*Isla*I lean forward, stretching out my front legs. Shifting feels euphoric, and Maddox is totally right about the fact that I need to do it more. Plus, I have two hours to myself. Well, myself, and Elijah. He stalks behind me, a massive black wolf with gleaming hazel eyes. His coat is thick but marred by scars, giving me a glimpse of his sordid past. For the past hour, he’s been following behind me but keeping distance between us, letting me take the lead. We’ve been weaving through the forest for some time now, but I come to stop at the towering oak tree overlooking the bluff that gives us a sweeping view of the lands below, small villages and towns glimmering in the early morning sunlight. I sit back on my haunches, staring absently over the bluff. The flowers we planted over the freshly turned soil atop Mystica’s grave tremble in the cool morning breeze. Poppy and I had chosen perennials, so they’d grow back every year. I’d planted roses behind her headstone that would one day
*Maddox*“Are you going to be a good girl for me while I’m gone,” I rasp into her ear. We’re covered in sweat, and I’ve been drawing out every minute of the last hour to make this last as long as possible for both of us. I’ve made Isla come at least three times, but I’m not done with her yet. It could be months before I see her again. “Probably not,” she whimpers, but her mouth curves into a devilish smile. I thrust into her, hard, and she arches her back, crying out softly as I continue to drag my cock in and out in a desperately slow motion. Her nails have left long red scratches down my back that I’ll feel for weeks. I hope I do. I hope I taste her on my tongue and smell her scent on my skin until the day I return home. “Please, Maddox,” she whispers, her nails digging into my sides. “I’m so close!”I pick up the pace, reaching between us to circling my thumb over her clit in a way I know will have her screaming my name in a matter of seconds. I rise up so I’m kneeling over her
*Isla*Maddox left Elijah with me, of course. It’s his responsibility as Beta to rule in Maddox’s place when he’s away. While I like Elijah and have come to appreciate his quiet presence in the house, I miss Maddox. It’s been almost three weeks since he left. We’ve spoken on the phone a few times, but a lot of the time he’s been out of range, and I’ve gone days without hearing from him. Elijah was also called away on a super secret mission during this time and came back in a huff. He was injured, too, scraped and bruised and in a piss poor mood for days. Trinity and I agreed to secretly press him about it, with Trinity doing the dirty work and me listening to whatever Trinity could find out about Elijah’s uncharacteristically emotional mood, but he was keeping his mate in the dark despite her most convincing efforts.It’s been an odd few weeks, to say the least. “He should be home soon, right?” Trinity asks from across the dining room table. She bounces Isaac on her knee, who is b
The girl standing before me is not what I expected. Emery stands, slowly clutching the bars as she peers at me through the darkness. The lightbulb hanging from the ceiling flickers as I pull up a stool and sit facing her, crossing my legs with my hands knitted in my lap. Elijah said not to let her out. I wonder why? I guess I’ll find out. I give her a minute to look me over. She doesn’t hide her curious gaze, unlike other people I’ve come in contact with lately. Hardly anyone looked me in the eyes during the Beta Trials, which was my first real event as Luna of the Alpha King. People shy away from me now, speaking to me only when I speak to them first, so on and so forth. “Alpha,” I say graciously, bobbing my head to her in greeting. She doesn’t startle. In fact, her full lips twitch into what is either an impressed, or sinister, smile. I can’t tell which. “Luna,” she says, but she doesn’t curtsy or bow. She grips the bars until her knuckles are white, like she’s trying to pry the
Seven Months Later…*Poppy*“What the hell is going on?” I hiss. I’m waddling as fast as I possibly can given how enormous I’ve become over the last few weeks. I feel like I’ve tripled in size–at least. What has also tripled in size is my attitude, according to Antony. He recently accused me of looking for a fight when I lost my mind over the last of the chocolate chunk ice cream with the brownie bits I liked being gone. In my defense, I’d been out of my mind with hunger and pregnancy cravings. In his defense, I had been the one to finish off the carton. That had been three weeks ago before all hell broke loose.My anger right now isn’t an exaggeration. Warriors rush through the castle as I stalk down the hallway toward his office and yank open the door. “Antony!”“My love,” he says with little emotion and an abundance of annoyance. “What happened to the warriors I had guarding your room?”“I killed them,” I deadpan, even though that’s far from the truth. I just screamed at them unt
*Isla*I roll my lower lip between my teeth as Maddox paces the deck. Nothing about this situation is good. Nothing about this situation is clear, either, and none of us have been able to get a hold of anyone on Maatua in two full days. Whispers of unrest on Maatua had been coming to us for months now. Maddox and I hadn’t known the unrest was a wizard, however, until four days ago when a frantic call from Antony had us hastily packing and out the door in less than an hour. We’d just celebrated Isaac’s first birthday the day before. I lean against the railing and bow my head, ignoring the salty spray of the violent ocean preventing us from moving in on the coast of Maatua. The kingdom is shrouded in black clouds, and the air is thrumming with electricity. I’ve never seen a storm like this before, especially one that is exclusive to the island itself. Where we sit in our boat, the sky is blue, and the water is relatively calm. Two days ago everything was fine. “He left,” Maddox bar
*Maddox*How did we get to this point? I feel like the past seven months have gone by in a blur of activity, yet this moment, this devastation, has caught us all totally off guard. Rage burns through me as I guide my pregnant, physically and emotionally exhausted, mate through what is left of the town that surrounds the castle of Maatua. The storm has passed, but heavy rain still floods the streets. I keep an arm around Isla’s waist to steady us both as water rushes past us, soaking us nearly to the shins. Elijah is carrying Emery on his back behind us, the two of them talking in hushed whispers that are inaudible over the sound of the rain pelting the gnarled debris that continuously blocks our path. And all of this for what? Is this really about the Goddess’s necklace that Isla had seen in a vision? A necklace tied to a story we know nothing about?Anger toward Mystica bubbles in my gut for no reason other than the secrets left in the wake of her death. Her strange gifts had kep
*Isla*The portrait is ancient, much like everything else in the vault beneath the castle. Wealth beyond belief sits here, covered in dust. Mary walks with her arms behind her back as I look up at the portrait of a woman who couldn’t have been much older than me when it was painted so, so long ago. Atop her head sits a crown made of sea glass and gold, the same series of symbols as the necklace worn by the Goddess in my vision resting in the center. A moonstone dangles of a crescent moon, the light glistening on the gem perfectly captured by the artist. “I don’t understand,” I whisper to no one but myself. “Areduis was the first King of Maatua,” she says softly. “KiloKilo was once part of his territory. He sought refuge here and found it, but the Goddess caught up to him eventually.” She sighs heavily as she continues to look around the room, looking for something, and not finding it. “I swear it was here.”I turn to her, arching my brow. “You have the necklace I saw in the vision.”
MistyI flip a page in my journal, squinting at the terrible handwriting I’d scribbled down last night when I’d woken from my latest dream. I can’t comprehend what I’d been trying to say. Dark? Hurt? Silver? Those words look somewhat clear. I can’t even remember writing them down. I close the journal with a sigh and slip it back in my purse, hanging the bag over the back of my chair in the common room of my dormitory. It’s a massive building with a pitched roof, several towers, and spooky, darkened alcoves, but it’s home, and right now, I’m sure I’d be able to hear Georgia singing her heart out in the shower if the nagging, incessant voice in my head would shut up for a single, blissful second. I’ve come to the conclusion after two years of hearing what I can only describe as white noise and the occasional static screech, like I have a radio fixed inside my skull, that the voice isn’t my internal dialogue. No, that’s a separate entity in itself, and I’m constantly at odds with the u
MistyTwo white wolves in a clearing.Their bodies made of mist and aether, standing side by side.Mates. A marvel of second chances and extraordinary fate.Two white wolves turn toward the sunrise knowing what they must leave behind; what he sacrificed for those he loved and her refusal to let him go into death alone.Two white wolves stand over their earthly bodies. He, battered and still.She, going into death with eyes open, cupping her mate's face between her graceful hands, her eyes locked on his at the moment of her dying breath.Their last words had been simple. I love you.They always had.They’d promised this instance in stolen moments, in private corners, when there was nothing but the stars to light their way.I will not stay here without you.I will not leave you behind.And so, it was.Two
AvivaThe first flakes of snow fall from the sky as I watch Ryan trying to herd everyone in position. Bundled against the cold in a wool coat Freya and I worked tirelessly on for the last three weeks, I step to the side, finding myself in the center of the crowd standing in the middle of the village of Silverhide. I watch my mate and his Beta, James, nudge families together and run back and forth toward a tripod where Ryan’s camera rests, facing us, to gauge whether all one-hundred and fifty people are in view of the lens.Ryan stands behind the camera with his hands up, his hair dusted with snow. “Okay. Nobody move!”A few excited giggles whisper through the front of the crowd where the numerous children are arranged. I glance around, watching as James joins Dahlia’s side, their baby on her hip. The baby girl finally has a name. Cosette, named after a friend of Dahlia, but they call her Cossie for short. Other babies
Two months later…RyanThe Harvest Festival has been held at the festival grounds between Endova, Teshka, and Navvan for centuries. When we arrived two days ago, leaving only a few people behind in Silverhide to make sure the animals are tended to in our absence, the wide, open space had been nothing but rolling plains.Now, it’s a city of canvas tents and twinkling lights, the air spiced with smoke and the smells of meals being cooked at each fire. Songs mingle as I walk through the festival with Aviva on my arm. I’m wearing a normal outfit. Well, not normal, actually. Mom forced me into a suit and tie with the Crescent Falls royal banner and all of my metals from my years as a warrior draped over my shoulders. Aviva is wearing that white, fur-lined dress again and a pair of new sheep-skin boots Freya and Mercy made for her, but instead of freshwater clam shells and pearls decorating her hair, her curls are w
RyanAn hour earlier…I can’t scrub the image of Aviva dead in my arms out of my head. It’s been several days since the battle, since the moment I put her in my uncle's arms and turned back to the ravaged scene, not knowing whether or not she survived the journey all the way to Maatua.Three days. It was three entire days before Sydney arrived in Silverhide with news about my mate. I’d just arrived back at my territory, exhausted and in tatters, when he clapped a hand on my shoulder and used his powers to spirit us to Moonrise, then to Veiled Valley, then to Maatua. He’s not as strong as Ryatt. Jumping took a toll on us both, and when we finally arrived at my grandparents’ beach house, I collapsed before I even made it up their driveway.Everything since the battle is a blur. Navvan is just… gone. The few survivors were mostly women and children who’d left the villag
AvivaI wake with a start to bright, warm sunshine and the smell of salty air. I grope white sheets, blinking several times to clear my vision as an unfamiliar bedroom fades to life around me. Warm white walls. Pale wood finishes and sleek furniture in soft browns and creams. White curtains drift in a salty breeze coming through several open windows, and a glass door opens to a deck with a view of… a view of the ocean.I’ve never seen the ocean before. From where I lie, I can hear the waves crashing on a white sand beach. Music I don’t recognize drifts toward me, carrying two voices with it, one male, and one female.“Your parents worry about you endlessly, Misty.”“They have nothing to worry about. It’s not like I’m ten anymore, Grandpa. I can make my own way in the world now. Plus, where was their worry when they shipped me here four years ago, huh?”“You
RyanI’ve been dreaming about tying Aviva to my bed, but I’m going to make it a reality for entirely different reasons. Now, I’ll be tying her to keep her there, forever. No more hunting. No more fighting. No more killing rogues barefoot in the woods.No more putting herself in situations like this. I will do her dirty work. I will gladly do it. I roll with Hardan in his… hellhound form? Whatever the fuck he is now. I wish, Goddess, I wish I could have faced him man to man instead of beast to beast. I would have loved to see the look on his face when I ripped out his heart for even thinking for a second he had some kind of claim to my mate, even before I found her. We roll down a decline. I sink my talons into his belly, ripping hard, but I already know hellhounds aren’t that easy to kill. We crash into an oak tree. Leaves shower over us as he tries to claw free of my grasp. He’s calling out, bellowing strange, high-pitched howls. The forest floor rumbles as I sink my claws into hi
AvivaI’m having the time of my life.I zigzag through the woods in my wolf form after three rogues who’ve decided they want nothing to do with me. In fact, the rogues have stopped hunting me over the past several hours and instead are trying to get as far away from me as possible. Their prey has become their biggest predator.I did my best to lead the horde away from Endova. That was my goal–the reason I made the snap decision to leave my mate behind and race into the jaws of death itself. Now, I have the horde moving away from the tribal packlands all together, herding them back into the open plains like a shepherd, and they’re my sheep–if a shepherd killed their sheep, that is.I’ve lost count of how many there are. My red fur is completely black with their blood. I catch my reflection in another small, burbling creek as I leap, seeing only my eyes shining like polished amber against a
Ryan“She’s not here, Ryan,” Mercy hisses as I run through the village. She’s hot on my heels, grabbing my fur to try to pull me to a stop but I’m not in my right mind.It’s been five hours since I last saw Aviva. Andrew and I have been scouring the forest and plains for any sign of her, but I lost her scent, and my desperate attempts to mind-link with her have come up empty and silent.I shift into my human form the second I cross into the pack house and immediately crash into one of the tables, tripping over the bench and landing on my side with a crunch. I’ve been in my wolf form since last night. Exhaustion sings through my bones as my vision spins. I hear Andrew similarly falling to the ground with a choked groan before hurried footsteps reach the pack house. Someone throws a blanket over me with a scoff, followed by Mercy’s sharp, soprano voice ripping through the air as she starts s