SebastianMy sister is shivering next to me. I don't know if it's from the snowflakes languidly falling on us, or if it's because we just buried our father. Her arms tighten around her five-month-old son, protecting him not just from the weather, but also from the imminent danger our family has been in ever since our baby sister was born.The rest of our pack has long gone, leaving us to mourn on our own. Her mate, Julio, wraps his arms around her shivering form from behind, holding her tight."Baby, let's get back to the house," He says gently. "The weather will be even worse soon."It's fitting. The weather that is. Cold, wet and dreary on this day we had to say farewell to our alpha and father. He was a strong man, but just like our mother he was too weak to do what had to be done. He was a great father, maybe too great. Maybe if he was more of a coward, we wouldn't be standing here. He would still
Ricardo The Tennessee whiskey is smooth on my tongue as I take the first sip after a hectic day. The stock market was crazy today, and I'm glad the day is finally over. I look forward to going to the bar with my Beta, get a little tipsy and maybe find someone to warm my bed for the night. There's a soft knock on my door and I frown. My assistant knows I don't like to be bothered after five, especially after the day I just had. "Come in!" I holler and she sticks her head inside, a grimace on her face. "I'm sorry to bother you sir, but there's a gentleman out front that would like to speak to you." Michelle's voice is soft and apologetic. "Tell him to come back tomorrow during office hours." I say harshly. She flinches and clears her throat. "I have tried to do that, sir, but he says it's an emergency." I groan. What emergency could there be? I have my bord
Ricardo "Your baby sister?" I have known about the Starlight pack for as long as I can remember. My father always said that they are our allies on the East Coast and it would serve us well to always have good standing with them. To my knowledge there were only two children born to the Alpha and his Luna, I have never heard about another child. Maybe that is why he needs protection for the girl. She is probably an illegitimate child of the previous Alpha, and the pack didn't like that. That would explain why she needs protection. Harry hasn't said a word, standing off to the side and watching our exchange with curiosity. Sometimes he picks up on things that I don't, a very handy characteristic of his. Sebastian's eyes divert from mine for a brief moment. What was that? Guilt? "Yes, I have another sister, she is seventeen-years-old." His eyes meet mine again, that flash of something I saw before gone. I frown. "Did your father have her with another woman? " "What, no!" Colour ri
Ricardo "How could you make such a blind decision?" Harry hisses at me as soon as Sebastian closes the door behind him. Daemon growls inside me at my Beta and I frown. What is wrong with him? He's been restless and on edge ever since he heard about the girl. He's not talking to me either, so I don't know what he's thinking. "We owe him, remember?" I remind my Beta and drink the last of my whiskey, the liquid burning a welcome path down my throat, warming my stomach. And you know me, I don't like owing anybody anything, so the sooner the three months are over, the better." I don't tell him that I'm curious as hell to see what this girl looks like. It's not every day someone asks for protection for a wolf that is almost an adult. Warning bells are going off in my head too, telling me there must be something wrong with this girl, but I've never been known as someone who backs away from a challenge. My instinct is telling me to give this a chance, and it's never failed me before. Harr
Ianthe My body is stiff and sore. I'm not used to going outside my house apart from thirty minutes a day to have Natalia run aroud a little bit. Now I've been on a plane and I was terrified, tense the whole flight. Wolves are not supposed to fly, I don't know how my brother was so comfortable for the whole journey. They're sending me away. I killed our parents and now I'm paying the price. My fate has been decided by my brother and I have no say whatsoever. I have never had a say in my own life. I'm supposed to hide away so that nobody can see me, but they know I'm out there somewhere. If I wasn't, they wouldn't have had tales to tell. Where there is smoke, there is a fire and vice versa. "I'm scared." I only realize that I have said the words out loud when my brother looks briefly at me before he concentrates on the road again. "Don't be." He says soothingly. "I will be back to get you before you know it." Three months. Three months until I turn eighteen and hopefully find my m
Ricardo I'm completely stunned. Air whooshes in my ears and my blood is pumping at an extreme pace, my heart threatening to stop completely. Daemon is howling and jumping inside me like he has lost all sense of rationality. She is indeed the most exquisite thing I have ever seen. When Sebastian said she was exceptionally beautiful, I thought she was model-like, someone who could grace magazines, but she is so much more than that. Her hair is the color of finely spun light-gold, her eyes the lightest of blue I have ever seen, appearing almost ice-like. Her nose is slim and straight and her cheekbones high, her lips are full and tinted a natural pink. I want to feel those lips underneath mine immediately, but I'm too shocked to do anything. Could it be? Could she be... It's not possible, is it? She is only seventeen and wouldn't be able to find her mate unt
Ricardo Ianthe Her name is perfect, ethereal, just like her. Why did she only have to be seventeen. Is this a to test my patience? To torture me? Wolves are naturally very sexual beings, an alpha even more so. I have women in between the sheets on a regular basis, but now that I have found my mate, that is no longer an option. Even if she doesn't know it yet, I will respect her, but as soon as she turns eighteen, she will be in my bed, forever. The thought of her in my bed, me inside her, has my skin itching all night. It doesn't help that I can smell her lavender scent even with the walls seperating us. I almost don't get any sleep, my erection keeping me up all night, so I get up an hour earlier and take a long cold shower and then I step outside, inhaling the fresh air, the woods beckoning me. Daemon takes over and he runs into the woods like a wolf possessed. I sup
Ricardo She's faster than she looks, but Daemon stays behind her. She's clearly upset about something and he's giving her space, but she would still know that he's there. She runs straight to the house and Daemon looks away as she shifts from wolf to human form. I don't even know my own wolf anymore, he has never shown this much restraint before. I wait a few minutes before I shift too, making sure she has already entered the house. Nudity has never been a thing for werewolves, we shift in front of one another without being self-aware, but I'm not sure if that's the case with her. There are so many things about this girl that I don't know. Maybe Harry was right, maybe I made the decision to take her in too quickly. I should have asked more questions first. But when you're presented with your mate on a silver platter, what are you supposed to do? Say no? I pull on the pyjama pants I left at the kitc
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