The smell of pine, or maybe it was evergreen, filled my nose as we walked out of the plane. Ethan and I were the last to leave. Walking slowly, I took in all the surrounding beauty. The trees were taller than I ever seen. All the different shades of green were breathtaking. “Come on…” Ethan nudged me, bring me back to Earth. “Oh, sorry.” Taking his hand that he offered, he had to practically drag me to the car that was waiting on us. Callie let me get inside the limo before she talked to me. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I am.” “I honestly thought Stella was joking.” She looked at me with so much remorse. “It’s okay.” As soon as Ethan got in, his hand immediately went to my thigh. Needing the physical contact, my hands wrapped around his arm like it was my lifeline. I knew my hands were still shaking, but as hard as I tried to hide it, it was obvious. Vincent followed my movements but didn’t comment on it. “How long of a drive is it until we are there?” “About thirty minutes.” Damon l
“Fucker…” I was both impressed and annoyed. “This calls for payback.” “I’m sure you will get your chance at your luna ceremony.” Ethan closed the suitcase and set it on the floor.“Ready?” He asked, as there was a knock on the door. “I am.” Following him, Ethan answered the door. “Ready?” Callie asked a little nervously. “What’s wrong?” Ethan looked at her suspiciously. “Um…” She looked around Damon. Sticking my head out, I saw my dad and Vincent in a rather heated and quiet argument. “Hi, dad!” I said quietly but loud enough to make sure he heard me. The way his head snapped to me made me flinch back. “Grace!” His face immediately morphed into a smile as he walked up to me. The anger in his eyes didn’t leave as he came up to us. “Nice to see you, Alpha John.” Ethan held out his hand.Dad glanced at it for a moment before he decided to accept it. It was both disrespectful and obvious. “Alpha Ethan.” “Dad, you remember Beta Damon and his mate and Ethan’s sister, Callie.” I ges
Stella smiled but sighed. “I had to promise Rif I would stay off the tables after the ceremony tomorrow. He said it wasn’t luna like to table dance, so I’ll have to save that for the bedroom.” We died laughed. “What’s so funny?” Rif asked as the boys came back. Since there wasn’t a seat for Ethan, I got up and let him sit down first before sitting on his lap. His hand rested on my thigh as he pushed my drink to me. “Stella said she is prohibited from table dancing.” Callie finished laughing before taking a drink. “Yes, I am not spending the night of your luna ceremony in the hospital.” Rif gave her a look to ensure his request. “Yeah, yeah… I’ll behave.” Stella waved him off before downing her drink. “These are going down too smooth. Maybe I should switch drinks or just stop.” “Let’s just stop. We have too many visitors for you to be drunk.” Rif kissed her cheek. “Wow, Stella. Who knew all it took was a mate to tame you?” I teased as I took a sip. It did taste amazing. Stella na
Wrapping my arms around his, I felt so loved. His muscular arms were my safe place. “Always the beach. I’ll always chose that.” “Good.” Ethan leaned down and kissed my cheek before resuming just holding me. “Really? The beach?” Stella’s voice came from behind us. I was so engrossed in Ethan that I didn’t hear them coming. Turning around, I kept my arms on Ethan’s, refusing him to let me go. “My heart just longs for the beach.” Stella and Rif walked up, hand in hand, and stood next to us. “You look happy.” I could see the honest concern on her face, but there was some relief to it too. “Very.” Turning back to the view, I wasn’t done looking at it. “Why are you guys here? What about your party?” I heard Stella sigh. “I saw you guys dip, and I was jealous. Thankfully, Rif was able to sneak us away, but we will have to get back soon.” “Are you happy here?” I asked her, turning to smile at her. There was a little sadness in her eyes. “I am happy here. I love Rif and this life. I’m
The bedroom door opened without a knock. “I’m here.” Vincent said, but when he walked in, Rif was right behind him. My jaw dropped to the floor as the two of them walked over to the chairs and sat down. “I brought Rif with me.” “I see that… why?” I was pacing for the last thirty minutes about doing this. My internal debate if I should just ask him or try to sneak in was driving me crazy. “As much as you like to do things your way, I’m not interested in losing an allie and a friend. You need to tell him what is going on or I will, but you are not carrying out your plan.” Within an instant, I was fucking pissed. “Are you fucking serious? First off, this isn’t your life to tell the word about! Do you realize the danger you will put him in?” I’m not sure when my voice raised, but by the end of it, I was yelling. “Grace…” Ethan came over and put his hand on my lower back. “Are you in on this, too?” Stepping away from him, he just frowned. “You have been driving yourself crazy about t
“Exactly like the one you have.” Vincent said after a moment. Rif looked between Ethan and Vincent before he started smiling. “You’re joking… right?” Vincent and Ethan didn’t respond, but just looked back at him. Slowly, the smile faded from his face and his gazed turned towards me. “Are they telling the truth?” Bitting the inside of my cheek, I just watched all the emotions run through his face. Shock stayed the longest, but then there was disbelief and then acceptance. It felt like it took a whole ten minutes before he said anything. “Why did you never tell me?” His voice was barely a whisper. “Seems Vincent is good at hiding shit. He never told me my dad even knew about it. Never told me all the attacks on the pack were actually directed towards me and sure as hell didn’t tell me he was going to tell the world now about it!” “People have been after you before? Why not look into those people?” Rif asked the room.“They are all dead.” Vincent’s voice was extremely restrained. Ri
Ethan’s POV“What the fuck were you thinking?” Vincent was just standing there, looking fuckings stupid as he watched Stella chase after Rif. I wasn’t for this plan, but at least if I was going to piss off someone, I was going to get something in return. “I didn’t think he would react that way.” Vincent put his hands in his pockets. “How the fuck would you react? Fuck sakes! Now another person knows Grace’s secret, and it’s your fault. You decided this on your own. No regards to how Grace felt about this or even did you think to include me in on this? In case you haven’t noticed, I’M Graces’s mate. I’M in charge now, not you.” “He would have been more pissed had he found out after the fact.” “You have no idea he would have even found out!” I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face. Two warriors came up the stairs and approached us. “Excuse me, Alphas. You have been asked to leave the territory. Please don’t make this difficult. Pack your bags. We are here to escort you.
I was vaguely aware that it was just Stella and I left in the examination room. “I don’t owe you anything. Your mate put Grace in this position. Believe me when I say that you will never hear from us again if anything serious happens to Grace.” “This is MY pack!” Stella’s wolf didn’t like being disrespected like that. “THAT IS MY MATE!” My wolf matched her anger. However, I was an alpha. This might have been her pack, but I was still stronger. “It was your fucking mate that put her in the hosptial. If you want to know anything, go ask him.” Taking back over for my wolf, I was able to compose myself. “He won’t tell me anything.” Stella’s voice was her own. She was still clearly pissed, but wasn’t yelling anymore. “Please, tell me what is going on with my best friend and why my mate is hiding something from me.” Looking at Stella, my give a fuck was gone. I didn’t care if I put her in danger, but Grace would. “Grace’s life is in terrible danger. I can’t tell you any more than that b
“CHRISTIAN!” I yelled back. He laughed, as that was our thing. Ethan set me down when we got to the top. Christian instantly wrapped his arms around my legs. “I missed you! You are getting so tall!” “Hey, sis.” Vincent walked up to me with his arm out. With my belly, I could only do a side hug these days.“How is my little nephew doing?” Vincent shook Ethan’s hand. “Very happy where he is at.” Vincent has been a little of a recluse this last year. Finding out the truth, being a full-time day and looking for a beta has kept him from coming around as often. Fortuantly, everyone has sympathized with him. They have really accepted him into our friend’s group. However, Roxie and Zoey are on a kick to find him a mate. Vincent game me a smile and scooped Christian up. “Let’s go inside or we will miss the party.” Ethan held the door for us before quickly resuming his spot next to me. The moment we walked in, my breath was caught in my throat. It was just like I imagined it to be. A larg
1 year later“Grace! We got to go! Everyone is waiting for us!” Ethan was standing at our bedroom door. “I’m COMING!” I growled back. My swollen belly was ready to pop at any moment. Our little baby boy was loving kicking his mother in the lungs so much that he refused to leave. “I can only move so fast!” “You are the most beautiful pregnant person…ever.” Ethan smiled at me as I walked out of the bedroom. The stretchy black evening gown clung to my body, really making my stomach look much skinner than I felt. From the back, you would never know I was pregnant, which confused me. My belly was very round, like a ball. “This is all your fault.” Rolling my eyes at him, I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. Ethan walked over and gave me his arm. “Thank you.” “Just think…” Ethan patted my hand. “…. you get to do this many more times!” Looking up and glaring at him, “I will kick you in the nuts and end all of that.” Ethan laughed at me. I doubt anything would hurt his m
By the time we made it to the club, I had taken a few more shots, and the buzz was going. The club was bouncing. Music could be heard from outside. There was a line down the sidewalk and neon lights were flashing all around. This was the vibe that I was hoping for. “Ethan, I want to check on the computers. With everyone here, I haven’t actually got to see it yet and I want to check it.” I had to shout since the music was so loud and we weren’t even inside. “Grace, you are a little drunk….” Ethan raised his eyebrows at me. “Please? I’m not going to touch it. Just want to make sure it’s okay.” Grabbing his arm, I put on my most pathetic face I could.” “Fine…” Ethan rolled his eyes, but smirked. Wrapping his arm around me, he lead the way inside. “Callie, get everyone situated with drinks. We will catch up.” Ethan instantly lead me away to his office. It was more packed than I had ever seen it. Granted, I had only been here like three times, but this was packed. More than once, we g
“What do you have that is the best with crab?” Theresa thought for a moment. “Try the crab trio. There are three different ways crab is cooked. I think one is the crab alfrado, a mushroom stuffed crab and just steamed crab legs with a pepper, garlic butter to dip it in.” “That sounds perfect.” “Great. Would you like your legs already de-shelled?” “Yes, please.” I said right as the guys came back. “I’ll have a crab cake, please.” Jolene smiled at Theresa. Theresa returned the smile. “For you two?” She looked at them. “Seafood fried roll.” Ethan sighed and downed his drink. “I got another round coming.” She said instantly. Ethan nodded and put his arm back around me. “What did Vincent say?” I asked Ethan in the mind-link, so I didn’t hear what Nox, Stella or Rif ordered. “Well, turns out they were all people that went missing states away. None were from the same state, but they were all scholars in hacking or something cyber. Vincent thinks Zach or Derek had placed them there
Just as Ethan stood up, we arrived at the restaurant. I couldn’t help the sly smile that spread across my face before bitting my lower lip. “Let’s go,” Ethan said before clearing his throat. He gave me a little nudge to get off the bus. “Where are we?” I asked as I stepped off. Ethan was quick behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist. “This is one I have wanted to bring you to since I met you. It’s a very upscale seafood place. I know your favorite food is crab and I think they will have what you want here.” Ethan smiled down at me.“I love this place!” Callie squealed. “Their lobster is absolutely amazing!” “I’ve never been here!” Zoey grabbed Leo’s hand, and they started the train to the front doors. “We have a reservation. It’s under Boone.” Callie yelled from the back. By the time we walked in, the hostess walked off from the front. Zoey turned and smiled at us. I couldn’t help but look around. There was a massive sword fish mounted on the wall. The lighting was low, dark
After the house burnt down, we had to transport everyone back to their respected packs. However, all of our friends had to come back one last time to our pack and gather their belongings. Since they were already here, we had one last night together. Ethan set up a romanic evening that ended with everyone at the club for a night of dancing. All the girls were in my bedroom getting dressed. Callie had on a champain squence colored dress. It volumized her breast with a completely open back and only strings tolding it up. Her ass was about to hang out, but she looks amazing.Zoey had on a similar colored dress, but the top was more of a bra. Her stomach was open to a skirt that sinched at the side. Roxie was wearing a scarlett red dress. With long sleeves, the top was just enough fabric to cover her tits. It was an open stomach, but one side went down to a skirt that went to her calf. The other side had a slit that went to her hip, completely exposing her very toned legs. Stella was wea
Vincent turned and looked at us. “Let’s go home.” He whispered and walked past us. Christian was clinging to Vincent like his life depended on it. “Keep your eyes closed, bud.” He said as he walked out of the house. We all followed him. The battle was over and our warriors were collecting the dead. In the front was Derek’s body, Zach and Adaline. There was a rather large pile of men off to the side and a more respectible line of men that were ours. Leo was barking order with Damon, but Stella caught my attention. She was standing over Derek’s body with tears running down her face. Walking out of Ethan’s arms, I came up to Stella. She met my eyes before looking down again. “W-what happened?” I hesitated before speaking. I wasn’t sure how this was going to impact our friendship. Though it had already been rocky as it was. “Grace?” Rif walked up behind Stella. Putting a hand around his waist, he nodded. “Whatever it is, just tell us.” I knew I had everyone’s attention at this point.
Grabbing a lock of hair, I twisted it in my fingers. “You know Vincent, she used Derek’s weakness and let him believe for three years that he betrayed you.” Vincent’s hand wrapped around his neck. He squeezed hard enough to make her hurt but not enough to stop the breathing. “What should I do? Kill her or put her in my dungeon to years’ worth of torture?” “I’m sorry! I can turn my life around and be the mother that Christian deserves. I only ever wanted to be a mate to you.” She batted her eyelashes at Vincent. His grip tightened around her neck. “Nothing I do will be enough. It won’t be enough to vengue Derek, my dad or the years of head games you put on our son that I’ll have to fix.” Tighter, he squeezed until his hand started shaking. “I regret ever sleeping with you, ever touching you, or even meeting you. The only good thing in my life is Christian. I’m going to take your body and make a mockery of it. You will be an example of what it means to cross me. I’m more powerful than
Ethan, Vincent, and I just stared at her with our mouths hanging open. “Derek thought he betrayed Vincent. He did everything to keep Vincent out of danger and keep his kid safe and you were playing him.” My anger was rising as her words sank in. “You let Derek live with this weight on him for years.” Adaline shrugged. “Who is Derek to me?” She mirrored those words, knowing it was going to get under my skin. “Now, my child is an heir to not only the mafia family, but to a very powerful wolf pack and a blood relative to a very profitable security business.”“You never wanted me to create a program. All this was a lie to get the three of us here.” The truth came crashing down on me.Marco pointed his gun at me. “You are a very hard person to get ahold of. I told Zach to kidnap you by any means needed. He almost got you fucking killed. I’m happy you survived, but yes, however, Ethan was only part of it because he mated to you. I just wanted Vincent and you.” “Your dad was incredibly ann