The girl has secrets. So many layers I can’t even begin to unpick. I lay her down on the soft mossy banks, the cool mist of the waterfall breathing over us. Like a chameleon she adapts to what she wants out of a situation. She has been commanding with her letter, or when she took my keys in the treehouse. Then devious enough to create her own lethal jewellery yet sweet enough to care about me. I don’t doubt she cares for me. I just know her affection for me is in conflict with the role she was born for. However right now, naked Freya, is a bold and all-conquering wonder. Not some false-innocent trying to play coy. She lies back readily, her legs open, beckoning me forward with her finger. Like in the treehouse, she is taking over the situation and I cave every time. I position myself between her parted legs, watching her ribs shudder in and out as her nerves kick in. When I slowly trace kisses up her thighs she quivers. Then she quietly curses as my lips keep travelling north an
I don’t fear what Zeke might do to me. I am worried I might lose complete control of my senses and call this whole thing off. Or tell him I’m pregnant and break his heart. I said rejection wouldn’t work, I didn’t tell him why. I'm killing Phillipe because it is the only way to save our child from a lifetime of fear. When he mentioned entertaining his future children with the same silly pranks and tricks of his childhood something broke inside me. I’m trying to have this perfect, precious little segment of time with him but the truth keeps breaking in. He’s so different from the wounded, haunted man who came to find me after the battle. Is this a glimpse into the past, the confident, devilishly sexy Zeke who conquered any woman he chose? /Don’t complain, this Zeke is wonderful too. We don’t need perfection, we need real/ Livi murmured lovingly. She is completely sunk for him, even though his wolf has not reached out to her like a mate, she trusts him implicitly. So when Zeke’s f
Beta Maddox just strolls in like he hasn’t just pulled down the curtain on the highlight of my life. His short blonde hair, grey eyes and tattoos give him some swagger whilst his swishing black cloak reminds me of some suave spy figure. Except the guy is nervous as fuck. From here I can tell his cloak is all creased at the sides, from clenching the material with his hands. /Why is he so nervous if he set this thing up?/ Freya finished fastening her own black cloak around her shoulders. “Maddox will be leaving us when we get to the castle. He’s kind of on two missions tonight.” I didn’t have to ask. It was Zena. The guy is absolutely mad for her. “She’s at Rising Star then? Do Alpha Nikolai and Cillian know this?” “No. Nobody knows where she is. I only have a hunch Zena’s there. I want to check it out while I have the chance to be that close.” I growled, standing tall. Maddox puffed his chest out in return. There was anger in him after all, just waiting below the surface. Lightnin
In all the versions of this plan, I never envisaged Zeke meeting his mate on the doorstep of the castle. Forced to watch his bond click into place, shivers of cold, sickening fear raced through me. It can’t be. Not Zeke. In the past, my family, Phillipe, and even Alpha Cillian have suggested I am fairly selfish. Incapable of taking someone else's feelings into account. Well, I just watched the man I love, the man whose baby I am carrying walk away with another woman and said nothing. I love him so much that I let it happen.Deep down, way beyond a level I could ever confess, even to myself, I think I had been dreaming he could perhaps be a second chance mate. Those sparks, that connection. It had to mean something, surely? Apparently not. /Hush, hush, do not shred yourself to pieces. We need our strength,/ Livi tried to console me, even trying to bring down my sky-rocketing pulse with waves of calming heat. Zeke swore forever to me, but a mate is different. I can’t hate him for t
Thalia. Fucking hell. Thalia. Mate. How can this possibly be? A mate in the middle of the enemy's territory! I briefly wondered how madly Zena would cackle at such a comeuppance. The twisted lines of Fate required to bring me to such a point where I would feel the fingertips of a rebel brush against mine, only to be drowned by sparks and blessings. It didn’t stop my stomach lurching to hear Freya's sobs as she almost fell through the doorway. Thalia kept her grip on my hand, the smile never leaving her face. To my surprise, it would appear it is absolutely possible to love two people at once. For nothing has changed about my feelings for Freya. I adore her still, I would die for her still. Rush is mad for Thalia, I don’t know a thing about her. /Look at our beautiful mate! We have found our home!/ he whirled. Following her blindly we weaved away from the castle before Beta Patrick sent out guards. Imogen vanished somewhere but my brain was too cloudy to think any further. Thalia
I’m spread-eagled down on the ground waiting for the blackness of death to claim me. You don’t survive being impaled by a silver machete. You just don’t. Rush is of no use to me either after the rejection. I’m vaguely aware of him wailing and bawling in the darkest recesses of my mind as the rejection takes effect. Somehow, Finn is pulling me to my feet, his face white, grey eyes shocked. Entirely naked and covered in gaping claw marks he has taken a beating but his face is fixed on my ribcage where I should be gushing pints of blood. Lifting me up like a toddler, unsteady on my feet he shouted with the full force of his giant chest. “What the hell is this? What the fuck is happening right now!” “I don’t know…what the, where is Thalia?” Rush was absent in my mind, only a keening, miserable void echoing through to my bones. The pain of rejecting a mate, it’s as brutal as the rumours suggested. I’m dizzy, sick and like the worst flu, every joint wants to implode. I hope Thalia is i
Announcing a pregnancy was should never be this terrifying. “Our what?” spluttered from his mouth for the third time, kicking out at a golden goblet that clattered across the ballroom floor. As my words failed he bolted out of that throne chair like he’d been electrocuted. Staring furiously at me, but refusing to step an inch closer. Instead he shouted at the silent, glaring Beta Patrick, “get the Pack Doctor. Now!” His green-eyed henchman scuttled out like the obedient insect he is. Within three seconds two other crossbow wielding louts replaced him at his post. A swift death assured should my foot wander outside the purple rug. /Even if we kill Phillipe what the hell do we do about those loyal to him?/ One step at a time I tell Livi. Let's survive tonight first. As the ballroom door rattled shut Phillipe turned to me, purple eyes blazing, his white hair falling about his face. “You know if you’re lying about this, you’re dead. Dead so quick you won’t even have time to realise it
Obviously Cillian went absolutely apeshit on me when we arrived back at the war front. It was nice to see everyone for sure, but I could have done without my childhood friend barely restraining himself from ripping me to shreds.Umbridled Alpha authority oozed from every pore. I knew his claws were on the verge of extending, his fingers twitching as he interrogated everyone. Those blue eyes of his frighteningly icy, topped with his wild red hair made a hell of a sight.I got to hear Briss, Finn, and Sawyer debrief Alpha Cillian first. That left waiting outside like a naughty schoolboy. It also helped to steady my nerves before I took my sad little turn inside the headquarters of fury. The green khaki tent filled with maps, reports and letters bristled in the wind, and the power of Cillian’s roar.“WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK WERE YOU DOING!”Stood in his tent, fully aware that the material hid absolutely none of our conversation from the men a dozen trees away I didn’t even try to claim in
It can’t be the packhouse that created this change in her. From the second I walked into her room, filthy from the day's labour, she sized me up like prey and left me practically drooling. She knows exactly what that midnight blue gown does to her figure. A thigh-high split, too? Cruelty in spades. I was more than willing to give her space. I can cuddle, be affectionate, and listen until the end of time. I’ve massaged more oil into her delicate soft skin and bump than I would have thought possible. Sometimes, such rubdowns ended in tears as memories overwhelmed her. Other times, I was able to send her up to heaven in a state of bliss. It’s been a rollercoaster. I’ve dug my way out of my own pit of grief, Freya had been living on hold for so long. She’d been on the run, trapped back at White Forest, held at Rising Star against her will. Shitbag Phillipe had dared to put his hands on her and thankfully paid the fucking price. I regret never getting to land a blow on him myself. But it
That mysterious mate of mine. Slinking around like a fox, those dark eyes always threaten something fun or interesting. The love he has for Aisling almost sets me off crying every time. I can’t deny I have been a rollercoaster for the past few months. Or a complete fucking nightmare. Maybe a bit of both. Taking tea with Doctor Thatcher the day before our journey to White Forest he confirmed I have physically recovered from childbirth. Aisling is flourishing. I have nothing to worry about. “Then why am I so worried? Why is my head filled with constant doubt about everything going wrong?” He sipped his tea thoughtfully, before placing the cup down and steepling his hands. In a steady, doctor-mode voice, he replied, “because you have been through an awful lot Luna. Phillipe made you question your worth. Years believing you weren’t quite good enough, that you always had to try harder. Now?” “Now…I know Zeke loves me exactly as I am. I know he doesn’t want me to change.” “Well as lov
The past few months have been insane. I had naively considered Phillipe’s dead body being slung out of the castle like trash as the end of the matter. Live happily ever after, job done. Sadly, just shouting the war is over isn’t the end of the battle for an Alpha and Luna. Not that the title sits well with me. I doubt it ever will. But it annoys Freya for me to protest too strongly about my title. Plus, I have learned an awful lot about the hormonal fun and games one can encounter with the heavily pregnant. To say she kept me on my toes over winter is an understatement. I fucking loved every second of it. She pushes, I pull her back in. Either way she ends up in my arms, talking a million miles a minute about all the ideas she has working away in her mind. I got to be there for all her quiet little whispered fears too. If the pack likes her, being a mother. Next to roaring fires eating the same rations as everyone else, we lived a fairly quiet existence. Baby names drove her mad. F
The next five months see us settle into a strange, comfortable routine. After only a night under their roof, I immediately commandeered Finn’s barn conversion for us. Much as I adore my parents, I don’t want to be in the same house as them. That is not entirely due to my mate bond either. They still have an ever-burning adoration of each other that I can only hope Briss and I match in decades' time. I just don't need to hear it. Ever.It appears Finn isn’t coming home anytime soon. He’s embedded into Shadowlands, no doubt a future legend in the making. So now Briss and I sleep in the huge double bed with its skylight to the stars. When Briss isn’t building boats, we take out my father’s smaller one. Refreshing my memory on the rigging, sails, and navigation. On a night, we look at the maps together, sprawled out along the table in the downstairs half of the barn. Where the sea reaches the edges of the paper with no known landfall, I know those areas interest Briss the most. The boat
It took over four days for us to finally leave that cabin. It still wasn’t enough time. In an easy cocoon of happiness, we existed together. I don’t think I saw her clothed for the vast majority of the time. And why would we? In that tiny wooden space, everything fell into place. Our bodies are made for each other, but the more time we spend together, the more I learn more about her every day. We talked for hours, curled up on the small bed. Then she’ll give me a look that just sends a bolt of lightning to my cock and I have to have to have her. It’s impossible to deny the power of the mate bond. My ribs and chest have not hurt since the connection formed. Shi apologised, explaining how it was his only way to make me realise she was important. The power of Padgett’s twisted ploy removed, he and Zena’s wolf Sybil were finally able to unleash their infatuation with each other. I know how badly Shi has fallen for her brassy, quick wolf because we share dreams. When we wake, Zena curl
I believe that Padgett was right to choose me. She just got the reason wrong. Her visions suggested I was next in line to wield the strength of that ancient wolf. To carry on tradition. I believe the Moon Goddess always knew I was going to be the one to break the line. I’m a drifter, not a leader. Rules are a challenge. I run from fights, even the ones I’ve started. How was I ever meant to lead a coven! It was lunacy from the start. Yet poor Padgett persisted, despite having the devoted Jane right there. That’s why it felt so right. To step into those blue and white flames and try to return Padgett’s wolf spirit back to the Goddess. Hopefully, she will eventually be joined by all the stolen Hybrid spirits. It is unclear just how many wolves Ruth hosted in the end. Cillian told me the colours, but so many poor souls have been harmed in this war it is impossible to tell. For all we know, she could have kept Alpha Brandon, Luna Hollie, and some of the golden-eyed Beta Warriors for her
Zena is as good as her word. We have a truck to ourselves, stacked with food and other goods. Without revealing a single detail she triumphantly set us up in as much comfort as possible.Every other truck was overflowing with men, stuffed together like sardines. On a passenger bench big enough for three I sat stretched out, my wounded leg supported with a makeshift pillow-thing she had built out of all the discarded and ripped shifter clothes. Zena next to me driving, continuously catching my eye with a proud little smile on her face.She hasn’t stopped for a second. I can only watch as her mind works overtime. I know better than to question whatever scheme she has going on. Eventually, the whole convoy starts up and we are away. Zena drives steadily, making sure we end up at the very back of the Shadowlands convoy. She doesn't give her burned out coven a second glance. There was no special pyre or ceremony for Padgett either. Her body has been lost to the cabin fires. A woman who ha
I cannot wait to get out of this dusty, blood-stained patch of dirt. Not a single cabin remains standing. Just black, charred skeletons. While Briss first slept I held his hand and stared at them. Trying to make sense in my own mind of just what my life should become now. I didn’t want to look too closely at the bodies. Padgett had described me as a river, always heading towards what I want. But this place was never what I wanted. Unlike Jane, it never felt like home. It taught me so much, how to use my gift but then the image of sweet little Phoebe Kharkov comes into my head. What if a thoughtful, gentle girl like her ended up in this lonely wasteland? Too many women have had their gift manipulated and forced into use. Look at Luna Genevieve and Helena. Mated to Alpha’s yet blighted with glimpses of pain and disaster, distorting their potential joy. What if the Moon Goddess and her plans should just be left the fuck alone? Then they could be free. I could be free. Ideas rattle a
When I wake up again, I am half tempted to severely reprimand Shi for making me fade out of the most perfect moment of my life. I was in Zena’s arms, surrounded by jasmine and love, and now…well where the hell am I? “You’re awake!” Zena cries, and I do my best not to cry out in pain at feeling her roll into my arms, planting fierce kisses on my cheeks. “We’re still in the north, up at the coven?” I murmur after allowing myself to be spoiled with rough, greedy affection for a minute. I have just enough strength to lift my arm, trailing my fingers over her bare neck. I close my eyes again, overpowered by the sensation of feeling her perfectly soft skin under my fingertips. “Yes but not for long. Then do you know what-” “Zena let me treat him,” a stern voice reprimanded. I squinted at the sun over my head. “He’s seriously weak.” I might be mistaken, but I’m almost certain I heard Zena growl under her breath at the request. With a dozen more soft kisses, she lifted herself away but k