Ricardo I'm usually a very confident man. I'm confident in the way I run my company and my pack, ensuring we have wealth to live the lives we deserve. But right now my palms are sweating on the way to seeing the seventy-something year old woman that might tell me the truth. A truth I have been trying to deny ever since Harry brought it up that Ianthe might be a White Wolf. The idea sounded absurd to me when he first mentioned it, but after today I don't know how much longer I can deny the fact that he might be right. The Wisher as we call her was born into the Dark Moon pack in the time my great-grandfather was still the Alpha and he always consulted with her when he had to make big decisions. I know my father too sometimes leaned on her special gifts to predict the future, but what good did that bring him? He still died pre-maturely. So I have never visited her to ask how I should do things, even
Ricardo I drive around the town my ancestors built for what seems like hours on end after I see The Wisher. I drive past the river where the restaurants and nightclubs seem quiet on the Monday evening. I drive through Main Road where most of the businesses are located, including mine. I even drive through the neighborhood my mother now resides in, but I don't stop at her house. That's a conversation I'm not ready for yet. I love my family, but they can be overbearing sometimes. I stop by the park where my parents took me when I was a child, but it's already evening and it's quiet except for the few teenagers loitering and playing around. They're either chilling at the park or at the river, reminding me of simpler times when my boys and I used to run the school. Now I run the whole pack and I'm not gonna lie and say that I don't feel the pressure right now. This coming Friday we have the river bonfire. One of the many events my mother organizes for the pack to soc
Ricardo Randall and Mark stand before me and I can see their unfailing loyalty, towards me and towards my pack. I feel slightly guilty for not bothering to ask about their own lives. "You've guys have been doing a great job with Ianthe, thank you." I nod at them. "I'm going to ask you to be even more vigilant than before in the light of the attack just now. We don't know what happened yet, but if you hear, see or smell anything suspicious I need you to call me right away." "Yes Alpha." They say in unison. I nod. "And she's not allowed to leave the house, not even to go to the lake out front until I get back." They nod again and I look up the stairs to where she's standing at the top, her arms folded protectively around herself. I know she knows that whatever happened has something to do with her. Our mating bond is already coming through strong, we can sense when there's something wrong with the other already and she has this insanely calming effect on
Ianthe Heleni looks badass in tight leather pants and a white crop top paired with black combat boots. She looks ready to take on the entire world and is currently rummaging through my suitcase which I still haven't unpacked yet. It's the Friday of the bonfire and she came over to help me pick out an outfit. The past week has been tense in the house for sure. I now have an additional two guards who rotates with Mark and Randall, and I've spotted a few wolves in the woods surrounding the house. I've also not been allowed to go outside which I should be used to, but I felt stifled nonetheless. I haven't seen much of Ricardo either, he is always at the pack house these days or at the office, so I've really missed him. I'm waiting on eggshells for him to tell me what happened with the attack on the border, I've even asked Mark and Randall, but they're keeping their mouths shut. I need to know if someone was hurt. "You should really go shopping." Heleni holds up a pair of navy tights fr
Ricardo My eyes rove anxiously over the crowd in search of a familiar blonde head. Logically I know she's not here yet because I haven't been notified, but my heart beats erratically in my chest by just the thought of seeing her. I have been sorting out pack business the whole week, trying to ramp up security in the light of the attack and I didn't want the bonfire canceled and make the pack worried that we can't handle the situation. I've been sleeping at the pack house again and at times I thought I'd go crazy if I didn't get a whiff of lavender. My phone pings in my pocket and my heart rate accelerates even more when I read Mark's message that they've just arrived. Truth be told I would love to have her hidden away for my eyes only, but she's going to be Luna soon, and the pack needs to get used to having her around and she needs more exposure to people. "The weather turned out really nice." My mother chirps up next to me. "I was worried it would rain." I stuff my phone b
Ianthe Ricardo is holding my hand. Granted, this is not the first time he's holding my hand, but it feels different. He's talking to Harry about the stock market and I'm more than intrigued. Apart from cooking and baking, I've been very interested in how the stock market works, the rise and fall and where to invest and when. "Do you think I can maybe come to the office with you one day?" I ask, hoping I'm masking my excitement. His steel eyes look down at me questioningly and I shrug. "I'm good with numbers, I would love to learn how the stock market works." Harry nods his head at me. "Beauty and brains, a lethal combination." I can feel my cheeks heating at the compliment and Ricardo's eyes softening on my face. "If you'd like I can give you a small account to play around with, you can learn the tricks and trade through trial and error." He says, smiling slightly. "You'd do that for me?" I ask, surprised. Even I know businessmen don't just give money away. I don't have a clue
Ricardo I'm fidgety. I'm surrounded by my close friends who are laughing and drinking around me, but I feel a profound sense of longing and I know exactly why. Ianthe is not by my side. I shove the hand she was holding earlier in my pocket because it's still burning. Maybe I shouldn't have let her go with Heleni. But there was no imminent threat to her safety and I know her guards would lay down their own lives to protect hers. And she needs friends, I know she can't be by my side all the time. "You've been letting your wingman ravage the ladies all on his own."Dean claps me on the shoulder and puts a beer in my hand. "I heard a lady has something to do with it." I raise my eyebrows. "Oh really, you're in the business of gossiping now?" He smirks. "No, but I've been feeling sorry for poor Harry man, the guy is becoming desperate." I take a swig of my beer, relishing the cold liquid going down my throat. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed." "Do you know about Genevieve
Ianthe I'm in trouble. I'm in deep, deep trouble. I haphazardly throw the clothes that Heleni threw out of my suitcase back into it. I need to leave before this pack finds out who I am and what I did. My heart is beating a mile a minute as I try to think what I'm going to do. How am I going to get out of here? I can't even call Sebastian because I've never been allowed to have a cellphone in the fear that I might get tracked. I do have a credit card though, so if I can just get out of this town that I've come to love so much and get to a bus stop or something. The woods are surrounded by the pack's army, but they can't smell me, if I can just slip by unnoticed. "You're being insane." Natalia says in a bored tone. "Ricardo is not some boy who can't handle a white wolf." "You don't know that!" I'm panicking. I'm a dead girl. I let my parents down. All the years they protected me, I went and screwed my life over all on my own. I should've never allowed him to hold my hand, that
IANTHE I find Heleni standing in front of the lake, her arms crossed protectively over her chest and tears glistening in her eyes. I lay my hand on her back in a soothing manner. "Are you okay?" She shakes her head and sniffs. "I can't believe Harry thought I killed Genevieve." I take in a deep breath. "He found you standing over her body. You have to admit it looked suspicious." She turns her face fully to me, and I see the gut-wrenching hurt in her eyes. "We're supposed to be mated in two days. How can I get mated to someone who doesn't even trust what I say?" I frown, feeling the reluctance coming off her waves. "What are you saying, Heleni? " There have been times when wolves rejected their mates, but I have always been a firm believer that what the Moon Goddess decided, we shouldn't ignore or break. She looks at me with heartbreak in her eyes and the muscles around my heart clench in despair. "I don't think I can be mated to someone who doesn't trust me." She whispers.
IANTHE I watch as Ricardo tries to calm down his uncle who seems to be having a nervous breakdown. I can't blame the guy. Life has been pretty shitty for him lately. Instead of his son graduating, he's in the hospital looking like a shadow of his former self. I know stuff in this pack hasn't been happening because of me. Whatever is transpiring here has been happening way before I came here, yet I still feel guilty. Gosh, we lost Randall today. A searing pain goes through my heart at the thought of him losing his life because he was trying to keep me safe. I know it was his job, but it doesn't make the loss any easier to bear. How many more will lay down their lives for mine? I'm so busy wallowing in self-pity that I don't even notice Heleni until she touches my arm. "Hey, are you okay?" She's wearing a worried expression on her face. "Harry told me about what happened." I nod. "I'm okay, what about you? You haven't been around much." There's a flash of guilt in her e
RICARDO "This is gonna be a shit storm." Harry rubs his eyes. "I'm getting mated in two days, I swear I'm going to wear wrinkles on the most important day of my life." I stare up at the ceiling of my office, hoping that somehow the Moon Goddess would just make things a tad bit easier for me and send me the answers that I need. "Why didn't you just restrain the fucker or something." Harry rambles on. "That way he could've confessed to the pack himself what he's been doing all these years. He was respected, no way the pack is just going to accept our explanantion." I get up from my chair and run both of my hands through my hair. What I wouldn't give for a vacation right about now. Preferably somewhere tropical, isolated, just Ianthe and me. "I'm the alpha of this pack, aren't I?" I turn towards my best friend who is pacing the length of my office, "If they're going to believe someone, it should be me." "You better hope so, we don't know how many followers he had." And that's my b
RICARDO My blood is boiling in my veins and I rip my shirt off to breathe a bit easier. All I see is red as I look down at Gus's lifeless, naked body on my kitchen floor, his head that I ripped straight off staring at me. I completely lost it when I saw him up against Ianthe, naked and grabbing her like he had a right to. Nobody touches her but me. She's looking at me like I've gone crazy, and maybe I have. This is not the way I intended to deal with Gus. I had a plan, we were gonna get all the information we could out of Genevieve, find out how her family is involved and why. Now I have a dead man lying by my feet and a mate that's looking at me like I might kill her next. There's a banging on the front door and next thing I know Harry and Colt are in the kitchen, looking from me, to the headless Gus, and then to Ianthe. "What the hell happened!" Harry shouts, frantically pointing at Gus. "I thought we had a plan." "Oh my Goddess." Ianthe sobs, her hand going to her throat. "I
IANTHE I'm restless. I've watched too many movies where I didn't even know what was going on. I've tried reading up on investing, but to be honest it doesn't even interest me anymore. I'm used to being alone and bored, but now I know what it's like to have friends and company and most importantly, having someone to call my own. Only that someone has done his best to avoid me. I still sleep in his bed every single night, waiting like a dutiful wife, but lately he's been spending all his time in his home office or he's out somewhere with Harry and Colt. I'm craving his attention, even if it's just him holding me to his hard body at night. Maybe he's having an affair. But does it even qualify as an affair if we're not mated yet? I turn eighteen in two weeks. I'm both nervous and excited. What if something happens and we don't end up being mated? My life has surely not been easy, I lose important people all the time. What if I lose him? But what if I don't? What if we
RICARDO "No offense, but you need to get laid." Harry is looking at me like I've grown two heads after I told him that I thought he might be in on whatever is transpiring in the pack. He's been my best friend forever, I was stupid to even think he would ever betray me like that. "I feel like my intuition has not been the best." I run my hand through my hair, tugging the strands in frustration. Harry hums. "Maybe that's why the Moon Goddess sent Ianthe when she did, to help you with that." He might be right. Her being here might be intentional. Her being here is also the cause of the worst blue balls I've ever experienced before. I sigh as I drop into the chair behind my desk. "I didn't think being Alpha would be this exciting after my dad's reign." Harry smirks. "Yeah, but boring is no fun now, is it? Try to get some rest, I'll see you in a few hours at the jail." Yes, it's time we get to the bottom of Genevieve's involvement at least. I still have a cousin in a hospi
RICARDO Daemon is scratching at my collarbone to get out and get loose. He wants to be let free to terrorize the very town that we laid our lives on the line for. All we ever did was keep this town safe, protected from unwanted terrors. Now the very town I fought so hard for is stabbing me in the back. I don't know who I can trust anymore. If Ianthe says something is up with Gus, then something is up with Gus. And I went and jeopordized it all when I told the council she was a White Wolf. How stupid could I be? I thought we all had the same endgame in mind. I guess I was wrong. The joke's on me. I smell Harry way before I see him. "Care to tell me why I had to run all the way to the other side of the town?" There's a slight complaint in his voice, but next thing he knows, my hand is around his neck, and I'm jacking him up a tree. His hand grabs mine, but I'm way stronger than him, even more so now that I have Ianthe. There's a question and a slight sign of fear as my hand tight
RICARDO I sit up in bed and look at the woman lying next to me. She's not being herself, I sensed something was off ever since we returned from the funeral. I had to have a meeting with Harry and Colt to discuss the new developments, so she went to bed by herself like she does most nights. Tonight has been different though. She didn't immediately cuddle up to me as soon as I laid down, and she's usually peaceful when she sleeps. Tonight she's been tossing and turning. I know her well enough to know that something is bothering her. Consciously or unconsciously. "Hey." I shake her shoulder gently and she opens her eyes immediately, turning towards me. "What's wrong?" She frowns, her voice a little bit rough from sleep. "I should ask you that, you've been tossing and turning the whole night." She throws an arm over her eyes, shielding that exquisite face from me. "I'm sorry, did I wake you? You must be tired after everything." I'm tired, yes, from all the shit that has been goin
IANTHE My hand is gripped tightly in Ricardo's as we make our way to the funeral of The Wisher. "Are you sure it's a good idea that I come?" I ask for what must be the seventh time. His thumb strokes languidly over the back of my hand, those greys looking like they're melting as he takes in my face. "I want you by my side." His sure voice sends tingles down my spine. I know as soon as we get out of the car, his hand will no longer hold mine in the public. My birthday has never been so slow to arrive as it does this year. There's something different to Ricardo today. I know he went out early this morning, at first I thought he went to take Daemon out for his daily run, but when he returned he smelled like a woman's perfume. I found it odd, but I didn't feel jealous. I instinctively know he only has eyes for me. Now he seems lighter somehow, the lines between his eyebrows that were permanently scowling smoothed out. I can't believe I almost lost him just yesterday. I'm still tha