Consent POV: Echo Before I could shrink into myself in fear, Tala’s melodic voice soothed me. ‘Mate is not mad at us. Mate feels terribly for what that other Alpha has done to us. Zev and Atlas are fighting together to calm down.’ ‘The idea of us not knowing that word makes them want to shift and tear this pack limb from limb. However, they know we need them, and that getting us out of this pack and safely away from Alpha Brady is more important right now.’ I felt an intense pressure behind my eyes and the growling cut off instantaneously. We look at Atlas and his eyes go dark before he rumbles, “Mate! Tala!” his voice deeper and rougher than before. I feel my head nod on its own and realize that Tala is in control. ‘Sorry Echo, I normally wouldn’t do this without permission, but Zev needs me!’ “Mate! Zev!” My voice was different, no longer delicate, but deeper, more dangerous. I heard the bedroom door click shut as the healer stepped out to give us privacy. Both wolves took deep
POV: Echo Cordelia looked between the Alpha’s smirk and my blushing face, and smiled knowingly as she scented my arousal in the air. She seemed to understand that I was not prepared for her to comment on it and merely helped me hobble back to the bedside. “Alpha, maybe it would help if you were to position yourself in front of her so I can finish this up. I am almost done, Lu-,” Turning to Atlas, she motions him forward to sit in front of me, catching herself before she calls me by my title. She smiles at me apologetically before continuing. “Echo. I am just reaching your back now, and then I just need to check under your bra and underwear.” Closing my eyes briefly to stem the worry that bubbles at the thought, I remind myself that after having shown them the words carved into my back, the rest of my scars are minimal. Cordelia moved to sit behind me on the bed before she sighed. “I am sorry Echo, but I am going to have to check where each…” she paused, seeming uncertain what to sa
POV: Echo Suddenly feeling shy, I wrapped my arms around myself, covering my chest and eyeing the floor. Atlas slowly tugs my arms away, inhaling sharply as he takes in all of me. “Don’t hide your body from me,” His husky voice is gentle and his words firm as he raises his desire-filled eyes to mine. I shivered in anticipation, my body reacting to him in a way that it had never responded to Brady. He slowly reaches out a hand, and starting at my lips, he trails a single fingertip down my neck, over my chest, looping lightly around my nipple, which hardens on contact. He keeps going, tracing down my inner thigh until he loops up, running over my bottom, and up my back, ending where he will make his mark. The sensation is so different from anything that I’m used to. My whole-body tingles and shivers, burning slightly where his finger touched my skin. He sweeps my hair out of his way and brushes his lips against it. Heat pools between my legs again, moans escaping me as I grab his arms
POV: Echo “It’s about damn time!” he snarls, stepping forward. He zeroes in on me immediately, eyes blazing as he sees me in another man’s shirt. While his aura of fury is nothing compared to Atlas’s, I can’t stop the waves of fear it gives me. He relaxed only slightly when he saw I was unmarked. “Alpha Brady, we will be returning to our pack sooner than expected,” Atlas tells him firmly, moving to stand between us. “What about the deal we were to make? You would leave without even discussing it?” He demanded to know, staring daggers at me. He shifts his gaze to Atlas before adding, “And you most certainly will not be leaving with my Little Doll.” A deep growl rumbles from Atlas’s chest. “The Blood Moon Pack is no longer interested in making any deals with the Red Stone Pack.” His tone of voice left no room for discussion. He turns towards me, eyes meeting mine as he continues. “As for Echo, I am sure you have realized by now that she is my fated mate. She will be coming with us to
POV: Echo I glanced at John before looking up at Atlas and gently nodding my head toward where he was kneeling on the floor. “Are you sure, Little Warrior? You owe him nothing, and we can leave without looking back.” He asks, hesitating. Worried that my silent request is upsetting him, I bow my head before replying, “Yes, Alpha Atlas, I am sure.” I hear him sigh as he gently tilts my head up so that I am looking at him. “Echo, please, you are my Luna. You never have to address me by my title. I am Atlas to you, my Little Warrior.” He says quietly, gazing into my eyes and practically begging to hear me say his name. “Please, Atlas,” I whispered, a small smile creeping over my lips at the pure joy resonating from his face. “I need to speak with him.” He nodded, turning serious again as he helped me hop toward the man on the floor. “Beta John,” I called to the kneeling man softly once I stood in front of him. His untamed, light brown hair hung across his face. He raised his eyes to
POV: Echo “Atlas, you need to keep going down!” I say, poorly suppressing a giggle as he stumbles mid-step after I stop Atlas before he steps off the second-floor landing. Pouting adorably because I laughed at him, he raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were going to your room?” “We are. It’s just not on this floor.” I said, feeling slightly apprehensive about showing him the basement I’d been living in for the last ten years. He shrugs and continues to move down the stairs, carrying me bridal style as we make our way to the ground floor. “Nope! Not that way!” I chirped to keep him from going down the hallway to the main floor. Stopping, he outright frowns at me. “We are going to my room, I promise, although maybe it would be better if you set me down so I can show you the way.” I tell him, and he sets me down, supporting me so I can walk. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for whatever would come next. I turned toward our destination. Walking into the dining room, Atlas with hi
POV: Echo After pulling my extremely confused mate through the kitchen, I finally stopped in front of the door to the basement. “We have to go down here,” I said, opening the door and showing him the sketchy-looking basement stairs. Watching his face go from confused to concerned to a million other emotions, I debated if I really wanted him to see this part of my life. He carefully set his face into a neutral expression, suddenly showing no outward signs of his feelings. Just when I am about to tell him to forget it, that I have nothing worth retrieving, he grabs hold of me and picks me up. Carefully placing me on his front, I wrapped my legs around his waist as best I could with my splint. My arms snaked around his neck, and I held on tight, his arms wrapping under my butt and around my waist, as he descended into the basement. This carrying position had a much more significant effect on me than the previous one, as tingles shot through my arms and his scent was intoxicatingly str
POV: Alpha Atlas It takes every ounce of self-control that I have to set Echo down in front of the basement door instead of taking her right here and now. The biggest thing stopping me is knowing what she’s been through, and that she is definitely not ready for something like that. I knew I’d messed up after the first couple of steps. Who’d have thought that carrying your mate like that would be so damn arousing!? I feel apprehensive about seeing her room, now that I realize it’s in the basement, and not with the rooms for the rest of the pack. ‘Maybe they have more rooms down here?’ Zev chimes in hopefully. They had been calling her the pack slave, and when I saw the varying locks on the door in front of us, my entire body tensed. I don’t know what I’d expected after seeing how badly marred her body is, but I thought she was only locked in the basement for punishment. She opened the door, and while I had intended for her to show me the room herself, I couldn’t stop myself from sl
POV: Echo The day had finally come, and to say that I was nervous would be an understatement. Thankfully, Noira, Gwen, Cordelia, Granny Maeve, and Vesta had shown up at mid-afternoon to get me ready for the ceremony. It would begin as the full moon shone down on us with the Moon Goddess’s blessing. In a spare room on the first floor, they had run me a bath, filled with many things I didn’t recognize, while they prepared the room for creating ‘their masterpiece’. I was grateful to the five she-wolves who came to my aid, as I had absolutely no idea how to do anything with hair or makeup other than a few quick and practical hair styles I’d learned to keep it back while I worked. Each of them had been working their magic, and, mercifully, they had planned little ‘spa’ and snack breaks regularly to help keep me from becoming overwhelmed. I was a thousand times better than I’d ever been with my mental health, but I was so nervous about this evening, and they had not allowed Atlas and I to
POV: Echo The incident with Brady changed my outlook on life entirely. Having come into my own as a Guardian of the Light, and breaking down the rest of the block had allowed me to step free of the mental chains that were holding me back before. That’s not to say that my panic attacks and nightmares are completely gone, but I can speak without stuttering now, and have miraculously stopped flinching whenever someone moves. I felt a confidence in myself that had never existed before, and rightfully so. I’d experienced my worst nightmare. He’d done his worst, and I literally defeated him. Turned him human and banished him from the werewolf world. I was also able to identify the woman’s voice that helped me through the incident. It took some digging through the old texts in the back of the pack library and a chat with Granny Maeve to make sure I wasn’t insane before I’d believed it, of course. It turns out Guardians, being specially chosen by the Moon Goddess herself, had a direct link
POV: Echo Atlas stands up and sits me on the bed so that I’m facing him, maneuvering me as though I wasn’t growling, kicking, and pawing at him with everything I had to make him let go of me. Avoiding my attempt to nip his hand, he grips my chin and tilts my face up to force me to look at him. “Now, are you done throwing your little fit? You are sitting with me, and that is final. I need you close to keep us calm. If you do not stop, I will be forced to make you stop.” Atlas and Zev explained, and I could sense that they were merged the same as Tala and I were at that moment. “Let. Me. Go! I am not sitting with you! And you can not force me to stop!” I snarled low, narrowing my eyes, and swiping at him with my fingers curled to scratch at him. “Fine.” He growled, catching one hand and then the other before they ever touched him. Leaning forward, he easily pushed me back into the bed, pinning my arms above my head as I thrashed below him. His alpha aura rose, trying to force my wolf
POV: Atlas We made record time across the pack lands, moving as quickly as we could without exhausting ourselves entirely. It still wasn’t fast enough for me and my wolf, the only thing containing our rage being the confirmation of the bond that I was moving in the right direction, getting closer to our mate. Echo’s side of the bond was a hot mess, and the feelings coming through were jumbled and impossible to sort through. I only knew something big was going on with her, as I could feel the power within her awakening. Finally, Ragnar slowed down, cautiously approaching a dense patch of vegetation before pushing aside some plants and revealing the entrance to the cave system. Giving him a nod, I went ahead, inhaling deeply to scent the area, ears strained to pick up any sounds. Ever so faintly, I could smell the intoxicating scent of my mate that I’d been missing. Rushing in the direction it’s coming from, I just about crash face first into her as she comes stumbling out of a small
POV: Echo‘Wait’ I barely heard the faint voice, Raze gripping my hips tightly as the darkness released me into his grasp. His touch sent a shiver of disgust down my back as he smirked at me victoriously.“I told you, the likes of you will never be on equal footing with an Alpha like us!” He snarled, the darkness forming a cloud that engulfs us entirely. The shiver turned into a full-blown tremble as tendrils of dark wrapped themselves around me while Raze gripped me by the neck and pulled me into him, pressing my back into his chest as he scented my neck.Swallowing the rising bile, I bow my head submissively, falling back against him as I counted to ten slowly to bide my time, waiting for the right time. By the time I reached ten, I was coated in a layer of black mist, and the wolf behind me had just slipped his hand under my shirt. Thankfully, Tala and I are still merged, and she is able to block the flashbacks as they try to take over our senses.‘Now, child, now!’ The faint voice
POV: EchoBrady opened and closed his mouth several times, ultimately ending with him simply closing it and staring at me in awe. Spencer simply gawked at me, unable to even so much as close his mouth as he tried to understand what he’d seen. They seemed to be stuck like that as they processed, and I had a feeling it might take them a bit.I was suddenly filled with a desire to jerk my hands apart, but with the cuffs still securing my wrists to the wall, it seemed redundant. ‘Echo, follow your instincts. They will rarely steer you wrong!’ Tala’s voice rang through my head, and I was relieved that she was still with me. Mentally greeting her and showing my love, I felt the last of my fear dissipate when she told me she had already reached out to our mate and told him where to find us.Deciding to listen to Tala and trust my instincts, I took a steadying breath and wrenched my hands away from each other as hard as I could. I was waiting for the inevitable painful jerking halt as the cuf
POV: Echo The silver cuffs had created oozing sores that wrapped all the way around my wrists. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t take enough pressure off them to keep the silver from contacting my skin, and now my wounds. The wounds provided the silver with the access to my bloodstream it needed to suppress Tala and physically weaken me. It also blocked my ability to mind-link, which meant I couldn’t reach out for help. After the beating that had brought forth my Alpha aura, Brady had kicked me in the head, effectively knocking me out so that he could freak out without letting me know I’d gotten to him. He was too late though, as I’d seen the briefest flash of fear before he’d gotten to his feet just before he delivered the kick. That had been what I could only assume was hours ago, as there was no sunlight or clock in view to track the time. He hasn’t been back since I’d come to, and I was thankful for the time to orient myself and reinforce my composure. It must have been just a
POV: AtlasRagnar’s comment about underestimating your opponent definitely put a lot of the wolves at the table in their place, including me. I knew right away I had let myself get carried away in the moment and hadn’t paid enough attention to my mate.Her dismay flowed heavily through the bond before she excused herself and rushed out of the dining hall. Knowing that I was most likely a major contributor to her distress, I followed her out and wrapped her in my arms.She turned to putty in my hands as I apologized, and all thoughts of her appointment disappeared from my mind as I carried her to the lift. Until she reminded me, rather insistently, that she had to go.I knew she was right though, as I had my meeting to attend, wanting to finish the setup of the personal guard detail we’d been discussing. We’d picked the six wolves who would be rotating shifts, now we just needed to solidify their duties, shifts, when we needed more or fewer guards, etc. The finer details, so that they
POV: EchoBreakfast was filled with laughter, and a lot of jokes about me flipping Ragnar over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I think that most of the wolves there wouldn’t have believed I’d done it if they hadn’t been there to see it.Travis and Blaze certainly looked sceptical for a moment before everyone confirmed I’d done it. Everyone’s doubt made me feel a bit put off, but I know my small size of 5 foot nothing and being underweight weren’t helping. If I don’t think I would believe such a small wolf could flip a 6-foot 7-inch-tall wolf that was built like a brick wall, either. Shrugging it off, I simply gave a small smile to anyone who was surprised as they joined our table.“You know, one of the most dangerous things a wolf can do in a fight is to underestimate their opponent.” I looked up from my tray to find Ragnar was looking straight at me while he spoke. “Judging a wolf’s skills based on their appearance gets you killed out there. I’d have expected better of the warri