Mikael took Rayvin’s hand after they had disposed of the gloves. Diana had arranged for warriors to stand guard over the garage. Mikael felt helpless. He hated the feeling. Someone had kidnapped and tortured one of his pack members and then killed him.Rayvin tugged on his hand as they were walking back to the pack house. He focused on her. She had a sad smile on her face. “You did all you could,” she told him. For a moment, Mikael considered the possibility that she was a mind reader.“It feels like I could have done more,” he confessed to her.“No, Max. You did what you could with the information you had. Now we just need to make sure that it won’t happen again,” she said.“I’ll make an announcement at dinner,” he nodded. “That’s a good idea. We should add that it is best that no one is alone outside the pack land. They may be able to overpower one werewolf, but few creatures will be able to overpower two,” Rayvin said. Mikael nodded. It was an excellent suggestion.“I need to go
Mikael continued to place kisses along Rayvin’s neck. She gave him a small moan that made him crave another one. His hand that rested on her stomach started playing with the bottom edge of her tank top. “Max,” Rayvin sighed.“Do you want me to stop?” Mikael asked and prepared mentally to back off.“No,” she said, pressing her ass back into him. “Fuck, Ray,” he growled as he felt her rubbing up against him.“If you play your cards right,” she smiled and turned her head. He met her in a fiery kiss as he slipped his hand under her top. The sparks that he felt as he caressed her stomach upwards were amazing. Rayvin kept moving against him. His hand reached the bottom of her bra. He discovered she had a sports bra on. He felt her hard bud through the glossy material as he covered one of her breasts with his hand. Rayvin moaned into their kiss and Mikael realized he was getting addicted to her moans. He wanted to make her moan again. He trailed kisses along her jaw and down her neck. R
Rayvin looked at Ben as he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He was clearly uncomfortable. “Does this have to do with Milly?” she asked on a hunch. “Doesn’t all my problems?” Ben exclaimed tiredly. Rayvin felt Mikael put his arm around her waist and pull her into his chest. She leaned her back against him to reassure him.“After dinner, I walked over to my sister’s place. I wanted to know that she had understood how serious things were for her,” Ben told them. Rayvin nodded. She knew something had happened between Mikael and Milly during the day, but she didn’t know what. Rayvin was not at all sorry that she and Mikael had spent their evening with other things than talking about Milly. “Did she let you in?” Mikael asked.“She did, and we talked. I wish I could say that she had seen the light and convinced me she would be a model pack member. But you both know I would be lying. I think that she has realized that she will never have a chance with you,” Ben told them and looke
“What the fuck else am I to do? When I made the decision nine years ago to go on the offensive, I sealed my faith. I bet that even if people found what I did deceitful, I would still get Mikael. But I lost, I lost the respect of the pack, the respect of you and mom and dad. I lost the respect of my future alpha,” she said, sounding more tired than angry.“I couldn’t give up at that point. I had sacrificed everything. I needed to win the price,” she sighed. “You continued to chase after me, not because you had a crush on me but because you didn’t want to lose?” Mikael asked in astonishment. “I haven’t been interested in you in that way in years,” Milly admitted. Rayvin had to look away from Mikael to avoid laughing at the look he had. It was a mix of being surprised, feeling hurt, and just confusion. “That’s why you took the drugs, to get away from the prison you built for yourself,” Diana said. Milly just nodded. Rayvin sighed. This was a mess. “Milly, you need to tell us who els
Mikael was woken up by the melody to “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf” that was coming from Rayvin’s phone. He felt her move in his arms and he tightened the grip around her, not wanting her to leave his arms.“Max, phone, need to answer,” she said incoherently. “Leave it,” he told her without opening his eyes.“It’s my alpha,” she whined.“I’m your alpha now,” he corrected her with a smile. He heard her let out a giggle, and he opened his eyes to look at her. She was naked, which he approved of, and was squirming to get out of his grip and get to her phone that was on the nightstand on her side of the bed. Her hair was a tousled mess, and she looked breathtaking. “Stop trying to get away from me,” Mikael growled.“Let me go, alpha boy. Alpha Brutus needs to talk to me,” Rayvin smiled at him.The phone stopped ringing, and Mikael smiled back at her.“Problem solved,” he said and hauled her closer and kissed her. The phone started ringing again, and Rayvin let out a giggle again.
“It was unlike any other shift I had seen. It was slow and agonising. The skin rippled and I could see the bones moving. I tried to mind link with him, to tell him to just give in to it, to stop fighting. But there was no consciousness there, just a sea of never-ending pain,” Rayvin let out a soft whimper. Mikael felt helpless. He knew she needed to let this out, but he could feel her pain and the distress she felt as she relived her memory. He wanted nothing more than to put all the pain on himself instead. “It took him almost an hour to complete the shift. When he did, he was a pure animal, driven by a need to kill and maim. We later found out, after analysing the content of the syringes, that they had added hallucinogens and drugs that usually stimulate aggression into the cocktail they gave Simon.”“He killed the two rogues within minutes and tore the laboratory to pieces. I uncloaked and tried to get him to calm down, but he went after me as well. The only thing that saved me w
Rayvin looked at Mikael with a raised eyebrow and he felt a little embarrassed over his reaction, but just a little. “Do you object to that?” Rayvin asked.“Yes!” both Mikael and Ben said in unison. “Oh dear goddess, the babies we are mated to,” Diana shook her head. “Why can’t we go with you?” Ben asked.“Because if a man were to approach us in a club, what would you do?” Diana asked.“Keep him away,” Mikael said, and Ben nodded enthusiastically.“Right,” Rayvin said. Mikael could see that she had to hold back her amusement. “So that wouldn’t work,” Diana said.“And besides, we need backup in case something goes wrong,” Rayvin added. “If you feel that is below you, we can always take a couple of warriors with us,” Diana suggested.Both Ben and Mikael grunted, the women exchanged a look and Mikael believed their mind linked as well, and then they laughed. “That settles it then. On Saturday we go clubbing,” Rayvin nodded. “This will be fun,” Diana smiled back. “I don’t like thi
As soon as Mikael stepped inside the house, he could smell the food cooking and it made his mouth water. He hurried up to the kitchen and saw Rayvin standing at the kitchen counter, cutting bread. He tried to stealthily sneak up on her, but as he was halfway there, she turned her head and smiled at him.“Hi,” he said and closed the distance between them to give her a kiss. “Hi,” she said as they broke apart. Mikael wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder so he could look at what she was doing. “What are you cooking and how can I help?” he asked.“Tomato soup with grilled cheese. You can take out the cheese and cut it. How many sandwiches do you want?” “Um, how much bread do we have?” he asked as he walked over to the fridge. He heard her giggle and then he heard her slicing the bread again. “I talked to Gray and Bella. They are more than happy to help and I said we would go over there on Monday,” he then told her.“Sounds good.”“They wanted me to tell
Mikael looked at his mate and he knew she would dig her heals in on this. She had the adorable wrinkle between her eyebrows. He would have enjoyed a small scuffle with her any other day. But not today, not with these stakes. “Ray,” he said in a warning voice. “Max.” She had mirrored his voice and stood looking at him. “You are not thinking about going in to that place,” he said.“I am.”“Forget about it. I will lock you in one of the cells before I let you do something like that,” he told her. She scoffed and walked up to him. She stood so close to him she had to tilt her head slightly to look him in the eyes. He could see every golden thread in her eyes. “Listen to me, Max. I love you, I respect you, but that does not mean you get to control me. I have told you from the start, I’m not a meek and obedient Luna. You told me that was okay, that I could be who I wanted. Well, this is who I am. I am the kind of Luna that won’t stand by when I know I can help. If it turns out the agent
“I knew she never really cared for me,” Mikael confirmed, and it tore at Rayvin’s heart. “But I never blamed her for it. You saw me as your successor, as a carbon copy of you. She saw me as a duty, a box to check as Luna. I understood this early on. It didn’t mean it was easy to live with. Do you remember the summer Grey, his sister and mother spent here? I dreamed about Lilly asking me if I wanted to go back with them when they left. I had never seen another Luna with her children. I thought our family was how all Alpha families were. But seeing her, how she treated her children and how often Alpha George called to check on his family and how much attention both Grey and Lotte got. It was eye opening and gut wrenching all at the same time,” Mikael explained. Rayvin could feel the old pain he carried through their mate bond. “I gave you everything. I made sure you grew up strong, not spoiled,” his father objected.“You gave me nothing. I had to earn everything, even your attention. T
After the call ended, Mikael got up with a grim look on his face. “I’ll make sure the preparations to move him are started,” he told Rayvin. Rayvin got up and took his hand. “Stop. Just pause for a second,” she said. He had blocked their mate bond again, but Rayvin didn’t need it to know he was hurting. “You and me are going for a run,” she added.“Ray, we can go after I get things started,” he objected, and she hated how tired he sounded. “No, I’m going to insist that we go right now. Don’t make me use the mate card, Max.” He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Thank you, love,” she said, giving him a soft kiss and leading him out into the forest. They stripped down and shifted. ‘Catch me if you can, I won’t even use my abilities,’ Rayvin mind linked Mikel before taking off. For an hour, he chased her all over the pack land. Finally, Rayvin let him catch her by the waterfall and they both lied down in the snow and watched the dancing water. ‘Feeling better?’ she asked. ‘
Rayvin was discussing the training of the warriors with Diana. They had brainstormed and had the idea of building an obstacle course in the woods. It would make it easy to train warriors in different conditions and if it was done correctly, it would be able to adapt to the level of the trainee. Rayvin’s phone rang. She looked at it and saw an unknown number. There wasn’t anything strange about it. She hadn’t added all members of the pack’s numbers to her phone. “Rayvin,” she answered, not knowing if it was someone from the pack or a human. “Explain yourself, Rayvin,” someone shouted. Diana could hear it on the other side of the table and raised an eyebrow. “Hello, uncle. Yes, I have had a good day. How about you?” Rayvin said in a calm voice. She had never heard her uncle this upset before. It had to mean the actions the packs had taken were having an effect. “Stop playing games. What the fuck have you done? Why are our investments dropping like stones in the ocean?” he asked in a
Mikael looked at the report on his computer screen and frowned. He made sure to check his protective barrier toward Rayvin was in place. He didn’t want her to worry or blame herself. Mikael had sent Ben away to go to the pack doctor with Diana. It was time for the first official checkup. He heard to door open, and he didn’t need to lock up, he didn’t even need to rely on the exotic smell that grew stronger as his mate made her way to him. Rayvin was the only one who would enter his office without asking for permission. Not even Ben or Diana did it. But there was no ceremony between Mikael and Rayvin. She walked up to him and sat at his desk. He looked up at her and smiled as he placed his hand on her knee. As always, his hands always sought out contact with her. “Hi,” she said. “Hi.” She looked at him as if she was waiting for something. When nothing happened, she shook her head.“Are you ready to talk about it or do you need to brood some more?” she asked.“What are you talking abo
The party was in full swing, and Rayvin was having fun. For one night, it was good for the pack to let go of everything that was going on and just enjoy themselves. She and Mikael were making the rounds around the room, talking to people and making sure everyone was having a good time. “Vinny, it’s time for us to leave,” Luna Bella said and gave Rayvin a hug.“Thanks for coming, Bee. And thank you for lending me your stylist,” Rayvin said, giving Mickey a hug as well. “It was fun, it brought back a lot of memories,” Luna Bella told her. Mikael and Rayvin followed the party from the Blackmoon pack to their car and waved them off. “We have been at the party for almost three hours,” Mikael informed Rayvin as he closed his arms around her. “I didn’t know you were keeping track,” she said with a smile.“Three hours must be enough, don’t you think? No one would miss us if we didn’t go back,” he continued. “Tired already? I knew you were a little older than me, but you are losing your s
“Are you nervous?” Luna Bella asked as Mickey did Rayvin’s makeup. “Definitely,” Rayvin confessed and squirmed a little in her seat. “Don’t be, it will go perfectly,” Diana reassured her, and took another sip of the sparkling cider. Rayvin had decided they all were drinking cider instead of champagne. “You look amazing, if I may say so myself. It’s easy when working with people like you and Bee,” Mickey said. Rayvin was thrilled that he, Logan, Luna Bella and Alpha Graham had made the trip to Whiteriver to attend her Luna ceremony. She was even more grateful that Mickey had volunteered to help her get ready. He was an amazing stylist. Mickey had made Rayvin’s blond hair form into loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders and back. He had put soft makeup on her face, but as a contrast put gold eyeliner in an extended cat eye. It made her amber eyes stand out and gave her a warrior look. “Time for the dress,” Diana said, excitedly. Rayvin had listened to everyone and ordered her
It was Wednesday afternoon, Rayvin and Diana walked up to a tidy-looking town house in the human town. Diana was carrying a gigantic apple pie. Rayvin had asked the kitchen to make it for the bookclub she and Diana had been invited to. She had, unfortunately, forgotten to tell them it was meant for humans. They had made it with werewolf appetite in mind. ‘Ready?’ Rayvin mind linked Diana.‘No, are you sure I need to be here?’ Diana asked. ‘If I have to be here, you have to,’ Rayvin insisted and rang the doorbell. Mrs Goldstein opened the door with a big smile on her face. “Hello, Mrs Goldstein. This is my friend Diana Quickpaw,” Rayvin said.“Hello, nice to meet you. And please, we aren’t that formal here. Call me Ruth.”“thank you for inviting us, Ruth. We brought some apple pie,” Diana said. “Oh my,” Ruth said, looking at the giant thing in Diana’s hands. “You two know we are just six persons in the book club and it’s a one-day event,” she then giggled and took the apple pie fro
“What do you think?” Rayvin asked Mikael when they were alone again. “I like him. I have a feeling Gray will get two new pack members soon,” he said. “You think Milly will make a permanent move?” she asked and leaned against him. He pulled her closer and kissed her neck.“I think so. She seems to be happy there, and he has a good job in the area. I can’t say I’m sorry to see her go. But I am happy that she has found her place in life. If nothing else, it will make Ben’s life easier,” he said.“You’re right, Ben will have other things to deal with soon,” Rayvin said with a smile. “And I agree with you. I think he will make a good addition to a pack. It’s easy to see he is just as much in love with her as she is with him. They make a good couple,” she added. “One less problem. I think this is the beginning of a new trend. Our problems will start to untangle and go away from now on,” he told her. “Don’t jinx it, honey,” she joked. “Do you have anything else planned for today?” he as