"How have you been?" Carlos asks, and Conrad raises a brow."Fabulous. Obviously. My mate has twins on the way, and I'm living with my parents again. I'm going to become Beta this year. That's it, that's my entire summary of this god-awful year," she beams sarcastically, shaking her head.Carlos raises a brow, walking towards the emptier end of the hallway, leading her along gently."I thought my year had been bad. I've been having a pretty good time in comparison," he chuckles, his dark eyes following her every move.Having those eyes back on her makes her shiver; she remembers the days they would watch her almost constantly, a smirk on the lips a few centimetres below them."How have you been doing?" She questions, leaning her back against the stone walls."I've been hanging on. Sabrina is at boarding school now; she's gotten really tall," he remarks, showing her his phone's lock screen picture."Oh, she's gorgeous," Conrad coos, peering at the little girl who she occasionally mothe
Conrad and Charlotte are squeezing each other's hand under the table, staring straight ahead of them."In the case of Adamo and Rosser, we have been unable to come to a conclusion," Elizabeth declares, and Conrad stands up in her seat."I'm going to ask for an annulment if I cannot obtain a rejection agreement," she states, and Elizabeth nods."Annulment granted. We give permission for the bond to be broken immediately. However, we cannot approve a rejection agreement until both parties are of the same opinion regarding their situation," she responds, and Conrad can't stop the smile that creeps onto her face."We will have a witch here within the hour. The bond breaking will take place in the round room then, thank you all for coming," Alfred finishes the session, slamming the gavel onto its mat.Everyone files out slowly, Charlotte dragging Conrad out."Come on; we need to go to the round room! We need to find Jeanne and then go to the round room," she beams, managing to slide into t
"You're a tracker. I thought you'd be skinnier," she replies, and Conrad purses her lips.She's curvy, which is unusual for wolves; even after her bout of depression."You're a witch. I thought you'd be nicer," Conrad beams, and the witch's face drops a little.Yeah, bitch. Make her eat them words, Jane cackles.She's had people comment on her figure for most of her life, especially since she finished high school.When she had gone to college, her hips had come in, her boobs had tripled in size, and her face had finally lost some of the puppy fat.She had been pretty skinny in high school, bar her hips, which never went away no matter how much cardio she had forced herself to do.She was secure in her body and liked her curves; which was a relief, especially in situations like this."You know how this ceremony is carried out, yes?" The witch asks disdainfully, looking down her nose at the girl.Conrad gives her a nod and a tight smile, sitting down on one of the wooden benches in the
Charlotte claps a hand over her mouth as she gazes at the body laying on the floor, exchanging a look with Jeanne."Is the breaking complete?" Jeanne asks, peering at the face."Yes. You may leave," the witch calmly responds, exiting the room.Conrad rises from her seat, her entire body shaking with the effort of it."I'm going to fall," she mumbles, and Charlotte immediately catches her, hauling her back up."Thank you," she mumbles, slowly testing if she can put weight onto either, or both, of her feet.After a minute or two, she can, and Jeanne continues to force some of the fizzy drink she had brought into her mouth, convincing her that it would help to make her blood sugars level out and then get her energy back.Conrad slowly moves away from Charlotte, staring at the heap Atlas is laying in."Fucker," she mutters, stepping over him.She pauses to look at Meg, who looks back at her, her eyes wide and fearful.Meg opens her mouth for a second and then closes it."Goodbye," Conrad
Jeanne takes the hug eagerly, sobbing.The nurse cuts Conrad's blazer off, momentarily pausing when she notices the tattoos."What's her rank?" The nurse asks, and Charlotte can't stop the smile on her lips."Soon to be Beta," she declares proudly, and the doctor glances up at Charlotte."Oh fuck off," Charlotte murmurs, her jaw dropping."Well," the doctor mumbles, and Conrad runs a hand through her hair, letting Jeanne detach herself.The nurse looks up impatiently, snapping her fingers.She's an older lady, and one look at her tells Charlotte that she runs this place."Sorry," the doctor murmurs, unable to take his eyes off Charlotte."No, there's no finding your mate right now. Wake up," the nurse demands, and Charlotte breaks the eye contact, looking down at her friend anxiously.The doctor is still staring at Charlotte, who is mumbling something to herself."Has she been here before?" The nurse asks, staring hard at Conrad."Yeah. I think she got caught up in a shooting when she
Charlotte isn't sure what to do.She's completely torn between going home, or staying with her mate.She hasn't had a chance to fully contemplate how she feels about finding her mate, but one look at Conrad tells her that she's going to have plenty of time to figure it out."What's his name?" Conrad asks, and Charlotte sits up on the bed, the sheets gathering around her waist."Matt Keller," she informs her best friend, and Conrad makes a 'hmm' noise."It's a nice name. He seems like an okay guy; he made sure you were okay before we were allowed leave," Conrad reasons.She's thrilled for her friend; Charlotte deserves someone as amazing as she is, and although she isn't sure if Matt is that guy, she thinks it's worth a try to find out. She's willing to give him a chance; she's delighted for the girl who has always wanted to find her mate.She can sense Charlotte is hesitant, though, and Conrad is determined to find out why.If it's because of her, it certainly won't be for long. Her s
The awakening is nowhere near as pleasant as how they fell asleep.Jeanne topples out of the bed when her alarm suddenly starts blaring, scaring the shit out of Conrad and Charlotte, who both bolt upright.Conrad immediately goes on the defensive, her bright eyes glowing as she tries to find the offending object.Charlotte is snarling, half-shifted.They're all a little hungover as well, which makes things worse.Jeanne is tangled in the sheets as she tries to stand up, and by the time she manages to get herself up, the phone with the screeching alarm has been turned off and thrown across the room."You never said you had set the alarm," Conrad breathes, pressing a hand to her forehead as she leans against the pillows behind her, trying to calm herself down."I forgot I had set one," Jeanne whispers, her face pale as she tries to turn on the lights.They had gone shopping yesterday once Conrad was deemed alright to leave the hospital, so the girls did have clothes for the day.Charlot
She feels sick at this admission.She can't find her words."How did you know?" She asks quietly, and Carlos runs a hand through his hair, standing up.The light on his desk is beeping, indicating somebody is entering the code to come into the quarters."How did you know, Carlos?" Conrad repeats, standing up on shaky legs.She feels like she's going to throw up."Sit down, let's talk about it," Carlos says quietly, looking up at her.Conrad scowls at him, shaking her head."No, Carlos, I won't sit down. If you can't tell me, I'm not going to stay here. Do you know what else is going to happen in my life? Have you turned into some sort of crazy mind-reader? Actually, you know what, I don't think I want to know," she blabbers, massaging her temples lightly.Carlos stands up, not breaking eye contact with her."Connie, I spoke to a witch about you. You can speak to her if you want, but we have more pressing issues right now," he informs her, turning his monitor around to face her.On the
Josephine and the elite teams did exactly what they had set out to do. They had moved so efficiently that they had knocked out most of the command structure entirely before the hyenas had a chance to even sound an alarm to warn the others that their doom was coming.Any who did not actively fight, were given the choice to end their days there and now or move semi willingly to an enclave Josephine had been working on for far longer than Alexander had realized. To Josephine, Melody was just another target, one of far too many in a larger pattern. One that Josephine had been working to end on her own long before Melody had even been born.Alexander was in awe as Guillermo filled him in on the progress during a rather social seeming jog several weeks after the incident; which was all Alexander could bring himself to say about it all. Still working on it with his therapist. But things were going better. He was focusing on being a dad, and decided to take up carpentry. If he was going to li
Melody drove up to the familiar house, the smell of burnt clutch heavy in the cabin of the vehicle. Melody didn't know how to drive a manual, let alone an old truck with a heavy gear shift and broken power steering. Thankfully it didn't matter. The truck just had to get her here. Looking all normal, and human and alone. If the truck had to stay behind because Melody had wrecked the transmission on the relatively short easy drive over, no harm done. Flint would carry her to Alec's pack lands and virtual sanctuary until they could arrange to get back to their own home.The home looked significantly worse than she was prepared for. The picket fence she had admired that first day hadn't been painted in a while when she had left, and hadn't been touched since. Many boards were missing or broken. Beverly must have hated it, she had been a realtor and she was good at it. At making homes look good enough that people wanted to live in the warm homey environments she created. Looks were often d
"You don't have to do this yourself, Guillermo and I can take care of it.." Alexander pleaded with Melody. That evening as she insisted on preparing everything to travel across the country to execute Frank. Throwing random clothes into a suitcase while she stomped around the room on feet far too heavy for someone of her size."Yes I do!" she was nearing hissing at him as she insisted strongly. She paused, packing the suitcases, "I need to do this, he hurt my whole family Alexander. He needs to pay for it. I need him to pay for it. To know he brought his end on himself, I want him to know." Her words were so heavy with with such a finality to them, that Alexander, never able to really say no to her finally gave in. She could come on the mission, only if the shrink and doctor cleared her first. After this afternoon's panic attack, and early pregnancy he was sure she wouldn't get the clearance from the doctor. She's pregnant, no doctor would let her go out to murder their step father.He
Alexander and Melody spent their time with their kids and Diana. Letting Alexander's mother take care of everything while Melody and Alexander played on the floor with their kids, ate snacks, and just enjoyed the peace of their family. Raven was stomping around in her room out back, apparently a nap was not coming easily. "I guess it's not all she hoped it would be?" Alexander ventured softly while James was cuddling in his lap, almost asleep with a picture book in his hands."She has wanted this all her life, maybe dropping a vampire sighting on her this early wasn't the best idea." Diana said, softly, her voice like a lullaby as James drifted off to sleep. Melody was just returning from putting Ansley down for a nap, and smiled at seeing James limp in his fathers arms. She came over, gently and carefully picking the little boy up who snuggled into his mother's body as she picked him up, and took him to have a nap as well. Giving Alexander some time alone with his mom."Alpha doesn'
The next morning it was confirmed by Guillermo that Frank and Robert had almost certainly had something to do with Beverly's murder. Randy was only innocent of this particular crime because he was already in prison for a statutory rape charge. A combination of wire transfers from offshore accounts, messages on burner phones, and finally a time line established when Guillermo searched recent security and surveillance cameras around the small town where Melody and Alexander had met. Trying to figure out what had happened and when.Beverly was a woman who liked routine he learned, and even though she couldn't find a job after she had been laid off, had tried to keep busy. She volunteered, working at the animal shelter some days, food bank on others. Spent an hour or so in the town library applying for jobs before hitting the grocery store before heading home to cook for her family. She didn't seem to interact much with anyone in the town. She hadn't carried a cell phone in over a year be
The first couple photographs showed three women, roughly Melody's age, nothing else in common between them. They were all of different heritage, but all were very dead, by the similar ragged horizontal slash across their throats. No metal blade had opened their throats, that was the mark of a clawed hand. Then there had been two men, Melody didn't know them, but her heart filled with sadness as she realized these were all probably the dead mates to alphas. Who in turn according to Alexander research, never knew their mates were taken and murdered, instead thought they had been rejected. That each of these people had been stolen and their lives ended, causing echos of heartbreak for so many people, filled Melody with guilt that twice she had been taken, and twice she escaped mostly unharmed. She didn't know why she was ok in her home now, and these people weren't.Alexander was just finishing up with Guillermo, his own worry at a new level with the news from his head of security. He dr
This was how his life should have been. Raven would be unbearable if she ever learned that she really had been right all along. She was born for this, Alexander wasn't. He didn't feel any guilt at all now. As he laid Melody in a rocking chair so he could run a bath for her, he checked on his mother as she did the same for Ansley.James was staying with Robin and her family tonight. James adored his older cousins, and seeing how other people lived their everyday lives. He was a nosey kid, Alexander hoped he didn't drive his very controlled sister insane overnight. James was more in tune with his grandmother or Lark. Almost like Robin could feel his worry, Alexander's phone buzzed with a notification, he checked and saw a video of a wide grinning James holding a Mario Kart Steering wheel in his small hands, his face aglow with joy as he tried to play with his older cousins, who were laughing at his eager attempts to widely steer around the course. The sound of generations, and blended f
Melody awoke with the most unwelcome deja vu. The particular heavy and slow feeling of waking up after having been knocked unconscious. Judging by the rhythmic pounding and pain radiating from the back of her head, it had been physical this time instead of chemical. She didn't know if that was better or worse, she still felt sick and nauseated, and the headache was worse, but her body didn't feel as clumsy.The overwhelming wrong feeling had diminished, but things were certainly not right. But at least she was able to think now. She looked around, lovely another cement room from floor to ceiling, a single caged in bulb in the ceiling for light, and a clean, if uncomfortable pallet underneath her. Things smelled clean, which at least wasn't offensive and an improvement on the first kidnapping. Melody wasn't scared this time, she was boiling under the surface like a secret lake of lava.Yup, she had been kidnapped again. Ansley! Where was her daughter? Who had taken her. Melody knew she
The next week was perfect, better than ever before. Alexander was scheduled to see his counsellor at least twice a week, he was getting Raven up to speed on current pack issues and general local politics. He felt lighter. Like himself in a way he had missed without even realising he had been missing something at all.Melody's days were a little more boring. Delia had texted her on schedule all through the weekend through until Sunday night. Then she had called to let Melody know she was taking a week off school and going on vacation with the man she had gone home with on Friday night; and was still with. Melody had worried about her friend, but after talking on the phone, Delia was safe, and happy, and excited. So Melody wished her friend well. Maybe the dark tall brooding man Delia was with was a shifter too, and Delia was his mate. Melody gnawed on her lower lip wondering how she would even try to ask her friend if that was the case, without letting too much slip if Delia wasn't in