*Isla*“Your son?” my mom repeats. “Isla, what in the world are you speaking about?” Her face is even paler than Ben’s as she stares up at me.I have to think carefully about how to answer that question because Maddox probably doesn’t want the entire kingdom to know our business just yet, but Ben knows, and if he knows, it’s only a matter of time until my parents know.Besides, I’ve never been one to keep information from my parents–unlike them. They are, apparently, very used to keeping information from me and my siblings.Until recently, when I became a breeder, I didn’t keep anything from them at all.With one hand still hovering over my abdomen, I begin to try and explain the situation to them. I want to call out to Maddox and ask him to come and be here with me when I tell my parents the situation, but I know he is busy with the aftermath of the uprising, and I can’t tell them to just wait until he returns.With a deep breath, I say, “I’m pregnant.”My parents exchange a look, an
*Maddox*I am growing leery of interrogating prisoners in the dungeon, but I have no choice since I don’t trust anyone else to speak to Austin. He’s still bleeding from the injuries he sustained when he ran from me. All he has on is a pair of ratty old shorts, and he’s sitting on the dirty dungeon floor, both arms chained to the wall behind him so that he can’t even lower his arms.I stare at him for a moment. He’s breathing heavily, and I’m not exactly sure why. I don’t see any new injuries, so I can’t imagine he’s been beaten by my guards, though if they did lay their paws upon him, I’m certain it would be for good reason. So… why is he so out of breath?“Austin,” I begin, “explain to me why you began the uprising during the executions.” I use my Alpha voice and command him to answer me. It doesn’t always work. Some people are so disloyal, so criminal in nature, they can simply ignore me when I compel them to do something.I can see that he is struggling with it, though. He wants to
*Isla*Ginger.The story of my cat gave me pause to think about everything that I’d learned about myself. I distinctly remembered that cat now that my parents had reminded me. I didn’t have many memories at all from my childhood, and most of the ones I did have were vague. A flicker of a face, laughing on a swing, standing outside and staring up at a large tree, opening a present. Those types of memories didn’t give me much context for where I was, who I was, or what I was doing.But seeing this picture had jarred memories in me that hadn’t entered my mind for so long. They were still there, though. I remembered the cat. I remembered playing with her, how sweet she was, how her fur felt beneath my fingers.I didn’t remember her dying, though. And I certainly didn’t remember her coming back to life.“After that,” Mom continues, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. “After that, everything sort of fell apart.”My dad reaches over and squeezes her hand, and I can see that he is emot
*Maddox*In my office, I sit by myself and ponder what to do. I have a few options, but mostly, I need to do whatever I can to shore up my defenses. It seems quite clear that I’m beginning to lose control of the kingdom.I can’t even keep people safe in my own fucking backyard.Finding one of the maids who was in Zabrina’s service shouldn’t be too hard. I believe she abandoned all of them when she left here. I know none of them left the castle with her, and I doubt that her mother would have taken many of the maids that serviced her daughter with her when she left since she had her own maids. And Zabrina’s friends. She had brought a couple of her cronies along. I’m pretty sure they left with their Luna.So… what would we have done with extra maids? I’m guessing they would probably have just been assigned to tasks within my household.I pick up the phone and call the number that goes to the head maid’s room. I have no fucking idea who it is now since Mrs. Whateverthefuckhernameis was f
*Maddox*“You’re the mastermind behind all of this?” I ask Luna Elaine.“That’s right,” she says, “and while you may have killed my daughter today, don’t think that it’s enough to stop me. If you want to keep your kingdom, you’re going to have to figure out who else is the enemy, Alpha King Maddox, and my revelation as the bad guy probably isn’t going to be the most shocking event related to this uprising.”Her words have me seething, and I wish I could reach through the phone and smack her in the face. “If you honestly think that you can bring me down, you’re wrong,” I tell her. “You’re not capable of it, Elaine.”She laughs, and it reminds me of her daughter’s witch’s cackle. Just when I thought I’d never hear that sound again, here it is, in my ear. “You are very confident, Maddox.” She says my name with a disrespectful lilt, and while I’m sure that’s because I’ve used her first name without her title, and she’s just trying to get me back, I don’t appreciate it.“I am confident,” I
Beginning of Book 3*Isla*Water laps at the boat as we glide across the water. The larger waves we encountered a couple of days ago, waves that made me question my decision to do this and think that there was a good chance I was going to end up in the ocean, have died down, and now, it’s just a calm, rolling motion that makes me want to fall asleep.But I can’t do that.I haven’t been able to sleep for days, weeks, not since I had decided that this was something I had to do, even when Maddox had forbidden me to leave the castle.Fighting with him absolutely breaks my heart, but I have my reasons for being here. He didn’t understand that. He didn’t want to listen to me.I’d taken advantage of the problems he was having, and now, I am here… even though he may never forgive me for what I’ve done.Rubbing my hand along my abdomen, I stare out at the ocean, pressing my aching back to the bench behind me. Traveling while so very pregnant is just as uncomfortable as Mystica had warned me th
*Isla*Six months earlier…I am two months pregnant, and I can tell when I look at my reflection in the full-length mirror.Poppy says I’m glowing. I’m not sure about that, but I think my hair looks a little thicker, and maybe my eyes are a little shinier. I swear my nose is beginning to change shape.And then there’s my abdomen. It’s not noticeable to anyone else, I don’t believe, but I can see a slight change. It’s kind of like when I’ve eaten too much, or I’m bloated. I smooth down the front of the sequined red dress I’m wearing and stare at it for a long moment. Yes, I can definitely see a change.I haven’t gained any weight yet. Mystica says that’s typical since I’ve been having a bit of morning sickness. Anything I eat or drink tends to come right back up. She gave me some medicine, and that helps, but I am leery of taking anything since I don’t know how the baby might be affected by the poison I was given when I was just barely pregnant with him.Satisfied that I look good, I t
*Maddox*I need to get up and get back to work, but I can’t. Lying here with Isla cradled against my chest, the smell of our lovemaking still heavy in the air, is soothing, and the rest of the world is cold and angry.Going back out there seems senseless. Why would I do that when I can simply stay here with her?“What is it, Maddox?” she asks, her voice heavy with sleep. “I know something is troubling you. More so than usual.”I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips. She knows me so well. “I was going to say, since when is there a time when something isn’t bothering me?”She turns her blue eyes on me, and I smile at her, brushing my thumb across her cheek. “Have you had any progress whatsoever?”A sigh slips out of my mouth, and I tell her, “Yes and no. It’s a slow process, baby. We have to go pack by pack, person by person, and convince them all that turning against me as the rightful king is a huge mistake.”“But there are so many packs that have been infiltrated in one way or
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
RyanIt’s barely dawn. Four hours ago, I was taking a deep breath as I tucked my mate into our bed, and now we’re here, lying low in the grasslands ten miles from Silver, with twenty of my best warriors scattered behind me. Stars still fill the sky, shining under a blanket of deep navy and vibrant violet. It's kind of hard to stay focused when the sunrise looks like this, the first echoes of gold casting Aviva, in wolf form, in a halo of light. She’s crouched in the swaying grass just a few feet below where the rest of us are lying, hiding in the scant brush and scorched trees. I watch her edge forward a few inches, her body covered in weapons and leather–one of her special dresses from Endova. A half dozen whispers ghost through my head, mingling with the thundering of my heartbeat in my ears as we watch, and watch, the dozen or so rogues passing by, moving in a lazy formation toward the forests we, and the tribal packs, call home. ‘What are they doing?’ Andrew lies on my left sid