* * * Damian’s POV * * *’I can’t help but plan to give Max some stick. I’d had no idea I was going to walk in on that. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t a few minutes later. Nobody needs to see one of their best friends’ balls deep. Oh, he’s never going to live this down. Unless he catches me in a compromising position, then we will call a truce. “Bye Eve, make sure you be good. And if you can’t be good, don’t get caught again,” I tease as she rushes out the door laughing at herself, while casually flipping the ‘v’ over her shoulder. I’m still chuckling to myself as I shut the office door, laughing even harder, when I turn and see Max glaring at me, with his hands covering his crotch. “Damn Maxi, I know you love me. But do you want to tell Mr Happy to calm down? He’s making me nervous,” I laugh, as I nod to his pants. “Perhaps if you were able to last a little longer yourself, I could have finished”,” Max quips. “Do you want some whiskey in this coffee buddy?” I ask him. “Would yo
* * * Eve’s POV * * * I can hardly believe that a whole week and a half has come and gone. Time seems to have moved at warp speed. We are now days away from hosting guests and holding the ceremony. The area by the lake has been transformed. There are a large number of benches and seats all placed around a small stage. The stage is 15ft by 8ft, just high enough to elevate us, so that everyone in attendance can see us. Hayley has prepared the decorations for this area and the dining hall, which she will set up on the day. Given how little notice she was given, she’s outdone herself. When she’d shown me the mock-up of the ceremony area and the dining hall, I’d been impressed but doubtful that we could achieve it. I can’t believe it’s the same area. I’m beyond nervous about taking my vows in front of the council and other pack Alphas, the only thing that calms me is that Becca will also be taking hers. That, and knowing that Max will be with me the whole time, soothes my nerves to a man
* * * Max’s POV * * *I can hardly believe that this weekend is here already. Or that I have been Alpha here for a month already. It’s been none stop craziness, everybody has supported the pack and supported the change. The perimeter border is spectacular. Jasper has even built a raised walkway so that patrols can see over the wall. It’s probably a slight bit of overkill, with the electric fence atop and his security cameras and motion sensors. But it will keep us safe. Lillian has already begun singing to the land, shaping and sculpting vines and flowers to grow up the walls to make the inside less imposing for the pack. Her gift is something to behold, and the joy on her face when she sees the vines and flowers taking shape, give me hope that she will recover from this.Alpha Reece has been a saint and so patient, and I’m glad to see that they are now bearing each other’s marks. I know she’ll soon go to the Green Lake pack with him and I’ll need to be there for Eve when she does. T
* * * Max’s POV * * * This afternoon and tonight the guys will be spending time together, to see me off into the mated life with my Luna. The humans call this a stag do, but it’s not quite so dramatic or extravagant. We will be fishing at the lake, running beneath the moon together and finishing with drinks and a barbecue. ‘Alpha Max. Jake has arrived back with a group he says are from the Nights Watch. He said that they are our new pack members’. Cordelia speaks through the link. ‘That’s right. Jake is already sworn into the pack, so he must vouch for every person. Set them up on the system and invite the men to the lake, while showing the women to their temporary accommodation. Please inform them that they must swear into the pack tomorrow. Thank you, Cordelia’, I answer her. I’m pleasantly surprised that the vampires and wizards have agreed to spend the day with us and not just the ceremony. The vampires are looking forward to running with us. The wizards graciously bow out of
* * * Eve’s POV * * *I’d had breakfast in bed with Max this morning. We may even have had a few alternate breakfasts. The way he worships my body makes me feel like a Goddess. I won’t see him until tonight or during the early hours and he has made every moment together count. I don’t like the thought of being away from him. While I know I can survive just fine on my own, the sense of peace he gives me and the love that fills my heart when I’m with him, means I don’t like being away from him. We had greeted the arriving council members, Alphas, Lunas, witches and wizards. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Alpha Derek is absent and the speculation about what his snub means has already begun. Max is spending the day with the guys, and then tomorrow I will be having my party and won’t see him until the ceremony. Today, after my final dress appointment, fitting and make-up trial, I’m having an afternoon tea with the Lunas of the other packs, where we will also begin preparations for the c
* * * Alpha Paul’s POV * * ** * * 10 Days Ago * * *Sitting on my bedroom terrace, enjoying my morning coffee, I can’t help but admire the view of my pack. The sun is still in its slow ascent in the sky and casts a warm orange glow over the pack. The crisp morning breeze, carrying the scent of the evergreen trees and Earth. We are small, but we were flourishing. I’m glad to be back after attending the Mountain View pack for the investigation meeting that didn’t happen because things royally went to shit. I’m glad that Alpha Charles has been replaced, he’s power hungry, and he’s had me backed into a corner for years. Sending him a quarter of our yearly harvests. His pack is too big and too fierce for me to challenge him, and even though it’s never been confirmed until recently, I knew what he had done to the Coral Lake pack. He’s smart and made sure there was never any proof, so I went along with his demands to keep my pack safe. I really hope that Alpha Max will create balance and p
* * * Alpha Paul’s POV * * *I plan to leave my phone unlocked on the message thread so that they can see exactly what has happened. Then I will go to the no-longer abandoned Coral Lake pack and rescue Alpha Max’s mate. As I lay the phone on the ground, I hear the sound of approaching footsteps. “Please just wait,” I call aloud. I can stop this madness now that my family is safe. The she-wolf is back, and she’s fucking pissed. She approaches me in a low crouch, a predator ready to strike. She’s skilled and able to hold her own against an Alpha. If she’d been blessed with a rank, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance. To make matters worse, the patrol has circled back around, and I’m now trapped within their ranks. “Please, just here me out. I can help you now that my family are safe. Check the phone. Please just check the phone,” I beg them. Letting out a sigh of relief, when the she-wolf scoops up the phone and begins reading the message thread and looking at the pictures.“They have y
* * * Max’s POV * * * My head is spinning with what has to be the worst hangover I’ve ever experienced, or at least the worst I’ve experienced since my 21st birthday party. Not even Nate had been able to heal that shit, and we had been laid in bed for two days wishing for death. Because it had to be easier than what we had felt. I feel a smile creep onto my face at the thought of that night, and the silence around the pack the two days after, while we all recovered. Yeah, this hangover is on par with that. I don’t even try to open my eyes. I allow myself to go back to sleep. The pack will understand if I’m not seen today. I just hope the others are suffering as much as I am.Nate is snoring in my head, totally oblivious to the fact I’m half awake and partially aware. He will wake up when he’s ready. At least with him asleep, I have a chance of sleeping. He’s like a damn Duracell bunny half the time, constantly bouncing around in my head, wanting to be on the move. Sleep and the dark
* * * Nellie’s POV * * *From the punch to the erosion of self-esteem over time, domestic abuse can either come fast or act as a dimmer switch. Nellie was ashamed that she had never gotten out of her situation. It had almost killed her on several occasions. She was an emotionally dependent sort and had never been on her own before. But once you have kids, they are your priority. They have to be. You try to get out and make a new life, a better one, and become their role model. If you don't want your kids to put up with the same... neither can you... otherwise they most likely will... because people often subconsciously seek what they grew up with, even if it's harmful. That is why she had tried to escape over the years and that is why she had written for help from her parents. There were nights when she knew Max would lie in his bed listening to the sound of fighting. Her, his mother would shout and cry, begging to be released from this living hell, his father would begin laying int
* * * Max Aged Three * * * If Nellie was a house, it was built out of love, and the floor is her faith in who she is. Robert’s cynicism ate away at the walls and hit the floor until one day it cracked. The perfect house everyone knew and loved, fell completely. Recovery was the biggest challenge she had ever achieved, and only possible because she loved her son, the community and nature. She worked to rebuild her house, a brick at a time; she put in new floors and polished them to a homely brown. There are times she still finds that there is a brick missing here and there, or perhaps the floor needs bringing back to a shine, but she made it. She was determined to make it for her son.She had tried reaching out to her family and to Harrison. But to no avail, so far. But she wouldn’t give up. Once Max was down for his nap, she found her writing journal and began writing again.‘Mama and Papa,It’s been just over three years since I last saw your faces, and almost three years since I’v
* * * Nellie Aged 13 * * * “But Dad, what if I get bullied at the new school too? Please keep me home. Teach me here.” Nellie whined. “Sweetheart, you have to go to school. King Arthur promised that the teachers would look out for you here,” her father reassured her. “But what if they do bully me?” she fretted. “Then we go to speak to the King; it will be fine, I promise,” her father soothed her. It was her first day at the Lycan High School that resided within the Lycan kingdom. She had spent all night tossing and turning, wondering if the Lycans there would accept her. The last two years at her previous school had been miserable. The school was mixed with humans and Lycans. The humans were unaware that creatures of fantasy existed and shared their classrooms and halls. She had not bonded with the humans, and the Lycans had ridiculed her and kept calling her a dog, which was their way of insulting werewolves. It hadn’t bothered her to be called a dog; what bothered her was that
* * * Eve’s POV * * ** * * One Month Later * * * The final decision has been made. Max and I will accept the offer of the Gods and transcend into Demigods. We will live as immortals for an eternity, setting up the academy and keeping the peace. We’ve travelled with the gifted; Cherokee and Isla, Joe, Jasper and Sarah and little Theia, who will be approved to transcend. Our ceremony will be held in a few weeks. We will transcend and become Demigods. After that, we will only be able to visit our loved ones during the solstice. Otherwise, the only entry to Earth permitted is on a peacekeeping mission. I find myself thankful that the Moon Goddess had delayed us having children. I wouldn’t be able to accept this path if it meant only seeing my blood twice a year. It’s been a peaceful car journey and has only taken us an hour. The Gods will meet us within the castle to show us how the portal works. As we approach, the castle looks to be in ruins. Magnificent. But ruins all the same. The
* * * Eve’s POV * * * Zeus walks away from me to turn his attention to the hunters. “You humans will listen to me. I didn’t create your lives, to be disrespected by you. You will stop your violence and hunting and learn to live in peace,” his voice bellows across the battleground. Half of the humans drop their weapons and kneel before the God who granted them life. This is an historical day, and I’m certain it’ll be spoken about for generations to come. “And if we chose not to?” A hunter challenges.“Amos Clark, I would have predicted a life of peace for you after your upbringing. Seeing daily violence from the customers of your crackhead mother. Your life changed for the better when your mother was fated to be the second chance mate of Beta Thomas of the Blue Ridge pack. He helped her to be free of the drugs and to become the mother you needed. He gave you a home, an education and a family, and yet here you are openly killing the kind that saved you,” Zeus says knowingly.“That fi
* * * Eve’s POV * * ** * * The Final Decision * * *My heart shatters, my soul is crumbling, and I feel empty while floating in the abyss. There’s a hole in my chest, and I want to die. I want to end my existence so that I can reunite with him again. It was never meant to be him; the Moon Goddess said we would have lots of babies. She lied. The biochemical impact and bodily stress of heartache is an actual injury that one never truly recovers from. I will never recover from this injury and loss. “My child, I did not lie to you,” a voice filled with sadness rings out around the darkness. “You said we would have children. YOU LIED,” I cry. I know she’s the almighty and our object of worship, but right now, I hate her. She chose Max’s fate; she planned to cause me this pain.“No. Max deviated from his predestined path. That’s something I’ve never seen before. He was never meant to die.”“Please just kill me. I don’t want to live in a world without him.”“My dear, you don’t need to liv
* * * Eve’s POV * * * * * * Six Months Later * * * We’ve spent a month up in Scotland at Alpha Darius’s pack. The hunters have been picking off lone wolves, wolves who have wandered beyond the boundary line and any wolves or vampires they come across. Their weapons are designed for one purpose only, to kill. They have been uninterested in peace talks, despite the prime minister and local authorities being involved too. There is very little the human world can do to help. These hunters live off the grid and are funded by businessmen and women with very deep pockets. Occasionally, we have been able to find evidence of those rich people funding the hunts and the government has stepped in to arrest them. The trouble is they seem to multiply, for every head we cut off, two more will take its place. We’ve had several battles with these hunters, we’ve managed to avoid losing lives but there have been a few close calls and injuries sustained. They have remembered which of us have gifts an
* * * Eve’s POV * * * * * * 12 Months Later * * *“Tea, please,” I call through to the kitchen, after Max has asked me what I’d like to drink. He’s been my rock over the last year, I don’t think I could have survived and done it without him. Well, I could have, but it would’ve been harder. And truthfully, I don’t want to be apart from him. “Some things are only true if you believe they are. Take for example the trojan horse in Greek mythology. Those who believe that others of different ethnicities or faiths are as the Trojans in the wooden horse, waiting for their time to take over society in a bloody massacre, treating those others with suspicion, contempt and prejudice. As that group (or groups) increasingly have less to lose, they form groups for social protection and to challenge the order that suppresses and abuses them. Thus the fear and cold hearted emotional indifference causes the problem. After this point there is continuing consolidation of groups who arm themselves for c
* * * Eve’s POV * * * Horror—the crisis is here. The Beta has created and unleashed rabid wolves within the pack. We all hold a defensive position—half-crouched, our arms extended slightly. They are coming for us. ‘Why?’ I think to myself, wondering why he would do this. The words come through my mind in a snarl that’s louder than I expected. Too loud. ‘I’ve got him. He’s in the armoury,’ Cora growls as she passes this information on to me and the group I’m with. ‘It means that it’s far too late to sneak around now. Most of us need to take on the wolves, and a small group needs to stop the Beta before it’s too late,’ Alpha Paul growls as he assesses the movements of the rabid wolf. Alpha Paul’s body shifts, only infinitesimally, but it tells me where to look. I stare at the black shadows of the Hospital doorway. It’s like having my nightmares walk forward to greet me. Six wolves emerge, eyeing up their prey. My heart beats furiously, loudly, as if to make their target more obvio