ELLA The sound of snow crunching outside of the shed catches my attention. Quietly I move one of the tables up against the shed doors and I slip back into the darkness. Someone pushes against the doors of the shed with a grunt and the table inches away from the door slightly. Backing up farther, my back hits one of the tables and I instinctively duck under and pull the sheet down over the top. I hear the table scratch against the floor once more and I hold my breath, trying not to make any noise. A sudden gust of wind circles the shed, ripping it apart piece by piece. The witches have found me, and I am defenseless. Gripping onto one of the legs of the table that I am under, I try to keep it anchored to the ground with my weight. The circling wind becomes stronger with each pass that it makes. The table that I am hiding under is rocking above me and my grip is becoming loose. The wind stops circling, and everything comes crashing to the ground around me. Raising m
ELLA The sweet smell of honeysuckle fills my senses and I groan deeply before I open my eyes. “This place smells like my Dark God,” I moan as I try to turn over and burry my head in the pillow beside me, but something pulls against my arm. I snap to reality and my eyes fly open to see a pair of odd eyes filled with amusement looking down at me. I try to cover my head with the dark red comforter that is covering me, but my body is struggling to move. “Dark God huh?” Erebus looks at me in amusement as he leans back against his pillow. Once again I try to sit up, but my body is fighting against me. “What happened?” I whimper, choosing to ignore the fact that he heard my nickname for him. “Where am I?” “You picked a fight with an air witch,” Erebus laughs. Panic rushes through me and I jerk upright in the bed. My head begins pounding in pain but there is no time for pain right now. Looking around the darkened room everything is decorated with dark wood and deep reds. The ro
ELLA The feeling of circles being traced up and down back lures me out of my sleep. My eyes flutter open and I see nothing but smooth skin under my cheeks. My fingers spread across his smooth skin and the tingle of the mate bond create a subtle warmth between us. For just this moment I want to pretend like none of this is complicated. I want to pretend like this is a normal relationship. I am not a disappointment to my family, and he isn’t a King. Erebus’s hand snakes under the back of my oversized t-shirt and his smooth hands caress the small of my back. A little squeal lives my lips as he picks me up and lays me flat across his body. My legs instinctively spread so I am straddling his hips. He holds my hips firmly in his grasp and I can feel his erection brushing up against my core. Even through my panties and his sweats I can still feel how much he wants me. Teasingly, I wiggle my hips playfully back and forth against his hard length. A low, sexy growl leaves his lips
EREBUS Pulling Ella to her feet she tries to cover herself the best she can, and I cannot help but laugh at her attempt at modesty. Suddenly she pulls back on my arm and plops herself back down on the bed. Turning to look at her I see a deep frown etched across her face. I cannot help but roll my eyes at how hot and cold her emotions are. “What?” I groan. “I forgot,” she says as she crosses her arms across her full breasts. “I am angry with you.” “For what now?” I say completely exasperated with her mood swings. Pursing her full lips she glares at me. Her emerald eyes are glowing with anger. “Oh, I don’t know,” she says sarcastically. “Perhaps because you betrayed the mate bond.” I cannot help but cringe at her words. I had thought that the runes tattooed on her arms and back had kept her from feeling my betrayal but when I felt her own betrayal I knew that I was wrong. Wait a minute, I felt her betrayal. “Fine,” I say coolly. “If we are talking about betrayals i
UNKNOWN I am standing in the center of the spell circle with my hands bonded together by a spell. “Lilith, you have been brought back before council of the Sisters of Wisdom because for the second time you have managed to let the child slip through your fingers.” The elderly witch that stands before me stares down at me with an icy cold glare. It is clear that she hates me and is willing to do anything to rid the coven of my return. “The child was within my grasps, but she is now under the protection of the Lycan King. I am not powerful enough to take him on alone. If you would only restore my full powers I am sure that I could procure the child immediately.” I stare straight ahead at the council not looking at one of them individually. I keep my head high and my shoulders back not willing to beg. The high witch scoffs at my request. “Absolutely not. You owe this coven a life debt after we rescued you from the underworld. Your limited abilities will be enough to obtain
ELLA “Who is she and why is she here?” I hear a woman’s voice travel down the hallway and through my door.“Who she is, is none of your concern,” Erebus chastises her in a low voice. “She will be staying indefinitely.” “None of my concern,” the woman gasps and I cannot help but lean my ear up against the door to hear more of the conversation. “I am the Queen.” “She sounds extremely unpleasant,” Lily mutters in my brain and I shush her quickly. “You are the Queen Mother, the former Queen.” Erebus replies grumpily to his mother. “Then you won’t mind if I meet her,” the woman says cheerfully, and I hear footsteps coming closer to my bedroom door. Quickly I scramble away from the door and back myself up against the bed. Without warning the lock on my door clicks and it swings wide open. A woman worthy of the title of a supermodel is standing in the doorway glaring at me. Her honey blonde hair is pulled back into a neat bun and her piercing blue eyes look at me from hea
EREBUS My hand hovers over Ella’s doorknob as I listen to the hushed voices coming from inside her room. The thought of Lucian being alone with her makes my skin crawl and I want to go in there and rip them apart. But the sound of her voice stops me. She is opening up to him in a way that she never has with me. Both jealously and curiosity surge through my body. My inner lycan is trying to reason with me. Telling me to walk away and let her have this moment with my brother. But my mind is telling me that I need to know her secrets. “I am ordinary…” Her voice travels meekly through the door. “Nothing more than a disappointment.” “Ordinary?” I whisper to myself. “What does she mean by ordinary?” Stepping away from the door I am lost in my own thoughts when Lucian steps out of her room and gently closes the door behind him. “What does she mean by ordinary?” I repeat the question to my brother. “Nope,” Lucian says shortly. “Not my story to tell and you shouldn’t be eaves
ELLA I have spent the past two days writhing on the floor in agony. One minute it feels as if my skin is on fire and am willing to sleep with anyone that steps into my bedroom. The next minute I am freezing cold. There is no reprieve from this hell that I am in. I thought nothing could be worse than having runes marked on my body, but I was wrong. The burning sensation of the runes tickles compared to the burning pain of my heat. My mother has called several times to talk me through the pain but it never ends well. In the beginning I tried to hold a conversation, but the pain of the heat is too much, and I can’t finish the call. Now I just let it ring until she eventually hangs up. I know Erebus is pacing back and forth outside of my room because the scent of honeysuckle drifts into my room whenever they drop off meals. By ‘they’ I mean only mated males or females that work in the mansion. Only those that Erebus knows can be trusted around me in my current condition. A
ELLA Laying in the hospital bed I hold two tiny babies to my chest and watch their chests rise and fall with each breath that they take. Faris was born first, he came into the world screaming with his eyes wide open. One blue and one green, just like his father. Keena came quickly after her brother, not wanting to be left behind. She has a full head of dark hair and greenish blue eyes. Keena is much smaller than her brother, but we knew that would probably be the case. Faris’s scent of cedar is already strong indicating that he will probably have a wolf or a lycan. Keena on the other hand, her scent of roses is barely distinguishable next to Faris. I tried not to cry when the doctors told us not to get our hopes up that she would have a wolf or a lycan because the odds are low. Still as I stare down at them tears prickle at the corners of my eyes. Tears of both happiness that they are here and healthy but sadness because we do not know what the future will hold. Looking o
ELLA*Four Months Later* The warm summer air hits my round face as soon as I open the door of Emmett’s Jeep. I try to peer down over my large stomach to see the ground before I roll out of the vehicle, but all I can see is the bright pink shirt that covers my pregnant belly. “Emmett,” I yell knowing that I will need help maneuvering myself out of the Jeep. “Right here, Luna,” he says as he offers me his hand. I scoot to the edge of the seat and slowly lower myself to the ground. I can see Emmett smirking out of the corner of my eyes and I turn my head to give him a sharp glare. My bare feet hit the soft grass outside of the cabin and I wiggle my toes against the wet dew that had settled on the blades over night. “Ella… Luna…” Emmett corrects himself. “Where are your shoes?” He asks me with an air of frustration in his voice. “In your Jeep,” I say with a smirk on my face. “I meant why aren’t they on your feet?” He groans as he heads back to the Jeep to grab my shoes
ELLA*Two months later* The paper hospital gown itches and crinkles against my skin as I fidget in my seat. No matter how I turn my body I cannot seem to get comfortable. Anxiety pulses through my chest as I wait for the doctor to come in. Erebus, on the other hand, is sitting calmly off to the side flipping through the pages of a pregnancy book. “You aren’t nervous at all?” I growl at his relaxed demeaner. Erebus shrugs his shoulders and continues to flip through the pages of the book in front of him. “You are getting bigger by the day and we both have felt it kick. What is there to be nervous over?” “The fact that it could be human for one…” I pause as I realize what he just said. “What do you mean I am getting bigger by the day?” I can’t help the anger that is rising in my voice. “You can’t possibly be angry with me for saying that you are getting bigger,” Erebus pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You are pregnant. You are supposed to get bigger.” “But
ELLA Erebus swings the door heavy door to the dungeons open and the smell of mold and urine hangs heavy in the air. Murmurs of chanting fill my ears as I descend down the stairs, but it abruptly stops when I reach the bottom. Giving my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light I look at the cells that line the walls. Almost everyone one of them is full. During the battle I had only noticed the seven witches on the council, but it appears that there were many more fighting on their side. As I reach the first cell I frown at the sight that is before me. A young woman with jet black hair is crouched on the ground like a caged animal ready to attack at any moment. Her body shakes with fear as I look down on her. I try to remember what Grace and Sister Jasper both said, to look with my heart. Closing my eyes I let out a deep breath clearing my mind. We I reopen my eyes the young woman is staring at me curiously. A bright blue aura surrounds her body. I attempt to look into he
ELLA After the battle the wind no longer blows in strongly from the North. The Sisters of Wisdom have been put in chains and led off to the cells below the Royal Mansion in Lycan City. I watch silently as the those that are injured are helped to their feet. There is no line between lycan and hunter at this moment. Everyone is on the same team. “You did an impossible thing tonight.” Someone says as they silently approach me from the side. I turn and see Sister Jasper watching as a lycan carries an injured hunter through the woods back to hospital in Lycan City. “What was that?” I ask not taking my eyes off of my warriors. “You brought together two enemies to fight for the future of all of our kind,” Sister Jasper says, and I cannot help but notice how her eyes flicker to the amulet that now sits in the hollow of my neck. “The Sisters of Wisdom did not give us much of a choice,” I say in no more than a whisper.“The lives that they took from us can never be replaced.” I r
ELLA Everyone watches in silent reverie as Grace’s ashes dance on the wind as they climb higher and higher into the sky. It is as if they are jumping from one cloud to the other as she makes her way up to the heavens above. It would have been a beautiful sight if I was not so damn sad. Looking down to my left I see that Lilith is nothing more than ash now as well. I resist the urge to kick her ashes into the mud and snow. Walter grabs ahold of my shoulders and pulls me away from what remains of Lilith’s body. “She would want to be with her,” he mumbles. “That’s what Grace would have wanted,” he clears his throat as he speaks trying to hide the sobs that threaten to escape him. I look up into his brown eyes that are filled with tears, and I know that he is right. Grace and Lilith spent centuries at each other’s sides. Puckering my lips once again I blow a gentle breeze over the ashes that were once Lilith and send them into the heavens so she can be with Grace. Huge tear
ELLA A blistering cold wind blows in from the North as we approach the outskirts of Lycan City. Wrapping my coat tightly around my ever growing belly I try to maintain some type of warmth on this cold night. All I can think about as we approach the Wolf’s Den is the defeated look on Grace’s face as I stared at her through Lilith’s eyes. Off in the distance I can see a cloaked figure waiting in the darkness and I know that she is waiting for me. Holding up my hands, I gesture for those that are walking behind me to stop but none of them do. Taking a deep sigh I place a barrier between the cloaked figure and the group of hunters and lycan warriors. Stepping through the barrier I turn back to Erebus who is banging against the invisible barrier trying to break through. “Let me through, Ella,” he yells threatening. “No,” I say in no more than a whisper. “This fight is mine and mine alone.” “You cannot win this alone,” Erebus’s voice sounds panicked as he and the hunters and t
ELLA The pages of the spell book glitter and shine as I flip through them like they have never done before. Gently I turn the pages one by one, mumbling the names of the spells as I pass them by. “Summoning Spell… Tracking Spell…” The symbols on the page morph and transform into readable words before my eyes. Running my fingers over the page a long, thin, blonde strand of hair catches under my fingers. Between my forefinger and my thumb I grasp ahold of the strand of hair and hold it up to the light. The blonde shimmers slightly in the dim light of the library. I have only seen hair this color twice before. “Please belong to Lilith,” I mumble to myself. Just then a knock on the wall behind me startles me. I quickly place the hair back between the pages of the book and slam the cover shut. “What was that?” Erebus asks curiously as he lays his head on my shoulder and wraps his arms around my waist. I sigh to myself before I answer. “It is a strand of hair that I found o
ELLA The tension in the room is so thick that it could be cut with a knife. The Hunter’s Clan sits on one side of the room glaring at the Lycan Royal Guard that is sitting on the other side. Erebus, Walter, Lucian, Emmett, and I all sit in the center of the room, none of us knowing who should speak first. Finally one of the hunters clears his throat and stands up from the corner of the room. “Are we all just going to sit around and stare at one another or are we going to talk about the problem with this witch coven?” His voice quivers as he speaks, and his hands are clinched at his sides to keep him from shaking. Erebus nods at the hunter who quickly takes his seat. “He is right,” Erebus says a little too loudly. “The Sisters of Wisdom have gone too far attacking innocent werewolves and lycans.” Erebus begins to explain. “They need to be stopped.” “It isn’t just your kind that is being attacked,” one of the other hunters stands up. He is a large burly man with a long bea