CharlotteI felt relieved when I finally made it to the Southern River Pack, the hours of running had been worth it. It’s in horrible shape and it’s sad to see my old home in such disarray, but I feel happy being here. I’m away from Cassian and Maddox and Sebastian should be safe since I’m gone.I find my old home and I’m relieved to find out that it hadn’t been burned to the ground like so many other homes. My sense are on high alert as I slowly enter the house. There are so many rumors that surround these pack grounds, I know I have to be careful.But at the same time, I can’t help the feeling I have like I… I finally returned home. It didn’t matter that the home has no electricity or running water, all that matters is I’m free. Plus, there’s a river nearby and I could live off the land if I need to, especially once my wolf comes in. I have time to figure out my next steps.I put my bag on the ground and bring out my blanket and make myself a small pallet on the floor. I take a de
CharlotteMy eyes flicker back and forth between Maddox and Cassian as they argue. A small part of me wonders if they’ll be so caught up in their argument that I could run away. But… I know that won’t work. They’re Alphas… they’d be able to catch up to me easily.I clear my throat and both of their heads snap towards me and I say, “What if I rode on one of your wolves half of the way and the other wolf the other half? Then it would be fair.”They glance to one another, considering my words for a moment. This is how they were last time. They took my words into consideration for a few days before they stopped listening to me entirely.I say, “Or we could walk and walk for a little bit first.”Maddox shakes his head no, “You walked here on your own and who knows when you’ll start shifting. We need to get you back to the pack so you won’t be in danger.”His eyes flicker to Cassian and his lips are pressed together before he says, “Ride on Cassian’s back. Your safety is the most important
Cassian The look that my father gave me riddled me with guilt. I’m supposed to be the mature one, I’m supposed to be the better child, and yet I stooped down to Maddox’s level and fought over our mate. Charlotte… how could I not fight for her? I would do anything for her! How am I supposed to live my life sharing her with him? I know that he won’t stay in this pack and run it with me. We don’t work well together and we both have been waiting for this day where we aren’t forced to be shackled to one another! Dad sighed in disappointment as he took a seat in his office and he folds his hands together and says, “The two of you have the same mate. You need to figure out how you are going to make this work.” His lips press together before he says, “We’re going to wait a week before officially splitting the packs. It’ll give the two of you time to get to know your mate and maybe the three of you can figure out how you want to move forward.” Maddox’s arms are crossed as he stares forwar
CharlotteI push myself to move in front of Sebastian’s body, blocking him from Maddox's and Cassian’s gaze. Both of their eyes have darkened, showing that their wolves are present, but not quite in control yet.Maddox takes a step forward, his eyes on Sebastian and he asks, “What do you think you’re doing in here?”I don’t allow Sebastian to have an opportunity to answer before I say, “He’s my best friend. I want him here and if that’s a problem, then the two of you need to get over it and get used to his presence.”Maddox’s eyes lower from Sebastian, and they roam over my face. He’s thinking about how he wants to handle me. I know him; I know a lot about him from my first life, but he knows nothing about me. It’s not normal for him to be uncertain, but right now he is because he doesn’t want to lose me before he’s even had a chance to know me.Cassian speaks up and, in a gruff voice, demands, “Leave, Sebastian.”Before I have a chance to argue, Sebastian rushes out of the room. Cass
MaddoxI watch Charlotte as she closes the door to her closet to keep us from watching her. My imagination goes wild and I desperately want to open the door and see her perky breasts as she changes. Of course, I refrain. We aren’t at that point yet. Her tone of voice shows her attitude towards us as she asks, “Was there a reason you wanted to come in here or did you just want to embarrass me?”Cassian crosses his arms as he huffs in response. She is getting under his skin and honestly, it’s entertaining. He’s used to people falling at his feet, no doubt, he expected his mate to have the same reaction. Cassian finally responds, “We want to be here to help you through your shift. You still don’t feel anything?”Charlotte walks out of the closet and my wolf feels like he comes alive by her presence. She’s trying to get a reaction out of us. She changed into a pair of low cut jeans and wears a black crop top that shows her entire stomach. Cassian immediately growls, annoyed her her test
CharlotteIt’s been hours of us waiting outside and although no one has directly commented on it, the tension in the air is thick. Alpha Ethan seems the most impatient as he paces back and forth.Sebastian sits on the ground in front of me and is careful to make sure there’s plenty of distance between us. Neither of us speak to each other, mainly because Maddox and Cassian are glaring at us as if they’re trying to assess is Sebastian is a threat.He’s not. I’m not sure how I’m going to convince them of that though.Luna Anna leans against a tree with her arms crossed, her brow furrowed, and her lips puckered into a pout as she watches her mate as he continues to pace.As the sun begins to rise Sebastian says in a low voice, “Maybe you should get some rest.”Everyone pretends like he never said a word. A moment passes in Alpha Ethan roars as he stomps toward me, “Why didn’t you shift?”My eyes go wide and my mouth suddenly feels dry and I don’t know what to say to him. Why didn’t I shi
MaddoxCharlotte’s arousal fills the air and I have to fight the urge not to barge into her room and take her. Dad and Cassian are waiting for me and although I don’t want to hear what my father has to say on this matter I know that I have no choice. I don’t care if Charlotte has no wolf. She is still my mate.A small part of me hopes that Cassian will care though so that way I don’t have to share her. It’s not the fact that she has two mates that bothers me… it’s the fact that one of the mates are my brother and I don’t want to constantly be in second place compared to him.But… who am I kidding? Everyone always likes Cassian more and I’m sure that Charlotte will be no different.The image of her with her dirty blonde hair spread out behind her with her face in pure ecstasy pops into my head again. It’s so familiar, it feels like it’s happened before even though we have yet to be in any position to be that way.I discreetly adjust myself as I walk down the stairs. I want her. My wol
CharlotteMy door opens and shuts and my body instinctively tenses. It’s not my mates, but when I take in a deep breath I recognize the scent, but my body doesn’t relax. I sit up and see Sebastian walking towards me and I ask, “What are you doing? The twins will be furious to find you in here alone with me.”He chuckles and shakes his head before running a hand through his auburn hair and says, “They sent me, Char, it’s fine.”My eyebrows crinkle and I question, “They sent you?”Sebastian chuckles as he nods, “Yeah, they did. They didn’t want to come in here because they didn’t want to scare you. They know you view me like a brother so they thought you’d be more comfortable with me than some stranger.”I murmur, “That was very thoughtful of them.”He nods, “They seem like good guys, Char. I’m happy for you.”There’s butterflies in my stomach at the thought of them and for a moment I can’t help but wonder, will things be different than last time?I get out of bed and ask, “Hey Seb… do
CharlotteMy entire day something just seems off. I don’t know how to explain it and I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but something about today is different.I feel like I’m going insane. I think that I died and have been rebirthed, but I’m doubting myself. Something about it… I don’t know. It just doesn’t sound like it could even be possible.All of my actions are normal, I do my chores, go to training, eat lunch, there’s nothing eventful going on. But… still.I’m so caught up in my thoughts that I don’t notice something sitting in the floor and I trip over it. Right before I hit the ground, a body comes in front of me and catches me. My eyes widen as I fall into the lap of Maddox Stark. The corner of his mouth twitches up into a smile as he asks, “Are you okay?”I slowly nod my head, staring into his eyes and suddenly, it all comes back.This isn’t my second chance at life… it’s my third.How is this possible?I push myself out of his arms as I remember the true monster that thi
CharlotteSebastian looks me up and down and his eyes shine with concern and he asks, “Are you okay, Char?”I can’t move my eyes from him, it’s like I’m seeing a ghost. The longer I don’t answer him the more concerned he looks and he asks, “Charlotte, what’s going on?”I shake my head slowly as I snap out of my thoughts and say, “No-nothing. I’m sorry, Seb, I just had a nightmare.”He nods his head, but looks at me skeptically and says, “Yeah, okay. How are you feeling? Your birthday is only two days away. How do you want to celebrate?”My birthday… my birthday is in two days.Something isn’t right. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, but I don’t know how things should be. I had another life, I know I did. But it seems fuzzy and far away.But in my other life, I was already 18, I already found my mate… or well mates, I was mated to Alpha Cassian and Alpha Maddox Stark, the infamous Stark twins. We had been together for a couple of years, life was mostly miserable, they were the cause
CharlotteI want to scream, but I can’t. I want to call out through the mind link for Maddox to come save me, but it’s like I’m blocked from speaking to him.Raven pushes her arm in and grabs a fist full of my hair and yanks me out as she throws me to the ground. I cry out as she does this and then hear Cassian’s voice as he yells out, “What the hell is going on, Raven?”His footsteps hurry down the staircase and I turn to him and our eyes meet. He freezes upon seeing me and Raven says, “She knows, Cassian. She was spying on us.”I force words to come out of my mouth even though it feels like fear has a hold on me, “I didn’t hear anything, I swear.”Raven throws her hands up as she says, “Of course she’s going to tell you that! She doesn’t want you to know that she’s a little snoop. She’s going to tell Maddox and then what, Cassian?”His eyes move between the two of us, but he doesn’t come closer. He doesn’t try to help me off the floor and Raven spits out, “You know what we need to d
CassianI pace back and forth in my room. I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life… again! No one knows that Sebastian’s death was my fault in our past life. But in our last life, Maddox liked me and trusted me a bit more. He believed me when I told him that Sebastian had ill intentions, this time he is doubting me.I don’t know what I’m going to do. I want to hit a reset button.And, of course, she knew I would be feeling that way.Raven shows up out of nowhere and looks at me with a playful smirk on her lips as she says, “Hey there, how’d things go?”I roll my eyes and remark sarcastically, “Oh, it went fan freaking tastic! That’s why I’m in the same room as Charlotte right now and we’re finally consummating our relationship.”I sit on my bed with a huff and run my fingers through my hair before I ask, “Did it at least work?”Raven tilts her head to the side, her black her swaying as she does and says, “What do you think, Cassy?”The growl that rips from my chest sounds a lot harsh
CharlotteI don’t want to go anywhere with either of the twins. But I know I don’t have a choice.Maddox sat with me for awhile, he tried to give me an excuse a couple of times, but I shut him right up. I don’t want to hear his excuses. I want to know what happened and what he’s hiding from me.We sat for over an hour before Cassian joined us. His eyes flickered between us before he grumbled, “I have the office getting professional cleaned. You should both come back to the Lightning Pack and stay there.”I glare at him and he holds a hand out to help me up, but I refuse to take it. Once I’m on my feet I cross my arms and say, “I’m going back there because I have no other choice. Want to make this perfectly clear to both of you that I will not lie in the same bed as you.”Cassian huffs, “Understood.”Maddox tries to argue, “I don’t understand why I’m being punished when I wasn’t even apart of this. Charlotte, please, hear me out.”I snap, “I don’t want to hear you out! I told you about
CharlotteThis can’t be happening. Maddox promised me.But seeing him and Cassian both covered in blood with Sebastian’s dead body laying at their feet, I can’t help but scream in horror.Maddox stumbles over to me and reaches out as he says, “Charlotte, I can explain.”I step away from him as he gets closer. I shake my head, my jaw is dropped open, and my mouth is dry as I keep breathing in and out. I’m unable to calm down, this has to be a hallucination or something this can’t be real life!My eyes meet Maddox’s and I can see the concern in his look, but I feel no sympathy, I only feel anger. I growl out, “You did this. You promised me that you wouldn’t! You promised me that he would live!”He argues, “Charlotte, do you really think that if I was involved in this that I would risk you catching me in the act? I wasn’t apart of this! Please, trust me.”Tears blur my vision and my eyes flicker between both of the men and I notice how Cassian is alarmingly quiet. I shake my head as I sn
SebastianCassian’s eyes eventually turned back into their normal shade as realization seemed to overwhelm him and he knew who I was. He shakes his head and says, “Damn it, Sebastian! What the hell are you doing here?”I shouldn’t talk back to him, who in their right mind has an attitude when talking to a demon. I must not be in my right mind because I retort, “I could ask you the same question! Isn’t this your brother’s pack house? Your brother’s office?!”My eyes flicker down as I look at the demonic symbol in the center of the room. My eyebrows knit together as I look between Cassian and Raven. Raven looks to Cassian in a panic and states, “He knows too much, Cass.”His lips roll into his mouth as he nods and says, “I know, but what are we going to do?”She laughs, she really thinks he’s telling a joke. But suddenly, she sobers up and says, “Oh, you weren’t kidding. The answer is obvious, Cassian.”He crosses his arm and she looks at me with a wicked smile as she says, “We have to
RavenChaos, I thrive on it. I need it to live.Cassian finally approved the plan I had to set things right. He’s allowing is desperation to be the ‘favorite’ cloud his judgement for what’s really going on.He runs off with Charlotte and goodness, the girl really doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing. She’s like a lost little sheep that needs guidance.As I walk to the Thunderbolt Pack and make sure no one is there I can’t help put think, there’s no reason for you to worry little lamb, everything will go back to the way that it should be.I find Maddox’s office and lock the door behind me. This is one of the benefits to not having a true scent, no one will ever know that I was in here. I roll up his rug and look down at the floor. I can feel my power flourish through my fingertips and I close my eyes and smile as I relish in the feeling of power for just a moment.A slow breath escapes my lips and I smirk as I open my eyes.Time to get to work.CassianCharlotte’s busy with Clarissa
CharlotteThat was awkward. I feel like a complete failure from trying to meet and greet Roger and Sam. Hopefully things will get better as we move forward.As Sebastian and I walk to the Lightning Pack he looks at me and says, “So, I have to ask… what is with the get up?”I sigh as I look down at myself and question, “Does it really look that bad?”He lets out a hearty laugh then says, “I wouldn’t say that it looks bad, Char, but it doesn’t look like you. What’s going on?”“I was going to be introduced as Luna for the first time to Roger and Sam. I didn’t want them to think that I thought I was like better than them or something so I tried to dress down.”“And by ‘dressing down’ you thought you should act country? What was with your accent?”I throw my face into my hands out of embarrassment and I murmur, “I can’t believe I did that.”Sebastian chuckles, “You don’t need to worry about what anyone else thinks, Char. You’re perfect just the way you are and I’m sure that both of your ma