I thought it was past time to have Sly take a bit more control. I wonder what Alexis will have to say about all of this...
[Alexis]The news was broadcast across the city as soon as the conclave of elders was done casting their votes.“It is time that we as wolves took a step towards a brighter future,” Alpha Emeritus Alphonso Greybeard announced, his long hair framing his dignified face for all of wolfkind to view on their screens. “Which is why with a majority vote the council of Elder Alphas have chosen Sylvester Sterling of Silver Crescent Pack to lead us as the next Alpha King.”A cheer could be heard reverberating across the city. It wouldn't have mattered who had won--there would have been cheering just to see a selection had been made. And yet, if you were to pick any wolf out of those in the running based on intelligence, ambition, and charm, Sly was an easy choice."He was born to it," Alanna agrees in my mind, her chest puffing with pride. "He was born to be king." "He was born a rogue," I shoot back silently. "My father made him a prince." "And you were his princess," she reminds me, sullenly
[Apple]When my eyes open, I am staring into a dark room. I must have fallen asleep at some point because Sylvester is wrapped around me, his body pressed into my back. Our bed is warm and rich with the smell of us."Good Morning, My Queen," he kisses my neck. "Are you ready to meet your people?""Can't we stay like this a little bit longer?" I roll over into his arms, kissing his nose. His smile tickles my cheeks as his unshaven face touches me lightly."A little bit, but then we need to go and greet our beta and your best friend," he kisses my chin, and then my cheek, and the space just beneath it on my neck. "And then our supporters. I intend to show you off today. I want everyone to fall as deeply in love with you as I am.""Oh," I giggle as his trail of love continues down my neck. "I thought you wanted me all to yourself."His hands roll down the sides of my body possessively, stopping at my hips, his fingers framing my waist as he pulls me into him, aligning our fronts. His fang
[Apple]Hawthorne could incinerate Sylvester where he stands.Sylvester is the Alpha King with a small army of guards ready to pounce if anyone moves.The two men stared one another down, neither one relenting. Both are powerful and capable, both have the power to destroy the other, and both have my love in one shape or form. I'd never forgive the other if things got out of hand."I asked him to come," Hazel's small voice pipes up as she takes a bold step forward, facing down both men with the strength of a future matriarch. "I wanted my twin for company, but also our mentor insisted he come as...help."Sly blinks and Thorne takes a step back as he lowers his hood the rest of the way. "Araminta sent me," he admits. "I would never have come otherwise." He coughs, swallowing hard as he adds. "Alpha King."Sylvester doesn't move and so his guards also stand in position, waiting for orders as their king wars with the emotions swirling around inside his mind. He can barely tolerate Thorne a
[Sylvester]Glasses shatter, and the table falls over as I jump to my feet. My heart races and my mind pulls in all directions as I struggle to reconnect and find that missing part of me.She isn't dead. I'd know if she were. The feeling would be deeper than silence, all-encompassing hollowness.But something isn't right.Apple. Something has happened to Apple.A wave of numbness washes over me, starting with my heart and extending out in each direction. The room is suddenly quiet, too quiet.My mind is quiet as well, which scares me. Since finding my mate my mind has been full of her thoughts and feelings, and the gentle understanding that she is nearby, waiting.I can feel none of those things now. My mind is woefully, terrifyingly blank.Rufus' howls reverberate in the empty chamber of my mind, hurt by the sudden loss. Our connection hasn't been completely severed but is no longer accessible. Something powerful is blocking us from finding one another without killing one of us to do
[Apple]One moment I'm staring at my reflection, the next moment a man wearing a mask comes up behind me and covers my mouth with a cloth smelling strongly medicinal.When I open my eyes again, everything is dark. I don't know where I am or how long I've been here, but I know I am somewhere new because everything smells different. Gone are all of the gentle scents of cooking food, and the subtle aromas of fresh plants in vases, or the sky on the verge of late autumn rain. In their place are the stale smells of old exhaust, and the sensation of cold concrete underneath my skin.In the background, someone is listening to an old radio."Earlier today, my mate, Luna Queen Apple Sterling, was taken in broad daylight during a peaceful outing. We are unsure of who is behind the attack and are looking for clues, not only for her location but for those responsible."Sly's voice is strong but full of sorrow. He's trying to find me."The Luna Queen's health is also a consideration. Just moments b
[Apple] It is impossible for me to know how much time has passed with my eyes covered and my body falling in and out of consciousness. Riding in the back of this van, I don’t even have the feeling of sunlight on my face to give me a clue. It’s like living in a void. And impossible, neverending nothingness. I can hear the bustling sounds of Moon River City surrounding us, so wherever we are, it's still within their borders. I'm not surprised. There is no way that Sly would have let me leave. Now that he is the Alpha King, he has the power to shut the city down. "He'll find me," I try to convince myself. "It's only a matter of time." But how much more time do I have? Minutes? Moments? Seconds? My mind wanders back to this morning, the smell of my mate as he wraps his arms around me, the feeling of his release as he comes undone, his eyes glowing with love."Please let him find me again," I beg the Moon Goddess and whatever other deities might be listening. Reality slams into me wi
[Sylvester]Being able to feel my mate’s pain and not being able to do anything about it is torture. A slow torture where every emotion is magnified as I worry about not only my mate but our unborn child. I can't bear to be apart from them. I feel an overwhelming urge to hold her close to me. I need to feel her touch. I need to smell her and know that she is real.The only thing worse than feeling everything through our connection is losing that feeling. One moment I could sense her every emotion magnified through our bond--her fluttering heart, the way her body shook, the depth of her need for me. If Rudy hadn't been by my side helping me temper my emotions, I'd have gone rogue just to bring her home to me. I want to chase her scent through the city, hunting her like a feral beast, bringing all those who dared touch and hurt her to vicious and immediate justice.I still do. Unfortunately, I’m Alpha King now, and with that title comes a responsibility not only to my mate but to all t
[Sylvester]"I have two requests."The room is silent, the sound of our collective breathing and the dull hum of our beating hearts almost too loud in the cavernous chamber. I am standing before the most powerful wolves on the continent and asking them for a favor to save the love of my life.She is out there, somewhere, lost in this massive labyrinth of a city. There are so many layers and cavernous nooks and crannies where a person could be spirited away that even with the full power of Moon River City's wolves at my beck and call, I can't find her on my own.I hate to ask for assistance, but I don't have a choice. If I want to hold my family in my arms again, I will need help."My Luna, my mate, has been kidnapped," I pause, letting my words fall around my captive audience like rain. "She is currently 2 months pregnant with our first child, my heir."A few bodies stir. They are all alphas here. They know what it means to fear not only for your mate but for your legacy. I have never
[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