If that partner was me, I would… No. I shouldn’t go down that path, even within the safe confines of my mind. Nicholas and I would never be together again. I had too many secrets that he would never understand. Even if he knew the truth, even if he’d understood, he’d never agree with the choices
I awoke the next morning to the sound of thunder outside my window and pounding on my bedroom door. I’d barely gotten out of bed when the door burst open and a slew of Joseph’s guards flooded in. “Mommy!” Elva shouted as she hid under the covers. “At least let me get dressed,” I said, holding up
Footsteps sounded behind me. I turned to look, but my movements were sluggish. Nicholas was beside me before I ever saw him arrive. Something warm draped over my shoulders. I looked down and found a thick, waterproof coat wrapped around me. “Come on. I’ll help you inside.” He took me by the elbo
My eyes went wide. As poor as I felt, I still pushed myself upright on the bed – until he placed a hand on my shoulder and eased me back down. “I won’t give up,” I told him. “I can’t.” “I wouldn’t ask you to, except for your own safety, Piper. If you truly don’t care about being Luna, like you s
I should have known better. He stood from the bed. “There are many girls here who would make good Lunas. Olivia is perhaps the strongest of the group.” I don’t know what I had been expecting, but my stomach still twisted uncomfortably as he spoke of the other girls. “She’s beautiful and cunnin
“9?” someone gasped. I agreed, that seemed like so many people to be eliminated all at once! “9,” Nathan confirmed. “When you are eliminated, you are to pack your bags and immediately vacate the premises. There will be cars waiting to escort you home. There will be no arguments or reconsideratio
Nicholas did glare harder then, for a moment. When nothing happened, he turned away and made his way to his own seat. Lilliana was still seated beside him, though she didn’t say a word as he sat down. If they didn’t like each other, why hadn’t Nicholas asked someone else to sit there? “Shall we,
That night, my cold had healed enough that I could finally be reunited with Elva. I ran to her, and she ran to me. When she came close, I scooped her up into my arms and held her. Her arms came around my neck and she held me right back. “I missed you, Elva. So much.” “I missed you, Mommy.” Mar
Instead, the Queen pulled me into a hug. It was uncomfortable and brief, but a hug none the less. From the Queen, this was a tremendous breach of decorum, and I froze, unsure how to react. Even Nathan, standing dutifully as his King’s side seemed shocked.“I have misjudged you dearly,” the Queen sai
I wasn’t sure what to expect when our car delivered us from the train station to the palace, but even in my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have guessed what actually awaited us.Cheering crowds lined the outer walls of the palace. Balloons and streamers of various colors were abundant. A stage had been
At once, my heart leapt up into my throat, while simultaneously crashing down into my stomach.I pulled away from Nicholas enough to push myself up onto my hands and stare down at him.The thought of breaking the engagement had never crossed my mind! Nicholas proposing had been one of the best momen
In a war between the wolves and the bears, only the lost bear princess will be able to stop this fighting. Else, the bears will continue to fight themselves to exhaustion or to death.“It’s up to you,” Nicholas said. “I believe in you. You can do this.”I closed my eyes. Miracle was still exhausted,
Slowly, my grief subsided for now, enough for me to look up at Nicholas and feel the relief of being reunited with my fiancé.My… mate.“I love you,” Nicholas said. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to reach you.”“How are you even here? It’s impossible for you to have found me this quickly?”Nichol
Joyce, despite his best efforts, was not a fighter. He was not bred for war and battle like Hawke was, so even calling on the power of his Alpha wolf, Hawk tossed Joyce aside like he was a sack of potatoes.However, Joyce did show amazing tenacity, and stood back up time and time again. Roaring, he
Nicholas was here. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know why. But he was here, and that gave me the strength I needed to act.I ripped my arm away from Joyce’s hold and rushed into the room where Hawk was choking my sister on the ground. Using all of my strength, I plowed into Hawk.My surprise more than
We slipped into the hallway easily enough. The lights were off, so we stuck to the shadows. We didn’t go far when we started to hear raised voices.“I want to know if Piper was telling the truth.” It was Jane.“You cannot mean to trust her more than me,” that was Hawk. His cold voice sent shivers ru
A mating bond…?Yes. Even though Nicholas and I had never talked about the love between us, I had still felt it grow over these months together. Nicholas had never made a bonding bite on my neck, yet inside of me, that bond had cultivated. Our hearts were bound together, mating bite or now.There wa