*Ella*Ryatt is on me in a second, crushing me to the far wall. I choke on a sob as his arms come around my waist, his face buried in my hair. I know he’s trying as hard as he can to stop this from happening, from giving into his feelings and our bond, and the thought kills me.I can admit I understand his reluctance. He lost his mother. She died trying to protect him, her love for him the catalyst for her ultimate sacrifice. He sees sending me home in the same light, even if he can’t say it out loud.I can feel it, though, in the power of his touch. I can feel it in the desperation, fury, and despair flowing off him as his mouth meets mine in the most passionate of kisses.“I missed you,” I sob, unable to hold the tears back. “I hated that you left me here.”“Ella—”I take his face between my hands and force him to look at me. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re done carrying this on your shoulders, alone. I was destined to be here fighting beside you, Ryatt. I’ve never believed your pre
*Maddy*I sigh as I look down at the tangled mess of wood and screws littering our bedroom floor. Isaac leans against the wall, his hair standing on end and his eyes narrowed on the instruction pamphlet for what should be the cribs for our twins.I rub my hands together, arching my brow at my mate, who looks more flustered than I’ve ever seen him before.“I want the head of whoever wrote this fucking thing,” he growls, turning it upside down. “I want them hanging from my gate!”“Just use your powers, for the love of the Goddess!”He turns vengeful eyes to me. “I’ve been to war, Maddy. I can put together a crib!”“Do it, then,” I say, planting my hands on my hips and giving him an expectant look. “Go ahead.”He glowers at me and slides down the wall into a seated position, looking like a surly teenager who just got scolded by his mother rather than the Alpha King.“I could help,” I suggest, but his glower deepens.“You’re supposed to be in bed, Maddy.”“I’ve been in bed since we got ho
*Ryatt*I tap my pen against my thigh as I lean back in my desk chair. The view beyond the windows in my office is blurred by a gray haze of drizzling rain. It’s late winter, dawning on spring, which means it’s the rainy season in Veiled Valley. Every morning the sun shines and gives a false sense of warmer weather before the clouds roll in off the mountains–heavy and dark–and rattle the entire valley with storms. Ella doesn’t seem to mind the rain. She likes the thunder and lightning, from what I’ve gathered. The weeks we’ve spent in Veiled Valley have been slow and relatively easy now that we’ve come to some kind of an agreement about the nature of our relationship. Still, war is looming. A few skirmishes on the border of the Roguelands and Rifthold have required my attention in the past month. But so far, King Kane hasn’t made any moves to invade my territory, and I’m not ready to wage a full assault on his kingdom, not yet. Granger comes into my office with a handful of rolled
*Ella*“What the hell is that?” Amanda says, her eyes on the sky above our heads as we make our way back to the castle. This is our normal routine during the day now. Westfall’s training sessions are incredibly light in the mornings now that it's been confirmed that I am, in fact, pregnant. I’m still not able to wrap my mind around it, honestly. Amanda and I spend our afternoons walking around Veiled Valley when the weather allows it. Today has been no different. Until now. Drizzling rain brushes over my cheeks as I turn my eyes to the sky. All around us on the bridge, people have stopped to stare up in awe of a swirling ripple of light illuminating the dark gray storm clouds. “Lightning?” I say to no one in particular. Thunder booms louder than I’ve ever heard it before. The ancient stone bridge rattles, startling the crowd. “We should go,” Amanda says hurriedly, clutching her stomach. “Something doesn’t feel right.”She’s right about that. A strange creeping sensation settles
*Ella*I sit up, rubbing sleep from my eyes. “Get up, get dressed–”“It’s four in the morning–”Ryatt pulls the sheets from my body and yanks me out of bed. His fingers dig into my arm as I’m hauled to my feet. “What the hell is the matter with you?”I can barely see a thing. Lightning crackles, briefly illuminating the room around us. I shake him off and cross my arms under my breasts, my stomach twisting as his face comes into view. Ryatt looks… he looks like something is seriously wrong. His eyes are dark and absolutely murderous, and for a moment I can almost taste the unburdened rage oozing from him as he turns from me, giving me his back. “Ryatt, what happened?”“What aren’t you telling me about your brother?”“My brother?” I edge toward him, my brow pinched as I grab the robe I keep draped over one of the arm chairs near the now dormant hearth and pull it on. Ryatt toys with his leather chest armor, refusing to face me. He smooths his fingers over the daggers lining his belt
*Ryatt*“You have a fucking deathwish!” Granger shouts from across the room. I’m still in my bedroom. Ella rushed Amanda out less than a minute ago, her eyes full of rage and absolute heartbreak. I heave a breath as I stare down my Beta. Despair and frustration clouds his eyes, his face shadowed but unexplainable grief. “I’m not sending my mate and child away,” he grinds out, and for the first time in my life, I see true, raw emotion flashing behind his eyes. His mate. Amanda is his mate. “What you’re feeling now is what I have lived with for weeks, Granger. You had to know this was coming.”“This was never the plan!”“The Alpha King of Crescent Falls sends his Beta breaking through the veil. That has changed everything,” I snarl. “Amanda’s pack is gone. Her parents are dead. King Kane knows someone pierced the veil, and now he’s waging an all out war, the war I was trying to avoid!” Now thousands of people are dead in less than a day, and all of their blood is on my hands. “I have
*Ryatt*Twin Rivers is nothing but ash and stone as I walk beside Westfall through a wall of heavy fog tinged with smoke. It ripples around my boots as each of my steps echo in the nothingness the last battle left behind. Over the mind-link, I hear the voices of my commanders rattling off the names of their dead. My father’s royal army has pushed into the Roguelands like I expected, and I had my own forces retreat to the Deadlands, the last holdout before the coven, and Veiled Valley. Through the fog, I see the flickering lights of Rifthold across the bridge, the very bridge one of my commanders begged to have destroyed. It wouldn’t have prevented this carnage. We are mere wolves against an enemy with power stolen from others and manipulated to mirror death at every turn. In the end, there will be nothing left of my territory. Those packs that do survive will have to rebuild. All I can do is give them a final parting gift by destroying Rifthold in its entirety, even though it will
*Ella*“GO!” I scream to Cassian, who looks absolutely enraged as warriors begin funneling toward us and Ravenna’s severed head falls from her shoulders and hits the ground. Granger bursts into action, shoving his sword into Amanda’s hands before he shifts. I hold my position on the stairs and raise my hands. “GRANGER! GET AMANDA OUT OF HERE, NOW!” What happens next is a blur. I can barely see through the sea of royal warriors and their wolves of mist and shadow. It’s a bloodbath, but Granger is leading the charge while Amanda swings his heavy sword in a circle and cuts down several advancing wolves. Petra’s eyes are on me and narrowed into murderous slits. She raises her hands, her mouth opening in a brutal sneer. Her teeth sharpen like daggers, and the air fills with a screech that sets my heart rate spiking. If I use my powers now, I could kill Granger and Amanda by accident. They’re in the way. Behind me, I can hear Cassian trying to slice his way up the stairs, which is so f
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