LOGINRyan
James scribbles on a piece of paper as people file into the pack house out of the rain. The two-story community building I had built three years ago, when I established Silverhide, is built in a traditional style I forced Sydney to help me plan out. The walls are made of thick logs burnt a deep black. The first story is just a giant room with several long tables and enough chairs for everyone–all hundred or so members, including a few babies born this summer&nd
ZaynThe packhouse in Eurye is in shambles. Trees and cottages lie in pieces all over the town. The market street is reduced to rubble. The parliament building has been reduced to embers that still send smoke curling through the rain, but the wind has stopped, and while the sky is a smoky, angry gray, it’s calm. For now. My counterstorm kept the worst of my grandfather’s rage at bay. We’re not underwater. Eurye hasn’t been pulled into the sea. “We have a few hours until it begins again,” I warn one of the Alphas of a nearby territory, the two of us stomping side-by-side through debris. Wolves race through the rain, howling and barking, looking for survivors. A few people have been pulled from toppled homes, but so far, dozens of the men are unaccounted for. It could have been far worse had all the women and children not been evacuated early this morning. “Everyone in Shell Pass, the Haven Islands, and the Palm Lagoon is accounted for,” the Alpha beside me says. “My pack hasn’t s
FallonStella shoves open the exterior door of a large, circular building deep in the forest surrounding her village. It’s dark and damp with the rain brushing over the domed ceiling in relentless sheets that send deep vibrations through the eerie space. “Take these matches and help me light these candles. They’re hundreds of them, and we need them all burning.”I’m not even looking at her when she slides a matchbook into my hand. The black cloak I’m wearing weighs down my shoulders as I slowly drink in the room when the first candles burn to life. A sweeping, faded mural expands across the walls. A battle, I think. Maybe an entire painted history of this coven. It’s more than that, I realize, as Stella moves around the room lighting candles. “Whoa,” I murmur, staring up at the mural painting the ceiling. A woman with dark brown hair and sea-glass eyes extends her arms wide, her black cloak faded to an inky gray against the plaster, but her silver fire is so familiar. “There were F
Fallon“Keep moving!” I shout through an absolute torrent of rain. My mind is still trapped in what feels like a dream. I have a weird feeling that I’ll wake up, and none of this will have happened. That’s one way to look on the bright side, right? That there’s a chance I’m still cozy in our bed, nestled against Zayn’s chest, warm, safe, and dry. Not knee deep in mud trying to walk uphill on a trail long overgrown with snarled vines and tropical, thorny plants. Two hundred women and older children, mostly girls, but a few teenage boys guiding grandmothers and younger siblings, follow me and Cathy up the trail. Thank the Goddess I found her, honestly. We haven’t had a chance to talk about what happened, how it happened, or how quickly things changed. All I know is that Eniana and Andy are safe in the coven’s territory already, somehow. Jason stayed behind to fight alongside Zayn, of course. Cathy’s boys are likely in the coven already, given that Stella managed to find them a ride.
FallonI wake up in the early hours of the morning to footsteps echoing across the floorboards. Stuck halfway between reality and the dreamworld, I blink into the darkness, squinting to make out the familiar form of Zayn moving like the beast he is in my direction. I stretch like a cat, peeved to be woken up before the sun. Hours before morning, more like it. “What are you doing out of bed and dressed? It’s four A.M.!”He sits on the side of the bed with a soft grunt. I feel like I just fell asleep beside him after he woke me up maybe two or three hours ago sliding into bed. He hadn’t smelled like smoke then. I sit up, brushing rogue locks of hair off my face, and reach for the lamp on the bedside table. Dull amber light flares. It’s barely enough to see across the room… but Zayn comes into full, startling focus. “What the fuck?” I almost screech, recoiling away from the soot-covered demon with bright blue-hazel eyes who has replaced my sweet, infuriating husband. “What have you do
ZaynIt’s a clear night, not a single cloud in the heavens. The moon is nearly full, lighting up the sky as a waxing gibbous. It mocks me while I stand at the end of the dock, watching six of the two dozen or so ships creep into the cove. Father stands beside me, dressed in his gray wizarding robes. I chose black for the occasion, which I find fitting. Black as the night sky without the stars to light my uncle’s way out of my territory if he so much as steps out of line. It took nearly a week to come to some sort of agreement with Uncle Bartholomew and his forces, which are meager in comparison to the packs at the ready to jump into action the second I give the command. Still, Bartholomew is… powerful. One of the most powerful wizards to have ever lived.He’s just not the Principate, which I think is his biggest issue in his life. He’s the kind of man who demands more and more power at the expense of others. The kind of wizard who gnaws on alexandrite for a simple flicker of more–m
Fallon“I am on my moon cycle!” I rush out between kisses, but Zayn is out of his damn mind. His tongue sweeps over mine before he bites down on my lower lip and groans. I suppose, at some point, I wished to the Goddess that this man would eventually unleash himself, but seeing as I am in a state of hormonal duress, he needs to calm the fuck down. “Zayn,” I pant, giving him a slight shove. “We can’t.”“One bite,” he breathes, chasing my mouth with his, “and I’ll have you ovulating. Don’t worry.”“What in the Goddess’s great kingdom are you talking about?” I bark a laugh, shoving him back again. “You’re a lunatic.”His eyes are still that polished hazel that sets fire to my veins. I suppose it wouldn’t be that bad, all things considered. I am the one in my own way, so to speak. My embarrassment and uncertainty mingle with the waves of desire threatening to have me throwing caution to the wind. “You know so little about shifters,” he says, pressing the words against my neck in a feath
SarahSydney’s hand slides down my side, gripping my ass, tugging me closer to him. My leggings feel impossibly tight and unnecessary right now. I’m desperate to get out of them, and I wiggle my hips for emphasis, which causes Sydney to groan my name and hiss out a breath. “Get them off,” I beg. He l
SydneyI stayed out all day. I didn’t come home until the sun faded and the sky turned an inky, endless black dotted with stars.Admittedly, I stayed at my office until nearly 10:00 PM just to piss Cosette off, thinking she’d be waiting by the door to cu
SarahI wake up in my bed to bright, unforgiving winter sunlight shooting directly into my retinas. I wince, covering my eyes with my forearm.I have very vague memories of getting back to my bedroom in Sydney’s house. I remember being lifted and carried but t
SarahI’m hallucinating.I have to be because Alpha Sydney of the Shadowcrest pack is standing in my doorway looking like he’s ready to rip someone in half.He’s handsome. Too beautiful to be real. His face has been carved from the pure







