**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**Snow. It just keeps falling, making all of my surroundings hazy. The cold is cutting and my whole body feels numb. Without warning, a blow to my head knocks me over. My ears are ringing but I can feel hot breath on my face. I open my eyes to the frothing mouth of a jet-black wolf. I try to scream but nothing comes out. “TAKE HER!!! GET HER OUT OF HERE NOW!!” Beep! Beep! Beep!I groaned and smacked the snooze button on my alarm clock. 4:15 am. I had 15 minutes to be totally dressed and downstairs in the kitchen preparing breakfast. I sighed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. That dream AGAIN. Just when I got a few nights without it, it comes back to confuse and terrify me again. It always felt so real and every time I thought I’d figure out what happened, but I just never seemed to be able to stay asleep long enough. I snorted to myself. You would probably have to get more than 4 hours of sleep every night to be able to do that.One more deep breath before I throw myse
**Victor POV**If my son weren’t such a hot head, I’d almost be proud of the way he dominated that omega in the kitchen. Being an alpha is all about displays of your authority to keep from your inferiors challenging it. I imagine that once Andrew learns to harness that power into a more calculated, calm exterior he’ll be an unstoppable alpha. Just like me and my father before me. “Son, you know chasing omega skirts is a favorite pastime of mine, but it’s time we get you focused on your future. So far your alpha training is going quite well. I could see you being ready to take over the pack by the time you’re 20 or 21.”“But everyone else takes over their pack at 18. Why are you holding me back?” I could see my son’s impatient, angry blue eyes attempting to pierce into me, but he just barely missed the mark of intimidation. I stifled a laugh at the pathetic attempt and he began to look puzzled. My facial expression must’ve given away my amusement.“You aren’t everyone else and you’ve
“Are you my wolf?” I asked in surprise. If this was my wolf, she was a day early. That is assuming the birthday I thought was mine was accurate.“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Jade. My name is Astrid.” The velvety voice replied.“How were you able to come forward a day before my birthday?” I was hoping that after everything I’d lost in my short life, the day I’d always been told was my birthday wasn’t one of them. I couldn’t lose the one day I counted on to feel the most connected with who I was.“I needed to come to you early. I had to tell you a few things. The first is that we are not like other wolves and we are most certainly not an omega.” The way she said it somehow told me she wasn’t looking down on omegas, but she for some reason wanted me to know that I was set apart from them. “If we’re not an omega, then what are we? Are we a born rogue?” “No, dear. We’re not a rogue as you were led to think. In fact, we are of alpha blood.” I couldn’t believe this. There was no way
**Jade POV**The conversation I had been hoping to have with Emma after we’d finished everything was still not to be had. After making and cleaning up dinner, Luna Krista had made her way down to the kitchen, making sure to look at all of us as if we were the dirt beneath her high priced shoes, and told us we hadn’t “earned” sleep because we’d clearly “half assed” our way through our responsibilities, and she demanded we clean the entire pack house all over again. That took several hours, and since then we’d been hard at work in the kitchen to make the perfect scones for breakfast, the perfect 5 tier cake for the party, to fold the napkins perfectly into swans, to polish the silverware perfectly, and above all to make our pack house appear grander than it really was. It was just past lunch time and quite honestly I wasn’t sure how we were going to get through the next several hours. We were all running on crappy coffee and adrenaline from Luna Krista periodically bursting in to scream
**Elliott POV**“Last chance to change our minds and just skip this thing all together,” I half joked as we took the exit to River bed pack. God, I hated these parties— almost as much as I disliked visiting this pack. Alpha Victor was a flashy, ridiculous man who was pretty clearly compensating for something in my opinion and his children were even worse. “Don’t be like that, you know we have that treaty meeting and we can’t miss it,” My beta, Jasper chastised. I saw his blue-green eyes glaring at me in the rear view mirror as if he was assessing whether I’d leap from the car to escape or not. “It was just a joke, ‘dad’.” I teased, putting air quotes around “dad” just to mess with him further. My beta was great at his job and a fantastic friend—brother, even— but good goddess did the guy need to loosen up a bit. “Haha! ‘Dad’! Hey ‘dad’ can we stop at a gas station and get some snacks?” Cameron, my gamma, snickered. His brown eyes widened and he blew his long blonde hair out of his
**Jade POV**I woke up to a searing pain on my neck and wrists. Silver. I knew instantly that Victor had chained me to the post out back to most likely finish me off later. Wow, I’d really made a mess of things. I knew I needed to escape soon or die and that I’d just brought my own demise—the one that Astrid specifically warned me about— closer with my big mouth. And to make matters worse I’d done nothing to help the other omegas. I wanted to cry but I just couldn’t find the energy.I felt the cold concrete underneath me, wishing with all I had that I’d at least been given a blanket. I tried to move but as soon as I tried to sit up, I shrieked in pain. I’d almost forgotten about the extent of my beating. I could feel my lip swelling and I knew there had to be extensive bruising and blood all over my face. I managed to scoot myself closer to the post and leaned against it. It was cold and uncomfortable, but at least I wasn’t laying on the ground like a dead animal.I heard music not to
**Jade POV**I woke up to this irritating beeping sound but I was very aware that I was more comfortable than I’d ever been in my life. That is, until I tried to sit up and then I was suddenly acutely aware of all I’d been through in the last— wait how long have I been unconscious? Or did they kill me already? That didn’t make sense, I wouldn’t be feeling pain if I were dead. What was happening?I hesitantly opened my eyes to see a bunch of machines all around me. What in the world was this? Is this where they were going to kill me? Would they be torturing me before they took me out? Tears started to run down my face as I realized I wasn’t strong enough to escape even though I was somehow unchained. Maybe they counted on that, maybe they knew there was no way I could defend myself and that’s why they didn’t bother to restrain me. But why put me in this comfortable bed if the plan was just to kill me after?Suddenly, I felt the sensation of someone touching me but it wasn’t like a pers
**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