[Hyacinth]
By having a one-night stand with a wolf that is not my mate, I committed adultery against my future mate and husband, even if I don’t know him yet.
Sex outside of the mate bond is a sin for wolves in my pack. We mate for life, “gifted” as we are by the Moon Goddess with one perfect mate made just for us. I’ve always thought this idea is ridiculous. Shouldn’t we be able to choose who we love and who we make love to?
Maybe I only think this way because I know I’ll never have a mate. You need to have a wolf to have a mate and I don’t have one.
Nobody knows why. Most people just say I’m cursed.
This is why I knew I was in serious trouble when I woke up in a room with a large, strong, masculine arm draped across my chest.
As if dumped into an ice-cold pool of water, I fear I already know what happened last night. Picking myself up off the floor, I say a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess, grateful that the stranger didn’t wake to see my shame as I wrap myself up in the sheet at my feet.
Pulling the sheet up around me I run across the room and push my way out into the hallway, determined to place as much distance between myself and what happened here as I possibly can.
If I am lucky, the only person who will know is Ashlynd.
[flashback–Last Night]
“You look so pretty tonight,” Ashlynd places a diamond and emerald star necklace around my neck. I feel so special in this moment, so loved.“ Mother was right to suggest I bring you as my plus one. How often will you ever get the chance to go to a ball?”
“Thank you, Ashlynd, for all your kindness.” She has always been so kind to me, but taking me to the Alpha Beta Ball is more than I could have ever hoped for. Father never let me attend this ball and I don’t feel like I deserve it.
Twirling me to stand before a mirror, she gives me a moment to take in the effect of my transformation. My makeup is perfect and the dress makes me look like a princess.
Suddenly Ashlynd’s phone rings.
“It’s Mom,” she rolls her eyes. Excusing herself, she walks out of the bedroom into the main living space of the hotel room. While I wait, I try on shoes and find a pretty silver pair. Excited to show Ashlynd, I head to the door but pause when I hear the frustration in her voice.
…” I’m not sure this is going to work,” I see Ashlynd is pacing back and forth. She looks worried.
There is a pause. Ashlynd nods her head as she replies. “If you say so, Mother. If it worked before…”
Looking over, she sees me and hangs up in a hurry.
“Oh you found the silver pair,” she smiles, putting her phone back in her pocket. Why is she nervous about me overhearing her? What is she trying to hide? “Those look great! Here," she sprits a bit of her favorite perfume on my neck and then pushes me towards the door. "Now we are ready! Come on, let’s go. We have a party to go to!”
Giddy with excitement, we rush to the elevator. The party is already in full swing by the time we get to the lobby. Young wolves from every pack in the area are moving in and out of the ballroom, laughing and talking, having a good time.
While Ash walks over to the snack table, I look around. The ballroom lights are colorful and bright, the music lively, and the dance floor full of wolves having the best night of their lives. Some are even walking hand in hand, basking in the glow of finally finding their fated mate. I feel a small stab of jealousy. I wish that could be me as well.
“Here Sis,” my sister hands me a cup. “This punch tastes amazing,” Ashlynd takes a big gulp from her cup.
“Try it!” she grabs a cup from the table, she pours some from her cup into my glass, and stirs it with her finger. “Drink up!”
...
Now that I think about it, her actions were a bit unnatural. I should have been more cautious.
Leaning heavily against the wall, I pick myself up and tuck the sheet more tightly around my body as I slowly make my way down the corridor. This shouldn’t be so difficult. Something is wrong with me. My legs are not working as they should.
What happened last night? Was I drugged?
Worried about being discovered, I don’t have enough time to consider what any of this means as I move on unsteady legs down the narrow hallway. My eyes blurry, I search for the right room number which is how I trip over a bump on the rug and stumble into a food cart sitting just outside of room 208.
Three doors down, the door to room 211 opens and Ashlynd peeks her head out to find me as a tumbled heap on the floor, covered in blood, dirt, and someone else’s leftovers.
Twisting her pretty pink lips in worry, she pushes a strand of blonde hair out of her bright blue eyes and hisses. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!”
“Ashlynd, I…” try to speak, but my tongue feels heavy, and cottony. “I need help I…”
She wrinkles her nose as she approaches me. “What on earth happened to you? You disappeared! I was so worried and I didn’t know what to do.”
Although her words sound concerned, there is something about the way she is looking at me that chills me. Why is she suddenly acting so strangely? Shouldn’t she care that I am hurt?
That’s when I hear something that makes me freeze in place with fear.
“Ash,” my father’s voice calls out into the hall. “Did you find your sister?”
Mortified, my legs give way as my body trembles. I know it doesn’t matter how much I beg. I committed adultery against my future husband and mate. This is a sin he will never forgive.
Our eyes meet, and with just one look I can see that Father knows everything. He reaches down to grab my arm and drags me into the room, not giving me a chance to catch my footing.
“What is going on here, Hyacinth?!”
“Father, please believe me,” I beg, crying. “It’s not what it looks like. Somebody did this to me. I don’t even remember what happened…”
The sound of his hand hitting my face echoed through the hall. “Be grateful that I have not thrown you out before now for being as pathetic and useless as you are.”
My face is still stinging from his slap. I try to stand on unstable legs.
“Contact Beta Reed,” he looks over his shoulder to command his guard. “Tell her I request an emergency meeting of the Tribunal of Elders.”
Looking me up and down one last time, my father shakes his head. “What a disgrace. If your mother were alive right now she would be so ashamed.”
[Hyacinth][The Moon Goddess Temple - The Tribunal of Elders]“Hyacinth Althea Monrovia James, you have been brought before the Tribunal of Elders because you have been accused of the crime of adultery,” the older wolf pauses, looking down on me with no attempt to hide his disgust. “How do you plead?”I am standing inside the backroom of the pack Moon Goddess Temple. The walls are white, the floors are white. Everything is pure except for me. Still draped in the same dirty sheet as before, I am covered in filth. Unlike other packs, our pack does not have an Alpha. Instead, we have a Tribunal Elders made up of the most influential members of our pack, put in place after our last Alpha passed away. Someday we may have a new Alpha, but until then they are in charge of running the pack and meeting for tribunals to solve pack issues.They stare at me from their tall backed chairs, waiting for me to respond. The world is spinning, I can barely stand. Not just from nerves, but from the lin
[Slate] My head is aching as the sun shines into my room. I definitely had way too much to drink. “Serves you right,” My wolf, Sage, mocks me. “You should have had more control. What kind of Alpha gets so drunk on his first night home that he takes advantage of the first pretty she-wolf he finds.” He shakes his wolfish head at me in my mind. “Did you forget how backward this town is? You probably besmirched that poor girl’s honor!” “Damn it,” I say to myself as I sit up, as I hold my throbbing head. What a terrible way to start my first official day as Alpha. Looking at the time, I see I’m due back at Gold River in two hours to meet my council and the rest of the pack. Rushing through my morning preparations, I shower and dress, skipping breakfast to save time. As I rush out the door I pause for a moment to look out the window, the fall colors are beautiful, like flames. I had forgotten how beautiful this city is. Our pack is about an hour north of here, deep in the foothi
[6 years later][Hyacinth]“I found a woman on the side of the road,” Out of breath, Drew opens the door with a slam, using his foot to kick it open, his hands too full to turn the knob properly. “Lying inside of a broken down car.”“Set her down on the table,” I instruct him. As soon as she is flat on her back, I begin to check her vitals. “Thank the goddess it wasn’t a sunny day, or she might have been a corpse instead of a patient.”I was on my way back from a nearby pack, so thankfully I have my usual medical kit with me. Carefully I examine her. She is very thin, and frail. Her dress is expensive, so I can tell she comes from a wealthy family, but for some reason, she was traveling alone. That’s when I noticed something.She’s pregnant. Her belly is just starting to show.This poor girl. Maybe she is escaping a similar shame. And she looks sick. Thankfully, I know just how to help her. As a pack less rogue, I treat wolves from everywhere, sometimes traveling far to treat the v
[Hyacinth]It feels weird, being home again. So much seems the same. The town gate, the streets, the bland color of the houses, and the rolling hills. The Temple of the Moon Goddess is still standing, glowing white and pure in the afternoon sun as devotees enter for midday prayers. My cheeks flush with remembered fear and anger as I think of that temple and how I was shamed before the pack.And yet, through the haze of my strong emotions, I can also see that a lot has changed. The pack has grown considerably. There are new buildings and more homes. The people milling around on the streets seem happier and more carefree than before, their clothing nicer, their cars newer. I start to blush when I see a young couple sitting on a park bench, in a public display of affection that should have been unseemly, even amongst mates.Things have definitely changed here. Or maybe it is just me who has changed.I was hoping to see improvement in Blake on the ride here, but my tonic alone wasn’t enou
[Hyacinth] Ash starts screaming. She is angry to see me. Not just angry, livid. She yanks my hat and sunglasses from my face, pointing and shouting. I expected her to be surprised if we were to come across one another, but our relationship had always been jovial. Before the incident, we were the best of friends. Why would she be so angry to see me?“Cindy! What are you doing here?! You need to leave, NOW!”I don’t get a chance to respond before the Alpha grabs her arm and begins to drag her out of the clinic grumbling under his breath something about “behaving like a proper Luna.”I stand there, stunned for a moment as I take a few deep breaths to even out my breathing. My hands shaking, I reach down to pick up the hat and glasses, useless now that I’ve been exposed. I expected some negativity when I was finally uncovered, but that reaction from my sister hurt me deeply. She was angry to see me, but why? What have I ever done to make her hate me?Something else is going on here. Some
[Hyacinth]“She called you a bad name,” his face is hard with anger. “She’s a bad guy. She needs to pay.”Ash continues to twitch.“We’ve talked about this,” I keep my tone steady and calm. “You need to let her go.”He takes a deep breath, gives Ash one more contemptuous gaze, and then releases her mind. Ash goes very still. A little too still.“Drew,” I try to keep my tone light, but inside I’m worried that Bash has finally taken things too far. “Can you take Bash to pick up burgers and then head home? I need to make sure she is okay.”Drew leads my son away, his face concerned as he looks back to make sure I’m okay. I’m not, but I give a little wave, reassuring him that I have the situation under control. I wish I could say that this is an unusual occurrence, that it has never happened before but I can’t. My son developed this “ability” around the time he started talking about his wolf, a wolf he is FAR too young to have. Over the last two years, Drew and I have had to learn how
[Slate] [Flashback–At the Clinic] The sound of Ashlynd’s voice when she whines sounds like nails raking across a chalkboard–scratchy and painful and slightly vomit-inducing. “Ash, I told you I’d meet you at the packhouse. Why are you here?” “Darling, you know I hate waiting,” she coos as she moves in closer, completely ignoring the fact that I was in the middle of a conversation. “How does it look to the others when you make your Luna wait an hour for you to arrive?” she huffs. I want to tell her I’m busy, but I don’t get a chance. She takes one sniff of the doctor and reaches forward to pull off her hat. “I knew it!” she shouts, pointing at the doctor and snatching off her glasses, “Cindy! What are you doing here?! You need to leave, NOW!” The doctor, Cindy, just stands there, taking the verbal abuse spewing from the mouth of my fiance. Feeling oddly protective of this woman I just met, I grab Ashlynd’s hand and growl softly, “Let’s go.” I pull Ash aside, the nurses and othe
[Hyacinth]“Yes,” I look the alpha straight in the eye as I lie. “I did hurt Ashlynd. She was saying some very unkind things in front of my son. I had a moment of weakness.”The alpha is sitting across from me at my kitchen table drinking a warm cup of instant apple cider. I wish I had something better to offer him, but Bash likes apple juice and we haven’t really gone shopping for food yet. He doesn’t seem to mind as he takes another sip from my “World’s Greatest Mom” cup. “And do you have these moments of weakness often,” he looks down at his beverage. “You don’t seem to me to be the type of person who loses her temper frequently.”“I try not to be,” I admit. Hopefully, the alpha won’t pry too much into the reason behind it all. I don’t want to draw any attention to my son. He takes another big drink of his cider, wincing as the hot fluid makes its way down his throat. “I hate to ask this, but since you are admitting to having…hurt Ashlynd in a fit of anger, I need to ask about so
[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