Zepher followed her hurriedly while Dorien hung back. The omega slid inside the bungalow behind her just before the door slammed shut.
Memories had flooded into her mind as soon as she entered the house. Bad memories, sad memories, memories that made her stumble after taking just five steps into the space.
Familiar scents hit her, and her heart shook.
She could smell the omega’s fear. It took all her self-control not to snarl at him.
He, in turn, smelled her frustration and his fear increased.
Her head spun. She steadied herself by pulling strength from Dinka.
Dinka was a strong wolf with reserves of power and resilience that most regular wolves did not possess.
Marian closed her eyes and purposely slowed her breathing. She pointed to the windows, murmuring, “Please...”.
Zepher immediately understood and rushed to open all the windows. He even went to the kitchen and to every other room in the bungalow, openin
He sounds…wholesome…if that makes any sense, Marian mused. Dinka purred silently, not wanting to be heard by the man inside the room.He kicked the chest of drawers again.Marian peeked a little closer.Hmmm…from the scuff marks on it, it seems he kicks this thing quite often…she thought to herself.“She didn’t hurt you badly, did she?” The lady asked, drawing closer to Reyland, reaching for his chin.He drew back, turning his face and body away from her.“It hurt Anna. It really hurt. But…it’s healed now. Thank you for the medicine.” He replied dejectedly, his voice low.Anna placed her hand on his round shoulder; it looked so small against his frame that Marian almost let out a snort, but at the same time, she almost let out a growl.For some reason, she did not like the fact that this person was touching Reyland.Her brow furrowed as she fought her confusion and tried to focus on staying unheard, uns
“Rey–”“Why are you still so angry? I’m fine! She won’t do anything to me, will you?” Reyland chided his father and then questioned Marian, gazing over his father’s shoulder at her as she stood catching her breath.Alpha Dax rested his hand on Reyland’s, and Reyland took his father’s scratched-up hand in his.The wounds Marian had made were already healing even as Reyland calmed his father’s anger.She slowly shook her head in response to Reyland’s question, her eyes fixed on Reyland’s tiny sapphire irises.Sapphire…? But… They were grey earlier…before…Marian wondered as she gazed at Reyland sitting on the grass, holding his father’s hand.“I’m safe, Dad,” Reyland said softly, turning back to his father. “She was our princess. Her father is our captive. Nothing will happen. Not from her, at least.” He coaxed.“She shouldn’t be here –” Alpha Dax cut in angrily.“I invited her!”
Nikal had hidden his presence when he did this.He had not wanted to draw unnecessary attention, and most especially, he had not wanted Bentax near him.“Yes…but Father was right,” Corien replied softly.“As always,” Nikal growled quietly.They maintained a comfortable silence.“Should we tell her?” Nikal asked again after a few minutes, raising his head off his paws, and Corien laughed gently.“What will happen if we do, Kal? Would it change what’s going to happen?” Corien asked his wolf, Nikal, patiently.“It may…you never know…” Nikal replied grumpily, resting his head on his paws again and gazing back toward the horizon.Corien was silent as he watched the sky turn pink through Nikal’s eyes.“Merry Christmas, my loves,” he whispered. Nikal gave a soft whine.It was their custom, Corien and Nikal, to greet their lost mate and pup every Christmas morning. Just as they had done when they were alive.Corien
As the sun came up, the sky turned from pink to orange to blue, and Marian steadied her mind.“Merry Christmas, Mum, Jake,” she whispered, facing the rising sun.Dinka, her wolf, was silent.She had been silent since Dax had let go of her neck. But Marian understood.Dinka was angry, and when she was angry, it was best for her to stay hidden.Marian remained calm until the sun settled in the sky, above the tree line, then she returned to her musings.“Reyland.” She whispered his name, and his face came to mind.That chubby, soft, round face with the twinkling eyes.Marian stared at his face, then at his huge frame.She had conjured him up in her mind's eye and was staring at him without anyone to interrupt – not Dax, not her father, no one.She watched his lumbering walk and sighed. Her mind fought to reconcile what her heart was feeling.He’s slow…weak…he can’t even break a drawer! She mused, disappointed in her mind while her heart kicked up the word ‘adorable’.Then his eyes came in
Goddess, he is beautiful. Marian thought as she watched her father’s steady approach.She knew that thought was probably wrong, but she could not help it.Her father was a striking man. Wolves don’t age like humans, so her father still looked young, though he was almost forty-five.He had no single grey hair in his full thick, wavy dark hair that reached his ears, or in his matching-colored goatee and mustache beard, and his walk was as it had been since his teens – a smooth, animalistic walk of a man who knew he owned the world, and whom the world gave its full respect.He was the definition of an alpha wolf: powerful, strong, and virile. And he had the added bonus of being uniquely handsome – he had soft features, but they were all balanced out by the hard edges of his jaw, nose, and chiseled body.Marian knew she was not supposed to see her father in this light, but she was a wolf. It might be a taboo, but it was not unheard of for pare
What does he want now?!Why can’t he leave me alone with my fathers?!Why won’t he leave US alone?!Marian cursed in her mind.Her breath shook as she exhaled. Her shoulders drooped, her stomach twisting in a tight knot.She gazed back at him, feeling the waves of barely controlled rage that were all directed at her. Both in the physical and in the pack link.“I apologize. I didn’t mean to harm the –” her brow furrowed.How do I address Reyland? She mused.“Your son.” She decided, her voice higher pitched than usual.Her father, Corien, frowned slightly, taking a short step forward.“The circumstances –” she continued, but Dax cut in roughly.“Circumstances? A runt like you knows how to use a word like ‘circumstances’?” He snapped as he paced before her, his sky-blue eyes narrow as h
The pack members quickly moved away.Whatever they could not see, they could all hear. And if anyone could not hear, they could all feel.They felt very clearly that no one should disobey.Even Dax’s closest warriors, who had surrounded the group when Dax had arrived, left, herding any lagging pack members as they went.Alpha Dax blocked the pack link, making sure no one eavesdropped.“Stand, Child.” Gravan pressed, as he pulled Marian off the ground with one hand.“What…” her wide eyes drifted to her father, who was gazing steadily at her, expressionless.Her shaky gaze fell on Alpha Dax. He too stared back at her, but warily, eyeing her up and down as he moved to his heir’s side, pulling the young alpha away from Marian.“What are you trying to do to my children, Marian?”It was the first time he had said her name, and Marian did not like how it sounded.She blinked at Alpha Dax. “I –” she started but lost her v
This was how things had always been between us. Dax reflected as he gazed at his former best friend.Back when we had wandered around without a pack, back when we found, or rather, had been found by a pack, this very one that we have bled for, lost many things for.Back when we fought beside each other and bled on the same training grounds.It had always been like this.We never lied to each other.Were never afraid of each other.We had been as one.A single being who, for some unknown reason, had been born into two different bodies.That was how we had seen ourselves.Two who were one.Until that vixen came along.That woman. Arianna.Dax stared at Corien’s bowed head for a protracted moment.“Come,” he commanded without looking at anyone, turning on his heel.
Any concerns or requests could be brought to the Elders; however, they would never actively involve themselves in resolving any issues.Their presence was intimidating and could be hard to bear.Many meetings were not done face-to-face, but rather, through intermediaries – younger, but still elderly, shifters who lived with the Elders and presented cases to them for their input.Their rule was simple – they did not interfere in pack politics or battles. They had all had enough of these during their individual reigns and had no taste for such things in their old age.All of them had been around during the time of the previous Alpha, the one before Corien, the one who loved wars, battles, and blood, the one who used his people as objects and pawns for his schemes and conquests.And they had done nothing.They had been there when Corien had taken over from that Alpha, by force of arms, and they had done nothing.
Corien was in Dax’s office. He had been with him for the past hour, letting the Alpha seethe and rage.Dorien and the Luna had been present as well, but they had left earlier, leaving only the two brothers, the two enemies, together.Dax sat in his chair, his back to Corien, staring out the large window behind his desk.“Once the Alpha King hears of this from Anna, he will come for her,” Dax droned. Finally calm after his last outbursts with his family.“Not if we claim her,” Corien replied calmly.Dax did not respond.Corien continued.“We don’t have to do so immediately. We can plan for it, as we do for everything,” he stated firmly as he approached the large desk and stopped at the edge, adjacent to Dax’s wide shoulders.“If you put everything aside, you will know that what Dorien has suggested is the best solution,” he continued carefully.Silence.
“If he banishes me…” Marian whispered hoarsely, her voice catching. She shifted her eyes to Gravan, “Will you and Dad come with me?” she whispered, her eyes filling.“Just us? No one else?” Gravan replied with a soft smile, his bright eyes shining in his handsome face.Marian shifted her head against her pillow as she gazed up at her uncle.“I won’t have any hope there, if I’m banished,” she croaked.Gravan shook his head gently, stroking her forehead, the smile still on his face.“First of all, princess, we don’t dwell on ‘what-ifs’, hmmm? What’s done is done. All that matters is where we are now, and what we can do about it,” he stated matter-of-factly.“Your father will not let anything happen to you. Rest assured, nothing as drastic as banishment will happen,” he droned.“But, what if he – Alpha Dax &ndash
Marian’s damp face was red as she lay on her bed, wrapped like a mummy.Her eyes were quivering, but they were clear.Gravan gazed steadily at her.“Twenty-four hours. That’s all we need. To cover up your healing.”“The day after tomorrow, you can move about, anyhow you please,” he commented flatly in his silk, comforting voice, addressing the other matter she had not raised – attending the Remembrance ceremony.That had been the sole reason she had returned.The only thing that had brought her back to the pack so soon after her departure.And now, she could not attend it.He knew this.He and her father had discussed it in less than three sentences the moment she was out of the woods after Dax had broken her body.It had been on the day after the attack. After he had woken up in the pack hospital.As soon as he had woken, he had linked his Alpha, his mentor, his fr
Is he in heat?Am I?Marian mused.Dinka chuffed at her in their mind space.“What? I’m bored!” Marian tossed at her wolf, “If I can’t go out tomorrow, let me have a little fun today.”“It’s been too hard these past few days,” she complained to Dinka, “I need a distraction!”“This is not a distraction, Marian, this is torture,” Dinka replied, her teeth bared as if she were laughing.“We’ve seen torture, D. We’re just playing with him,” Marian replied with a smile.With her eyes directing Zepher and a few sounds chipped in here and there, she made the young omega feed her every bite of food and every drop of water and light wine that had been brought to her as she breathed him in.Thirty long minutes later, Gravan walked in to find a very distraught Zepher feeding a very contented Marian.========
It had been infuriating and had felt like a personal attack to Marian.The girl beside Dorien, Risa, was two years older than him.Every part of her was soft and supple.She had never held anything close to a weapon, of any sort, in her life.She was fresh, and smooth, and as matronly as they came – just as her mother used to admonish her to be.While she, a princess, was rough and bullish and definitely not one anybody could imagine holding a pup.Her heart had broken in more ways than one at that moment.Not only had she been dumped, she had been dumped for the kind of girl her dead mother had wanted her to be.A mother she missed. A mother she wished she could apologize to for all the times she had been difficult.And all of it had happened in public.The thing she hated the most.As soon as the words had left his lips, Marian had felt her chest burn as if it were on fire. They had not been fated m
At age eleven, Marian had started training to join the warriors rank, and Gravan had entered the picture.Only he, among the warrior class, ever sparred with her, and only he, outside of her father, ever gave her any guidance.With his support, she had developed fast. Her physical and critical thinking skills had grown in leaps and bounds, far beyond her peers.Gravan had used her alpha blood as a springboard in her training. Pushing her harder and farther than most young trainees.By the time she turned thirteen, she was leading physical training sessions for younger shifters and was no longer ignored by blooded warriors – those who were active in the protection and defense of Lightmoon pack.At fourteen, she became a full-fledged member of the warrior class, assigned to a unit.The unit leader had been Gravan. By this time, in her heart, her second uncle.As a member of his unit, he never gave her any less than he gave any oth
At the mention of Reyland, Marian had sniffed and nodded lightly.Her father smiled as footsteps were heard in the sitting area.Before she could blink, Corien was out the door, closing it gently behind him as he began to speak with the Alpha of Lightmoon pack.Marian’s eyes narrowed. She pushed her senses to listen, but both men were warriors; she could not hear them unless they didn’t mind being heard.There was silence.She could not even feel them.Their presence had been blocked.A few minutes later, she heard footsteps leaving her dorm.Two sets.She rested her back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, mulling over her conversation with her father.She went over everything one by one, step by step, with Dinka.As she recounted it, certain things stood out to her, but she kept her counsel.Instead, her mind turned to the past, before the darkest time in her life.==========The pack had been a home then.Her father, mother, and her younger brother had lived in the Alpha mansi
“He ordered the rest of us out – me, Dax, Dorien,” Corien continued, maintaining his fluid pace.Marian smiled lightly, but remained focused, keeping the meld firmly intact.“Byron gave you pint after pint of blood from the blood bank. He would not let me give any because of the impending full moon.”Corien paused and smiled widely when the meld did not waver.My daughter is a true alpha warrior, he mused.Marian’s breathing remained steady. Her brow had twitched, but she had no other reaction.“We stayed in the sitting area of your dorm until you woke up the next day.”“You know the gist of things from there.”“Dax has been gone since the early hours of this morning. No one has seen him or heard from him. Physical or link-wise.”“We locked down the pack grounds. Some news might have gotten out, but no one will be able to understand things. Not for a while, not until more details come to light, and not…unless they are old enough or versed enough in wolf history to guess anything.”“An