tents stood up on opposite sides of each other. I was supposed to do all of this, but the goddess wouldn’t settle for anything less than a full twenty-four hours. I had to kill someone today. I knew that I was physically capable of doing it. I was just a little iffy on if I had the conviction to kill her in such a gruesome way. It would’ve been much easier to just order her to stop breathing. But blood had to be spilt. I’d be rem
Rite of Power 118: Death March
I felt a little guilty for leaving Blake to deal with Selene’s possession all night. Now I owed him, Kelly and Sophie big. I just couldn’t risk that she’d find a way to seduce me if we were alone together. She curled up beside Blake on the sofa, under a throw blanket with her head on his lap. At least he’d managed to get her to sleep before she was set to fight to death in a couple hours. Blake looked exhausted himself, like he hadn’t slept a wink and brought his finger to his lips in a shushing motion when he saw me. ‘How much trouble did she give you?’ His shrug
Rite of Power 117: A Long Day
It wasn’t too hard to babysit a goddess once I started approaching the situation like I was taking care of my own little sister when she much younger. Aside from having a filthy vocabulary and an overwhelming sense of entitlement, it was just like taking care of a ten year old girl. She played in the water like she was a nymph, basked in the sun until it got too warm, preferred sweets and junk food over veggies, playing dress up with the plethora of clothes in the closet, and sitting on the floor in front of me while I brushed and braided her long, unruly curly locks for her. “She chose well with you,” she sighed contentedly as she watched me clean up our dinner dishes.
Rite of Power 116: Tick-Tick-Tick
“I don’t understand, what is going on?” Alex stared at me as I watched Dmitri storm down the hall. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her out of the hall, “I don’t know yet either, but I’ll let you know what I can when I find out. Ok love?” She frowned at me, “Meaning you have to leave early this morning.” “You know I don’t want too,” I brushed the hair out of her face, “and in just one more day, almost all of this craziness will be done and over. Then I can ask Dimi and Selene to let us have a few days out at the cabin.&rdq
Rite of Power 115: Babystitting
Nathan ran back to spend his day with Candice, some kind of last day with her mate bullshit. Dmitri had shifted back into his wolf to carry the goddess in Selene’s body out to their hideaway cabin, since she was deadlocked in human form. I was tasked with grabbing a motorbike for Dmitri to ride back on, since I’d be staying out there with Selene. ‘There’s been a change of plans,’ I linked to Kelly as soon as I was close enough. ‘Did you guys find Selene?’ ‘Yes, but she’s not herself today, so we’re spending the day out at the cabin,’ I expl
Rite of Power 114: Dark Deals
It wasn’t hard to see that everyone had picked up on Selene’s complete lack of interest in everything around her. But just like everyone else, I said nothing. After the report Nathan gave me of the test run he’d put together for her, she seemed broken in a way that none of us knew how to heal. I couldn’t help but feel that things were only going to get worse. If ‘killing’ a statue had this effect on her, what was going to happen when she actually took a life? I cursed myself for letting her set the terms to all or nothing. Someone had to die, and I was starting to worry that she’d let it be her instead of having to take a life herself. Traditions and laws be d
Rite of Power 113: Erie Calm
There was definitely something off about Selene tonight, but no one seemed to want to voice anything about it. I was willing to bet that the only person that would’ve spoken up, was Blake, but she’d ordered him to stay with his mate for the rest of the day and even arranged to have their diner brought up to them so that Kelly wouldn’t have to tax herself any further by dealing with more people. She kept staring off into space throughout the meal. Clearly her mind was somewhere else. But she still managed to fake a smile, and nod at the appropriate times as the conversations prompted. She didn’t even lean into Dmitri’s touch, which struck me as more odd than her lack of banter.&
