I dropped onto the sofa with both my parents looking down at me. My father mouthed the words sorry, but I just flipped him off and he laughed. “Now spill.”“Well, you already know the beginning of the story. I woke up, in the past, you sent me to Dad’s hoping he could figure something out to help me. Dad came clean, told me about our powers, and I started training.”“She also started female warrior training back up.” My dad pointed out but my mom glared at him over her shoulder.“What do you mean ‘back up?’.” I watched him gulp, and then he rubbed the back of his head. “I was missing you. And I had hoped that you still had friends in the pack.”“I cut everyone off, Gav. It was too hard.”My dad nodded. “Amy told me this summer. If I had known the truth, I would have stopped when I still had a semblance of control over the situation.”“Gavin Michael Maclean, what did you do?”“I gave the order to stop everything you were supposed to oversee in hopes your duty as a luna would push you
“It was magic, not how I truly felt.” My dad tried to comfort her. “What happened? What necklace, and who is the she-wolf?” My mother listed off the questions in quick succession and I wanted to laugh. “Ainsley…are you jealous?” My dad smirked, but she just backhanded his arm and she turned back to me. “After I noticed something was wrong, I worked to get my power under control. Great-grandma helped me. And-” “Wait, the dead woman?” My poor mother was trying her best to understand everything, but she was lost when it came to powers. “I’m used to Carl and his gifts, so I’m a little lost, but people coming back from the dead should be off the table, right?” I laughed with my dad. “Think more like spirit. Her spirit helped Amy.” “You got help from a fucking ghost?” She came over and sat next to me. “Mom. We are werewolves, and you’re surprised by ghosts?” I patted her hand, and she shot me a glare. “Listen. That is
“Our time has run out, love, but I am so thankful I came here.” My dad kissed her one more time before he got up. “I have to run.” He took a step towards the door and my mother jumped up and wrapped herself around him.“Don’t be mad.” Her words were soft, almost childlike, in her fear.“I’m not baby. We have four years to wait. I’ve already waited seventeen, and this will be easier because now I know you are coming back.” He kissed her again, and she walked him to the door. She pulled out descenting spray and sprayed him down. One second my father’s scent was surrounding us, and the next it was gone, leaving a missing hole in my senses. “Can you do me one favor, though?”“Anything.” My mom stared at his face with a longing so strong it made my heart hurt.“Unblock me so we can mind-link. It has been ages since Loki talked to Sigyn, and he misses
I stared at her for what felt like minutes, but it was probably only seconds. “Mom…”She shook her head, and a new tear fell. “I knew then I could never mate Vince. So I left. And I spoke with my father, as you spoke with me, and he said he would never make me mate with a wolf that held females so low. Low enough to use them while they were at their weakest and then kill them when he was finished with them. So when ever Vince had come looking for his mate, my father would always send me back home.”“How did you meet daddy?”My mom blushed at her thoughts, but a more frantic howl ripped through the air and I watched him deflate. “We should go.” She put out the fire and quickly put everything away. “Morgan will go berserk if we don’t show up soon.” She lifted her lip in disgust.“Can you handle the next four years?”“Yeah. Baby, I have to.” She waved me to the fron
Morgan backed up a little as he raised his hands up in surrender. “I was worried about you.”“Bullshit.” My mother spit back. “You wanted to control our run, or come with us, but you are not Amy’s father. You don’t get that right. You are her stepfather, and after today, that is even up in the air.”“Hey.” Morgan tried to push back, but my mother was having none of it.“Hey nothing. When Shannon shifted, what did you say to me?”“I can’t remember it was so long ago.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes, but I saw the anger there.“Don’t lie to me. It was less than three months ago. You were so proud, don’t you remember? You rubbed it in that Shannon shifted earlier than Amy. ‘Look at how fast and strong my daughter is. I wonder when Amy will get here.’ Yeah, that BS like we all don’t know that stronger wolves take longer to shift. Amy sur
“Say it.” I growled out one last time, already losing my patience.“You did this.” He crumpled to his knees, heaving. “It would have been perfect if you weren’t here.” He cried into his hands, and if he would have stopped there, I wouldn’t have suspected him. But he is Morgan, and he is an idiot. “Why couldn’t you have just died in the fucking attack?”I froze.How did he know about the attack? He continued to cry and scream, but I was focused on the words that seemed to flow like lava from his mouth. It was pure hatred. Hatred of my father and me. “If you would have just died when your dad was attacked years ago, I wouldn’t have had to raise you. Money that your mother would have inherited would have been mine, or Vinces. We would have been set. But no, you both survived. It wasn’t until you father was stupid enough to cheat on her that she moved here.” His voice tailed of
I closed the door and turned back to my mom. She was leaning against the door frame with a look on her face that I couldn’t read. We went back to the bathroom, and she leaned in. “How am I supposed to stay here for four years and deal with that man after finding everything out?”“I don’t know. But at least you have a good reason to be mad. You can hold this against him for a while.”She nodded and then shut the water off. “I have to go downstairs and clean up.”I grabbed her arm. “That can wait until tomorrow. Today has been a very long day.” I looked out the window, and the sun was starting to come up. “A very long day.” She nodded, and I noticed the bags under her eyes. “Lets catch some sleep on my brand new bed, and we can try to figure everything out later today.” We crawled into the new bed, and I am thankful it was delivered and we made it up with fresh sheets last night before t
“How dare you come here with your demon spawn? Look at what they did to my son. Just look at him.” The woman stood over her son and screamed at the goddess followed by wolves. The three faced goddess moved to the woman and held open her arms. The woman dove into them and started to sob. “Please save him, Mother. I have dedicated my life to you and I have never asked you for a boon. This is my ask. Save him. Please.” She pulled back and looked at the goddess, but her face was grim. “I’m sorry, my daughter, I can not.” The three faced goddess held the woman in her arms as she broke. Her legs failed her, and she crumpled down to her knees. “I will do anything, give anything, just save my son.” She wailed as the goddess held her. The goddess with the wolves moved closer to the young man, boy really, and she crouched over him. The wolves all moved closer and closer until they, too, were crouched over the boy. “Get away from him. Look at what you
We walked out of my apartment together, and I glanced at the next door. Rowan had disappeared after my heat, and I left him be. We both had things to focus on and I think we both realized that we were just distracting each other from what was important.Toya caught my eye. She glanced at his door and then looked back at me with sad eyes. “Do you regret it?”I snapped to her and lifted my brow. “Regret what?”Toya bobbed her head to the sides. “Rowan…the bullshit…”“Staying an extra year just to graduate with us.” Wendy cut in and Touya pointed to her. “That too.”I shook my head. “No.” I waved my hands and gave a tiny chuckle. “I didn’t have time for the bullshit, and Rowan and I…well, we both had more important things to focus on.”“You could have graduated early.” Hanna pointed out. “But you stayed.”“We are supposed to graduate together, plus the extra courses were amazing.” I smiled and put my arm around her. “How could I leave you alone?”Micca laughed. “You’re not our mom.” “I
Almost one and a half years later…“Are you ready?” Wendy bounced on her toes. Her long hair shining in the curls that we painstakingly styled this morning. She looked gorgeous in her pale pink dress. The black grad dress hung open around her shoulders as she finished her makeup. I looked around at everyone in my living room and I couldn’t stop the smile. “You guys look amazing.” And they did. Micca’s red hair was braided over her shoulder, her graduation dress a dark canvas to her stunning beauty. Hanna’s black textured bob was such a drastic change since our first year. She had let it grow out these two years, and then showed up this morning like this. “Hanna, your hair is stunning.”“I liked the long hair, but this feels like me.” She smiled and ruffled her hair. She slipped her graduation dress over her white sundress. “Can you believe it’s been almost three years? They said they would fast track us, but I didn’t actually think they would.”Toya came out of my room with her stunn
The silence that fell was charged. “That fucking douche canoe.” Toya and Wendy snapped to me and snorted. “You’re watching too much human reality TV again, Amy.” I flipped them off. “So you’re telling me that not only was he trying to get me to mate with him, he was trying to get me pregnant?”Wendy winced. “Well, we can’t make that jump.”Toya growled. “Why not?”Wendy slid her phone back into her pants. “Because while Brandon is a douche canoe, as Amy has pointed out, he wasn’t the one that grabbed the kudzu to beguin with. Morgan got it for your mom, Amy. He was trying to get your mom pregnant, so that is why he chose kudzu over another herb that can kick in a heat. But Brandon is…well he’s stupid. He is in my course and let’s say, if it wasn’t for his dad running the school, he would have failed business already.” Tina chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me. Last time he pretended to know what he was doing, but I was the one investing the pack’s money to make sure we didn’t go ban
I looked up at Toya in the doorway, confused. “What?”She pointed to my leg. “You’re bleeding, and it hasn’t healed yet. Why aren’t you healing?” I looked down at my leg and saw the blood pouring from a minor cut. I furrowed my brow. “I don’t know.” I looked back at her and shrugged. “I was talking to my wolves and got distracted.” Now it was her turn to furrow her brow. “Get out so I can stop the bleeding.”I waved her off. “Give me a few minutes to finish and then I will come out.”“Amy, just come out now.”“Okay mom.” I rolled my eyes. “Out.” I pointed, and she shook her head as she closed the door. Pushy woman.I finished my shower, including finishing my shaving, and I got out. It was bleeding faster than I thought possible and I didn’t know why. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my leg and walked out, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.At least you have wood floors in here. Could you imagine the damage if it was carpet? Megan sighed as Nix choked out a laugh.“D
Seventy-two. The floor fell out from under my feet. “How could you face that alone for seventy-two times?”She sighed. “I didn’t have a choice.”“That doesn’t make sense.” I was grasping at straws. “That’s like…”“Once a month from your eighteenth birthday, when you met Brandon, until we became pregnant. It would have been more, but we made our pup on your birthday. So that year I only have the one.” She answered softly. “We were almost twenty-five when we died.”The truth hit me like a punch in the gut. She survived so many times, all alone in the forest. “I am so, so sorry.”She took a deep breath and stood. “They get easier. And I had my mates touch to temper the burn. You both just went through you first without any help other than me. I took the heat, so you had those few breaks to collect yourself.”I wrapped my arms around her. “You are the strongest wolf I have ever met.”She laughed. “You’re only saying that because I’m your wolf.”“No.” Nix came over and sat next to her. “Sh
The world stopped for a minute, and then my wolves were lunging for each other. I slipped on the tub, slicing my leg as I struggled to reach for them. I turned inwards, sending myself into my mind, chasing after my wolves. “Stop.” I called as I reached the carrier, but they were fighting each other, and they were vicious. I pushed through the separation and ran to my clearing, diving between the two, earning myself a few bites in the process before they realized I was there. “I said stop!” I screamed as both latched onto me, and then jumped back. “Amy!” both of them called as they realized, and I dropped to my knees. Blood poured from my shoulder and my hip where they bit. Nix circled. “You are so fricken stupid.” She licked the wound at my shoulder, the one higher up where she got me. The blood slowed and Megan stepped up, cleaning the wound on my hip. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you jumped in.” Megan went back to cleaning the wound. “Don’t apologize.” Nix hissed. “She knows better
“Yeah, I think it’s time we do.” I grabbed the shampoo and start on my hair. “Obviously, this last week has been hell.” Both of her wolves agreed. Nix and Megan stumbled over to the clearing where my magic lived. Once they were close, they laid down, as if drawing strength from her center. We are tired. Megan sighed. This has been hell. Nix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Say what you need to say.” I rinse my hair and focused on my Lycan. “I know you have something to say.”She sighed. I like Rowan, we both do. She started and I could feel it. She was holding back. “Come on Nix. Just say what’s on your mind.”She took a deep breath. Okay. Fine. When we woke up after dying, we swore we would never allow another man to make us beg. We agreed we would push men to the side and focus on what matters. Nix stop. Megan shook her head. “No. It’s fine.” I shook my head. I took a giant glob on conditioner and threaded it through my curls. “We need to be open and honest with each other. Otherw
My heat took a full week to disappear. And the entire time I cried for Rowan, I needed his touch, but I was left alone chained to the wall of my bedroom. The pain was excruciating, but it still never compared to the pain of giving birth, which I still remembered viscerally. But both now and then paled to having my new born pup laying on my chest struggling to breathe only to be ripped from me.I wanted to be mad at Rowan. I actually wanted to hate him. I laid in my bed, burning from the heat, the pain setting my nerves on fire, knowing that his touch, anyone’s touch, would save me. But he was right. I would have regretted it after it was said and done. I screamed all day, all night. I couldn’t eat, I barely slept. Wendy and Toya were there to help with anything I needed. Micca and Hanna came and visited, but they handled everything out of the apartment for me. Ensuring everything was in place for the start of the second year. They handled the shopping, the rumors, everything that mig
That made me stop. He always forgets. Just like he never saw my emails. My texts or calls. I close my eyes and drop my head to my knees. “I am stupid.” “What do you mean?” Wendy crouched. “He hasn’t seen any of my calls, my text, my emails all disappeared.” I turned my face towards her. “I thought it was just someone hacking his stuff. But what if it’s more?”“More how?”“What if it’s magic? Or what if it is someone close to him and magic? Because Toya is right. I have made it clear I like him, and now he’s questioning who I want to be with. It doesn’t make any sense.”“Unless magic is involved…”I nodded and wiped my face as the door opened again. I closed my eyes and took a breath before I faced him. “It’s me.” His words were soft, and I just nodded. He staggered closer. “Toya said you told me you liked me…”I bit back a moan as the heat came surging back. I drew in a shaky breath and up, slipping deeper into the water. “Yeah, in a way.”He looked confused as he came to the edge o