Ricardo
My mother takes a seat at the table uninvited. I love the woman to death, I do, and I always feel guilty that she lost my father and has to do life without her mate. But now that she has nothing better to do than organizing events for the pack, she has made it her mission to interfere in my life.
And that is the sole reason why I don't date. I'm not seen with women, ever, because being the Alpha of the pack, that news will travel far and wide and inevitably reach the ears of my dearest mother.
The women who does frequent my bed knows the rules. We don't drive together, we either meet at my living quarters at the pack house or their place. No sleepovers. I've been slapped a few times when I've kindly asked girls to leave my place.
So me being seen with someone from the opposite sex is an anomaly.
"You are so beautiful!" My mother gushes, earning her an endearing blush. "Where
Ricardo Ianthe has been in her room for more than two hours. I could feel her fear at the restaurant when she saw that journalist. It makes me want to find him and sink my claws into his throat, but I can't do that. I can't kill everyone that pisses me off. I'm re-thinking my decision to let her go outside and explore the town, but it doesn't sit well with me that she should be treated as a prisoner. I'm also thinking that Harry was right more and more. My text alert goes off and speak of the devil. Harry: You up for a drink tonight at a club or......? I sigh. I probably should go out, let off some steam, but I've got a girl in my house that's confusing the hell out of me and she's a bit spooked right now. I can't leave her alone. Me: No. I feel bad for my Beta and best friend, he should've known my life would change irrevocably, but it seems he's still stuck
Ianthe I'm in big, big trouble. I've only been at the Dark Moon pack for two days and I went and developed a crush on the Alpha. What was Sebastian thinking sending me here? Of course I was going to start feeling something for the man. He's an Alpha, making him exude an aura of strength and power. I read in a magazine once that girls love that sort of things. And I've had no other interaction with men aside from my father and brother. I feel like this is a boobie trap. A disaster in the making. Yesterday he let me go out, granted it wasn't on my own but still, he gave me something that I've always dreamed about. Then there was the episode with that guy who took our picture and he went all Alpha mode and that was just hot. And then last night he was so sweet. He made me hot chocolate and we ate leftovers from lunch, lounging in the entertainment room. He even let me pick out a movie. It was about
Ricardo I stop in front of the high school and turn slightly in my seat to look at the vision next to me. She's wearing workout clothes and in my opinion it's too tight, but I promised myself I won't treat her as a prisoner, so i'm trying to rein Daemon in. He does not like the fact that other wolves will see her this way, regardless of the obvious fact that all the other women will be dressed in a similar way. "Are you ready?" I ask softly. I realize that this will be her first time in an actual school setting, so I take her hand in mine, ignoring the electric current running straight to my northern region and rub soothing circles into her palm. She looks at me with those dazzling eyes and instead of fear, it's filled with excitement. "Yes!" She smiles beamingly. Shit, she should not smile like that to another guy, Daemon will surely lose his shit then.&nb
Ricardo I drive like a maniac, Harry giving me a stinky side-eye while he clings to the dashboard. He doesn't dare say anything though, knowing he's still in the sin bin. My heart is beating a mile a minute, Daemon howling inside of me in unrest as I run through the halls of the high school, ignoring the curious stares of the students. There's a crowd outside the gym, everyone whispering among themselves, their eyes big when they see me and Harry approaching and they open like the Red Sea to let us through. I burst through the doors and comes to a halt at the scene in front of me, my heartbeat slowing rapidly. Ianthe is unharmed. "What the fuck Colt!" I growl out angrily. I was sure something happened to her when he called to say there was something wrong at the gym where Ianthe joined the rest of the senior class for combat training. Instead she's standing off to the side, biting her lower lip nervously, her eyes darting to from me to Harry. Colt approaches me, his sister Helen
Ianthe I twiddle my thumbs while I watch Ricardo from the corner of my eye as he drives me home from school. I don't know when he became Ricardo from Alpha in my mind, or since when I thought about his house as home, but it feels right in my heart. It felt right to visit his mother's house who was a little nosy, but I could feel that she loves her son and that she wants the best for him. He seems stoic as he drives and I can only imagine what he's thinking. Why couldn't two people successfully throw a punch at me? I'm finding it more difficult not to tell him the truth. Why doesn't the shadow not want me to say anything? It's just a matter of time before he finds out anyway. He stops in front of the house and checks in the rearview mirror for the car that Randall and Mark drive in. "They will stay in and around the house when I'm not here." Ricardo says without looking at me. "Okay." I still feel like I'm being scolded. This did not go how I intended it to. In my mind I was goi
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 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