I know I have a tendency to fall in love with my characters, but I really think Xander may have stolen my heart.
I wake up, curled around my mate, my marked mate. My scent now lingers with hers and it makes both Einar and I relax knowing that other wolves will know that she is ours. “Why is Einar purring in my head,” Maeve says sleepily. “Or is that you?” and I can hear the confusion in her voice. “That’s Einar, he purrs much better than I do. He’s happy that you have our scent, that every wolf in the world will now know that you are ours.” I nuzzle her neck, breathing in her scent. “We’re possessive animals, it’s hard not to feel proud when we can show off our mate to everyone.” “How are you feeling this morning?” I ask, worried that, as a human, she may not have healed from last night. I know the wound on her neck is healing, but it’s still red. I need to remember that she doesn’t have wolf healing power. “Mmmm, warm, loved, cared for, happy.” Now I’m purring along with Einar. “Those are all very good things. But how about physically?” She shifts and I can tell it’s uncomfortable for her.
I head upstairs, trying to remember which room they put me in. A door opens and Cayd walks out. “Hey big guy,” he says to me. “Hi Cayd. Can you tell me which room I’m in?” I watch as he lifts his head, sniffing the air. “That one,” he says, looking at me. “Is everything okay?” I nod, not feeling like talking and worried that I’ll embarrass myself and start crying. I get to my room and close the door. I look around. Nothing here is familiar. There’s a loveseat in the room and I go to sit on it, pulling a small pillow into my lap and holding it against me. If Maeve is married, she’s going to leave. What if her husband, Xander, doesn’t like me? I’ve heard that animals in the wild kill the young of females so that they can mate with them and have their own children. I know I’m not Maeve’s child, but she’s been my only parent for three years. What if he takes her from me? Meadow is great, but she and I weren’t enough when we were on our own. I never felt safe, and Meadow is pretty go
After Xander leaves to go talk to Tate, Reagan, Meadow and I get the spells together and begin walking out of the packhouse. “Hi Penny,” Reagan says. I look over and see one of their pack mates. “Hi Reagan, hi Maeve.” “Penny this is Meadow. She’s Maeve’s sister.” “Oh, hello. What are you all up to today?” Penny asks. “We’re going to put protection spells up around the pack lands. Do you want to join us?” Meadow asks. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” she says and there is something about her, like she’s lost and hasn’t quite found her way. It’s a feeling that, up until I met Xander, I had become very familiar with. “It’s no bother at all, as long as you don’t mind helping with some spells,” I tell her. We walk outside and Meadow and I find the starting point. “Okay, Penny, you’re with me, Reagan, you’re with Meadow.” “What do I have to do?” Penny asks. “Just hold this for me,” I tell her, handing her the potion for the spell. Meadow and I stand beside each other and beg
As my mate begins to glow in a white light, I only have a moment to watch in awe before the battle is upon us. Maeve begins throwing magic everywhere, protection for our pack members, and attacks to the witches that are attacking our pack members. I turn and see Meadow chanting as a film of magic falls over the packhouse. I can see wolves pouring into our pack lands and by the smell of them, they are rogues. The difference between them and normal rogues is that these have a purple glow to them. They’ve been given magic, or at least they are protected by magic. As one of the wolves races toward us, Maeve blasts it with her white light, knocking the purple light out of it. I leap, shifting as I do, Einar attacking the wolf and protecting our mate. Maeve continues sending blasts of magic, out and around the pack. I’m attacking the rogues, keeping close to Maeve, guarding her from attack. I see her turn, sending a blast of light behind us. I turn, just in time to see the magic block an
I’m not sure how to be okay with the fact that I killed people. I killed them. They will never go home to their parents, their spouses, their children ever again. I know they were trying to kill me, Xander, and the pack. But I still hate that those deaths are on my conscience. I don’t have long to think about. After making sure that Meadow and Tate were fine, it seemed like Cayd killed their attackers, I had gone to bed and cried for hours while Xander held me. I eventually cried myself to sleep and when we woke the next day, they buried their dead. It didn’t occur to me beforehand. I didn’t even think about it. I was so overwhelmed with the deaths that I had caused, that I didn’t realize how much it would impact me to see the after effects of the deaths of others. As I stood with Xander, watching as they talked about the greatness of the ones that died, it hit me like a truck. I turn and look at Meadow and Tate and I see that it’s affecting them too. We never got to do this for ou
My mate is struggling with so much right now and I want to try to do something to make her feel better, to make her feel like this is her home too. Rich and Emlyn went to Safe Haven to be with the pack while they bury their dead. Since that is Emlyn’s previous pack, it makes sense that she would need to be there. So, after my mate falls asleep, I reach out to my father via the mind link and ask him to go to Maeve’s shop and get the ashes of her parents. ‘Do you know where they are in her apartment?’ he asks. ‘She said it’s in her room. Their residence was upstairs from the shop.’ ‘I’ll get it. Reagan, Penny and Meadow have been talking all night. They apparently saw Penny on their way here and invited her to the sleep over. This was harder Meadow than I thought it would be,’ my father says. ‘It was hard on Maeve, too. Have Cayd and Tate returned?’ ‘No, Cayd said he was going to spend as much time with Tate as he needed before bringing him back here.’ “Thanks, dad, to both you a
After breakfast, Meadow asks if Reagan and Penny can join us and Tate asks if Cayd can as well. I leave it up to Maeve and she agrees. So, the seven of us head back to the packhouse where I get the boxes of their parents’ ashes. I give one to Tate and one to Meadow to hold and I take Maeve’s hand as we begin walking to the falls. As we walk, Reagan explains how the pack is named for the falls and how they rise up to a sheer cliff face that overlooks the canyon between the three packs. She tells them about the common area and they all agree to go visit soon. When we get close to the falls, I begin chuffing, calling to the sprites. Athalin and Lewa, two of the sprites that Maeve made the original lights for come flitting out of the forest. “Hello, Sir Alpha," they say to me. “And hello Sir Alpha," they say to Cayd. “Hello, Lady Maeve.” “Hello, Guardian Reagan.” “Hello, Lady Penny.” “And hello….oh, we don’t know you,” Lewa says, looking at Meadow. “Or you. I’m Athalin,” she says
The day after we created a memorial for my parents, I went with Xander to Canyon Ridge pack. They are having a service for an Alpha and his mate who were like grandparents to this entire generation, according to Xander. The Alpha was killed in the battle, and his mate basically died of a broken heart. Xander said that’s not uncommon in their world. Being a soulmate means that once you find your other half and feel whole, you can never go back to being only half a person. So, most mates cannot live once their mate has died. I stand beside Xander. This time it’s me who needs to be strong for him. As I listen to the incredible stories of this man and woman, I’m amazed that while I’ve always known of the werewolves, I’ve never truly understood them. I’ve never really understood the love and camaraderie of the pack nor the adoration of the pack for its Alpha and Luna. An Alpha, a good Alpha, elicits a level of love, loyalty and dedication that humans can only dream of. When Alpha Liam get