Thirty-one:Mia Conner I woke up in the middle of the night, gasping. Something was wrong. Mason wasn’t in bed next to me. His clothes were gone. There was a note on the nightstand. Went running. -Mason He was strong enough to shift again. That thought made me smile. But there was something else wrong. There was something dripping down my arm. I looked down at it, and realized there were teeth marks, from where something had bitten me. Pain shot through me, making me wince as I doubled over in pain. “Fuck! Shit!” I got up from bed, slowly, and I forced myself to get dressed in spite of the pain that was shooting through me. There was a pounding sound on the door. “Mia?” I heard Oliver’s voice call from outside. &
Thirty-two: Mason Crescent “Mason…Mason….” There was a woman’s voice calling my name. “Mason, please wake up.” My head was pounding. My vision kept on going in and out. A face appeared in front of me. I looked up, and there was a woman sitting next to me. “Mia?” I said. She smiled at me. “Yeah, it’s me. Oh my god. You’re alive. I was so worried…” She grabbed my face by both sides and kissed me on either one of my cheeks. “I’m so happy that you’re alive!” I winced as I went to sat up. “Mia, you’ve—ow---” I coughed, and she covered her mouth in worry. “Ooops,” she said. “I’m sorry.” I smiled up at her. “It’s okay. I just hurt. What the hell happened?” “You shifted, and you were attacked by The Carinas,” said Mia, “and um…I…. well…” “You what?” “I shifted too.” I blinked, and stared at her. “You shifted on your own?” Mia nodded. “There was some wo
Thirty-three: Thirty-three: Mia Conner I didn’t remember the fight. What I did remember was the taste of blood in my mouth. The sound of the whimpers as I bit into her skin. Valentina wasn’t dead. I didn’t think I could ever kill a person. But she was severely injured. When I woke up from the fight I was nowhere near the forest. Actually, I didn’t really know where I was. When I shifted, my clothes were gone. I didn’t have my cell phone with me. I was a young woman, naked, in the forest and alone. “Here.” There was a pretty, blond girl standing before me who was wearing a light, pastel blue dress with tights that had clouds on them. The shoes that she wore were painted to look like a sunset, and the shoelaces were bright pink. She had clothes in her hand. Mine. And strangely…a top hat. I raised an eyebrow. “Um, thanks.” I got dressed quickly. “Who are you, exactly?” “I’m Edwina Campbell. You can call me Edi
Thirty-four:Mason Crescent There was a slight screaming behind Mia after she came in. A pretty, blond girl with green eyes that I recognized as Edwina Campbell came through. From what Mia had told me, she was Oliver’s mate. The two also seemed to have a complicated history as, although he’d been making annoying comments about her earlier, he still went and helped her get up when he saw her. “Safe travels, Campbell?” he said. Edwina nodded. The two stood there staring at each other awkwardly. Oliver was still holding her hand like it was the most precious thing in the world to him. Edwina coughed. “Thanks…. but we’ve got business to attend to, Hartwell.”&
Thirty-five: Mia Conner I was in an enchanted home. I was a werewolf with a werewolf daughter and a werewolf mate. There was an evil werewolf pack coming after my family. Hadn’t I wanted to be a baker once upon a time? Hadn’t I wanted a simple, quiet life? What had happened to that? We were all gathered back in the dining room. “You two are going to have to face The Council,” said Uncle Barrett, “we all are. This whole thing has gotten out of control. I’m surprised the humans haven’t tried to get involved with the amount of bodies that we’ve had popping up because of the carnage between packs.” “They haven’t?” Mason sounded genuinely surprised. “No, they haven’t,” Uncle Barrett answered. “That’s odd.” Mason stroked his chin. I frowned. “Isn’t it for our benefit that they’re not getting involved? It would be dangerous if they did. After all, The Carina pack has made it c
Thirty-six:Mason Crescent “How are you feeling?” my brother asked. I looked up at Cole. I was in my old room, tying a tie, so that I could get ready for the wedding ceremony that I was supposed to have with Mia later. “Fine. Great. I’m marrying my mate. It’s going to be wonderful. I’ve wanted Mia for so long, now she is officially going to be mine.” “Are you sure?” Cole said. “Because you look….” “I look what?” I asked. “You look a little sad,” Cole told me, “I know it’s hard because we don’t have our parents here.” I shook my head. “It’s not that. It’s only that Mia’s already had so much taken from her. I hoped that when we finally got married, it would be on her terms. Not because she was being forced into something.” “You always planned on making your mate your wife, didn’t you?” Cole said. I nodded. “I always did.” “Then it would have happened anyway…what’s the big deal?” h
Thirty-seven: Mia Conner “What did my brother say on the phone?” Brooklyn asked as we were being driven back to The Lodge. “He said something about having a plan so that we didn’t have to get married,” I said. Brooklyn made a face. “Tell me he’s not having second thoughts about the two of you again.” I shook my head. “No, he told me that he wasn’t. He just said that he wants us to get married on our terms, and not because we’re trying to show how much power we have.” Brooklyn smiled. “That’s actually really, really, sweet.” I nodded.
Thirty-eight:Mason Crescent How had I wound up unconscious again? If I was at full Alpha strength, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Someone had knocked me unconscious and now, as I woke up, I was struggling to make sense of where I was. As well as to get rid of the dizziness from the pounding headache that I had… “Oh, I like seeing you like this,” a voice said. I looked up, and standing over me was Sullivan. I squinted at him. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Where’s your brother?” Sullivan laughed. “Oh, I killed him a long time ago, and took over his place as Alpha. You were so busy being obsessed with him being obsessed with your sister that you never stopped to realize there was something wrong with him.” “What was that?” I asked, coughing a little. Blood came up as I did, dribbling down my suit. I tried to remember the fight…the bastard had broken my ribs. It hurt to even try to breathe. I had no doubt they
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