“So, do we walk to talk about it?” I looked over at Cassie, but she was staring straight ahead. “Cas?”
“Can we pretend like it never happened?” Her voice was small when I pulled her over to the side of the mall and leaned in. “Talk to me.” “What do you want me to say?” She threw up her hands. “It’s miserable being this weak. Every she wolf with more power out of the ranking demands we do their work, or their chores, or if we get nice stuff, they take it.” Cas looked at me and I could feel her pain. "We have no alpha female that protects us here. The beta and gamma try, but they have their own duties.” Cas wiped her face. “We have learned to deal with it, and when it really gets bad, then you dad gets involved.” “Cas…” “You aren’t here, and neither is your mom. If you get too involved, then we just suffer when you leave.” She looked at me and then shook herself. “C’mon, let’s go pick out jewelry for your dress. Which one are you going to wear?” “Don't worry about it. You are going to come over and get ready with me, right? So I can do your makeup and hair?” “I don’t have anything to wear.” Cassie looked to the side. “Nonsense, you will just borrow something of mine. Let’s go pick out some jewelry.” I wrap my arm in hers and pull her to the store. “I can wear something of yours?” Cas smiled up at me as we walked into the store. “Of course you can. You are my best friend.” I bumped her hip and walked up to the counter. A set with onyx stones caught my eye. It was stunning. And then a soft golden number with diamonds. “Excuse me?” “Yes?” The sales woman walked over and I pointed to the two sets. “You have a good eye.” She pulled out the sets, and I was amazed. “I’ll take them.” I smiled. “I’ll just wrap them up.” “Hold on a moment.” A new she wolf I had never seen before walked in with Amanda in tow. “I want that golden number for my niece.” I turned and smiled at the group of women. “Sorry. I already decided to buy it.” The new she wolf puffed out her chest and raised her eyebrow. “Are you the one that bought the dress before my niece?” “There must be a misunderstanding. You see, we had the dress first.” I smiled over at the new wolf, but she just lifted her lip and pushed out her aura. She was strong for sure, but she didn’t even reach the gamma level. “You don’t speak to me that way, little girl.” “Auntie…” Amanda started, but I cut my eyes to her. “If I were you. I would be very particular about who you speak to like that.” I smiled at her and cut my eyes to Amanda. Nix, speak to Amanda’s wolf and forbid them from speaking who I am to her aunt. Smart. Nix pulled away and I watched as Amanda jolted and I smirked. “Who do you think you are?” She snarled before she looked at the human sales woman. “I want that necklace for my niece. This little girl can’t afford it.” “Who says that?” I raise my eyebrow, surprised at the audacity of this wolf. “I do! Do you know who I am?” She stomped her foot like a child and I just turned away. I didn’t need nor want to deal with her anymore. “Don’t you turn your back on me.” “I don’t care, nor do I want to know who you are.” “I’m the future…wife of the man in charge here.” She looked smug, and Cassie and I burst out laughing. “Please wrap these up for me.” I smiled at the poor sales woman and handed her my black card. The card was my fathers, but this time around I would make my own money. My mind drifted back to my previous life, where my father's pack went bankrupt due to Brandon and Nix snarled in my mind. This time, he won’t be able to force us to watch as he wipes out this pack using our mate bond. No, he won’t. I promised, this time around, he would regret everything he did to us. “I said no.” The woman grabbed for me but I moved out of the way. “Do not touch me.” Nix growled in my mind. But I held my power in check. “Here you are, miss.” The sales woman handed me the bag with both sets and my card back. “Thank you.” I smiled and wrapped my arm around Cassie’s again. Then I turned to face the group of women. I forbade all of them from speaking of us. Good. “I will see you all tonight.” I smirked and turned to leave, but the aunt, the stupid woman, grabbed me again and I let out a low growl. “I already told you once not to touch me. Soon to be wife or not, I know the man in charge and he would not want you touching young girls.” I flashed my eyes at her. “You would do well to give me that necklace.” She growled out. “And you would do well to remember this interaction tonight.” I ripped my arm out of her grasp and pulled Cassie out of the store. Once we were a ways away, I turned to her. “Who was that?” “Aurora. A she wolf who moved to the pack last year. She has the hots for your dad and he did seem interested last time I saw them.” “There is no way.” I shook my head as we headed to my favourite sushi place. “My dad would never.” “Well, some of us think he will. And she would be the worst choice for all of us. She is the one pushing the unranked wolves to push us around. The gamma and beta won’t step on her toes because the attention you father is giving her.” “I will handle him.” We sat down at the booth that the server sat us at and I clapped my hands. “Now I won’t let her ruin our day. I haven’t had conveyor belt sushi in so long.” I squealed and Cassie laughed. “I don’t know why you like this place so much.” “Because it’s amazing.” Then I grabbed for my plates. “Let’s eat, then we can go back to the house.” So that’s what we did.“There are my two favourite girls.” My dad walked into my room as we just got back.“Hi Daddy.” I walk over and hugged him and bowed her head. “Hi Alpha Devlin.”“None of that Cassie, when it’s just us, I’ve told you just to call me Dev.” Cas blushed and nodded. “Can I speak with my daughter alone for a minute?”“Of course, Alpha.” Cas looked at me with a tiny bit of panic in her eyes as she turned away. I tried to reassure her, but I couldn’t do much. She knew exactly what this conversation was about. I followed my father to his office and sat down with Ronnie and him. “Talk.”“What is going on in this pack, Dad?”“What do you mean?”“Why are unranked she-wolves lording their power over the weaker wolves?” I looked over at Ronnie and he looked away. “You obviously know what I am talking about. The beta and gamma female here are doing what, exactly?”“Hey!” Ronnie looked at me. “That isn’t fair.”“I’m not saying it’s fair.” I looked back at my father. “You are letting your pack crumb
I walked back to my bedroom with everything just whirling in my brain. The she-wolves were staging a coup. My father was looking the other way to lure back my mother. Now there was a she-wolf that was doing something fishy. Knowing witchcraft is real, maybe there is something is going on with that.I walked back into my room to see Cas in tears. “What happened?” I rushed over to the bed.“Nothing. I just don’t want you to leave.” I wiped her face and laughed.“Why are you already worried about the end of summer when I just got here?” I collapsed next to her on the bed and I listened to her sniffles.“I know, it’s stupid.” But I could scent the slight tinge of fear in the room, and I knew something was said. “Who came here while I was gone?” I watched her tense, but she relaxed.“No one.” She looked away and the fear disappeared. Like she got control of her emotions.“Talk to me. I can’t help unless I know.” I whispered to her as I wrapped my fingers through hers.“You can’t help, any
The room was full of wolves and my scent glands were going haywire. Gathering so many wolves in one place always did this to me. My nose was sensitive, and I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself. “You girls ready?” I looked up at my father and nodded. “Can we enter without you guys?” I asked my father.“Why?”I smiled over at Cas, who was on Ronnie’s arm. “I…”“You are planning something with the she-wolves, aren’t you?”“Yup.” I smiled up at him and slipped my arm out of his. “If you hear a large fight, show up. But I swear, dad, if you fawn over another she-wolf in front of me, I will hit you.”My dad laughed at me. “I promise I won’t and if by the smallest chance I do, you have full access to punch me in my face.” He smiled down at me and I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks daddy.”“You’re welcome, my girl.” I pulled my arm from his and held my hand out for Cassie. “Let’s go.”“Are you sure Amy?”“Yes, yes I am.” I smiled down at her and she shook her he
“Baby?” My dad shook his head and his eyes cleared. Then he rubbed his jaw. “You had to?”I nodded and cut my eyes to Aurora. “Something is going on.” I looked down at the woman cuddled in my father’s arms and I wrapped my hand around her arm and wrenched her away, tossing her to the ground. “Get away from him.” Nix came to the forefront and flashed my eyes. Her screech hurt my ears as she landed, but I turned back to my father and Ronnie. I cut my eyes to Cas, and she walked over when I nodded. “Alpha Devlin, Beta Ronnie.” She smiled at them and stood behind me. “What is going on?”“This she-wolf is driving the charge behind the unranked, wielding their power on the weaker wolves, Alpha.” The beta female, Tina, walked over and smiled at me. “How dare you!” Aurora stood and tried to touch my dad again, and I growled. “Don’t touch him.”“Who are you to demand anything from me?” Aurora tried to grab for him again.“She’s my daughter, and the only alpha female in this pack.” My fathe
The knocking on the door woke me up and I groaned. I wasn’t ready to wake up; I snuggled deeper into my bed and ignored the knock when it sounded again. Ugh. “What?” I called out and my father’s chuckle from my door had me cracking an eye. “Let a little too loose last night, did you?”“You know I did.” I tossed my pillow and buried myself back under the comforter. But my dad just tossed the pillow back to me. “Time to wake up.”“I don’t want to.” I groaned and grabbed my phone and realized it was five in the freaking morning. “Dad…” But his laughed interrupted my groan.“Sorry darling, but training starts now.” He walked over and ripped the blanket off of me and I screamed. The cold air jolted me more awake, and I wanted to whine more, but my father was already walking out. “If you’re not downstairs in five minutes, I’m dumping water on you.” I groaned and kicked a little before I got up. I know it’s stupid, and I needed to be better than my last lifetime, but I really wanted to st
My father skidded to a halt at the edge of a small clearing with a stump in the center. I slid off Loki’s back and he trotted off to shift. He walked back to me and gestured to the center. “Go sit.” I nodded and walked into the clearing. The tree’s shadows were still deep, as the sun has just breached the tree tops. I shivered, not from the cooler temperature since wolves burn hot, but from the feeling of woods. It felt like something was here. Something was waiting for this moment. I turned to face my dad, and he was still at the edge of the clearing. “Why are you still back there?”“This isn’t for me, it’s for you. I have already done my time in this place.”“Your time? What are you talking about?”“This is a sacred place. The clearing here holds our family’s power, and it’s warded against it.”“Against it? Dad, what are you talking about?”“Just listen. Sit down on the stump.” I sank to the top of the stump and then looked back to my father. “Take your shoes and socks off, then p
“Please don’t do this.” I begged over and over, but no one was listening. I thrashed against their hold, but nothing. “I am your luna.” I screamed at the top of my lungs, but then his laugh from the other room broke all the fight in me. “Luke please.” I begged once more time, my voice horse.“Kill it once it’s done. Toss her out. She will have to survive on her own from here on out.”He can’t mean that. This was our baby. “Our baby.”“Is a mistake from the Moon Goddess. One I will rectify.” His voice called again from the other room. He wouldn’t even face me. “Now do it. That’s an order.”“Yes, Alpha.”It was a mistake to come here.It was a mistake to give him everything.“Oh, and doctor?” Her sweet voice called from the other room. My stepsister, Shannon. I gritted my teeth. “Don’t use any anesthetic. She should feel everything.”“Yes, Luna.” The doctor turned back to me with sad eyes, but when he picked up the scalpel, I knew I was screwed.I’m sorry, baby. Momma couldn’t save you.
I opened my eyes to find myself surprisingly alive. “Amy hurry, you’re going to be late.” I jolted up and look around, confused. What was going on? Where was I? “Amy!” The voice called again and I shook myself. I stood up from the bed and looked around again. I recognized this room. It was my childhood bedroom. I hadn’t stepped foot in this room since I found my mate, Brandon. I heard a knock on the door and my mother opened it. Before I could process what was happening, I ran into my mother’s arms. “Mom, you’re here.” I started to cry. “I’ve missed you so much.”“Amy. My girl.” She laughed as she patted my back. “I saw you yesterday.” She pulled back and I looked into her amber eyes that matched my own. “Happy birthday, baby.”I leaned into her hands and realized that today was the last day I spent at home. I found my mate on my eighteenth birthday. “Thank you, mom.”“Hopefully, you will meet your mate today and start your new life.” She smiled at me and I felt my blood freeze. I di