“Give it back.” She screamed and leaned in trying to bite me since her hands were tied. But I just pulled my hand back. “Why would I do that?” I flipped it around in my hand. “It’s beautiful, honestly. Where did you get it?”“I got it from my mom.” “Really? Why was she sorry?”“What?” Aurora looked confused and shook her head. “She wasn’t. She got it for my birthday this year. Give it back.”“When is your birthday?”“What?” Aurora shook her head. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?” “Her birthday is December.” Beck answered me and I tilted my head. “I’m a gamma. My primary job is to protect the luna. Since we don’t have a luna, I keep track of the wolves trying to become the luna. That includes their birthdays.”“Why?” Ronnie looked back at Beck and he shrugged.“I want to be a few steps ahead with the next luna.”Ronnie faced him fully. “Beck, you know he won’t be with any obe else.” The man just shrugged.“Just in case.”Ronnie shook his head and turned back to me.
Nix? I called out in my mind.I’m trying to rein it in, but she pissed me off. Her voice was low. I watched her shake herself, but she was still riled. Megan trotted over to her and rubbed her side down Nix’s. I watched as my one wolf calmed my other one, and when Nix finally nodded, I opened my eyes to see I had shifted back.I rubbed my arms, and Ronnie ran his finger through his hair. “Please don’t shift until your father has been fixed. I don’t think I could keep up with Nix, nor keep her in check.” Ronnie shook himself before heading back upstairs. I could still make out Aurora’s screaming, but we headed all the way back upstairs. “What about the tools?”“Beck will grab them.” I nodded and headed up the stairs while Ronnie closed the door behind us and he called back up to me. “Amy?”“Yeah?”“You, ugh, you have a knife in your back pocket.” Confused, I patted my pocket, and sure enough, I had a small knife I had grabbed from the room with the tools. I pulled it out and flipped
“Hold his hand out.” I pulled it out far enough, and Ronnie looked at me. “What?”“Hold his right hand out now.” My father was screaming. “What the fuck are you doing? Ronnie, if you fucking listen to her I will kill you,” He snarled. His aura tried to come out, but it didn’t reach us.“What the hell?”“Your dad spelled this cell so that he couldn’t make us release him. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be a danger to the pack.” I nodded and braced myself. I pulled his hand out as far as I could and nodded to Ronnie. He wrapped his hand around his arm. Once he was settled, and he gave me a nod, I let go. I wrestled his hand open, and I pulled the knife from my back pocket.“Amy, what are you doing?” My father fought harder, slamming Ronnie’s back against the bars.“Do you trust me?” I fought to hold his hand straight as I brought the knife closer.“Of course. But what are you doing?”“If I’m right, what I am about to do will not be pretty, but it needs to be done.” “What are you
“Alsh firmate alite.” The fire ball flew from my hands and exploded against the dry wood. It caught, and soon the fire was burning through the wood quickly. I fed more wood, bigger pieces into the fire, and waited for it to catch. I wanted to be sure that this was going to be burning for a while before I moved on to the next step. Once I was sure that the fire was good, I flipped back to the page I needed. I read the entire page twice before I put the book back on the ground. I pulled my mother’s necklace out of my pocket and my father’s skin. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that I was right before I tossed both in. “Ista nox luva sit nu.” I slowly repeated the word three times, and I watched as the fire flared and turned pink. I hoped that meant I was right before I sat back on my heels. Now I just had to wait. I fed the fire and watched as the necklace slowly melted away, and nearly gagged from the smell as the small bit of my father went with it. I let the fire go until I saw ever
The sun was breaking over the trees as I broke out of the forest. I didn’t realize that the burning took so long. It took the entire night. Megan’s voice sounded tired. I nodded as I ran into the pack house and up the stairs. I needed to see him for myself before I believed he was truly back to his normal self. I made it to the landing, and I was hearing the pack house wake up, but I was only focused on one thing.“Dad?” I slammed into the office and skidded to a stop. My father was there, sitting behind his desk. He looked like he was normal, but that didn’t mean he was. Ronnie was slumped in his normal chair and they both looked up to where I was panting in the doorway.“Yeah pup.” His smile made me burst into tears. “You scared the crap out of me, old man. I thought I had lost you.” I ran into his arms as he stood and he wrapped his arms around me.“I’m sorry Amy. I should have listened to you sooner. I wouldn’t have hurt you if I had.” He pulled back to look at the faded bruises
The Agora was breathtaking. The clearing looked like a natural stone quarry, if that made any sense. Rocks were staggered down toward the lower floor, like steps, and it was already filling up with the pack. There was a path that circled down the side wall of the crater until it ended at the bottom, where a chair, or should I say, a throne, waited. There was a smaller one to the side, which I could only assume it was for the Alpha and Luna. As I stepped down with my father, I could feel the truth settle in my bones. This was the birthplace of our kind. You could feel the ancient roots here wrap around you. The trees bowed outward, allowing the sun and moon to shine down on the people collected here. This was where fates were decided. My father and I reached the bottom, and he gestured me to sit in the luna’s chair and I nodded. I settled and my father walked to the floor as everyone filed in. You could see the wolves that knew the truth of this place fill with a sense of pride. And
“Because!” she snarled and rose up to glare at her parents. “You were weak. Both if you were so weak. I deserved to be a ranked wolf. I worked my ass off to become stronger, only to find myself stuck in the middle with you two.” She looked disgusted. Her parents reeled back with the hate. “We loved you.” Sheila whispered, her voice trembling.“What’s so wrong with being unranked wolf?” Someone from the stands shouted.“Yeah?” Another called down. Soon, the entire pack was riled up.“Everything!” Amanda stood and whirled on the crowd. “You are weak. Unimportant. Poor. Pathetic wolves who are happy in your pathetic, insignificant lives. I deserve to be a luna, I deserve to lead. I deserve-” She stomped her foot.“Nothing.” My voice echoed around the clearing. “You deserve nothing.” Amanda turned back to me with a glare. “Being an alpha, or luna, isn’t something we deserve. It isn’t even something we earn. We are born to lead. We are born stronger, faster, bigger than normal wolves. Not
I stood on shaky paws, and I looked down at the girl between my feet. “What are you?”“I already told you,” Nix growled out as she lowered our head to Amanda’s. “I am an alpha of this pack, and I have made my decree.” Nix lifted our muzzle to the sky and howled. The loud lone call was matched with the shifted wolves of this pack. The ones that were left bowed their heads to us. “Does anyone disagree?”“No Alpha.” The call went out, even Jay and Sheila bowing their consent. “Mom! Dad!” Amanda called out, but they turned their backs on her. As did the rest of the pack. She looked around as she stumbled to her feet. She looked back to Nix. “From this day forth, Amanda Williams will be shunned by any of this pack. She will be joined by Aurora Williams once she is caught. We do not suffer betrayers in this pack.”“You have until sundown to collect the belongings you are taking with you. You need to be off pack lands or else the warriors have permission to attack on sight.” My father walk
I jolted back, and he raised his hands. “Sorry. What did you say?”“The included basic food plan was removed ten years ago.” I said it again. “Why are you confused? You work here.”“I don’t, actually. I volunteer here. Like I said, this is my hobby, and I enjoy this kind of thing. And it’s not like I have a pack or anyone other than the council to worry about.” He tossed out the words so carelessly, and I winced. “Does it bother you?” I asked, but he brushed me off. “I’m not privy to the interworkings of the school, so I didn’t know.” His eyes flashed, like his wolf was fighting for control. But I couldn’t make out the colour before it was gone. His human eyes were a stormy gray, and I felt my lower body clench. Nix was panting in my mind, and Megan, my sweet girl, was sitting back and watching the show. You two are foolish. Her words were quiet, but there was a tiny bite to them. That cooled my thoughts of the king. Megan lost her mate before she could enjoy the feelings, and that
I shut my computer and packed it away. Everyone else was doing the same. “Amy, can you hang back a minute?” Rowan called and I wanted to groan, but I just nodded and stayed in my seat. Everyone walked by me, and a few stopped by the side of my desk. “Amy?”I looked up and met the gamma from the beginning of the class, Steve. “Yeah?”“We just wanted to apologize for earlier today.” I was shocked. “What?”Steve just laughed. “We aren’t stupid enough to not realize that we spoke without knowing the full story. We judged you without knowing what you had to go through, or the decisions you had to make. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions and calling you those names.”The other two nodded. “We are sorry, too. We don’t honestly know what going into running a pack, but we know our alpha keeps us as safe as possible. And probably had to make some of the same decisions you have had to make, and we wouldn’t want anyone judging him.”I sat back and stuck out my hand. “I appreciate it.” They sh
Rowan shook his head and made his way to the back of the class. “This isn’t my typical first class, but I feel like we have certain things that we should go over.” He slid on to his desk. “We as wolves have a hierarchy for a very simple reason. The strong protects the weak. The high rank you have, the more people you have to worry about.” He wiped his face. “Alphas have to know that there are better ways to get information, though.” A man named Steven chimed in. I snorted. “Okay. Tell me how you would have done it.”“What?” Steven turned to face me. “You said we have to know there are better ways. How would you have done it then? The alpha was in danger. We didn’t know how deep the betrayal went. Within a day, we had a rogue attack that was organized, that multiple rogues were working together like they were in a pack. Without the information I could gather, my father would have been dead, the pack over run and demoralized. As the attack targeted women and children. So what would y
He stared at me as he smirked. “I can only assume some of you have put it together. Yes, I am that Rowan. And yes, I am the king. But no, you don’t have to call me King. I would honestly prefer if you didn’t. In class, anyways.” He winked and turned to his computer. He turned on the projector, linked it and then turned back to us while everything finished starting up. “But there is one thing I have to do.” He released his aura, and it slammed into us. It was the first time I actually felt someone’s power enough that I had to fight to stay standing. He watched everyone drop to their knees, except me. I stood a fraction of a second too long. His eyes widened, and he pushed more power at me. I just winked back and got to my knees to keep up appearances. He gave a tiny nod in appreciation and walked the front of the classroom. “Since I am here for this class only. I do not want it to be known that I am here. For one thing, I do not want females throwing themselves at me, and second, I do
He stumbled over his feet. “What?” He gave me a side look.“You act like I shouldn’t have noticed. We are wolves. We live through our nose,” Nix scoffed. “You are right, but no one has ever asked me directly.” “Why not?” We stopped and looked at him. “Why has no one ever questioned why a wolf has no scent?”He sat down and looked at me. “Probably because of my rank, or my size.”“What’s your rank?”He tilted his head. “I’m an alpha.”I nodded. “Alphas don’t scare me.”“I see that.” He huffed out a laugh. “But most people are. The sane ones, at least.” “Are you saying that I’m not sane?”His eyes widened a bit. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He started, but we just laughed. “Sure.” Nix looked up to the sky. “I have to go.”“Why?” He stepped in front of us, but we just walked around him.“I have to get back to class. I ran out of my last class rather quickly.” We started running, and Erubus ran after us. It turned into a game. We ran together, nipping and diving for each other. He t
She called back, taunting the giant male, and I just groaned. Nix, why are you doing this?“Because if he wants my name, he has to prove he’s worthy of it.” She chuffed out a laugh. “Any man that wants anything from me from now on has to work for it.” Thoughts of everything from my previous life flashed through my mind. Nix was right. I gave everything to Brandon, forgave everything, and he killed me and our baby.You’re right. Nix huffed another laugh. “I know.” We were distracted and the grey wolf dove out of the bushes for us. Nix rolled out of the way and was back up on her feet, sprinting away. She looked back and howled before rushing down the banks of a small river. She splashed across the water and was up over the other bank. She rushed through a lot of underbrush before diving under the roots of a tree. She huddled there, waiting. What are you doing?I’m waiting to see if this male is smart. If he is, he will find me. If not, he isn’t worth my time. Why?Because any male
“May I speak with you Alpha Amy?” The class just ended, and I was struggling to hold on to Nix. She wanted to shift, and holding her back was almost impossible. I turned to Gamma Charles and sighed.“Of course.” I made my way to his desk as the rest of the men filed out of the room. Once I tucked my power away, Charles did his best to refocus the class and start on the material, but you could feel everyone was on edge. “I’m sorry.” He started, but I raised a hand, stopping him.“I am not foolish enough to believe that it was intentional. I assume in your teaching career you have had quite a few individuals who had tried to pretend to be a rank they weren’t. I also understand the female alphas are very rare. I don’t take it to heart.”I watched as he breathed in a sigh of relief. “I am still sorry. I know I put you in an awkward position today, and probably for the rest of the semester. But I will go to the rest of your teachers and let them know so you don’t have to do this kind of d
I looked over the room and every one of these men on their bellies. “What the fuck?” I heard a whisper, but I growled. These fucking men pushed me to the point of losing my control. Now they had to deal with the repercussions. “Alpha Amy…” Gamma Charles started, but I turned on him and stomped to the front. I wasn’t even using all of my power. And I was making sure they weren’t in any pain, but I was almost past caring.“Gamma Charles, I’m going to need you to be quiet for a minute. Please and thank you.” I pulled back my power enough that everyone could sit back on their heels. “Now.” I turned to face the class like I was the teacher. I leaned against the table and clenched my fists. “I was trying to be nice. But you pushed it too far.”One guy stammered out an apology. “Please forgive us.” But I just shook my head. “We are past that now, Greg.” I finally turned to Caleb, who was glaring at me. “Have something to say, Caleb?”“No.” He bit out. I could see his ego was hurt. I was tr
“No fucking way.” One guy called out. I hid my smile behind my coffee cup. Gamma Charles pushed up from the desk. “Amy, while I can understand that, what I said might have appeared dismissive. But lying about rank is prohibited here.”“I understand Gamma Charles.” I placed my cup down and leaned back in my seat. Caleb, the poor man, was floundering. His mouth was opening and shutting without a sound.“So, what is your actual rank?” An unranked man, Adrian, I believed, asked me.I just raised my eyebrows and purse my lips. “Alpha.”“You have got to be shitting me.” Another man called out. “Alpha females are rare. Like super rare. Most Luna’s are betas, or gammas that mated an alpha and rank up. But a natural female alpha is basically unheard of.”“Now, now.” The gamma raised his hands. “Amy, I have to urge you to reconsider your answer. If you continue to push that you are an alpha, then I will either have to command you to tell the truth or call the dean.”“Okay.” I just nodded. “Eit