**Jade POV**William and Vera decided it was probably best for everyone to have a little time to take a break and process things, Vera and I promised each other to have some more training tomorrow over breakfast before Juliet arrived. I hated to say it because I’d enjoyed my time with everyone so far, but I was somewhat relieved to be alone with just Elliott for the first time in over 24 hours. My heat had already begun to taper off this morning, so I knew I was capable of being rational about discussing our situation.“So,” I started, looking across the table at Elliott, who was taking a sip of his beer. “I feel like we should mate soon.” I somewhat mumbled, and Elliott put his beer down immediately.“Baby, we have plenty of time to mate. There’s no reason to rush things.” I was comforted by his level-headedness, but I did feel like there was a reason.“Elliott, what have we all been talking about the last hour?” I said trying my best not to sound irritable. “We have so much on our p
**Elliott POV**“I was ready for you then, and I’m ready for you now.” Jade leaned in to kiss me, only making matters worse since she was already straddling me.“Careful, baby. I’m already prepared for round 2 and I don’t want you to overdo it.” I was worried about hurting her. I wanted her more than I could ever say, but I didn’t want her to make herself too sore for drinks later tonight. I was afraid I’d get too into it like I did before, I hadn’t had sex with any virgins before her, but I knew from Jasper that Cleo had been really tired and sore after their first time.“If you think you’re ready for round 2, you’re already behind me because I was hoping for round 2 and 3.” Jade licked my marking spot, immediately taking away any self-control left in me. It was clear that her drive was definitely that of an alpha, in which case we were evenly matched. And who cared if we missed drinks? It was only a few pressing matters, none more pressing than my mate’s soapy breasts just in front
**Jade POV**I stood in front of my closet, bewildered and consumed with anxiety. What were future lunas supposed to wear when they were meeting their future brother-in-law for the first time? Was it even worth the effort? Would he already hate me for making him come home early from school? I was getting closer and closer to an all-out panic attack by the second.I took a deep breath and managed to pick out a pair of loose-fitting light brown slacks, a dark green turtleneck, and a plaid vest. I chose a pair of dark brown loafers with a small heel on them, and looked myself over in the mirror. I looked a lot like Elliott, I knew I’d at least not be over or underdressed, but I didn’t know if I’d look too buttoned up and formal. What if Sebastian wanted a fun-loving sister-in-law? This outfit certainly didn’t scream “I’m a good time.”I flitted over to the jewelry box sitting on a shelf in the corner of the closet. I opened it, stunned at how many beautiful pieces the box was filled with
**Victor POV**“Victor! I need you downstairs, the omegas are on strike and refusing to make everyone food. DO SOMETHING! You can’t just hide in your office!” Krista yelled from outside the locked door. I knew she could break it down if she wanted to, I just prayed she was too disgusted with me to try.I’d received a phone call from the elders a few hours ago. I was officially going to face trial for my “crimes” and was now under house arrest. The elders’ warriors had arrived earlier in the day and surrounded the packhouse so I guess you could say I’d seen it coming. They’d called me as a courtesy, and to explain that the trial would be some time in the next few weeks. They’d let me know when they had a real date, and they told me not to bother to run. I knew they weren’t kidding; they had the best trackers on their side, I’d never be able to run for long enough to get away from them. Elders were hidden all over the country, even several different committees all over the world. I was
**Elliott POV**I was finally getting around to setting up Emma and Jade’s phones while I waited for the girls to get ready. Cameron had a talent for accidentally breaking his phones, so I knew how to get through the setup process pretty easily. I was waiting for everything to load through one of the steps when Jasper came to sit across the table from me. The bags under his eyes looked darker, like he hadn’t slept in days.“Hey man?” I said as more of a question. He did not look good; I was starting to worry about him.“Oh, hey,” Jasper said, looking up like I’d pulled him out of a deep train of thought.“Get any sleep this afternoon?” I tried to ask casually. Jasper just shook his head. “Are you going to be okay to go to dinner and drinks? You can sit it out, Sebastian would understand if you had to turn in early.”“No, I need to see him,” Jasper said definitively.“Why?”“Because I just need to.” He declared, and I dropped it. I was sure if it were important, he’d tell me. Besides,
**Jade POV**I’d just finished checking on everything in the room when Elliott came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me to reveal a glass of wine. I could tell he was worried we’d all have too much to drink, so I was careful not to take too many big sips. I leaned my head back on his chest, just enjoying the feeling of being held by him. He brushed my hair to the side, so it hung over one shoulder, and he kissed my temple. “You did amazing, sweetheart.” He said gently into my ear, making goosebumps form all over my skin. I fought back a shiver as I could feel his breath so close to my fresh marking spot.I was beginning to get so nervous my stomach was actually starting to hurt when I heard footsteps approaching. William made his way in first, followed by Vera, who had an arm around her. I looked to the side of Vera to see the 3d version of the miniature Elliott I’d seen in all the pictures in his office.“Little brother!” Elliott beamed, pulling me gently behind him. He dropped
**Jade POV**“What can we do then?” I found myself desperately questioning William. “Can we get our memories back? Sebastian knows the same person altered mine, Emma’s, and apparently Jasper’s memories, could we find them and make them give our memories back?” I knew I was being unreasonable, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop asking questions, to stop desperately trying to unlock more information. I could feel my entire past and the memories I had of my parents slipping through my fingers, and I wasn’t willing to let them go without a hell of a fight.“I’m sorry, Jade,” Sebastian answered for William, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. In some way, it did have a calming effect, but it was nothing like the effect I got from my mate doing the same thing. I had to fight my own curiosity at what other abilities Sebastian must be keeping under his hat. “I can only see IF there was dark magic used. Sometimes I can get an inkling of what was done, even possibly if the same person cast a
**Amelia POV**“MOM! I need your help finding my black cocktail dress for court in a few weeks!” I yelled across the hall. My mom has been so spacey the last few days, which is so unlike her. I strutted across the hall and into her room to find her talking—as usual— on the phone to someone in a hushed voice.“Okay, I have to go now.” She said before pressing the “end” button and putting her phone away, turning to me with a weird smile as if to say nothing was wrong. She should’ve known that tipped me off. Unless she’d just hurt someone, my mother hardly ever smiled.“Mom, I need your help finding my black cocktail dress for court,” I repeated impatiently. Whatever she was keeping from me, I didn’t care. I had bigger fish to fry.I knew Silver Moon would be transporting my dad to trial and relieving the elder security team stationed outside the pack house. I knew Elliott would most likely be overseeing the transport, and probably attending the trial. I knew now he’d found his mate, but
**Logan POV**8:45 am. Like clockwork. I heard the howl emanating from my father before listening to his retreating footsteps as he ran toward his love. In about 15 minutes, breakfast would be all but thrown at me by one of his more sadistic warriors (he always chose the meaner ones to look after me when he was gone, his way of trying to discourage any “funny business” on my part), and after that, the coast would be clear to begin my exit.I stuffed my face with the near-inedible breakfast food I was given. My father was hesitant to give me anything of more than mediocre nutritious value. He wasn’t as oblivious as I gave him credit for, he knew our bloodline, and he knew I wasn’t the type to just submit without some serious beating down. Combine that with the fact he already knew I was a better fighter than I let on and the only conclusion he could draw was that any hope he had in keeping me prisoner for long enough to execute his plan was to keep me hungry and thus in a slightly weak
**Jade POV**I finished my shower in record time before quickly raking all the products I’d been given through my hair and giving it a quick blowdry before throwing it up in a bun still slightly damp. I remembered how my hair kept getting in the way while I was trying to take notes yesterday and I wasn’t willing to deal with it again. I wanted it out of my face so I could focus on the tasks at hand. I flitted into the closet and selected a pair of navy blue slacks with small white checkers and a thick, white sweater. It was soft and cozy, yet still fashionable enough to show Vera I could dress the part of a luna. I grabbed a pair of flat dark brown loafers and threw them on before heading toward the door. Elliott was already gone, probably to check on warrior training or spend some time with his brother.Just before opening the door, I saw a small note on top of a beautiful black leather bound journal. “This is for you, princess. Take awesome notes and enjoy yourself! I’ll see you for
**Elliott POV**The light was barely filtering in through the windows of my room when I heard a firm rapping on the door. I reluctantly got up, covering my naked mate with the heavy comforter so as not to accidentally let someone else see her glorious form and shrugged on my pants from the night before that lay discarded on the floor next to the bed. I heard Jade pout in her sleep once the warmth of my body was gone, but she didn’t wake up.When I opened the door, I saw before me a very unenthused looking Emma. “Cleo banged on my door about 5 minutes ago. She said Jade and I have a half an hour to be dressed and in her office for our next lesson, and she asked me to make sure Jade got up and at em while she works on breakfast and coffee for us.” She was rubbing her eyes and yawned twice while she was attempting to get the sentence out, but I nodded and stifled a chuckle at her disheveled appearance. Someone had definitely chosen the wrong night to have so many drinks. I wondered to my
**Jade POV**I’d woken up to Elliott gently shaking me awake from my dream. Or was it a memory? I could feel cold beads of sweat forming all up and down my body, I felt chilled as if I really had been trudging through snow for hours.There was something about the dream that resonated with me, that told me it was real. “It feels real to me too,” Astrid said almost as a question in my head.None of this made any sense. Vera and William would’ve told me if I’d had any siblings. I’d asked Elliott point blank, and he’d told me he didn’t remember me having any siblings. I’d begun to wonder if there was a possibility that Emma and I had known each other at Mystic Moon once Sebastian suggested it, but I’d fallen asleep before I could really think through it. The thought of knowing Emma before going to River Bed was odd and difficult enough to work through. Now I somehow knew my mate’s best friend? And not just knew him, I was to believe I was related to Jasper? And if my dream was real on any
**Sebastian POV**“About time!” I yelled to my brother who was finally making his way into the rec room. Cam and I had been playing a round of call of duty waiting for the other two to get their mates into bed and goddess only knew how long that could’ve taken.I was disappointed that Jade’s friend wasn’t my mate. Cameron had told me my brother’s mate had an unmated female friend and to his dismay, she wasn’t fated to him, and I’d been hoping to finally run across my mate. I knew it wasn’t like I’d been searching nearly as long as Cam or my brother had, but I was getting impatient to meet the woman I’d be fated to spend my life with.“Yeah, yeah, the single guys are annoyed with the mated ones! I was you guys literally a week ago, keep your pants on!” Elliott quipped, flopping into one of the seats nearest me. A wide smile took over his face as he looked at me. “Seriously. I know the circumstances suck but I’m so glad you’re home dude. We missed you!”I smiled back at him and clapped h
**Jade POV**It was snowing outside. Enchanted, I looked out my bedroom window, clutching my favorite dolly close to me. It was dinner time, and I knew I should be headed downstairs, or Mom and Dad would come up to find me and be disappointed I wasn’t washed up and ready to eat, but I just couldn’t help myself. I loved watching fresh snowfall on the ground, I loved trying to see if it would stick or not so I could build snowmen with Daddy. We would build snowman armies on days when the snow was deep enough to have an ample supply. We’d pretend to battle them, and he’d show me real fighting moves he’d used to take down bad guys before, all while we could see mom watching us in the kitchen window while she made us cookies and hot chocolate.It was perfect outside. It looked like a real winter wonderland. At that moment, everything in my world was alright.Screams filtered down the hallway and through my slightly opened door. That didn’t make any sense, why would everyone be making so mu
**Elliott POV**Everyone had already had their first, second, and third rounds of drinks. For most of us, there were hardly any effects beginning to show. Wolves did have an extremely high tolerance. But for the girls, it was at least their 5th round and they were starting to show it. Cleo hardly ever drank, and I knew Jade and Emma were extremely new to drinking so—wolf-level tolerance or not—they were beginning to cut loose in a big way.“Do we have karaoke?!” Cleo hiccupped as Jasper gathered her up in his arms and carried her out of the room, ready to take her upstairs and put her to bed.“I’m so disappointed Elliott’s brother isn’t my mate.” Emma said in a completely normal volume that she probably thought was a whisper.“It’s okay, I think your mate is gonna be SUPER HOT!” Jade managed to slur out.“Okay, it’s time for bed,” I said as I scooped her up into my arms and gave Cameron a look toward Emma. He strode over to her and threw her over his shoulder like a potato sack. I hea
**Amelia POV**“MOM! I need your help finding my black cocktail dress for court in a few weeks!” I yelled across the hall. My mom has been so spacey the last few days, which is so unlike her. I strutted across the hall and into her room to find her talking—as usual— on the phone to someone in a hushed voice.“Okay, I have to go now.” She said before pressing the “end” button and putting her phone away, turning to me with a weird smile as if to say nothing was wrong. She should’ve known that tipped me off. Unless she’d just hurt someone, my mother hardly ever smiled.“Mom, I need your help finding my black cocktail dress for court,” I repeated impatiently. Whatever she was keeping from me, I didn’t care. I had bigger fish to fry.I knew Silver Moon would be transporting my dad to trial and relieving the elder security team stationed outside the pack house. I knew Elliott would most likely be overseeing the transport, and probably attending the trial. I knew now he’d found his mate, but
**Jade POV**“What can we do then?” I found myself desperately questioning William. “Can we get our memories back? Sebastian knows the same person altered mine, Emma’s, and apparently Jasper’s memories, could we find them and make them give our memories back?” I knew I was being unreasonable, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop asking questions, to stop desperately trying to unlock more information. I could feel my entire past and the memories I had of my parents slipping through my fingers, and I wasn’t willing to let them go without a hell of a fight.“I’m sorry, Jade,” Sebastian answered for William, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. In some way, it did have a calming effect, but it was nothing like the effect I got from my mate doing the same thing. I had to fight my own curiosity at what other abilities Sebastian must be keeping under his hat. “I can only see IF there was dark magic used. Sometimes I can get an inkling of what was done, even possibly if the same person cast a