Emily THE PAST Emily slowly opened her eyes. It was still dark out, but something had woken her. She looked at the clock and saw it was the middle of the night. She turned over.. Nick still hadn’t come to bed. That was normal though. He stayed up all hours of the night working in his office. She turned over to go back to sleep, but seconds later a sound had her eyes popping open again. It was her phone. Someone was calling her. But who would be calling so late? Oh goddess. She hoped nothing was wrong with her dad. She picked it up and answered without looking at the number. But when the person on the other end spoke, her mouth dropped open in shock. If you would’ve asked her who would be calling… anytime… much less the middle of the night, Susan would have been at the very bottom of that list. But here she was. “Emily??” Susan said panicked. “Susan?” Emily answered. “Yes. It’s me. I’m so sorry to wake you. But I need your help.” Susan said, fear in her voice. “What’s
Emily THE PAST Emily was so shocked by Susan’s confession she couldn’t even believe what she was hearing. Emily couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak. “Granted I was trying to kill you… if that makes you feel better.” Susan kept talking. Emily was lost in a cloud of darkness. Confusion and shock was all she could feel. She still hadn’t said a word. Susan started laughing. LAUGHING.That did it. That brought Emily out of whatever darkness she was in. “You’ll go to the dungeons for this.” Emily told her. Susan laughed even harder. “Wanna bet?? My brother would never allow it. My MOTHER would never allow it.” Susan boasted. “Nick will put you there himself when he finds out what you did.” Emily spat at her. Susan stopped laughing. She looked at Emily dead in the eye. “Oh sweet sweet naive little Emily. Nick already knows. He knew right after it happened. He’s known for ten fucking years!!” Susan yelled. Emily was shaking her head. No. No he couldn’t ha
Emily THE PRESENT The entire room was complete silent. No one spoke, no one moved. Once Emily finished her story she stood.. waiting. But still no one said a word. It felt like everyone was holding their breath. Emily let out a huge sigh as tears came to her eyes. She felt the biggest weight off her chest as she turned to look at her brothers. who were both in tears as well. They finally knew. Everyone. Finally. Knew. She noticed more people in the crowd had tears in their eyes as well. She looked over at Nick.. who kept his head bowed. He wouldn’t even glance at her. Ellis caught her eye.. he gave her a small encouraging nod and smile. Finally after what seemed like forever, Reymond stood up and said: “thank you, Emily. You may sit down. Reymond asked if anyone else had anything to say or add. Nobody did. And then he said the trial would adjourn for the next three days. Even though he didn’t say it, Emily assumed that meant they’d have a decision by then. An outcome, for what
Emily Nick was standing there staring at the stream in his human form. She could tell he had also been running because all he donned was a pair of athletic shorts. He turned when she ran up, as she skidded to a halt. Quickly shifting and putting on her tshirt, she walked up to him, as he’d turned back around and continued staring at the small stream. “Nick? What are you doing?” She asked him. But he didn’t answer. A moment later he began to speak. “My dad used to bring me here when I was little. He’d tell me stories about magical water fairies who had healing abilities that lived in this stream.” He let out a laugh, but it held no humor. “What a load of shit, huh? Seems everything he ever told me was nothing but a lie.”Emily didn’t know where this was coming from, or why Nick had his mind on Cecil at the moment. “I thought my dad hung the moon. He was so powerful as an Alpha. And I know what people say about him… but for me, he was an extraordinary wolf. And when I was litt
Emily Emily ran home and changed.. well got dressed rather, before heading back to the town hall. She was nervous, it had only been a day since the trial ended and they weren’t supposed to meet back til the end of the week. Did them coming to a conclusion this quick mean a good thing… or a bad thing? She had no idea. But she was as bouncy as a rubber ball. Alan kept giving her a look… but she couldn’t even speak at the moment. They arrived and went in and sat down. Because this meeting was impromptu, there wasn’t as many people there… but still the seats were full. A moment later the council came in .. well the three of the members that were left anyway. The others were still dealing with the rogue situation in the east. Reymond got everyone’s attention.. Emily felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice.. somethings come to our attention.. and because we know everyone would like to get this taken care of sooner rather
EmilyShe gasped.Her hand went quickly to her mouth as the whole room began to speak at once. Nick stood up angrily. “You cannot possibly think this is true.. he is a child. He’s barely seven years old! Why would you have him come here and say this?!” Nick spat angrily. Emily frowned at him. Did he ever stand up once during her trial and tell them they had it wrong?? Did he stand up for her when Felix was speaking down on her? When she was accused of murdering Susan?? No. In fact the opposite. He sent her here. Without question. He decided her fate. And now when it’s about his mother he does this?“Mr. Blackforest control your outbursts.” Ellis told him, forgoing Nick’s alpha title. “Andrew.. buddy… surely you misheard…”Nick tried. But Andrew frowned at Nick and shook his head. Emily felt a tear run down her face. First because poor Andrew who had to overhear such things about his mother no less. And then for Nick.. who was still to this day taking up for Susan. Still trying
Emily She still hadn’t spoken a word to anyone about what Ellis had found.. nor what she took pictures of…… nor what June had discovered. Ellis had found wolfsbane at the clearing. It was over in the bushes wrapped in cloth. The same bushes that Susan was trying her best to get to. She was going to poison Emily. She just didn’t get the chance. It’s why she shifted back to human in the middle of their fight… she underestimated Emily’s nice and soft demeanor… thinking she could gloat about what she had done and Emily wouldn’t shift and attack her. Guess it pays to have an angry side that never comes out. It’s how she poisoned her before. They’d figured that out as well. Susan had put wolfsbane in Emily’s chocolate cake. The dessert she knew Emily would eat because it was her favorite. If the guards who had searched the area of the fight had found it.. they probably left it because they were scared to touch it. It was that poisonous to them. But she doubted they even looked. S
Lorenzo He thought there was probably a permanent ridge in the floor he’d walked the same spot back and forth so much. Pacing to one side of the room to the other, he waited. And waited. And walked. And walked. He was waiting for an update about Emily. Brian had called him a day earlier and told him what had happened at the trial that day. What Emily had told everyone… what REALLY happened that night when Susan died. Everything Brian had told him made him so angry he had thrown a chair through the window. Apparently that was his thing now, chair throwing. It was the second time recently. So once he calmed down he had that to fix. He wanted to call her. Damn did he ever want to call her. But he figured she would be busy, talking with her family and spending time with them. He didn’t want to interrupt or interfere. Plus he figured if she had wanted him to know what was going on, she would call him. He was being stupidly stubborn and he knew it. But…Her best friend died. Thing
Emily What. The. Actual. Fuck. How did he get out of his confinement room? Did Nick let him out?? And why was he here now? “Hello Luna.” He said was stalking towards her slowly. “Raleigh? How did you get out of confinement?” She asked him. “Oh you’d be surprised what people can get away with here when everyone else is preoccupied.” He said. “What do you mean preoccupied?” She asked him. He let out a huff. “What do you think?? They’re all looking for you… you don’t look so good Emily. What the fuck did Nick do to you?” He said snarling his nose. “How did you find this place? Did Nick send you??” She asked him. She was trying to keep him talking as he continued walking slowly toward her. He let out a hateful laugh then. “Of course not. Nick would never tell a secret like this to anyone outside his family. But that doesn’t mean others in his family wouldn’t.” He smirked. This was so odd. Every time she had ever been around Raleigh he was completely stoic. Straight and seri
Emily Emily tried to move fast but it was literally impossible. The problem was, she couldn’t make any mistakes right now. She took one deep breath… then another… then another. She calmed her breathing as much as she possibly could. And then she started. She got the glass with the little bit of the mixture in the bottom and limped over to the kitchen sink. She poured the rest of the mixture into the water bottle, careful not to inhale any of it.. and careful not to touch it. She then tightened the top back on the water bottle and stuck the whole thing in the waistband of her sweat pants. She hoped to goddess the plastic wouldn’t bust open… She took the glass then and dried it out with a washcloth Nick had brought. The washcloth, that might have small bits of the mixture on it, was discarded. Then.. she slammed the glass against the steel wall, breaking it. Emily went over as quickly as she could muster- which wasn’t very quick at all- and picked up the biggest piece of glas
Emily She was swimming in darkness. She felt pain like she never had before. Not even in all of her trainings. Not in the wreck she had so many years ago. Not in the fight with Susan. Not when she had gotten shot. Nothing has been as bad as this was. How would she ever get out of this mess? Her only hope now was that someone would find her. They’d surely be looking for her by now. Maybe someone would catch her scent in Nick’s office and figure it out. Her brother.. or Lo… if he even knew. If he even came. Maybe Ellis. He couldn’t scent her being human… but he was one of the keenest people she had ever met. He would figure it out. She had to stay alive…. The kids needed her. Especially now. There was no way they could stay with Nick after this. But she couldn’t get off the ground. Nick had kicked her so hard so many times. She was sure bones were broken. She might have internal bleeding. And she couldn’t heal because of the limestone he’d given her. She could just barely see. Ever
Lorenzo He’d been more busy than he had since he was rebuilding his pack from the ground up in the last couple of weeks. Keeping up with every day pack duties and paperwork, plus managing all the new construction going on .. plus trying to train Collins..It was just about more than he could handle. He had been so busy, in fact, that he barely noticed the horrible stomach pains he’d had for the past couple days. He threw back some medicine that first morning. Thinking it would eventually subside. But by that night he noticed it was still there.. and he started thinking back to what he had eaten recently. Maybe he got some bad food. But it wasn’t really that kind of pain. It was more like a ball of stress sitting there in the middle of his body. But his mind was too busy to concern himself with it too long. He’d been struggling getting things done. And even though he had thought it was a bad idea to have Collins working so closely with him, she had picked up things quickly and wa
Alan Where the fuck was Emily??He’d awoken two days ago to Luca. Asking him where Emily was. After figuring out she wasn’t in the house he assumed she had gone on a run.. or into town. But when she didn’t show back up three hours later he started to get worried. Tutu had come and gotten the kids for school earlier. Emily knew she was coming so maybe she decided to stay in town. But his gut was telling him something different. If something else happened, after all this… he was going to fucking lose it. He tried to think back if she had mentioned getting a weird feeling about anything. But she hadn’t. She didn’t always get the feelings but when she did, he knew better than to ignore them. He went up to her room. Her window was opened. But she often slept with it that way. Had the door been unlocked this morning? He didn’t even check. He didn’t know he needed to check. He looked down at her bed.. the sheets seemed oddly wrinkled and one had been pulled off into the floor. That
Emily She woke again, hearing a noise. Someone was coming. She looked at the digital clock. It now said 11:37. She’d been asleep for around four hours. That wasn’t enough time, she knew. Maybe she should wait before trying to attack. Nick walked in.. closing the door behind him. Again his hands were full. He turned and looked at her then made a face. “Ew. I got you good didn’t I?” He walked over and got some ice from the small fridge and wrapped it in a towel, bringing it to her and holding it on her face. Emily said nothing. She only stared at him with hatred in her eyes. “I’m sorry about that.” He said referring to where he had punched her. “You were about to shift and I couldn’t let that happen.” He sighed deeply and sat down on the cot beside her, laying the ice between them. “I’ve been under so much pressure. All the shit that’s happened with you and Susan and the council and now my mother? It’s all I can take. I’m losing my mind and when you said ….. when you said tha
Emily “N—Nick?” She said. Then she felt full of relief. He’d found her! Thank goddess. “Nick. You found me! Who did this? Do you know?” But Nick only stood there staring at her. He then walked over to the little table that was standing by the wall. He seemed to have something in his hands. “Nick?” She asked again.. trying to stand. “I brought a little food and some of your clothes that you left here.”What was he talking about? He was pouring things now.. mixing something. What was going on? Her head was too foggy. “What are you doing?” She got out.. but barely. “I’m mixing a cocktail. You’re strong Emily. But I need you to stay down so… I had to come up with the perfect combination. I just had to add a little limestone.”What’s he talking about limestone? “We keep some in the cellar you know. It can be used as a liquid if you melt it down at just the right temperature.” He turned and walked over to her as she sat on the cot, frowning. Her head was so fuzzy and she was
Emily She had stopped by her old office, using the key Nick had given her and grabbed as much stuff as she could. She stuffed it all in a box and then started out the building to go back home. Soon as she opened the door she ran into Ellis. “Emily!” He said brightly. “How are you?” He asked her eyeing the huge box. “Hello Ellis, I’m doing.. alright. I just came to get some work from my office. I’m going to work on it at home…. well… in the cabin.” She told him. “Alan is doing his beta work from there as well.” “Ah…” he said understanding. “So he decided to stay behind? I know Brian has returned home for the time being.” Ellis said. She nodded. “Yes he did.” “He’s a good brother.” Ellis said patting her shoulder. “Do you need some help?” “No I’m okay. Thank you. But.. I do have a question.” She said. “Any word on when the next trial will start?” Ellis sighed. “It may be a little bit. We’re still collecting evidence on Raleigh and the rogue wolves. We’re even getting testimon
Emily She found out a couple days later they were keeping Sophia in confinement .. just as they did Raleigh. Of course they didn’t send her to the dungeons. She was sure Nick threw a fit to make that happen and she was angry and annoyed about it.He had been avoiding her ever since the other day when she had let her feelings known about Sophia. Ever since then Tutu had been bringing the kids over. Nothing had been decided yet about the cabin where she had been staying. She was sure there was tons and tons of work she needed to be doing for her Luna duties. So she finally decided to go find Nick and ask him about it all. And at the same time, she was going to tell him what she had decided about their relationship. But she was scared. Alan had been on the phone all morning talking to someone at her home pack about some business. Her dad had been handling it all but Emily knew he was probably covered up by now. Especially with no secretary or Luna there.. and both Brian and Alan b