CecilyTo say things had not gone as planned was an understatement. Guilt shredded Cecily from the inside out and she lost count of all the way she felt she failed not only her late sister but also her niece. As she and Abby left the werewolves’ cabin she paused for a moment and watched the pure happiness on her daughter’s face. Luke lit her entire aura up like a full moon. Although every time Amber noticed she tried to fight it. It was painful to watch. Cecily didn’t care that her daughter was most likely a mate to a werewolf. Unlike her sister Kara and even their mother, she didn’t harbor any ill will toward other species.“Are you ready?” Austin wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. The two of them watched their daughter for a few more minutes.“Let’s not keep our guests waiting.” With a nod, she and Austin walked toward the barn where their team was already waiting for them.“You look more unhappy than usual.” He nudged her with his elbow. She glared
Elly It was morning again, but just barely. The sun was only just beginning to peek through the blinds on the window. For the first time in a long time, Elly’s eyes fluttered open and she felt surprisingly well-rested. She stretched her body out and was pleasantly surprised when she wasn’t met with any searing pain. She lay in the bed, enjoying the silence and letting her mind wander. This was the first time she had ever woke up in a relaxed state. Growing up Rebekah always woke her up at a god-awful hour to begin her studies and to practice her energy work. Then she had nonstop chores for the rest of the day. Keeping busy didn’t bother her. It was a small price to pay to make it harder for Darren to corner her. Elly’s blood froze. She slowly sat up in bed. The details of her most recent fever dream flood her mind and filled her with disgust. She hated Darren with a fiery passion. For as long as she could remember she’d done everything she could to keep his hands off of her but the
Elly Silence was the only answer she gave and it was the wrong answer. “Was that too hard of a question? Let’s try another one. When are you going to tell her she’s not having a fever from an infection. She’s going into heat from being marked and not mating? How long do you think she’ll be able to hold out before she goes to them and ruins everything.” Rowan was beginning to yell, anger saturated every word and it was contagious. The more he talked the angrier Elly got. They all knew? If they would have told her then maybe, just maybe, she would have realized it wasn’t a dream. Maybe she would have had the willpower to resist. “That’s not going to happen. She knows how much is riding on her staying away from them.” Her aunt sounded unphased by the accusations. It was the first time Elly ever heard her sound so cold. “You sure about that? Because you might be willing to bet your coven’s lives on a lie but I sure as hell am not going to risk my pack.” He was no longer yelling and for
Darren Things hadn’t gone exactly as expected. Not only had Elly managed to resist the pull of two bonds but the Eternal Flame coven turned out to be a bigger pain in the ass than he predicted. The boundary spell they put around Dane’s territory was nothing short of impressive. And annoying. Going to the Silver Moon Coven was a gamble that he wasn’t sure would pay out. For the time being it did. The high priestess, Kara, sent people to come and break the spell. Helpful, but still untrustworthy. He knew she was only after one thing. The same thing she had been after for over twenty years. Elly. But he wasn’t about to let her get her hands on his mate. Not while she was still useful. Darren pushed himself off the ground and stretched his muscles. The astral projection spell took forever to cast. Channeling that much energy with none of the adverse side effects was intoxicating. He didn’t think it would be so difficult to break her. Who would have thought that idiot Rowan would help?
RowanWitches can’t be trusted! How many times had Rowan said that and yet he still let his guard down? It took every ounce of self-control he had not to let Eris loose on Cecily and her witches in the woods. He was risking war with multiple packs that used to be allies. For what? For them to prove the other alphas right? Whether they were working with the vampires or they were trying to use them for another purpose, this was hard to overlook.There was barely any time for Rowan to pull himself together before Elly came running into his room. She did it. The one thing he believed she wouldn’t do. Rowan saw the look on her face when she was marked. How she couldn’t even make eye contact with him after…By the time his rage subsided, the entire room was in pieces. The down blankets were shredded along with the matching pillows. Feathers lingered in the air like snowflakes. The heavy wooden desk was only fit to be firewood. The witches would be upset but it would be nothing compared to h
Walking out of the house was a blur. The faint sound of people talking came and went quickly as Elly ran. Her feet moved one after the other on auto pilot. It wasn’t clear that she was leaving the safety of the boundary until she felt the magic pull away from leaving her exposed. The longer she walked the more numb she became. What exactly was she expecting to happen? For once in her life, she thought she would be able to choose. To have the tiniest choice of what happened in her life. It was ridiculous and she knew it. Her life wasn’t hers. All this trouble and drama happened because she hadn’t accepted that sooner.The sun was high in the sky by the time Elly reached a familiar patch of trees. A crumpled-up blanket was surrounded by the hardened remains of dozens of melted candles. Bile rose in Elly’s throat. Any last threads of hope she had that it wasn’t real were torn to shreds. She stepped over the blanket and kept walking. Any other time she would have loved walking through t
The onslaught of teeth snapping at her neck only grew worse with each passing second. After Rowan missed his pack began to throw their selves at her. The way Dane switched between running and dodging was nothing short of impressive. At one point he shifted mid-air back to his human form to avoid two wolves hurdling toward them from opposite directions. His fur disappeared and his long arms wrapped around her holding her to his chest. The claws of one of the wolves scraped across her back. The second they were in the clear Dane was already tossing her onto his back and shifting back to his wolf form. An alpha command wasn’t necessary anymore. Elly held on for dear life. Very few times in her life she felt fear so deeply it shut down her brain. Everyone knew that when you got scared, you went into fight or flight. At that moment Elly unlocked a new option: freeze. There was no other way to describe it. She was perpetually frozen in a state of terror. The only thing she could do was h
“What did you do?” The shrill shrieking voice morphed into a deep angry tone. Elly blinked as Rebekah’s reddened face got closer to hers. The fluorescent kitchens’ lights hummed louder until they were a high-pitched ringing in her ears. They shined so bright behind Rebekah’s head their rays cut across her pointed face until Elly had to blink and look away. “What did you do?” Firm hands grasped her chin. When she opened her eyes again, she looked into Dane’s furious eyes instead of Rebekah’s. She frowned at him trying to piece together where she was.“Why on earth would you lift your head? There are low branches all over the place! Are you okay? Do you have a concussion?” His voice was quiet but Elly knew better than to mistake it for gentleness. The thing about their mate bond is it went both ways. The heavy annoyance was barely masked by his concern. She took a shaky breath, unnerved by the way his touch eased her pain.“You know I can feel that right? My mate not wanting to feel