21 - Ben“NO! It’s not happening Rayna! We don’t know what any of this sh*t does and I’m not letting you take those kind of risks.”“You think keeping me locked up here is going to help? Make it better, easier somehow?!” Rayna’s voice gets higher with each word. They have been going at it for ten minutes.“Ben, help me out, man. You were there. You saw how this stuff affected her. SHe can’t be around it.” I hold my hands up and say nothing. I am not a part of this fight, he is just too big a coward when it comes to his mate to fight with her alone.“Ben,” Rayna says sweetly. It’s too sweet, he’s gotten me in trouble now, asshole. “Will you please explain to your friend what happened at the clinic? I was not affected, the smell of the substances were just stronger for me than everyone else. I am pregnant, that’s normal.”“Jason, you had better get in here. Rayna is going to need you soon.”“I thought she was with you. What happened?”“Jeremiah is going to need me. He and his wolf are be
20 - Elara“We’ll run another in two hours, get some sleep.” I call out to the five warriors in front of me. They groan, and I understand their frustrations, but I don’t care. My mother is now in a coma. The healers had to put her under because she was out of her mind every time she opened her eyes. Screaming and thrashing, pulling at her hair, wild eyes not seeing anything around her, but whatever her brain was showing her turned my sweet docile mother into a raving, violent lunatic. My father is a mess, I have taken on all of his responsibilities now. He can’t leave her side, he’s too distracted and will get himself or someone else hurt. I turn to walk away, hopefully I will get a little rest too. I need to check on my dad first.Jax, Dev and I have taken turns to bring him clothes and food each day. The first time I did this, he fought me on leaving her for five minutes to take a shower in the healers’ locker room. I was able to get them moved to a maternity room where there is a fu
19 - BenElara was more pissed that I saw her safely home before taking Chance and leaving almost immediately, than she was about the ‘me leaving’ part. I’m not surprised though. We have both kept our distance all day. I’m not high enough on the rank scale to be a worthwhile mate to her, and Kennedy still flashes through my head every time I am close to Elara for too long. It’s like my subconscious doesn’t want me to forget my first love. My head hurts and we have sh*t to do so I force Chance in the SUV and drive off without a backwards glance.We make the short trip back home in silence.Once we are parked, Chance heads off to check in with Jason and Tommy to make a patrol plan that now includes looking for drugs, potions, herbs, and anything else suspicious. Copyright ©️ 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions“Have you found anything?” I ask, walking into the Alpha’s office where Jer and Rayna are pouring over books.“The only thing we know for sure is that this isn’t the fir
18 - BenLuna Sam looks defeated, Elara looks like a caged animal pacing, Junior is in shock, our warriors stand silent around the room, and I am just numb. It’s the only state I can be in without breaking things. We are stuck for the moment with the storm still raging outside. Once it stops we can travel. I have updated my Alpha and Jeremiah on everything we found out today. Elara did the same with her father and it turns out all of the alphas have been holding out.Maybe it’s because we were always so busy with training for our positions and school, maybe we were oblivious to the things going on around us, but apparently drug overdoses are rare but not uncommon for teenage wolves. Someone figured out how to take human recreational drugs, lace them with herbs and we could have the same euphoric reactions that humans do. The problem is the herbs that are used suppress our ability to heal so our bodies can feel the effects. If the mixture is off, if too much suppression herbs are used,
17 - ElaraHe’s been naked around me today. Kind to me. He f*cking smiled at me today. Now he’s holding my hand and the electricity between us is probably visible. This is a bad idea. My resistance to him is running thin. He has been doing his job flawlessly, my dad’s guys should take notes. He’s been back and forth between his own pack, mine and Junior’s. At first, the time away was welcome. I could reset my belief in not needing him, but by the second round of having to share him with other people my wolf decided she’d had enough and had me asking to accompany them to Red Fang before I knew what was happening. Then I pulled my little mate stunt earlier, that’s what this is about. I caught him off guard, for good reason, but know he’s getting his payback. I just don’t know how much longer I will be able to resist him. My wolf is no longer on my side and she is jumping for joy in my head right now that he initiated contact and took my hand.He pulls me into a dark room, only a single b
16 - BenShe has my hand and I am blindly following her. My heart is about to beat out of my chest and I am a mix of loving and hating the feeling. My whole body is under her control. I shake my head and try my best to pull my hand away without making a scene in front of all of the people I know are still watching us.“Just walk with me.” She hisses under her breath. “This is the only way any of them will let us walk away. It’s the worst kept secret in my pack that we are mates and if we look like we are trying to work with the bond, they will leave us alone and we can search how we want.”“Elara, stop, this isn’t safe.” I try to pull my hand back again. We have to be far enough away by now. She doesn’t let me go. We continue marching into the forest. “Elara, wait. Wait!” I say more forcefully, digging my heels in and retracting my arm so she stumbles back into me. “This isn’t safe. We need back-up.”“What we need is to figure out if anything is in that cave. There haven’t been any mo