Forty-three:Mia Conner Winter Solstice at The Lodge was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Aunt Rachel and I had a small Christmas together, but most of the time we didn’t do anything extravagant. This was on a whole other level. Everything was covered in snow. Although it wasn’t Christmas the Crescent family celebrated, there was still all of the trappings of Christmas. They still had a tree that was decorated with presents under it. There were stockings hanging from the fire place. All of them had the family names embroidered on them. On my first morning there, I noticed that there was one with my name on it. “Oh hey!” I said to Brooklyn as she came down. “Thanks for the stocking. You didn’t have to do that.” Brooklyn made a face. “You’ve got a stocking?” I nodded and showed her, pointing to the purple and blue stocking that had my name embroidered on it in silver. “You didn’t have anything to do with that?” My friend
Forty-four:Mason Crescent Rachel wasn’t the only one that had used magic to wipe Mia’s memories. I’d had to do it to. When she started sleep walking in college was the first time. Then…then there was the incident that happened when Mia came to stay with us at The Lodge. She went ice skating with Brooklyn and my brother, and she fell through the ice. I had no idea how it happened. All I knew was that I had visions of her drowning, and I got to the house as fast as I possibly could. I pulled her out in my wolf form and dragged her to the house. She was shivering, and coughing up water. Her skin had turned blue. “What the hell happened?” I demanded of Camden, who had followed me inside. Camden shook his head. “I don’t know!” he said. “The ice was fine and then one minute…it completely dropped out from her.” “Shit!” I hissed. “Get a witch. Please. Get a witch---” “Alright, alright.” “I feel…”
Forty-five Forty-five Mia Conner After I fell through the ice on that trip to The Lodge, Mason disappeared. He didn’t even tell his siblings that he was leaving. The rest of the vacation was me, alone in the family guest room, with the rest of the Crescent family playing board games with me, watching holiday movies, and more. At the end of the trip, I resolved that I wasn’t going to pay any more attention to Mason Crescent. “Are you okay?” Brooklyn asked me when we got back to our dorm. “Yeah,” I said, “I’m fine. I mean, he saved me from certain death and then vanished. What’s the big deal?” Brooklyn sighed. “It’s not his fault. My brother doesn’t know how to love people. Our parents died a few years back, and he hasn’t been right since. He had to take over the family company at a young age and he’s---” “A complete jackass about it?” My friend laughed. “Yeah. He’s a complete jackass about it. B
Forty-six: Mason Crescent I was still stuck somewhere that I couldn’t place. Stuck in my memories of me and Mia. The last one I was stuck in had been that winter she came to the lodge and nearly drowned. After, Mia went home briefly. Rachel must have given her whatever potion she’d been using to suppress her memories. She never brought up that Winter Solstice again. I thought that maybe it was because I had finally gotten through to her. That we couldn’t be together. Then, that year in France happened. Her junior year of college, Mia decided that she was going to work at one of our hotels in France so that she could get more experience working in the kitchen. Brooklyn had actually contacted Cole and Camden to set up the whole thing. It was done without my knowledge. I only found out about it when she didn’t come back the next year to stay with Meredith and Brooklyn at the apartment that we rented for them. My sisters were unpacking when I arrived
Forty-seven: Mia Conner “Don’t listen to her, Mia,” said Brooklyn, “she’s clearly insane. You have a mate and you’re trying to get away from him? Do you have any idea how special that is?” “You don’t know what it’s like!” Edwina insisted. “You’ve never had a mate! I’ve known who I was going to be with since I was a child. And I’ve had to devote my whole life to trying to save him and his family! I was never able to go to school, or have friends. Mia, you’ve got to relate to this. You thought you were human and then you had your life stripped away from you.” I shook my head. “The difference is, I’ve been in love with Mason from the moment that I saw him. I just didn’t know it because I had witches that were taking my memories away from me to try and keep me safe. If I’d had the choice, I would have been with him a lot sooner.” “I knew it!” Brooklyn said with a grin. I glared at her. “Are you seriously getting excited about be
Forty-eight: Mason Crescent I was stuck in my wolf-form. My body had been taken from me. Sullivan Carina had it. I didn’t know how to get it back. I was lost somewhere in the forest and I kept on going over all of the old memories of me and Mia in my head. If only I had found the courage to be with her sooner, if only, if only…. that was what I was stuck thinking about. My wolf couldn’t shift because my human form had been taken from me. All I could do was focus on my memories of her. Mia spent her junior year in France working at one of her hotels. I couldn’t leave her alone. So, I went and I purposefully spent my time working at the same hotel that she was. On her first day in the restaurant, I placed an order. I then left a message for the Chef to specifically make it so that his newest sous chef delivered it to me just so that I could see her. I watched her come out of the back kitchen, look around the room, and when she saw where I was, her ey
Forty-nineMia Conner “Oh! You’re awake.” I looked up, and Brooklyn was sitting next to my bed. My head pounded, my body ached, and my mouth was dry. “What the hell happened?” I asked. “It was the weirdest thing,” said Brooklyn, “Edwina showed up. But she’s…. she’s been missing, and then you appeared with Mason.” Mason. My heart pounded against my chest. Something about that didn’t sound right. I tried to remember, but my mind was clouded. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. There was something familiar about this feeling although I couldn’t place it. “Where is he?” I asked. “He’s been busy making alliances. He wants to work with the Carina wolf pack. He doesn’t want to fight. Apparently, their Alpha died, and so did Sullivan. Some kind of attack from witches of all things…” I frowned. “Witches?” “Yes,” said Brooklyn, “and Oliver’s mates gone missing so I have reason to be
FiftyMason Crescent I was still trapped in my memories. Mostly, I kept on seeing me and Mia in France. I hadn’t fucked her that summer. But I had devoured her in every way that I could possibly. She didn’t even spend her time in her room anymore. She spent her nights with me. In the morning, I would wake her up by fucking her fucking her cunt. Mia would wake up gasping, and crying out my name. It was my favorite sound. She came, and when she was done, she lay there panting. “You fucking asshole.” I grinned. “You enjoyed that.” “I did, and you stopped. That’s what makes you a fucking asshole.” She blushed as she looked at me. “I don’t understand why you won’t just fuck me.” I pinned her to the bed. “I won’t fuck you because if I fuck you, I’ll never let you go. I want you to still be able to run if you need to.” Mia shook her head. “I don’t understand what invisible forces you think you are protecting
Seventy-four:Mia Crescent Somehow, I had survived the fight. Mason took me back to New York. Valentina was dead. My uncle was dead. My brother was dead. And Edwina had nearly died in the process, but she had managed to survive somehow. There was also something strange that had passed between her and Cole that I couldn’t explain. One day, back in New York when Harper and I had been reunited, I had been having lunch with her in the big kitchen as Mason was off working on something pack related for me. I heard fighting coming down the stairs. “We’re not talking about this,” Edwina hissed. “We have to,” this came from Cole. The two of them came into the kitchen. They didn’t even notice me and Harper sitting inn the kitchen together as they talked. “It was stupid!” Edwina shouted. “I made a mistake. That’s it. We’re not going to do anything. It’s wrong.” “Look, you’re from the same world as me,” said Cole
Seventy-three:Mason Crescent The fight had been brutal. Not everyone had survived. The hunters were dead. Oliver was dead. Barrett, who had been a traitor the whole time, was dead. We were in one of the witches homes. Valentina had ended up getting burned alive. She was dead. Turned to ash. Edwina was almost drained of her power. My wife, my precious Mia, was hanging from a thread. She lay on one of the beds in the guest room of one of the high priestesses of the coven. I didn’t even know the woman’s name. All I could focus was that Mia was near death. It seemed that the rumors of mates dying when the other died were just that. Rumors. But when she was weak, I could feel it. I was struggling to even bring myself to her side. “Brother,” said Cole, “are you alright?” I reached out and I grasped my wife’s hand as though simply by touching her that I would be able to gain some of her strength. Or maybe ma
Seventy-two:Mia Crescent It happened the same way it happened with Stacy. My wolf sensed the danger before I saw it. The hunters had known exactly where we were, but judging by the look on Valentina and Edwina’s faces, neither of them had planned on the hunters finding us. I didn’t know how that had happened. Someone had to have betrayed us. Then, through the crowd, I saw someone coming forward. My uncle, Barrett. He was holding something in his hands. Edwina let out a scream. “Oliver!” her wail echoed through the desert. “You know, Mia, I think you’re a bit too trusting. I don’t think that’s going to make for a good leader. So, I think I’m going to have to destroy you and your whole family. Because you weren’t even raised as a werewolf. You thought you were a fucking human for most of your life. You had no idea that you were even being watched by some of the deadliest people on the planet for most of your life.
Seventy-one:Mason Crescent I wanted to trust Mia. And I did. But it wasn’t Mia that I had the problem with. It was Valentina. Valentina was notoriously power hungry. As we followed her and Edwina to wherever they were taking us, I kept on thinking of Camden, lying there, dead. It was the hunters that were responsible. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something worse coming. “Are you alright?” Mia asked. “You’ve been quiet this whole time.” I shook my head. “It’s nothing.” “Your eyes are glowing and you are clenching your jaw,” Mia told me, “There’s something going on in that head of yours. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” “I’m keeping my mouth shut,” I told her, “Because if I say something, you’re going to get pissed at me. I don’t want you pissed at me. I know you’re trying to be an Alpha. I want this to work for you. But I don’t trust Valentina. I know how her mind works.” Mia sn
SeventyMia Crescent I knew the minute that Mason arrived. I could feel him. Stacy was unconscious and tied to a chair. Without thinking, I left her alone and ran from the bakery down the stairs to the front where Mason had only just gotten out of his truck. “Mason!” I called out. He ran to me, picked me up, and twirled me around in his arms as he kissed me. I could only feel him. There was someone coughing behind us and Mason quickly put us down. I glanced over at Cole and couldn’t help but be sheepish. “Sorry Cole,” I apologized. Cole rolled his eyes. “It’s fine. But you know, we’re kind of in a life-or-death situation here. You’re the ones that have a daughter that you would like to reunite with. We should probably focus on taking out the bad guy’s thing first.” Mason smirked. “Don’t worry, brother. We know exactly what we need to do. Where’s the girl?” “In my apartment,” I told him. “Come on,” he s
Sixty-nine: Mason Crescent There were two, beat up men in the back of the truck Cole and I had driven down. Hunters that had tried to take us out. Mia had already been attacked by another one, a woman that she’d known back in California. “If you grip that steering wheel any harder, you’re going to break it,” Cole warned. “They were right fucking there!” I hissed, slamming my hand against the center console as I drove. “I stayed away from Mia and Harper to make sure that they were safe. The whole time, they were in danger. I fucking wasted time that I could have been with my wife and daughter, Cole. And I didn’t even know Mia was my wife until recently.” Cole coughed. “That’s my fault. I’m sorry. Cal and I shouldn’t have interfered. We just wanted you happy and you were being so stubborn about the whole Mia thing because you thought she was human…” “I didn’t trust her,” I said, “I should have. I should have known t
Sixty-eight: Mia Crescent In the movies, the plan would have gone fast. Because this wasn’t a movie, it took time. Days. Days of being by myself, days of trying to act like everything was normal. The café was finished so I mostly had to order supplies and look into hiring people. I had to wait and pretend that I was clueless to everything. I missed Harper. I missed my husband. I was tired of everything being constant danger. I wanted to be safe. But it wasn’t easy to draw darkness out when you were looking for it. It was much easier for darkness to strike when you weren’t looking. I kept on wanting to call Mason, but I couldn’t. I had to wait until the Hunters came for me. I busied myself with the bakery, and pretending to be back to normal to everyone that knew me from before. But it was almost impossible. I kept looking over my shoulder every time my back was turned e
Sixty-seven:Mason Crescent First, I contacted the other wolfpacks. I let them know that I had reunited with Mia and that she had run away. I made no mention of her being a Luna. I did mention the hunters that had been coming after our packs. After, I started “searching” on my own for her. I went out on runs in my wolf fun. I got closer and closer to where she was. California. The place that she had originally wanted to call her home. With each step of our plan getting closer, I found myself worrying. It was the same worry that I had had since the beginning. That Mia wouldn’t want to be with me if she knew the truth. Only now, that worry had changed to what would happen if Mia got back to California and wanted her old life before me? One that wasn’t complicated by werewolves and magic and me. “You okay?” Cole asked. We weren’t in our wolf form. We had reached Las Vegas just by shifting and running. But now, we were in our human clothes,
Sixty-six Mia Crescent I took a picture of myself at the airport. I posted it onto social media. Connected with some college friends this weekend. Going home. Never thought I would see Mason Crescent again. Blast from the past! The second was of a picture of Mason and me. Edwina had a theory that the hunters were tracking mates through magic and social media. Rachel had been a snake in the grass so I had no idea what kind of tracking devices might have been in my home or in my bakery. When I got back to my home, I was stunned to find that the restaurant was completely finished. The contractors had continued working in my absence. Life hadn’t just stopped in the midst of me finding out who I really was. It hadn’t been that long, yet it felt like it was a million light years away. “Home sweet home,” I muttered to myself as I stepped in. I had had this place built with the hope that it would be my foreve