AuroraToday has been a whirlwind, but I can’t keep my hands off of Jaxson since we got home and he showered off all the blood. He didn’t have to step in, and he could have talked the warriors out of hurting the commoners, but he showed which side he is truly fighting for. he stuck up for commoners like me, scared unmated females who I always thought would face the same fate as I; killed by royal warriors looking for a kick of pleasure.He is still damp from the shower. I don’t care. I am hiked up in his arms, letting him hold me to his chest, while our lips tingle against one another in a long, breathless kiss. I don’t want to stop, I don’t want him to let go of me, and thankfully he doesn’t want that either. He sits down on the couch, letting me straddle his lap, still pressing his tongue into the lower bay of my lips.His hands lightly press into the small of my back, taunting me under the cloth of my shirt, feeling his warmth and needing it all, needing it to never stop. I press m
AuroraI see Jaxson.In a strange way, he seems taller, more full of muscle, and settled into a new age. He isn’t young, but he could be in passing. He has light hair, longer than I’ve ever seen it, cascading down his neck in thick, tight curls. He stand with his hands in his pockets, wearing a suit adorned with a single red rose hooked onto his pocket.He is smiling, overjoyed really, and the wrinkles from his grin mask the ones sewn into his features from being a cold, powerful Alpha’s son. He is practically bouncing in anxiousness, grinning ear to ear, as I feel my body stride toward my mate.I know he is my mate. I can feel it in this scene more than I ever thought I could feel it. My wolf knows it, too. I feel the pull that brings me closer to him. It’s only now, in this moment, that I see hundreds of wolves adorned in gala attire, standing around us both as I meet my mate in a field, the only place capable of holding this many people at once.“My mate,” he says, grabbing for me,
AuroraI gasp, shooting awake, sand covering my back and water trickling down my face. I cough slightly, wiping my face, seeing Jaxson blink awake at a slower, more gentle pace. He looks to me instantly and cages me into his arms, holding me to his chest while his arms press heavily into my back. I want to shatter; I want to break. He mumbles something into my neck, his breath warm and exasperated.For a moment, I wonder if he had a bad vision, unlike mine. I want to share it with him, to tell him I got a sign from the moon goddess that was so perfect, so happy, that it made my entire world fill with joy.Instead he picks us both up abruptly, leaving the bonfire while holding me to his chest, cradling me in his arms as he struts back to our little beach hut. I don’t ask him anything. Instead, I brush my palm against his cheek, watching his saddened eyes flicker with a little light. He is beautiful even when he is upset.He skips straight through the hut, lightly laying my back into ou
Aurora“No, you don’t,” Jaxson growls, grabbing me by the hips and tossing me back a few paces, cornering me in the bedroom. My hands are shaking and I try to push past him, I have to, but he persists, standing like a board that’s nailed over the doorway. “You will stay here.”The screaming grows louder and I swear I can recognize who is being tormented now. I see their faces, the faces I’ve lived with in passing for weeks now and I’ll be damned if I let this happen again. Jaxson stood up the first time, at the market. I refuse to cower now when it’s our pack, our new home. Not again.I edge myself under his reach, practically crawling past him, before I bolt to the living room where I am immediately pounced on from behind. Jaxson pins me sideways to the floor, throwing himself over me with all his strength and weight. It’s impossible to fight this royal, this beast of a body built with muscles I couldn’t pronounce if I wanted to, but I can’t allow this to continue.If Jaxson stands u
Chapter Seventy-One – Our Mess to CleanAuroraJaxson must have spotted the carnage on the beach from afar because I watch his black wolf sprint down the shoreline until he spots my gaze and zips over to my side. His eyes are practically red in color, something furious rippling through him as he tips his head and drags me up the beach a little, circling me as I lay safe in the shallowest of ebbing waves.I shiver, cold from the water but chills brushing down my naked body from the hot blood covering my side and hips. The cut is on my back, a claw mark or teeth mark bleeding profusely from puncture wounds behind my hip, covering my lower half with severe, iron blood.He doesn’t shift back though, standing over me with every leg protecting me, cornering me under his shield of a body, staring at the few wolves still lingering in the aftermath of the fight not far from here. The Apogee pack has defiantly won, mostly due to the sheer number of wolves that rushed the royals unexpectedly.Xa
LukeI’ve read her handwritten note every night since I received it. Paul and Row tried to hide it from me for a while, something so secretive about their intentions to keep me from having this letter that Aurora wrote for me, knowing our last interaction together would be us running from the Apogee pack, from Xander, and me making sure she would get away.I should be satisfied knowing we are both alive, but I’m not. She has been such a huge part of my life and now she is gone. I can’t see her again, can’t talk to her again, and oddly, I mourn our friendship. When it gets late at night, every night, I find the note I hid on top of the cabinets in the kitchen and read it over, seeing stains of tears blur the ink in some places.You will always be my first love, reads the very last line. I so desperately wished she write down where she was, or even gave me a hint, but not her, or anyone here, wants to tell me.I should forget about her, about our history, and it’s been a hectic few week
AuroraJaxson works hard, too hard in my opinion, but he has been quiet the last few hours. I lay on the couch, my wounded leg still useless but my back healed with our mating mark finally back where it belongs, from who it belongs to. He helped with a burial for the lost pack members, but he won’t tell me who was killed in the royal raid.I can see him struggling to clear his mind, sweeping away the glass on the floor from the broken window of our hut. He is meticulous, and a little bit abrupt, stopping me when I lean forward to stand, his heavy hand find my shoulder and guiding me back down with just a stoic look.“What do you need?” he asks, his tone stiff.I motion for the kitchen, my mouth dry and my head light. “I was going to make some coffee,” I hum, seeing his dark eyes and wishing they would turn back to their real gentle blue color. “I just figured because we didn’t get to sleep and we probably won’t get to for a while…”He leans the broom against the wall and takes to the
AuroraIt’s difficult to walk, having to lean my weight on Jaxson’s side, his arm hooked around my back, while my knee is wrapped so tight in gauze tape that it makes my whole leg numb. Jaxson grumbles, wishing I would stay in the hut, in bed, giving him an excuse to dote over me tonight and miss this meeting in the village but I am stubborn and he is desperate to please me.“You’re too weak for this, sweetheart,” he moans, my pace stalling as I trip once, his arm clinging to me to steady my balance and help me not fall forward. “Please, let me take you home.”“No, Jaxson, we’re not missing this meeting. I want to vote. You should be there. If they want you as Alpha, then they obviously think you are worthy of the role. They feel safe with you.”“They wouldn’t if they knew who I really was,” he grumbles.We arrive to the little hut that once belonged to the Alpha and Luna. The entire village is here, in the back yard where a small campfire is rolling waves of heat. I can tell the othe