[Apple]"No," Rufus, his wolf, replies. "It has to be you. It must be you." "Why?" I ask his wolf directly. "Why does it have to be me? What makes me so special?""Because you are you, and you smell like home." He takes a step closer and I find myself mesmerized as he stalks me, his movements more graceful and dancelike, edged in promised passion. "You taste like trust, and you look at me with eyes that are full of respect and honor." "Your words are very pretty," I blush. My body reacts strongly to Sylvester's charms and his wolf, with his confidence and passion, is even more irresistible. "But I need more than pretty words to keep me safe."The way his body makes me hum when he looks at me with his shining eyes frightens me. I know he is hunting me, even now as he is speaking to me calmly. I am prey to him. Something to use or consume. "I will keep you safe. You are mine and nobody touches what is mine," he growls. "Sylvester is too stubborn to admit it, but you are the one we nee
[Apple]"A date," I say a little louder than I intended. A few people turn to look, but then smile and go back to their pizza. "Like a date, date?" "Well, yeah," he smiles, touching my hands without holding them, uncertain of his welcome. "I like you and I'd like to get to know you better." My mind immediately flashes to Rufus, Sylvester's wolf, and the way his eyes glowed when he said I was his and that I belonged to him. The last time I spent time with Thorne, the Alpha nearly took his head off and we had been with a group of other people. It didn't matter to him, however, he had sensed that Thorne might want more than just to be friends.But can I trust Thorne any more than I can trust Sylvester? "I don't know if that's a good idea," I explain as I move my hands away from his. Yes, Thorne is handsome and kind, and maybe I feel a bit of a pull towards him as well, but that doesn't mean I want to be involved with him. I have enough on my plate with a jealous alpha breathing down
[Sylvester]The Board of Directors is unhappy that I reprimanded Alexis at the gala. "If she is to be your Luna, you will need to handle your private issues in private. What you did was an insult to the other packs as well as Silver Crescent."I was ordered to "play nice" and "make a good show.""I have no interest in mating, marrying, or marking that bitch," I scream loud enough that a few employees passing my office windows jump. "Just take her out to lunch and make sure the cameras see you," Beta-Emertis Clancy insists, "You haven't officially declared anyone your new Luna. Rental Lunas don't count, not unless your relationship shifts to something more meaningful." His sneering tone oozes through the phone. I wish he was here so I could punch his canines in. "Unless you were planning to propose to your Rental Luna? Where has she been by the way? She has been noticeably absent.""She needs some private time to adjust to the pack," I lie smoothly. It isn't a total lie. I intend to br
[Apple] My phone feels like a rock as I place it in my pocket. I thought I'd feel better, texting Thorne for a date. But I don't. I just feel angry, hurt, and confused.I should text him back, and tell him it was a mistake. I'm such a mess, maybe I shouldn't have any type of relationship with anyone right now, no mater how kind they seem. My heart hasn't had enough time to heal from my previous heartbreak. Just last week I was head over heels in love with Zion, ready to share the last of my body and all of my heart only to have it shattered into a thousand pieces. And then I met Sylvester. One of the sexiest, most powerful creatures on two legs. He tells me I'm exactly what he wants me to be But I rejected him. Because his power and passion terrifies me. Because a girl like me shouldn't crave something so dangerous. When this Alexis person showed up it felt like a confirmation of every dark thought I've ever had and every nasty word that has ever been said about me. I'm too
[Apple]Beta Rudy grins as he steps out of the car. "I am so glad you changed your mind."Before I can respond, he hands me the updated contract. "We should probably get this part out of the way." I look the contract over carefully with shaking hands. Everything seems to be in order. Inhaling deeply, with a fluid stroke of the pen I sign the rental Luna contract becoming a temporary member of the Silver Crescent pack.I hand the contract back to Rudy and take my place in the back of the car. Riding in silence, I watch the buildings pass by. Soon we are pulling up to a tall, shining building of glass and gleaming steel.When the car door opens, Rudy hands me a key card."Welcome to the Silver Crescent Packhouse, Luna LeRoux," his grin lights up his whole face. "Welcome home.""Home," I repeat. That word has so much weight. I haven't felt at home since the day my mother died.Thinking about her, I barely hear what Rudy has to say until we stop in front of a large, metal door."This card
[Apple]A pair of warm arms scoop me up and moves me out of the street so quickly I'm not even sure that the car even noticed I had ever been in it's path. "Luna," Rudy's out of breath. "Thank the Goddess I was on my way back. You..."As soon as I realize it's Rudy, I wrap my arms around his neck and weep. "Take me out of here, Rudy," I ask. "I need to be somewhere else. Anywhere else."A growl rumbles behind us. Rudy turns and I see Sylvester standing there in a pair of sweats, his hair still wet from the pool. "I didn't invite her," he states, his expression flat. "Rudy change all the locks. Alexis was here." "Of course, Alpha. Immediately," Rudy answers quickly. "If you don't mind," he looks where I'm resting in Rudy's arms. "I'd like to speak with my luna.""I think she needs a few moments," Rudy speaks up in my defense. A light flickers across Sylvester's gaze and he bows his head. Meet me at the alley in an hour," he commands. "I'll be waiting."The Alpha turns his back and
[Apple]Grabbing a towel, I scrub the writing from the mirror as best as I can, but instead of coming clean, it leaves a pinkish-red stain across several panes of glass. Next, I try soap and a bit of cleanser I find under the sink, but the best I can manage is to make the letters a little less clear as if reading them while wearing a friend's glasses. Giving up, I look around for something to cover my face, I tie a hand towel over my nose and run around the room opening every window in an attempt to dissipate the smell. When I look over at the bed, I see that my nose didn't deceive me when I first walked in. "That nasty bitch peed on my bed!" I growl. "Come on! Doesn't she know I'm just doing my job!""She's just trying to scare you away," the voice inside my head suggests. "Don't let her win." Grimacing, I hunt under the sink until I find a pair of rubber gloves and pull the comforter off of the bed along with all of the sheets, blankets, and ruined clothes. Once I have everything
[Sylvester]I knew that she was the right pick for this job. She is so different from any she-wolf I've ever dated. She shapes the world around her with her smiles and frowns, brightening the room with her light. She almost glows with energy, and when I saw her with the pups tonight, I could tell that they could feel it too. If she were a wolf, I'd have been afraid to make her my Rental Luna. A wolf with that much charisma is destined to run a pack. Because she's a human, she'll never be a threat. "She'd never be a threat because she is ours," Rufus rolls his eyes in my mind. "Alexis was once ours too, remember?" Or so we thought. I don't understand why she's come back. I know it's not for me, no matter what she's been telling the Board of Directors. "Apple is different," Rufus insists. "She is OURS. Alexis was never really ours." The way he emphasizes our ownership of her usually means one very particular thing--something that can't be possible. If it were, I'd send her as far a
[Apple]I should have known he’d be the one who would find me first. Of all the wolves in Crescent City, he has always been the one looking out for me. From the very beginning our bond has been strong.He really is the very best Beta a pack could have.“Luna,” Rudy gasps, doing his best to bow while holding his side as he leans against a wall. “Thank Goddess I found you!” Stepping out of the shaddows of the alleyway, the first thing I notice is that Crescent City has changed. Since stepping through the portal to arrive in my great-grandmother's shop, I've spent all my time back here underground in Haven. Haven, if anything seems even more bustling than normal, full to the brim with witches wanting to keep their families safe with the disaster happening live on TV. But here on the surface, everything is unnaturally quiet and still. The shop fronts are abandoned, stuck in a state of unchanging, forever trapped in sales from last month. The streetlights are blinking red and a few pie
[Apple] No. I can't breathe. There is no way that anyone in that room is going to survive. I'm going to be a widow before I have a chance to be a wife. The wolves holding whips jump to the front of the line at first, swinging like mad until one by one they begin to fall, and the remaining defenders, afraid for their own lives, turn tail and run in the opposite direction. But the cowards soon discover that all of the exits are barred, the bodies of the living dead, wandering, mindless rogues poisoned by some drug, push at every door and window. The courtroom is like a box of cookies, and the rogues already have their hands inside. It's only a matter of time before they are all consumed by those wolves' insatiable hunger. "This is April McKaine coming live to you from the courthouse," the frazzled reporter whispers into a camera whose cameraman has either fled or fallen. The camera is tilted to the side as she hides under a bench, her fine white suit blemished with dirt and bl
[Sylvester]The sting of Chancy's whip burns more than just my body--it sets fire to my mind, searing my soul as I fall into memories from an almost forgotten moment of my childhood. [18 years ago]We were a small collective, just twenty wolves. No alpha and no lands, so we couldn't be called a pack. We were all rejects, wolves that didn't fit anywhere else, so we were forced to wander from pack to pack, begging for whatever charity they might have. For lack of a better term, we were rogues. My mother tried her hardest to make the best of things but I could see it wearing her down. My father had been her fated mate, as unfortunate as that was for her because he was an alpha and could afford to reject her. She, on the other hand, couldn't handle the separation, and while she kept up a brave face for me, after three years away from our pack, a place I can't even remember, she had withered, her omega body unable to handle the strain of a broken connection. So like many of the other ro
[Apple] Every day I watch my mate dragged into that courtroom and placed on that podium, center stage in a ridiculous farse of a fair trial. Sylvester never stood a chance of defending himself. His fate was sealed before he stepped foot in that room. Despite Sly Sterling being a werewolf, all of Haven is watching the proceedings with bated breath, and while there have been some comments about how the wolf "deserves whatever foul future he receives," there are more voices saying "His mate is one of us and he stood by her." When I walk around town, people recognize my face from the proceedings and bow in reverence. The girl who is a witch and dared to love the Alpha King--Granddaughter of the Coven Mistress and a Thorpe! Such a prestigious background with such powerful allies. In a way, he's become a bit of a hometown hero. One of Crescent City's own defending the rights of all of us, not just wolfkind. "It's time," Thorne, turns on the television. The screen focuses on a
[Alexis]I've been trying to keep him safe, and still, he chooses her. That weak, sniveling, useless girl. She doesn't know how to be a Luna, she hardly knows how to take care of herself. What is the use of having so much power at your disposal if you cannot use it as it is intended?I can't let my uncle see the rest of this footage. "Erase it," I tell my old delta, "Wipe the record clean. Nobody should see this...ever. Do you understand?""Yes Luna," he bows, still loyal after all these years away. "As you command."I have given Uncle Chancy an edited version of the tape from the clinic where the botched procedure created the opportunity we needed to finally topple Sylvester. The footage shows Apple strapped to the table. It shows her idiot human boyfriend demanding that she be cut without anesthesia. Fool. If he had just been more patient, and let things happen as they should, she wouldn't have awakened. The light that shone from her immediately grew so bright that it blinded the
[Sylvester]The first day of the trial was long and ardorus. I am exhausted mind, body, and soul. Several alphas came forward, each with their own evidence against me. The first, of course, was Clancy, who presented the case, standing up in court declaring he had proof of my guilt, that I've broken my bond as Alpha. His testimony was followed by the head of Rental Luna and the Alpha from Arc de Lune. All saying the same thing. "Alpha Sterling forced us to lie. His Luna isn't a real wolf." My status as Alpha is tenuous at this point, awaiting the end of the trial. Although nobody in the courtroom doubts the conclusion--I will soon be a rogue again. The march back to my cell was solemn. The room that they placed me in was in the basement of the city center, where all the criminals were housed as they awaited trial. Due to my status, the guards shoved me into the corner cell, one that looked more like a room and less like bars and bricks. "For privacy, " the guard explains, "Due to yo
[Apple]“What is it, child?” Araminta stands, setting the book down beside me. “Calm yourself and come in. Tell us what it is.”Thorne walks across the room and removes a decorative piece of fabric on a high shelf to reveal an old TV covered in dust with a small remote control on the platform next to it. As he presses the small silver button we all stand back. Slowly the screen comes into focus. We don’t need to search to find what we are looking for because what we need to see is on every channel. A trial, not just any trial, but according to the news “The biggest trial since the War Crimes Tribunal” after the Witch Wars. A small, mousy blonde with large eyes and a larger mouth dominates the screen as she gazes directly into the camera. She is wearing a yellow suit dress that contrasts brightly against the cool gray marble of the Moon River City Courthouse, her hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. On her hand is a large ring, signifying her pack status as a Luna. Very lik
[Apple] The dusty old tome creaks as the old witch opens its worn, leather spine. "As Coven Mistress," she pauses to explain, that as the elder-most witch in the collective, she is the one the rest turn to in times of need. "I keep track of the lineages, or what's left of them since the war. Before we started killing one another, wolves and witches intermarried and raised families together in large, joint communities. At our core, we witches and wolves aren't so much a different species but two sides of the same coin, genetic siblings. It wasn't so uncommon once for witches to be born with a second form, or wolves with the ability to cast marvelous spells." The nostalgia in her eyes has me wondering again just how old she really is. How long do witches live? Is it that much longer than humans? "But then things started to change," the old witch sighs. "As they always do. We didn't need places like Haven, and they didn't always live in massive packs--that's something that came later.
[Apple]"I miss him." Blinking awake, I stare up into the faces of my friends, Hazel and Thorne, who look at me with a mixture of relief and deep concern before looking up at one another and sharing the non-verbal communication of expressions and gestures I've grown familiar with after being around the twins for so long. They're both worried about me. Not just worried, terrified. How much did they see? Do they know that I tore those men apart?"Apple, how do you feel," Hazel places a tentative hand on my forehead, her cold knuckles tapping me gently as she checks for a fever. Everything hurts. My hands, my back, my legs, and my heart. I tell them as much and their worried expression deepens. Hazel looks over my shoulder and I turn to see Araminta standing at a cauldron like a classical witch, mist billowing around her shoulders as she stirs something hot in a deep cast iron pot. Seeing me watching her, the corners of her eyes crinkle as the light twinkles off a pair of half-moon s