Hope everyone is having happy holidays, and that 2025 is going to be your year!
It was barely before sunrise when Danielle came to call me to begin training. Dressed in a long sleeve shirt and yoga pants, we went outside in a small field. “To begin,” Danielle said. “You need to get right with yourself before you do anything else.”“Right with myself,” I repeated, not bothering to hide my skepticism.“Yes, you need to be honest with yourself. Facing the things you’ve been avoiding. The doubts, the guilt, anger, the fear, whatever it is you’ve been pushing down. You’ve got to sit with it, understand it, and then make peace with it.”I let out a breath through my nose, a mix of frustration and resignation. “Make peace with it? How exactly am I supposed to do that?”Her smile grew a little warmer, like she’d been waiting for me to ask that. “Start small. Sit here, think about everything that’s happened, let the emotions wash over you. Scream, cry, shout, or whatever you feel like doing. Just let it out and know you’re safe to do so.”“How is this teaching me how to fi
Leaving the king to talk to Chelsie, I went to the communal building to have breakfast. Hopefully, there was food left. I was feeling pretty famished. By the time I reached the cafeteria, someone had cleaned everything up. “Damn,” I said with a sigh, but headed to the kitchen. “Hey Marcel, I don’t suppose there is anything I could eat, is there? I was busy during breakfast hours.”The chef grinned at me. “Of course, but if you promise to come back and help around here, I will cook you something special.”I returned his grin. “I would never abandon you, Marcel.” When he gave me a scathing look, I added, “Again.”“Better not,” he said, then waved at me to take a seat on a stool.I was halfway through breakfast when the king came into the kitchen. “Ah, here you are,” he said, walking up to me. The rogue king nodded to Marcel, then looked back at me. “We’re having a meeting and I thought you’d like to join us.”So in other words, Danielle told him to come find me, I thought, and barely ke
I sat on the blanket cross-legged, enjoying the feel of the sun on my skin as I ate lunch with Kalen. He had gone all out and prepared, or someone prepared for him, all of my favorite foods. “You went all out, didn’t you?” I said as we ate. “Not really,” Kalen said with a shrug. He was sitting across from me. “Just wanted to ensure you enjoyed lunch.”“I’m curious. What did you bribe Marcel with to get him to make all this for you?” I asked with a grin before I took a bite of my egg salad sandwich.“What? You don’t think I did this all myself?” he asked with feigned offense.“Not a chance,” I said. “I still clearly remember the last time you tried to cook.”“First off, I didn’t bribe him,” Kalen finally admitted. “I didn’t need to. All I had to do was say I would do it myself before he practically begged me to step away from the food prep area.”I laughed, able to see the horror on Marcel’s face. “He’s a smart man,” I say with a shake of my head. “Well, thank you for this, Kalen. I a
I sat in the grass with Danielle in front of me and Adelaide to my right. Once she heard Danielle was training me, she begged to join us. However, when I peaked at her while we were supposed to be meditating, she looked as frustrated as I was feeling today. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus.My thoughts kept going back to yesterday to the picnic with Kalen, and later the stargazing. It had been nice, easygoing, and reminded me of what we once were before all this, but also, as much as I tried, I was finding it harder to keep him at a distance. He seemed like he was a totally different person now. I sighed and tried to focus once more on the mediating and on myself, but it was impossible.“Alright,” Danielle said, sounding annoyed. “What’s making you sigh every few seconds?”I opened my eyes and felt the heat rising from my cheeks as I admitted, “Sorry, I can’t seem to focus today.”“Something you want to talk about?” she asked, and I shook my head. The last I wanted to do wa
Once Kalen and I were alone, he handed me a folder. “This is the report we have on your father,” he said, a look of guilt on his face. “Sorry. I am so sorry, Alyssa. From the beginning I should’ve told you, but… I didn’t want to give you a mysterious tragedy. Instead, I wanted to…” he sighed and shrugged. “I wanted to play the hero. Find the one responsible, punish him, then deliver his head to you… I know how stupid that is now.”Taking the folder from him, I nodded. “I appreciate the thought, Kalen. I really do, but you made me feel like an idiot. Like someone, no one feels the need to take it seriously. Just a toy to lay claim, play with when someone felt like it, then put me on the shelf until they’re bored again. You have no idea how demanding and dehumanising that is.”Kalen winced, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of my words pressed down on him. “You’re right,” he said quietly, his voice tinged with regret. “I was wrong to treat you that way. You deserved the truth from
My throat closed as I processed what Kalen told me. To witness meaningless death like that and not be able to do anything about it.. everything he did made a little more sense now. However, that made me think about the here and now. “What happened?”Kalen looked at me, confused. “What do you mean, what happened? When?”“What happened to make you change?” I asked. “You aren’t as tense or angry. I don’t believe it’s just your wolf calming down.”He didn’t answer me at first. Kalen seemed pensive for a long moment, then said, “I broke the pendants of your necklace.” Now, I was confused. I know him breaking them devastated me, but why would that make him suddenly change?Seeing my confusion, Kalen explained, “My anger took me over at that moment, causing me to make assumptions without actually thinking about them and I broke something that was so dear to you, it physically hurt you to lose it. As any sane, logical person would’ve done, you left. That moment the haze of anger disappeared,
The rogue king sent six of his wolves, along with Adelaide and Thomas with me to meet the Lycan King. The closer we got to the meeting point, a hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere, I was getting more than a little nervous. “Don't worry, you got this,” Thomas said, giving me I guess what was supposed to be a reassuring smile.“He's right,” Adelaide agreed. “The king wouldn't send you here if he didn't think you could do it.”“You're right,” I said with a smile that was only mostly forced. The king also believed a slap on the wrist was enough for his misdeeds. Yet James was running amuck, so I didn't put much stock into what the king believed. “Let's do this.”We arrived almost at the same time as the lycan king did. To my surprise he came in person. &ldqu
The lycan king’s eyes blazed with anger, but I kept talking. If I was going to get myself in trouble, I might as well make it worth it. “I know I am no one, but shouldn’t a king’s job be to protect his people, make sure they’re happy, healthy and working together for the benefit of the whole?”The king worked his jaw and slowly nodded. “Ideally, yes.”“Well, that’s not how the packs are working,” I told him, crossing my arms. “Almost every single alpha is some version of a tyrant. I’ve seen insecure alphas who’d snap at anyone who might suggest their not powerful, misogynistic asses who seemed more concerned with creating a harem of lunas than actually being alpha, then you have the ones that can only prove their powerful by stepping on the ones beneath them, the ones that they were supposed to protect.”“What is the point of this?” the king demanded, his voice slightly growly.I held his gaze, refusing to flinch at the edge in his voice. “The point,” I said, my tone steady but sharp,
EpilogueWith the death of James, there was enough evidence in his safe house to prove he was behind all the conflicts between pack and rogues, and the war officially was over. The lycan king spent the next several months majorly cleaning house. The king stripped most of the alphas of their positions with the choice of being incarcerated or going through a rehabilitation program. Not surprisingly, most were incarcerated or forced the king’s hand into killing them.He was also trying to repair his relationship with Danielle and the rogue king. The kings weren’t friends, but they stopped the petty back and forth they used to do. Danielle thinks there’s hope for them. Me… I am not so sure, but just glad to see their issues probably won’t cause any more wars.The lycan king offered the leadership of the Crimson Fang back to me, but I refused. There was too much bad blood between the pack and me. Besides, the rogue community felt like home to me now. I had friends and family here. Being th
The sun was warm against my skin as Caden and I sat on a blanket in the late morning. I tried to focus on him, and the joy of having him back in my life, instead of worrying about Kalen. Two days have passed since they left to find James, and I’ve not heard a single word about what was going on.“Hey,” Thomas said as he sat next to us, breaking me from my thoughts.“Hey,” I replied and unable to help myself, asked, “Heard anything yet?”He shook his head with a downfallen look. “No, but it doesn’t mean anything. Operations like this take time.”That would’ve made me feel better if he didn’t also look worried himself. He was trying to hide it, but I saw it all the same. Perhaps he wasn’t only trying to make me feel better, but himself, too. “Yeah. You’re probably right,” I said, deciding to play along.“So how are things with this little guy?” Thomas asked, looking down at Caden who had rolled over to his stomach now.“It’s been an adjustment,” I admitted. “You know, you hear about all
The Wolf's PoVI moved my neck to the side and shook off the painful little aftershocks of my shift. I lifted my massive snout and sniffed the air. Sweat, adrenaline, fear and anger. It was the smell of the most basic, primal of all instincts of any living creature. The fight for survival. It was an intoxicating mix. Working my jaw, the desire for blood filled me.I lowered my head and glared at the man before me. He looked equally excited as he did terrified. This man, James, didn’t understand the danger he was in if he was anything but afraid. I wasn’t Kalen. I didn’t care for him or the memories Kalen had of him. To me, he wasn’t family. He was a threat to my family. James separated my pup from his mother. He tried to take her away from me. For all of that, James needed to die. With a growl, I stepped towards him and allowed him to see his death in my eyes.“Why are we fighting, Kalen?” James said, shaking his head with a grin. “Look at the power you command. You could be the king
Kalen PoVI froze, unsure if I heard my uncle right. He was challenging Father? “You can’t be serious,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. James met my gaze, his smile growing. “I’ve never been more serious in my life.”Across the room, Father stood still, his hands clasped behind his back, the way he always stood when he was thinking, or more likely in this case, calculating. His eyes flickered toward me before returning to James. “Is this what you want, James? Have you become so seduced by power that you would fight me, kill me for it?”“You know nothing about me, Elijah,” James said, a growl in his voice. James took a step forward, his jaw tight, his fists clenching at his sides. “You built this all on weakness, nurturing that weakness, claiming it to be strength, but it’s all a lie and I’ve proved that. You haven’t been able to stop anything I’ve been doing.”Father tilted his head, considering him. “And what would you do instead? Be a tyrant? Ignoring those in need? Rule wi
Kalen’s PoVA still calmness washed over me as I prepared to leave. Father was waiting for me and I saw he wore a similar expression on his face. I couldn’t imagine how hard this had to be for him. James was his brother, after all. As the older brother, I had no doubt Dad looked after James, protected him from bullies and all of that. They’d been through everything together. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The villain was not supposed to be your family.“Ready?” he asked me when I reached him.“Could anyone be ready for something like this?” I replied.Father nodded and sighed. “No. No, I don’t think so, or at least, they shouldn’t be, but this is what we are given and we’re going to deal with it the best we can.”“That we are,” I said, and we started walking to the meeting point with the others coming with us.We were almost halfway there when Father stopped me. “There is something I have to say before we go.”“What is it? Something wrong?”Father shook his head. “No, just the op
KalenIt had been three days since Caden came back into our lives. Three days of the best chaos of my life. Never in my life had I seen myself in a domestic light. Yes, I’d often thought about building a life with Alyssa, but mostly because that’s what people did when they found their mate. They got together, had kids and built a family. I didn’t get excited about the idea, but I didn’t dread it either.Yet, now? Now, despite the crying mountains of diapers, Caden’s inability to stay still unless he’s sleeping. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I can’t remember a time where I felt happier and more at peace with life than how I am now.Alyssa and I visited that woman who claimed to know all about Caden yesterday, when she wasn’t feeling so confident about her capabilities to be a good mother to Caden. No matter what I told her, Alyssa wasn’t convinced, so we went to see the woman. However, the woman didn’t know anything. After some pressure, she admitted she only cared fo
“There he is. There is my grandson,” the rogue king said as soon as he saw us. He walked over and kissed Caden on the top of the head as he took in his scent. “Nice to see our good looks continue for another generation,” he added with a grin. “What brings you both here?”“Basically to catch up,” I said, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Caden didn’t seem to be that heavy, but, after a while of holding him, it felt as if he’d doubled in weight. “I would like to know more about how Caden was found and where.”“And how the search for James is going as well,” Kalen said, sitting next to me.“The search is going,” Kalen’s father replied. “However, I suggest with Caden now back. You should both focus on him and settling in your new roles as his parents.”“And we will, but there are things I need to know,” I argued.“I understand, and I will pass the reports the search team leader made about the search into the building where they found Caden. Though, I don’t think you
Kalen walked up to me and wrapped his arms around the both of us. “No, this is real. We’ve got him back. You’ve got your son back, Alyssa.”I held Caden to me, unable to believe my eyes. “How? When?” I asked Kalen, then glanced up at him, anger trickling into my joy. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”“Because no one knew until they found him,” Kalen replied. “The location they found him, there weren’t any other children. It seemed to be nothing more than a supply depot. Also, this just happened this morning. The trackers told my dad who told me, and well, I thought I’d give you a surprise.”“Who was with him? How was he found?” I said and looked at Caden, searching for signs that they had mistreated or neglected him.“From what they told me there was a woman with him,” Kalen replied. “I don’t know any more than that. We can take him to the doctor now if you like. Though I have to say he looks fine.” Kalen reached out and held Caden’s hand as the baby looked at us with wide eyes, as if taki
Nearly a week passed after our visit with the lycan king. Danielle and I continued our training while I saw very little of Kalen or his father. There was a lot of movement in the camp. It seemed as if we were getting closer to finding James. I tried asking Danielle if she knew anything, but she just said I should focus on my training and trust that if there was news Kalen would tell her.That only made me annoyed, one because I hated not knowing what exactly was going on and second, because she was right. Kalen wouldn’t keep me in the dark about anything important. Yet, where was he? Until recently, he was practically at my side all the time. It seemed strange he wasn’t here.Suddenly, my feet knocked out from under me, but Danielle caught me before I hit the ground. “You’re not paying attention,” she lectured as she glared down at me.“Right,” I said, feeling a bit of whiplash. “Sorry.”“You should be,” Danielle said and pulled me up to my feet. “I’m not doing this for my health, you