“What’s my one rule for you, baby?” he asks me.I smile at him. “I’m not going anywhere.”He growls softly, leaning in to peck my lips. “If you haven’t seen me by lunch, come find me.”“Okay,” I say excitedly.Cathal and I go searching for Brianna and Luca. Instead, we find Brianna with her mother,
DimitriEvery day, I watch Ayda blossom more and more into the incredible woman she was always meant to be. It’s clear to my why she was mated to an Alpha. She’s a perfect Luna. Now that she feels comfortable with me and more confident in herself, she’s beginning to shine, and the pack is responding
Almost the entire pack is weeping now, hearing the horror of what Ayda went through. I don’t feel like crying, I feel like killing that fucking asshole for what he did to Ayda.“That’s how Harper and Kelsey found me. I was dying. If the cold and infection hadn’t gotten me, I’m sure some wild animal
AydaI was worried that telling my story would make the pack see me differently, and it did, but not in the way that I expected. I thought maybe they would think less of me, blame me for the deaths of these two courageous women because they were helping me, but instead, it feels as though the pack t
Dimitri looks at me a moment, then scoops up some mashed potatoes and feeds them to me. He waits until I swallow them before answering.“I’m planning to attack Masuzyo.”“What? No, Dimitri! He has bombs around his pack lands! I heard some of the warriors talking about it! You can’t! You’ll die. Plea
DimitriI know Ayda thinks that she’s hiding her nausea from me, but she isn’t. I’m almost as concerned that she’s hiding it as I am that it's becoming more frequent. I was hoping she’d come to me, let me know that she wasn’t feeling well, but she continues to try and hide it from me. And I felt her
DimitriDr. Akeso takes Ayda’s blood, and I sit on the bed beside my mate, taking her hand.“You think completing our bond did this?” she asks me.“It’s the only thing that makes sense, Ayda. I tore you, you were bleeding, then I came inside you, a lot. Maybe I should have pulled out. I don’t know,
AydaI feel like I’m in shock. I’m pregnant, something I never expected in my life again. Not only was I alone and broken, but after talking to Dr. Akeso, I never expected that my body would ever have the ability to get pregnant again. But this man, this incredible man who continues to make me happy
“I couldn’t agree more," I say.Dimitri reminds our pups to be respectful and to listen to Valentina and then we head back to our house.My mate takes my hand as we walk through the quiet streets of our pack. I begin to purr with happiness, all the happiness that I feel from my mate and from my life
AydaI watch as my son and his friend identify each other as mates in front of the pack, then watch my son claim his mate, the only woman he’s ever loved, with a passionate kiss.“How did you know?” I ask my mate. He called it years ago. At first, I thought he was teasing me but he just kept telling
“What I know is that my son will be the most handsome man in the room tonight…well, besides his father,” my mother says, turning to smile at him, making Zev purr in response.“Good thing I look just like dad,” I say rolling my eyes. I was not unhappy for my parents to move out of the packhouse. I’d
Eight Years LaterCathal“Do I really have to call you Alpha now?” my sister Dimitra asks me, walking into the family living room in our parents’ new house. When I took over as Alpha a few weeks ago, my father moved the rest of the family off of the Alpha floor. Our pack has grown ever since my moth
Ayda leans back against me as I begin to rub circles on her stomach. I frown, feeling her stomach cramping.“Ayda? Why does it feel like you’re in pain?”“They’re just cramps, Dimitri. I get them all the time,” she says, settling against me.“Are you sure?” I ask, feeling another one. I tune in more
DimitriFour months later.It took Masuzyo three days to die. It was impressive, mostly because I didn’t know a person could withstand so much pain. But he was a broad man, and the pack made sure that everyone who wanted their pound of flesh, got it. Literally. By the time he died, the smell of burn
“Do you want me to tell them to kill him? If you want him to die more quickly, I tell them to do it.”I think about it, think about every horrible thing he’s done to me, to Asena, to our son, to Cathal, to Dimitri, to Kelsey and Harper, and what he attempted to do to my daughter. “No, let the pack h
AydaI come awake slowly, feeling groggy, unsure what happened or where I am. My stomach hurts. Did Masuzyo take me roughly again? I’m not throbbing between my thighs so I don’t think that’s it. My face is throbbing, though. Did he hit me? Yes, he slapped me. Why did he slap me?I think hard, trying
“Ramon,” I hear my mother say softly, her gentle fingers moving through our fur. “NO!” she snarls, pushing Ramon behind her and pulling herself to her feet. As she does, Ramon pulls the shift, making me scream in pain as our broken leg and dislocated hip try to find the right spot to fit. I turn, vo