“Pack your bags, Amy.” My mom came in, surprising me from the list I was making.
“What?” I looked up. “Why?” “You are going to spend the summer with your father. I already got the approval from the Alpha.” Mom smiled down at me. “Come on, baby. Pack your bag and get ready.” I jumped to my feet and ran to my mom. “I can go?” “Just for the summer, baby, then you will be back here with me. I had to promise that you would be returning here.” I pouted. “Mom, I really don’t want to be here.” I wanted to make them pay, but I wouldn’t risk him finding me. “It’s okay baby, you will understand once you see your dad.” She patted my hair and kissed my cheek. “Now get ready.” “Okay mom.” I kissed her back then she left me alone. I grabbed my phone to lock it and then turned back to my closet. I packed my bag and then headed into my bathroom when I heard the downstairs door slam open. “I fucking knew it.” I heard Shannon scream down stairs. I ignored her as I grabbed everything from my bathroom and then I grabbed my laptop and chargers. I stuffed everything in to my backpack and headed downstairs. “Shannon, why are you screaming?” Morgan was at the table with his coffee, and my mom was running around when I pushed my suitcase into the room. “I’m not Brandon’s mate, daddy.” Shannon flew into the room and dove into his arms. “How are you so sure?” Morgan wrapped his arms around her, but I just snickered. She snapped her eyes to me and she flew at me. “It’s you. You stupid whore.” Shannon tried to claw out my eyes. But I just sent her flying with a backhand. “Amy!” Morgan got to his feet but my mom tsked. “Morgan, you can’t yell ay Amy for protecting herself. Shan attacked her first.” My mom placed my breakfast on the table. “Amy, come eat. You have a long day ahead.” “Babe? Why does Amy have a suitcase?” “She is going away for the summer. To her fathers.” My mother turned to me and opened her arms. “Come baby. Come eat. The car is coming and you need to be ready to go.” I walked over and sat down, and dug in. “Why is she going to her dads?” Morgan walked over to pick Shannon up. “She wanted to spend the summer with her dads before college and who am I to say no?” My mom smiled down at me and I smiled back at her. I didn’t know what was going to happen this summer to protect me from Brandon finding out I was his mate, but I needed it. Whatever it was, I needed it. “Yeah, my dad called me this morning and since I haven’t seen him since Christmas break and when he offered to fly me out, I asked my mom.” I smiled sweetly over at Morgan, and Shannon smiled. “You’re leaving?” Shannon stood up. “Yup. I’ll be gone the full summer.” I smirked over at her. “But my room is locked, and it will stay that way.” My smile dropped away as I stared at her and used my alpha command. “Amy!” Morgan yelled out. “You know you’re not allowed to alpha command your step sister!” “And I wouldn’t have Morgan, if I hdn’t found her in my room this morning, trying to take things out of my closet.” I turned and raised my eyebrow, daring her to try to lie. “Is that true?” Morgan looked down at Shannon and I just stared at her. I watch her open her mouth to deny it. “I wouldn’t lie. I’ll just command you to tell the truth.” She screeched and stomped her foot. “Yes!” she screamed. “Are you happy? Yes, I went into her closet to steal some clothes because I know she is Brandon’s mate.” “How?” I threw up my hands, playing like I didn’t know the truth. “How could you possibly know that I am his mate? Neither of us has scented each other.” “Because he scented you on me!” Her voice was hitting a higher octave, and my ears were starting to hurt. “Calm down. You’re hurting everyone’s ears and just explain yourself.” My mom sat next to me at the table, rubbing her head. “Last month, Brandon turned eighteen, and I was wearing Amy’s dress. He scented around me and said I smelt divine. But when I’m not wearing her clothes, he has zero interest in me.” Shannon pouted. “So he likes the way I smell, doesn’t mean we are mates.” I pointed out. Completely and utterly denouncing Brandon as a mate. If I didn’t accept him, he would never be my mate anyway, and I would never accept him. That was the only thing I was sure of. Brandon would be the last male I would ever touch this time around. “Stop being obtuse Amy. We all know what it means when a wolf likes your smell.” Shannon started to cry and buried her head in her hands. “He’s the male I want, daddy. The only one I would ever accept. But he wants her.” She pointed to me. I scoffed. “I don’t want your sloppy seconds, Shannon. Even if he was my mate, and I am not saying he is. It would be a cold day in hell before I accepted him as a mate. I would take the Lycan King over Brandon.” I threw my head back and laughed when she gasped. The Lycan king was the bogeyman of all wolves. The last Lycan to exist and one who lives in the wild. It’s said the only wolves that ever see his face are the council that oversees the packs. But either way, I wasn’t lying. I would take the King as a mate before I would even look in Brandon’s vicinity. “You’re lying. He’s the alpha.” “And?” “Everyone wants to be the luna.” “Idiots want to be the luna.” I turned back and finished my food as Morgan calmed her down. My mom stood when she heard a horn. “That’s for you.” I nodded as I stood and kissed my mother goodbye before I left.I slipped into the back of the car after putting my bags in the back and buckled in. I had barely takin a breath before I launched myself over the seats and into the driver’s arms.His laugh made my eyes prickle. “Hey love bug.”“Uncle Ronnie. I’ve missed you.” I climbed over the seats and sat up front. “What are you doing here?” Ronnie was my dad’s beta. Not related, but he had been there for most of my life. “You think I was going to let my cheeky niece come to pack lands alone? Not on your life.” “Dad sent you?” I laughed.“Dad sent me. He is a worry wart your da.” He smiled over and laughed with me. “As soon as your mom called, he sent me with the jet.” “He didn’t have to.” I just shook my head and buckled my seatbelt. “Of course he did. He never gets to see you enough, and now you’re sending in the summer. What’s going on?” My uncle looked at me and I just shook my head. “I don’t want to be here.”“Why?”I looked down at my hands that were twisted. “I’m afraid that my mate i
“I lived another life, and I died.” I stumbled over my words and I felt my father freeze. A quick look to Ronnie had him locking the door and waving his hands. I felt the air still, but I was focused on my father’s eyes. “This morning I woke up six years in the past after living until I was twenty-four, and growing my own pup only to have my mate to rip him from my body.” My father’s and Ronnie’s snarl shook the walls, but I raised my hands. “He betrays me for my step sister who convinced him that I cheated and the pup wasn’t his, so he killed us both using silver scalpels, and killing any love I had for him at the same time.” I looked up at my father and the tears rolled down my face. “Pup.” His voice was choked up, but I raised my hand. “I don’t want him to be my mate, daddy. I know I won’t survive it. I need to change it. Everything, and it starts with hiding my scent. I told mom what I needed, and she called you. How are you going to help me?” I was starting to panic. “I don’t
I walked to my room and screamed when I was tackled to the ground. I started laughing as Cassie got off me. “Why the heck didn’t you tell me you were coming?” She punched my shoulder as I stood. “I didn’t know until this morning.” I hugged her to my side. “I missed you.”“I missed you too.” She pulled back and tossed me a small box. “Happy birthday.”I laughed again. “With everything that has happened, I had pretty much forgotten that it’s my birthday today.” “The big eighteen. Have you shifted yet?” Cassie jumped up and down with excitement. I just shook my head. “I don’t shift. You know that.” My face fell. I heard chuffing inside of my head. “I think you are just blocking it. You have a wolf. We all feel her.” She bumped her hip into mine. “I can feel she wants out.” My wolf chuffed in agreement.Cassie is smarter than you. My wolf’s voice ricochetted in my mind and I just smiled. There are things I cannot tell you, even now, but eventually, if we are lucky, you will find out y
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
“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
I stared up at my grandmother as she pushed me back down to the ground. “How do I find her? How do I find your cabin from here? Are we even close?” My questions fly out of my mouth and she smiled as she settled next to me. She grabbed my hands. “Calm my girl. Focus on me.” She breathed through her nose and out of her mouth. “Follow my lead. Match me, and once you’re settled, we can find your girl.” My girl. The words seemed so foreign, but as I thought about it again, it settled in soul, and she was right. She was mine, almost as much as she was Carls. I focused on her eyes, matching my breathing with hers. She nodded. “Good. Now close your eyes. And picture that little girl.”Once again I closed my eyes and remembered the bright giggling little girl I first met at Carl’s store. So little, yet so bright. Her blonde curls danced in the light. Carl’s protectiveness, her innocence, all came rushing back. And so did the panic I felt as I found her on the ground, white wide eyes and cold
Nix ran past everyone on campus and headed for the trees. I pulled back enough that I was hovering over our magic, pulling from it to feed power into my body, into the girls’ bodies. “How is this possible?” Toya called to me and I laughed. “Magic.” Nix called back and a few of the girls howled. We ran past the edge line of the trees and starting weaving through the trunks. “Nix?” Thistle called Hanna’s wolf. “Yeah?”“Where are we going?” She called as she picked up her pace. I thought of Carly. She was at most seven, but she sounded younger on the phone, closer to five or six. I knew where she was, my grandmother’s cabin, but from here, I had no idea. But I trusted the goddess, and I trusted my wolves. “The goddess will show us the way.” Nix called back and I nodded. Megan pushed closer to the barrier. “Megan? What are you doing?”She looked at me, then back to Nix. “You are wasting magic, feeding Nix. Focus on the girls, I will send my strength to Nix. This way we will have you
I felt my aura, which for the last year I have kept securely under wraps, because it was still growing, unfurl. I was still so young when everything started. Even then, I was too strong for anyone of them to really challenge me. But now? Now I was something never seen before. Still, I kept most of it hidden. My power fell in waves, everyone felt it. There were gasps from the crowd and Vince and this woman stepped back. I smiled, and I knew it was predatory. I pulled my power back in, clenching my fists as it fought. It wanted free rein. It craved relief. But I was stronger, so I tucked it away and turned back to the crowd. “I started this day with such hope. Hope for our future. Hope for our packs. This was the very beginning of our lives. I got ready with my friends.” I turned as stared at the man that had rushed to the side of the stage. My rage burning in my eyes. “I celebrated my twenty-first birthday.” I watched him wince. “And I came here for my graduation with my speech prepar
I turned my attention to Vince, who had come up next to me. “I think this is the place.” My eyes flashed and Vince took a step back. I redirected my attention back to the crowd and the reporters. “My father, Gavin Maclean, was an outstanding man. He did a lot of this community, and I refuse to allow anyone to speak ill of him. He was as far from a traitor as one wolf could actually get.” I met eyes of a few people in the crowd, and I saw their doubt, or confusion. So I pushed on. “He donated billions of dollars to the council annually. Way above the allotted amount so that smaller packs could stay in the alliance, but reinvest their fees into their own packs. When I asked him why he did it, supported people we didn’t even know. His only answer was that people deserved the chance to thrive. He wanted them to grow, to become stronger, to build up our community. My father donated millions to this school annually, to support the students here, and giving them more opportunity by designati
I walked past all the reporters and made our way inside to our seats. We sat down with the rest of the students, saying hi, and settling in before one guy turned to me with a sad look. “I don’t agree with what they are doing to you Amy.” I looked, really looked, at Chad and raised an eyebrow. “Look, I know we aren’t really friends, and we have just had class together, but I know everything you and your dad have done for all of us. I may not like you personally, but your family doesn’t deserve this bullshit.” He shook his head. “We all talked about it, and all of us agree. They are painting a target on your back. This is happening today for a reason. I just wanted to warn you. And to let you know, we all stand beside you.” I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was serious. We had never been close. Sometimes I thought he even hated me. I think my face conveyed that when he smiled again. “Like I said, I don’t like you, but you helped me. And my family. We won’t stand
I felt the wind knock out of me with those words. “I’m sorry. What did you say?” I turned my full attention to the newscaster, and I saw the hint of surprise. She thought I already knew. Then it was like there was blood in the water and these anchors were sharks. I was surrounded, and everyone was shouting at me.“How do you feel about your father being branded as a traitor years after his death?”“How did you not know that your father was working with the rouges?”“Were you a part of the circle of traitors?”“Have you not seen today’s news?”Then there was a commotion and one new caster pushed through. A smaller wolf who had a glint in her eyes. “Alpha Amy.” She was also the only one to use my rank, and instinctively, my attention shifted to her. “While the new reports that went out today have branded your father as a traitor, but my investigation has uncovered multiple documents labeling him as a scapegoat.” A hush fell over the surrounding crowd. “What is your opinion of your late
After I ran upstairs to bring up my presents, we headed out. We had decided to drive there together, but when we walked out of the building to get to Wendy’s van that her mom lent us, there was a limo waiting.Everyone furrowed their brows until Brandon seemed to kick in. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wanted it to be a surprise for your birthday.” He smirked as he opened the door, but I had a feeling he was lying. Toya looked at me, and I just nodded. She gave her thanks and slid in. Sterling made his way out of the door, while everyone was sliding in with their dresses. “You know the pup didn’t pay for this limo.” He leaned in to whisper. I chortled as I gave a tiny nod. “Was it?” I trailed off with my question, tilting my head to look over my shoulder. Sterling swallowed and then gave a single nod. “I figured. He’s going to announce something today, isn’t he?” Another single nod, but I could see the pain in his eyes. I turned fully. “Hey, none of that.”“I just know-” He started
I wanted to vomit. Smile. Megan pushed closer. Smile and accept his kind stupid offer, so we can get close.I turned my focus from the letter in my hands and focused on my wolf, who was becoming more aggressive by the moment. What the hell does he mean you rejected him? I screamed at her. I thought we waited. When did this happen? I looked for Nix. Megan glared back at me, still defiant. It was one time Nina came over to mess with us. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I just left you out of it so that you could focus on more important things.Like, what about Megan? What could be more important that my wolf rejecting her mate?Nix came running out of the trees and skidded to a stop between us. You lied to us. She sounded hurt, as hurt as I felt. We could have been there for you. We should have been, but you kept this from us. And you kept it a secret until now…why? We have come so far this past year together, and you still kept us out. I felt like the wind had been knocked out o
“None of this.” Toya pulled back. “No tears.” She wiped her own face. “We won’t be stuck on our pack lands. We can visit. And there will be video chats, and movie nights, and-”“And we will make sure we make time for each other.” Wendy finished. I was still in awe of her transformation through the years. She had become so strong. “Yes. Yes, we will.” Hanna beamed. It was my turn to look at her, and I was shot back to the very first time I met her. A tiny little thing terrified in the bathroom. I chuckled as I looked around. “We have come so far these years.” I wiped my eyes. “You all have become so strong. Completely different people. Micca, you have completely flourished into your rank, you have become a very strong beta, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you became a Luna for some pack. Same with you, Toya. You have grown so strong these last few years.” The two beamed. “It’s all because of you.” Toya bumped into me.I shook my head. “You guys didn’t have to train. You wanted to and