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
Ricardo Dean keeps on kicking me under the table. Why I let these fuckers in this morning, I don't know. They demanded to be fed and I had to let poor Rina come in when I previously told her she didn't have to come in on weekends anymore. "She's even more stunning in the daylight." He mindlinks me and he's right. I don't even feel jealousy at that statement because she is exquisite. When she first came downstairs, her eyes were swollen and she looked pale, but right now she's laughing heartily at something Jazz said and I can see our future so clearly, spending time with friends and sharing our life together. All my closest friends and their mates are at my dining table, along with Harry and Heleni who are throwing obscene remarks at each other. I can see that Colt is not amused by the exchange at all, but Caitlyn is keeping him in control. This feels right, and ever since the attack, I breathe a sigh of relief. Everything will be alright. Karl is healing well and he will soon be
Ianthe My mate has been revealed to me and I don't know what to do. It makes sense that I would be mated to an alpha as I come from a bloodline of alphas, and I'm excited and scared at the same time. Excited because Ricardo is more than I could ever have imagined. He's handsome, powerful, sexy and caring, even if he doesn't show that side of him to anybody else. Keeping my mouth shut has been a problem for me. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want to tell him that everything happened for a reason so we should be together. Our family's connection isn't mere circumstance and things had to fall apart for our union to come to fruition. And Natalia has been growing even more impatient with me. We have continued to go on our morning runs with the Alpha and she wants to get marked, but I know it's not supposed to happen yet. I have to be eighteen for the mating ceremony, and though I find it complete torture trying to keep my hands off the glistening muscles of Ricardo when we wor
Ianthe "Do you think this is a type of dress a man would like Mark?" I hold up a fire-engine red dress in front of me. Mark frowns and clears his throat. "I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask me, miss." I shrug. I have gotten used to having him and Randall around, so I don't share his sentiment. "But if you had a girlfriend, would you like it if she would wore a dress like this? Wait, do you have a girlfriend?" He's not marked, but that has never stopped anyone from dating before. "I don't have a girlfriend, I'm hoping to meet my mate at the Moon Festival." He gives me a friendly smile. "I think it's a nice dress miss." "I think so to." I'd already made up my mind to buy the dress for Heleni's party tomorrow night, which apparently will only be her family and close friends. I have an uneasy feeling that Gianni would be there, there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. He's going to be a part of my family soon, so I'm going to have to tolerate him. He
Ricardo Harry shivers next me and I glare at him from the corner of my eye. He's been acting weird ever since we arrived at Colt's parents' house for Heleni's eighteenth birthday celebration. "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? " I mindlink him. He loosens the tie at his collar and wipe the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "Are you ill or something?" "I don't know, man, I've been feeling weird all day." "Yeah, maybe that's what you get when you break bro-code and sleep with the enemy." Okay, I might still feel slightly upset about that, but I have to get over it with everything else going on. I just can't fathom how he could make such a stupid mistake. "Are you ever going to forgive me for that?" He shakes his head. "I know it was stupid, I just felt very lonely that night and she was there, so...." "Let that be your last mistake. I can't deal with shit like that anymore. We need to be solid." "Yes Alpha." I hardly ever use my position of power with my frie
Ricardo "Fuck no!" Colt shouts, breaking the magic everyone was momentarily entranced in. Heleni snaps out of her haze and turns right around on the stairs and flees, probably back to her room. "Oh no." Ianthe sighs, and much to my dismay, lets go of my hand and runs behind Heleni, followed by Caitlyn and Mrs. Harrison. Poor Harry is still standing there, dumbfounded, his eyes still on the spot his mate just disappeared from. I take pity on him and take him by the elbow to lead him outside, followed by a furious Colt. "You are not my sister's mate!" He shouts at Harry in rage. "No disrespect Colt," I say calmly. "But that is not your decision to make. It's nobody's but the Moon Goddess and there's nothing anyone can do about it." The mating bond is the most sacred bond and even though Colt is mad about it, he knows he has to respect that. "I found my mate." Harry says dumbly, rubbing at the spot where his heart is. "Oh my Goddess." I slap him on the back and chuckles. "Congra
Ricardo It's starting to get harder and harder being around Ianthe. She has suddenly developed this boldness that is officially driving me insane. Spring has sprung, and along with it the weather has become significantly warmer, the woods sporting beautiful wild flowers now. Her wolf loves the flowers, instead of running she prefers to lie down between them looking good enough to eat. Daemon is going to lose his mind soon, so instead I make him leave her there and run his frustration out. I've never benched so many weights in my life before. She's also started wearing these damn dresses, each one shorter than the last and Goddess knows, I can't take it anymore. My office door suddenly bursts open and Harry enters looking disheveled, his tie loose around his neck. "I can't take it anymore!" He walks straight to the liquor cabinet and instead of pouring him a glass as usual, he swigs straight from the bottle. "And what is it that you can't take?" I sigh, getting up and joining h
Ianthe I switch the TV off and get up from the couch for what seems like the hundredth time. It's already past eight in the evening and Ricardo still hasn't come home. He said he wants to talk and there's this feeling of doom in my chest that doesn't want to go away."Maybe he will tell you that you should have sex." Natalia says sarcastically. " Maybe then poor Daemon will finally take me the way I want." "You are so bad Natalia!" I scold her. "I'm not bad, I'm a wolf, wolves have needs and I have a mate. You're depriving me!" She shouts. "Oh shush." I admonish her. "Something is going on and sex is the last thing we need to worry about right now." "Maybe if I actually got some, I would think less of it!" Natalia is acting like a petulant child, I can't give it any attention right now when I need to focus on whatever Ricardo wants to talk about. There's a million thoughts running around in my mind about what it could be, and then I suddenly halt my pacing, a sense of grief ove
RICARDO POV My head is spinning. I'm starting to feel more and more like a failure as all these things are happening around me that I just can't get a grasp on. Oh, how I long for my father, wishing he were still alive. He would have known what to do, or at least have had some words of wisdom. At least Gianni has woken up from his coma, looking truly well. That is the only consolation in this mess that has my pack on the verge of collapse. I wonder how my father did it, how he must have felt when rogues were invading us. Maybe he felt just like me. Hopeless. The only ray of sunshine enters my office with a steaming cup of coffee, and my heart literally skips a beat. How cruel could fate be to serve me my mate on a silver platter when she's only seventeen? Granted, there are only two weeks left until she turns eighteen, but with everything happening right now, two weeks sure feels far off. "Thank you." I tell her gratefully. "You should go back to bed, you must be tired." A
IANTHE Ricardo hands me a robe, looking around the hospital, scowling at anyone who dares to look at me. I dutifully put it on, not reminding him that these people would probably see me naked at one point or another. And we have far bigger problems than me wearing only a T-shirt. Someone tried to kill Harry, undoubtedly to make Ricardo weaker. They probably don't know that him being close to me is making him stronger. And that when we officially mated, he would be almost indestructible. Because if they knew, they would try to kill me instead. "Something is not adding up." I think aloud, pushing my feet into the slippers my mate holds out for me. "Too many things are not adding up." He sounds tired and resigned, making me wish that I could carry just a little bit of his burden on my shoulders. Isn't that what a Luna is for? "Gus is dead." I shake my head. "Wasn't he the one that was at the head of trying to dethrone you?" Wouldn't his followers rather retreat then? It would
RICARDO Rejection is not something that wolves take well, and I hope that Heleni finds it in her heart to forgive Harry. The guy has finally found his mate, I wouldn't want his heart to be torn out of his chest. More questions than answers are arising in this pack. The more we search for answers, the more confusing the whole saga becomes. Gus is dead. Killed by my bare hands. If he was the supposed leader of the gang going up against me, would the rest still come for me? Would they be strong enough? "Quit worrying," I tell Ianthe, who is sitting by the window, waiting to see if our friends will return. "I can't help it." She sighs. I still can't believe the ethereal beauty would soon be mine. She has become my biggest asset in this whole shitshow. Having her here by my side is like a tall glass of water in the desert. Yet, not being able to make her truly mine yet is a hell I don't ever want to experience again. "Let's go to bed." I tell her after a few hours, no sight o
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