Double update kind of day. I hope that you enjoy!
VIOLETMom always paused like that when whatever came after would hit harder. That had my insides twisting a bit. I still hadn't thought up a good plan on how to get in front of them. Hopefully, her vision ended up providing a generic overview. She explained every last detail of her vision, not leaving anything out. There was, indeed, enough information to go off of to develop a plan of attack. It was the time frame that hit the hardest. We only had two weeks to get everything in order and face Alpha Bradley. We either succeeded or failed. There was no other outcome. We needed to develop an airtight argument because we'd be needing the Council to essentially turn on two of its members. The Werewolf Council was the highest form of authority in the land. I took a steadying breath and pushed aside my worries. This would work because there was no other option for us. We sat there and discussed the best course of action. It was decided that we'd divide and conquer. Some of us would go d
VIOLETNerves were running through me at record speed, building up to an inevitable crescendo.Today was the day that we’d be confronting the Council. So much could go wrong. The unknowns had been weighing heavily upon me. My incredible mate was there to hold me when I did eventually broke down. He never once made me feel weak for my tears but simply helped me to carry the burden while providing me the strength to continue on, reminding me that I wasn’t alone.Mom had helped me master the art of glamouring. It was difficult to hold it at first until Reika and I figured out a way for her power to boost my glamours. Once we got that down, our glamours were solid even if others tried to distract me.Aunt Kaia had sat down with me and sincerely apologized to me, sharing how she was ashamed of what she’d done. While I was still hurt by it all, I couldn’t hold onto that. We weren’t promised tomorrow, so I womaned up and forgave her. Lilac, Niccolò, and Enzo were still a little wary, wanting
ENZOToday would end up being the biggest test of my control.We’d worked our asses off to prepare for today, but nothing would’ve prepared me for being in Alpha Bradley’s presence. He’d pay for his sins if it was the very last thing that I made sure of.I still couldn’t wrap my head around how someone could be so fucked up. I’d never be able to forget the things that the survivors detailed that he’d done to them. They had been extremely candid, wanting nothing more than for him to be thrown into a river of lava.It took a little while for the survivors to relax at our house. I knew that the physical comfort level was not all that great, but it was the best that we could currently do. However, they were just thankful to be safe and away from the hell that they’d been living in.We’d gotten a couple of our therapists to come out to the house. I’d been a little surprised at how quickly the survivors took it upon themselves to begin a support that very same night. They’d found understandi
VIOLET“You've gotten faster.”My head whipped around and saw Daph right behind me. What in the fuck was she doing out here? The plan had been for Lilac to teleport her home if anything went down. This was definitely not taking her home. “What are you doing here? Daph, this wasn't the plan,” I said sternly. My lovely sister just rolled her eyes as she sped up so that we were side by side. She'd been putting in a lot of effort in training over the past two weeks and did phenomenal, but that was during training. This was definitely not training.“I don't have full access to my magic yet, but Mom's been teaching me. Our Pi Day victim has worked with my physical training. I'm not weak or useless. Face it, Vi, we all have a stake in seeing this bastard caught.”Damnit. She was right. He'd hurt her too. I knew that her nightmares had calmed down quite a bit, but they were still happening. Reika often pulled me into her nightmares, allowing our presence to calm her down and provide her comf
ENZOMy heart was in my throat as my mate rushed out of the room to go after the fucker. I didn’t get any time to consider all of the ways that it could go wrong because there were at least thirty Sentinels with their guns aimed at us all.“I SAID TO STAND DOWN!” one of the Alphas shouted out.Was he that fucking stupid to realize that it was going to fail a second time if it’d so gloriously failed the first time? I still didn’t understand how they’d be so unaware of how fucked this situation had gotten. How had they not realized that two of their own had turned their backs on the Council’s cause and had a force of Sentinels under Alpha Bradley’s leadership instead of their own?“They’re loyal to Alpha Bradly instead of you all. It’s not going to do shit. Give me permission to get my people in here unless you all want to see how far their loyalty to the fucker goes,” I insisted.As if to prove my point, someone fired their gun at Alpha Amir. He dove out of the way just in time. He shou
VIOLETI was past the point of fed-up with these damn Council Alphas. They were more worried about public image than anything else at the moment. Yes, they needed to get ahead of Alpha Bradley, but that did not mean they should disregard the more important issue right now.THEY STILL DID NOT KNOW WHICH SENTINELS WERE LOYAL TO THEM.I had hoped that they would not need to have their damn hands held as they traversed the minefield that they currently found themselves in, but my hope was futile. How in the living hell did they ever get anything important done?Reika finally had enough just like I had. A loud snarl ripped through the air. All bickering finally stopped, and the sweet sound of silence hung in the air like a thick blanket.“Can we focus on the most important part right now?” I deadpanned, somehow keeping the irritation out of my voice.The Alphas exchanged a glance before looking back at me. I didn’t need to feel their emotions to know that they were irritated with my disturb
ENZOMy instincts were on high alert as we walked into the auditorium where the Sentinels were waiting for us. Titan and I were preparing for anything because we refused to allow anything else to happen to her. I felt like a fucking failure with how many times she had been harmed since she came into our lives. Circumstances weren’t always in our control, but that did nothing to change the guilt that Titan and I both felt. Hopefully, we’d be able to leave after this because we could feel her fatigue setting in – both physical and emotional in nature. Today didn’t go the way that we’d hoped for it to go, but there was no chance of getting a redo.The large auditorium was already filled with more bodies than I could even guestimate but at least in the thousands. There was no doubt in my mind that there were those loyal to Alpha Bradley, which had me nervous as fuck because they had no qualms in opening fire on us.The remaining Council members had us wait off-stage but said that they’d c
VIOLETDarkness surrounded me when awareness came to me. There was a sense of wrongness all around me, chilling me to the bone. The darkness bore down, suffocating and oppressive in nature. I attempted to move but was restrained by something. There was a pounding in my chest as I tried to control my rising panic because it’d do nothing good or beneficial.“Listen to that racing heart,” a very distinct voice murmured into my ear. “Can’t move? Where is all of that strength? Perhaps you’re nothing more than a weak wannabe, pretending to be something that you aren’t,” he taunted me.I felt Reika stirring within me, her steady presence providing me with a sense of calm. It reminded me that I wasn’t alone.“Think what you wish, but we both know the truth,” I replied calmly, my lips turning up into a smirk. “Between the two of us, you’re the one that relies on others for your strength while I rely on nobody because I fight my own battles.”I wasn’t all that surprised when he lost his cool and
CANDICEA part of me had worried that I wouldn’t live long enough to see justice being served to the shitty part of my biological family for every horrible thing that they’d done and every person that they had a hand in hurting.My visions showed me that it would happen but not how long it would take to occur. It took a very long time, but it was finally here. There was something very freeing and empowering about that. It also seemed fitting that it’d be me, Kaia, and our children who would be coming for them.Our offspring were complete badasses and had incredible power at their fingertips but also had remarkable control over it. Even Daph did. She wasn’t quite on par with Vi or Lilac, but that was simply because she was relatively new to wielding her magic whereas the other two had much more practice. It didn’t mean that she was slouching or anything though.I was incredibly proud of my daughters and beyond grateful that I was blessed enough to be their mother.There was one positiv
VIOLETTwo days was barely a blink of an eye, but it was all the time that we had to prepare for ‘The Takedown’ as Eli had dubbed it.The Appersons held power. There was no denying that fact. However, that didn’t mean that we lacked our own power. The difference was that our power was pure and untainted.Mom called in some favors. She had made many allies over the years by being a badass superwoman who never hesitated to lend a helping hand and protect anyone who truly needed it. She had done it all from the shadows to remain hidden from the Appersons.We had eighty Fae on our side, a hundred and ten werewolves, a phoenix, fifteen vampires, and twenty-one witches. We could've had more werewolves, but we didn't want to leave the packs vulnerable. Yes, you saw right. Vampires. I wasn't sure why I was surprised when I met Victor and his coven members. Everything that I had once thought of to be fiction was anything but. Talk about mind-blowing. I loved getting the rundown of that parti
CANDICEMy mind ran through all of the potential possibilities of what Violet’s vision might have entailed.She called me an hour ago and told me that she had a vision about Zaxyn and needed to have a meeting with all of us. Whatever she had seen was enough to shake her. I could hear it in her voice as she spoke.“Can you get Daph so that we can head downstairs,” I asked Eli.“Sure thing, Mom,” he said before freezing, cheeks pinkening with a blush.I could tell that it hadn’t been intention and just slipped out. Honestly, it made my heart swell to think that there was a part of him that saw me as a mother figure. He had accepted me immediately and had mentioned how happy he was about the bond between Max and me.Embarrassment and hope warred inside of him for dominance – embarrassment because of his slip, and hope because he secretly wanted me to be okay with it. Layla had done the basics to appear as though she loved him, but it was clear that love wasn’t the case once she sent peopl
VIOLETReaching my hand out, I turned off the hot water before wrapping a towel around my body and one around my head.The steamed mirror hid my reflection until I wiped a spot off. Looking back was a woman who was still odd to see.I looked the same but not at the same time. My features were more defined. More mature. Amber eyes held a happiness that I had never experienced before he came into my life. I had just gotten by day to day, but he showed me how important it was to also live for me.There were currently dark circles under my eyes that I had been covering up with magic known as makeup. Each day that passed by brought us one step closer to dealing with the Appersons.Sleep never came easy to me unless my mate wore me out in the best possible way. I would be so tired that I wouldn’t be fully conscious of Ava waking up in the middle of the night. Enzo would get up to take care of her each time. He was always quick to reassure me that he loved to have that one-on-one with her, se
ENZOThere were gasps and laughs heard throughout the crowd.I barely contained my snarl. The only reason that I suppressed it at all was because there were humans who worked here too. Otherwise, I’d show everyone what happened when you crossed an Alpha-born to this extent.Embarrassment, pain, and sadness flowed down the bond. She couldn’t honestly believe that I’d say any of those things, could she?“WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” I shouted as loudly as I could since I couldn’t really snarl.‘Kill them. Kill them all,’ Titan raged within me, seething that someone dared to hurt our mate like this.As much as I wanted to side with him on this, I couldn’t just up and kill them.‘Sven, find out everything that you can about the pictures and video that’s being displayed in the cafeteria please.’‘Right away, boss.’Niccolò rushed into the cafeteria with Lilac in two. They had clearly gotten interrupted, but I was glad that they were both here right now. He looked murderous as he saw what
ENZOThere was a storm on the horizon. As the days passed, we prepared to face off against the Appersons.Violet’s idea for the video was the perfect opening move. It turned out even better than we had thought it would. Sven, being the mastermind that he was, had been able to push the video to specific people.The problem was that Fae had no centralized governing body to rule over their people. That was what gave the foothold that the Appersons used to climb to the top of the totem pole.It was important to have someone that everyone had to answer. Pushing aside the recent Werewolf Council’s fuckery, it was easy to see the importance of having a hierarchy within a species. Everyone was held accountable for their own actions or inactions. It also provided structure, stability, and protected its people. We had to get creative with how we put the truth out there. Anastasia, Darrel, Candice, and Kaia worked really well together. Specific families and clans received video and subsequent pr
VIOLETIt was amazing to witness these family members reuniting with each other.Enzo held me from behind, chin resting on my shoulder. I leaned against his body, loving the way that I could feel his heart beating against my back. It mirrored my own.Darrel Steele’s parents also showed up. They fell to their knees when they saw him for the very first time after all of these years. He rushed over and wrapped his arms around them. His cries broke my heart. He had lost the innocence that he had as a teenager when his life was ripped away from him.It renewed the fury that I had felt steadily growing ever since I had learned just an outline of what the Appersons were responsible for doing.Nobody should ever have to feel the pain that these beautiful people have dealt with all of these years. I could not even begin to imagine the toll that it took on them. All of the uncertainty, hopelessness, and helplessness.Tears rolled down my cheeks as their emotions rushed into me. It felt like I wa
VIOLETThe days passed by in a flurry of activity. Some of it was overwhelming, but some of it was incredibly beautiful as well.Our home was almost too silent after weeks of having hundreds of people living here. I wasn’t complaining though.Enzo and I grew even closer than we’d been before. It was long overdue, but the entire house was finally christened. Talk about fun! I couldn’t get my fill of him because it was never enough. My body, and our bond, always demanded more. Titan and Reika, likewise, couldn’t get enough of each other either.Our bond with Ava also continued to grow and strengthen. It was amazing to see the fatherly side of my mate. God, was there something that he didn’t excel at? She had him wrapped around her little pinky and didn’t even realize it yet. He made a fantastic father just like he made a fantastic mate.Niccolò, Lilac, and Raelynn moved into the guesthouse so that they could still be close enough to fulfill their duty as my Dreatirs. However, they’d have
MAXWELLMy mate’s life had never been easy. I wasn’t surprised that she turned out to be such a strong warrior.Goddess, I’ve heard many examples of fucked-up families over the years, but I was certain that the Apperson family ranked up there in the top. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it had to have been for her over the years. She always had to look over her shoulder and make sure that she covered her tracks.One’s family should be the biggest source of support. The same people who should’ve loved her unconditionally brought her nothing but pain and heartache. I was just thankful that she’d been able to get away from them.Worry churned in my gut, knowing who they’d been in contact with. They also knew that Reika was a Golden wolf. I couldn’t imagine them being willing to give up that level of power, leaving me wondering if they’d just been placating Alpha Bradley.‘Bradley,’ Thorn corrected me. ‘He doesn’t deserve the respect that his title provides.’He made a great point. It had