*** Skylar’s POV ***
I continued to hit the punching bag even though I knew I needed to replace it. It was hanging on by a few threads, split in half from a couple of well powered kicks. Still, there was something thrilling about trying to sever the whole thing and have it fly off. Taking a deep breath, I did a low roundhouse kick and hit the meat of the bottom-half of the punching bag. The sound of tearing echoed in the quiet space of the workout area and the bag exploded from its spot. Flying across the room, it hit the wall and the grain or rice exploded against it.
Biting my lip, I watched as Ethan brushed his shoulders as he walked in from the shop. I’d told him that he could come over any time today but I didn’t realize he was going to leave straight from his territory as soon as I said that.
‘He’s lucky we didn’t hit him with the bag.’ Raine snorted in my mind.
I was failing to keep t
Ethan waved Kevin off as I helped him to the couch. Sam was holding back her chuckle but she did grab a water bottle from the fridge. She put it in his hands and I watched as he struggled with opening the lid. Holding back so many jabs I wanted to throw, I took the bottle from him and opened it. He glared at me but I raised my eyebrows, challenging him to say something. Sighing, Ethan sank into the couch and closed his eyes. “I think I have brain damage.” “I think it’s way too late to be stating that.” Sam shook her head. Leaving Ethan on the couch, I went to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. Holding it against my arms, I groaned. Sam was chuckling as Kevin looked from his Alpha to me. Coming over, he pulled up my arm and cursed. “Did you two need to go all out? Goddess…you could have been seriously hurt!” Ethan waved his hand. “I am seriously hurt.” Kevin scoffed. “Your brain rattling around just means that it’s still there, contrary to popular belief. Now we know. Skylar’
My phone was sitting on the coffee table and I was pacing behind the couch. Emmett said he was going to call on his new phone over twenty minutes ago. My nerves were on high alert as I looked at my phone every couple seconds, hoping I could manifest something that hadn’t happened in the last twenty minutes. Hell, I didn’t even know if he was able to get it. He could have been unable to get the phone today and all this pacing was just wearing our floorboards down.‘Sky, you need to calm down.’ Raine had been trying to calm me down this entire time but the way her tail twitched told me she was worried as well.‘I know. I know…I just…what if he got caught with it? What if something happened?’Raine sighed. ‘If something really bad happened, then Carl would call us. Don’t worry so much. He’ll call us…’She was interrupted by the ringtone of my phone. Ju
I sat outside of the pack territory in Thing. She was idling as I stared down the road. It was so weird thinking I was allowed to go on another pack’s territory. This was the first time I was driving myself and didn’t have an escort. I’d put the top up on Thing since it was getting chillier as we headed into the actual winter months. Taking a breath, I allowed Thing to roll over the territory line.Another packs territory felt weird. It was like a weight on my shoulders. Almost like the air was thicker, telling me that if I wanted to breathe better, breathe freely, I needed to get the hell out of here. I wondered if it would feel like that if I wasn’t a rogue but now I understood why rogues didn’t spend much time, if any, in packs even if they were welcome.My phone dinged and I glanced at the text message from Ethan.E: Welcome. Head on in, the guys know you are
“What do you think? I think we got it pretty straight.” “I mean, it’s about a straight as we could get it. He’s pretty dark to begin with but this particular color has some bleach in it to help lighten and get the color really to pop.” I nodded and rubbed under Niru’s chin. “You’re doing so good. Thank you. I’m sure Ethan is being obnoxious.” Niru purred and nuzzled into my hand more. Giving him a couple more scratches with my ungloved hand, I massaged the color to come to a point just behind his eyes. Sam was working on getting the tail since she was better at dyeing than I was. It was way harder with how fluffy his tail was. We had decided to do a bold blue line down his fur as apposed to getting five bottles and trying to dye all of him. I’m not sure if anyone would take an Alpha wolf seriously if they were entirely blue. Not that they would with a skunk strip of blue but Niru shot down the zebra and cheetah print ideas. My now shockingly purple hair was drying and Kevin had the
“Alright, Niru, stand still. We are going to hose you off now.”After our lunch, Kevin moved the platter to the table as Sam pulled out the hose from the side of the house. I grabbed the bottle of all-in-one shampoo and conditioner that apparently was Ethan’s go-to. Pulling off my shirt, Kevin squeaked and turned around. Laughing, I shook my head.“Kev, I have a sports bra on. I’m fine. Plus, I’m wearing boy shorts.”“What do you mean you’re wearing boy shorts…” He turned and pretty much turned back immediately.Laughing, I was mid-pulling off my pants. I wasn’t about to get my shirt or pants wet. Sam cackled as she turned on the water and adjusted the water spray. Kevin disappeared into the house and I continued to laugh.“It’s probably better that way. Ethan may just murder him.”I shrugged. “I mean, I’ve been…”Niru g
“That’s…not all…”I started to shake my head. “How? How is that not all?”“Justin attacked Emmett on his way out.”My world started to spin and I felt the safety of my space start to crumble away. “W-what? Is…is he okay…?”Another long silence from Carl made me want to throttle him. “He’s…alive.”“Alive? What do you mean alive? Emmett isn’t a fighter, Carl. He can’t take on Justin in a fight!”“I know, Kick-Butt. I know. Emmett is in the hospital. He was roughed up pretty bad. He regained consciousness a few hours after the attack.”I coughed out a sob and covered my mouth. “Is he…?”“He’s going to be okay. But it’s going to take some time to heal. I went to go see him myself. He’s beat up but still kicking. Don’t worry.
'Opening my eyes, I looked around me. I was in the forest back at Silver Mountain. I knew that at least. This was the northern forest though, the one right at the foot of the mountain. It was a few hours away from our main city. What was this moment?I knew this was a dream. I don’t know how but I did. Honestly, I’d been expecting to be pulled into a nightmare after everyone refused to allow me to drive home. The weight of being on the pack territory was too easy to guess that I would be plagued with memories.Suddenly, I heard howling in the distance and I started to run. I knew they were after me. I knew if they caught me, they would kill me. My little legs could only take me so far so fast. Hiding in the back of a truck, I’d managed to sneak out of the city and take it as far as I could go. This memory was from a long time ago and I could barely remember why I was out here alone. It was rare that I was without Emmett attached
Raine and I decided that a run was in order. After we got back from Ethan’s a few days ago, there was so much pent up stress and worry. My shoulders were so tight I felt like I was walking more like a robot than human. Nothing felt right. I worked out more. I worked on the cars that came into the shop. I practiced my drums. Nothing could ease the feeling.Running in our wolf form, we felt a little better. It was like letting the shadows go. We definitely needed practice running on all fours. There were more than a few times we took a jump a little too far or run a little too fast and couldn’t control ourselves. Working out the logistics of not being seen wasn’t hard since our hearing suddenly was enhanced. There was deer I could swear I heard chewing on grass a mile away.‘How about we head back to the pool?’ Raine offered and I let her take over.We had been swapping back and forth to get a feel for the new form. It also w
I can't believe I'm actually here. We are at the end of Shift. Done. Complete. Marked and mated. ;)First off, thank you. All of you. Every single one who liked, who commented, who corrected my spelling, who didn't do anything but just read. Every single one of you have stuck with me and I can only hope that you guys enjoyed a peek into the lives of Sky, Ethan, Justin, Emmett, Kev, Sam, Kat, Caleb...and so many other characters. They are near and dear to my hearts and I honestly will say, closing this last chapter out was such a heartfelt moment for me.I could not have continued this without my regulars. You know who you are and I just want to say even when I felt down, I knew I had to keep going because I honestly didn't want to disappoint. As a lot of you know, I struggle with being sick a lot. So having my writing means so much to mean and having you guys be so patient during that time means the world to me. Especially when it feels like there is so much negativity on the internet.
My lips crashed onto Sky’s and it was an entirely different feeling with the electricity of the mate bond. Niru was growling and howling incoherently in my head but at the same time, it all made sense. I wanted her, needed her. Needed everything that she would give me. The thing that surprised me the most was that I wanted to share her as well. Pulling away, I looked at Justin who was just about foaming at the mouth.“She tastes like orange citrus as well. Would you like to taste her lips?”Justin’s irises blew out and a shiver ran through his spine. He reached for her but it was a lot more gentle than I expected. He brushed her cheek and sucked a hair behind her ear before pressing his lips to hers. She molded up against his body and I stepped up behind her, brushing the hair out of her face.“Can you taste it? Taste the orange with the salt from the sea?”Justin hummed as he pulled back slowly taking her lip between his teeth for a moment before letting it go. I smirked, feeling how
Justin chuckled. “You mean Fast Orange? Yeah, I smell it. Of course that’s what she would smell like. She uses that shit almost every day.”I smiled and I realized he was beaming too. This time we did follow our noses. She had been here but she wasn’t here anymore. We followed it back up the stairs as she wove through the art tents and through the throng of people that had amassed. I pushed through first, following just my instinct, Niru almost fully taking over.Justin was right behind me, never once straying or getting stuck behind someone else. I followed the orange scent and it started getting stronger. Like I had just stuck my nose in the bucket of the stuff she kept in the shop bathroom. The beach was relatively quiet since it was getting cooler as the sun was going down.Near the edge of the waves, just where it was lapping up onto the sand, Sky stood alone. Her large-brimmed woven sunhat was pushed back on her head and sunglasses were set around the top of it. She was wearing a
There was a read receipt but she wasn’t replying. Not that I blamed her. Sky probably saw right through my charade. Justin looked over my shoulder at my phone. “Yeah, because that’s not over the top.” I growled at him but continued to stare at the screen. Finally, I held my breath when the three little dots appeared. Justin was the opposite, breathing heavy as he started at my phone as well. S: Well, it’s nice to be remembered today. Both Justin and I winced. Oh yeah, she was mad. ‘Who can blame her? I sure can’t.’ Niru added his two cents. Shaking my head, I typed up another message. Mate #1: I’m sorry, baby. Really. Come on, let’s celebrate together, yeah? We can go to your favorite place in the city, have a nice dinner or whatever you want. Justin snorted. “Way to lay it on thick.” “What else do you want me to do? We fucked up. She knows it. We know it. I’m not about to lose the chance to be with her on her birthday because of it. Are you?” That shut him up as we both
*** Ethan’s POV *** My alarm went off and all I wanted to do was throw my phone at the wall. I’d gone to bed at three in the morning and I knew this alarm was for eight. My eyelids didn’t want to open and I turned over in bed, burying my face in my pillow. This had been the first time in three days I’d gotten to bed. It was a chore dragging myself up the stairs but I’d made it.Normally, I loved doing the work behind the scenes. The problem was is that the inspector with an entire tree trunk shoved up his ass decided that he was going to nitpick laws that weren’t even updated in this century. I would know because I fucking checked. Mr. Marrow had been out three times and each time we passed the first set of requirements but would find even more to throw our way.‘You need to be extra safe when it comes to our youth. You know, they are our future and the path to a better tomorrow.’ Niru copied his grating voice almost perfectly, before growling and snapping his jaw. ‘If I could just s
*** Four Months Later *** My eyes peeled open and I reached out for my phone. The screen flashed four in the morning and I groaned. My hand fall back against the sheets and I laid there for another moment. However, it was Raine who started to bounce up and down in my head.‘Raine, come on.’‘But Sky, aren’t we doing to do the thing?’Her exuberance and happiness made a smile creep onto my face.‘Come on, Sky. If we go early, we can be there early!’‘Alright, alright! Fucking hell.’Throwing the blankets off of me, I got up and padded into the bathroom. Going pee and taking a quick shower, I woke up enough to feel somewhat alive. Coffee would get me the rest of the way there. The kitchen was quiet when I walked in and I still continued to thank the Goddess for it. It had been a month since everyone moved the hell out of my place. There was still work needing to be done in the apartments but I left that to the contractors and the guys themselves.For now, I would enjoy the simple peace
I sat on the stairs of the porch, looking out over the back yard of the pack house. Everything was so quiet here. It was nice to take a break from the chaos that was now my home. At least for a few minutes. The wind blew and I tucked a stray hair behind my ear. Looking down at my phone, I stared at the messages that were there. E: Hey Sky, I feeling a little better today. Sam made some kind of soup. It was completely inedible. She had to order pizza. It reminded me of when you tried to cook that pasta dish and you somehow managed to burn the pasta. E: I went shopping online today. Got some more clothes. Bernard came by and cut my hair for me. That was nice. It was getting in my eyes. They won’t talk about you though. It’s like you don’t exist anymore and I hate it. E: Today was a bad day. I don’t know why. I just woke up and I threw up until there was nothing left in me. Sam tried to help but I felt disgusting. I’m reminded of what I did. What I had done. It’s like it comes back
We headed down the road in Ethan’s truck. I was squished between Ethan and Justin in the center seat of the bench. Still, it felt nice as I rested my head on Justin’s shoulder and my fingers laced with Ethan’s. I’d need them to handle this trip.“I gave one of the new homes to Sam. Her and Emmett have been staying together.”“So she didn’t reject him?”Ethan squeezed my hand. “She didn’t. She hasn’t marked him but when she heard what you did, I think she thought it only right for her to give him a chance as well.”My heart lightened just a little, knowing that something good may actually come from all this pain. Ethan turned down the road that was brand new and I could see the new homes that were being built. There were three blocks of them that were already finished and he pulled into the driveway of one that was a block down. I scooted out of the middle and Justin helped me down from the truck.“Whatever you do, pretend like I’m not here.”Both Ethan and Justin gave me confused look
I woke up screaming and my eyes flung open. Everything was hazy and I didn’t know where I was. All I could remember was the all consuming feeling of the darkness. How sticky my hands were from Emmett’s blood. The last sound that came from Marrok as I killed him. My heart sped up as I started to hyperventilate, as my stomach started to roll.“Hey! Sky! It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe.”A hand brushed my cheek but I flinched away from in.“Shit. Hold on. I’m pulling over.”I felt bile start to come up but I just coughed, forcing myself to not throw up. I hadn’t realized we were moving until the motion stopped completely. It helped a bit for my stomach but I still felt like I couldn’t breathe. Hands slipped under my arms and pulled me up from my laying down position. My head fell heavily against Ethan’s shoulder and arms held me tight.“You’re okay. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”That broke the damn. I started to cry as I grabbed onto the front of his shirt, balling it up between my