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.”
*Isla*“You were supposed to be gone! You were supposed to take her back!” Antony screams, his face red with fury. He points at Poppy, who is sitting shell shocked and tear stained in the bed in the infirmary. The nurses removed the twins from the area when Antony stumbled inside bleeding all over the place and screaming at the top of his lungs. I am grateful for it, especially since Maddox seems dead set on letting Antony die. I don’t let that happen, of course. A few of my tears has Antony back to his usual self, and he’s pissed off. Livid. At us. “You were supposed to get her off this fucking island, Maddox! You worthless–” Antony is cut off by Maddox’s fist making contact with his mouth. I yank on Maddox’s arm while Poppy loses her Goddess-damned mind behind me. “Stop!” I try to say, but now Antony is on his feet and nose to nose with Maddox. “You lied to all of us–”“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about–”“Where the fuck is the heirloom–”“Take my mate and leave
*Isla*Alatar takes a step toward me. My body begs to take a step back, but I hold my ground. Emery is still as a statue behind me. A quick glance shows her eyes round with… fear. If she’s scared, and she’s never scared, I should be. But I’m not. Not when this man, this wizard, reaches out and brushes his fingertips over my cheekbone in a frigid caress. His touch is freezing, like ice. I resist the urge to shutter and lean away from him. “You are a prize, Isla. And you have no idea how much you’re worth, do you?”“I have a mate,” I say with a firmness and edge to my face that I’ve never heard before. “If you touch me again I can guarantee he’ll bite off your hand, and that won’t be the worst thing he'll do.”“What if I told you you could have endless power,” he rasps, his voice sending a chill up my spine. “That you could rule beside me as my queen. It’s your rightful place. The second you came out of the falls and were blessed with your power–”“I’d say no,” I hiss, stepping towar
*Maddox*Every Goddess damned warrior in this place is possessed by Alatar. I dart around, weaving through hallways and down flights of stairs in my haste to just get away from the chaos. I’m trying to lead the warriors away from Isla’s scent, thinking Alatar might will them to stop her progress. ‘We need to get them out of the castle,’ Elijah says over the mindlink, Emery clutching his back as we dart through the main foyer. ‘You’re right,’ I reply, cutting toward the front door that is gone now, blown open and destroyed by the storm. ‘Do you know where the temple is?’‘I don’t,’ I say with strain. Isla and Antony didn’t come out this way. I lost her scent in the castle. It was like she’d just disappeared. ‘Take Emery back to the boat and wait for us at the cove. I’ll find her.’Before we have a chance to go through the front door, warriors swarm us, their eyes glassy and swirling with power. Damnit, I don’t want to kill these men. These are Antony’s warriors, and they have no con
MistyNight falls on Silverhide against a chorus of coughing and sneezing. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but I’ve also never been sick before, so seeing half of Ryan’s pack under the weather is absolutely alarming. Everyone seems to be doing okay, however. Aviva snapped out of what ended up being a very short-lived fever, and Lexa is back to her usual self, but they’re both exhausted. Freya, Andrew, and their son, Sam, were somehow spared by the worst of the illness and have taken over care of Aviva and Lexa tonight so Ryan can take me on a run. I stare at the sleeping forms of Cole and Addy before closing the bedroom door and slipping out of the cabin to meet my brother on the road leading out of Silverhide. The dress I borrowed from Aviva feels strange against my skin as the warm night air wafts over me, lifting my hair from my shoulders in a soft breeze. It’s one of those Endovian dresses designed for shifting, of course, which means I’m practically exposed, but when I ca
MistyIt’s early afternoon when I finally leave our cabin in search of Cole. Aviva–who stayed up all night hunting, and then the entire morning caring for Lexa–is asleep on the couch with both babies as the moment. The tension in the village is palpable as I walk through the village square, which is quiet… borderline empty. A few people mill around going about their chores, but the square isn’t filled with conversation, children playing, or food being cooked and shared. It’s a bright, sunny day, which is being wasted. I sigh heavily and hike the bag I packed with a few sandwiches and treats for Cole over my shoulder and lower my head as I pass a group of men then turn toward the healer’s cottage. In the few days we’ve been in Silverhide, I haven’t had a chance to meet the pack's healer–some witch sent down from Moonrise a few weeks ago to serve in his pack. That’s the norm across Eastonia. Witches trained in Moonrise spread out, taking up residence in packs from Veiled Valley, thro
AvivaHot water rolls over my skin as I press my forehead against the tile. The shower is a new addition to our house, built along with the second story and unused bedrooms in the upper level. For me, the shower is absolutely massive–unreasonably so. For Ryan, it was a much needed upgrade from our copper tub downstairs. He stretches his arms over his head and groans as the scent of lavender soap fills the air, mingling with the steam. The window cut into the tile fogs up, blocking our view of the woods, but the first inklings of morning sunlight are trying to stretch toward Silverhide. “So,” he says behind me, gently tugging twigs from my curls and tossing them out of the shower. “This hellhound you found… what did it look like?”“A wolf,” I say, closing my eyes as his large hands drift to my shoulders, working out the knots from being in my wolf form practically the entire night. My breasts begin to ache with fullness but it’s a sensation I’m eager to ignore, especially as his touc
AvivaThe packhouse is always full to the brim. Four impossibly long tables and benches rest in the center of the wide, wood-lined space in rows where not a single seat is unaccounted for. Children dart from group to group, finding friends to play with while their parents dine. I’m at my usual spot at the head of the left-most table, surrounded by the other young, mated, new mothers while our mates move from group to group of men, chatting over pints of home-brewed ale. I bounce Lexa in my lap as I fork another piece of meat into my mouth, glancing down the table where Misty and Cole are seated together, unaccustomed to the noisy, damn near riotess shared evening meal. Misty seems especially affected, which strikes me as odd, given that she spent two weeks here last year before she went back to school… but that was before everything happened. Her eyes are empty, which worries me. I thought I was the only one having an existential crisis, but apparently… I’m not. Freya leans over,
Ryan“Come on, girl. You liked me yesterday.” I hike Lexa up and set her on my shoulder so her legs are around the back of my neck, my arm bent and extended so I press my hand against her back. She immediately fists my hair and stops wailing, her sad sniffling turning to quiet excitement. A small giggle leaves her lips as we pass one of the ceiling height windows in the hallway I’ve been walking her up and down for the past thirty minutes.Aviva would tell me this is dangerous to do with her at only four months old, but I can’t help it. Tossing this baby around is getting her ready to wrestle, which is what I often tell my wife before she stops my fun, but right now, we’re completely alone.I turn a corner, find another hallway, and walk down it with no plan nor destination in sight. In fact, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing right now other than keeping Lexa happy, and current
AvivaI’m the biggest baby in the entire world. Not only did I freeze the moment Ryatt announced he was making me a commander, but I went so pale that the excited look on his face–his eyes shining with pride–shattered with concern. He took one step in my direction, and I burst into tears… in front of every man in the room. I ran. There wasn’t anything else I could do, honestly. The only man I’ve ever cried in front of is Ryan, and even then, I hate it. I’m supposed to be tough. Hard. Unbreakable. I skirt around the lake in my wolf form, my paws beating the rocky shore. Morning sunlight breaks over the mountains, splitting the sky with ribbons of pure gold. The pretty sage dress I fussed over this morning is caught around my neck and in shambles, which only adds fuel to the fire of my despair and desperation. I can’t untangle the dress, just like I can’t untangle my thoughts. A year ago, I would have been honored to be given this position. I would have jumped at the opportunity.
AvivaThe last time we were in Moonrise was for Lexa’s birth. Four months have passed in a blur, which I assume is normal when you have a baby for the first time. Pile on our responsibilities as Alpha and Luna of Silverhide, let alone the rulers of all the Deadlands, and time is merely a construct in our lives that I’m keen to ignore as long as possible.Still, when Kenna arrived yesterday morning, chipper and excited to see us and Lexa, I felt a weight begin to press into my chest. Whatever Ryatt wants with me comes with a cost–which will be the end of our somewhat quiet, cozy life.I spent the entire day in Kenna’s company while she made her rounds checking on every baby and mother in Silverhide. Ryan went off to do Alpha duties, like making sure James, his Beta, had what he needed to take over for a few days in our absence. His mate, Dahlia, is pregnant again–with twins this time–but Kenna seemed h
AvivaIt’s just after dawn when I slide Lexa into her sling and head out of the house into another warm, later summer morning. The sun stretches across the pastures, casting golden light as far as the eye can see. Lexa–who I’ve taken to carrying on my back lately–coos softly as she uses my hair as reins, her chubby fingers tangled in the sloppy braid I managed to throw together just after I woke up, alone in bed, in a quiet house.I stare at the road leading into the forest–out of the valley of Silverhide. It’s empty. No wolves trot in my direction. I grind my teeth as the crippling unease that’s been coasting through my body for days nearly chokes me, but I turn toward Freya and Andrew’s house.Andrew built Freya a shopfront earlier this spring while they waited for their son, Samuel, to make his arrival. It’s cozied up beside his blacksmith shop, and her gorgeous tapestries and wov
MistySome days I don’t think about the war.Some mornings I wake to sunshine and Cole’s arms around me while I cradle Adrian in my arms and don’t think about how the three of us came to be. I think of clean sheets that smell like lavender, not the smell of Richard’s bloody war room where I’d healed that cursed wolf. I sip coffee while watching my mate–my husband–the love of my life rush around the kitchen packing his bag for another long shift at the hospital instead of watching him don that black cloak.We have a house instead of shared spaces. Our home is safe and full of love instead of constant stress and the crushing weight that, at any moment, our safety will end.But some days I have to remind myself that we made it out. That we’re here, and whole, and together.Today is one of those days.Mom peeks into the massive library at the castle of Cr