BOOK TWO EMILIA Emilia Morgan’s heart thundered in her chest as she tore through the woods. Her feet pounded on the forest bed, crushing twigs and dried leaves as she sped past relentlessly. Her hair whipped in her face and tears streaked down her pale cheeks. A low-hanging branch slapped against Juniper’s face in her haste. She barely managed to get an arm up before it could do any real damage to her. She felt a sting on her right cheek, but ignored it, jumping over a fallen tree trunk. Bruises covered her face and arms, and her bare feet felt raw from the running. She had lost her shoes at some point during her flight, but she had no idea when. She ignored the stinging pains from the tiny cuts on her feet, even as she stepped on another sharp rock. Her dress was a ruinous mess. It was torn in a hundred different places and was covered in mud. She had saved up for it because she’d wanted to look beautiful for the special day. Now it was ruined. She didn’t need to look behind her
She didn’t care about any of them. She scanned around the small room for Jeff and found him sitting at the bar with his friends, the other alphas. He sat with his back to the door, sipping beer from a bottle. Emilia's s heart started to beat fast with concern. Everyone knew that this bar was the meeting place of the alphas. She swallowed her fears and approached Jeff. Tall, dark, impossibly handsome, and extremely intimidating. Even though no one knew it yet, Alpha Jeff was her mate. He had been seeing her secretly for the past year and had promised to bring their relationship to the light, ending the bullying she had endured from the other wolves her whole life. By going to him, she was violating some of the rules he had set for their relationship early on to make things less complicated. She understood that it was easier on him to keep things a secret. She knew that he needed time to slowly make their relationship known, since the pack didn’t like her. However, she was tired of
Someone yanked her from behind and turned her around forcefully. Emilia turned and saw her adopted sister. Selina had eyes full of hate and Emilia could tell that she was incensed. Selina eaned close and whispered in her ear. “Fucking deathbringer. You’ve always been an eyesore in this pack. And now? Everyone will know you as a dirty liar as well.”With more force than was necessary, Selina pushed Emilia backward. She gasped from the sudden force, tumbling as she fell down the steps of the bar. She rolled in the dirt and stayed there. Every bone in her body hurt. She wheezed for air, clutching the dirt for support.Selina stepped outside and down the steps, going down on one knee beside Emilia . “You claimed to be an alpha’s mate? Do you have any idea how stupid that was? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is to us?”Emilia shakily got on all fours, her chest hurting from where Selina had pushed her. She felt nothing from her sister’s harsh words in that moment.Instead, s
Alpha King was thirty-three years old and he had not yet found his mate. He attended every coming-of-age ceremony, although he had given up on the idea of ever finding a mate. As alpha of the pack, it was his duty to be there for the ceremony, a task that for years on end had left him feeling unsatisfied and lonely every time a new wolf found their mate.As usual, King sat and watched as the wolves were presented and happy mates paired themselves. He was feeling dejected when all of a sudden he felt a connection with someone in the crowd, deep in his chest.He jolted as his eyes quickly darted around the crowd trying to pinpoint where it was that the connection had come from. Just as quickly as he had jolted, he relaxed himself, careful to not draw the attention of people in the crowd.‘Mine,’ his wolf, Rader, growled inside of him.‘Where?’ King questioned as his eyes continued to dart around the crowd. He felt his heart beat faster in his chest as his hope began to renew once again.
King was walking toward his mate’s house on the outskirts of town, close to the forest. His wolf was going wild inside of him at the opportunity to finally be close to her and so was he, but he was also incredibly anxious as well.He found her just outside where she was taking in firewood to the little hut where she stayed. The hut was considered to be her own space. As he watched her from behind the bushes where he hid, he could see that she did not look happy. Just like at the ceremony, she looked like she would rather be far away.King could feel the restlessness of his wolf as he struggled to reach out to her. His wolf mourned on the inside.‘PROTECT HER. COMFORT HER,’ Rader was screaming, making King grimace.‘Shut up! I thought we agreed that we were going to take things slow?’ he queried his wolf. king shut his eyes and tried to contain his wolf despite Rader’s obvious angst.Just as he was trying to get his wolf to relax, Rowan stepped on a twig. He grimaced and his eyes close
King was walking toward his mate’s house on the outskirts of town, close to the forest. His wolf was going wild inside of him at the opportunity to finally be close to her and so was he, but he was also incredibly anxious as well.He found her just outside where she was taking in firewood to the little hut where she stayed. The hut was considered to be her own space. As he watched her from behind the bushes where he hid, he could see that she did not look happy. Just like at the ceremony, she looked like she would rather be far away.King could feel the restlessness of his wolf as he struggled to reach out to her. His wolf mourned on the inside.‘PROTECT HER. COMFORT HER,’ Rader was screaming, making King grimace.‘Shut up! I thought we agreed that we were going to take things slow?’ he queried his wolf. king shut his eyes and tried to contain his wolf despite Rader’s obvious angst.Just as he was trying to get his wolf to relax, Rowan stepped on a twig. He grimaced and his eyes close
Now, he watched as she ran away from him after looking at him with so much hurt he had felt weak at the knees. And yet he’d still been unable to defend her.‘GO AFTER HER. GO AFTER HER,’ Rader screamed at him with so much panic in his voice. King could hear the pain from the hurt they were causing their mate, yet he was glued to the chair he sat on, unable to do anything.He knew he could not very well go after her after he’d only just rejected her in front of his people and had stayed silent as they’d laughed at her and called her a liar. His hands had bunched into fists as her adoptive sister had dragged her away from the bar and pushed her down, but still he had done nothing, even as his wolf raged and threatened to hurt them all.King could feel pain in his chest. He knew that he had betrayed Emilia and he wanted to go after her, but now was not the best time. He would go after her when there was no one watching, when they could talk without his pack members finding out that he wa
Everett did not work all the time, as king liked to drive himself most times, but he was always at the ready the moment he was called upon.His friends were already sitting at their usual table when King arrived at the bar. Articus stood up to greet him.Articus stood at six foot four and he was exceedingly muscular. He had bright blue eyes which shone an even brighter blue when he allowed his wolf to come out. His hair was white all over. From his head to his feet, there was not a hair on his body that was not white, even his eyelashes. He was an albino wolf and just like him, his wolf was also white.It had been that way in his family for centuries, which was why they were the White Moon pack.“Oh, finally you’re here.” Articus offered king a small smile.Atkns, who was sitting beside Articus, looked up next. Atkins Grey was the alpha of the Moon Shadow pack. Atkins raised his beer in greetings, his large, bearlike hands completely swallowing up the bottle. He was the exact opposite