ClairThe news finds its way downstairs, and I am not surprised. My father had always been able to somehow wiggle his way out of everything. It also doesn’t surprise me that he might not have been my real father. You just have to look at what he did to Adam.Sadly, the news doesn’t have any effect on my situation. I am going to die in a small cell. I am going to spend the rest of my days in the darkness. I have been condemned to it because of my actions and I know that I don’t have anyone else to blame but myself.IsabellaThe loyalty ceremony is arranged, and as soon as my old pack becomes part of my new pack, Asher makes the arrangements to build their homes. For a while, it is tough to go outside. There is a clear divide between the two packs.Neither one trusts the other. We know it is going to be difficult. Asher can’t leave things as they are. He has to eventually trust them, and slowly but surely, he finds spots within our ranks for the new members. Some are incredible warriors
EmilyIt isn’t fair! I watch Asher put his arm around the woman who has been sharing his bed and I feel sick to my stomach. It really isn’t fair. A girl goes away for a couple of years and, all of a sudden, your mate has found someone else!I have actually been back for over a month and none of his idiot warriors noticed me. Then again, I was never exiled. I still have my pack scent, so if they did find my scent, it would smell like any other pack member. I have been watching everything play out from the forest.As soon as I figured out that her pack was now a part of his, I knew that this was far more serious than I originally thought. That was when I hatched my plan. I never really cared much for Lisa. She was always against Asher being with me.I knew that killing her would hurt him the most. In the process, I’ve been able to almost point the finger at his mate’s pack. Once Asher believes that he can’t trust them, he will believe that he can’t trust her, and as soon as he gets rid
IsabellaI can’t help myself. I softly growl. The instant jealousy is unreasonable, I know. He had a life before he met me. I can’t be angry about that, but I am.“So, when did you last see her?” I walk around the table and sit opposite him.“Well,” he frowns and studies the piece of paper. “It was probably this date on the page here. Honestly, I can’t even remember. All I remember was that we had a huge fight, and she stormed out.” I can tell from our bond that he is telling me the truth. I can also tell that he doesn’t have any feelings for her. I sigh deeply, closing my eyes for a moment, and when I open them, he is standing beside me. He takes one hand in his and I feel better.“So, you don’t think she could have snuck back in?” I frown.“No, not Emily.” Asher sighs deeply and sits down beside me. “Emily likes attention. She would have announced her arrival. She would also have come straight to the main house.” He hesitates and I feel his insecurity suddenly rise.“We were living
IsabellaSomething in his eyes changed. After we literally searched every room in every house, as well as the forest, and don’t find Emily, it’s as though the cruelty in Asher’s eyes cements. He doesn’t say anything. I guess that’s the problem.Asher completely shuts himself off from me, and it makes me wonder if he perhaps loved Emily. Why else would my mate be shutting me out? I ponder leaving for only a moment, but I can’t. I have a son I need to think about.His future is the only thing I have to consider. If I leave with him, our lives will always be in danger. He will never know his father. He will never know how good it can feel to be a part of a pack. I won’t be able to ever join another pack.If there is one thing I’m definitely sure about, it is that Asher will hunt us down. He will find us. At the moment, I’m not entirely sure what he might do to me, but there is no way he would ever let me leave with his son.I sit in the corner of the office watching as he gives his warri
IsabellaBy the time I return, I can’t believe that I doubted what Asher and I have for a moment. Just because his ex-girlfriend shows up, it doesn’t mean that he still has feelings for her. I don’t like the look I saw in his eyes, and we are going to talk about that, but I’m ready to face whatever this Emily throws our way.She was just a girlfriend. From the sound of things, they lived together for a while, but Asher never marked her. He never chose her as his mate. He chose me. With that thought firmly planted in my mind, I walk into our home and straight to Asher's office.“Dammit!” Asher slams his phone down on his desk and I hear the glass crack. His eyes meet mine the instant I walk in, and I see the regret in his. “She left the hotel. We just missed her.” I wonder for a moment if he is angry because our people missed her, but I push those thoughts that threaten to surface back down.“Okay, let’s think about this, Asher. Do you think she would have gone that far? Nobody knows h
IsabellaI am shocked. Shocked at what I see. Asher’s anger is overwhelming. It nearly chokes me, but I stand there nailed to the floor watching the exchange between him and Emily. The only thing I can say for sure was that he doesn’t love her.My mind drifts to how incredibly kind he treats me, and how cruel he is being with her. I can’t blame him. Emily is suspected of killing his mother. She has to be guilty. Why else would she have run? Besides, everyone in the pack loved Lisa. Nobody wanted her dead.“I’m not lying!” Emily struggles to breath and fights for air, but Asher lifts her a little higher and her feet start to kick against the wall behind her. He growls softly but she doesn’t budge. She doesn’t confess. She just stares right back at him as though nobody else exists in this world.It is a battle of wills and if it wasn’t my mate right there in the middle of it, I would probably have thought it was impressive. Emily is resisting Asher’s alpha tone, and it quickly becomes c
Asher“I …” I want to explain. I want to tell her that she changed my life. I want to tell her that she changed me. That I don’t want to be the man I used to be, but for some reason, she just stops me in my tracks. She doesn’t want to know and that much is clear from her expression.That is the moment I feel a rift start to form between us for the first time. I didn’t tell her the moment I met her that I wasn’t a good guy. Now that is coming back to bite me in the a$s. I can’t blame Isabella for it. I can’t even blame Emily.I can only blame myself for what is happening. I know that. It just doesn’t make it any easier.IsabellaI can tell that he wants to tell me. We’ve always told each other everything. At last, the important stuff. I just can’t deal with it at the moment. I saw a glimpse of a cruel man, and my heart can’t put that man together with the one I love.I am having a very hard time imagining my future with a man who could hold such hatred in his eyes. I have to keep remin
IsabellaI roll onto my side and try to calm my mind. I know that he feels everything I’m feeling right now, and it is almost as though at that very moment it’s an invasion of my privacy. Especially since it feels as if there is this huge part of his life, of his personality, that I didn’t see until now.I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. I can’t even begin to imagine my life without him. The good guy, not the one I’ve seen since his mother was killed. I also can’t see myself raising our son with a bad guy. Something has to give.He either has to pick to be one of the two or I need to make a very difficult decision. I shake my head, not even wanting to think about it. I can’t. I know there is no way I can leave him. Even after everything I saw and everything I’ve felt, I still love him.I get out of bed and go in search of Asher. I need to talk to him. I find him in his office and the moment our eyes meet, it hurts. His eyes are filled with all the same emotions I’ve been f
BeverlyTWO YEARS LATER, I wake up in the early hours of the morning as a sharp pain shoots through my entire body. Beside me, Matthew jumps up looking startled and completely confused, but I’m in so much pain that I can’t even explain. When it finally lets go, I look at my completely frazzled mate and a giggle escapes between my lips.“The baby’s coming, Matthew.” I say as I get out of bed. The moment I stand upright, a puddle forms underneath me. Matthew looks like a rabbit caught in headlights and I roll my eyes. For such a confident alpha, he sure ain’t looking for it right now, and I take his hand and walk him out of the room.When we reach the stairs, another contraction hits and I have a feeling our pup is going to arrive sooner than anticipated. Matthew’s brain kicks into gear as he picks me up and rushes me to the hospital. An hour later, we are holding our son, and our little family feels perfect.Our story ended up being the best fairy tale of them all. At least, in my opin
BeverlyMatthew is my parents’ son, and they don’t care where he came from. They accepted him, and they have always expected the pack to accept him the same way. As a matter of fact, now that my father has gone and taken that step, I can’t believe that I ever thought one of my uncles would take over.I’m surprised that I never saw this coming. Matthew keeps telling my father that he won’t accept it unless I’m okay with it and, finally, my father looks at me with that “you had better answer me right now” look. I sigh. Do I really have a choice?“I don’t care. Everyone already thinks he should be alpha.” I shrug and get up. Just as I’m about to leave, I feel a strong hand on the back of my elbow and I turn around and glare at Matthew with my eyes filled with tears.I didn’t mean to cry. I didn’t think it would upset me as much. I can’t understand why it does. I’ve always known it wouldn’t be me! I pull my arm from his grip and leave without another word. I have my own problems and I wan
Beverly“Well, I’m sorry! I wasn’t the one who was walking with her head in the dirt.” He doesn’t move out of my way and looks at me that strange way again, and I roll my eyes. He always has these strange sayings that nobody understands!If I didn’t know for a fact that he had gone to school, I would have wondered if he wasn’t perhaps some wild rogue that my parents adopted!“What is your problem?” I frown. He has been acting stranger than normal recently and I haven’t been able to figure out what is up with him.“Sorry. It’s just been one of those days. What did your dad want?” He frowns, seemingly not listening to a word I’m saying, and clearly trying to change the subject.“I guess he wants the same thing that he asked you about that is bothering you so badly that you don’t look where you are going.” I push past him, knowing full well that he won’t leave that comment there. He follows me down the steps and into the street, and we walk in silence for a while.“So? What are you going
BeverlyMy biggest frustration as I make my way through the crowd, however, is that I can see the looks. You know? The ones that say they are so sorry that I’m still single! It puts so much pressure on me to find a mate. Yeah, my family all had fairy tale true loves. Great!I don’t. Not yet. And honestly, I’m in no hurry. I’ve never been able to understand the concept of it all. So, you barely turn eighteen and have barely become a grown up and the entire world expects you to fall in love, get mated and have a baby.All within the first month of turning eighteen! I smile at one of the older guests who tells me that I shouldn’t worry and that my turn will come. I could have told her the same thing, but I thought it would sound a bit rude. Sighing, I make my way to the back of the party to try and just get away from all the looks.The day has been perfect. The ceremony, the party. All the packs are behaving. Why does it all have to be ruined by the fact that I don’t have a mate?! The ni
BeverlyThe sun streams through my window and I yawn and stretch before jumping out of bed. Today is a big day for our pack. After three generations, we’ve finally built a monument in honour of the people who brought us peace.My family were the ones who fought for that peace and, according to our history, my great-great-grandmother or one of those was the one who defied the old council. She was mated to her destined mate after her entire life was turned upside down.She is my hero, and although I don’t want to fall in love under the same circumstances, I would really like it if I have a love like she had. I suggested the monument to my parents, and they jumped at the chance to do something.It has been built in neutral territory so that any wolf from any pack can go there and just look at our history. It is a secret location, of course, so the humans don’t find it, but it is open to all werewolves. Keeping it secret was a bit of a thing.We had to find somewhere the humans didn’t go
NicoletteI watch as Eli finds his beautiful and shy mate, Amy, and my heart just soars as I see their love grow. I keep thinking back to the couple that started it all, and I’m grateful every day that they stuck to their guns. They didn’t have an incredible start, but they stuck to it and saved our people.A couple of years later, I watch my baby Isabella turns eighteen. She finds her mate, Liam on the same night and I almost wish I could go back a couple of years and just experience some of the first days of being in love.Those first moments that you spend together. My true love wasn’t a fairy tale in the beginning either, but as soon as the problems were solved, life was just perfect. I have watched my children grow up in a world where they are safe from harm, and they know that they are loved every single day.Time ticked by too fast, and on a rainy day just as the leaves turned the most beautiful colours right at the beginning of fall, I had to say goodbye to the man I had loved
NicoletteTwo years after everything changed for me, I’m sitting in our son, Eli’s room. He is crawling around making baby noises and I can’t help but smile as my hand protectively covers my stomach. We have just found out that I’m expecting our second child, and I can’t be happier.My mind drifts to our history and how incredible not only my fairy tale but also the rest of this family’s fairy tale has been. My mother passed away a year ago, which has broken the last of my ties with Max’s pack. I did as she asked and buried her with my father.I will never visit their graves, but it doesn’t bother me. I have my memories of them and that is all that matters. Max’s pack has slowly started to deteriorate now that everyone knows what he is up to and, slowly but surely, most of the females left to find their destined mates.Without the money, Max is unable to take care of all of them the same way he used to. It is sad, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. I have been spending my time away fro
NicoletteThere are so many unanswered questions, but only one of them is right at the top of my list. Is Max my father? I try and find out from my mother, but she refuses to tell me. I also know that Max will never tell me the truth and even if he does, I won’t believe him. Which leaves me with only one option.“I want a paternity test.” I look at Paul the first second we are alone and he frowns.“Are you sure?” He seems hesitant, but I know why. Once I have the actual physical confirmation, it will change everything.“I’m sure. It will not just give me certainty, but if he is, then we have more proof that Max hasn’t been honest with anybody.” I sigh. Paul informs his parents and, before long, I’m sitting in the hospital wing where they are gathering everything they need.Paul joins me moments after the doctor has finished to confirm that the pack that is holding Max will be gathering his samples in the next few minutes. It will take a couple of days to get the results, since nobody
NicoletteSurprisingly, it doesn’t take very long for the packs to send us their suggestions and a month later, we walk back into the beautiful hotel. Sadly, after my previous experience, it has lost some of its luster. Everyone is eager to get down to business.After Paul and I have greeted everyone, we all get together in the conference room and start working on our new constitution. It takes a couple of hours to get it all set up and, after a wonderful lunch, everyone returns. Paul had one of his pack members type up the new agreement and with great anticipation, everyone signs.Once that is settled, we all agree that we would like to rest before dinner. We need to decide on Max’s fate, and it seems everyone is a little hesitant to do that. The previous council caused so much damage to our people, and when I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that my existence is because of that.Out of all the alpha’s Max is the second oldest. There is one alpha who never met his mate and didn’