Julian, Nicholas, Tiffany, Veronica, and I piled into a pair of inconspicuous looking cars and drove to small town. It took around 45 minutes, during which, Tiffany sat amazed at the many dials and knobs that made up the center console of this older-model sedan.“No touchscreen,” she said for the fo
Things were quiet on the way back to the palace. We’d managed to escape before we saw a bear. Nicholas had seemed confident that none of the people we had run into had been a bear shifter.“I would have known,” Nicholas said. “Their smell would have given them away.”Alphas had sensitive noses, so I
The next morning, I awoke feeling groggy. I hadn’t slept at all the night before, too stressed about what the day might bring, especially with Nicholas’s disappearance after the meeting the day before.He had said that he would talk to me at the elimination ceremony, but I didn’t know that meant I w
We had spent the better part of yesterday, making searches and calls. We’d had a few hits that didn’t pan out. We were a far way from being finished, however.“Maybe Julian will still let us help, even after we are gone,” I said.Veronica gave me a flat look. Tiffany rolled her eyes.“Not this again
My heart thundered in my chest so fiercely, I worried that it might break free from my ribcage and jump across the floor.What announcement was Nicholas about to give? What could he have to say that was so important he would hold up the entire ceremony?“Some of you maybe have been expecting this,”
“What are you doing here, Jane?” I demanded. “What do you want?”I had mixed feelings, seeing my sister alive and well before me. Last time I had seen her, she had been falling off a balcony, death imminent.She wasn’t the little girl that had followed along in my shadow anymore, I knew that. She ha
I struggled to wrap my mind around all of this. I was apparently one of the missing Bear princesses. We were in the North. No one was coming to rescue us.Nicholas was far away, maybe still standing in that ballroom, staring at the place I had been. Or, worse, he was still fighting with the bear war
“You’re going to try to steal my wolf again,” I said, realizing.“Not try. We are going to take your wolf and your bear, and then I’m going to kill you,” Jane said. “My greatest error in the past was letting you live. I will not be making that same mistake again.”I swallowed thickly. “I don’t have
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