INICIAR SESIÓNI 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 didn’t want to meet Brandon. Not when I knew what was going to happen. “I’d rather stay here with you.” I smiled as I kissed her cheek. “I don’t want to miss you and Morgan. And I knew that when Brandon thought I cheated on him, before he killed my baby and me. He killed my mother for her involvement. Shannon’s father, my mother’s husband, watched her die. Don’t get me wrong I knew he loved my mother, and he was hurting, but his scheming daughter was the cause of all of this. He stood by and watched it all happen. I understood why he supported his daughter, but I didn’t like it, nor him, for that matter. “Baby. You won’t miss us. We will be there every step of the way.” She kissed my cheek, and I wrapped my fingers around hers. “Mom, can we just leave? You and me? Leave Shannon and Morgan and move back to daddy’s pack?” My father, the Alpha of the Silvermoon pack, wasn’t a good husband, but he was a good man. He cheated on my mother, betraying her when he was drunk. But he swore it was a mistake. It was another Alpha’s maneuverings to break them up, but my mother said it didn’t matter. It was too late. His betrayal cost the life of my brother growing inside of her, and she refused to move past it. “No baby. I can’t go back.” My mother’s face fell as she turned away. “I don’t want to be betrayed, mom. Not like you and not any worse. I don’t want a mate.” I whispered my new truth. “Mates don’t hurt each other, baby.” She tried to smile but I shook. I knew exactly what mates do to each other. “Would you be made if I refused my mate?” “God no baby. The Moon Goddess makes a path clear, but it is up to us to choose it. If you don’t want your mate, you can reject him.” “And if it is the Alpha’s son?” My mother looked at me. She knew that if it was the Alpha’s son, I would be screwed. They wouldn’t allow me to leave. An Alpha has to mate his first mate, even for a day to come into his full power. “What do you know?” I watched as her eyes searched mine. I pulled her back into my room and away from the door. “I don’t know for sure, but I am terrified that if I am mated to Shannon’s boyfriend, I will die after we are mated. Mom, the chances that he will match with an Alpha far outweigh the chance that he is mated to the daughter of the beta.” I pulled back. “I don’t want this for me.” She weighed my words, and I watched as she came to the same conclusion. “Okay baby. But you can’t leave. It would be too conspicuous. You will have to mask your scent whenever he is around.” I tossed my hands in the air. “How would I do that?” “There is much you don’t know that I would leave in the past but if you are sure…” She trailed off and I just nodded my head. “Then let me make a few calls. You don’t have to go to school today.” I lept back into her arms. “Thank you, mom. I don’t know what I would do without you.” “I love you, baby. You will never be without me. That I can promise you.” She kissed my cheek and then left me alone in my room. I ran to my phone and checked the date to make sure. It was twenty eighteen; I went back six years. Six years to the day that I met Brandon. I could relive everything, make better choices. I could live, and maybe this time around, so would my pup. I rubbed my flat stomach. “Don’t worry, my pup. This time around, no one will hurt you.” I went into my ensuite and jumped into the shower. No way was I going to face today, looking like I just crawled out of bed. I stood in side my closet in a towel trying to figure out what to wear when I heard my bedroom door open. I was about to turn and call out to my mother, but I heard a soft step, which my mother wouldn’t do. So I hid behind my winter coats and I waited. “I’m telling you, if she is Brandon’s mate, I’m going to kill her.” “You can’t mean that, Shan.” The nasily voice of Megan, Shannon’s best friend, came from the cell phone pressed to her ear. “Of course I do. Brandon is mine.” “Only because you put out. He was hoping Shannon would notice him.” “You shut your fucking mouth, Megan.” Shannon snarled and her eyes flashed. “He’s mine.” “Whatever I gotta go. Hurry the fuck up before I leave your ass,” Megan called, and then the line went dead. A honk sounded from outside and Shannon was snatching something before I grabbed her hand. “What do you think you’re doing in my closet?” “Amy?” Shannon’s mouth dropped out. I squeezed her hand until I heard a crack. Her scream was muffled by my hand. “You’re lucky I only broke one finger. You just threatened to kill me. Didn’t I hear that correctly? A beta’s daughter threatening an alpha.” I tsked. “I didn’t do shit.” She snarled back at me as her hand reformed. “Lie again and I will break all of your fingers and hold them while the bones heal.” I couldn’t stop my grin as I felt her tremble. “Did you threaten me?” “Yes.” she screamed at me. “You’re going to take Brandon from me.” “I don’t want your pathetic alpha now or ever. Keep him.” I pushed her away. “Now get out of my room before I change my mind about maiming you.” I turned back to my clothes and picked out low-rise jeans and a tank top. “What the fuck is your problem?” “You. Now leave.” I let my wolf come forward and my eyes flashed. I pushed my alpha command into my words and forcing her out of my room. Stupid bitch. How dare she come into my room to take something of mine? My wolf growled lowly. This was our den. I shook myself and refocused. Closing the doors, I hopped back into bed, pulling out my phone. I tried to remember everything that happened in the last six years that could help me with my plan. Because make no mistake, Brandon and Shannon would pay.We closed the door behind us, and Rowan laughed. “That was mean…even for you.” I threw my head back and laughed.I started up the stairs without looking back. “It’s not like we had a lot of choices. Luke was the best option on the fly, and I need to get back to my father’s place.”“I know you’re4 right. His face was funny as fuck though.” He chuckled once more before we headed back through the closet to screaming. “Alannah, push.” “No!” She screamed again. The guttural sounds sent shivers down my spine. Rowan stopped short, and I had to push him inside further so I could step into the cottage. I walked around him toward the closet door. “Amy…” His whisper stopped me short, and I turned back. “Yeah?” He pointed to his nose in the dark. It took me a second to realize he was telling em to use my nose. I nodded once and turned back to take a deep breath. “Come on, baby, you can do this.” Ternen’s voice was soft and confident. “Once they come, you have to leave again.” She cried out.
Once both bags were full and Vince’s pack was completely drained of lupine solution, we all headed out of the med building. Luke locked the door behind us, and when I tilted my head watching him, he scratched the back of his neck. “Everyone else is already at the pack house waiting for the meeting. I guess I just locked it out of habit.” The tips of his ears turned a soft pink as I turned away. Rowan shifted, and I heard a soft smack that was followed by an indignant yelp. “Don’t flirt with my mate, Luke. You’re my friend, and I’d hate to kill you.” That made me smile as I started toward the pack house. “I wasn’t.” Luke tried to deny it, but Rowan just grunted as they both followed me. He cleared his throat. “I assume you need the lupine solution urgently, so why are you having a meeting at the pack house?”I puffed out my lips as I thought of my father’s pack. “We do. But as the Alpha of this pack, I also have to worry about the wolves here.” I looked over my shoulder as we turned
We cleared the tent and ran into Toya. “Are you okay?” I grabbed for her. The cut on her face was healing as I watched, and the worry I had disappeared. She grinned. “Yeah. My family just got back from hunting down some runners. We just came back to check in before we went for another run.” She looked around. “Everything good here?”I shook my head once. “I’ll send Nix to you to explain. We are heading back to the pack house.” I sighed. I grabbed her arm once. “Stay safe until we get back.”She tilted her head and nodded once. “Be safe.”I smiled at her, then I shifted into Nix and started running. Megan…go tell Toya everything. She took off before I hit the trees. Erubus caught up with me, and we ran to the pack house in silence. “We are heading back to Vince’s pack, right?”I nodded once. “They have a med building, and I’m sure they have a huge stock of what we need.” I called over to him. “Plus…”“Plus what?”“It gives me a second to check in on Alannah.” We ran past the pack hou
The waking world returned to me in tiny fragments. My eyes were still closed, my mind half awake, but I felt fingers intertwined in both of my hands on either side of me. I felt my fingers twitch, and both hands tightened on mine. “Baby?” Rowan’s words were a soft siren call, pulling me from the depths of the darkness that held me. I felt the tendrils of blackness slowly slipping from my body as I swam to the surface of my conscience. “Baby? Are you there?” I tried to talk. I’m here. I called out, but my mouth refused to move. I was still fighting the hold of exhaustion that still ate away at the edges of my mind. I’m here. I tried again, but my body still refused to listen. I kept fighting because I needed to re4ach Rowan, and my dad.That thought was like a bomb going off in my mind. Everything came rushing back. The cave-in, my magic failing, Ry’s words. My dad’s last goodbye. I felt the burn behind my closed eyes as tears trailed down my cheeks. “Baby?” Rowan’s fingers trailed
I focused on the little boy in front of me. His little sister clung to my side as voices rang out around me. “Is that everyone?”“I don’t know.” Another voice called out.“How many were missing?”“How many did we pull out?”“Baby.” Rowan’s voice called my attention back. “Amy?”“Yeah?” I shook my head to clear it of the mist that seemed to still coat it. “Did you hear me?” Rowan leaned over my shoulder and stared into my eyes. “What?”“Did you hear me?”My mind processed what he was saying. “What? No…Yes, I mean. Yes, I can hear you.”Rowan smiled. “I’ll take that as I no. You didn’t hear what I said.” I must have frowned because he smiled bigger. “I need you to stop pulling rocks out and instead look for anyone else still buried.” I must have paled because he reached out and cupped my face. “We just need to be sure there is no one else still buried. We don’t want to leave anyone trapped still.” His face fell for a second. “Everyone deserves to come home.”I nodded once and licked m
My entire world shattered as my vision flickered black again. But I heard some wolves call out, and I knew I had to hold the shield for as long as I could. Even if my father was gone…The words caught in my throat. I couldn’t think about it. Hold the shield. Protect the pack as long as I could. Those words became a mantra, even as I felt my wolves start to fade. Even as Loki disappeared. I wanted to stop. To save him, but I was duty bound to hold the cave for everyone else. I felt tears coursing down my face as my heart splintered. My mind flickered to my mom, and a heard a sob break free from my lips. She had just gotten her mate back, and now he was gone. I felt my power sag again, and someone cried out as a rock snuck past the shield, hitting the ground near them. I wish I could look to see if they were pulling people free, but my world was still dark. Darkness had long taken over the clearing in my mind. I was down to the tiny flickering flame of my magic. Everything else was go







