FORTY-ONE"Ana..." Someone was calling my name but the sound was so distant that I could not concentrate on it or in which direction it had been from. "Ana..." It continued but this time my body was being shaken. The shaking soon became fast and annoying."...Anabelle," My eyes opened and the first thing I set them on was Jaxon's hard chest that was above me.I gasped and quickly closed my eyes before I heard a chuckle. I opened my eyes and Jaxon was staring at me with full amusement. His eyes scanned my face and he fell back beside me. I let out a sigh and tried to regain the remaining of my senses after staring at Jaxon's body in the morning. I would land myself in jail if I ever said that Jaxon's physique was not um...tempting or arousing because that would be a lie. His presence itself made me smile and the events of the night before made my smile widen further. He had apologized in his messed-up way which consisted of claiming me possessively.I felt his arm around me and heat ru
FORTY-TWOTHIRD-PERSON POVHe could not sleep no matter how inviting the thought of sleep seemed, Jaxon could not sleep but could only look at the woman that lay in his arms. Her breaths had finally gotten silent and less rushed, she had nestled up to his chest with her hands resting on his chest. She looked so peaceful and unreal in his eyes. Sometimes it took him a while to stare at her in order to believe that the moon goddess had actually blessed him with a mate. She had blessed him with a beautiful one too, she was everything he could not tolerate yet she was everything he wanted. He had accepted that being submissive is boring after she had wrecked his home in the beginning.She had been like an untamed small animal back then, he could have easily squashed her with his wrath for being disobedient and always challenging his authority but he did not...he could not. He wanted to see how far she could go when it came to putting up a fight but he found himself unable to control his e
FORTY-THREEAs I finally closed off the last file of the day, a sigh escaped my lips and I smiled at what I had achieved. Cora had agreed to help me with fulfilling a few duties since I was not yet officially Luna. The duties ranged from simple tasks of taking care of pack feeding, newly mated pack members and other things. I never had a single clue on how food manufactured by big human companies ended up in packs around the globe and today I found out how they do it. It was a game of mind games with our species spreading out in the normal world as big businessmen and businesswomen owning shares in large companies in order to make sure that some of these products are distributed to packs under the pretence of normal exports. It was not risky in any way because a normal human could cross any pack and would think it is a normal small village or town. With small shops and standard malls, packs gave a normal look to any person.I was only worried about one thing...as I went through the li
FORTY-FOURMy arms unwrapped from Vera's body and I shrugged her fingers out of my hair, creating some distance between us. I sat up, rested my back on the headrest and looked at her with scrunched eyebrows. She looked back at me with a sorrowful look but she looked as if she did not regret anything. I could not understand her words, why would she tell Jaxon to stay away from me? She knew that I had grown to like Jaxon's presence, she knew that I had finally accepted him as my mate after everything but somehow she told him to stay away from me..."I told him to stay away from you," she repeated."I heard you the first time. Why would you do that?" I asked, my voice was full of disbelief."He is nothing but a danger to you..." her words were dragged out with hesitation but she seemed to be determined to speak her mind despite knowing my foreseen reaction."Did you tell everyone else the same thing?" She remained quiet for a while and only fiddled with her sweater. "Yes, I told them to
FORTY-FIVETwo weeks had passed since I had woken up and everything had fallen back to place. Vera had apologised to everyone and then I had not heard from her until I had decided to visit Milo at the parlour and ask him about her, he had assured me that she was okay and was trying to get everything figured out. I felt guilty because she was my best friend and I had been horrible at my job because I could not even keep up with her life. In all the days, I had never asked her about her and Milo or how it felt to have a mate. But I had decided that maybe a bit of time away from each other would be what it took to rekindle our friendship and sort out everything. I had begun tending to the tasks that Cora gave me on a daily and found myself interacting with more of the pack members on a daily. It was a relief indeed to see new faces and hear new voices. Most of them were friendly and would assure me that I would make a great Luna but not everyone would be happy and positive towards chang
FORTY-SIXMy thoughts kept on going back to the incident I had with Jaxon's aunt, Melanie in the bathroom. I was packing up my things and was about to grab my things when a voice caught my attention. When I looked up I was met with the face of a young girl with rich curls bouncing off her face. Everyone had gone and only I was in the room so when I saw the girl I was a bit shocked because I had not heard the door open. Cora had promised to drop me off and had gone to see Alec while I packed my things. Not hearing the door opening was probably due to the fact that I was constantly caught up with my thoughts. She sat down on the chair across from me and rested her arms on the table."Hi, can I help you?" I smiled at her, she looked friendly with the dark huge eyes that adorned her round face. She did not look over the legal age.She breathed in and her eyes seemed to scan above her before she brought them back on me. "That depends, are you the Luna or not?" "Um...I gue-...""Seems like
FORTY-SEVENA breath of relief finally left my mouth when my body hit the bed after taking a shower and changing into fresh pyjamas. Jaxon was not yet back so I had time to myself, thinking about how to deal with the problem I was currently faced with. I had to find a way to help Lila and the reward would not only be helping the poor girl and her sister but this would also prove to people that I could be the Luna and they did not have to be worried that there would be horrible consequences. I was not only determined to see justice prevail but also to prove all those who looked down on me wrong. Most importantly I wanted to achieve this goal without Jaxon's help, I had to do it on my own and prove to myself and everyone else that I am an independent woman.'Yeah right, after threatening that girl with Jaxon's name.'That was totally different and would not have done it anyway, it was just an empty threat. Are you not supposed to be supporting me anyways, you are me if you think of it i
FORTY-EIGHTThe house in front of me looked like most of the houses in the pack, it had two stories and looked comfortable enough for a family but I knew better. Inside that house lived a monster who abused his children, the flowers that were planted in front of the house could mislead anyone, thinking that it is a normal house to a normal family. I walked until I was on the porch, the wooden floor creaked upon my weight and the heels of my boots made a clicking sound on the boards. Micah had remained in the car and Adam was behind me, following closely. I did not want to enter the man's house with two grown warriors, I did not want to intimidate the enemy just yet. My knuckles made contact with the door and I knocked loud enough for it to be heard. After knocking for the fifth time, the door finally opened and Lila was the one behind it.She looked at me with wide and panicked eyes and mouthed the words 'what are you doing here?' but I only smiled at her. "Hello, I am looking for Lio
EPILOGUEAnabelle had Jaxon's arm around her, it was the comfort that she needed at that moment. His scent was what she needed more than anything. Everything around her was dull and dark just like the clothes that she was wearing including the weather. Jaxon tightened his hold around her waist and looked down at her because he could feel every emotion that she was feeling. She looked at the graves of the fallen members and guilt and pain swallowed her. How did the loved ones of all these people feel? "It's okay, my love" Jaxon whispered to her and kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him and gave him a sad smile before walking away and going towards Adam's grave. She could not believe that he was gone just like that. He was so young and had not even experienced the joy of having a mate but Anabelle was glad that he had not found his mate because if he had they would have been disappointed and in pain over losing their mate. She remembered how hurt Micah looked and she wished
EIGHTYTAYLOR'S POVIt was like the sky knew of our loss, it was completely dark and the rain was heavily pouring down and hitting the roof. I could hear the strong wind blowing on the leaves of the plants as I looked outside through the window of my and Danielle's room. The turmoil in all our hearts was almost the same as the gloomy weather that swept everything away. I looked down at my fingers and curled them up, trying to keep warm. If only things had turned out differently. My heart clenched with every memory that rang through my head. Her laugh, and those shiny green eyes, haunted my dreams every time...when I slept and when I was awake. Every thought of mine always trailed back to her. Whenever I cooked something I thought about what she would think about it. When I said something I wondered if she would agree with my words. If she were here with me, would she wake me up and tell me that I was having a horrible nightmare because it sure felt like one?The rain poured and swept
SEVENTY-NINEAnabelle could not comprehend what she was looking at. Bodies were lying everywhere, it was a terrible massacre. She could tell that Amaris was no longer holding back and was indeed doing what she promised to do, to wipe off werewolves. The smell of blood was heavy in the air and the number of bodies only seemed to increase as they drove to the pack house. Amaris had attacked the pack's centre and killed anyone she spotted. Guilt ate at Anabelle as she looked at the cadavers of people that were once so alive. 'Ana, where are you? I've tried to evacuate as many people from the pack house as I can but Amaris is killing the warriors that are trying to hold her off like they are mosquitoes.' 'We are almost there,'Cora's words haunted her mind, Amaris was on a killing spree and she would not stop until she killed the last werewolf. Her leg started moving and she constantly chewed on her bottom lip as they drew closer to the pack house. Anabelle gasped when the house came in
SEVENTY-EIGHT"We lost three men, and if we include the library caretaker, Mr Cray...then we have lost four pack members." Alec gave the report to Jaxon and sank back into his seat. "We were able to retrieve the bodies of the warriors, they were horribly scorched because of the fire but hopefully we can give them proper burials.""And the witch, Mr Cray's sister?" Anabelle asked."Well, that is none of our concern. She was banished from the pack for practising dark magic and we are not responsible for her as a pack, we have certain customs to follow as a pack." Alec replied and shrugged at the end.Anabelle wanted to argue with that decision, surely the woman deserved a proper burial too. Despite being a witch she had also been killed by the person that killed the men of Blazepelt. Anabelle wanted to speak out on what she thought but Jaxon held her hand and when she turned to look at him he shook his head. She understood from the look in his eyes that she should not argue, his eyes pl
SEVENTY-SEVEN"Are they actually having sex?" Adam whispered horribly next to Danielle's ear. Danielle turned to look at him and hit his arm."What do you want them to do? It's a man and a woman in the same room and they are mates by the way." Taylor looked up at Adam from the pan. "This day has been quite eventful and despite the time no one knows how long it is going to be night," she added and continued stirring the food that she was preparing. With the Alpha and the Luna in the pack house, she had to include them too in the meal plans, not to forget she had hungry warriors waiting to be fed. "They've been going at it for quite some time now," Adam commented and looked up at the stairs. "You will not be able to get enough of your mate when you find her and then maybe you will understand." Micah joined in the conversation and took out a seat around the kitchen counter. He was finally in clean clothes and had washed off what had happened earlier. "Thank you," Taylor smiled up at M
SEVENTY-SIXAnabelle was crying hysterically and kept on shaking Jaxon's body to get a response from him. Even a twitch of his fingers would have been enough for her. The temperature was getting higher as more trees caught the fire that Amaris had started and the fire circled around them. She could see the others trying to fight against the flames, trying to find a way to get everyone out safely. Two men had come to her and told her that they hard to get out of the place, they wanted to carry Jaxon but she could not let go of his body. She kept crying and wailing because she felt empty without him, if this was how Jaxon had felt when she was unconscious then he was strong. She already felt like she could not live anymore but he had dealt with her going into and out of unconsciousness. She pulled him closer to her and hugged him to her body, his head on her chest. She could hear the beating of his heart but she was so worried because Amaris had cast a spell on him. What if she had don
SEVENTY-FIVEAmaris knew that he could win with one move but he decided to let Anabelle have her fun. In the end, whether he won or "lost" he would continue with his plans, nothing could stop him. He considered this fight as a little treat before the actual meal, it was a way to pass the time as his mind came up with more ways to end Jaxon Ryker and the werewolves. He could defeat Anabelle with his eyes closed, he was her after all. Whatever she knew, he knew...all the knowledge of fighting that she had gained from those two warriors. He was definitely better at fighting compared to her because he had learnt over the years of roaming the mortal world. Anabelle and Amaris had been going at each other for quite some time, and none of them was yet to land a hit. While Anabelle was the one throwing all the attacks, Amaris continued to easily avoid her hits smoothly. It seemed to everyone that was watching that Amaris knew Anabelle's moves more than herself. Amaris was smiling while Anabe
SEVENTY-FOURVera's leg was shaking nonstop, the heel of her shoe making noise and her arms were crossed in front of her arms. Millions of thoughts and possibilities were going through her mind. She knew that if Anabelle had been in her place she would have been the first one to fight for her, she would not be seated and waiting on news as she was. Anabelle would not have been in this room like her, she would have risked everything to save her. She was angry at herself for staying back when her best friend needed her. She should have guessed before that either Jaxon or Alec would try to stop her in some way or another. Alec had called Milo to look after Vera and that meant not letting her out of his sight. Vera could not blame Milo as he sat on the bed eyeing her, he was only carrying out the Beta's order and keeping his mate safe. She was angry at him because he did not understand a word she had said since he locked her in this room. Milo kept on saying that he was doing it in order
SEVENTY-THREEJaxon wanted to plunge his claws into Amaris, he had felt anger before but he was livid. All his life when people angered him there was no Anabelle but now she was there and this person had dared to mess with his mate. He glared at Amaris and growled, a loud and vicious growl filled the air. Amaris only smirked more when he knew that he had angered Jaxon. Everything around him was starting to blur and the only thing he could see was the glowing person in the air, his anger had fully clouded his sense of judgement. He was about to stand to attack when he realised that there was a weight in his arms, he looked down and his anger dissipated when his eyes fell on his mate's beautiful face. Jaxon knew that he could not afford to lose his cool, although he did not trust any other person except for himself to protect his mate he carried her and ushered her into Micah's arms because he was the closest to him. He turned back to face the threat while Micah knew what he had to do