[Hyacinth] "Cindy, are you sure," Slate looks concerned. Very concerned. "What makes you think it is insanity and not something else?" "Well I have been under a lot of stress lately," I start to ramble, "and some of the things I'm hearing and seeing and remembering make no sense. My best explanation is that none of it is real, except in my mind." He looks at me as he quietly holds my hand, his thumb brushing my knuckles absently. "But what if it is something else, something incredible, something a lot better than going insane," he takes a moment to bring his hand to his nose and take a deep sniff. "What if you are finally getting your wolf?" I try to think back to when Bash started manifesting his wolf. Did the voice come first, or were there other signs? "When you talk to your wolf, does it respond?" I ask, "Because this voice never does. It's more like a blurt here and a blurt there, more like the things I don't want to say out loud than a separate personality." "Sage doesn't
[Slate] “Why did I do that!? Why did I kiss her?!” My mind is reeling, my thoughts spinning as I walk briskly towards the packhouse. In just over an hour I am expected to sit at a table next to my fiance at her family’s weekly brunch. And Hyacinth will be there this time. Dear goddess above, what have I done? “The first smart thing you’ve done in weeks,” Sage grins wolfishly inside my mind, an image as clear as my memory of my lips pressed against hers. “I think she likes us too.” “That was not smart!” I argue internally. “Smart would be keeping my distance from her. Smart would be letting her go to have her own life instead of pining after her like a lovesick pup.” “I don’t see what’s wrong here?” Sage growls in frustration. “Claim her as your mate. Mark her, mate with her, do whatever but don’t tie us to her hag of a sister!” “Why do you hate Ashlynd so much,” I interrogate my wolf. “What has she ever done to you?” “Other than forcing us to marry and mate with her?!” Sage is
[Hyacinth]The large cast-iron gates to my family estate were open and inviting, welcoming me home like an old friend after a long time away. The only problem is, this isn’t my home anymore. It hasn’t been my home in over six years. It feels so strange to be standing here between the open gates seeing that so little has changed. The front of the house is still perfectly groomed with expansive well-kept gardens and long green lawns while the back is still wild and untamed, a proper forest for wolves to prowl and hunt. It is so familiar that my heart aches, remembering all of the happy times we had here as a family before everything fell apart. Like a photo of the past, my family home appears to be trapped in time, a little faded around the edges but otherwise the same. “Mama, this house is scary,” Sebastian looks up at the giant estate, his eyes wide with wonder and fear. Maybe he is just feeling my fear of returning, or maybe it is something about the vibe of the house itself, but m
[Hyacinth] Standing on the stairs, looking down distastefully at the scene in the doorway, is the she-wolf who used to give me warm hugs and make me mugs of hot chocolate when I was feeling sad. She is the one who patched up my skinned knees and broken spirit when the other kids would tease me for not having a wolf. But much like her daughter, her attitude towards me has completely changed. From the ice in her gaze to the steel in her spine, she makes me quite aware of all the ways I am inadequate without even opening her mouth. I hate how much I still care about her opinion of me, and how much I seek her approval, even as an adult. I guess in some ways, she will always be my mom, even if she doesn't want me anymore "Tabitha," I respond simply trying to keep my voice steady. Rolling my shoulders and standing up a little straighter as I pat my son's back to let him know he's safe, Under her predatory gaze, I feel more like prey than a guest, but I won't let her lack of courtesy or
[Hyacinth] "TABITHA!!!" I screamed. She and I might have her differences, but for all that is wrong about her, she does seem to really love my father. She came rushing over the hill as if on springs and fell to her feet when she saw my father, her hand pressed against his chest. I pulled out my phone and called the nearby hospital, Moon River, to have my father life-flighted to the city for care. While I gave the instructions, my stepmother was whispering something in Henry's ear while tracing her finger along his chest. I couldn't hear it all, but one of the things I did hear was "Stay with me, Henry." Tabitha wrapped herself around him like a blanket wouldn't allow anyone near him. I was about to ask Slate to forcibly remove her so that I could examine him when we finally heard the helicopter in the distance. Thankfully, by the time the paramedics loaded him onto the gurney, his heart was still beating, although erratically. I felt so helpless, not only as a daughter but as a p
[Hyacinth] "His daughter," my heart bubbles over with hope upon hearing this news. "You wouldn't by chance have his current address and phone number? The pack seems to have lost his contact information and I have a few cases I'd like his help with," I explain, not quite telling the whole truth but not quite lying either. "That is if he'd be open to hearing from a new doctor from his old hometown." Her smile brightens. "Oh yes, I have all of his contact information." She then points towards the main desk. "I can get it for you if you can wait a few minutes. I left my phone at the nurse's station." Nodding enthusiastically, I watch her walk out and head back toward the nurses' station at the end of the hall. While I am sad that it took my father to fall ill for me to get this information, I almost feel like the Moon Goddess herself is on my side by guiding me to such a good lead. What are the odds that the daughter of the man I have been searching for is my father’s nurse? I have neve
[Slate]“I asked a question, Slate, and I demand an answer,” Ash is stomping her feet while holding the door open, “Now!”“What am I doing?” I question myself internally. “You’re claiming our mate,” Sage insists. “But she doesn’t have a wolf, not yet, how can she be our mate?” I interrogate my wolf. “What we are feeling isn’t the mate pull.”“Maybe it is,” Sage suggests. “But maybe it is just weak because her wolf isn’t ready yet.”“But what if we’re wrong?” I insist. What if I’m wrong? What if I've been wrong this whole time?My hands fall to my sides as I slowly stand to face Ashlynd. The expression in her eyes is anger and something else, disbelief--as if this scenario isn’t just offensive, and upsetting, but impossible. "Let's talk about this outside," I insist. Looking back at their father lying prone in the bed behind us. "This is not the place for this conversation.""We're going to talk here and now," she stomps her feet again like a whining child, her face red and puffy w
[Ashlynd] I am so grateful to the witch who made this brew for me, it always works like a charm. I am also grateful for my mother, who introduced me to the witch and made sure I understood how to prepare this concoction so that I could make more whenever I need. I’m also grateful to the Moon Goddess herself for sending Slate my way in the first place. No matter how he resists, I know that he is meant to be mine. He just needs a little help remembering that sometimes. As the familiar red haze clouds his vision and he begins to nuzzle my neck, I feel my wolf, Annabel, rising to the surface, adding her unique musk to the brew. “Do you think we can get his wolf to mate me this time,” she whines. “I want to meet his wolf so badly.” “Patience,” I advise her. “We don’t want to rush things. He might become frightened if he isn’t ready for us.” She grumbles but also understands. My wolf is a little bit different than most. It has to do with my very unique, some would even say impossible
[Hyacinth]What happens next still feels like an impossible nightmare. It was such a blur that it almost didn't feel real. Slate and I freed our senior pack members and they in turn freed the others. The remaining witches were gathered and imprisoned in the very cages they had created for the wolves who were now free. Silver doesn't have the same effect on them so the shackles and cages do not burn them, so in a way, we are treating them with more humanity than they ever showed us. The pack leaders who had attended the summit and our pack have allied. We call our new coalition The Protection and Preservation Coalition and as part of this coalition, each member pack has agreed to share resources and skills to build a standing army of trained soldiers with Alpha Silvers in charge of their training, making the Blue Moon Pack the premier location for training the best soldiers..We made the mistake before of believing the witches are long gone. Now that we know that we were tragically
[Hyacinth]The room is filled with the sound of chanting. Nobody has noticed Slate and me yet, which is good. We don't want them to see us. We need to save our people. If we are lucky, we can make quick work of this and save our pack.And our son, who is at the center of it all. He is the source of their spell. I can see the energy being drawn from him like the witches are drinking his soul. Slate squeezes my hand and through our link shows me an image of what we must do. The me from before all of this would have hesitated, but now I know that hesitation will just lead to more heartbreak and pain for everyone. "We can't let any of them escape," he is full of so much vengeance that I am a bit frightened of and for my mate. This time apart, and the pain he has received from the witch's hands, has changed my gentle Alpha into someone harder.Will he ever be free of this pain he now holds inside--someday perhaps but not today. Today he will have his revenge. And so will I. Slowly, I
[Sebastian]I know the bad man in the cloak. I remember him when I met him before. I should have whammied him before he could hurt us. The other kids can see the truth too. His illusions do not work on us. Maybe it is because they are a part of my pack now. I claim all of them. I am their alpha. The mean witches chained us all together. The chains end in a necklace and two bracelets that burn where they touch our skin. Some of us have blisters from where they rest, There is no way to move our hands or legs without much pain.None of us have gotten food or water, and the little ones are so scared.I am scared too, but I don't want my pack to know. I need to be like my papa. Strong and silent, ready to defend them. The grown-ups came to rescue us, and we were so excited to see them. First, it was the Gamma and Drew, but then I saw they were not themselves. They were put in one of the awful silver cages.A kind old lady and a bunch of wolves came in a few minutes later. But like the ot
[Hyacinth] Once the stars cleared from my eyes and my lungs remembered how to breathe, I looked up at my handsome mate lying above me, his body resting on his forearms, still glowing from the power of our union. My legs are wrapped around his waist as my body seeks to capture every last ounce of his love. Panting, and covered in sweat, our bodies rock softly as we settle back to earth. My legs slowly relax. We just made love in the forest after playing tag as wolves. For so long I never thought I'd have this, that I'd have a mate. But now that our souls are joined, I know that he isn't just my mate--he is my other half. "Hyacinth," Slate speaks into my head, his words as clear and sharp as if he had opened his mouth and said the words aloud. As he gently pulls out of my core to lie down next to me, I shiver at the feeling. It feels so much more intimate now--I not only feel what I am feeling, but I can feel what he is feeling too, as if I am both of us at the same time. Lying
[Thirty minutes earlier][Roderick]I should have never come here. I should have stayed in my swamp. Wolves and witches are dying all around me, terrified as they watch my illusion unfold around them. This is why others cannot use my power. This is why we stay far, far away from all of this. When a wolf like me interferes, when we join the fight, it often causes more harm than help. We intended to scare the witches, but a spell like this does not discriminate. Everyone in the area is affected, including the wolves who are little more than prisoners. Rushing from their seats, they may run towards the shelter of the auditorium. Those who were sitting closer to the front almost trample the ones towards the back as they make a mad dash to escape. The Beta and her team move forward, eliminating as many witches as they can. Unfortunately, the wolves in the audience are not in control of their bodies, the spell holding them captive is. And right now the remaining witches are terrified
[Ashlynd]I am dying. I know I am dying because I can feel the life draining from my body as the blood flows from my wounds, wounds that were inflicted by the love of my life and my darling sister, his mate.Seeing them run after one another, initiating their mating ritual, covered in my blood is not how I expected my wedding day to end.If only I hadn't been born a witch. Today would have been magical when Slate and I finally found one another, joining as man and wife. It would have been the beginning of a beautiful life together. But instead, my sister and the rest of the rebellious pack attacked and took everything important away from me in one deft move. When she bit the rings from my hand, I could no longer feel his heart, how in those moments as the spell started to take hold, he both pitied and hated me. The spell to make him my familiar, my witch's pet. would have forced him to be loyal and faithful and do what I wanted without complaint.It would have been as if I were the
"Mark me?" I whimper as I retake my bipedal form, returning to a body with only two legs instead of four. "You are my Luna," he growls as his form shifts above me. It has been so long since I've had him this close to me, naked and vulnerable, wanting to touch me, that I start to cry as I reach up to touch his chest. "Are you sure that is what you want," I want him, now more than ever, but I don't want him to feel like he is making a mistake. His expression softens as he bends his elbows, lowering himself to me so that he can press his lips to mine gently. "It's all I've wanted for a very long time, Hyacinth. I want you to be my Luna, my wife, and the mother of my pups.""About that, I reach up and touch his face," that night, before you asked Ash to be your mate.His face darkens. "I don't want to talk about that right now," he insists as he kisses me again, this time with more need. "I want you, I want my mate. And I need you to be mine, now. Not just because I want you, but becaus
[Hyacinth]Slate gives me a small head start. Bounding ahead, my heart pounding, I run on my new wolf legs, sprinting through the trees, weaving around them like the breeze itself, touching the branches and the bark with my fur as I brush past them yet easily missing any logs, rocks, or pitfalls in my path. I am graceful and strong in my wolf form, and my legs are long and powerful. Even though Halcyon is the one in charge, I can still feel everything--the cool wetness of the soil beneath the pads of my feet, the smell of fresh rain in the branches of the tall pine trees. And the scent of my mate not far behind me. He smells so good, so mouthwateringly delicious. Like the sweetest candy.Now I finally understand the gravity of what had been taken from me when my mother chose to seal off my wolf. She took away a whole world of sensations. I played in these trees as a little girl and ran through them gleefully as I played with the other pups. I had no idea what I was missing without
[Hyacinth]By the time I make it to the top of the aisle, Ashlynd is already holding Slate's hand as a preacher speaks over the two of them. Next to her are two of her new witch sisters. Next to Slate is nobody. I have already missed the part where they ask those in attendance if they have any objections to this union. Knowing Ashlynd, she probably didn't even include that part. She isn't the type to welcome opposing opinions. Everyone is focused on the scene in front of them. In the audience is my father and his wife, my evil witch step-mother. Also included are all the alphas and their senior cabinet members who came to the summit and Alpha Beta Ball. Every important wolf on the West Coast, as well as a few from the East Coast and one as far away as France. I'd be impressed if I wasn't terrified. All of these wolves are under her compulsion, controlled by the spell worn around Ashlynd's neck. I stand there, unnoticed and numb, unable to move as I listen to his promise to love an