*Maddox*He looks like her. He has her blonde hair, even if it’s only a fine, silken dusting of it so far. I run my fingertips over his eyes, closed tight against the light flickering in the quiet corridor. They’re the same shape as her eyes, and I know as he starts to open them and see the world for the first time, they will eventually be the same heartbreaking blue as the mother he will never know. I will see Isla in him. I will see her everytime this unnamed boy looks into my eyes. I don’t know if that's a mercy from the Goddess, or a haunting reminder of every past wrong I’ve committed. I prayed and prayed to the Goddess as they cut my mate open to save the child I’d so desperately and selfishly wanted. I prayed she’d spare Isla, that she’d see past my sins and doubts and save the one thing that had ever truly mattered to me. Fuck my title. Fuck my territory. Save my mate. Save my mate. Save her. I didn’t take my eyes off Isla’s face the entire time. Mystica had given her some
Maddox’s eyes are even greener than normal in the soft clouds hovering over our heads in the unruly back garden. He stares at me, unblinking, his mouth slightly ajar as his brow furrows in confusion. “Did you hear me?” I say, taking a careful step towards him. Debris from the storm–broken branches and trellises ripped from the potted plants scattered everywhere–block my path as I lift my dress and gingerly close the distance between us. “You’re soaked! You’ll freeze–”My words are cut short as Maddox crushes me to his chest, his fingers curling and digging into my back. He trembles, his face pressed into my shoulder as he inhales deeply, then pushes me away. I’d told myself I wasn’t going to cry, but here I am, turning into a blubbering mess as my mate wraps his strong arms around me and nearly suffocates me with his strength. How can I even explain what happened? It’s practically impossible given that my memories of the birth of our son–our perfect, perfect son– are fragmented and
*Isla*Seth’s golden eyes linger on Isaac, his face void of expression. He gave us the expected spirited congratulations, of course, going on and on about the prince born during battle. But his eyes had given away his true feelings, even if I was the only one who noticed it. Trinity, on the other hand, lingers in the corner of Maddox’s office, pretending to be invested in the books on the shelves lining the far wall. What is going on with these two, and most importantly, why? “Seth,” Maddox says, looking up from the map he has sprawled out on his desk. “I need to speak to you privately.”Seth nods, his hands clasped behind his back as Maddox motions towards the door. I watch them walk out of the office from my perch in a leather armchair near the dormant fireplace, wondering what exactly Maddox is going to say to him. I know Maddox will tell me whatever excuses Seth gives him for his odd behavior. What’s worse is that I know Maddox will believe him. Seth is Maddox’s Beta, but Ma
*Isla*I didn’t crawl back into bed until well after dinner, which was nothing more than whatever stew was leftover from the massive meals the kitchen had been cranking out all day for the warriors currently taking up the lower part of Maddox’s castle and the sweeping grounds inside the gate. It’d been chaos all day. First, I’d died in childbirth. Then, I’d come back to life. Then, I had barely a moment to wrap my head around the fact that I’d had a son before having to go track down my mate to tell him that I was, in fact, very much alive, and the diamond we thought would only restore peace to the hearts of the Alphas harbored secrets we didn’t have time to unravel. Now, I’m resting with my back against the headboard, Isaac’s tiny frame swaddled in my arms, his mouth slightly parted and dribbling with milk. Moonlight drifts through the windows, the curtains fluttering in a soft, humid breeze. Maddox said we’d rest together tonight, that we’d finally have a moment of peace in our h
*Maddox*Warriors still gather beyond the front gate to the castle. I watch as Vember commands them to open the gate, his eyes lined with fatigue. It’s been a long forty-eight hours, but here we are, one the other side, and I am still the Alpha King. My enemies have limped back to her respective territories with their tails between their legs. If I wasn’t leaving to return the diamond to the temple, I’d be calling on those traitorous Alphas to stand before me and accept whatever fate I feel is acceptable for their egregious crimes against me, my pack, and my home. But I can’t think about that now. I turn to look over my shoulder at the group standing on the front terrace, their bodies shadowed by the balconies on the second and third stories as they stand just out of the reach of the beaming morning sun. Isla stands in the center of the group, her hand laid flat on Isaac’s back as he rests against her shoulder. She is stone-faced, her hair braided and falling over one shoulder as s
*Isla*Poppy flutters around the sunny sitting room, moving from light filled window to window as she spins in a soft circle. Isaac is in her arms, and seems unphased by her attempts to get any type of reaction out of him. So far, at only three days old, he is a quiet, amiable baby. “He’s too young to really smile at you, Poppy,” I say from the floor where I’m sitting with my legs crossed. I look down at the paperwork littering the floor, my hand aching as I scribble my signature on something pertaining to a grocery order for the kitchen. I hadn’t realized how much went into being an Alpha, let alone an Alpha King. Nor had I realized how much I was going to have to do as the Luna of all Lunas. I place the signed paper on the pile of signed papers, which is sitting next to more piles of unsigned papers that doesn’t seem to be shrinking no matter how much time I spend on it. “This is madness,” I breathe, shaking my head as I look up at Poppy. “Is this all necessary?”“What do you
*Maddox*Hunter stands next to me at the river’s edge, the first inklings of morning light drifting lazily over the roiling water and the shadow land beyond. Dark clouds are gathering in the distance, and I try not to think of them as a dark omen to kick off our quest.I turn to see Trinity standing nearby, her eyes wide as she inspects the water, which is ripping past us at an impossible speed. Further down river is a rope–some type of woven line of metal stretching from one side of the river to the other, the side touching Hunter’s territory glinting in the sun as the first rays reflect off several carabiners meant to help ease us across. “Everything you own is going to be soaked,” Hunter says casually, glancing at the backpack I’m wearing. “You’re sure there isn’t another way across?”“Not at this time of year. Had you come three weeks earlier, you could’ve simply hopped from rock to rock to the other side.”I purse my lips and look back out over the icy, gray, white-capped rapid
*Isla*I open my eyes to the feeling of… suffocating. I grip my throat, fighting for breath as an icy blast of water shoots from my toes all the way to my fingertips, my hair standing on end as a crush pressure drags me down, and down, and down. My eyes attempt to focus through the utter swirling darkness, not a single shred of light to be seen. I’m stuck. I’m thrashing. My head cracks against something hard and rough, and then I’m being pulled upwards towards the surface. “Isla,” Poppy whispers in my ear, and I jolt back to reality, sucking in a desperate breath, and opening my eyes to Maddox’s bedroom. “I heard you crying out, Isla. Are you all right?”“A nightmare,” I reply thickly, smoothing the hair away from my face. It takes me a moment to come to terms with the fact that I am in the bedroom, my body warm and tangled in the quilt. I turn to look at the bassinet near my bedside. “I have him,” Poppy says quietly as I turn to her, seeing the tiny bundle in her arms. “He was cr