*Ryatt*I blink, and there’s nothing but unfamiliar faces all around me. Faces covered in dirt and soot, old and young. All of them stare down at me, their voices mingling into one as my head pounds and aches. “Get him some water. Be quick about it,” says a female voice nearby. “Ella-” I reach for her, my finger’s curling around someone’s wrist, but the face that comes into view isn’t my Ella, not even remotely close. I yank my hand back and sit up, my head swimming as the room goes dark. “Get him back down, now!”“Get off–GET OFF!” I shove at the hands trying to pin me to the cold, damp ground. “Ryatt,” Westfall says nearby, “you need to calm down now. Listen to me.” He kneels beside me, grabbing the shirt I’m wearing, a shirt that doesn’t belong to me. “Where are we?”“An outbuilding near the river. You passed out.”“Obviously.” I run my hand over my face and peek through my fingers at the odd group of people hovering over us. “Who are you?” I ask them. They take several steps
*Ella*At first I think I’m standing in front of Ryatt in a cold, stone-lined bedroom with nothing but a small bed and dresser to furnish the space. But, it’s not Ryatt. Glacier blue eyes look past me as the man turns around, his face drawn and brow pinched in an expression I know belongs to one man, and one man alone. But Commander Westfall is so much younger. He can’t be much older than Ryatt in this–this vision. This dream. Westfall stalks forward, brushing past me. I turn, following his movements. “This is madness,” Westfall says to the beautiful young woman sitting on the edge of the bed with a child sleeping in her lap. She combs her bruised and swollen fingers through the boy’s thick, dark curls, his own face peppered with fresh bruises. “You’re leaving, tonight!”“You know I can’t.” Silver manacles on each wrist gleam in the light of the several candles, the skin beneath them scarred from years of burns from the silver. “You know he’d find me in a second, Adrien. I cannot le
*Maddy*Isaac’s uncle Ben walks a wide circle around the table in the library, its surface covered in old, dusty books. I roll my lower lip between my teeth as I glance from Ben to my mate, who is just as engrossed with the book in his hands as the one Ben is currently nose deep inside. I don’t see Ben very often. He’s Isla’s younger brother, and his mate, Emery, is the Alpha of a pack called Obsidian Temple. Their pack territory borders the ancient territory of Moorn, and together, they border the mountains and magical veil that separate us from Eastonia. It’s only fitting that he’s here now, helping us scour every book and tome in the library to try to find a solution to an incredible impossible problem. “I have no idea what I’m even looking for, Isaac,” Ben sighs, shutting the book in his hands and setting it down on the ever growing pile. “There has to be something. Anything…” Isaac runs his hands over his face and blinks into the midday sunlight streaming through the windows.
*Isla*Earlier I’ve never felt this kind of excitement before. It’s strange, really, looking back on everything I went through to get to the point I’m at now, packing the tiniest pieces of clothing in my suitcase in anticipation of meeting my grandsons. My fingers slip over a light blue onesie embroidered with little teddy bears, and I smile, the corners of my eyes crinkling. Maddox is somewhere behind me packing his own suitcase but for an entirely different reason. I turn to look over my shoulder at him as he pulls a suit from the closet and examines it. “It’s going to be rather hot for a suit, don’t you think?”“Antony says it’s a black tie event. The Alphas along Maatua’s archipelago and the smaller territories in KiloKilo will be attending. I’m supposed to look the part, whatever the hell Antony meant by that.”I smile to myself as Maddox lays the suit over our bed and walks toward our dresser, tossing a few pairs of socks into the open suitcase at his feet. I go back to packi
Isla“Ella,” I whisper. I’m in shock. My entire body hums with adrenaline as I try to step deeper into what remains of my living room. Everything is ash and embers. The ceiling is gone, revealing the glare of the midmorning sun. And there she is, kneeling in the center of the room, covered in her mate’s blood. Maddox lurches forward, but I grab him around the waist and haul him back. “Wait!”Ella pants, her chest heaving with each ragged breath she takes. In the distance, I hear sirens. Smoke funnels toward the sky. It’s only a matter of minutes until people start descending on our property, and they can’t see this. “Ella,” I repeat, louder this time. “Take off the mask, honey.”She whimpers as she raises her bloody hands, her sea-green eyes full of tears. She’s wearing a dress that may have been white at some point. It’s thin, and hanging off her body, which is covered in bruises and deep scratches. I’m not sure where she’s hurt. I’m not sure what blood is hers and what blood is R
*Isla*It’s a beautiful, clear night. Waves brush against the rocky shore of the private island in the Teal Isles, a small group of islands roughly forty miles south of Maatua. The moon is full and bright, casting a long silver beam across the practically still ocean. On a night like this, Maddox and I normally would have shifted and gone for a nice long run through the tropical forest surrounding Maatua. But now I’m standing by a window in a snug, wood paneled bedroom in the massive vacation home of the Alpha and Luna of Maatua wondering how we got to this point. I turn my head to look at the bed in the center of the room where Ryatt is lying on his side, his eyes pinched shut as he sleeps. He died at least twice today, three times if we count the moment his heart stopped during the surgery to mend and close a dozen stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. My tears were the only thing keeping him alive, even when his body repeatedly tried to give up. He’s stable now, at least. His
EllaRyatt takes a single step into the room before his face flushes of color, and his eyes roll back in his head. Mom gasps and rushes forward just in time to break Ryatt’s fall. “Ryatt!” I screech, jumping in to help as he pitches forward. “Goddess above, Ella. How much does he weigh?” Mom grunts, her cheeks puffing with effort while we try to keep him upright.“Ryatt, come on,” I urge, helping Mom lower him to the ground. Some of the warriors he tore through in the wallway are back on their feet and limping toward the door. I pull my lip back in a snarl as a trio of them stumbles into the room. “GET OUT!”They back away, going pale. “Shut the door, please,” Mom huffs, forcing a kind smile, but her eyes are narrowed with determination and concern as she looks down at Ryatt. The warriors reluctantly edge out of the room and shut the door slowly behind them. “Ryatt, please.” I help Mom roll him over onto his back. “Oh, no,” Mom whispers, mumbling the words under her breath as
EllaRyatt is out of bed in an instant, his face dancing with shadows cast by the early morning daylight creeping through the airy curtains. He grabs me by the ankle and drags me toward him across the bed as Isaac stalks into the room. Ryatt looks murderous. His eyes are bright, clear, and lucid as he narrows them on my brother while I swing my legs off the bed and stand at his side. He stretches his arm across me, trying to push me behind him. I feel a flicker of something deep in my heart. It’s fleeting, but Ryatt’s desperation to keep me safe from this threat–my brother and his temper–awakens a single speck of the bond that was stolen from us. “Stop,” I whisper. “Ryatt, stop!”“Get out,” Ryatt sneers as Isaac comes to a stop in the center of the room. Through the doorway, I see several figures lingering in the shadows. Warriors, from what I can smell. “What are you doing in here with him?” Isaac snarls, his eyes locking on mine. “Do not speak to her.” Ryatts voice is sharpened
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