Who could it be?
[Apple]The door to the van flies open.“WITCH!!!” Zion is screaming, his hand pointing, his face bright red as he gasps for air between shouts. “DEMON!!”I turn, expecting him to be staring at my glowing hands now burning with sparkling fire. But he isn’t, he’s staring at the figure in the doorway.A tall young man in a black leather coat glares at Zion with unflinching hate. His auburn hair floats around his ears, held aloft by the power flowing through him, glowing brightly through his skin.Hawthorne Sparks, my best friend’s brother, now stands between me and my captor as he enters the back of the van, his fingers aglow with a vibrant violet flame.His lips twist into a snarl as he leans over Zion. “That’s right, Asshole. I’m a witch and you’re just a wee bitty human who messed with the wrong mage.”In a flash of light, the fire surrounding Thorne’s hand leaps from him into Zion’s chest. It sizzles as it grows across his chest, stretching to cover his body and coating it like a bla
[Apple]A sharp pain pierces my heart as an overwhelming feeling of loss takes over my senses.“No,” I press my forehead against the door. I can feel my connection to my mate waver and the sudden loss of that connection catches my breath. “Sly. SLY!!”“Calm down, Apple,” Thorne places a hand on my back and I shake it off, angry and confused. Why did he trap me here? He knew I needed to get home. I need Sly like I need air and sunlight.Not just want. Need.“Damn it!” I cry, cursing. Stupid, stupid Apple. Why did I wander off?Now I might never make it back again.Pressing my hands against the door, I struggle to open it, but it’s no use. It isn’t just locked, I realize as a zap of magic travels up my arm, it’s enchanted.Pressing my face against the cool wood, I hear a lone wolf crying in the distance.“Please, Thorne, this isn’t funny,” I try to sound strong and tough, although inside my heart is breaking. “Let’s just head back.”“Like I said,” Thorne walks away from me, moving toward
[Apple]“Yes,” Thorne, swallows hard as he gazes at me so intensely I can see a storm larger than the one outside swirling inside of his large, hazel eyes. “A simple press of the lips. It doesn’t need to be more than that. I just want to feel, for a small moment, what we could have been like together.” He makes it sound innocent and friendly, but as he holds me in his arms, his face so close that I can count each of his eyelashes, it feels like a betrayal of my mate bond. And a betrayal of our friendship.“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I insist, my voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t want to change things between us. You’re my friend. You’re like a brother I…”He flinches at the word "brother" but rediscovers his grin as he lines his body up perfectly with mine. “You’re probably right,” Thorne agrees ruefully as he pulls me in even closer. “And yet…” His lips are soft as they brush against mine in not quite a kiss, just the slight touch of skin to skin. I try to pull m
[Sylvester][Earlier that evening]Something inside of me snaps, and with it, so do my silver chains.Screaming in pain and heartbreak, my wolf tears free of my body, leaving my clothes a tattered mess on the floor of the closet where I’ve been imprisoned.Voices just outside the door rumble into the room like nonsense laced with fear. “He’s free,” a man in the room shouts as I break through the wood. “Dear Goddess, he’s huge!”Tilting back my head I howl.I need to find my mate. Her pain and fear are pushing me past my usual limits, propelling me forward, burning the poison from my body as I push through the crowd gathering around the room.“Sylvester!” Alexis shouts after me as she stands next to her uncle and a few other members of our Board of Directors. “Somebody stop him! He’s gone rogue.”A bullet whizzes by my ear, followed by another. Something hits my thigh and I look down to see a tranquilizer dart dangling from my thigh.Another hits me higher and a third hits my shoulder.
[Apple]The rogue wolfman’s teeth snap, dripping with saliva as I struggle to stand. My nails dig into the clay-like mud, pine needles stabbing my hands and thighs as I push away. “Stay back,” I warn, holding up my hands. “I’m warning you!!The rogue saunters forward slowly, taking pleasure in my struggle. He smells of rotting things, of failure and death, with yellowed teeth and chipped, cracked claws. Even in his current wolfman form, he doesn’t look as strong as he should, the strain of living without a pack slowing down all of his werewolf advantages. His tattered clothing, hanging from his body, looks like the remnant of a nice business suit. He hasn’t always been a rogue, and by the look of him, the change has been recent. But based on how hard the experience has hit him, it is clear that he wasn’t Alpha level when he was cast out. “Do you remember me?” he hisses. “I remember you, Luna. The way I see it, you still owe me.”Grabbing a handful of mud I throw it in his direction.
[Apple]Gasping for air, the rogue reaches for the hand wrapped around his neck, his eyes pleading as the much larger creature lifts him into the air. Kicking and flailing, the rogue twists his body as he struggles for his last breath. Not wanting to look, but more afraid to look away, I keep my eyes forward, unblinkingly staring at the scene before me. “Stop…” I start to say when with a sickening wet pop, the rogue’s head is squeezed from his shoulders, propelling his head to land on the ground beneath my feet. Covering my mouth to hold in a scream, I back away from the carnage, closing my eyes as if that could change what I’ve seen. But there is nowhere to go. Colliding with a tree behind me, I hiss, biting my lip as the rough bark of the tree behind me opens new wounds along my back. I am trapped. The mark on my neck makes me a luna, but I’m not a wolf, I’m a witch, and a weak one at that. I have no way to defend myself from a beast powerful enough to remove the head from a wi
[Apple] Stunned, I watch as the glow illuminating my bite slowly dims, revealing teeth marks lined in gold, much like my own. That shouldn’t be possible. I’m not a wolf. But yet, as we pull apart the bright glow of my skin slowly pales, I cannot deny the truth as I watch my power still dance along the edges of his wound. “You bit me,” Sly repeats, pleased as he rolls over and pulls me into his arms. “Someone is feeling feisty,” his low, masculine chuckle fills the room with lighthearted joy, “I can’t believe you managed to break the skin.” “Sorry,” I wince. He laughs. “Don’t be sorry, Little Snack. It’s only natural that you’d want to claim me. I am your mate.” “But I’m not a wolf. " I argue, confused. "It shouldn't work for me." Frowning, I reach out to touch where my teeth pierced his flesh. He hisses in pain and I pull my hand back swiftly. “Oh Goddess, I hurt you.” “Ah, it’s nothing,” he laughs. “Just a little love bite. I’m sure it will be gone by this afternoon when we
[Apple]Hazel’s bright expression fades. “I’m sorry you had to go through this, Apple, but I wouldn’t have known how to warn you about this--what’s happened here isn’t typical.”“What do you mean?” I cross my arms, growing angrier by the minute. “You knew what was needed, you even have a recipe! You must have known something…”“All I know is that Grandmother Araminta, the old witch from Haven, has taken interest in you,” Hazel holds her hands out in surrender. “She came to me after she visited you when you were attacked. She said she had a feeling you’d call me for something critical and that this potion would be the solution.”“So you didn’t know this…would happen?”“Of course not!” Hazel crosses her heart. “I’d have told you if I had any clue what that old bat was talking about. She freaks me out, honestly, and I’m not sure if I trust her 100%.” Hazel looks over her shoulder as if expecting to see the old woman standing there, her arms visibly shivering.“Honestly,” she continues. “I
[Araminta] The door swings open, and I’m face to face with an angry alpha, glaring down at my gathered group as we walk inside. At my back is Hawthorne, along with Coven Master Harlem and his apprentice, Parris, from the High Witch Council. They were the only ones willing to help me find the Alpha after the meeting concluded, and I lost my great-granddaughter in a flush of claws and fur, running after the last traces of her mate bond. “I did my best, Alpha,” I snap back, exhausted from my trip. “She’s impossible to tame, you should know that as well as anyone. She’s a LeRoux. They’ve always been stubborn. Besides,” I take a deep breath. “She ran off chasing you. I was hoping to find her here.” The two wolves move aside and I can’t help but be reminded of a similar meeting a lifetime ago between me and a promising new Alpha King, his beta by his side. There was a similar feeling of friendship blended with antagonism, only unlike before we are on the same side. “Weren’t you witche
[Sylvester] My body is sore, but somehow I manage to stand on shaking legs. "No need," I assure him. "I'm fine." Rudy's eyes widen with shock and uncertainty. "Alpha?" His deep timber vibrates with fear and wonder, "How are you doing this?" With each step I take forward, my footsteps become more sure as I feel my spinal cord fully knit itself back together, the muscles in my back recovering as I move. "I was trapped in that place with the remaining elder alphas." My smile is more of a grimace as I remember how one by one they took the knee, only to be slaughtered by Clancy and Calyx. "All of them." "Does that mean...?" His voice is a whisper as the truth of my words dawn on him. "Please, Rudy, don't bow," I request with the edge of an order as I turn away and head towards a large crystaline lake. I can't bear to see his reverence or watch him bow before me as his king- a title I now loathe to have after seeing all the death such power can create. Because it isn't just the alphas b
[Sylvester]Of all the wolves in the world to find me, I should have known it would be him.Rudolph Ian Forrester. Best damn beta in the world."Alpha, thank the Goddess you're okay," he looks down at my bruised and cut form with the biggest gore-covered smile on his face as he reached down to help me up.When I explain that I can't stand because the dead assholes "drugged me like a fucking elephant," he shrugs, picks scoops me up like I weigh nothing, and lays me down in the back of the van. Propping me up against a seat, he opens the door so I can watch him work while recovering from the effects of the drugs.Rudy is efficient as he partially transforms to dig a hole several feet wide and several feet deep. The entire time he does this, he rattles on about how crazy it's been out here since I disappeared from the courtroom, chasing down a red wolf, which I now realize was all part of Clancy's plan. How long had he planned this? Did he somehow set me up to be tried for treason? There
[Sylvester]When taking that first sip of alpha blood while trapped in that underground prison, I hadn’t realized how quickly my ability to heal would increase. It was almost instant, allowing me to turn around and see exactly who hit me in the back of my head. Calyx. The sly young wolf has an even more twisted grin as he holds a bloody, broken chair. I don’t think he was expecting me to still be standing. Swiping him with the speed of an alpha powered by other alphas, I moved more rapidly than I knew was possible. One moment I was standing still, the next, my clawed hand was around his neck, his face slashed to ribbons as I pinned him against a wall.“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” This idiot thought he could hurt me. To be fair, just a moment earlier, being hit with a metal chair from behind would have at least stunned me. Gargling on his own blood he laughs. “Distracting you.” “What?” I don't have enough time to process what is going on when a needle pierces my neck
[Sylvester]My lip curls as his foul scent fills my nostrils, invading my mind. The smell of him confirms what my eyes can plainly see. Even tattered and bruised and covered in filth, there is no mistaking the proud wolf hunched before me, trapped in a cage like a mutt. It’s Clancy--Alexis’s uncle and Beta-Emeritus from Silver Crescent Pack. Of all the wolves who died in that building as the rogues broke through, he may be the one who least deserved to live. And of all the people I’d want to be by my side when the end of the world comes knocking, Clancy isn’t one of them. If I’m honest with myself, I’d admit that I enjoyed watching what I thought was his demise. If I hadn’t been so distracted by my need to get out of there, I’d have noticed he survived and done something about it then. He shouldn’t have ever left that courthouse, not after all the sins he’s committed. Of all the people to be stuck with as I watch the world burn, he is the last wolf I’d choose.“How are you still
[Sylvester]This young pup isn’t a wolf, he’s a rat. What kind of wolf sells his own kind out to humans for experimentation? What kind of wolf laughs about how his father was used as a test subject for the current version of hellsbane.And how can this bastard be the true son of Lysander Moon with a soul so twisted and tainted?“Lysander Moon is my father,” he announced, gasping as I started to squeeze the life from his scrawny neck. “Prove it, you lying piece of shit,” I howled, slamming him into a wall. "Lysander wouldn’t have betrayed his mate. He was too loyal.”He smirks even as the blood leaves his face. “Maybe you didn’t know him as well as you think. But I am his son. You know I am. You can see it, can’t you? You can see my father in my eyes.”Either this pup is lying, or he’s telling the truth, in the end it doesn’t matter. I need him to help me find a way out of this nightmare.More importantly, if he knows about Lysander, and my foster father is still alive, this little pri
[Apple]Carefully removing the items from their hiding spot, my fingers touch the leather spine of my mother's book, a book that I've never seen before but seems more familiar than the back of my hand. My mind is a confusion of memories that seem like someone else's dreams, moments long forgotten and trapped deep within. Finding this book and mirror, feeling their weight in my hands, is a key unlocking a door in my mind behind which a wealth of memories have been stored. Memories of my mother and I.The room spins and then fades as I am pulled into these memories as an observer, watching everything as if from above, seeing the scenes playing out like a movie of my own forgotten life. I am standing in a small wooden house surrounded by trees. It is so cold outside that the windows are frosted, their edges rimmed with snow. Along the panes, small fingers had traced warm patterns--pentacles and symbols of protection, that my numb fingertips remember making earlier that morning as I prac
[Apple]Tansy was so shocked by my sudden appearance in the middle of the road, glowing like a beacon, completely naked with claws outstretched, that shortly after she recognized me, her lips said my name, her eyes rolled back, and she fell to the ground in a jumbled heap of skintight clothing and too much makeup. Even her shoes, three-inch spiked heels in a gaudy shade of yellow, screamed village tramp. Moon Goddess above, how did I ever miss that she was screwing Zion this whole time? Based on the half-dozen male scents wafting from her body, barely masked by her pea flower perfume, she’s probably screwing half the town. Lifting her legs, I dragged her to the back of the van. Finding her keys, I open it up to find it empty except for two stained mattresses that are strapped together, and 5 sets of silver shackles. Even though she didn’t have any prisoners right now, it is clear that this hexed van was designed to transport witches. Perfect. That means I can bring it inside without
[Apple]I’m not sure how long I ran, crazed, mad, unable to remember who I am, or why I’m even running in the first place. All I know is that on the outer edges of things, I can feel him.Sylvester. My mate. His agony burns through me like quicksilver, propelling me forward, keeping my eyes wide and my claws clenched as I race through trees along the river.Shivering, I fall to the ground, released from my wolf form for the first time in Goddess knows how long. It takes me a moment to remember how to use my arms and legs, but when I finally stop screaming in pain, I manage to roll over, hoisting myself up onto my elbows, before dragging myself to the water to take my first, tortured sip. The cool river water tastes faintly of algae as I lap it up, forgetting for a moment that I have lips and no fangs. I have a human form again, one I had almost forgotten about. “Just breathe,” my voice is raspy as the first words break the silence of my thoughts. “Remember how to breathe.” My naked