When we got to the mall, we walked into the clothing store. “I need a new dress.” Cassie pulled me to the back and started to go through the racks.
“Why do you need one of these dresses?” I pulled a dress off the rack and held it to my body. The form fitting dress flared out at the bottom. It was a beautiful mermaid formal dress, but white wasn’t my color. “Your homecoming ball.” Cassie grabbed a short pink number that would look horrible with her skin tone. “Put that down and what do you mean homecoming ball?” Cassie froze and then slow turned back to me. “Don’t tell your dad I told you.” She rushed back to me and grabbed my hands. “Frick, I knew I was going to mess this up. You are my best friend and I knew I would mess this up.” “Calm down.” I laughed. “I would never tell my dad you messed up.” I wrapped my hands around her shoulders and shook. “Cassie, calm down and just tell me.” She smiled and nodded. “I was supposed to take you dress shopping for a surprise home coming party tonight. You know your dad.” “I do. Which is why I shouldn’t be surprised.” I smiled and then forced the pink dress out of her hands. “But this, this needs to go back and you have to promise me you will never touch it again.” I put it back on the rack. I started to go through the dresses and pulled a pale golden sheath dress that would look absolutely amazing on her. “Here try this on.” “I don’t know Amy.” “Listen to you best friend.” I pushed her back toward the change rooms and then I looked through the rack of myself. I was blissfully window shopping when I heard a voice that made my hackles rise. “Take it off now.” I could feel the power in the tone and then I heard Cassie’s sweet voice waiver. “You aren’t supposed to command another wolf. You aren’t in a position to demand anything from weaker wolves.” Cassie’s voice sounded pained. “Well then, take off the fuck dress and I wouldn’t.” Nix was in a full rage as I rounded the wall and saw Cassie being held face first into a wall with snarling red headed she wolf behind her with her cronies. “And why would she do that?” I pushed my hand outward and checked my nails as fear scented the air. Slowly the she-wolves all turned and then finally Amanda turned with a sweet smile. “Amy, welcome back.” I lifted my lip at her. “Why are you touching Cassie?” I smiled at her slowly. “Specifically, why are you trying to take a dress I picked out for her?” “You picked this dress? It’s amazing.” I nodded. “I know. That’s why I picked it out. It matches Cassie perfectly.” I walked over and pulled Cassie away from the crowd of women. “Let me look at you.” I saw the fear in her eyes, and Nix snarled. No one touched our friend. Cassie’s wolf, Nora, was a timid brown wolf that Nix took a liking to. “You’re stunning. This is the dress.” “Wait.” Amanda walked over next to us. “I saw this dress on Cassie and thought that it clashed with her usual style.” “And you thought it would look better on you?” I smirked as Amanda tried to stare me in the eye and failed. I felt her aura punch up a notch, and Cassie whimpered. “Well, too bad. We had it first.” I tried to handle this without the pissing contest, but Amanda punched up her aura again. Cassie whimpered and looked at me. “I can pick a different dress. It’s okay.” She turned to take the dress off, and I saw a flash of triumph on Amanda’s face. “No. If you don’t want it, I’ll buy it for myself. I picked it up first. So it’s mine. Amanda, you understand, don’t you?” I smiled down at the other she wolf and I could scent her frustration. “Okay Amy. It’s yours.” Cassie smiled at me before hustling back to the change room and taking off the dress before handing it to me. “Did you have anything you wanted to try on?” “No, I am just going to buy these two dresses and we can go look at jewelry.” I smiled over at the huddled group of women. “I hope you guys find a dress for tonight.” Then we left. Once we were out of earshot, I let out the snarl; I was holding. The air rumbled between my lips and Cassie ducked her head. A little bit of my aura leaked, and I felt guilty, but I was livid. “Don’t be mad, Aim.” Cassie grabbed for my arm and I watched her eyes flinch when she saw Nix’s golden eye staring back at her. “She is not mad, little one.” Nix’s smokey voice came from my lip. She had taken over as I when I lost my temper. “I am though. For such a weak wolf to think it is okay to wield her power in such a way when she is not even ranked. What has become of your pack?” What was wrong with my father’s pack? “Without a Luna the she wolves the are unmated all act this way. They think the more power they wield, the more likely they will be able to find a mate.” Cassie bowed her head. “None of that, little one. You do not bow to me.” Nix pulled her head up and rubbed our cheek against hers, rubbing our scent on her. “You are ours. The other she-wolves should not demand things from you. It is not the way of wolves unless you are ranked. Everyone else is equal.” “Not here.” Cassie wiped her eye and then turned to smile at me. “Can Amy come back, Nix? We have to get set for tonight.” “Of course.” Nix receded to the back of my mind. But she was already deep in conversation with Loki. I knew we would have an interesting conversation with my father tonight.“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
“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.