Oliver Lya’s question shocked me a little. I didn’t expect it to be so innocent. I was prepared and willing to divulge all my deepest, darkest secrets to her, and here she just wanted to hear about my childhood. The conversations twenty questions had started usually had an agenda, anyway. “That’s a difficult question to answer,” I admitted. “I don’t really have anything to compare it to.” “Tell me a story, then,” she sighed. “A happy memory.” I stayed quiet, my mind going blank. Twenty eight years of memories went out the window when put on the spot. Lya opened her eyes, looking up at me through thick lashes. “You and Trevor have always been friends, right?” I brushed the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “He grew up in the packhouse, like me. He used to live in the beta wing, but after his parents died, he needed to move over to the alpha wing as my parents essentially adopted him and the new beta family was moving in.” I paused, thinking back. “He refused to giv
Lya Time at the pack passed in such an odd way. Things that would seem so small to others - like a spur of the moment lunch date with a stranger - were a huge deal, while monumental things came across as expected and ordinary. Maybe it was just how my brain processed things, not how pack life was different. Oliver and I didn’t get our run in the day before yesterday, and for that, I felt bad. Instead, we went over to his grandmother’s cottage so she could talk to my wolf. It was so interesting willingly letting Tala come forward and take control, while I just sat back and watched from the sidelines. All she wanted to know was how exactly silver affected Tala. Tala’s answer surprised me, too. Basically, it seemed like the silver just suppressed her presence, making my more human traits come forward. My scent, my senses, all the way down to silver just coming across as an allergic reaction, it was more humanesque. It hurt her significantly, but it didn’t shut her out like I thought f
Oliver Trevor and Thom would be getting to the pack today. I had just gotten off a call with them orchestrating exactly how they’d get here. They were under instructions to take the most convoluted path possible, which required extra time. Trevor was driving south before making his way back our direction, and Thom had taken a plane to Wyoming then rented a car the day before. It was probably an extraneous measure, but I wasn’t willing to risk the pack safety. A sudden stroke of fear racked my bones. I gulped it down, unfamiliar with a relatively standard thing rattling me so much. Adair stirred, growling in defense. 'What has you so bothered?' I asked. Another shudder of nerves ran down my spine. There was an overarching, gut wrenching, loathing of what was going on, but fear at this one particular instance? That was far stretched. 'That’s not ours,' he insisted. I frowned, trying to place where the feeling could possibly be coming from. Instinctively, my hand went to the mark
Lya I stood naked in the hallway of the alpha wing. My room was completely empty of all my things. My clothes had been moved out, the bathroom had all my stuff taken out of it, and the book on the Wulver Pack was gone. 'Well that didn’t take very long,' I grumbled to Tala. 'I didn’t realize we had pissed him off that bad.' She just chuckled, but provided me no guidance of where to maybe go. I heard the door to the packhouse open, so instead of being caught with my pants down - or off, for that matter - I slipped back into what was apparently my old room. As much as I didn’t want him to see me completely naked at the moment, I really hoped it was Oliver so he could tell me where my clothes were. The door to my room creaked open and I shrieked when I realized it was decidedly not Oliver. This guy bore almost no resemblance to him, either. “Well this is quite the greeting, but I’m married,” the guy said nonchalantly. He had a pleasant lilt to his voice that at least made me fe
Oliver For just this one night, I had agreed to cut Trevor a break. I had pulled some strings and gotten Rose to agree to get Anna out of the house in whatever means necessary. Rose had tried to get Lya in on the deal for a night out, but I wasn’t about to let her out of my sight, especially off of pack territory when we knew there were people after her. It didn’t exactly sit well with me to encourage my mate’s best friend and the Beta’s daughter off territory as is, but Trevor refused to set foot on our land until she was gone. I couldn’t keep them separated forever, but I could allow him one night. Trevor’s head popped up when we walked into the kitchen, eyes locked on my mate. “Do you still hate me?” I didn’t miss Lya’s pained expression. Her anger at him had been justified, and if she could overlook it, she was a better person than me. The only thing that had kept Trevor in my good graces was a lifetime of friendship, and that he came clean. “No,” she said quietly. “Just do
Lya Trevor and Thom followed me off of the training grounds. Oliver had given in, accepting that I overruled him, and was letting me continue with training. He knew me well - even without his blessing, I would have continued. The stipulation he thought I wasn’t aware of was Trevor or Thom would tag along to make sure I wasn’t actually put at risk. Both were coming with me today under the pretense of wanting to catch up with Cody. I knew Trevor just wanted to avoid Anna as much as humanly possible, and Thom… I wasn’t exactly sure what Thom’s excuse was. Maybe he did just want to see Cody. Training today had been tough. That’s not to say it had been easy before, but I had been pushed past my limits more so than in previous sessions. Cody said it was because I was clearly a better fighter than he had initially thought. After running over some new maneuvers, he left me with a couple other warriors to work on them, telling us to find him after we were done. I had desperately hoped a cou
Oliver The entire time Lya was away at training, I got exactly no work done. All I did was worry about her. Dr. Whitledge had specifically said two weeks until she could train, and while those two weeks would end in a couple days, she had already been training for nearly a week. The idea of her getting hurt - even a minor injury that was common in training - made me a ball of nerves. Adair tried to talk me down, insisting that when she officially became Luna she would have to also be a warrior in some capacity to stand up and protect her pack, but it still didn’t sit well with me. I wanted to mark her. I wanted to feel what she felt more clearly, instead of just when it was all consuming. This half bond was miserable to deal with, and that was one thing Adair and I agreed on. My office door creaked open and I breathed a sigh of relief when I looked up to see Lya. She walked around the desk and sat down in my lap, pulling her knees up to her and resting her head on my shoulder. He
Lya Anna trailed behind me all the way to my room, talking nonstop about a smell of intense spices, certain it was her mate and he was close and he had been in the packhouse recently and she just had to find him. I peeled off my clothes, noting my shirt truly was on backwards, and stepped into the shower while she continued to chatter outside the door. “I get it! I truly get it!” she insisted. “I totally understand why you can’t keep your hands off of Ollie, because as soon as I find this person, I swear I am going to eat him alive he smells so good. In fact, I have no idea how you control yourself as much as you do.” I cringed a bit. I really thought I had been relatively successful in my restraint, keeping PDA to a minimum. It was Oliver who either wasn’t trying or was having a really difficult time keeping his hands off of me. “Do you have any guesses?” I called out over the sound of the water. Anna was quiet for a moment - a rare occurrence. “I feel like I’ve smelled it before
To all my faithful readers, Mate bonds, plot holes, and unfinished story lines. Oh my! Thank you all so, so much for your commitment to this story, even when life got in the way and updating was not regular. It was such an adventure to write, and I am excited to say the adventure continues in the sequel, "Chase." Your favorite side characters will be pulled to the forefront as the beginning of the war the hunters alluded to takes hold. Mate bonds aren't what everyone wants, and they can prove to be quite the hinderance - especially when they fail to see that the universe has a bigger plan than just their destined lover. No one likes to admit they can be the difference between life and death, etiher. No one truly loves change, but sometimes it's necessary to chase after it. ********* ********* Time passes, things change, and everyone moves on. It’s easy to feel left behind. I always feel left behind. Left behind and forgotten. All my life, I’ve wanted for someone to reac
Oliver In the couple hours that had passed, the entire crew had filtered onto the patio. Trevor and Brandon had ensured everyone - aside from Allyssa and Maggie - always had a beer in hand. Every one of Lya’s questions got answered, and she had given up trying to pass off her newfound alpha title. Her grand plan that someone should just challenge her and she would just concede before the first punch was thrown was laughed off. It was a well known fact that the alphas who had leadership thrust upon them were the ones who upheld the title the best. Lya reached over, grabbing another beer. “So the Beta I choose - do they have to have Wulver blood?” “No,” Cody said. “In fact, there are only a few families left that have Wulver blood at all. I don’t.” “But,” Gregory added, “the alpha always somehow does. When our previous alpha fell, it was between your father and I who would take up the gamut.” “Why didn’t it go to you?” she asked. Gregory offered a rare smile down at Allyssa, w
Lya Apparently, the pack had a morgue. I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was. Also apparently, the pack had brought all the rogue bodies back, as well as pack members. This didn’t surprise me. Oliver claimed it was because they died fighting with and for a pack, so they should be treated in death as one. “I don’t understand your mentality toward rogues,” I mumbled. Danica had filled me in on the way most packs treated rogues, and with what happened to Oliver’s father, I was genuinely shocked he did not feel the same. “People should be treated as individuals,” he stated, offering no further clarity. Getting to the morgue had taken forever because people kept stopping us to thank me, congratulate me, praise me. And I didn’t deserve any of it.I had been the catalyst. And now I was being rewarded for starting a war. My eyes scanned the room, expressionless eyes staring into the abyss of nothingness that now consumed them. A lump rose in my throat, hating that so
Oliver I ignored Dr. Whitledge’s request to know where his patient was. He was a smart man, he could figure it out. What was the point of sitting and relaxing in a hospital bed when she could easily do the same thing at home? I had no intentions of letting her out of my sight anytime, either. It was a noble effort, but Lya only lasted all of a half hour before she passed out, slumped over on my shoulder. The firepit was still burning, though, and the Woodford was still being passed around. I had watched her closely before she fell asleep. There was a dam that was going to break, and I wanted as much warning as I could get. She was handling things alarmingly well for now - too well. The only person she truly strayed away from talking to was Liam. I had to wonder if she even realized who he was. My eyes danced back and forth between them, picking out their similarities. They had the same wild mess of red curly hair, freckles, and features, the same eyes that seemed to change colors w
Lya Oliver’s lips crushed down on mine, awakening a hunger and need and wholeness I had tried to forget about while I was the hunters’ hostage. The tears pricked my eyes, but he was quick to brush them away. He pulled back, looking down on me. “Why are you crying?” Oliver murmured. “You’re back home now.” I reached up, pulling him back down to me. “I missed you.” “Scoot over?” Oliver asked. I made space quickly, anxious for him to be as close as possible. I quickly found myself tucked under his arm. “Can we go home?” I asked. “Back to the packhouse?” “Tomorrow,” he promised, brushing his lips across my hair. “The doc says you’re healing better with your wolf around.” “Tala only held back like that as a punishment, apparently,” I said, furrowing my brows. My relationship with my wolf had grown immensely, and she had plenty of confessions for me. That was one of them. Oliver placed his thumb on my chin, turning my face toward him. “Don’t ever do that again,” he glowered. “I
Oliver Lya’s own little army sat in the waiting room as she underwent surgery. Everyone seemed to be glaring at someone. Liam and I continued with our silent argument through looks alone, Jade and Jason - Lya’s supposed cousins - were arguing about whose fault it was they hadn’t realized Lya was a wolf, Thom kept his eyes locked on them as he rocked Kai, silently begging them to be quiet, Anna and Trevor were still in a staring contest about his refusal to let her start warrior training, and Cody was curiously enough shooting daggers at Jade. Marjorie was the only one sitting quietly, observing everything. Brandon waltzed back into the room, returning from his mission for “supplies.” “You all need to take a chill pill,” he said, handing everyone a beer. “We are all on the same side here, don’t forget.” I sighed and sat back, cracking my beer. “You’re right.” “I mean really, you can be as angry as you want that Lya accidentally landed herself an alpha gig, but think of why you’re a
Lya Endings are hard. Beginnings, though? Well, beginnings are easy. They sneak up on you, and you find yourself halfway into the storyline before you even realize what the plot is. Truth be told, I couldn’t even tell you when the beginning of this story was. Was it my first shift? The first time I slit my wrist? Maybe when I met Ted Marsan, or killed him. What about when I finally ended up in this pack? I could tell you one thing, though, and that was this was the end. Endings are hard. They always come too soon, leaving plot holes and unanswered questions in their wake. There was so much more to say, to do. My story was ending, and it felt like it had only just begun. Fate is a fickle bitch. I was still resentful it had taken Her this long to let me find my way to this pack. Six weeks just didn’t seem like enough time to be happy. Oh, how I would have changed those six weeks if I had known how quickly this all would end. I had known death was a possibility when I signed up fo
Oliver I saw red. The first I heard from Lya in weeks, and it was a plea for help. I followed my nose, bursting through the door blocking me from her. I couldn’t see her anywhere, but I knew she was here. There were countless other wolves from her birth pack on my tail, and we immediately set to work dispatching the stragglers looking to escape us, dragging most out of cars that refused to start. I finally spotted her, underneath one of the vehicles disabling it. I took half a second to let out a breath of relief and smile. Smart girl. I lost track of her again, though, my focus shifting to keeping others away from her. It wasn’t until I had no one else in my sights and everything had fallen quiet that I heard her voice ringing through the garage, filled with confidence and conviction. “I’m challenging your alpha title.” I spun around, charging for where she was. I wasn’t going to let her risk her life like this. But, I was stopped by Cody and Gregory. 'She initiated the
Lya My mind was made up. I knew exactly what my role in this fight would be. If I had learned anything about my father, it was that he was a coward. He wouldn’t be out on the field participating. Maybe he was who I got my ability to run away from problems from. Even still, though, I was drawn outside. The sight was horrifying, and the smell of war made me gag. Guns rang out, teeth clashed, screams and howls resounded. What my eyes honed in on, though, was none other than Will barreling into my mate. I was careening toward them faster than I could think. If anyone died here, it was supposed to be me. “NO!” I screamed, but the sound was drowned out. Oliver waited too long, giving Will the opportunity to aim his gun. I didn’t have time to shift, but I still had the axe. I flung it with every ounce of strength I had, burying the pick deep in his chest. I was certain the pick side of a fireman’s axe wouldn’t be enough to actually kill him, so I twisted it just for good measure. If